Pete DeBoer out as head coach of the Dallas Stars.
(Sorry for the straight-up ESPN link, but the Dallas papers are pretty much unlinkable.)
Zero Stars.
June 6th, 2025Obit watch: June 6, 2025.
June 6th, 2025Mara Corday, actress. I have not seen a THR obit for her, and the paper of records says she died on February 9th:
Other credits include “Peter Gunn”, “Naked Gun” (1956), and “Francis Joins the WACS”.
It is mentioned in the subhead, but Clint Eastwood’s 95th birthday was this past weekend, and they don’t show the video, so…
(Fun fact: according to IMDB, “Go ahead, make my day.” was contributed by Charles B. Pierce, who is credited as one of the writers. That’s Charles B. Pierce of “The Legend of Boggy Creek” and “Boggy Creek II: And the Legend Continues”.)
(No, the Saturday Movie Group didn’t watch “Sudden Impact” this past weekend. We watched “The Enforcer” because that was the next movie in our Dirty Harry rotation. I am looking forward to watching “Sudden Impact”, though, because I haven’t seen that since it was in theaters.)
Obit watch: June 3, 2025.
June 3rd, 2025Shigeo Nagashima, one of the great Japanese baseball players.
Along with his teammate Sadaharu Oh, Japan’s home run king, Nagashima was the centerpiece of the country’s most enduring sports dynasty. He hit 444 home runs, had a lifetime batting average of .305, won six batting titles and five times led the league in runs batted in. He was a five-time most valuable player and was chosen as the league’s top third baseman in each of his 17 seasons. He was inducted into Japan’s Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988.
In his first season, 1958, he led the league in home runs and was second in stolen bases and batting average, earning him rookie of the year honors. And then, early in his second season, he made history in the first game attended by a Japanese emperor, Hirohito, and an empress, Nagako. In the bottom of the ninth inning, Nagashima hit a 2-2 pitch into the left field stands for a game-winning home run, considered one of the most dramatic sports events in Japanese history.
One of Nagashima’s trademarks was his work ethic, a character trait that was particularly celebrated during Japan’s postwar rise. Under the guidance of manager Tetsuharu Kawakami, Nagashima practiced from dawn to dusk, enduring an infamous 1,000-fungo drill that required him to field ground ball after ground ball. In the off-season, he trained in the mountains, running and swinging the bat to the point of exhaustion. He bought a house by the Tama River in Tokyo so he could run there, and he added a room to his home where he could practice swinging.
Jim Marshall, defensive end for the Minnesota Vikings.
…
Marshall gained a permanent place in NFL Films lore in 1964 when he returned a fumble the wrong way in a game against the San Francisco 49ers, celebrating what he thought was a touchdown but instead was scored a safety. But his career accomplishments far outweighed that gaffe.
He was a Vikings captain for 14 seasons and appeared in four Super Bowls as part of the franchise’s famed Purple People Eaters defense. Although sacks did not become an official statistic until 1982, a research project coordinated by Pro Football Reference credited him with 130.5, which would tie him for No. 22 in NFL history.
Knick knack paddy whack…
June 3rd, 2025This is still breaking news, but: The New York Knickerbockers just fired head coach Tom Thibodeau.
In five seasons with the Knicks, Thibodeau led them to a 226-174 regular-season record, and they made the playoffs in four of his five seasons at the helm.
When it came to the postseason, however, a 24-23 mark with the Knicks didn’t cut it.
ESPN.
Obit watch: May 31, 2025.
May 31st, 2025
I would like to think she ended up with piles and piles of sweet “M*A*S*H” residuals, especially given how long she was on the show. But there’s a quote in Larry Linville’s IMDB entry:
Then again, she only had one ex-husband.
I have a lot of problems with “M*A*S*H”, and those problems only increase the more MeTV reruns it. But it is interesting that Major Houlihan was actually permitted to have a character arc. This is a nice moment. (It used to be on YouTube, but I think they’re scrubbing anything from “M*A*S*H” that isn’t official.)
Other credits include “Freebie and the Bean”, the good “Hawaii Five-O”, “The Bold Ones: The New Doctors”, “Mission: Impossible”, “Supertrain”…
…and she was a “Mannix” two-timer. (“Only One Death to a Customer“, season 3, episode 20. She was “Dorothy Harker”. “Figures in a Landscape“, season 4, episode 4. She was “Jill Packard”.)
Obit watch: May 30, 2025.
May 30th, 2025Bernard B. Kerik, former commissioner of the New York Police Department.
He was in charge on September 11th.
He was also convicted of several crimes, including tax fraud, and served three years of a four year federal sentence. He was pardoned by Trump in 2020.
NYT obit for Harrison Ruffin Tyler (share link). Previously.
Dr. Robert Jarvik, the artificial heart guy.
…
In January 1990, the Food and Drug Administration withdrew its approval of the Jarvik-7, citing concerns about the manufacturer’s quality control.
In a 1989 interview with Syracuse University Magazine, Dr. Jarvik admitted that his belief that the Jarvik-7 was advanced enough to be used widely on a permanent basis was “probably the biggest mistake I have ever made.”
Still, he defended his work. Of the five recipients of the permanent Jarvik-7, he told the magazine, “These were people who I view as having had their lives prolonged,” adding that they survived nine months on average when some had been expected to live “no more than a week.”
…
In the late 1980s, his company, Jarvik Heart Inc., began developing smaller, less obtrusive implements, known as ventricular assist devices. Unlike the Jarvik-7, these devices do not replace a diseased heart but assist in pumping blood from the lower chambers of the heart to the rest of the body. One such device, the Jarvik 2000, is about the size of a C battery. A pediatric version, called the Jarvik 2015, is roughly the size of an AA battery.
According to a 2023 study of the artificial heart market, a descendant of the original Jarvik-7, now owned by another company, is called the SynCardia Total Artificial Heart. It is designed primarily for temporary use in patients who face imminent death while awaiting transplants. The study found that the device had been implanted in more than 1,700 patients worldwide.
Springtime!
May 29th, 2025And I’d like to talk about Spring…fields. Or at least books about Springfields. Plus some sniping content after the jump…
Obit watch: May 29, 2025.
May 29th, 2025FotB Joe D pointed out in comments the death of Harrison Ruffin Tyler at the age of 96.
He was the grandson of president John Tyler. It is actually a kind of interesting story: he was born to Lyon Gardiner Tyler, John’s son. Lyon was 75 when he was born. John Tyler was 63 when Lyon was born.
Bruce Logan, who did a lot of movie special effects. Among his credits: he blew up the Death Star.
Mr. Logan — who was also a cinematographer and director — recalled that he could not film the Death Star’s detonation as if it were happening on Earth.
“When you shoot an explosion conventionally, with the camera straight and level, with forces of gravity and atmospherics acting on it, what you get is a mushroom cloud which doesn’t look like it’s exploding in outer space,” he wrote on Zacuto.com, a film equipment website, in 2015.
To achieve the needed effect, Mr. Logan manned a high-speed camera, which was surrounded by a sheet of plywood, with a hole cut out for the lens and a sheet of glass covering it. With the camera pointed upward, Joe Viskocil, a pyrotechnics specialist, set off a series of miniature bombs overhead, which created the illusion of the explosions occurring in zero gravity in outer space.
The bombs’ ingredients included black powder, gasoline, titanium chips and napalm — and the only protection the crew had was a grip holding a fire extinguisher.
“I do remember wiping some burning napalm off my arm,” Mr. Logan told the Manhattan Edit Workshop, a postproduction school, in 2019.
Ed Gale, actor. Other credits include “Chopper Chicks in Zombietown”, “Land of the Lost”, and “Phantasm II”.
Peter Kwong, actor. Other credits include “Theodore Rex”, “Homeboys in Outer Space”, and “Renegade”.
(Hattip on the last two to Lawrence.)
Obit watch: May 27, 2025.
May 27th, 2025Catching up from the three-day weekend:
Phil Robertson, noted beard guy and founder of Duck Commander. He was also on a TV show. NYT.
(I kid a little. I kind of liked what I saw of “Duck Dynasty”.)
Marcel Ophuls, French documentary film maker. He was pretty famous for “The Sorrow and the Pity”, but he first came to my attention when “Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie” was released. I haven’t seen either one, though I feel obligated to. THR.
Charles B. Rangel, former Congressman from New York City.
James McEachin. Other credits include…well, just about every damn thing. “The F.B.I”, “Play Misty for Me”, “The Bold Ones: The Senator”, “The Bold Ones: The Protectors”…and “Mannix” (“Pressure Point”, season 2, episode 3. He was “Benjy”, but went uncredited.)
Rick Derringer, musician.
Memorial Day 2025.
May 26th, 2025My oldest nephew got married this past weekend.
While it was certainly a fun time, it was also a busy one, so I didn’t have as much time to prepare a Memorial Day post as I would have liked.
I’ve written before about the Catholic chaplains who have received the Medal of Honor. You can find those posts here, here, here, here, and here.
There are four other chaplains who received the Medal of Honor, all during the Civil War:
- Francis Bloodgood Hall, for actions on May 3, 1863 at Salem Heights, VA.
- Milton Lorenzi Haney, for actions on July 22, 1864 in Atlanta, GA.
- James Hill, for actions on May 16, 1863 at Champion Hill, MS.
- John Milton Whitehead, for actions on December 31, 1862 at Stone River, TN.
The links above go to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society pages for each man. The citations are a lot shorter than those for 20th and 21st century recipients. I don’t know enough about CMOH history to comment intelligently on this.
====
The actual wedding ceremony yesterday was outdoors. Some of us had to hang out outside after the ceremony for photo taking. It was hot – at least 94 degrees fondly Farenheit – and I was wearing a suit, so I was getting more than a little warm under the collar.
And then, out of nowhere, down the path, came two charming young women with miniature donkeys. Even better, the miniature donkeys had saddlebags loaded with ice cold beer and hard seltzer. Their timing was impeccable. And the donkeys were very charming.
I commented later to Mike the Musicologist that, between this and the Wienie 500, America really is the greatest country on Earth. Do you think they have donkeys bearing cold drinks in North Korea? Or Communist China? Of course not.
And it is because of the contributions of men like Hall, Haney, Hill, and Whitehead that we can have nice things like this today. Remember.
Norts spews.
May 24th, 2025McThag has posted video of the Wienie 500. Instead of copying him here, I’m going to suggest that you go over to his blog and give him some love. The video is about 27 minutes long: I didn’t watch the whole thing, but I did fast-forward to the end.
I will say that I think it’s nice they have someone with a British accent doing the race coverage, but I’m an old man and remember Jackie Stewart from when I was young and watching the Indy 500.
(Huh. Did not know this:
)
In other news, El Hijo del Santo is retiring.
Not to worry, though:
I was going to say “please, let there be some El Hijo del Santo movies” but it looks like there already are. Many of them look like wrestling videos, but I am interested in the short “¡Esta máscara es mía! o Santo contra los burócratas” (“This Mask Is Mine! or Santo Versus the Bureaucrats”). Also:
The third generation wrestler, El Santo Jr. will carry on with the family’s tradition in the ring.
“As an athlete and wrestler, he is very well-prepared and is schooled in other disciplines such as olympic wrestling, taekwondo, jiu jitsu and muay thai,” he said. “So far, fans have received him well, he’ll have to find his own style and break down barriers, the name is not enough, it takes a lot to succeed in the ring.”
The Unintended Consequences of a Silly Person With Money. (Random gun and gun book crankery.)
May 22nd, 202534. If you’re leaving scorch-marks, you need a bigger gun.
–“The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries“, Schlock Mercenary
Sometimes you buy the book, then you buy the gun.
Sometimes you buy the gun, then you buy the book.
Some days you get the bear, other days the bear gets you.
===
When the Smith and Wesson .500 Magnum came out, I didn’t care much for it. I still don’t like pretty much all of the production guns.
What’s not to like about one of the most powerful handguns in existence?
Well, for one thing, the factory guns are shiny. Awful shiny to me.
Secondly, I don’t care much for the barrel options. FotB Andrew is interested in the .500 Magnum, so I’ve taken a look at a few. There’s one with a 10 1/2″ barrel that we got a chance to handle at Collector’s Firearms in Austin. I’m sure that’s great for some people. For me, if i wanted a crew-served weapon, I’d buy a vintage French 75.
There’s an 8 3/8″ version that still seems awkward to me (and we haven’t found one anywhere recently). There’s a 7 1/2″ Performance Center version that seems perhaps less awkward than the 10 1/2″. (Since this is a Performance Center gun, we’d probably have to special order it: I don’t think anybody is going to have one in stock.) There’s a 4″ version that seems too short to me. And there’s a 3 1/2″ version that’s probably great for self-defense: if you don’t hit the bad guy, the muzzle blast will deafen him, and the fireball will set him on fire.
(Smith and Wesson at one point made an “Emergency Revolver Survival Kit” and a bear emergency kit, both containing a .500 Magnum with a 2 3/4″ barrel. I sort of vaguely wanted one of those, just because it seemed so ridiculous. Also, I like the fact that the bear one includes a book on “bear attacks”.)
(And, on a side note, why aren’t there more .500 Magnum lever guns? The few I have seen are from high-end custom or semi-custom gun makers. I haven’t seen any that I’d consider “mass produced”. I have heard rumors that S&W is looking at a .500 Magnum chambering for their 1854 lever gun, sometime in the not too distant future (but not next Sunday, A.D.).)
There is, however, one Smith and Wesson .500 Magnum that I do like. But I didn’t know about it until I read Timothy J. Mullin’s Serious Smith & Wessons The N- and X-Frame Revolvers: The S&W Phenomenon.