Culture Icons... R.I.P

Discussion in 'Art & Culture' started by R1D2, Aug 25, 2012.

  1. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    Lindsay Cooper

    Lindsay Cooper (3 March 1951 – 18 September 2013) was an English bassoon and oboe player, composer and political activist. Best known for her work with the band Henry Cow, she was also a member of Comus, National Health, News from Babel and David Thomas and the Pedestrians. She collaborated with a number of musicians, including Chris Cutler and Sally Potter, and co-founded the Feminist Improvising Group. She wrote scores for film and TV and a song cycle Oh Moscow which was performed live around the world in 1987. She also recorded a number of solo albums, including Rags (1980), The Gold Diggers (1983) and Music For Other Occasions (1986).

    Cooper was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in the late 1970s, but did not disclose it to the musical community until the late 1990s when her illness prevented her from performing live. In September 2013, Cooper died from the illness at the age of 62, 15 years after her retirement.

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    Early life

    Lindsay Cooper was born in Hornsey, North London.[1] She began piano lessons at the age of 11, but switched to bassoon a few years later. Between 1965 and 1968 she studied classical music and bassoon at the Dartington College of Arts and the Royal College of Music. She played in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and became a member of the Royal Academy of Music in London. Towards the end of the 1960s she lived in New York City for a year, during which time she became involved in music projects outside classical music.

    When Cooper returned to the United Kingdom in 1971 she left classical music and became a part of the Canterbury scene. She joined the progressive rock band Comus, and although she only remained with the band for a year, it changed her whole approach to music. She added oboe and flute to her instrument repertoire, and started doing session work for other musicians, including Mike Oldfield on his album Hergest Ridge (1974). A common misconception here is that she also performed on Oldfield's Tubular Bells (1973), but it was her namesake Lindsay L. Cooper who played double bass. Then, during a theatre project, Cooper encountered Henry Cow, an avant-rock group that would later launch her musical career on the world stage.

    Henry Cow

    In late 1973, Henry Cow asked Cooper to join them as a replacement for Geoff Leigh (tenor sax and flute) who had recently left. Her classical training interested the group as they were continually looking for new musical directions. In spite of just having had all four wisdom teeth extracted, she immediately joined the band in the studio to record their second album Unrest (1974). However, following their European tour supporting Captain Beefheart, the group reorganized themselves and asked Cooper to leave, performing as a quartet on their Scandinavian tour of September 1974. But she still continued to guest on their albums and by February 1975 she rejoined the group again and remained a permanent member until they split up in 1978.

    From 1977, Cooper became one of Henry Cow's principal composers and contributed a number of compositions to their repertoire, including half of their final album, Western Culture (1978). The nature of the group enabled her to expand her musical horizons and experiment with new ideas. She took the bassoon into musical realms never dreamt of before. She also started playing soprano saxophone and piano during this period and began exploring improvisation techniques. Henry Cow toured Europe extensively, exposing Cooper to a variety of musical styles and musicians, all contributing to the development of her musical career.

    Other projects

    Cooper's work with Henry Cow attracted the attention of musicians from around the world and she had no shortage of performance and recording opportunities. Late in 1977, during Henry Cow's last years, Cooper co-founded the Feminist Improvising Group with Sally Potter, Maggie Nichols, Georgie Born (from Henry Cow) and Irène Schweizer. An international group of women improvisers, they toured Europe on and off between 1977 and 1982. She also kept a foot in the Canterbury scene by re-uniting briefly with Comus and playing on their second album, recording with Steve Hillage, and contributing to Hatfield and the North's The Rotters' Club (1975) album.

    After Henry Cow, Cooper joined National Health (whom she had already sat in with), but left soon after when Dave Stewart departed. In 1980 she recorded her first solo album Rags, a song-cycle about sweatshops in Victorian England, with Chris Cutler, Fred Frith and Georgie Born (all from Henry Cow) and Phil Minton and Sally Potter. In 1982 Cooper formed her own group, The Lindsay Cooper Film Music Orchestra, in which she wrote and performed film and TV scores, including the soundtrack to Sally Potter's debut feature film, The Gold Diggers (1983), starring Julie Christie.

    During the 1980s, she toured the United States with David Thomas and played in various bands in England led by jazz composer Mike Westbrook. In 1983 Cooper collaborated with Chris Cutler and formed the English avant-rock group News from Babel, composing all the music for their two albums, Work Resumed on the Tower (1984) and Letters Home (1986).

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    Oh Moscow CD cover (1991)

    Cooper's best known work is her 1987 song-cycle Oh Moscow. It was another collaboration with Sally Potter, with Cooper composing the music and Potter the song texts. It premiered at the Zurich Jazz Festival that year and was subsequently performed in Europe, North America and Moscow. The songs dealt with issues facing a divided Europe during the Cold War. Ironically, the Berlin Wall came down 39 days after the work was first performed. Oh Moscow was recorded in October 1989 with Potter, Phil Minton, Hugh Hopper, Marilyn Mazur, Alfred Harth and Elvira Plenar at the 7th Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada, and released on a CD in 1991.

    In 1990, Cooper spent a few months in Australia where she gave solo performances on bassoon, saxophone and electronics. She also collaborated with Australian singer, writer and theatre director Robyn Archer, arranging and composing the music for Archer's play Cafe Fledermaus, and Sahara Dust, a large scale jazz vocal piece with lyrics by Archer. Sahara Dust was released on CD in 1993 with the voice of Phil Minton, and reflected on the 1990–91 Gulf War and its impact on the world at large. Later that year, she worked in John Wolf Brennan's "Creative Works Orchestra" and performed at the Willisau Jazz Festival. She returned to Switzerland in 1991 performing in Brennan's "SinFONietta" at the Lucerne Festival.

    Cooper released two collections of her contemporary dance pieces Schrödinger's Cat and An Angel on the Bridge in 1991 and performed her own composition "Concerto for Sopranino Saxophone and Strings" at the British Conservatory in London in 1992, a piece commissioned by the European Women's Orchestra. She also wrote and performed "Songs for Bassoon and Orchestra" with the Bologna Opera House Orchestra in Italy in 1992, and composed "Face in a Crowd" and "Can of Worms" for the San Francisco based Rova Saxophone Quartet.

    Illness and death

    Cooper became aware that she had multiple sclerosis in the "late days" of Henry Cow, but did not disclose this fact to the musical community and continued performing right up until the late 1990s when the illness forced her to retire. In spite of this, Cooper still remained a highly respected and influential figure in the musical world. Her works are regularly performed and even taught throughout the world. Aged 62, Cooper died from the illness on 18 September 2013. A statement from Chris Cutler said that Cooper had contracted pneumonia.

    In June 2014 it was announced that Henry Cow, Music for Films, News from Babel and Oh Moscow would all be reforming to play Lindsay Cooper's music at two concerts: one at the Barbican Centre, London on 21 November 2014 as part of the EFG London Jazz Festival; and the other at the Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield on 22 November 2014 as part of the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival (hcmf// 2014).

    Discography

    Solo albums

    Rags (1981, LP, Arc Records, UK)
    The Golddiggers (1983, LP, Recommended Records, UK) – original soundtrack to the film The Gold Diggers by Sally Potter
    Music for Other Occasions (1986, LP, No Man's Land, Germany)
    Oh Moscow (1991, CD, Victo Records, Canada)
    An Angel on the Bridge (1991, CD, Phonogram/Australian Broadcasting Corporation, Australia)
    Schroedinger's Cat (1991, CD, Line/Femme Music, Germany)
    Sahara Dust (1993, CD, Intakt Records, Switzerland)
    A View from the Bridge (1998, 2xCD, Impetus Records, UK)

    Band albums

    With Mike Oldfield
    Hergest Ridge (1974, LP, Virgin Records, UK)
    With Egg
    The Civil Surface (1974, LP, Caroline Records, UK)
    With Henry Cow
    Unrest (1974, LP, Virgin Records, UK)
    Henry Cow Concerts (1976, 2xLP, Caroline Records, UK)
    Western Culture (1979, LP, Broadcast, UK)
    The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set (2009, 9xCD+DVD, Recommended Records, UK)
    With Slapp Happy/Henry Cow
    Desperate Straights (1975, LP, Virgin Records, UK)
    In Praise of Learning (1975, LP, Virgin Records, UK)
    With Comus
    To Keep from Crying (1974, LP, Virgin Records, UK) – recorded after Cooper left the group, with her appearing as a guest
    With Steve Hillage
    Fish Rising (1975, LP, Virgin Records, UK)
    With Hatfield and the North
    The Rotters' Club (1975, LP, Virgin Records, UK)
    With Art Bears
    Hopes and Fears (1978, LP, Recommended Records, UK)
    With Mike Westbrook
    The Cortège (1982, 3xLP, Original Records, UK)
    Westbrook-Rossini (1987, 2xLP, Hat Hut Records, Switzerland)
    Westbrook Rossini Zürich Live (1994, 2xCD, Hat Hut Records, Switzerland)
    With Chris Cutler, Bill Gilonis, Tim Hodgkinson and Robert Wyatt
    The Last Nightingale (1984, LP, Recommended Records, UK)
    With News from Babel
    Work Resumed on the Tower (1984, LP, Recommended Records, UK)
    Letters Home (1986, LP, Recommended Records, UK)
    With David Thomas and the Pedestrians
    Winter Comes Home (1983, LP, Recommended Records, UK)
    Variations on a Theme (1983, LP, Rough Trade Records, UK)
    More Places Forever (1985, LP, Rough Trade Records, UK)
    With Maggie Nicols and Joëlle Léandre
    Live at the Bastille (1982) (1984, LP, Recommended Records, UK)
    With Catherine Jauniaux and Tim Hodgkinson
    Fluvial (1984, LP, Woof Records, UK)
    With Dagmar Krause
    Tank Battles: The Songs of Hanns Eisler (1988, LP, Island Records, UK)
    Panzerschlacht: Die Lieder von Hanns Eisler (1988, LP, Island Records, UK)
    With Anthony Phillips and Harry Williamson
    Tarka (1988, CD, Baillemont Records, France)
    With John Wolf Brennan
    Creative Works Orchestra: Live in Willisau & More (1991, CD, Creative Works Records, Switzerland)
    I.N.I.T.I.A.L.S.: Sources Along the Songlines (2005, CD, Creative Works Records, Switzerland)
    With David Motion and Sally Potter
    Orlando (1993, CD, Varese Sarabande, U.S.) – original soundtrack to the film Orlando by Sally Potter
    With Trio Trabant a Roma
    State of Volgograd (1994, CD, Free Music Production, Germany)
    With Tim Hodgkinson
    Each in Our Own Thoughts (1994, CD, Woof Records, UK)
    With Charles Gray
    Pia Mater (1997, CD, Resurgence, UK)
    With Rova Saxophone Quartet
    Bingo (1998, CD, Victo Records, Canada)
     
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  3. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    Rafael Corkidi

    Rafael Corkidi Acriche (20 May 1930 – 18 September 2013)[1][2] was a Mexican cinematographer, film director and screenwriter.[3] He began his career as a cinematographer and contributed to the visual style and cinematography in three films directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky in Mexico, Fando y Lis, El Topo, and the The Holy Mountain. Eventually he became a director in his own right, including films such as Angels and Cherubs, Auandar Anapu, Pafnucio Santo and Deseos, his last film before he decided to pioneer video as a mean of expression.

    In 2013 he was awarded the Ariel de Oro, Mexico's top film prize, for his contributions to the Mexican film industry.

    Selected filmography / videography

    Fando y Lis (1968) (cinematographer)
    El Topo (1970) (cinematographer)
    Apolinar (1971) (cinematographer)
    Angels and Cherubs (1972)
    The Holy Mountain (1973) (cinematographer)
    Angels and Cherubs (1972)
    Auandar Anapu (1975)
    Pafnucio Santo (1977)
    Deseos (1978)

    Video
    Las Lupitas (1984)
    Figuras de la pasión (1984)
    Relatos (short) (1986)
    Huelga / Strike (documentary short) (1987)
    Señores y señoras (documentary short) (1988)
    Querida Benita (short) (1989)
    Forjadores (documentary short) (1990)
    Murmullos (1991)
    Folklor (1991)
    Rulfo aeternum (1992)
    Urbano y Natalia (short) (1994)
    El maestro prodigioso (2010)
     
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    Johannes van Dam

    Johannes van Dam (Amsterdam 1946 - Amsterdam 18 September 2013) was a Dutch journalist and the country's best-known writer on food.[citation needed] Van Dam wrote a regular column on food for the national daily Het Parool for almost 25 years.

    Van Dam studied medicine and psychology and worked in the newspaper business from 1967 to 1981 (for Het Vrije Volk and Haagse Post), before running a cookbook store in Amsterdam, in 1983. In 1986 he started writing a column on food for the Dutch weekly Elsevier, and in 1989 sold the bookstore and began writing full-time, for Het Parool and the Belgian daily De Morgen in addition to Elsevier. He published a book on food, De Dikke Van Dam, in 2005. He died in an Amsterdam hospital in 2013 after suffering for some time from health problems, including diabetes.[
     
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  7. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    Johnny Laboriel

    Johnny Laboriel (born Juan José Laboriel López, July 9, 1942 – September 18, 2013) was a Mexican rock and roll singer. He is the son of actor and composer Juan José Laboriel and actress Francisca López de Laboriel. At 16 years old, in 1958 he joined the rock and roll group "Los Rebeldes del Rock," where he began his professional career.

    Johnny Laboriel died on 18 September 2013, in Mexico City, from prostate cancer.

    Discography

    Melodía de Amor
    La Hiedra Venenosa
    Cuando Florezcan los Manzanos
    Historia de Amor
    El Chico Danielito
    Muévanse Todos (vocalista Roberto "Baby" Moreno)
    Rock del Angelito (Rockin' Little Angel Cover)
    La Bamba
    Yakety Yack
    Recuerdas Cuando
    Kansas City
    Un Tonto Como Yo
    Corre Sansón Corre

    Collaborations

    In 2004, Laboriel was invited by Alex Lora to participate in the 36th anniversary of his band El Tri. The concert was presented at the Auditorio Nacional and is available in CD and DVD as 35 Años y lo que falta todavía.

    In 2006 Johnny Laboriel was invited by Luis Álvarez "El Haragán" to participate in the 16th anniversary of his band, El Haragán y Compañía. The concert was presented on November 3, 2006, also at Mexico City's Teatro Metropólitan.
     
  8. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    Arthur Lamothe

    Arthur Lamothe, CM (December 7, 1928 – September 18, 2013) was a French-Canadian film director and film producer.

    Born in Saint-Mont, France, Lamothe immigrated to Canada in 1953 and immediately got a job as a lumberjack in the Abitibi region of northern Quebec. In 1954 he began studying economic science at the Université de Montréal. During his time as a student he became interested in cinema and began writing for several film publications. After graduating in 1958 he was immediately hired as a writer for Radio-Canada. In 1961 he was hired by the NFB and wrote Dimanche d’Amérique, his first screenplay which became the first film of Gilles Carle. In 1962 he directed his first film, a short documentary entitled Bûcherons de la Manouane. He directed his first feature length fiction work in 1965 entitled Poussière sur la ville; the film was not successful and Lamothe returned to documentary films. Lamothe has only made a handful of fiction films during his career but it's his documentaries that he is best known and most respected for. Lamothe most frequently explored in his films social and economic themes, as well as activism for issues in which he passionately supported especially in regards to Aboriginal people.

    In 1980 he was awarded the Prix Albert-Tessier and in 1995 was made a member of the Order of Canada.

    Selected filmography

    Features

    Poussière sur la ville (1965)
    La neige a fondu sur la Manicouagan (1965)
    Équinoxe (1986)
    Ernest Livernois, photographe (1988)
    Le silence des fusils (1996)

    Documentaries

    Bûcherons de la Manouane (Short, 1962)
    De Montréal à Manicouagan (Short, 1963
    La moisson (Short, 1966)
    Le train du Labrador (Short, 1967)
    Au-delà des murs (Short, 1968)
    Ce soir-là, Gilles Vigneault... (1968)
    Actualités québécoises (Series, 1969)
    Pour une éducation de qualité (Series of 6 Shorts, 1969)
    Le mépris n'aura qu'un temps (1970)
    Un homme et son boss (Short Co-Directed with Guy Borremans, 1970)
    Révolution industrielle (Short, 1970)
    Le train du roi (Short, 1970)
    La machine à vapeur (Short, 1971)
    Le monde de l'enfance (Short, 1971)
    Le technicien en arpentage minier (Short, 1971)
    A bon pied, bon oeil (Short, 1972)
    Les gars de Lapalme (Short Co-Directed with François Dupuis, 1972)
    Special Delivery (Short Co-Directed with François Dupuis, 1972)
    La route du fer (Short, 1972)
    Le système de la langue française (Series of 7 Shorts, 1972)
    A propos de méthodes (Series of 5 Shorts, 1973)
    Chronique des indiens du Nord-est du Québec (Series, 1973-1980)
    Carcajou et le péril blanc (Series of 3 Features and 5 Shorts, 1973-1980)
    La terre de l'homme (Series of 4 Features and 1 Short, 1973-1980)
    Qui? Quoi? Pourquoi? (Short, 1973)
    Te promènes tu souvent sur un lapin? (Short, 1973)
    Ti-Louis mijote un plan... (Short, 1973)
    Voyage sans détour (Short, 1974)
    La chasse aux Montagnais (Short, 1974)
    C'est dangereux ici (Short, 1978)
    Le collet à lièvre (Short, 1978)
    Le piège à martre (Short, 1978)
    La raquette (Short, 1978)
    Montage de la tente (Short, 1978)
    Géographie Montagnaise (Short, 1978)
    Vous avez droits, les autres aussi (Short, 1980)
    Mémoire battante (Series of 3 Features, 1982-1983)
    Cultures amérindiennes (Series of 80 videos, 1984-2004)
    La conquête de l'amérique (Series of 2 Features, 1990-1992)
    L'écho des songes (1993)
    Dix portraits (Series, 1998)
    La terre mère (1998)
    Du rêve au libéralisme (1999)
    Mémoire antérieure (Series of 13 Shorts, 2005)
    Les pêcheurs acadiens de l'Île Lamèque (2007)
     
  9. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    Donald Low

    Donald Low (May 2, 1945 - September 18, 2013) was a Canadian microbiologist noted for his role in battling the SARS outbreak of 2003. He was microbiologist-in-chief at Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, from 1985 to 2013.

    Donald Low graduated from medical school at the University of Manitoba. Low became a familiar face to the Canadian public during 2003's SARS crisis; although he had no official role, he was seen as calm and effective in press conferences about the response to the outbreak. He was one of several physicians who were required to quarantine themselves at home during part of the outbreak. In 2005 he took on the role of medical director of public health laboratory of the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion. Low was also a noted expert in necrotizing fasciitis due to Group A streptococcus.

    Low's wife was CBC News reporter Maureen Taylor. He had three children from a previous marriage. Low was diagnosed with a brain tumour in February 2013, and died September 18, 2013, at age 68. In a video published after his death, Low calls for Canada to allow assisted suicide, saying "I’m just frustrated with not being able to have control of my own life, not being able to make the decision myself when enough is enough."
     
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    Stephen Malawista

    Stephen Evan Malawista (April 4, 1934 – September 18, 2013) was an American medical researcher and Professor of medicine within the rheumatology department of Yale University. Malawista is credited as the co-discover of Lyme disease and led the research team which identified the disease.

    In 1975, Malawista and his Yale colleague, researcher Dr. Allen Steere, began work which would reveal Lyme disease as a new, distinct illness. Malawista and Steere had been contacted by the Connecticut Department of Public Health, which had been concerned about a mysterious cluster of similar illnesses and symptoms which had begun afflicting patients within the southeastern region of Connecticut. Malawista and Steere identified the illness, as a new bacterial infection spread by the bite of a tick. In 1977, Malwista and Steere identified the illness as a new infection spread by tick bites. Malawista initially named the new disease "Lyme arthritis." The name was later changed to Lyme disease after the illness was later shown to encompass a wide range of symptoms which were not limited to joint pain.

    Malawista and his colleagues initially hypothesized that Lyme disease was caused by a virus. However, was later disproved in 1982 by microbiologist Willy Burgdorfer, who correctly identified the Borrelia burgdorferi bacterium as the cause of Lyme disease in Connecticut and the eastern United States. Other scientists later determined that the deer tick was the carrier of the bacteria. Malawista and his colleagues contributed to the research the possible spread of Lyme disease by deer ticks by comparing the incidents of the disease along the eastern and western sides of the Connecticut River.

    Another of Malawista's colleagues within the Yale rheumatology department, Dr. Linda Bockenstedt later spoke of his commitment to his research on Lyme disease, telling the Hartford Courant in 2013, "I think he recognized an opportunity when this was unfurling in 1975 that this was something different and unusual...It was this detective work that led to the discoveries that set the stage for the treatment that ultimately worked against it."

    Malawista was born in New York City on April 4, 1934. His mother, Ann Marlowe Straus, was a theatrical producer and the head of the Berkshire Theater Festival. His father, Lawrence Malawista, was a real estate developer.

    He was accepted to Harvard University when he was just 15 years old. Malawista studied under B.F. Skinner as an undergraduate student. He received a bachelor's degree in experimental psychology from Harvard in 1954. In 1958, he received a medical degree from Columbia University.

    In 1994, the American College of Rheumatology awarded Malawista the Distinguished Investigator Award, calling him "one of the most creative investigators of our time." He was also the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2001.

    Malawista, died from metastatic melanoma at his home in Hamden, Connecticut, on September 18, 2013, at the age of 79. He was survived by his wife of 44 years, Tobé Miller Malawista.
     
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    Ken Norton

    Kenneth Howard "Ken" Norton, Sr. (August 9, 1943 – September 18, 2013) was an American heavyweight boxer. He is a former WBC world heavyweight champion. Norton fought in one of the classic eras of heavyweight boxing, and competed against many of the best boxers in the division. He was known for his unconventional cross-arm style defence, which made him an awkward and frustrating opponent to face. Norton's name became household when he became the second man to defeat Muhammad Ali in 1973, and in doing so broke the champion's jaw in the process. Norton ended up fighting Ali three times, and he lost the latter two bouts. Norton is also known for his classic battle with Larry Holmes, a fight which he lost by split decision. The final round of the fight between Norton and Holmes is largely recognised as one of the greatest rounds of all time.

    Norton scored several decisive victories over the course of his career, which secured his place in the history of heavyweight boxing. He holds notable wins over Muhammad Ali, Jerry Quarry, Ron Stander, Duane Bobick, Jimmy Young and Randall Cobb.

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    Early years

    Norton was an outstanding athlete at Jacksonville High School. He was a member of the state championship football team and was selected to the all-state team on defense as a senior in 1960. His track coach entered him in eight events, and Norton placed first in seven of them. As a result, the "Ken Norton Rule," which limits participation of an athlete to a maximum of four track and field events, was instituted in Illinois high school sports. After graduating from high school, Norton went to Northeast Missouri State University (now Truman State University) on a football scholarship and studied elementary education.

    Boxing career

    Norton started boxing when he was in the United States Marine Corps from 1963 to 1967, compiling a 24–2 record en route to three All-Marine Heavyweight titles. In time, Ken became the best boxer to ever fight for the Marines, and was awarded the North Carolina AAU Golden Gloves, International AAU and Pan American titles. Following the National AAU finals in 1967, he turned professional.

    Norton built up a steady string of wins, some against journeyman fighters and others over fringe contenders like the giant Jack O'Halloran. He was learning and improving. But he suffered a surprise defeat, ironically just after The Ring magazine had profiled him as a prospect, at the hands of Venezuelan boxer Jose Luis Garcia in 1970. It was Garcia's career peak.

    Norton was given the motivational book Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill, which, as he states in his autobiography, Going the Distance, changed his life. Upon reading it, he went on a 14-fight winning streak, including a shocking victory over Muhammad Ali in 1973 to win the North American Boxing Federation heavyweight champion title. To quote Norton from his autobiography noted above, "These words (from Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich) were the final inspiration in my victory over Ali: Life's battles don't always go to the stronger or faster man, but sooner or later the man who wins is the man who thinks he can."

    An article which appeared in The Southeast Missourian discussed that Norton credited Napoleon Hill's philosophy for his success. To quote from the article, "Norton says he's a believer in Napoleon Hill's philosophy, that a person can do anything he puts his mind to. 'So I train for my fights,' he says, 'mentally as well as physically. One thing I do is only watch films of the fights in which I've done well or in which my opponent has done poorly.'"

    Ken Norton once said, "In boxing, and in all of life, nobody should ever stop learning!"

    Versus Ali, first & second fight

    'Name' opponents were elusive in Norton's early career. His first big break came with a clear win over respected contender Henry Clark. This helped get him his world recognition break when Ali agreed to a match. Joe Frazier, who'd sparred with Norton, presciently said of Ali, "He'll have plenty of trouble!" Though both were top boxers in the mid 1970s, Norton and Frazier never fought each other, in part because they shared the same trainer, Eddie Futch.

    On March 31, 1973, Muhammad Ali entered the ring at the San Diego Sports Arena[15] wearing a robe given to him by Elvis Presley as a 5–1 favorite versus Ken Norton in a bout televised by ABC's Wide World of Sports. Norton won a 12-round split decision over Ali in his adopted hometown of San Diego to win the NABF heavyweight title. In this bout, Norton broke Ali's jaw (he maintains in round eleven, though Angelo Dundee said it was earlier), leading to only the second defeat for "The Greatest" in his career. (Ali's only previous loss was to Joe Frazier, and Ali would later go on to defeat George Foreman to regain the heavyweight title in 1974.)

    Almost six months later, at The Forum in Inglewood, California, on September 10, 1973, Ali avenged the Norton loss, but only just, when he got the return by a split decision. Norton weighed in at 205 lbs (5 pounds lighter than his first match with Ali) and boxing scribes discussed that his preparation was too intense and that perhaps he had overtrained. There were some furious exchanges in this hard-fought battle. From Ali's point of view, a loss here would have seriously dented his claim of ever being "The Greatest."

    Championship challenge against Foreman

    In 1974, Norton fought George Foreman for the World Heavyweight Championship but was stopped in two rounds at Poliedro of Caracas, Venezuela. After an even first round, Foreman staggered Norton with an uppercut a minute into round two, buckling him into the ropes. Norton did not hit the canvas, but continued on wobbly legs, clearly not having recovered, and shortly he went down a further two times in quick succession, with the referee intervening and stopping the fight. This fight would became known as the "Caracas Caper".

    In 1975, Norton regained the NABF heavyweight title when he impressively defeated Jerry Quarry by TKO in the fifth round. Norton then avenged his above-mentioned 1970 loss to Jose Luis Garcia by decisively knocking out Garcia in round five.

    Third Ali match

    On September 28, 1976, at Yankee Stadium in New York City, Norton would again fight Ali, who was now the world heavyweight champion since regaining the title with an eighth-round knockout of George Foreman in 1974. Many observers have felt this was the beginning of Ali's decline as a boxer. It was a tough bruising battle for Ali. In one of the most disputed fights in history, the fight was even on the judges' scorecards going into the final round, which Ali won on both the referee's and judges' scorecards to retain the world heavyweight championship. The judges scored the bout 8–7 for Ali, and the referee scored it 8–6 for Ali. At the end of the last round, the commentator announced he would be "very surprised" if Norton has not won the fight.

    At the time of the third Ali-Norton bout, the last time a heavyweight champion had lost the title by decision was Max Baer to Jim Braddock 41 years earlier, and Ali-Norton III did not set a new marker. The January 1998 issue of Boxing Monthly listed Ali-Norton as the fifth most disputed title fight decision in boxing history. The unofficial UPI scorecard was 8–7 for Norton, and the unofficial AP scorecard was 9–6 for Ali.

    But Ali had received a pounding. His tactics were to try to push Norton back, but they had failed. He'd refused to 'dance' until the 11th when in sheer desperation, although the crowd massively roared its appreciation. Norton has said the third fight with Ali was the last boxing match for which he was fully motivated, owing to his disappointment at having lost a fight he believed he had clearly won.

    Aftermath: Norton becomes champion

    1977 was a top year for Norton. He knocked out previously unbeaten top prospect Duane Bobick in one round, and after dispatching European title holder Lorenzo Zannon easily, he beat number two contender Jimmy Young (who himself had beaten George Foreman and Ron Lyle) in a 15-round split decision in a WBC big mandatory title-elimination fight, with the winner to face reigning WBC champion Ali, but Ali's camp told Ring Magazine they did not want to fight Norton for a fourth time. Both boxers fought a smart fight; however, observers thought the decision controversial.

    Plans, however, changed on February 15, 1978. On that night, in front of a nationwide television audience, Ali lost his title to Leon Spinks. The WBC then ordered a match between the new champion and its number one contender, but Spinks chose instead to give the fallen champion the first shot at taking his title rather than face the still dangerous Norton. The WBC responded on March 18, 1978, by retroactively giving title fight status to Norton's victory over Young the year before and awarded Norton their championship, which split the heavyweight championship for the first time since Jimmy Ellis and Joe Frazier were both recognized as champions in the early 1970s.

    Larry Holmes title fight

    In his first defense of the WBC title on June 9, 1978, Norton and new #1 contender Larry Holmes met in a classic fight. After 15 brutal rounds, Holmes was awarded the title via an extremely close split decision. The three judges' cards were as follows: 143–142 for Holmes, 143–142 for Holmes, and 143–142 for Norton. The Associated Press scored it 143–142 for Norton. The March 2001 edition of The Ring magazine listed the final round of the Holmes-Norton bout as the 7th most exciting round in boxing history. As noted above, Holmes-Norton is ranked as the 10th greatest heavyweight fight of all time by Monte D. Cox, a member of the International Boxing Research Organization (IBRO). Holmes went on to become the third-longest reigning world heavyweight champion in the history of boxing, behind Joe Louis and Wladimir Klitschko. Years later, Holmes wrote of his experience that this was his toughest match in over 70 contests.

    Retirement looms

    After losing to Holmes, Norton won his next fight by knockout over sixth-ranked Randy Stephens in 1978 before taking on Earnie Shavers in another compulsory. WBC title eliminator fight in Las Vegas on March 23, 1979. It appeared for the first time that Norton's career had perhaps hit a decline, as Shavers took the former champion out in the first round (Norton's peak was 1973–1978.) Then, in his next fight, he fought to a draw with future contender Scott LeDoux at the Met Center in Minneapolis. Norton carried the day until sustaining an injury when he took a thumb in the eye in the eighth round, which immediately changed the bout. LeDoux rallied from that point and Norton became decidedly fatigued. Norton was down two times in the final round, resulting in the draw; Norton fell behind on one scorecard, kept his lead on the second, and dropped to even on the third (the unofficial AP scorecard was 5–3–2 Norton).

    After the fight, Norton decided that at 37 it was time to retire from boxing. However, not satisfied with the way he had gone out, Norton returned to the ring to face the undefeated Randall "Tex" Cobb in Cobb's home state of Texas on November 7, 1980. In a back-and-forth fight, Norton escaped with a split decision, with referee Tony Perez and judge Chuck Hassett voting in his favor and judge Arlen Bynum giving the fight to Cobb.

    The win over the title-contending Cobb gave Norton another shot at a potential title-fight, and on May 11, 1981. at Madison Square Garden he stepped into the ring with top contender Gerry Cooney, who, like Cobb, was undefeated entering the fight. Very early in the fight it became clear that Norton was no longer the caliber of fighter he once was, as Cooney's first punch caused Norton's legs to buckle. Norton continued to take shots from Cooney in his corner for nearly a full minute before Perez, who refereed his last fight, stepped in to stop the bout 54 seconds in, as Norton was slumped in his corner. Norton decided to retire following the match and turned his attention to charitable pursuits. Norton's enduring legacy as a fighter is that he is considered second to Joe Frazier as Ali's main nemesis and toughest opponent. Norton fought Ali to three decisions and was never hurt or knocked down. All three bouts were close and subject to controversy. Unfortunately, Norton was less successful against three of the greatest punchers of all time, losing by KO to Foreman and Shavers and by TKO to Cooney. Norton was considered past his prime in boxing from 1979 to 1981.

    Awards and recognitions

    Ken Norton is a 1989 inductee of the World Boxing Hall of Fame, a 1992 inductee of the International Boxing Hall Of Fame, a 2004 inductee into the United States Marine Corps Sports Hall of Fame and a 2008 inductee into the WBC Hall of Fame.

    The 1998 holiday issue of The Ring ranked Norton #22 among "The 50 Greatest Heavyweights of All Time." Norton received the Boxing Writers Association of America J. Niel trophy for "Fighter of the Year" in 1977.

    Norton, a proponent of motivational author Napoleon Hill's writings (e.g. Think and Grow Rich as noted above and Success Through A Positive Mental Attitude by Hill and W. Clement Stone) also received the "Napoleon Hill Award" for positive thinking in 1973.

    In 2001, Norton was inducted by the San Diego Hall of Champions into the Breitbard Hall of Fame honoring San Diego's finest athletes both on and off the playing surface. Norton was also inducted into the Marine Corps Hall of Fame in 2004 and into the California Sports Hall of Fame in 2011.

    Unconventional style

    Norton was a forward-pressing fighter/boxer who was notable for his unusual guard/stance characterised by arms held crosswise. The left arm low across the torso and right hand up by the right or left ear. But when under heavy pressure both arms were brought up high across at face level whilst one leant forward. This left the opponent little target in theory. The guard was also used by the legendary Archie Moore. George Foreman later used it very effectively during his famous comeback years. Tim Witherspoon was another practitioner. Joe Frazier even borrowed it for occasions in his third Ali match. The style is named the "cross-armed defense". It tends to look crablike. Norton would bob and weave from a crouch, firing well placed heavy punches. Norton was best when advancing. He'd drag or slide the right foot along from behind. By comparison, most conventional boxers have elbows in at the torso with forearms vertically parallel to each another, the gloves then being both near sides of the face. Most trainers believe the conventional style is a better defense and that the cross-arm style leaves the user open far too often.

    But Norton's style was in itself fascinating. He gave Ali more trouble than anyone else in history over three contests – no small feat by any standard. He could, as they say in the trade, 'box' or 'fight'. Norton was never fazed by Ali's various famous tactics like clinching or rope-a-dope. In fact, Ali usually found rope-a-dope a particularly unpleasant experience with Norton, as Ken would get many punches through. He seemed to have a unique ability here. Then Ali's famous clinching and holding or launching sharp shots from a distance were all for various reasons not as effective as when Ali fought Frazier, the only other man he fought three times.

    Angelo Dundee wrote that Ken's best punch was the left hook. Many others lauded his infamous overhand right. In a Ring Magazine article, Norton himself said that a right uppercut to Jerry Quarry was the hardest blow he recalled landing.

    Unlike many boxers, Norton would often not attempt to stare down an opponent while announcements were made before the match started. Instead, he'd often look down at the floor and gather his thoughts. He was also widely noted for his fine athletic build.

    Later media career

    During the height of his boxing career, Norton started to appear in feature films. After two uncredited appearances in the early 1970s, he played the title characters in the 1975 film Mandingo and the 1976 film Drum. Norton played characters in nine motion pictures, and also appeared as himself in a number of documentaries and television films.

    Norton additionally worked as a television and radio sports commentator and appeared in popular TV series, such as jailbird "Jackhammer" Jackson in "Pros and Cons", an early first-season episode of The A-Team (filmed 1982, broadcast 1983), and as boxer Bo Keeler in the fourth season Knight Rider episode "Redemption of a Champion" (1986). Norton also appeared on the Superstars sports competition on ABC TV (1976) and was a member of the Sports Illustrated Speakers Bureau. The character of "Apollo Creed" in Rocky was initially going to be played by Norton. However, when he pulled out, Carl Weathers was selected.

    Norton continued making TV, radio and public speaking appearances until suffering injuries in a near-fatal car accident in 1986. It left him with slow and slurred speech.

    He appeared along with Ali, Foreman, Frazier and Holmes in a video, Champions Forever, discussing their best times, and in 2000 he published his autobiography, Going the Distance.

    Family

    Ken Norton was twice voted "Father of the Year" by the Los Angeles Sentinel and the Los Angeles Times in 1977. To quote Norton from his biography, Believe: Journey From Jacksonville: "Of all the titles that I've been privileged to have, the title of 'dad' has always been the best."

    His son, Ken Norton Jr, played football at UCLA and had a long successful career in the NFL. In tribute to his father's boxing career, Ken Jr. would strike a boxing stance in the end zone each time he scored a defensive touchdown and throw a punching combination at the goalpost pad. He is now the linebackers' coach for the Seattle Seahawks.

    Ken Norton's other son, Keith Norton, was once the weekend sports anchor for KPRC in Houston, Texas.

    Death

    Norton died at a care facility in Las Vegas, Nevada on September 18, 2013. He was 70 years old and had suffered a series of strokes in later life. Across the boxing world tributes were paid, with George Foreman calling him "the fairest of them all" and Larry Holmes saying that he "will be incredibly missed in the boxing world and by many".
     
  12. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    Lisa Otto

    Lisa Otto (14 November 1919 – 18 September 2013) was a German operatic soprano, particularly associated with soubrette and light coloratura roles.

    Born in Dresden, she studied there at the Musikhochschule with Susanne Steinmetz-Prée. She made her debut in Beuthen, as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier, in 1941, where she remained until 1944. She then sang in Nuremberg (1944–45), Dresden (1945–51), and joined the Berlin State Opera in 1951, where she was to remain until 1985.

    She is best known for soubrette roles such as Blondchen, Susanna, Zerlina, Despina, and Papagena in Mozart's operas. Other notables roles included Marzelline, Annchen, Zerline, etc. She took part in the creation of Giselher Klebe's Alkmene and Hans Werner Henze's Der junge Lord. She made guest appearances at the Vienna State Opera, the Salzburg Festival, La Scala in Milan, the Paris Opera, and the Glyndebourne Festival Opera.

    She was married to Dr Albert Bind. Otto died in Berlin on 18 September 2013, at the age of 93.
     
  13. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    Marcel Reich-Ranicki

    Marcel Reich-Ranicki (German: [maɐˈsɛl ˈʁaɪç ʁaˈnɪtski]; 2 June 1920 – 18 September 2013) was a Polish-born German literary critic and member of the literary group Gruppe 47. He was regarded as one of the most influential contemporary literary critics in the field of German literature and has often been called Literaturpapst ("Pope of Literature") in Germany.

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    Early life

    Marcel Reich was born on 2 June 1920, in Włocławek, Poland to David Reich, a Polish Jewish merchant, and his wife, Helene (née Auerbach) Reich, who came from a German Jewish family. Reich moved with his family to Berlin in 1929. As a Polish Jew he was banished to Poland in 1938. In November 1940, Reich and his parents found themselves in the Warsaw Ghetto, during which time he worked for the Judenrat as a chief translator and contributed to the collaborative newspaper Gazeta Żydowska (The Jewish Newspaper) as a music critic.

    He married his wife, Teofila, on 22 July 1942, the first day of the mass transports to the Treblinka extermination camp (Judenrat employees and their wives were excluded from the first round of deportations). Reich's translator work meant that he was an eyewitness to meetings between the Jewish and Nazi authorities and later in life he testified at at least two war crimes tribunals, including that of Hermann Höfle. In 1943 Reich and his wife managed to escape the Ghetto. His parents and brother were killed in the Holocaust. His sister survived, having escaped to England shortly before the war.

    In 1944 he joined the Polish People's Army, and became an officer in the communist secret police Urząd Bezpieczeństwa, where he worked in the censorship department. He joined the Polish Workers' Party after the war.

    From 1948–49 he was a Polish diplomat and intelligence worker (operating under the pseudonym "Ranicki") in London. He was recalled from London in 1949, sacked from the intelligence service and expelled from the Party on charges of "ideological estrangement", for which he was jailed for a short time. Subsequently he developed a career as an editor, publisher of East German authors, and freelance writer for newspapers and radio with a focus on German literature.

    Life in Germany

    Frustrated by the curtailment of his liberty in the People's Republic of Poland he emigrated in 1958 with his wife and son to the Federal Republic of Germany, living in the city of Hamburg. Here he began writing for leading German periodicals, including Die Welt and the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. In Poland, he had published under the pseudonym Ranicki, his intelligence codename. On the advice of the arts editor of the Frankfurter Allgemeine he adopted the name Marcel Reich-Ranicki professionally. From 1963–73 he was literary critic for the German weekly Die Zeit, published in Hamburg.

    In 1973 he moved to Frankfurt, where, from 1973–88, he was head of the literature staff at the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Reich-Ranicki would go on to write and edit for the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung for the rest of his life. In 1968–69 he taught at American universities. From 1971–75 he held visiting professorships at Stockholm and Uppsala.

    In 1974 he was awarded an honorary professorship at the University of Tübingen. In 1990–91 he received the Heinrich-Hertz visiting professorship of the University of Karlsruhe, and in 1991–92 he received the Heinrich-Heine visiting professorship at the University of Düsseldorf.

    From 1988–2001, Reich-Ranicki hosted the literary talk show Literarisches Quartett on German public television. Through the show he became a household name in Germany. In 2002 the show was followed by a similar but short-lived programme, Reich-Ranicki Solo, which consisted of him talking about old and new books in front of a studio audience. Having written about German literature for most of his life, he published books on American and Polish literature, after cutting down on his television appearances. Reich-Ranicki's wife and son encouraged him to write an autobiography "before it was too late". Published in 1999, Mein Leben was a bestseller in Germany, cementing his status. Mainly dealing with life and survival during the war, the book was adapted for television and broadcast in April 2009.

    In February 2006 he received the honorary degree of Doctor Philosophiae Honoris Causa from Tel Aviv University, which later that year established an endowed chair for German literature named after him.

    In February 2007 the Humboldt University in Berlin awarded him an honorary degree. This is the same university that Reich-Ranicki applied to in 1938, when his application was turned down because of his Jewish ancestry.

    In October 2008, he was awarded a lifetime achievement award during a German television awards telecast for Literarisches Quartett. He made headlines with his acceptance speech, in which he spurned the prize and criticized the state of German television.

    Marcel's son, Andrew Ranicki, is a professor of mathematics at Edinburgh University. Marcel's wife, Teofila Reich-Ranicki, predeceased her husband by two years, dying in 2011.

    According to The Economist "He appreciated Jewish culture, especially its way with words, but found religion pointless and, after Warsaw, God inconceivable."

    Death

    Reich-Ranicki died on 18 September 2013 in Frankfurt, having previously been diagnosed with prostate cancer. German Chancellor Angela Merkel paid tribute: "We lose in him a peerless friend of literature, but also of freedom and democracy. I will miss this passionate and brilliant man." The Süddeutsche Zeitung described Reich-Ranicki as "the man who taught us how to read."

    Relationships with authors

    As a tough critic Reich-Ranicki had a difficult relationship with other authors. Following the publication of Too Far Afield by his fellow Gruppe 47 member Günter Grass, Reich-Ranicki appeared on the cover of the magazine Der Spiegel, tearing the novel apart. The magazine included his unfavorable review of the book. Reich-Ranicki praised Grass' next book, Crabwalk. Australian writer Clive James stated "Every living German writer wants his praise but it has always been hard to get: the reason, of course, why they would like to have it."

    Works

    Literarisches Leben in Deutschland 1963
    Deutsche Literatur in Ost und West Piper 1963, DTV 1983 (revised)
    Literarisches Leben in Deutschland. Kommentare u. Pamphlete. Munich: Piper 1965
    Wer schreibt, provoziert 1966, 1992
    Literatur der kleinen Schritte. Deutsche Schriftsteller heute. Piper 1967
    Die Ungeliebten. Sieben Emigranten. 1968
    In Sachen Böll. Ansichten und Einsichten. 1968, 1994
    Über Ruhestörer. Juden in der deutschen Literatur. Piper 1973.
    Nachprüfung, Aufsätze über deutsche Schriftsteller von gestern. Piper 1977, DTV 1980, 1990 (revised)
    (Ed.) Frankfurter Anthologie. Volume 1–29, Frankfurt: Insel 1978-2006
    Entgegnung, Zur deutschen Literatur der siebziger Jahre. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt 1981
    Nichts als Literatur. Aufsätze und Anmerkungen. Reclam 1986
    Thomas Mann und die Seinen. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt 1987, ISBN 3-421-06364-8
    (Ed.) Deutsche Erzählungen des 20. Jahrhunderts. (5 volumes) 1991
    Der doppelte Boden. (Interviews with Peter von Matt) 1992
    Lauter Verrisse. Munich: DTV 1993, ISBN 3-423-11578-5
    Die Anwälte der Literatur. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt 1994
    Herz, Arzt und Literatur: Zwei Aufsätze. Ammann 1994
    Romane von gestern, heute gelesen II. 1918 - 1933. Fischer 1996
    Verweile doch - 111 Gedichte mit Interpretationen Insel 1999
    Mein Leben. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt 1999, ISBN 3-423-13056-3 - The Author of Himself: The Life of Marcel Reich-Ranicki
    Der Fall Heine. DTV 2000, ISBN 3-423-12774-0
    (with Sigrid Löffler and Hellmuth Karasek) ... und alle Fragen offen. Das Beste aus dem Literarischen Quartett. Heyne 2000. ISBN 3-453-16506-3.
    (Ed.) Hundert Gedichte des Jahrhunderts. Insel 2001
    (Ed.) Ein Jüngling liebt ein Mädchen. Deutsche Gedichte und ihre Interpretationen. Insel 2001
    Ungeheuer oben. Über Bertolt Brecht. Aufbau 2001
    Deutsche Literatur in West und Ost. DTV 2002
    Sieben Wegbereiter. Schriftsteller des 20. Jahrhunderts. Munich: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt 2002, ISBN 3-421-05514-9
    Kritik als Beruf. Fischer 2002, ISBN 3-596-15577-0
    Über Literaturkritik. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt 2002
    Erst leben, dann spielen. Über polnische Literatur. Wallstein 2002
    Lauter schwierige Patienten. List 2003
    Meine Bilder. Porträts und Aufsätze. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt 2003, ISBN 3-421-05619-6
    Meine Geschichten. Von Johann Wolfgang Goethe bis heute. Insel 2003
    Unser Grass. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt 2003, ISBN 3-421-05796-6
    Vom Tag gefordert. Reden in deutschen Angelegenheiten. DTV 2003, ISBN 3-423-13145-4
    Meine Geschichten. Von Johann Wolfgang von Goethe bis heute. Insel, 2003, ISBN 3-458-17166-5
    (Ed.) Meine Gedichte. Seit Walther von der Vogelweide. Insel 2003
    (Ed.) Hundert Gedichte des Jahrhunderts 2003
    (Ed.) Der Kanon. Die deutsche Literatur Erzählungen. Insel 2002-2006
    Sieben Wegbereiter: Schriftsteller des zwanzigsten Jahrhunderts. DTV 2004
    Goethe noch einmal: Reden und Anmerkungen. DTV 2004
    (Ed.) Meine Schulzeit im Dritten Reich. Erinnerungen deutscher Schriftsteller. DTV 2006
    Marcel Reich-Ranicki im Gespräch mit Wolfgang Koeppen. Suhrkamp 2006
    Der Mond über Soho: 66 Gedichte mit Interpretationen. (poems by Bertolt Brecht) Insel 2006
    Über Amerikaner. Von Hemingway und Bellow bis Updike und Philip Roth. DTV 2006
    Aus persönlicher Sicht. Gespräche 1999 bis 2006 Marcel Reich- Ranicki, Christiane Schmidt; DVA 2006
    Marcel Reich-Ranicki antwortet auf 99 Fragen. Insel 2006, ISBN 3-458-34888-3
    Herrlich wie am ersten Tag: 125 Gedichte und ihre Interpretationen Insel 2008
    Die Literatur, eine Heimat: Reden über und von Marcel Reich-Ranicki DVA 2008
    (Ed.) Mein Schiller Insel 2009
    (Ed.) Mein Lessing Hoffmann und Campe 2009
    Für alle Fragen offen: Antworten zur Weltliteratur 2009
     
  14. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    15,396
    Richard C. Sarafian

    Richard Caspar Sarafian (April 28, 1930 – September 18, 2013) was an American TV and film director and actor. He compiled a versatile career that spanned over five decades as a director, actor, and writer. He is best known as the director of the 1971 film Vanishing Point.

    Sarafian was born in New York City on April 28, 1930, to Armenian immigrants. He studied pre-law/pre-med at New York University and was a poor student, but changed over to studying film, at which he excelled. He left college to join the United States Army, in which he served as a reporter for an Army news service. While stationed in Kansas City, Missouri, during the Korean War (1950-1953) he met the future Hollywood director Robert Altman, and the two became friends.

    Sarafian worked with Altman on industrial films and married Altman's sister, Helen Joan Altman. He also acted in a local play Altman directed. His television career began in the early 1960s in Kansas City as Altman's assistant. Sarafian soon began to direct television shows himself, and in 1963 scored one of his greatest successes as director of the "Living Doll" episode of The Twilight Zone. His first feature film was Andy in 1965. His greatest success as a feature film director came with Vanishing Point, which followed the action-packed adventures of a man driving a white Dodge Challenger car from Denver, Colorado, to San Francisco, California, in 15 hours; critics disliked the movie, but it became a cult hit.

    Besides The Twilight Zone, Serafian's directing credits on television included episodes of the television series Gunsmoke and Batman. In addition to Andy and Vanshing Point, he directed a number of feature films, including Run Wild, Run Free in 1969, Man in the Wilderness in 1971, and The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing in 1973. In his film acting career, he played a gangster in Bugsy in 1991 and a hitman in Bulworth in 1998, and in 2001 he voiced the animated God Beaver character in Dr. Dolittle 2. On television, he played a coffee shop owner as a regular member of the cast of the 1985-1986 CBS situation comedy Foley Square, starring Margaret Colin.

    Sarafian and Helen Altman Sarafian married, divorced, and remarried; she died in 2011. They had five chilrden, including actor Richard Sarafian Jr., screenwriter Tedi Sarafian, special effects expert Damon B. Sarafian, and actor/director Deran Sarafian.

    Sarafian died at the age of 83 in Santa Monica, California, on September 18, 2013, of pneumonia, which he contracted while recovering from a broken back.

    Award

    Nominee Gold Hugo (Best Feature Film) - Chicago International Film Festival (The Next Man) (1976)

    Filmography (partial)

    Maverick (1961 - TV series)
    Surfside 6 (1961 - TV series)
    Dr. Kildare (1961 - TV series)
    77 Sunset Strip (1962 - TV series)
    Living Doll (The Twilight Zone) (1963 - TV series)
    Andy (1965)
    The Big Valley (1965 - TV series)
    The Wild Wild West (1965 - TV series)
    I Spy (1966 - TV series)
    Batman (1966 - TV series)
    The Danny Thomas Hour (1967 - TV series)
    Shadow on the Land (1968)
    Gunsmoke (1968 - TV series)
    Run Wild, Run Free (1969)
    Fragment of Fear (1970 - movie; director)
    Vanishing Point (1971)
    Man in the Wilderness (1971)
    The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (1973)
    Lolly-Madonna XXX (1973)
    The Next Man (1976)
    Sunburn (1979)
    Gangster Wars (1981)
    The Bear (1984)
    Foley Square (1985-1986 - TV series - actor)
    Eye of the Tiger (1986)
    Zorro (1989) Unaired TV pilot.
    Solar Crisis (1990, as Alan Smithee)
    Bugsy (1991 - actor)
    Bound (1996)
    Bulworth (1998 - actor)
    Dr. Dolittle 2 (2001 - voice)
    Reeling (2007 - voice)
     
  15. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    15,396
    Amidou

    Hamidou Benmessaoud (Arabic: حميدو بنمسعود‎; 2 August 1935 – 19 September 2013), best known as Amidou, was a Moroccan film, television and stage actor.

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    Born in Rabat, at 17 Amidou moved to Paris to attend the CNSAD. In 1968 he made his debut on stage, in Jean Genet's Les paravents.

    Amidou is probably best known for his association with director Claude Lelouch, with whom he has shot eleven films, including the Lelouch's film debut Le propre de l'homme (1960). He made his debut in a Maroccan film in 1969, starring in Soleil de printemps directed by Latif Lahlou. His career includes roles in American productions, including William Friedkin's Sorcerer, John Frankenheimer's Ronin and John Huston's Escape to Victory.

    In 1969 Amidou was awarded best actor at the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival for his role in Life Love Death by Claude Lelouch, later he won best actor awards at the Cairo Film Festival (for Pursuit by Leila Triquie) and at the Tangier Film Festival (for Rachid Boutounes' Here and There). In 2005, he received at the hands of Martin Scorsese a Lifetime Career Award at the International Film Festival of Marrakech. He was also the first Moroccan actor to have won an acting award at the National Conservatory of Dramatic Art.

    Amidou died on 19 September 2013 in Paris, France because of an illness.
     
  16. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

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    15,396
    Robert Barnard

    Robert Barnard (23 November 1936 - 19 September 2013) was an English crime writer, critic and lecturer.

    Born in Essex, Barnard was educated at the Colchester Royal Grammar School and at Balliol College in Oxford. His first crime novel, A Little Local Murder, was published in 1976. The novel was written while he was a lecturer at University of Tromsø in Norway. He went on to write more than 40 other books and numerous short stories.

    Barnard said that his favourite crime writer is Agatha Christie. In 1980 he published a critique of her work titled A Talent to Deceive: An Appreciation of Agatha Christie.

    Barnard was awarded the Cartier Diamond Dagger in 2003 by the Crime Writers Association for a lifetime of achievement.

    Under the pseudonym Bernard Bastable, Robert Barnard has published two standalone novels and two alternate history books starring Wolfgang Mozart as a detective, he having survived to old age.

    Barnard died on 19 September 2013. He and his wife Louise lived in Yorkshire.

    Bibliography

    Mystery novels

    Death of an Old Goat (1974) ISBN 0002311984
    A Little Local Murder (1976)
    Death on the High Cs (1977)
    Blood Brotherhood (1977) ISBN 0-8027-5387-6
    Unruly Son (1978) aka Death of a Mystery Writer
    Posthumous Papers (1979) aka Death of a Literary Widow
    Death in a Cold Climate (1980)
    Mother's Boys (1981) aka Death of a Perfect Mother
    Little Victims (1983) aka School for Murder
    Out of the Blackout (1984)
    A Corpse in a Gilded Cage (1984)
    Disposal of the Living (1985) aka Fete Fatale
    Political Suicide (1986)
    The Skeleton in the Grass (1987)
    At Death's Door (1988) ISBN 978-0-00-232195-2
    A City of Strangers (1990) ISBN 978-0-440-20750-4
    Scandal in Belgravia (1991) ISBN 978-1-890208-16-5
    Masters of the House (1994) ISBN 978-0-380-72511-3
    Touched by the Dead (1999) aka A Murder in Mayfair ISBN 978-0-00-232684-1
    Unholy Dying (2000) aka Turbulent Priest ISBN 978-0-7432-0149-0
    The Mistress of Alderley (2002) ISBN 978-0-7490-0686-0
    A Cry From The Dark (2003) ISBN 978-0-7432-5345-1
    The Graveyard Position (2004) ISBN 978-0-7432-5346-8
    Dying Flames (2005) ISBN 978-0-7432-7219-3
    Last Post (2008) ISBN 978-0-7490-8068-6
    Stranger in the family (2010) ISBN 978-1-4391-7674-0

    Charlie Peace novels

    Death and the Chaste Apprentice (1989) ISBN 0684190028
    A Fatal Attachment (1992) ISBN 978-0-380-71998-3
    A Hovering of Vultures (1993) ISBN 978-0-380-77653-5
    The Bad Samaritan (1995) ISBN 978-0-00-232562-2
    No Place of Safety (1997) ISBN 978-0-684-84503-6
    The Corpse at the Haworth Tandoori (1998) ISBN 978-0-7432-2427-7
    The Bones in the Attic (2001) ISBN 978-0-684-87379-4
    A Fall from Grace (2006) ISBN 978-0-7432-7220-9
    The Killings on Jubilee Terrace (2009) ISBN 978-1-4165-5942-9
    A Charitable Body (2012) ISBN 978-1-4391-7743-3

    Perry Trethowan novels

    Death by Sheer Torture (1981)
    Death and the Princess (1982)
    The Missing Bronte (1983)
    Bodies (1986)
    Death in Purple Prose (1987) aka The Cherry Blossom Corpse

    Short Story Collections

    Death of a Salesperson and Other Untimely Exits (1989) ISBN 978-0684190884
    The Habit of Widowhood (1996) ISBN 978-0684826486

    Novels written as Bernard Bastable

    To Die Like a Gentleman (1993)
    Dead, Mr. Mozart (1995) ISBN 978-0-312-11771-9
    Mansion and its Murder (1998) ISBN 978-0-7867-0515-3
    Too Many Notes, Mr. Mozart (1998) ISBN 978-0-7515-1806-1

    Non-fiction

    Imagery and Theme in the Novels of Dickens (1974)
    A Talent to Deceive: An Appreciation of Agatha Christie (1980)
    A Short History of English Literature (1984) ISBN 978-0-631-19088-2
    Emily Brontë (British Library Writers' lives series) (2000) ISBN 0-7123-4658-9
    A Brontë Encyclopedia (with Louise Barnard) (2007) ISBN 1-4051-5119-6
     
  17. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    15,396
    Øystein Fischer

    Øystein Fischer (born 8 March 1942 in Bergen, died 19 September 2013) was a Norwegian physicist and specialist in the field of superconductivity.[1] He was a professor of the Faculty of Science of the University of Geneva. He was also the founder and director of the Swiss National Center of Competence in Research MaNEP (Materials with Novel Electronic Properties), dedicated to exploring materials of the future.

    After having worked as a technical research assistant for the laboratory Nera A/S in Bergen, Norway, Fischer studied physics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. He joined the University of Geneva in 1967 and obtained his PhD in 1971. He was appointed assistant professor at the University of Geneva in the same year. In 1977 he became a full professor.

    In 1975, he synthesized the first superconducting compounds containing a regular lattice of magnetic ions, a discovery opening up a decade of international research concerning the interaction between magnetism and superconductivity. This work was highlighted by his discovery in 1984 of superconductivity induced via magnetic field.

    With his team, Fischer launched the first artificial superlattices of superconductor cuprates, the pioneering work of many developments in new areas of thin films and oxide interfaces.

    From 1986, Fischer assigned a part of his team to work in scanning tunneling microscopy which allowed him to probe the fundamental properties of high temperature superconductors.

    In 2001, he founded and became director of the NCCR (PRN) MaNEP dedicated to the study of materials with novel electronic properties.

    Fischer initiated the Geneva Creativity Center whose purpose is to stimulate discussion between the academic and industrial sectors and to find innovative solutions for future technological challenges. Fischer is also the head of the project "Centre for astronomical, physical and mathematical sciences of Geneva".

    Over the past 20 years, Fischer has focused his research on superconductors using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and scanning tunneling spectroscopy (STS).
     
  18. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    15,396
    Mary Jean Harrold

    Mary Jean Harrold (1947 - 2013) was an American computer scientist noted for her research on software engineering. She was also noted for her leadership in broadening participation in computing. She was on the boards of both CRA and CRA-W and was Co-Chair of CRA-W from 2003-2006.

    Harrold received a B.A. in Mathematics in 1970 and a M.S. in Mathematics in 1975, both from Marshall University. Harrold taught secondary mathematics in West Virginia, South Carolina, Ohio, and Pennsylvania from 1970-1982. She then attended graduate school at the University of Pittsburgh. She received a M.S. in Computer Science in 1985 and a Ph.D in Computer Science in 1988, both from University of Pittsburgh. Her dissertation adviser was Prof. Mary Lou Soffa.

    She stayed at the University of Pittsburgh as a Visiting Assistant Professor. Then in 1990 she started at Clemson University as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1995. In 1996 she started as an Assistant Professor at Ohio State University and was promoted to Associate Professor in 1998. In 1999, she moved to the Georgia Institute of Technology as an Associate Professor, and was promoted to Professor in 2003.

    Harrold was involved with the SIGSOFT community. She was General Chair of the conference SIGSOFT in 2008.

    Mary Jean Harrold was named an ACM Fellow in 2003.

    In 2004, as a current CRA-W co-chair, Harrold (along with Prof. Carla Ellis and Dr. Jan Cuny) accepted the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring (PAESMEM) award on behalf of CRA-W, for "significant achievements in mentoring women across educational levels".

    Her other notable awards include:
    In 2011, she was named an IEEE Fellow "for contributions to software systems".
    She is currently listed as the third top software engineering author of all time.
    In 2007, ACM named her the top ranking software engineering researcher in the world.



    ACM News

    In Memoriam: Mary Jean Harrold 1947 — 2013

    By Lawrence M. Fisher September 23, 2013

    Mary Jean (Tomlinson) Harrold, a professor in the School of Computer Science at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), died following a battle with cancer on Thursday, September 19, 2013.

    Harrold graduated from St. Joseph High School of Huntington, W.V., at the top of her math class. She received her B.A. and M.S. degrees in Mathematics at Marshall University, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh.

    Before joining Georgia Tech, she served on the faculties of Clemson and Ohio State universities. At Georgia Tech, she founded the Aristotle Research Group and served as its principal investigator; the group focuses on development of efficient techniques and tools to automate software development, testing, and maintenance of software systems.

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    Harrold’s research on static analysis and testing of software is foundational. She was named an ACM Fellow in 2003 and an IEEE Fellow in 2011. A 2007 article in Communications of the ACM ranked her as one of the top software engineering researchers in the world.

    Alessandro Orso, a colleague in Georgia Tech’s School of Computer Science, said Harrold "had a true passion for research and for collaborating with others, especially students, as it is evident from the long list of her co-authors. And other researchers loved working with Mary Jean; her never-ending energy, constructive and goal-oriented working style, sense of humor, and team spirit made it a pleasure to collaborate with her."

    Harrold had a long record of service to the computing research community, serving as past Vice Chair and Secretary/Treasurer of ACM SIGSOFT, as well as having served on the editorial boards of ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology and ACM Transactions on Programming Languages and Systems. She was general chair of the 2008 ACM SIGSOFT Symposium on the Foundations of Software Engineering, program co-chair of the 2001 International Conference on Software Engineering, and program chair of the 2000 Internatinal Symposium on Software Testing and Analysis, and had served on the Computing Research Association (CRA) Board of Directors.

    Harrold also was a fierce advocate for women and minorities in computing fields. At Georgia Tech, she was the NSF ADVANCE Professor in the School of Computer Science for 10 years, from 2001 to 2011; she also was a member of the Leadership Team and Director of the Georgia Tech Hub for the National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT). Outside Georgia Tech, Harrold served many years (several as co-chair) on the CRA’s Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research (CRA-W), whose goal is to increase the number of women in computer science research and education. She was instrumental in establishing the biennial Software Engineering Educators' Symposium (SEES), which aims to forge ties between faculty at minority-serving colleges and software engineering researchers.

    Orso said Harrod "loved teaching, working with, and advising students. She always had an insightful comment to guide a student along a promising path and an encouraging remark to keep a student engaged and focused on a worthy goal. Throughout her long career, she mentored countless students, and junior faculty as well, many of whom have become leaders in their own right. Everybody who interacted with Mary Jean was touched by her kindness, enthusiasm, energy, and love for life, and remembers her fondly. She was a magnificent role model, which many have emulated."

    In an article on the Georgia Tech website, Harrold said she supported diversity in computing not only to help women and other underrepresented groups succeed in the field, but to make technology better for everyone:

    "Women are good for computing; we need everyone we can get," she says. "The technology industry and its impact are everywhere. Those products need to be developed by a diverse work force, because they could potentially be used by a diverse consumer base. Diversity in software engineering ultimately makes for more usable products."

    Harrold is survived by her husband of 45 years, Tom (Fuzzy) Harrold, sons Tom (Linda) Harrold of Virginia and Marc Harrold of Virginia; and two grandchildren.

    A fellowship is being created in her name to assist graduate women in computer science; at press time, at least $10,000 had been assembled.
     
  19. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    15,396
    Hiroshi Yamauchi

    Hiroshi Yamauchi (山内 溥 Yamauchi Hiroshi?, November 7, 1927 – September 19, 2013) was a Japanese businessman. He was the third president of Nintendo, joining the company in 1949 until stepping down on May 31, 2002, to be succeeded by Satoru Iwata. Yamauchi is credited with transforming Nintendo from a small hanafuda card-making company in Japan to a multi-billion dollar video game company. He also became the majority owner of the Seattle Mariners baseball team in 1992; the current CEO of the Mariners is former Nintendo of America chairman Howard Lincoln.

    As of April 2013, Forbes estimated Yamauchi’s net worth at $2.1 billion; he was the 13th richest person in Japan and the 491st richest in the world. In 2008, Yamauchi was Japan’s wealthiest person with a fortune at that time estimated at $7.8 billion. At the time of his death, Yamauchi was the largest shareholder at Nintendo.

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    Yamauchi was born in Kyoto, where he was sent to a preparatory school at age twelve. He planned to study law or engineering, but World War II disrupted his studies. Since he was too young to fight, he was put to work in a military factory. Once the war ended in 1945, Yamauchi went to Waseda University to study law. He married Michiko Inaba. With the absence of Yamauchi’s father, who had abandoned his son and wife, Kimi, his grandparents met to arrange the marriage.

    Nintendo career

    In 1947, Yamauchi’s grandfather, the incumbent president of Nintendo, suffered a stroke. As he had no other immediate successor, he asked Yamauchi to come immediately to Nintendo to assume the position of president. He had to leave Waseda University to do so. Yamauchi would only accept the position if he were the only family member working at Nintendo. Reluctantly, Yamauchi’s grandfather agreed, and died shortly thereafter. Under the agreement, his older cousin had to be fired. Due to his young age and total lack of any management experience, most employees did not take Yamauchi seriously and resented him. Soon after taking over, he had to deal with a strike by factory employees who expected him to cave in easily. Instead, he asserted his authority by firing many long-time employees who questioned his authority. He had the company name changed to Nintendo Karuta and established its new headquarters in Kyoto. Yamauchi led Nintendo in a "notoriously imperialistic style". He was the sole judge of potential new products, and only a product that appealed to him and his keen instincts went on the market.

    He was the first to introduce the plastic Western playing card into the Japanese market. Western playing cards were still a novelty in Japan and the public associated them with Western-styled gambling games such as poker and bridge. Most gambling activities were technically illegal by default with only a few legally sanctioned exceptions (horse racing, pachinko and lottery). Therefore, the market for anything which was associated with gambling, including Hanafuda, was limited. Yamauchi’s first "hit" came when he made a licensing agreement with Walt Disney in 1959 for his plastic playing cards. Nintendo targeted its playing cards as a tool for party games that the whole family could enjoy, a foreshadowing of the company’s approach going into the 21st century. Disney’s tie-in was made towards that end. Nintendo’s Disney playing card was also accompanied by a small, thin booklet with many tutorials for different card games. The strategy succeeded and the product sold 600,000 units in one year, soon gracing Nintendo with the domination of Japanese playing card market. With this success, Yamauchi once again changed the company name to Nintendo Company Limited and took the company public (listed on stock market) and became the chairman. He then decided to travel to the U.S. to visit the United States Playing Card Company, the world’s biggest manufacturer of playing cards. Upon arriving in Cincinnati, Yamauchi was disappointed to see a small-scale office and factory. This led to the realisation that card manufacturing was an extremely limited venture.

    Upon his return to Japan, Yamauchi decided to diversify the company. Some of the new areas he ventured into included a taxi company called Daiya, a love hotel with rooms rented by the hour, and individually portioned instant rice. All of these ventures eventually failed and brought the company into the brink of bankruptcy. However, one day, Yamauchi spotted a factory engineer named Gunpei Yokoi playing with a simple extendable claw, something Yokoi made to amuse himself during his break. Yamauchi ordered Yokoi to develop the extendable claw into a proper product. The product was named the Ultra Hand and was an instant hit. It was then that Yamauchi decided to move Nintendo’s focus into toy making. With an already established distribution system into department stores for its playing cards, the transition was a natural one for Nintendo. Yamauchi created a new department called Games and Setup, manned initially by only Yokoi and another employee who looked after the finances, and was situated in a warehouse in Kyoto for the purpose of research and development. Gunpei Yokoi was solely assigned to develop new products. Yokoi utilised his degree in engineering by developing what is now known as electric toys such as the Love Tester and a light gun using solar cells for targets. These electric toys were quite a novelty in the 1960s when most other toys were simple in origin, such as toy blocks or dolls. Eventually, Nintendo succeeded in establishing itself as a major player in the toy market.

    Beginning of the electronics era

    Yamauchi realised that technological breakthroughs in the electronic industry meant that electronics could be incorporated into entertainment products since the prices were decreasing. Atari and Magnavox were already selling gaming devices for use with television sets. Yamauchi negotiated a license with Magnavox to sell its game console, the Magnavox Odyssey. After hiring several Sharp Electronics employees, Nintendo launched the Color TV Game 6 in Japan, which was followed by several revisions and updates of this series.

    Yamauchi decided to expand Nintendo into the United States in order to cash in on the growing American arcade market. He hired his son-in-law Minoru Arakawa to head the new American operation. Their Japanese hits such as Radar Scope, Space Fever and Sheriff did not achieve the same success in the United States, so Yamauchi turned to designer Shigeru Miyamoto’s pet project, Donkey Kong in 1981, which became a smash hit.

    Yamauchi infused Nintendo with a unique, industrial development process. He instituted three separate research and development units, which competed with one another and aimed for innovation. This system fostered a high degree of both unusual and successful gadgets. Yokoi, who headed R&D 1, created the first portable LCD video game featuring a microprocessor called the Game & Watch. Although the Game & Watch was successful, Yamauchi wanted something that was cheap enough that most could buy it and yet something unique enough so that they dominated the market for as long as possible.

    Nintendo Entertainment System

    The Famicom was created and Yamauchi was so confident with this device that he promised an electronics company one million unit orders within two years. The Famicom easily reached that goal, and, after selling several million units, Yamauchi realized the importance of the software that ran on the game systems and made sure the system was easy to program. Yamauchi believed that technicians did not create excellent games, but artists did. The Famicom was released in the United States as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Yamauchi, with no engineering or video game background, was the only one deciding which games were to be released. His remarkable intuition for what people would want in the future was one of the main reasons for Nintendo’s success. To help spring creativity, he created three research and development groups and allowed them to compete against each other. This caused the designers to work harder to try to get their games approved.

    Super Nintendo Entertainment System

    In 1990, the Super Famicom was released in Japan. It was subsequently released a year later in North America, as the "Super Nintendo Entertainment System" (SNES) and in 1992 in Europe. The Super Famicom had been sold out within three days in Japan and had gamers camping for days outside shops in hope of getting the next shipment. The SNES was redesigned for its release in America and was more box like as compared to its counterpart in Japan, while the European SNES used the same design as the Super Famicom. In 1993, the Super FX Chip was launched that would make the SNES display 3D polygonal graphics, utilizing it to create the smash hit title called Star Fox, which was designed and produced by Shigeru Miyamoto during the entire development process along with his team in collaboration with another video game developer known at the time as Argonaut Software (currently Argonaut Games). Around the same time, Nintendo increased its research facilities. Nintendo showed major expansion during this period with new plants, R&D facilities and a partnership with Rare. Yamauchi had displayed from the beginning a knack at identifying good games even though he had never played them, and he continued to do so alone at least until 1994. Later that same year, Donkey Kong Country was released. One of the major reasons for the success of SNES was the abundance of good games developed for it.

    In 1995, the Virtual Boy was released, but did not sell well. Despite the bust, Yamauchi said at a press conference that he still had faith in it and that the company would continue developing games for it.

    Nintendo 64

    In 1996, Nintendo released its new, fully 3D console, the Nintendo 64, and Yamauchi used it to draw attention away from Virtual Boy. Simultaneously, Super Mario 64 was launched as the first fully 3D platform game. In 1999, Yamauchi and Nintendo announced their intentions to work on a new system with an IBM Gekko processor and Matsushita DVD technology codenamed Dolphin. This system was christened GameCube. Yamauchi talked at the E3 about the impact that the release of Xbox would have on the GameCube.

    Nintendo GameCube

    Yamauchi touted the Nintendo GameCube as a machine designed exclusively to be a video game console; an approach which he considered different from Microsoft’s and Sony’s for their respective Xbox and PlayStation 2 consoles. He believed that the GameCube would specialize in providing the best gaming experience possible as opposed to the all-encompassing entertainment hubs being promoted in its competitors’ products (both the Xbox and the PlayStation 2 have DVD and CD-ROM playback functionalities, while the Xbox also features a built-in hard drive). This emphasis towards "performance only" and the creation of hardware that would allow developers to "easily create games" is what Yamauchi believed would set the GameCube apart from its competitors.

    Yamauchi also wanted the machine to be the least expensive available of its kind, in his belief that people "do not play with the game machine itself. They play with the software, and they are forced to purchase a game machine in order to use the software. Therefore the price of the machine should be as cheap as possible." Nintendo hence priced the GameCube significantly less expensively than its rivals in the market, although the console’s games were priced identically to those designed for the competing systems.

    Post-Nintendo presidency

    On May 31, 2002, Yamauchi stepped down as president of Nintendo and was succeeded by the head of Nintendo’s Corporate Planning Division, Satoru Iwata. Yamauchi subsequently became the chairman of Nintendo’s board of directors. He finally left the board on June 29, 2005, due to his age, and because he felt that he was leaving the company in good hands. Yamauchi also refused to accept his retirement pension, which was reported to be around $9 to $14 million, feeling that Nintendo could put it to better use. He was also Nintendo’s largest shareholder despite stepping down. As of 2008 he retained a 10% share in Nintendo. He was the 12th richest man in Japan due to his shares in Nintendo since its success with the Wii and Nintendo DS consoles.[citation needed] He donated the majority of the 7.5 billion yen used to build a new cancer treatment center in Kyoto. Following the announcement of the Wii U and the price cut of the Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo shares fell to 12,290 yen, the biggest drop since 2009. Yamauchi was estimated to have, virtually, lost $312 million USD (approximately 24.2 billion yen).


    In 1950, Michiko, Yamauchi’s wife gave birth to their first child, a daughter named Yoko. During the next few years, Michiko had several miscarriages and was often ill. In 1957, she gave birth to another daughter, Fujiko and, shortly after, a son named Katsuhito.

    When Yamauchi’s father, Shikanojo, returned years later to see his son, he refused to speak to him. When Yamauchi was close to 30, he was contacted by his half sister and informed that Shikanojo had died of a stroke. At the funeral he met his father’s wife and their four daughters whom he never knew existed. He began feeling sorry about that he had not taken the opportunity to reconcile with his father when he was still alive. The death of his father changed Yamauchi, and he grieved for months and cried freely. From that day he made regular visits to his father’s grave.

    In the early 1990s, the Seattle Mariners were available for sale and Washington state’s senator Slade Gorton asked Nintendo of America to find a Japanese investor who would keep the club in Seattle. Yamauchi offered to buy it, even though he had never been to a baseball game. Although the owner accepted the offer, the baseball commissioner and ownership committee were strongly opposed to the idea of a non-North American owner and did not approve the deal. However, following the strong support and sentiments of the people of Seattle and press the commissioner formally approved the deal, under the condition that Yamauchi had less than 50% of the vote. This was a major development in American baseball, because this opened the gates for Japanese baseball players to American league teams, which had been previously denied. In 2000, the club made its first profit of $2.6 million since its acquisition by Yamauchi. Despite his ownership of the club, Yamauchi never attended a Mariners game.


    On September 19, 2013, aged 85, Yamauchi died at a hospital following complications of pneumonia. Nintendo released a statement stating they were mourning the loss of their former president.
     
  20. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    15,396
    D. J. R. Bruckner

    Donald Jerome Raphael Bruckner (November 26, 1933 – September 20, 2013) was an American columnist, critic, and journalist, whose work landed him on the master list of Nixon's political opponents.

    Bruckner was born in Omaha, Nebraska. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to study at Merton College, Oxford and became a theatre critic for The New York Times where he was on staff from 1981 to 2005. Bruckner died in Manhattan on September 20, 2013, aged 79.

    Selected publications

    Frederic Goudy (Masters of American Design)
    Art Against War: Four Hundred Years of Protest in Art
    Politics and Language: Spanish and English in the United States
    A Candid Talk with Saul Bellow
    The Campaign for Chicago: To Create an Inheritance Forever



    D. J. R. Bruckner, Columnist and Critic, Dies at 79

    By MARGALIT FOX Published: September 20, 2013 New York Times

    D. J. R. Bruckner, a retired book and theater critic for The New York Times who was previously a nationally syndicated political columnist for The Los Angeles Times, died on Friday in Manhattan. He was 79.

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    The cause was complications of cancer, his cousin Steve Langan said.

    At The New York Times, where he was on staff from 1981 to 2005, Mr. Bruckner’s official job was as an editor at the Book Review. But his byline appeared hundreds of times during his tenure, not only on book reviews but also on reviews of Off and Off Off Broadway theater and the occasional film.

    A polymath and polyglot (the languages in which he was fluent included Latin, Greek and Hebrew, and those were merely the ancient ones), Mr. Bruckner was known for his stylistic prowess.

    It was evident in his first article for The Times, an essay about grand-scale publishing projects, which appeared in the Book Review in 1981. In it, he described a series of ecclesiastical volumes issued over the course of a century by a Benedictine abbey in France, “in ivory vellum covers, like a long procession of robed abbots.”

    Mr. Bruckner could consign a subject to eternal damnation with a single image. Reviewing an Arnold Schwarzenegger film in 1985, he wrote, “Mr. Schwarzenegger first appears in ‘Commando’ in parts — one huge bicep and then another.”

    He could praise with the lavish economy of a single word. Reviewing a 1995 production of Edward Albee’s play “Seascape,” which requires actors to impersonate lizards, Mr. Bruckner lauded their “lizardry.”

    Donald Jerome Raphael Bruckner was born in Omaha on Nov. 26, 1933. He earned a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and English from Creighton University and, as a Rhodes scholar, a master’s in classics and English from Oxford.

    Mr. Bruckner was a reporter on The Chicago Sun-Times in the early 1960s, covering labor. He joined The Los Angeles Times in the mid-’60s, serving as its Chicago bureau chief before becoming a syndicated columnist for the paper.

    In one widely quoted column, from 1972, Mr. Bruckner lamented what he saw as a hardening despair among young black Americans. “There are issues enough,” he wrote. “What is gone is the popular passion for them. Possibly, hope is gone.” He went on: “In the light of what government is doing, you might well expect young blacks to lose hope in the power elites, but this is something different — a cold personal indifference, a separation of man from man. What you hear and see is not rage, but injury, a withering of expectations.”

    For his liberal positions, Mr. Bruckner was accorded a spot on President Richard M. Nixon’s enemies list.

    Before joining The New York Times, Mr. Bruckner was a vice president for public affairs at the University of Chicago.

    Mr. Bruckner, a Manhattan resident, was the author of several books, including “Frederic Goudy” (1990), about the type designer.

    No immediate family members survive.

    One of Mr. Bruckner’s most personal articles was an essay on bibliomania published in the Book Review in 1982.

    “Two years ago, needing to get rid of 600 volumes, I decided to sell duplicates,” he wrote. “Who needs two sets of Goethe in six volumes? But I’d made different notes in each set: no sale.” He added: “I did cull out duplicates from thousands of pieces of poetry I had bought since the 1950s — broadsides, pamphlets, little books bought for 50 cents or $1 years back. When a dealer named his price, I was stunned: If some had appreciated 300 percent in 15 years, what might they be worth when I am old? But I steeled myself and sold them — and then fell ill for a day.”
     
  21. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    15,396
    George Herbert Hamilton Bryan OBE (9 April 1921 - 20 September 2013)[1] was a British businessperson who was the managing director of Drayton Manor Theme Park. He founded the company with his wife Vera, in 1949.

    George Bryan worked alongside his father, William Bryan, a decorated First World War pilot, to help reestablish his amusement park, after it had been closed down for the war. His father was one of the country's biggest inventors and manufacturers of mechanical coin-operated amusement machines. These included "Nudist Colony" (or the "Live Peep Show"). Mr Bryan was determined to establish a business of his own, and set about purchasing land with his wife Vera, to form their own attraction.

    George Bryan bought the 80 acre site near Tamworth, Staffordshire for £12,000 in 1949 and opened Drayton Manor Theme Park the year after. The site was the residue of the former ancestral estate of the Victorian prime minister Sir Robert Peel. Peel and his family were declared bankrupt in 1911, with most of the house pulled down soon after. During the Second World War the estate was used as a storage depot by the Army, which left behind a sea of brambles and mounds of rubbish. Mr Bryan, his wife and a small team set about rejuvenating the site, and six months later the park was ready. When the theme park opened in 1950, it had one restaurant, a tea room, three hand operated rides, and a set of second hand dodgem cars.

    George Bryan was born on 9 April 1921 at Kegworth, Leicestershire, where his father ran a slot machine business, and was involved in the creation of the famous Peephole machine. He went on to study Engineering at Loughborough University, where his studies were interrupted by the outbreak of war. He volunteered for the Army, serving in the Warwickshires, and then the Royal Army Ordnance, before joining the Royal Engineers. He spent several years in the Egyptian desert repairing tanks and armoured cars within the Royal Army Ordnance.

    While based at Arborfield in Buckinghamshire in 1942, Bryan met his future wife, Vera Cartlidge. When they married in December that year, during one of George’s vacation leaves, they served up tinned ham and potatoes to their wedding guests and enjoyed a three-night honeymoon at the Bonnington Hotel in London, the highlight of which was a trip to the cinema to see James Cagney in Yankee Doodle Dandy.

    After demob, he helped his father-in-law to get his amusement park, which had been closed for the duration of the war, up and running again, but after two years decided to branch out on his own.

    A generous philanthropist who supported many local causes, George Bryan was appointed OBE in 2004. He is survived by his wife and by their daughter and two sons — one of whom, Colin, is managing director of the family business.
     
  22. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    15,396
    Carolyn Cassady

    Carolyn Elizabeth Robinson Cassady (April 28, 1923 – September 20, 2013) was an American writer associated with the Beat Generation through her marriage to Neal Cassady and her friendships with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and other prominent Beat figures. She became a frequent character in the works of Jack Kerouac, who wrote extensively about Neal Cassady.

    The youngest of five siblings, she was born in Lansing, Michigan. Of English descent, both of her parents were educators, her mother a former English teacher and her father a biochemist, who raised their children according to strict conventional values. She spent the first eight years of her childhood in East Lansing, then the family moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where she attended the Ward-Belmont Preparatory School for Girls. Although she enjoyed the school, she was less happy with Nashville and chose to spend her summers in Glen Lake, Michigan.

    After the move to Nashville, she developed her lifelong interest in the fine arts and theater arts. She began formal art lessons at age nine, sold her first portrait at age 14, and continued her interest in portrait painting as an adult. At age 12 she joined the Nashville Community Playhouse, where she won awards for set designs and became the head of the make-up department at age 16. She secured a scholarship to Bennington College, where she initially studied art and then switched to drama.

    In 1943, she studied for six months in New York City. Until she and her roommate could find an apartment of their own, they were hosted by playwright Robert E. Sherwood. By day she worked for Dazian's fabric company, by night she studied at Traphagen School of Design, and on weekends she browsed the Metropolitan Museum and the Museum of Modern Art for little-known prints of period dress. She attended Broadway stage productions, witnessed the beginning of the American Ballet Theatre and took in performances of the biggest swing bands of the era. Both she and her roommate became air raid wardens, serving as auxiliary members of the NYPD.

    At Bennington, Carolyn took classes with Martha Graham, Erich Fromm, Peter Drucker, Francis Ferguson and Theodore Roethke, obtaining her BA degree in Stanislavsky Drama in 1944. After graduation, she became an occupational therapist for the U.S. Army and served at Torney General Hospital in Palm Springs, California. When WWII ended, she returned to Nashville to continue her work at the Nashville Community Playhouse, paint and recover from her war experiences.

    In 1946, she moved to Denver, Colorado to study for her MA degree in Fine Arts and Theater Arts at the University of Denver. She worked as a teaching assistant and began a Theater Arts department for the Denver Art Museum.

    In March 1947, Carolyn met Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. Allen stayed in her residence hotel apartment for two weeks before finding an apartment of his own and Jack accompanied her to rehearsals at the University. In the evenings Carolyn, Neal and Jack frequented Denver's clubs to dance and hear music. It was during this period that Carolyn and Neal began their love affair, though at the time he was still married to his first wife, Lu Anne Henderson. In August 1947, Carolyn was shocked to find Lu Anne, Neal and Allen naked in bed together. She decided her brief romance with Neal was over and departed for Hollywood, California on the promise of a job opening as costume designer for Western Costume Company. While waiting for the job opening, Carolyn moved north to San Francisco, staying initially with an older married sister before finding temporary work and an apartment of her own.

    In a 2008 interview with literary magazine Notes from the Underground, Cassady stated that "As far as I'm concerned, the Beat Generation was something made up by the media and Allen Ginsberg." She goes on to say that Jack Kerouac could not stand the public image that was created for him.

    When the job as costume designer finally came through, she declined because she was pregnant. Neal worked at various jobs, finally becoming a brakeman for the Southern Pacific Railroad. On September 6, 1948, Carolyn gave birth to a daughter, Cathleen Joanne, the first of their three children. She expected life to settle down, but that December Neal spent their savings on a new maroon Hudson and made a trip with his friend Al Hinkle and Lu Anne to connect with Kerouac in North Carolina. Although Neal did make provisions for Carolyn's and baby Cathy's care, she considered Neal's sudden departure desertion and told him not to return. The story was immortalized in Kerouac's On the Road. Believing the marriage was finished, Carolyn moved with her infant daughter to an apartment near Mission Dolores in San Francisco.

    At the end of January 1949, Neal dropped Jack and LuAnne off on a San Francisco street corner and was back in Carolyn's life. Neal took care of baby Cathleen during the day while Carolyn worked as an assistant to a radiologist. In San Francisco Jack spent a few days as a guest in their apartment before returning to New York. After Neal resumed work with the Southern Pacific Railroad, the family moved to better housing. In 1952, Jack joined them for several months, beginning to write Visions of Neal, which later became On the Road, Visions of Cody and other works. With Neal's encouragement, Carolyn and Jack began an affair that continued until 1960. In 1953, Jack joined Neal working as a brakeman for the Southern Pacific Railroad, and he lived with them after they moved to San Jose, California.

    Carolyn and Neal had two more children, a daughter, Jami, and a son, John Allen, who was named after Jack (Jean-Louis) Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. After receiving compensation from a railroad injury, they bought a home in Monte Sereno, California, which was then part of Los Gatos, a suburb about 50 miles south of San Francisco. Jack, Allen, and the other Beat writers often visited their Monte Sereno home.

    Carolyn continued to paint portraits and became costume designer and make-up artist for the Los Gatos Academy of Dance, the Wagon Stagers, the San Jose Opera Company, the San Jose Light Opera Company, and the drama club of the University of Santa Clara. In 1958, Neal was arrested by narcotic agents to whom he had given three marijuana cigarettes. He was accused of drug trafficking and served two years at San Quentin State Prison, leaving Carolyn to take care of their children and fend for herself on welfare. During this period she also continued her painting and theater work.

    After Neal was released from prison, he lost his railroad job for good and became progressively less reliable. When his parole ended in 1963, Carolyn decided to divorce him, mostly to free him from the burden of family obligations, a decision she later regretted. Without employment or family to anchor him, Neal joined Ken Kesey's band of Merry Pranksters and embarked on an endless series of road trips, dying in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico on February 4, 1968, four days short of his 42nd birthday. Although the exact cause of Neal's death was never determined, it is believed to have been caused by a combination of drug/alcohol use and exposure to the elements.

    Carolyn worked at a local newspaper and for radiologists, and she also extended her theater activities. In 1970, Doubleday commissioned her to write her memoirs of her life with Neal and Jack. However, she was unable to secure permission to print Kerouac's letters, and the book was temporarily shelved. Published in 1976, her memoir Heart Beat: My Life with Jack and Neal was later made into the movie Heart Beat starring Sissy Spacek as Carolyn.

    Carolyn was a founding member of the Academy of Parapsychology and Medicine (APM) and during the early 1970s served for four years as their correspondence secretary. In that capacity, she met many in the occult and medical world, including Uri Geller, Andrija Puharich, the Findhorn people and astronaut Edgar Mitchell, who started an institution much like APM after he'd seen Earth as a blue jewel. She also became acquainted with eminent astrologer Dane Rudhyar, and she corresponded with one of the Russian scientists behind the book Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain. When APM closed, she served as office manager for a company that imported bamboo stakes from China to stock American nurseries.

    After all three children had married and left home, Carolyn longed for more cultural life than was available in the San Francisco suburbs. Her ancestors were all buried in England, and she had been brought up with many English customs, so in 1983, she moved to England. With London as her home base, she traveled extensively in Europe, Scandinavia and the Soviet Union, making many friends. In 1990, her memoirs were finally published in London as Off the Road: Twenty Years with Cassady, Kerouac and Ginsberg. Carolyn participated in the 2011 documentary film Love Always, Carolyn in which she claims she is fighting a losing battle for the truth about Neal Cassady and Kerouac. She made her home in the English county of Berkshire, living near the town of Bracknell, about an hour outside London.

    After lapsing into a coma after an emergency appendectomy, Carolyn died at the age of 90 on September 20th 2013 at her home in Bracknell.

    In Kerouac's novel On the Road Carolyn's character is named "Camille". In the film adaptation On the Road (2012), Camille is portrayed by Kirsten Dunst. She also appears as "Evelyn Pomeray" in Kerouac's books Big Sur, Desolation Angels, Visions of Cody and Book of Dreams. In John Clellon Holmes' novel Go she appears as "Marilyn." In the film Heart Beat (1980), Camille is portrayed by Sissy Spacek.

    Bibliography

    Heartbeat: My Life with Jack and Neal (1982) ISBN 978-0916870034
    Off the Road: My Years with Cassady, Kerouac and Ginsberg (1996) ISBN 978-0140153903


    Love Always, Carolyn - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1856037/
     
  23. StrangerInAStrangeLand SubQuantum Mechanic Valued Senior Member

    Messages:
    15,396
    Ruhila Adatia-Sood (29 August 1982 – 21 September 2013)[1] was a Kenyan television and radio presenter and journalist of Indian heritage.

    Ruhila Adatia was born and brought up in Kitisuru, Nairobi. She graduated from Aga Khan Academy, Nairobi, and in 2007 from Rhodes University in Grahamstown, South Africa. Since 2007 she had worked for Kenya Radio Africa Group as a news presenter and Rankingshow Kiss 100 moderator for Kiss TV, and Metro East FM, a radio station in Nairobi aimed at Kenyan Asians. Since 2011 she was, together with Kamal Kaur, a moderator of a TV cooking show for children, recorded each month in Westgate shopping mall in Nairobi.

    She was a member of Kenya's Ismaili Muslim community. In January 2012, she married Ketan Sood, a member of the USAID mission in Nairobi; the wedding took place at the Arya Samaj Temple in Parklands, Nairobi.

    She was wounded in the Westgate shopping mall shooting while hosting a cooking competition for children in the centre's rooftop car park, and died on the way to the Aga Khan Hospital. At the time of her death, at the age of 31, she was six months pregnant with her first child.
     

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