Making A Murderer...SPOILERS!!!!

So it's been a couple of weeks since I've watched the ten-part documentary on Netflix, "Making A Murderer".  I watched it all in two days and I'm still thinking about it.  I have watched news shows, Dr. Phil, even Ellen talk about it and give their opinions.  I've talked to nearly nobody about it, except my wife.  What follows will be my opinions on one of the most controversial, talked about and debated shows in a very long time.  If you have not seen this documentary I have two things to say:  1) WATCH IT, IMMEDIATELY...it is super gripping, up until the last two episodes, and 2) STOP READING NOW, because I will be talking about stuff that will make your experience much less pleasurable.

Now, my feelings of the doc as a whole: I enjoyed it immensely, although I found the last two episodes to drag a little, especially as compared to the phenomenal editing and step-by-step explanation of the facts that preceded.  And when I say "facts", I fully realize that this series was made to help exonerate Steven Avery.  It is very one-sided, although I feel that the evidence shown and discussed speak for itself.  In saying this, I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that there was an incredible failing of the justice system and that Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey are completely innocent of the crimes for which they are currently imprisoned.

Why do I feel this way?  Well, three words, words that I have heard others say but have not fully been explained by the prosecution of this case, nor the jury that convicted Avery or Dassey....."WHERE'S THE BLOOD???????".  It seems so obvious to me, yet the reasoning in the documentary, or the interviews or stories released since, are never fully talked about, and I have no idea why!  So let's dissect this a bit.  Brendan Dassey, a scared, mentally challenged young boy, was manipulated....yes, MANIPULATED...into describing a terrible rape scene inside Avery's trailer house.  He was, as was Avery, convicted on the description of this poor woman, Teresa Halbach, being tied up, raped and having her throat cut on Avery's bed.  She was then taken to the garage and shot in the head before, apparently, being burned behind the garage in the fire pit.  Let's just assume that this happened as described by an easily manipulated child, being fed the details by the investigators.  WHERE'S THE BLOOD????  Is it possible, even for the most brilliant minds, never mind the minds of two people with a combined IQ of 140, to get rid of every molecule, every freaking atom, of blood evidence??  The sheets and mattress would be soaked in blood.  OK, let's assume that they got rid of the sheets and mattress.  Would there not be any trace of blood anywhere else?  The walls?  The carpet?  Their own clothes?  None, NONE, was found in that trailer home.  And when the victim was supposedly taken to the garage where she was shot in the head, would there not be blood on the thousands of junk items in that garage at the time of the murder.  Once again, not one molecule of Teresa's blood was found in that garage.  There was not even any evidence of bleach, something that no doubt would have been used to clean the blood.  According to the prosecutors, this is the way Teresa Halbach died.  The lack of physical evidence in both of those places should have been enough to, at the very least, hang this jury.  These facts are the very definition of "reasonable doubt"!

But let's go a bit further.  Let's assume that Avery and Dassey actually had some way of getting rid of every bit of blood evidence for the two rooms.  Maybe they covered everything with plastic drop clothes, just like Dexter did.  Maybe they have some way that the best investigators in the city, state, country don't know about to get rid of the blood.  If the two of them were that brilliant, why wouldn't they get rid of Teresa Halbach's truck?  Let's run this scenario...Avery calls to specifically have Halbach come to his place to take pictures of a truck he wants to sell.  He, at some point, without anybody hearing or seeing, gets Halbach to go into his trailer where he overwhelms her and eventually ties her to his bed.  The rape and murder occur, and then he uses her own truck to move her to his backyard???  Which was steps away??  And then he decided to park her truck in his own salvage yard and hastily cover it with a few sticks??  Without getting rid of any other blood evidence???  He was able to get rid of, what, gallons of blood from his trailer, but left five or six little blood specks in the truck of the woman he just killed???  And why park the truck when he had access to a machine that could completely crush the damn thing?!?!?  If we are asked to believe he was savvy enough to get rid of all the blood evidence, why are we asked to believe he was dumb enough to not get rid of her truck when he had all the capabilities to do so?

All of this just doesn't make sense to me.  Never mind the call Officer Colborne made about Halbach's missing truck BEFORE she was ever reported missing.  Never mind the finding of her truck's keys in Avery's bedroom by a member of the Sheriff's department that Avery was in the process of suing for a wrongful conviction, and missed by all other investigators on at least two other occasions.  Never mind the obviously tampered blood vile that, in my mind, was used to plant Avery's blood in that truck.  There are so many holes in the prosecution's story, and yet two people continue to sit in jail for a murder that, I'm convinced, they couldn't have committed.  Still, there are people that say that we don't know the whole story, that the makers of the documentary manipulated the facts to serve their, and Avery's, purposes.  OK, fine.  Grab a camera, get your "facts" together and present them to the world.  I'm tired of hearing how Avery killed a cat.  Yes, that is disturbing and has been linked to the beginnings of evil minds, serial killers in the making.  That does not PROVE that Steven Avery killed Teresa Halbach.  Not in the least.

Listen, I'm sure there is more to this story that we, the general public, haven't heard.  Avery, for instance, did not take the stand during the trial.  It's probably because he has something to hide that may have been revealed during cross-examination.  Maybe, who knows.  But what seems to be clear is that these two men, Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, were deemed guilty before this trial ever started.  They were not granted a fair trial, and whether the Manitowoc County's Sheriffs Department planted evidence and tried to railroad Avery and Dassey is not really the issue here.  The issue is everybody, EVERYBODY, is entitled to a fair, impartial trial...and that is definitely not what Avery and Dassey got.

Ziggy Played Guitar

So I was driving to work on Monday, January 11, 2016, listening to Q107 as I normally do.  Andy Frost was on the John Derringer morning show.  He normally comes on Monday mornings to talk about the Toronto Maple Leafs, since he's the voice of the Leafs at the Air Canada Centre where they play their home games.  He was going on about the sad loss the Leafs took on Saturday, 7-0 to the San Jose Sharks.  I kind of tuned out as I was eating my apple fritter that I just picked up from Tim Hortons.  The next thing I remember hearing is something to the effect of "There will be many tributes in the days to come".  I started to think "Who died?  An old-time Leaf?  Did Johnny Bower finally die???".  Then I heard "Bowie".  I almost drove off the road.  I thought "No, I heard that wrong".  But sure enough, Frost and Derringer started talking about the passing of The Thin White Duke, Ziggy Stardust, David Bowie.

I was dumbfounded, perhaps a little bit in shock, for some time afterwards.  When I got into work, I turned to the letter carrier across from my sorting case and heard myself saying "David Bowie died".  It sounded so strange.  I could hear the words coming out of my mouth, but it was almost as if I whispered it.  He said "Yeah, weird.  I heard it this morning".  He said nothing else.  What more needed to be said?  Somehow, I felt alone in my confusion.  I wasn't really grieving the loss of this legend, but I also didn't really know what to do.  I wanted to start playing his songs from my iPod, loudly so that everyone could hear.  I wanted to talk to more people about it, discussing what his life meant to them.  But I didn't.  I just stood at my case, sorting my mail, as if it was a normal day.

But it wasn't a normal day.  It was far from a "normal" day.  An icon left us, rather suddenly.  A true Rock God.  A man that changed the face of music, fashion, sexuality, dramatics, and so much more.  An innovator.  Perhaps, a genius.  When it comes to legendary musicians passing away, he is the first, for me, in which I lived almost my whole life knowing of him, reading about him, listening to his music.  Elvis died in 1977...I was five years old.  I don't remember that day at all.  John Lennon died in 1980...I was eight.  I knew he was popular, but I didn't really know why at the time.  Bob Marley died in 1981...I was nine.  I had no idea of Marley's importance to people at the time.  Freddie Mercury died in 1991...I was a little older and wiser, but not a huge fan of Queen at the time.  I knew it was a great loss but we all knew he was sick for a long time before his passing.  There have been others to pass away in my life; Marvin Gaye, Johnny Cash, Frank Sinatra.  Although some of these deaths were shocking at the time (especially Lennon, Elvis and Gaye), their deaths never seemed important to me.  Bowie's death is different.

I remember, very vividly in fact, the first time I really sat and listened to a David Bowie album.  It was 1984, I was 12 years old.  I was at my Big Brother's house (I had a Big Brother because my parents were divorced and my father was not around...that's a whole other post!).  We were going through his albums and I found Let's Dance.  My Big Brother, Bob, said he loved that album, that it just came out not that long ago.  He took it out of my hands and put it on.  I sat and listened to all of it, straight through.  From the opening song, Modern Love, which turned out to be one of my favourite of his songs, all the way through.  I loved it all.  It turned out to be a great starting point for me, since Much Music, Canada's version of MTV, was to launch that same year, and Bowie was all over it.  The videos to Modern Love, China Girl and Let's Dance were all on heavy rotation.  I couldn't turn on the TV and not see David Bowie all over it.  From there, I worked backwards, discovering the sounds, styles and words of someone that people had loved for many years already.

 - Space Oddity, a song released way back in 1969, talked of Major Tom leaving Earth, possibly getting stuck in space, never to return to his wife and kids.  I'm now hooked!
 - Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes and Life On Mars from 1971's Hunky Dory.  Forever in my head.
 - Starman, Suffragette City and "Ziggy played guitar, jamming good with Weird and Gilly, and The Spiders From Mars" form The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars.
 - Panic In Detroit and The Jean Genie from 1973's Aladdin Sane.
 - Rebel Rebel, you tore your dress, from 1974's Diamond Dogs.
 - Young Americans, Fame and his wonderful version of Lennon and McCartney's Across The Universe from 1975's Young Americans.
 - Station To Station and Golden Years from 1976's Station To Station.
 - We could be Heroes just for one day!
 - Fashion and Ashes To Ashes where Major Tom becomes a junky, from 1980's Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps).

Just a few of the highlights for me.  Songs I grew up on, after discovering the sound of Let's Dance in 1984.  Bowie became a staple of my music-listening life.  For more than 30 years I have listened to and enjoyed, not only these popular tunes, but most of his entire catalog of music.  I have mentioned before how hard I took the death of MCA of The Beastie Boys.  MCA, AdRock and Mike D really had a huge impact on shaping who I am to this day.  Bowie didn't have that impact for me...but I know he did for a great many people.  All of or heroes will die one day; Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, Mick Jagger and (maybe) Keith Richards, Paul McCartney.  For me, when Eddie Van Halen goes it'll be a hard day.  David Bowie was on that list.  He's now gone, suddenly, from all of our lives.  And it's not like we knew him.  He didn't call every weekend or come over for Thanksgiving or Christmas.  But he was always there...and now that he's not, things seem very different.  He will live on in song, and movies, forever, but, for now, I feel a little emptier inside.  Perhaps I am grieving, not just for myself, but for all the people who Bowie meant so much to.  The millions of people he touched.  The people who's live literally changed because of his attitude or music.  It's a huge loss to the world and David Bowie will greatly missed.

R.I.P. Mr. Jones.

Guns, Guns, Guns

So I'm watching the news earlier this week and the big story seems to be the new measures that Barak Obama took to try and curb gun violence in the States.  He used his executive powers to pass a bill that would potentially make it harder for people to obtain guns.  In the States, if you wanted to buy a gun from a gun shop, you had to fill out a form so that the government could do a background check on you.  They wanted to make sure you weren't a convicted criminal with a history of gun violence.  Makes sense to me.  But, if you were such a head-case, you could always go to a gun show or by a gun from a private seller, because there were no background checks needed for such transactions.  Makes no sense to me.  President Obama agreed with me (we talk on a regular basis), so now background checks are required for any gun sale in the U.S. of A.  Holy shit, did this cause some controversy.  Some people said this is an unnecessary step, as responsible gun owners and gun show reps would only sell weapons of destruction to whom they thought were responsible enough to own them.  Right.  Some said this was an abuse of power by Obama, claiming that the Senate would never pass such a bill and Obama was simply trying to make a big name for himself before he leaves office.  Uh huh, sure.  Some say his tears during his press conference were faked or at the very least manipulated out of him when he was talking about children being killed by some gun-toting maniac.  These people (Fox "News", I'm looking at you) are the exact reason I hate most of the breathing population of the U.S.

     And then there is the NRA, the National Rifle Association of America, a group founded way back in 1871 as a way to train the Union Army to, basically, shoot straight during the Civil War.  Somewhere along the line, the NRA became more about what they felt were the right to own guns, no matter what anybody said, than anything else.  They bastardized the meaning of the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to suit their needs and gather a following of millions.  They have a five-point mission:

     1. To protect and defend the Constitution Of The United States
     2. To promote public safety, law and order, and the national defense.
     3. To train members of law enforcement agencies, the armed forces, the militia and people of good repute in marksmanship and in the safe handling and efficient use of small arms.
     4. To foster and promote the shooting sports.
     5. To promote hunter safety.

Now, to the first point.  The only part of the Constitution the NRA is trying to protect and defend is the Second Amendment.  But the part they focus on, "A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall no be infringed", does not mean you have the right to stockpile weapons in your Main Street duplex.  If all things went to shit in the States, and the majority of population felt they needed to take control of the government, the Second Amendment says they can do so with weaponry.  Now, this fallacy of it meaning anyone can "protect" themselves with guns for their own private purposes has been disputed in the United States Supreme Court a number of times, sometimes resulting in a broader meaning and sometimes resulting in a narrower meaning.  What nobody ever seems to do is use common fucking sense.  The Second Amendment was written in 1791, a time when law enforcement was near non-existent.  You needed to keep shotguns near you because buddy over the hill wanted to steal your cows or horses.  The only people right now that have taken the literal meaning of the Second Amendment to heart are those nutty folks in Oregon that have taken control of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Beyond all this, because there is no way a gun-loving 'Merican would ever admit to being wrong, the NRA should support the measures that Obama is taking.  He's trying to keep guns out of the hands of crazy fuckers that may want to walk into a school and shoot a bunch of kids.  Of course this type of insanity won't completely stop, but what if it stops two people this year?  What if it stops ten people next year?  Obama doesn't want to come into your homes and take your guns away, like the NRA would like you to believe.  If you want to keep your loaded .45 on your kitchen table for your five year-old to blow his or your head off, great, fine, go ahead and keep it.  But maybe you won't feel like you need it as much when you realize it's getting harder for those that want to commit violent crimes to get a gun.

The United States has the most ass-backward way of thinking when it comes to owning guns, and it's something I just can't wrap my head around.  What I can wrap my head around are stats:

Gun Ownership per 100 residents (as reported by The Washington Post in December of 2012)
The USA - 88.8
Switzerland - 45.7
Finland - 45.3
Saudi Arabia - 35
Iraq - 34.2
Sweden - 31.6
France - 31.2
Canada - 30.8
Germany - 30.3
Greece - 22.5
Australia - 15
Mexico - 15
Italy - 11.9

% of Homicides By Guns
Switzerland - 72.2
The USA - 67.5
Italy - 66.7
Mexico - 54.9
Greece - 34.9
Canada - 32
Germany - 26.3
Finland - 19.8
Australia - 11.5
France - 9.6

Yup, Switzerland has more of a percentage of homicides by guns than the US.  Switzerland's population is 3.4 million, with only 57 homicides by guns in 2012.  The USA's population is 270 million, with 9,960 homicides by guns in 2012.  Some would argue that if more people owned guns, the homicide rate would go down, stating the criminals would think twice about robbing you if they knew you had a gun.  I just can't comprehend that logic.

I realize the craziness of the gun-loving nation to the south of us will never subside.  I also realize that everything I've written here can and will be turned around for the gun-lovers' own needs.  But the measures that Obama has taken is, in my opinion, a step in the right direction.  It's a small step, granted.  There are many other avenues to help keep those insane clowns from shooting up schools or movie theatres.  Better mental health education and treatment.  Keeping a record of every gun sold in the nation.  Any ideas take money, and the States is one of the poorest rich nations in the world.  What Obama is saying is, let's start...let's do something.  And anybody that can't see that, that can't see he's trying to save people's lives, like a great leader should, is clearly fucked!

Gone But Not Forgotten

So I've decided to make a small New Year's resolution for 2016.  I will try, maybe, if I feel like it, to post something to this blog at least once a week, all year long.  I don't know why...I guess it's just something to do on a lazy Saturday or Sunday afternoon.  As some of you know, those that have taken the time to go through this mess of thoughts, I really enjoy talking about stuff that bugs me, stuff I've seen, stuff I've heard and making lists out of most of that stuff.  There is no other reason for doing any of that stuff other than for my own entertainment (it's kinda amusing going back and reading what was on my mind many months ago), but I hope some of the stuff that flows from my tangled web of a brain amuses some of you.  My first entry of 2016 will talk about some of the entertainers that have gone from this mortal coil this past year.  I started to think about this as I learned of Wayne Rogers' and Natalie Cole's deaths on the last day of the old year.  It made me think, will any of us remember their passing come December 2016?  Maybe, maybe not.  But I'd like to take some time to honour and recognize some of the talented folk that we may miss...the Class Of 2015:

Rod Taylor
B. January 11, 1930  New South Wales, Australia
D. January 7, 2015 (aged 84)  Los Angeles, California
Cause: Heart Attack

I was mostly unfamiliar with Taylor's career, but I knew I knew him from somewhere.  When I looked it up that day, it turned out he was Mitch in Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds".  He will also be remembered for his lead role in "The Time Machine" from 1960, a movie I have sadly not seen.  The last major film he appeared in was Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" from 2009.

Taylor Negron
B. August 1, 1957  Glendale, California
D. January 10, 2015 (aged 57)  Los Angeles, California
Cause: Liver Cancer

Not many people know who Taylor Negron was, but if you've seen "Fast Times At Ridgmont High" as many times as I have you immediately know he was the pizza dude.  He had roles in "Easy Money", "Better Off Dead..." and "The Last Boy Scout", along with many TV appearances as well, but will always and forever be the pizza dude to me.

Anita Ekberg
B. September 29, 1931  Malmo, Sweden
D. January 11, 2015 (aged 83)  Rocca Di Papa, Italy
Cause: Complications from enduring illnesses

Anita Ekberg started out as a beauty queen, winning Miss Sweden in 1951 and appearing at the Miss Universe Pageant that year.  (She placed sixth). She went to Hollywood to become a star, and ended up becoming romantically involved with some of the most famous leading men of the time, including Frank Sinatra, Yul Brynner, Tyrone Power, Errol Flynn, and the above-mentioned Rod Taylor.  Her most famous role came in Fellini's "La Dolce Vita" from 1960.  The scene of her prancing around in Rome's Trevi Fountain has become an iconic piece of filmdom.  In 1956 she received a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer - Female for her role in "Blood Alley".

Lesley Gore
B. May 2, 1946  Brooklyn, New York
D. February 16, 2015 (aged 68)  Manhattan, New York
Cause: Lung Cancer

Lesley Gore became internationally famous at the tender age of 16 when she recorded "It's My Party", a song that would become a certified Gold record and a number one hit in 1963.  A few other hits followed, including "She's A Fool", "You Don't Own Me" and "Sunshine, Lollipops And Rainbows".  She appeared in a few films and a load of TV appearances, including the character of Pussycat in two episodes of the original "Batman" series.  Gore went on to host a PBS show called "In The Life" that dealt with LGBT issues.

Leonard Nimoy
B. March 26, 1931  Boston, Massachusetts
D. February 27, 2015 (aged 83)  Los Angeles, California
Cause: Complications from COPD

Nimoy will always be remembered for his role as Mr. Spock on the original "Star Trek" TV series and movies.  He was loved so much as this character that it was often difficult for him to be taken as a serious actor in any other regard.  He turned to directing later in life, starting with the third instalment of the Star Trek series "The Search For Spock".  Before "Star Trek" he appeared in all kinds of TV shows from the 1950's and 1960's including "Dragnet", "Sea Hunt", "Bonanza", "Rawhide", "Perry Mason" and "Gunsmoke".  In June of 2015, as a move to honour Nimoy, an asteroid that had been discovered in 1988 was named 4864 Nimoy.

Percy Sledge
B. November 25, 1940  Leighton, Alabama
D. April 14, 2015 (aged 74)  Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Cause: Liver Cancer

Sledge was a singer for more than 40 years, but he'll always be remembered as the voice behind "When A Man Loves A Woman".  (If you think Michael Bolton was the first to sing that song you need so...much...help!!).  That song made Sledge a legend and he continued to sing it at every performance thereafter.  He was inducted into the Rock N' Roll Hall Of Fame in 2005.

Ben E. King
B. September 28, 1938  Henderson, North Carolina
D. April 30, 2015 (aged 76)  Hackensack, New Jersey
Cause: Coronary Disease

Just like Percy Sledge above, Ben E. King made himself a legend for life because of one song, "Stand By Me", which became a Top 10 hit in the US in 1961.  Unlike Sledge, King was fairly famous for another thing, that being the lead singer of the group The Drifters in the late 1950's and early 1960's.  The Drifters had a couple of big hits with King's voice at the helm; "There Goes My Baby" in 1959 and "This Magic Moment" and "Save The Last Dance For Me" in 1960.

B.B. King
B. September 16, 1925  Berclair, Mississippi
D. May 14, 2015 (aged 89)  Las Vegas, Nevada
Cause: Multi-Infarct Dementia, brought on by stroke

One of the most famous and beloved Blues guitarist of all-time, Riley B. King got the nickname B.B. when he worked as a DJ and singer at a Memphis radio station.  He was known as the "Beale Street Blues Boy", later shortened to "Blues Boy", becoming B.B..  He began recording way back in the 1940's and didn't stop until the mid-2000's, almost 60 years of music.  He was the winner of 15 Grammy Awards, the first being for his classic song "The Thrill Is Gone" in 1971.  He was inducted into the Rock N' Roll Hall Of Fame in 1987, the same year he received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, recognized by The Kennedy Center Honors in 1995, and received the Presidential Medal Of Freedom in 2006.  Rolling Stone magazine ranked King  number 6 on the list of it's 100 greatest guitarists of all time.  I personally got into my love of Blues later in life, but B.B. was instrumental in building that love, and I still listen to as many of his hundreds of songs as I can on a regular basis.

Christopher Lee
B. May 27, 1922  London, England
D. June 7, 2015 (aged 93)  London, England
Cause: Complications from Respiratory Problems and Heart Failure

Lee spent his early days fighting in World War II, first with the Finnish Forces and later, retiring as a flight lieutenant with the RAF.  He got into acting soon after the war appearing in his first TV show in 1947.  From then on, IMDB lists him as appearing in more than 270 shows and movies.  He worked steadily for over 60 years, becoming famous for his roles in horror films from the late 1950's, especially for his portrayal of Dracula in 1958.  He went on to play Dracula a number of times, his name becoming synonymous with The Prince Of Darkness.  Lee was offered the role of Dr. No in the first James Bond film by Ian Fleming himself, but the producers had already given the role to Joseph Wiseman.  Lee got his chance to play the villain in a Bond movie in 1974's "The Man With The Golden Gun".  Later in life, Lee was able to be part of some major films, including the Star Wars prequels and the Lord Of The Rings trilogy.

Dick Van Patten
B. December 9, 1928  Queens, New York
D. June 23, 2015 (aged 86)  Santa Monica, California
Cause: Complications from Diabetes

I grew up watching Dick Van Patten as Tom Bradford on TV's "Eight Is Enough".  That series ran from 1977 to 1981, and I thought everybody needed to have a dad like him!  He appeared in a number of famous TV shows before and after "Eight Is Enough" including "I Remember Mama", "Sanford And Son", "Happy Days", "The Streets Of San Francisco", "Emergency" and even "Arrested Development".  His friendship with Mel Brooks got him cast in many of the director's films including "High Anxiety", "Spaceballs" and "Robin Hood: Men In Tights".  But he'll always be remembered as on of the best TV dads of all time.

Chris Squire
B. March 4, 1948  London, England
D. June 27, 2015 (aged 67)  Phoenix, Arizona
Cause: Leukemia

Chris Squire was the original and everlasting bassist for the progressive rock group Yes.  He had the distinction of playing on every one of Yes' 21 studio albums, a feat you just don't see too much anymore.  He stayed in the band for 47 years.  Many rock bassists regard Squire as a major influence, including Geddy Lee from Rush.

Omar Sharif
B. April 10, 1932  Alexandria, Egypt
D. July 10, 2015 (aged 83)  Cairo, Egypt
Cause: Heart Attack

Omar Sharif appeared in more than 100 movies and TV shows in his illustrious career.  He started acting in Egypt in 1954, but soon came to Hollywood, and became a huge star.  His first English-language role was in David Lean's "Lawrence Of Arabia" in 1962 in the role of Sherif Ali.  He was promptly nominated for an Academy Award and won a Golden Globe Award for that role.  He would appear in other huge movies including "The Fall Of The Roman Empire", "Dr. Zhivago" and "Funny Girl".

Alex Rocco
B. February 29, 1936  Cambridge, Massachusetts
D. July 18, 2015 (aged 79)  Los Angeles, California
Cause: Cancer

"I'm Moe Greene!!".  Alex Rocco appeared in just about every TV show of the 1970's.  I remember seeing him in all my faves; "Kojak", "Mary Tyler Moore", "The Rockford Files" and "Baretta" just to name a few.  It wasn't until I was much older that I realized he played Moe Greene in "The Godfather"...and got shot right in the eye!  He was the consummate character actor.  The last thing I remember seeing him in was the show "Episodes" from a couple of years ago and even then I thought, "Hey, that's Moe Greene!".

Roddy Piper
B. April 17, 1954  Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
D. July 31, 2015 (aged 61)  Hollywood, California
Cause: Cardiac Arrest

This one took me aback.  When I was in my early teens I started to really get into the World Wrestling Federation.  I loved watching all the stars, and I never thought it was real, but man did I love the entertainment value.  I had a few favourites; Ricky Steamboat, Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, Andre The Giant.  But the best villain, and the funniest of them all was "Rowdy" Roddy Piper.  He made every week for me.  When he wasn't on, it was a huge disappointment.  I even remember going to the theatre to see his leading-man, action movie debut "They Live" when I was 16.  Just as I felt when MCA of The Beastie Boys passed away a couple years earlier, part of me died when I heard of Piper's passing.  "Hulk is such a yo-yo!".

Wes Craven
B. August 2, 1939  Cleveland, Ohio
D. August 30, 2015 (aged 76)  Los Angeles, California
Cause: Brain Cancer

Craven became world famous when a little movie called "A Nightmare On Elm Street" was released in 1984.  Although he directed a few horror flicks before that ("The Last House On The Left" and "The Hills Have Eyes" to name a couple), his Elm Street movie became a monster hit.  The character of Freddy Kruger, which he created, went on to star in at least seven films.  Then, in the mid-1990's, another horror film was being shopped around that was scary but also made fun of previous hour films.  It was "Scream" and the only director who could have made it was Wes Craven.  He went on to direct the next three "Scream" films as well, solidifying himself as one of the Kings Of Horror in Hollywood.

Jackie Collins
B. October 4, 1937  London, England
D. September 19, 2015 (aged 77)  Beverly Hills, California
Cause: Breast Cancer

Jackie Collins may well have been known as the sister of TV and movie star Joan Collins, but she started writing stories instead.  I can honestly say I never read a Jackie Collins' novel (really, it's true), but there is no denying how she helped to shape the romance genre in the US and around the world.  Her first novel, "The World Is Full Of Married Men", was published in 1968.  Some thirty novels and 40+ years later she was a multi-millionaire.  She has written 30 New York Times Bestsellers and sold more than 500 million copies of her books.  Maybe Joan Collins should have been known as Jackie's sister.

Yogi Berra
B. May 12, 1925  St. Louis, Missouri
D. September 22, 2015 (aged 90)  West Caldwell, New Jersey
Cause: Natural Causes

Yogi Berra was known for a couple of things.  One, for being one of the best catchers to ever play the game of baseball.  Two, for his eloquent use of the English language, creating phrases now known as Yogi-isms.  During his playing career, Yogi appeared in 18 All-Star games, 13 World Series', was a 3-time MVP and was inducted into the Baseball Hall Of Fame in 1972.  His famous witticisms include gems like "90 percent (of life) is half mental", "Nobody goes there anymore.  It's too crowded", "It ain't over till it's over", and "It's deja vu all over again".

Maureen O'Hara
B. August 17, 1920  Dublin, Ireland
D. October 24, 2015 (aged 95)  Boise, Idaho
Cause: Natural Causes

Maureen O'Hara made a name for herself in Hollywood as being a no-nonsense leading lady, many times in John Ford movies and westerns of the 1940's and 1950's.  Her first big role came at the tender age of 19 when she played Esmerelda in "The Hunchback Of Notre Dame" in 1939.  From there she starred in many big films of the next few decades including "How Green Was My Valley", "Miracle On 34th Street", "Rio Grande" and "The Quiet Man".  In 1971 she retired from the film industry, but made a return 20 years later in John Candy's film "Only The Lonely".  She was never nominated for an Academy Award but was presented with an Honorary Award in 2014.

Scott Weiland
B. October 27, 1967  San Jose, California
D. December 3, 2015 (aged 48)  Bloomington, Minnesota
Cause: Accidental Overdose of Cocaine and other drugs

Weiland first came to notoriety as the lead singer of the rock band Stone Temple Pilots.  His gravely voice and unmistakable intensity became a staple of rock radio in the 1990's.  Through their success, it was soon found out that Weiland had a pretty substantial drug problem.  He had been arrested a few times, once for buying crack-cocaine, and spent a few stints in rehab.  In 2002, STP broke up and Weiland became the lead singer of "supergroup" Velvet Revolver.  They garnered some success, but Weiland's drug problems kept bubbling to the surface.  Finally, while on tour with his new band The Wildabouts, Weiland's drug habit got the best of him, as he died of an overdose on the band's tour bus.

Robert Loggia
B. January 3, 1930  Staten Island, New York
D. December 4, 2015 (aged 85)  Los Angeles, California
Cause: Alzheimer's Disease

Robert Loggia was one of those great character actors in Hollywood that seemingly appeared in everything over the years.  I think my first clear memory of him was in "Scarface" from 1983, where he displayed almost as bad an accent as Al Pacino!  Checking him out on IMDB shows he appeared in over 200 TV shows and movies over his career.  He studied acting at The Actor's Studio under famed teacher Stella Adler.  This got him many roles on 1950's and 1960's television.  In the 1970's he showed up in just about every big show including "The Rockford Files", "Kojak", "Columbo", "SWAT", "Wonder Woman" and "The Six-Million Dollar Man".  Film roles followed in the 1980's; "An Officer And A Gentleman", "Scarface", "Prizzi's Honor", and his famous dancing scene with Tom Hanks in "Big".  Loggia was nominated for an Academy Award in 1985 for his role in "The Jagged Edge".

Lemmy Kilmister
B. December 24, 1945  Staffordshire, England
D. December 28, 2015 (aged 70)  Los Angeles, California
Cause: Cancer

So, is this a big deal?  Well, I guess it depends on who you are.  For me, the death of Lemmy was a shock and it touched me harder than I thought it would.  I'm not sure why exactly.  I only became a fan of Motorhead in the last decade or so.  I was never a huge fan of Lemmy's vocal stylings (although I know of no-one else that could growl so hard for so long).  What got me about him and his band was the nonstop aggression that they conveyed whenever they played - from 1975 to 2015.  This band kicked ass!  Whenever you need to pound your fist and scream a little, you couldn't do much better than listening to Motorhead!  Beyond that, Lemmy himself was one of the most interesting characters ever.  He has said he drank a bottle of Jack Daniels a day for 40 years.  He has tried every drug known to man, but has said he never gets addicted.  He claims to have slept with over 2500 women.  He had a massive collection of Nazi memorabilia, although had said he never agreed with their ideals.  He was a true rock star in every sense of the word and will be sorely missed.


Ok, that's it.  I would have liked to have done a separate entry about the famous births of 2015, but I haven't been able to perfect my prognosticating...not yet anyway.