Four years ago today, in the wee hours of the morning, my dad died. Considering how little time I’ve spent in this tiny speck the Interwebs, the fact that I've actually mentioned his passing once is notable. It was nearly 17 months ago, on what would have been his 76th birthday, and before I clickedContinue reading “Four Years Gone: Stephen Mark Dobbs (June 5, 1943-October 25, 2016)”
Category Archives: R.I.P.
(Wishing I could wish) Happy birthday Dad: An overdue memorial, first in a series?
Seventy-six years ago today, Stephen Mark Dobbs was born in San Francisco. I write “Stephen Mark Dobbs” because my dad was a fan of using full names. If he mailed something to me, he inevitably addressed the envelope to “Aaron Marc Dobbs.” (Let’s not discuss the weird middle name thing right now, OK?) My dadContinue reading “(Wishing I could wish) Happy birthday Dad: An overdue memorial, first in a series?”
An Appreciation for Susan Smith
"Aaron," yelled my boss. This was not unusual. Her dark, wood-paneled, windowless office was about 20 feet down the hall from my little nook that looked out onto San Vicente Blvd. "Yes, Susan?" I called back. "Come here, please." Also, not unusual. But once I got there, pad in hand: "Get your dad on theContinue reading “An Appreciation for Susan Smith”
R.I.P. HEATH
I was sitting in a programming meeting today. It was around 4:45 or so, and two of my colleagues at the other end of the table was showing his blackberry to someone else. A few minutes passed, and she showed hers back to him, and one of them said, “Heath Ledger was just found dead.”Continue reading “R.I.P. HEATH”
R.I.P. MICHELANGELO (CAN WE TAKE A BREAK, PLEASE?)
This is a bit terrifying. Let’s leave aside Bill Walsh, Tom Snyder and Michel Serrault. I don’t even want to think about what the news will be tomorrow, especially considering the number of French New Wave directors are still alive. Sunday, it was the Swedish Ingmar Bergman and now I wake up today to readContinue reading “R.I.P. MICHELANGELO (CAN WE TAKE A BREAK, PLEASE?)”
I WROTE THE PREVIOUS POST TOO SOON: R.I.P. BILL
Wow. And now, just after finishing that post below, I read the news about Bill Walsh dying at 75, also after a long battle with Leukemia. For those of you non-sports fans, out of all these men who’ve passed away in the last 48 hours, Walsh, actually, probably had the biggest impact on me forContinue reading “I WROTE THE PREVIOUS POST TOO SOON: R.I.P. BILL”
YOU KNOW WHO ELSE DIED TODAY …
Yeah, you probably do. If you read GreenCine, you’ve certainly read about the passing of French actor Michel Serrault. But also dying, losing his battle with Leukemia was former talk-show host Tom Snyder. I had always had big problems with Snyder as an interviewer, however his influence and impact on the chat-show format and conceptContinue reading “YOU KNOW WHO ELSE DIED TODAY …”
R.I.P. INGMAR
Waking up this morning to learn that Swedish master Ingmar Bergman had passed away was a bit of a shock. Why? He was 89 years old, and I’m sure lots of people didn’t even realize he was still alive. But in fact, Bergman was not only alive, but still recently working: his Saraband played theContinue reading “R.I.P. INGMAR”
R.I.P. ROBERT
Wow. Robert Altman has died. The man was 81 years old, and yet I was quite shocked to read this news. Maybe it’s because in the last several years, Altman continued to be a vibrant and relatively prolific filmmaker, never really showing his age. Altman has always been a fascinating director to me. He’s oneContinue reading “R.I.P. ROBERT”
Out of Focus 