The Crane Pool Forum

Disgraced Italian business man Calisto Tanzi, 83.

Dan Reeves, who coached the Giants to the playoffs and two other teams to the Super Bowl, 77.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/329 ... er-dies-77

Although unmentioned in the linked ESPN piece, Reeves had been suffering from dementia in recent years. And while that's not unheard of for someone in their mid-70s, it's still semi-young. Reeves of course played prior to his coaching career which leads to wondering about CTE and as to whether the family will pursue an examination.

Lawrence Brooks, who had been the oldest living US veteran of World War II, 112.

https://apnews.com/article/new-orleans- ... 7ed16a4cf1

G-Fafif wrote: ↑Wed Jan 05, 2022 3:26 pm Lawrence Brooks, who had been the oldest living US veteran of World War II, 112.

https://apnews.com/article/new-orleans- ... 7ed16a4cf1

Old soldiers never die. They just fade away.
TEN HUT!

Later

Peter Bogdanovich, director (and Dr. Melfi’s therapist on The Sopranos), 82.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie ... 235070769/

Sidney Poitier - 94
https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/mov ... YDTYCfddDI

RIP
Later

I call him Mr. Tibbs.

I watched In The Heat of the Night in recent years thinking it would be dated but it holds up surprisingly well and feels groundbreaking. Guess Who's Coming to Dinner is totally dated though, but Poitier is still great in his role.

That dude took me from crayons to perfume.

Lani Guinier, leading civil rights attorney whose nomination as assistant attorney general in 1993 was torpedoed in what echoes as a dress rehearsal for confirmation battles to come, 71.

If you asked me I'd have told u Sidney was dead for 30 years

I just looked at his list of movies and I've only seen the biggies. I liked A Patch
of Blue but it's been like twenty years since last seeing it. Maybe I'll look for it
tonight on one our countless 'free' movie viewing options.

A Patch of Blue was a good film. A good book too.

It surprisingly was the most successful of Poitier's career. It was the most lucrative too, as he worked for scale plus 10% of gross earnings. It seems mostly forgotten and if I didn't know that factlet, and was asked which of his films did the best in theatres, I'd have probably named seven or eight titles before guessing that. Maybe more.

NYT on Guinier:

While the rest of the country remembered her for her failed nomination, she continued to make strides as a legal scholar and teacher. She pioneered research on implicit bias in the classroom and workplace. Later in her career she opened a wide-ranging critique of merit, especially the way it distorts institutions like her own.

Many of her positions have since moved into and informed the mainstream, especially her criticisms of voter redistricting processes.

“The ability to see so far down the line was her gift,” Heather Gerken, the dean of Yale Law School, said in a phone interview. “She had a deep understanding of the insidious ways that power corrupts institutions, even institutions acting in good faith.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/07/us/p ... -dead.html

G-Fafif wrote: ↑Fri Jan 07, 2022 3:29 pm Lani Guinier, leading civil rights attorney whose nomination as assistant attorney general in 1993 was torpedoed in what echoes as a dress rehearsal for confirmation battles to come, 71.

Yes, Guinier's torpedoing was a retribution move for Bork. Time was when, as long as the candidate was deemed to have the proper credentials for the post, the executive branch usually got
their candidate approved and often by large and bipartisan majorities. The 'Borking' process killed off that trend.

But that linked article also correctly points out how quickly and cowardly Clinton caved once opposition appeared. IIRC, he and Guinier were not just familiar with each other's stances but were
friends to the point where he and Hillary had attended her wedding. All of which made his claim, once the flak started, that he wasn't aware of many of the legal views she espoused sound like
the total bullshit they were. Even I knew at the time that he was full of it on this topic because I knew what her views were in advance of her nomination and I certainly make no claim, then or
now, to being the most informed consumer of political news, particularly when compared to the then 44-ish y/o President who by that point had already been in politics for about 40 of those years.
My "inside source" at the time was my subscription to Newsweek magazine. If only Bill C. had had one of those he could have avoided the entire embarrassment.

Michael Lang, who (with others, of course), brought the world Woodstock, 77.

https://apnews.com/article/woodstock-mi ... 471a81d3a3

Bob Saget, 65.

https://www.tmz.com/2022/01/09/bob-sage ... ull-house/

Dwayne Hickman, who starred as Dobie Gillis, 87.

https://variety.com/2022/tv/news/dwayne ... 235149782/

G-Fafif wrote: ↑Sun Jan 09, 2022 7:47 pm Bob Saget, 65.

https://www.tmz.com/2022/01/09/bob-sage ... ull-house/

Saget played my college campus at Springfest time. He did an imitation of Jerry Lewis singing "Beat It" while aping Michael Jackson's steps. And when I say "Jerry Lewis," I mean "Jerry Lewis' idiot boy character." It was horrifying, but my well-lit classmates were just eating it up. Rolling in the aisles.

Saget was killing it. My roommate was more lit than most, but he looked at me and he was just as horrified as I was. He somehow found the right soft spot in between the dying laughter and Saget's next bit to make a bullhorn out of his hands and yell, "YOU SUCK!!"

Somehow that just did it. Fully half the room was instantly sobered up and snapped out of the spell. Saget finished his set more or less successfully, but never had them eating out of his hand again.

It wasn't kind, and by most accounts, Saget wasn't a bad dude. Sean wasn't a dick — at least he wasn't that kind of dick — and he kind of felt bad. But when I'd ask about it, he'd say, "Jerry Lewis doing 'Beat It' — maybe I shouldn't have done that, but Goddaminit, somebody had to do something."

Rock on, Bob Saget. I imagine you'll get the last laugh yet.

Saget apparently had a reputation for his ability to out-blue any blue comic, but rarely utilized those powers in public acts, instead he used that primarily on other comics.

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: ↑Sun Jan 09, 2022 10:01 pm Saget apparently had a reputation for his ability to out-blue any blue comic, but rarely utilized those powers in public acts, instead he used that primarily on other comics.

Enjoyed him often on a number of different Sirius XM radio shows (O&A, Ron & Fez, etc.). He invariably killed and said very twisted shit.

In THE ARISTOCRATS Saget was one of those guys who you didn't expect to hear giving a variation on the theme, a contradiction which made his bits a bit funnier than you expected.
But apparently his stand-up persona and his TV one were as far apart as is gets. OTOH, I just knew of his TV rep despite never actually seeing him anything as far as I can remember.

He also had this very funny bit in "Half Baked."

Dwayne Hickman - 87 From Parkinson's Disease.
Star of The Many Lives of Dobie Gillis

https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertai ... 0Sxux071eY

Later