praeceptrix

Director Jacquie Jones has died. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/jacquie-jones-award-winning-director-who-led-group-to-aid-black-filmmakers-dies-at-52/2018/02/06/76d864c8-0abc-11e8-8890-372e2047c935_story.html?utm_term=.e799d5268967

Director Jacquie Jones has died. https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/jacquie-jones-award-winning-director-who-led-group-to-aid-black-filmmakers-dies-at-52/2018/02/06/76d864c8-0abc-11e8-8890-372e2047c935_story.html?utm_term=.e799d5268967

I saw a post on social media that Olivia Cole (Roots, Guiding Light, The Women of Brewster Place, etc.) has died, but no other verification. The post wasn't your standard click-bait. Does anyone have more information?

Hugh Masekela has died. http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-42786749

French singer France Gall has died: http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-42596741

Singer Keely Smith has died. http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/12/17/iconic-vocalist-keely-smith-dies-from-apparent-heart-failure-at-89/

Robert De Cormier has died. I was lucky enough to sing under his direction a few times at The New York Choral Society's summer sings, but regret missing out on actually rehearsing and performing with him. http://www.providencejournal.com/news/20171108/robert-de-cormier-singer-and-arranger-who-bridged-classical-and-folk-dies-at-95

Former NY Mets pitcher Anthony Young has died. He was 51. http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/former-mets-pitcher-anthony-young-dies-at-age-51-due-to-inoperable-brain-tumor/

"To Serve Man"

I have been binging this series, and loving it. Until this episode. I get DearEvette's and tennisgurl's point about Reggie-as-victim being like catnip to Sam's activist-self. But my first reaction was more aligned with Calliope1975's -- once again, a woman was shown as owing sex to a man. He's the "friend zoned" guy who deserves sex because he wants it, even though she's been clear since freshman year that she was not interested (remember her having to push him out of her room in the Coco-centric episode?). I get that they are in college and will, of course, make stupid mistakes. But I wish that they had not gone there, especially after the last two episodes. I'd have preferred to see more interaction between Reggie and Coco, given her outburst about growing up on the south side of Chicago. I also really want to know everyone's personal histories. And how thick can the dean be, to insist that his son would never be in such a situation? Does he really think that wearing a suit and being polite is protection against systemic police racism?!?

I had Chinese takeout for dinner tonight, and it got me thinking. I tried to eat it in proper television style: straight out of the carton, with chopsticks. Sure, it was doable, but there was no room for the rice until I had eaten almost half. Do TV characters not eat/order rice?

Oddly enough, Hogan's Heroes has also spawned some of the best fanfiction I have ever read. Well-written, interesting, and able to tackle some of the darker themes which the show could not.

I just watched all 8 episodes today, and was wondering whether anyone else were watching. I don't know Marcella (should I watch it?), but there were a number of things about Paraniod which irritated me. Poor Indira Varma deserves better, as do most of the cast. I liked the "hands across the water" stuff, but hated that it was one . The underlying theme that most mental health issues are made up by big pharma and that drugs are bad really pissed me off.

90 year old Fidel Castro has died. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/11/cuba-fidel-castro-dies-aged-90-161126052522006.html

I apologize for going slightly off topic (movie, not tv, but I have never visited the movie threads & feel more at home here). I just saw the most wonderful movie: The Queen of Katwe. It is set and filmed in Uganda, so it should come as no surprise that there were almost no white people in it (only on the plane to Russia and the scenes in Russia). I am a white Latina, American, and have never been to Africa. The strangest thing for me was trying to understand the chess parts. I have no idea how much publicity the film has gotten, but as far as I am concerned, it can never be enough. Do yourself a favor and see it. To relate this, a bit, to the discussion of colorism above, the movie was full of the most beautiful, and very dark, men, women, and children. I wonder if some of the colorism issues have to do with technical questions of lighting. With a film full of very dark-skinned folk, the lighting was done to flatter them. I suspect that too many lighting techs and camera operators simply have not learned how to showcase dark skin, especially in a scene with lighter folks (their default setting -- I read an article a long time ago about how color film developing used a template of a white woman, thus screwing up the way pictures of people of color came out).

Sir Neville Marriner has left us. 92 years is a good run, and I will treasure my many LPs. http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-37535272

Radio host, composer, and folk singer Oscar Brand has died. 96 is a good run, but it is still sad to hear that another one of the voices of my childhood has been silenced. Thanks for the years of great music, Oscar! http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/02/arts/music/oscar-brand-folk-singer-whose-radio-show-twanged-for-decades-dies-at-96.html?_r=0

Stanley Duval Jr, founder of Buckwheat Zydeco, has died. He was 68. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/25/arts/music/stanley-dural-jr-founder-of-buckwheat-zydeco-dies-at-68.html?_r=0

Not a celebrity in the same sense as most of the folks we discuss, but a great man nonetheless: Ben Steele, Montana artist and a survivor of the Bataan Death March, has died at the age of 98. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/ben-steele-bataan-death-march-survivor-artist-dies-age-98/

Toots Thielemans, who played harmonica on the Sesame Street theme song, has died at the age of 94. http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-37153355?SThisFB

Pádraig Duggan, founding member of the Irish Folk group Clannad, has died. Their music was used as the soundtrack for a number of movies and television shows. http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-37022580

Tuskegee Airman Dr. Roscoe C. Brown has died. http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/longtime-nyc-educator-wwii-hero-roscoe-brown-dead-94-article-1.2698799

Mickey Rooney's son Teddy has died. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/teddy-rooney-dead-mickey-rooneys-908325

Jane Little, who holds the world record for longest-serving orchestra musician, died as she lived: playing the bass in a concert by the Atlanta Symphony. You read that correctly. She collapsed and died during the concert (playing "There's No Business Like Show Business," no less!). She was 87, and had been a member of the orchestra since she was 16 -- 71 years! I want to be Jane Little when (if) I grow up! https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/05/16/what-an-amazing-way-to-go-bassist-jane-little-worlds-longest-serving-orchestra-musician-dead-at-87-after-collapsing-while-performing/

Julius La Rosa, who was fired on the air by Arthur Godfrey, has died: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/16/arts/television/julius-la-rosa-dead-86-singer.html?_r=0