frleon

Same – wrong age and location, probably. From the reactions I can appreciate that the bloke was better-known than Gates Sr., for instance.

Or he’ll die the 76th time he’s on the list.

Drop him altogether, it’ll be a much-needed bold move either way. If he survives 2024, the committee shall be praised for their nuance and foresight; if he dies, it’ll still have been worth the gamble, especially as I don’t see anyone of note seriously betting on a quick demise now.

Wow, what a day. I’m putting my money on Jimmy passing tomorrow, though till just a moment ago I would have given him till a few days after Christmas.

In my book that’s the very opposite of sad. Sharp and sprightly well into one’s nineties, what more do you want?

Aw, now this, just as I saw some activity in the main Monty Python thread

Yes, hit! That's been a rather long break for me.

They had lots of family functions (not this wedding though) at Notre-Dame-du-Chardonnet around Paris' Quartier Latin. This church has been taken over by the Society of St. Pius X, a traditionalist fraternity of priests who opposed teh Second Vatican Council and eventually got excommunicated for ordinating bishops of their choosing. There's plenty of unsavoury stuff like Holocaust denialism in their ranks, abuse allegations go without saying, and generally they're close to parties like the Front National in France. The church has been occupied by them since the 80s and remains so till today; French authorities haven't intervened so far on grounds on best keeping the peace that way (?). I happen to know a family close to the Pius brothers, preferring to attend the old-style Tridentine mass. It seems though that over the last one or two years they've come to the conclusion that they're indeed a bit icky and now have sought out priests of the Fraternity of Saint Peter, essentially Pius defectors who eventually submitted to Rome in exchange for privileges such as the right to hold mass in Latin.

My money’s on a record year – however, with JC dying only in January 2024.

Hit for my list, end of an era. She's not just any old Picasso ex, but the only one who left him (instead of he leaving her), shaking his machismo like none other. Accomplished painter in her own right, too.

Queen Dowager of most of the world and last Empress of India...the most dangerous woman in Europe according the Hitler...not famous outside the UK? Get a grip. I'm aware of Queen Mum, but in spite of her illustrous biography, she's still a whole level below Kissinger in terms of historical significance, and, by extension, (international) fame.

Should have had him on my general list, I wonder what I was thinking there. There's been a bunch of German candidates that I cut because of their lacking international notability, but surely that wouldn't have concerned me with Modrow.

First hit of the year for me!

I feel Artemev's death at this time of the year calls for posting the Mirror opening theme: his arrangement of Bach's The Old Year Has Passed Away.

He's been on the record that he's ready to go for years now.

Could use another random tell-all book or lurid interview or such, but I suppose it'd be too late for Christmas business anyway. How else are we going to hit 200 pages this year still?

Just learnt that Pierre Soulages has died yesterday, aged 102. There’s someone whose work I really admire! https://amp.france24.com/en/culture/20221026-pierre-soulages-france-s-beyond-black-painter-dies-at-102

Had a look at the scan of the certificate, it's a bit ominous how the most visible bit of the background ornament are these DEATH swirls repeating all across the page.

It’s Werner Herzog for me, no doubt.

For all I know she might be lying in that coffin, alive, waiting, clasping the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch and waiting for the Abbey to fill.

Who would have guessed that the Queen demise would do so much to distract, of all people, the Russians!

Maybe you should explain who the Maus (mouse) is... Wasn't sure it was worth it. Anyway: There's this TV series that's accompanied almost as many childhoods in Germany as the Queen did in the UK, die Sendung mit der Maus or simply "The Mouse". Said mouse is an orange cartoon mouse that's featured in little clips between other cartoons as well as short documentaries (how-it's-made, travelogues, meta-TV and lots of other stuff). Isolde Schmitt-Menzel was the original creator of the character, the late Friedrich Streich was the original animator. I might've exaggerated the impact of her decease a bit, but only because the mouse remains.

Right, but she made it another 21 years even so.

This one hits me somewhat harder than the Queen, albeit she's probably utterly unknown outside of the German-speaking world: Isolde Schmitt-Menzel, creator of the mouse, has passed aged 92.

Yes, it could, if he’d get the Charles I treatment.