Passages

[ando]

Peruvian novelist and Nobel laureate Mario Vargas Llosa, one of the pivotal figures who ignited a global boom in Latin American literature.

I hadn't heard. Major voice. His Letters To A Young Novelist impressed me when I read it eons ago. Thanks.

[MichaelB]

Polish actress Jadwiga Jankowska-Cieślak, best known by far for playing the younger of the two lesbian lovers in Károly Makk's international hit Another Way (1982), for which she became the first Pole to win Best Actress at Cannes.

This should by rights have launched an international career, but she opted to stay at home for family reasons and only found out much later (i.e. when it was far too late to respond) that she'd been sent quite a few prestigious offers that had gone to Film Polski rather than her directly. But she made several distinguished films in Poland over a full half century, including Janusz Morgenstern's To Kill This Love (1972), Maciej Dejczer's 300 Miles to Heaven (1989), Michał Rosa's Scratch (2008) and Andrzej Wajda's Tatarak (2009), the last two of which really should have had wider circulation outside Poland.

[hearthesilence]

Nora Aunor.

Criterion's blog post about her, posted last December:

Aunor was “the first Filipina actress with brown skin and small stature to become a movie star,” [per Noel Vera], and she has been beloved all these years “for playing countryside maidens, domestic helpers, laundry women, water carriers—humble figures her millions of fans could identify with, and whose eventual rise to fame and fortune they could celebrate.”

[hearthesilence]

Paddy Higson, pioneering producer known as the “mother of the Scottish film industry,” she played a key role in Gregory’s Girl, Taggart and Monarch of the Glen before dedicating herself to mentoring through Glasgow’s GMAC Film.

[dx23]

I'm still hugely surprised that this went unnoticed, but acclaimed and influential artist Robert McGinnis passed away last month at the age of 99.

[CSM126]

Francis

[Fiery Angel]

Everything JD Vance touches--couches, trophies, Popes--dies.

[beamish14]

Roy Thomas Baker, producer for The Cars and Queen, among many bands. Also facilitated the signing of Metallica and 10,000 Maniacs to Elektra.

[GaryC]

Renee Goddard, aged 102. Some acting roles, but best known as a script editor and commissioner, including in the early days of Channel 4 in the UK.

[CSM126]

Steve “Mongo” McMichael

[hearthesilence]

David Thomas, one of the founding members of the influential proto-punk band Rocket from the Tombs and one of the greatest post-punk groups ever, Pere Ubu. Last time they played NYC (just two years ago), they were accompanied by Wayne Kramer of the MC5. Incredibly sad they're both gone now.

[mizo]

Very sad to hear. I hadn't realized he was just in his early 20's recording those epochal early Pere Ubu singles. He seemed like an elder statesman with such a singular vision.

Between Johansen, Hurley, and now Thomas, my favorite artists of the 70s are disappearing at an alarming rate. I hope Peter Stampfel and Jonathan Richman stay in good health!

[Aunt Peg]

Australian actor Gerard Kennedy, 93, https://au.variety.com/2025/tv/news/ger ... ary-21732/

A remember him most fondly from the TV cop drama Division 4 as well as appearances in a number of films.

[dadaistnun]

David Thomas, one of the founding members of the influential proto-punk band Rocket from the Tombs and one of the greatest post-punk groups ever, Pere Ubu. Last time they played NYC (just two years ago), they were accompanied by Wayne Kramer of the MC5. Incredibly sad they're both gone now.

Ah hell, this one really hurts. I saw Pere Ubu live a half dozen times in the mid-90s (Story of My Life / Ray Gun Suitcase / Pennsylvania period) and they were never less than magnificent. The first four albums + the 390 Degrees live album + the singles collection Terminal Tower were critical in my formative years. Thomas guided the band through many lineup changes over the years, with him being the one constant, but he always surrounded himself with simpatico musicians that were completely locked in to whatever the moment needed.

Plenty of great solo work and non-Ubu collaborations as well; I'm especially fond of the albums he did as "David Thomas and Two Pale Boys" particularly the live album Meadville.

Speaking of live albums, the Ubu album Apocalypse Now, recorded in 1991 on the Worlds in Collision tour, captures very well Thomas's between song banter with other band members as well as the audience. There's just this upbeat exuberance to it that is very infectious. He had also spent the past several years cleaning up live tapes from over the years and posting them on Bandcamp. There's a real treasure trove of stuff there.

[denti alligator]

Fuck! David Thomas was hands-down the best live performer I've ever seen (after, maybe, Tom Waits). I saw him three or four times in short spans of years (1996-1997 or so), when he was playing with the Two Pale Boys and also Pere Ubu. Amazing shows! He always hung around after to talk, too. What a musician! Time to cue up Monster Walks the Winter Lake!

[Tuppence]

Lar Park Lincoln

[gcgiles1dollarbin]

Joshua Clover, Marxist, theorist, poet, author of the BFI Film Series book on The Matrix, and overall pop culture enthusiast, particularly of Eric B. & Rakim.

[Peg of the PreCodes]

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movie ... 236202858/

Cora Sue Collins, 1930s child actor. People who met her at film festivals in the last decade all say she was a delight; I'm sorry to have missed those chances.

[beamish14]

Novelist Jane Gardam

Mike Peters of The Alarm

[Aunt Peg]

Actress Priscilla Pointer, 100, star of Carrie, Looking for Mr. Goodbar & Blue Velvet: https://variety.com/2025/film/news/pris ... 236381607/

[Roger Ryan]

Actress Priscilla Pointer, 100, star of Carrie, Looking for Mr. Goodbar & Blue Velvet: https://variety.com/2025/film/news/pris ... 236381607/

I wonder if Ms. Pointer did, indeed, get to watch Blue Velvet one more time with her daughter?

[Aunt Peg]

Actress Ruth Buzzi, 88, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Buzzi

[Drucker]

Matt Arco, a young journalist based in New Jersey. Only 39

[Buttery Jeb]

Jill Sobule

[The Elegant Dandy Fop]

According to an email from her gallery, Dara Birnbaum passed away. Incredibly important artist from the first-wave of American artists who experimented with media as a sculptural object and critiquing television and broadcasted images. By coincidence, I just bought the catalog for her last major exhibition last week.