Rest In Peace, Mrs. Murphy

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I will be the first to admit that Brittany Murphy was not a constant blip on my Hollywood-related radar. I'm probably most familiar with Brittany Murphy's acting career through her voice-over work as Luanne Platter on King of the Hill. I always found Luanne to be one of the funnier characters on that show. Of all her movies, I've probably only seen one all the way through. Clueless. That's not to say I couldn't sit through any of her movies, that's just how it is. However, due to her untimely death yesterday (apparently due to cardiac arrest), I've re-watched some clips from Clueless. I think they display not only how funny of a person she probably was, but she was a pretty adorable person, too.

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A friend of mine died from cardiac arrest when I was in my early teens. It was an incredibly shocking and difficult type of death to deal with as there were no symptoms or warnings beforehand & no way of stopping it once it started. My heart goes out to Brittany Murphy's family & friends.

R.I.P. - Andy Hallett (1975 - 2009)

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Andy Hallett, who played the lovable Lorne (or, if you prefer, Krevlornswath of the Deathwok Clan) on the WB's Angel, passed away last night of heart failure. He was 33.

I never got into Buffy: The Vampire Slayer like I did with Angel. Maybe it's just cuz I'm a guy & I like the brooding stuff. But definitely one of the main reasons I liked the show was because of Andy Hallett's character, Lorne. Lorne was The Host at a trendy nightclub that tailored to vampires, demons & such. If someone got up and sang karaoke, Lorne was able to read their auras, and their futures. Lorne was great in every episode he was in, bringing most of the comic relief to the show, but the one episode that will always stick out in my mind as Lorne's best is Life of the Party in season 5. Lorne's lack of sleep causes his subconscious to use his powers differently. Instead of reading destinies, he starts to write them, granting him a sort of mind control/suggestion power. Lorne's grip on reality gets steadily worse throughout the episode & Andy played it very well.

As a side note - I worked with a guy last year named Evan and he reminded me of Lorne so much because he had the same basic build as Lorne and would sing and do little dance moves around in a very Lorne-ish style. It was pretty cool.

And The Oscar Goes To Heath Ledger.

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Congratulations, Heath. And thanx for the good times at the movies.