Via | Related: Pearl Harbor, 70 Years Later: A Look Back at TIME’s Coverage

Fabrice says:

After the 6.3 quake occurred in Canterbury NZ, people were involved to help their neighbors, to rebuild houses, to clean the street or to make donations. I wanted to contribute by doing something too, giving what I was able to, some of my time and skills.Giving support to my friends, to the men and women I met, who told me their stories. I liked somehow to show this support and admiration to all those people I don’t even know but who stand strong facing this drama with courage and humility.It’s also important to me not to forget the loss when the main thought is about to rebuild.

I might be a ridiculous rain drop in the ocean of help Christchurch got from every part of the country, but I definitely wanted to be a part of it.
This project has been submitted to the Christchurch City Council. The donation of prints didn’t find any reply yet – everybody can understand that they may have some bigger preoccupations right now – but I’d still like to give it some exposure.

Via

Stanley Chow

“Thanks, Steve” – Jonathan Mak

See the rest after the jump:

“I started this about 2 years ago and never finished it. I figured today would be as good as any to touch it up and post it.” – Mike Mitchell

Steve Jobs’ 2005 Stanford Commencement Address: “How To Live Before You Die”

Transcript | Via

Steve Jobs’ Empty Chair At The Last Apple Keynote Speech

Via

@FriedmanJon

Charis Tsevis for Fortune Magazine (2008)

xkcd

The Steve Jobs Foursquare Badge

Foursquare

A Bagpipe Tribute In Cupertino

Via

Wozniak Tearfully Remembers His Friend Steve

Next Media Animation’s Tribute

Steve Jobs Makes The Cover Of Time Magazine For The Seventh Time

Behind the Cover

The Examiner | Via

CNN’s Retrospective

Pixar Says Goodbye

Tauntr

Steve Jobs’ First Day In Heaven

The Doghouse Diaries

Steve Jobs’ Face Built From MacBook Pro Parts

Gizmodo

Google, Boing Boing, and Wired all pay tribute.

Gizmodo collects reactions from Bill Gates, Larry Page, Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, Sergey Brin, the Woz and President Barack Obama himself.

The 12 most inspirational quotes from Steve Jobs.

Steve messing around with Photobooth in 2005.

Jason Kottke remembers Steve Jobs.

The Atlantic’s In Focus pays tribute.

“Keep the faith!” – A Letter from Steve Jobs

The Onion: “Last American Who Knew What The Fuck He Was Doing Dies”

Steve Jobs, the innovator behind the iPhone, iPad, iPod, iMac,  iTunes, and hundreds of other technological advances has died, according to Apple’s website.

From The Wall Street Journal:

“Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives,” Apple said in a statement. “The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.”

His family, in a separate statement, said Mr. Jobs “died peacefully today surrounded by his family…We know many of you will mourn with us, and we ask that you respect our privacy during our time of grief.”

Jobs was 56.

The last words of Troy Davis, who was executed last night by the state of Georgia:

The incident that took place that night was not my fault. I did not have a gun. [Addressing the victim's family] I did not personally kill your son, father, brother; I am innocent. Look deeper in this case, so you can find the truth. To the people who are about to take my life: May God have mercy on your soul. May God bless your soul.

According to Boing Boing he “refused a final meal; he refused a final prayer; he did not take an anti-convulsive, anti-anxiety, hypnotic drug called Ativan that was offered to him to ease the procedure.”

Pic via

A chair for every life lost.

The chairs, meant to commemorate those who died at the World Trade Center site, will be arranged on the main lawn, facing south towards the fallen towers, according to a statement by the Bryant Park Corporation.

The tally of those who died in the attacks stood at 2,752 until June, when Jerry Borg was added to the list after he died of pulmonary sarcoidosis.

Via | Photo: Jon Chan | Related: YouTube’s September 11th Channel

A 9/11 tribute poster encouraging people to look back and reflect after 10 years by Extra Credit Projects.

Ads of the World | Via

See the full gallery here.

Posted because these men and women deserve more than one day a year to be remembered and thanked.

Via

The hip-hop community (and the general music community) lost a legend today. It’s just been announced that Gil Scott-Heron passed away this afternoon. He was 62. If you haven’t heard Pieces of a Man, now is the time to get familiar. Here he is talking about the opening track, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised“.

H/T

TMZ is reporting that legendary professional wrestler and former WWF Champion “Macho Man” Randy Savage died at the age of 58 after crashing his car in Tampa this morning. According to his brother, he suffered a heart attack while behind the wheel, forcing him to lose control of the vehicle.

RIP, sir.

Via

Above: “Joe Lanzisero and Tim Kirk of Disney made this after Jim Henson died.” – [Mike Mitchell]

1. He named Kermit the Frog after a childhood friend from Mississippi.

2. He created the original Kermit using a turquoise ladies’ coat his mother had discarded and two ping-pong balls for eyes.

3. He was approached by his friend George Lucas to play the role of Yoda in Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back. He declined and recommended fellow puppeteer Frank Oz for the part.

4. He first introduced the character Kermit (not as a frog, but a lizard-like character) on his first show, Sam and Friends.

5. He attended the University of Maryland, where a statue was dedicated in his honor on September 24, 2003.

6. Wanting to focus on the creative side and less on the business side of production, he entered into talks with Michael Eisner to sell his company and characters (minus Sesame Street) to the Walt Disney Company.  Unfortunately, he died the weekend before the sale went through.  The deal was finalized in 2004.

7. He was featured in Boyz II Men’s video for “It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye To Yesterday” (2:03)

8. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze was dedicated to him.

9. Henson is honored both as himself and as Kermit the Frog on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The only other person to share this honor is Mel Blanc, the voice actor of Bugs Bunny.

10. He coined the term “muppets” as a meld of “marionettes” and “puppets”.

11. He was one of the first to use puppets with moving mouths instead of puppets whose heads bobbed when they talked.

12. The first movie he saw was The Wizard of Oz.

13. One of his first puppets was Pierre the French Rat.

14. He was pictured on a USA 37¢ commemorative stamp issued in September 2005.

15. The Muppets themselves were given an opportunity to pay tribute to their creator in The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson.

16. Rowlf the Dog was one of the first muppets to get Henson nationwide attention by appearing regularly on The Jimmy Dean Show from 1963 to 1966.

17. He had a hit single, singing “Rubber Duckie” as Ernie. It stayed on the  Billboard Top 40 chart for pop/rock for seven weeks, peaking at number 16.

18. An extensive collection of his work, “The Jim Henson Works,”  can be viewed from computers in the UMD libraries.

19. He made enough money doing commercials in college that he was able to drive his own Rolls-Royce to his college graduation.

20. He died at the age of 53 from streptococcus pneumonia.

21. Per his request, no one wore black to his funeral.

Below: The muppeteers and their muppets perform a medley of Jim Henson’s favorite songs at his funeral, ending in a performance of “Just One Person”.

Sources: IMDB, Muppets Wikia, Wikipedia, TIME

Contributing editor and Restrepo co-director Sebastian Junger writes an open letter to his friend Tim Hetherington in a heartwrenching piece for Vanity Fair:

I’m in the truck with you. I’m imagining those last minutes. You’re on your back watching the tops of the buildings jolt by and the blue Mediterranean sky beyond them. I almost drowned once, and when I finally got back to the beach I was all alone and I just lay there watching the clouds go by. I’d never really thought about clouds before, but there they were, all for me, just glorious. Maybe you saw those clouds, too, but you weren’t out of it yet, and you probably knew it. I know what you were thinking: What a silly way to die. What a silly, selfish, ridiculous mistake to have made.

Don’t think that, brother. You had a very specific vision for your work and for your life, and that vision included your death. It didn’t have to, but that’s how it turned out. I’m so sorry, Tim.

Read the whole piece here. | Via

Previously: Libya: By Chris Hondros

Pulitzer Prize-nominated photojournalist Chris Hondros was killed yesterday while covering the Libyan conflict in Misrata.  Alan Taylor (formerly of The Big Picture) has collected photographs of the conflict in Misrata taken by Chris Hondros over the past few days, including several from the day he died.

See them here.

Ditto.

R.I.P

As you may have heard, Sally Menke, award-winning film editor and the only film editor Quentin Tarantino’s ever worked with, died Monday while hiking in the Hollywood Hills.  Tarantino had these “Hi, Sally” reels made for every film they worked on together.

While they were originally made to show the cast’s appreciation for her efforts, I think now they serve as a touching tribute to the woman behind the scenes of Tarantino’s legacy in Hollywood.

Prior to the “Hi, Sally” reel for Death Proof, Tarantino speaks of their working relationship.

The Guardian does a pretty nice piece on her here.

Videos via here & here.

RIP Walks on the Beach, Sail Boats, Spear Fishing, etc.

Via

Career In Photos

Story

From Nowness:

“Basquiat produced thousands of artworks in his short life, dashing off his poetry-infused canvases at a hair-raising pace, but footage of the artist himself has been hard to come by since his death in 1988. Director Tamra Davis, who met and befriended Basquiat when he visited LA to exhibit at the Gagosian gallery in 1983, was one of few to document the artist during his lifetime. Profoundly affected by his death, Davis hid her reels for two decades. But in 2005, prompted by a friend working on MOCA’s Basquiat retrospective of that year, Davis returned to her 80s footage to create a short, 20-minute tribute to the artist. “ The film documents Basquiat’s transformation from slouching street kid into international art world darling,  accompanied by graphic animations by artist Shepard Fairey and a soundtrack from Beastie Boys Adam Horovitz and Mike Diamond and Manhattan-based composer J. Ralph.”

Via

From his Shade 45 Showoff Radio Show:

i know alot of DJs have been doing Guru tributes… which is dope, but this is 2 hours of music… from 1988, thru his history including Jazzmattazz Vol 1-3, to the end of the Gangstarr days. I covered what i feel was truly Gurus greatest work. this includes unreleased music, the b-sides, remixes, etc.

i also had Big Shug, Doo-Wop, Freddie Foxx, Consequence, and Chubby Chub call in and leave some Guru Memories….

he was an icon to me, as well as a friend, and i definitely wouldn’t be who i am without the presence of Gangstarr’s music in my life growing up. Shout out to the Gangstarr/Year Round crew for always being real people as well…. through the trials and tribulations. Rest In Peace G…

Just got listening to it and it’s dope. Click the picture to download the mix.

Via

Keith Elam, aka Guru (Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal), died at the age of 43 last night, succumbing to his coma and bout with cancer.  Guru was a hip-hop icon and a founding member of the legendary rap duo Gang Starr.

Rest in power.

“…everyone must meet their Moment Of Truth.”

LIFE continues their release of never-published photos with a set from the day Albert Einstein died.

Albert Einstein, the genius physicist whose theories changed our ideas of how the universe works, died 55 years ago, on April 18, 1955, of heart failure. He was 76. His funeral and cremation were intensely private affairs, and only one photographer managed to capture the events of that extraordinary day: LIFE magazine’s Ralph Morse. Armed with his camera and a case of scotch — to open doors and loosen tongues — Morse compiled a quietly intense record of an icon’s passing. But aside from one now-famous image (above), the pictures Morse took that day were never published. At the request of Einstein’s son, who asked that the family’s privacy be respected while they mourned, LIFE decided not to run the full story, and for 55 years Morse’s photographs lay unseen and forgotten.

Full set here | Previously: MLK, McQueen

The previously titled “Dilla Joints” mixtape features the mighty Roots crew paying homage to the late, great J Dilla with their rendition of some of his classic tracks.

Listen to the whole thing streaming after the jump.

Thanks to Steve from LLU for the tip.

Download

LIFE just released a set of photos taken the day Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated.  From their site:

On April 4, 1968, LIFE photographer Henry Groskinsky and writer Mike Silva, on assignment in Alabama, learned that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., had been shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. They raced to the scene and there, incredibly, had unfettered access to the hotel grounds, Dr. King’s room, and the surrounding area. For reasons that have been lost in the intervening years, the photographs taken that night and the next day were never published. Until now.

See the rest here.

Mental Floss’s 10 Stories Behind Dr. Seuss Stories

The collabo tee drops on Saturday.

The Problem We All Live With. Oil painting for LOOK Magazine, Jan 14, 1964.

It’s been 5 years since one of the wildest people in hip-hop passed.  My tribute to the man after the jump.  Thanks to CJ in Knoxvegas for the reminder.

“Brooklyn Zoo”. Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version : 1995

“Shimmy Shimmy Ya”. Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version : 1995

“Fantasy (Bad Boy Remix)”. Daydream : 1995

Source

“Got Your Money”. Nigga Please : 1999

Rest In Peace.

The legendary and iconic DJ died this morning from a heart attack. A statement from DJ Premier after the jump:

I WANT TO SEND OUT THE UTMOST RESPECT AND CONDOLENCES TO THE MEMORY OF JOHN RIVAS—-aka MR. MAGIC

HE PASSED AWAY THIS MORNING OF A HEART ATTACK…..

TRUE HIP HOP HEADS KNOW THAT HIS HISTORY IS SO LONG
DUE TO HIM BEING THE FIRST RAP MIXSHOW TO EVER BE ON COMMERCIAL RADIO ON NEW YORK’S WBLS–(107.5) WITH MARLEY MARL AND FLY TY IN 1982-1984…….THEN WENT ON TO WHBI IN OCTOBER OF 1984 AND THEN
BACK TO WBLS in 1985 and WDAS in Philly SIMULTANEOUSLY

HE PAVED THE WAY FOR ALL RADIO STATIONS THAT EVER DID MIXSHOWS AND ALSO SPARKED THE CAREER OF BOOGIE DOWN PRODUCTIONS DUE TO THE DISS HE SHOWED WHEN THEY CAME TO SHOP THEIR DEMO TO HIM AND WAS TURNED AWAY WHICH THEN SPARKED “SOUTH BRONX” AND “THE BRIDGE IS OVER”…….

HE WAS KNOWN FOR HIS DIRECT AND SARCASTIC ATTITUDE ON THE AIR AND EVERY ARTIST WANTED HIS APPROVAL WHEN IT CAME TO BREAKING NEW RECORDS……..HE EVEN HAD SONGS DEDICATED TO HIM BY THE LEGENDARY WHODINI–(”MR. MAGIC’S WAND”) WHICH WAS SURPRISINGLY PRODUCED BY ONE OF MY FAVORITE ARTISTS THOMAS DOLBY…….

SHOUTS OUT TO MARLEY MARL AND FLY TY FOR THE CORRECT INFORMATION ON THIS……

REST IN PEACE MR. MAGIC………….DJ PREMIER

Via Miss Info.

Tropical storm Ketsana absolutely ravaged the Philippines and killed people left and right with torrential downpours and powerful floods. After saving more than 30 people from drowning, Muelmar Magallanes sacrificed his life to save a baby girl and her mother, and was eventually swept away, probably from the weight of his giant pair of brass balls.  From The Age:

An 18-year-old construction worker braved rampaging floods in the Philippines to save more than 30 people, but ended up sacrificing his life in a last trip to rescue a baby girl and her mother who were being swept away on a styrofoam box.

“I am going to be forever grateful to Muelmar,” said Menchie Penalosa, the mother of the six-month-old girl whom he carried to safety before being swept away himself. “He gave his life for my baby. I will never forget his sacrifice.”

“I didn’t know that the current was so strong. In an instant, I was under water. We were going to die,” said Ms Penalosa, her eyes welling with tears and voice choking with emotion.

“Then this man came from nowhere and grabbed us. He took us to where the other neighbours were, and then he was gone,” Ms Penalosa said.

Ms Penalosa and other witnesses said an exhausted Mr Magallanes was simply washed away amid the torrent of water.

Neighbours found his body on Sunday, along with 28 others who perished amid Manila’s epic flooding. The official death toll stands at 100 with 32 missing.

The High Definite would like to salute Muelmar Magallanes and thanks him for showing, despite a shit ton of evidence to the contrary, that there are still decent people in this world.  RIP.

Adam Goldstein aka DJ AM was found dead today in his NYC apartment.  TMZ reports gossips:

Sources tell us he was found in his apartment at around 5:20 PM. We’re told drug paraphernalia was found at the scene.

Our sources say DJ AM had not been seen or heard from for a few days — one of his friends went to check on him, but got no response after knocking on his apartment door.

We’re told the friend called the cops — but it was the fire department who finally entered his apartment and found the body.

Just saw him in Vegas a couple weeks ago and he killed it.  RIP.

I’ll do this every year…so you might as well get used to it now.

Rest easy.

Some more videos and some articles after the jump:

One In A Million

Back and Forth

Rock The Boat

Hot Like Fire

MTV | BET

MTV Diary: Aaliyah (Full video)

Aaliyah MTV Tribute Video

Billy Mays, famed TV spokesman and perpetual loud-talker, died today at the age of 50.  Apparently he didn’t feel well ever since he hit his head on a rough landing, which makes the above picture creepy as shit, and is probably making rfbandit feel like absolute crap.  From the Huffington Post:

“Tampa police said Mays’ wife found him unresponsive Sunday morning. A fire rescue crew pronounced him dead at 7:45 a.m. It was not immediately clear how he died. He said he was hit on the head when an airplane he was on made a rough landing Saturday, and his wife, Deborah Mays, told investigators he didn’t feel well before he went to bed about 10 p.m. that night.”

It’s no secret that I’m quite fond of Billy Mays, so in his honor, I’M GOING TO YELL THE REST OF THIS POST!!!  REST IN PEACE BILLY!!  THANKS FOR MAKING OUR LIVES EASIER, ONE “BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE” AT A TIME!!

(1958-2009)

“He made Thriller…Thriller…” – Dave Chappelle

Michael Jackson was rushed to the hospital today from what appears to be cardiac arrest, he never recovered.  TMZ broke the news:

We’ve just learned Michael Jackson has died. He was 50.

Michael suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this afternoon and paramedics were unable to revive him. We’re told when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back.

Update: 3:28 PM PST The Los Angeles Times just confirmed it.

My condolences go out to the Jackson family.  All bullshit drama aside, he was by far one of the greatest entertainers of all time.

Rest in peace Michael.

Mike at his prime:

The Michael tribute from his 30th Anniversary special at MSQ

Another tribute video set to his song “Ben”

Farrah Fawcett died this morning from a rare anal cancer she was diagnosed with in 2006.  She was 62, and one of the most iconic beauties of all time.  No jokes here this shit is seriously sad. 

Her LA Times Obit.

David Carradine was found dead in his hotel room this morning.  It’s been reported that he hung himself. From the New York Times:

“David Carradine, the star of the 1970s television series “Kung Fu” and the title villain of the “Kill Bill” movies, has died in Thailand, The Associated Press reported. The United States Embassy in Bangkok told The A.P. that Mr. Carradine had been found dead in his hotel suite in Bangkok, where he was working on a movie. He was 72.

After a short run as the title character in the 1966 television adaptation of the Western “Shane,” he found fame in the 1972 series “Kung Fu” as Kwai Chang Caine, a wanderer raised by Shaolin monks to be a martial arts master. He enjoyed a career resurgence in recent years when he was cast by Quentin Tarantino in the action movies “Kill Bill: Vol. 1″ and “Vol. 2.”

“What happens in a man’s life is already written.”

One of my favorite Carradine scenes:

(May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997) R.I.P Francis White

Big fucking L… I missed Dilla’s memorial day by a day but I’m not gonna miss this one.  Seeing how L’s official memorial day is Sunday and I don’t do shit for this blog on the weekends, I had to get ahead on this one and do it up proper.  Quick bio via Wikipedia:

“Lamont Coleman (May 30, 1974 – February 15, 1999), also known by his stage name Big L, was an American rapper.

While still in high school, he caught the attention of Finesse, Joe “Diamond D” Kirkland and Rodney “Showbiz” Lemay, the founders of the D.I.T.C. clique. L’s first professional appearance came on the B-side of “Party Over Here” by Lord Finesse in 1992, the song was the remix of “Yes, You May”. Soon after this Big L made apperances on the classic debut albums from Diamond D and Showbiz & A.G. which were both released in 1992. Soon L officially became a part of the DITC crew which featured numerous New York producers, deejays, and emcees on the mic.

The Big Picture would be his last recorded album, released posthumously on August 2, 2000. It was put together by his manager and partner in Flamboyant Entertainment, Rich King. It contains songs that L had recorded and a cappella recordings that were never used, completed by producers and guest MCs that Big L respected or had worked with previously.

Big L was shot and killed in Harlem on the night of February 15, 1999.”

One of the best that ever did it…proof after the jump:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDILJpKxNX4]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9M0WiuaqCLI]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYfKMIdoJL0]

I feel like a fucking goon for missing this one… from his wikipedia:

“James Dewitt Yancey (February 7, 1974 – February 10, 2006), better known by his stage name J Dilla or Jay Dee, was an American record producer who emerged from the mid-1990s underground hip hop scene in Detroit, Michigan. He began his career as a member of the group Slum Village, and was also a driving force in the production trio The Ummah. Yancey started his career under the name Jay Dee (based on his initials) but used the name J Dilla from 2001 onward. Many critics believe J Dilla’s work to have had a major influence on his peers and that he embodied the neo soul sound, playing a defining yet understated role during the sub-genre’s rise (roughly from the mid-90s to the early 2000s).

J Dilla was often dubbed “your favorite producer’s favorite producer,” and was highly regarded by hip hop artists and producers such as Madlib, Pete Rock, Common, Busta Rhymes, Mos Def, Pharrell, Waajeed, Karriem Riggins, Flying Lotus, 9th Wonder, A Tribe Called Quest, The Pharcyde, Kanye West, and ?uestlove.  About.com ranked J Dilla #15 on their “Top 50 Hip-Hop Producers” list

J Dilla died on February 10, 2006, three days after his 32nd birthday at his home in Los Angeles, California. According to his mother, Maureen Yancey, the cause was cardiac arrest.  His last album, Donuts was released 3 days earlier, on February 7, 2006.

Ultimately, his death has had a significant impact on the hip hop community.Besides countless tribute tracks and concerts, Dilla’s death created a wealth of interest in his remaining catalogue, and, consequently, Dilla’s influence on hip hop production became more apparent.”

A video tribute after the break…R.I.P.  Thanks to Janks Peez for the reminder.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=terRELJ2-Vo]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmjULeODgqc]

From Donny’s Wikipedia article:

“Donny Edward Hathaway (October 1, 1945 – January 13, 1979) was an Grammy Award-winning American soul musician. He signed with Atlantic Records in 1969, and with his first single “The Ghetto, Part I” (1970), Rolling Stone magazine “marked him as a major new force in soul music.” His collaborations with Roberta Flack took him to the top of the charts and won him the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal for the duet “Where Is the Love” in 1973. On January 13, 1979, his body was found outside the luxury hotel Essex House in New York City; his death was ruled a suicide.”