Our Daily Dead

Lillian Asplund was aboard the Titanic when it hit an iceburg in the North Atlantic in 1912 and sank. At age 5, she lost her father and three brothers–one a fraternal twin–when the ocean liner went down. Her mother and one brother survived. We ODDfellows think there is no justice in a world where Leonardo DiCaprio was not asked to authentically reenact the sinking TO COMPLETION, with Alec Baldwin playing the role of Benjamin Guggenheim, sipping brandy and smoking a cigar while attended by his valet before the final glug, glug. Now that’s something we would pay money to see. Lillian Asplund was the last United States survivor of the Titanic’s sinking. She died at age 99 years.

For those of you familiar with the Australian band, The Go-Betweens, Grant McLenna, age 45, has died. He made preparation for a party, decided to take a nap before his guests arrived, and never woke up. Well, certainly beats a telephone thumping by an actor and less renowned Australian rocker of the 30 Odd Foot of Grunts (but oh how we love his band’s ODDname.)

In 1961, the Soviet Union exploded a 56 kiloton hydrogen bomb, the largest explosion in human history. That same year Floyd Patterson unloaded a bomb on Ingemar Johansson, and won the world heavy weight championship. Patterson is dead of prostate cancer and Alzheimer’s at age 71.

Peace and drugs.

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: Lillian Asplund, Titanic, Leonardo DiCaprio, Alec Baldwin, Benjamin Guggenheim, The Go-Betweens, Grant McLenna, 30 Odd Foot of Grunts, Floyd Patterson

Burt Todd, late of Bhutan, Brunei, Tonga, and, ‘er… Pittsburg, was addicted to life. He is dead at age 81 years (lung cancer). Todd attended Choate, Williams College, and Oxford; flew airplanes, collected cars; and, shot and got treed by wild beasts. He got the state of Bhutan into the stamp business, resold Rolls Royce automobiles, helped Fiji make rum, and Singapore sell seaweed.

He wandered around the Himalayas and South Pacific—you know, the places where wealthy tourists get sick from altitude and Keith Richards falls out of trees.

Burt Todd was born rich, and made the most of it. Somewhere F. Scott Fitzgerald smiles.

We ODDones thinks it is exciting to uncork a bottle of month-old tequila, and watch “Big Love” on HBO. Oh those silly, silly Mormons.

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: Burt Todd, Bhutan, Keith Richards, “Big Love”

Blog fodder - wandering the Web aimless as usual we ODD Ones came across this wonderful little story with a decided entrepreneur bent. Thanks to the BBC for delivering the pictorial fantasy coffins bit and to Ghana Web for delivering more pictures and some words to go along with the pictures. So if you aren’t a candidate for the ashes route you might want to book your trip to Ghana ahead of time.

Public Service Announcement: if Ghana is a bit far-afield for you, try Coffin It Up or perhaps Vintage Coffins: “When it’s too late to make a first impression. . . make a great final impression with a custom coffin or crematory urn “.

Oakland artist John Theodore Anderson has died. Mr. Anderson? No, no that Mr. Anderson. This one dabbled in a little bit of everything - certainly he painted, but also out of his creative flow came mosaics, furniture, houses and he even tried his hand in architecture. The Oroville Register article says “He designed logos for race cars, boats, trucks, doors and buildings.”

In San Francisco you will find Tower Records located at Columbus and Bay streets. Tower has a nice spot for a mural and it was Anderson who first used the space for precisely that. But what to paint? Anderson covered the space with the album cover from another Bay Area staple - the Grateful Dead.

Anderson also did work for other Bay Area institutions - Bill Graham Presents, Tommy’s Joynt and all about the City of Oakland to name a few. In an Oakland Tribune article from 1972 Anderson said he brightened up the city with all that color because “I like to get rid of all that gray.”

All that gray - reminds us of UC San Diego.

We don’t know about you, but the rest of the day we are in official moping mode. Pissed we are that we didn’t get our logo requests into Mr. Anderson before he put away his brushes.

~~The ODDones for OurDailyDead.com

Technorati tags: Blog, entrepreneur, fantasy coffins, John Theodore Anderson, Oroville Register, Tower Records, Bill Graham Presents, Tommy’s Joynt, Oakland Tribune, UC San Diego