Milestones

Oh, it is a sad day today. John Ritter, after collapsing on the set of his television series 8 Simple Rules For Dating My Teenage Daughter, has died at 54. The notorious director Leni Riefenstahl, whose pro-Nazi films have made her a kind of pariah within the artistic community, has died at age 101.

And saddest of all, the Man In Black himself, the great Johnny Cash has died at age 71, just after being released from hospital after a two-week stomach ailment. This is just after Johnny was all the buzz (here included) about his unprecented nominations for the MTV Video Awards. It looks now, barring the discovery of any unreleased material, as if his most recent album will indeed be his last, and his cover of "Hurt" will indeed be his swan-song summa. Click here to read the BBC's obituary on the original country wanderer, and click here to see a clip from Cash's haunting video to "Hurt." You'll need RealPlayer for the video. This is very, very sad indeed. Rest in peace, Johnny.