Wow. A friend just messaged me the news that actor Heath Ledger was found dead in New York. I thought he did great work in A Knight’s Tale, Lords of Dogtown, The Brothers Grimm, Brokeback Mountain and Casanova among other roles, and was looking forward to his portrayal of The Joker in the upcoming Batman movie. Man, what could’ve been.

Fans of great science fiction lost a giant yesterday (03/18/08) when Arthur C. Clarke, best known for the novel and movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, died at 90 years of age. I’ve been a huge fan of his short stories and novels since I was a kid, my favorites being the 2001 and Rama series of novels and I recommend them wholeheartedly. I never did get around to reading the last of the 2001 series, 3001: The Final Odyssey, or the final Rama book, Rama Revealed, but they’ve both been moved up the reading list now.

It’s amazing just how many movies, television shows and videogames owe a debt to Mr. Clarke’s works. I see his influence all the time, from the unknown, alien crafts in the Star Trek movies (especially The Motion Picture and The Voyage Home) to the technomages and energy beings of Babylon 5, to (most recently) the advanced technologies left for younger races by elder, alien species in Mass Effect on the XBOX 360, so many countless themes and grand ideas in today’s science fiction were inspired by his works.

He was a pretty amazing guy, even apart from his literary works, with his knowledge as a physicist and mathematician used to theorize how satellite technology could be instrumental in global communications (see Clarke Belt) and his work helping gorillas in Sri Lanka, where he lived since 1956.

Just an incredible guy with an incredible life. I’m going to go dig out my ACC hardcovers and get to reading! If you haven’t read any of his novels yet, you should get thee to a bookstore immediately - I suggest starting with Rendezvous With Rama or Childhood’s End and be amazed.

I found out this morning that Stan Winston, visual effects master, died yesterday at only 62 years of age from cancer. If you’ve watched almost any science fiction movie in the past 20 years, you’ve seen his work as he had a hand in bringing to life such iconic creations as the Terminator, the Predator and the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. He also worked on Galaxy Quest, Iron Man, and, well, the list goes on and on.

He’ll go down in movie history as one of the greats, for certain, and not just because of his four Oscar wins in the visual effects categories. When I worked at a movie memorabilia store in Hollywood in the 90s, you couldn’t pick up a magazine like Cinefex or Cinefantatique without mention of him in their pages, and the same holds true today. Coolhand and I went to see him speak at UCLA once, and the auditorium was filled with enthusiastic fans who wanted to hear every detail of how he spun his movie magic. He will be greatly, greatly missed and the world of film won’t be the same without his special gifts. Thoughts go out to his friends and family.