In Memoriam: Stanley Winston, 1946-2008

If you enjoyed the films in the Alien, Terminator and Jurassic Park franchises, or any of a few dozen other SF, fantasy and horror films made you sit up and go "Holy crap, how'd they do that?!?", one of the people you have to thank for that special-effects and makeup magic was Stan Winston. His celluloid wizardry filled even non-genre hits like Pearl Harbor and the now-landmark TV miniseries Roots.

Stan died last night of multiple myeloma after suffering with it for seven years. Thankfully, he was surrounded by his loved ones at the end, and my heart goes out to his wife Karen, his son and daughter and the rest of their families. Our favorite form of entertainment is the poorer for his loss...but ever so much the richer for the work he leaves behind—not to mention the legions of FX specialists who trained under and/or learned from him, and the industry-leading studio he founded which bears his name.

Some of what he did can be done much more easily with computers these days, it's true. But the old-fashioned techniques Mr. Winston pioneered and/or perfected still possess a certain indefinable wonder that no mouse-jockey or server farm can ever duplicate. On behalf of millions of mesmerized moviegoers, goodbye and thank you, sir.

The verdict on Spirit Airlines: It's a wash

I was going to post today that the airline I flew to DC last weekend, Spirit Airlines, should be avoided at all costs for (a) nickel-and-diming passengers worse than any other airline, charging $20 each way to check even one bag (most other carriers are charging only $15) and $3 per can of soda and $5 for snacks (at least a dollar over what other carriers are asking); and (b) because when I finally got back to the ATL late last night, I found my one checked bag had not arrived.

Today, however, Spirit called to say that not only had they finally found my bag, but would gladly deliver it to either my home or work addresses for me, saving me the drive back out to the airport I had anticipated and ending a day of anxiety over having to replace hundreds of dollars worth of prescription medicines that had been in the bag.

So my advice? Fly them if you really want or need to save money on fares...but caveat frickin' emptor.