RIP.

I grew up with the Jackson 5.  I stopped paying attention after the Thriller/Billie Jean era ended.  It was just too sad to see him in later years.

BTW--did the news bring down LJ?  Even Wikipedia has had sporadic outages.

Also Farah Fawcett.  So sad.  I like 10 million other girls in America during the 70s, had a Farrah Fawcett haircut.

Guys, I tracked all the comments on three LJ posts just before I left for my drawing class last night at 5:30 pm.  It was the posts from missyjack , anteka  and canadiangoddess  about reports from the set of SPN about Kim. 

I didn't log in last night when I returned from class.  I was too hyped from the drawing class itself.

When I logged in this morning there were 210 emails of comments to those three posts. 

Wow!

I'm trying to read through them right now while I'm working to get my son off to school--who is likely to miss the bus..... 



ETA:  Looks like Tim made the bus.  Whew!

And anteka responded to one of the commenters to her post about her visit to the SPN set:  "The day we were up on set, he [Kim] didn't need to be there but was just hanging around because he liked being on set. Jim Beaver was there too, not because he had scenes, but just because the set was like a home."



This is such a big factor in why I'm a such a devoted SPN fan.  The CONTINUOUS and CONSISTENT reports from crew/cast members and set visitors (some from jaded reporters) about the sense of family on that set. 

A couple of years ago I was enjoying watching Grey's Anatomy and while I never would have gotten that involved with that fandom--I did really enjoy it.  Until one day I stumbled across a report about bickering and back-stabbing between cast members.  And I totally lost interest in the show.

I posted on my other LJ today about how thankful I felt.  One of the items I mentioned was that while yesterday was so very, very sad.  I felt so warm from the outpouring from fandom about Kim.

Just now the wonderful missyjack  posted her refections on this in her LJ.  Check it out here. 

I just had to include this in my LJ -- but it's from her post above.  I love this fandom.

From canadiangoddess some news from the set (please thank her for passing this on.

In light of yesterday’s devastating news regarding the death of Kim Manners, I was shocked to hear from my old friend Julie from set-dec today - they all had yesterday off, but almost everyone was at the studio to be together. When I mentioned that we had all heard, and that we hoped everyone was going all right she said a couple of things I wanted to share with you guys.

• everyone (cast/crew/Kripke etc) is aware that we know, and that there have been some amazing things said all over the internet and they are SO grateful to us for that

• Jensen and Jared are trying to get a remembrance thing on the season 4 special features with pictures, behind the scenes stuff, and generally Kim as we the fans never got the chance to see him. As far as Julie knows Kripke & Co are 110% behind the idea

• Robert Singer referred to us as “the greatest fans anyone could ask for, because they make this show so much a part of their lives that they bleed when we bleed, cry when we cry, and that is a beautiful thing.”

Hearing the Robert Singer talk like that about us is pretty amazing!

The wonderful pocketfull is collecting donations for the American Lung Foundation here and has already raised over $400.

If you wish to send a card or flowers to the set the address is:

Supernatural Cast & Crew c\o
Supernatural Films Inc.
8085 Glenwood Drive
Burnaby, B.C.
V3N 5C8
Canada

From here (via post here by sam_dean ):

"It is with extraordinarily heavy heart that I report the death last night, Jan. 25, of my friend Kim Manners. I first met Kim when he directed me in an episode of The X-Files, for which he was a major figure in the appeal of that show, its look, style, and movement. I thought, in that few days, that I had found one of the great directors I’d ever worked with, and a mensch of the first order. Little did I know.

Several years later, I ended up with a recurring role on Supernatural, where Kim was both an executive producer and a principal director. I have never had such fun working with a director, and Kim became a dear friend….He was an AMAZING director, who knew everything I can imagine a director might need or want to know about directing television. And he was one of the very best people, one of the very best friends, a person might ever want to have….

Rest in peace, chum."    Jim Beaver

ETA:  And from the original post from Jim from here (via hanncoll  here):

"He was the willing butt of the enormous humor on that set, most of it from the two leads, Jensen ... and Jared ..., who delighted in tormenting him, and he was as good at giving it as taking it."

Posted here by hanncoll .


More context at the post above.  But from Kripke:

"Everyone at 'Supernatural' is walking around in a daze, shocked and absolutely devastated.  Kim was a brilliant director; more than that, he was a mentor and friend.  He was one of the patriarchs of the family, and we miss him desperately.  He gave so much to 'Supernatural,' and everything we do on the show, now and forever, is in memory of him."

ETA:  An additional statement from a writer/producer of X-Files:  (an excerpt)  "Kim had a blazing intensity that inspired everyone -- writers, producers, actors and crew. "Kick it in the ass!" he'd say to us. And "I love you," really meaning it."

You all remember the S2 gagreel where during the filming of Heart Jared kept saying to Kim "I love you."  "I love you, Kim."  I wonder now if that was in semi-joking response to what Frank says in the quote above was Kim's habit of saying "I love you" to cast/crew of his shows (and meaning it.)

He was one of the first artists whose biography I read.  I was just fascinated by his work and his life.   I have three of his prints on my bedroom wall.  There's always been something about his work that just speaks to me.

American painter Andrew Wyeth dies at 91 in Pa