Like That

First the Segway guy flies off a cliff and into a river and dies, and now editor Sally Menke, 56, has lost her life from a similar-type accident, possibly from succumbing to heat exhaustion and falling off a cliff (or a steep ravine) during a hike in Griffith Park. I’m very sorry. Menke was a gifted cutter and way too young.

But there’s no stopping unforeseen bad stuff in this life. I wish it were otherwise. A friend once said that the odds of leaving the planet in a quiet and peaceful way are not high. It’s a much greater likelihood that death will come either suddenly and horrifically, or at the end of a long, agonizing, painful decline from disease or age deterioration.

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25 thoughts on “Like That”

  1. This is incredibly sad. I’m sad for her, for Tarantino and more selfishly for cinema — this is tantamount to Scorsese losing Schoonmaker halfway through their partnership.

    I wasn’t crazy about “Grindhouse,” but I thought the “Hold Tight” sequence in “Death-Proof” was the best edited series of shots of 2007.

    Sad news.

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  4. This is very sad.

    What makes it even worse is: Why would anyone go walking/hiking/running in LA yesterday?

    An exampIe as to how hot it was yesterday: I was cleaning my balcony at 9 o’clock at night and, I swear, the water dried up in less than 5 minutes.

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  7. Not that I wish anyone ill, but you’d have to be nuckin’ futs to be walking for anything non-important in that scorcher yesterday. Hell, I wasn’t even outside that much, and I mostly relied on public transportation to get to my destinations, and I still was wiped out by the end of the day. It was so bad, I forgot my jacket and didn’t even need it. Oh,well, I hope her family’s taken care of, at least.

    nightheat: Which one? The live-action or the animated film?

    Crap: Yeah, that bastard of a heat wave dragged on until fuckin’ three last night.

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  8. “It was so bad, I forgot my jacket and didn’t even need it.”

    You normally wear a jacket in LA? Isn’t it always warm?

    Anyway, tragic story. According to Wikipedia, her husband is Dean Parisot, director of Galaxy Quest. Such a shame. Like her work with Tarantino, like his Galaxy Quest movie which is still an entertaining spoof.

    Sad news.

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  9. “A friend once said that the odds of leaving the planet in a quiet and peaceful way are not high.”

    Put your head down. It will be over soon. Now close your eyes.

    Everything is wonderful.

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  10. D, it was the live action one. The only noteworthy films she edited after going to work for Tarantino was Stone’s Heaven and Earth, and Thorton’s All the Pretty Horses.

    Sad news, Tarantino probably feels like he lost a sister.

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  11. That whole rant, especially ‘It was so bad, I forgot my jacket and didn’t even need it’ makes me think that DZ is not in fact an obese basement dweller but in fact John Doe’s ‘Sloth’ victim except he managed to escape. Fuck you for bringing your Tarantino animus into this.

    Whoever above said this is like losing Schoonmaker is absolutely right. A tragedy for film. RIP.

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  12. Disco: “Fuck you for bringing your Tarantino animus into this.”

    Actually, I didn’t say anything once about QT this time.

    Eloi: Yes, it does get cold in Cali.

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  13. She was an avid hiker and supposedly was out hiking when she got the DOGS gig. As an East Coaster, I can attest it’s easy to dismiss the heat without humidity out here. As a former EMT, I can tell you that heat delirium doesn’t announce itself with signposts.

    Damn, that’s my old neighborhood up there. Interesting coincidence, Beachwood is just a few streets over where the town of BODY SNATCHERS was filmed.

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