A couple of culture giants have died recently. Today I heard that Joe Barbera left us. Apparently H&B produced over 3000 episodes of 300 cartoon series. I probably saw a fair few of them in my youth. Most of them were not that great. The Flintstones was just a cartoon sitcom. They pioneered the use of standard body parts to make for rapid production, but it made it less interesting to watch. I guess the same sort of thing is happening now with computer animation. Once they generate the characters they can churn out hundreds of episodes for not much money. The greater legacy is in things like Tom and Jerry, one of my all-time favourites. The combination of animation and music has rarely been matched. The nearest equivalent would be the excellent Animaniacs. I enjoyed an Xmas edition of Pinky and the Brain with my kids just yesterday.

The other recent loss was Ahmet Urtegun whose Atlantic Records brought us so much great music, including the mighty Led Zep (nice Xmas card there).

At least both those men lived long enough to achieve their full potential. Nobody gets to live forever, but some leave a legacy that endures.