That Bill Pisarri died a few months ago. Utterly shocking. We worked together at Borders about a decade ago and became fast friends, and we'd stayed in touch ever since. I was in a short film he made in '99 or so, shot in my then-employer's offices after hours. He attended my housewarming party two years ago, and the last time I saw him was at the Siskel film center sometime last winter. We went up to my condo afterward and drank some wine and talked about, as usual, film and art and all of that, and how each of us needed to get off our asses and start doing more creative work.

He was easily one of the most brilliantly creative and funny conversationalists I have ever been privileged to know. What a terrible shock to discover that he is gone.