Cultureshark remembers...

3 recent deaths really stunned me. In chronological order...

Skip Caray: The longtime Braves announcer was always on when I was growing up because, well, the Braves were always on good, old TBS. I have to be honest and admit that sometimes those Braves telecasts seemed interminable, but that was more due to bad teams and then Caray's broadcast partners. Caray had that unmistakable Kermit-gone-to-seed voice and, more importantly, a big smart-alecky streak, and I always respected the guy. After his passing, many longtime Braves fans chimed in with memories of Skip making a blowout loss more bearable with a remark or two. He will be missed.

Bernie Mac: Talk about a stunner. Mac was way, way too young to die, and he surely had great work ahead of him. His eponymous Fox sitcom was one of my Dad's favorites. I only caught the show sporadically, but I enjoyed it as well. My father and I, I think, are both drawn to (at least overtly) hard-ass father types on sitcoms, and Mac played that to perfection. Throw in his film work ("Mr. 3000" was a great idea that should have been better, but I'm sure not gonna blame him), and his standup comedy, and...wow. What a shame.

Isaac Hayes: Forget the Scientology stuff and the dust-up with Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Go back to the music and remember what made Isaac Hayes so cool. One of my favorite Hayes works is his star turn as the title role in the underappreciated 1974 blaxploitation pic "Truck Turner." Now, I don't know how the movie came about, but it seems like Hayes heard everyone telling him how cool his theme to "Shaft" was, and how cool SHAFT was, and he decided, "Hell, I'll cut out the middleman and make my own movie." And so he did, and of course he made his own theme song, one which was quite reminiscent of a certain other memorable soundtrack sensation...

The similarity of the two songs is hilarious, but despite that apparent self-ripoff, the actual movie "Truck Turner" is arguably more entertaining than "Shaft." This all would be enough of a legacy, but of course there was a lot more to Isaac Hayes' career. His character was thoroughly and ignominiously buried on "South Park" already, but if Kenny can come back, maybe Chef can get a different sendoff someday.