Remember last week when I blogged about the death of Jack Palance and ruminated on the validity of the old adage that celebrity deaths come in threes? Well i’ve got some very tragic news that actually disproves that maxim and saddens me deeply. Robert Altman has passed away. If you are remotely film savvy then no doubt like me you are enamored of Altman’s work. To use another old saying if I had a nickel everytime i’ve turned to one Mr. Altman’s enumerable masterworks for inspiration, both personal and professional I’d be sitting on a sizable chunk of change. From my obvious bias to the film Nashville to my unnatural obsession with McCabe and Mrs. Miller and Brewster McCloud (with their Leonard Cohen score and brilliant turn by Bud Cort respectively) I can’t express enough how deeply saddened by this news i am. Altman was a genius in every since of the word and I hope that each and every film fan out there will join me in remembering the man and each and every brilliant film he made. Altman was 81. Not nearly old enough.