Last of the Cold Warriors

And just like that, an entire era in the history of the modern world comes to a close: Fidel Castro announces he will resign his post as President of Cuba. http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/02/19/castro/index.html

So departs from the world stage the last grandly important living figure of the Cold War political scene. Castro held on to power through nine U.S. presidents and a punishing American embargo, so the fact that this comes after his recent health issues should tell you the rest: Odds are his outlook isn't good, and he's splitting now to avoiding dying in office and thus not having the chance to engineer the trajectory of his successor (likely to be his brother Raoul.)

Castro will unquestionably be remembered as one of the most fascinating political figures of the post-WWII age. His transformation from charismatic Marxist revolutionary to saavy, sabre-rattling leader to murderous dictatorial tyrant is the stuff that legends are made of... even legends of ultimately evil men which I don't think it can be argued is what Castro finally wound up as even if the innevitability of such may be less certain. Point is, now the legend has an ending.

In other words: Actors of note - particularly those of Latino descent - wishing to win an Oscar about four to five years from now, please start getting chemically-acclimated to aging makeup and beard appliances ASAP.