The Curse of MRFH. Well-known, yet oft goes unspoken. Once in a while we have a writer who completely vanishes — some blame new living situations, while others point to the recent rise in the werewolf pandemic. We simply never hear from these writers again, and are forced to toss a single yellow rose into the middle of the Atlantic in tribute. Up to now, the Curse has affected only women, but now it seems that our good fellow Rich has become prey to its sinister claws. We now pay tribute to Rich, a great writer and friend who was with MRFH from 2003-2005, and pray that wherever the Curse took him, he's got a pint of beer to keep him warm at night.

Justin: I think one of my absolute favorite things about Rich is that he loved cult flicks more than maybe all of us combined. Again and again, he'd turn in reviews for titles that I'd never even heard of — Dog Soldiers, The Hole, The Pit – and write them up in a way that made me really want to see them.

His British sense of nobility (*cof*) gave MRFH a unique tang over the past few years, and it was fun coordinating with him to do Mutant Viewings of both Resident Evil and Being John Malkovich. Rich was also our resident QuizMaster, often running contests both on the site and the forums. Along with Drew, Rich stood up for those wacky graphic novels, despite being stoned on the street for them.

What else can I say? I'm really, really gonna miss the bugger, even if he felt he had to show me up in the Transformers review. I thank Rich for all of his time he gave to helping MRFH become better, and wish him well in whatever he ends up doing.

Sue: Oh it seems as if it was only yesterday when Justin, PoolMan, Lissa, Kyle and I would be sitting around the staff room, sipping coffee (or whatever stimulant Kyle happened to have in his cup that particular morning), and wondering why Drew and Rich were never on time for meetings. Eventually, and invariably, we’d hear Drew pounding on the door and someone would have to go let him in. Strange, since it was never actually locked. Lissa, the kind-hearted type, consoled him with her homemade triple-fudge brownies as Pooly and I pointed and laughed. Kyle in the meantime, would crush Red Bull cans on his forehead and discuss metaphysics with the potted philodendron on the window ledge. Just another typical morning.

And then Rich would bounce in, bowler hat set precisely in place, gem encrusted cane tapping jauntily along the floor, and calling out a cheery salutation which always contained the word, "Jolly".

Justin, not exactly a morning person, would tap his watch. "You’re late. Again."

Rich, ever the class act, would smile secretively. "Terribly sorry, old chap. A spot of trouble at the palace, don’tcherknow. Mum’s the word, eh? There’s a good fellow."

It worked every time.

Rich and I spoke seldom, but when we did, we tended to have high quality conversations. Oh sure, sometimes we talked about movies or MRFH, or other nonsense like that, but usually we set aside our reviewer personalities and took on our true forms as Rabid NFL Junkies. Stats, yardage, special teams... we could go on for ages. Okay, he was an Oakland fan, but I liked him anyway. And for his part, he gallantly ignored both my slavish adoration for Brett Favre and my clumsy attempt to demonstrate the "Lambeau Leap" which resulted in the destruction of most of his office furniture.

I couldn’t say how many reviews Rich wrote during his tenure, but they were always high calibre and infused with his special brand of wit and wisdom. Oddly enough, my personal favorite of his was Top Gun. Or maybe I just have a thing for men in uniforms. T’was an excellent review in any case. And of course, MRFH will not be the same without the myriad of strange and nifty contests that were his special forte.

Where Rich went, no one knows for sure, but I'd like to think that he's off on another secret mission, fighting injustice and saving the world.

Thank you Rich, for gracing us with your presence at Mutant Reviewers for as long as you did. You will be missed!

Drew: As I've come to accept in life, all good British things must come to an end eventually. Sherlock Holmes leaves 221B Baker Street and retires. The Beatles break up. The next Harry Potter book will be the last. And now, an event that's a thousand times worse than all of those put together: Rich is leaving the Mutant Reviewers. It's like cosmic retribution for the American Revolution — "Oh, you don't like the British, eh? Well, then we'll have to keep them all away from you, won't we?" Lousy karma. So here we sit, dumbfounded, trying to come to terms with the fact that PoolMan will once again be MRFH's sole non-American voice. And somewhere, accusations of imperialism once again begin to foment...

Putting that aside, I'll just come right out and say it — Rich is freakin' hilarious. I've always loved that dry British sense of humor, and the man has it in spades and then some. While I think everyone here is extremely funny in their own way (Kyle's meandering narratives, Lissa's anecdotes, Sue still remembering what movies are, etc.), not one of us can duplicate that arch wit that only the British seem to have, and we'll all be the lesser for it. I remember when I first joined the ranks of Mutantdom, I was nervous. Rich read comics. I read comics. Would he think I was horning in on his territory? But then I remembered that Rich reads deep, introspective graphic novels exploring philosophical issues and the societal ramifications of totalitarian government, while I like stories about guys in tights punching each other. Then I figured everything was okay. In fact, I think the only comic movie we both reviewed was Sin City, where Rich intelligently deconstructed the intricate translation of Frank Miller's masterpiece to the silver screen while I talked about how cool all the swearing was. Damn straight!

The truth is that I wish I'd gotten to know Rich a little bit better during our time together at MRFH, but what I do know for sure is this — he's a bright, extremely witty guy with a natural flair for this sort of thing, and I know it will take him far in life, whatever he winds up doing. Goodbye, my limey colleague... every time I watch a Monty Python movie, I'll think of you. And if that's not a great way to be remembered, well then buster, I don't know what is.

Rich's Mutant Bio

Rich, a 27 year old world traveller who decided the best way to avoid notice by the rest of the world was to live in England, now passes the time between avoiding delegates of the various nations he's offended by dragging British students screaming through the wheels of University education, spending too much time on his various computer entertainment systems, obsessively watching gangster films, and complaining about how he could have made movies better. Holding terrible aspirations for thespian greatness, Rich routinely now avoids the stage like the plague for fear someone he knows might actually see him perform. Rich loves to review movies on MRFH, since no-one ever listens to him in real life, with good reason.

• Forum Handle: 5MILESMILE
• Will Be Played In The Movie By: Christian Slater
• Current Favorite Movies: Memento, The Usual Suspects, Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead
• Current Favorite TV Shows: The Simpsons, Farscape, Fraiser, The West Wing
• Current Favorite Video Games: NBA Live 2003, Age of Wonders II, any Resident Evil game
• Hobbies: Card games (Poker & Bridge especially), terrible acting