Dead Pool '09

All right, so here's the deal.

At the venerable Mr. Passantino's suggestion, we're going to change it up slightly this year and have people pick 15 names instead of 10.

Originally I was going to say that eligible celebrities include anyone with a NNDB entry, but I'm not confident that that site includes top Australian cricketers, for instance. So let's open it up to Wikipedia, too, with the caveat that picking extremely obscure or local celebrities will probably be frowned upon.

Also: humans only.

As usual, points are awarded based on the formula (100 - [age at death]). So picking Dakota Fanning (at 14) gets you a lot more points than picking Karl Malden (at 96).

Please post your lists to this thread by January 8. No lists will be accepted after that date. If someone dies before Jan. 8, only the people who have already submitted lists will be able to collect points.

Good luck.

OK, so here we go:

1. Alex Higgins
2. Basil D'Oliveira
3. Bobby Heenan
4. Fidel Castro
5. Gore Vidal
6. Jeremy Thorpe
7. Patrick McGoohan
8. Roberto Saviano
9. Ronnie Biggs
10. Russell Watson
11. Shih Ming-Teh
12. Sir Bobby Robson
13. Ian Cundy
14. Zdravko Tolimir
15. Željko Šturanović

irving penn
fidel castro
barbara bush
b.b. king
lauren bacall
gordie howe
yogi berra ;_;
Margaret Thatcher
Robert Mugabe
O.J. Simpson
Elizabeth Edwards
Billy Graham
J. D. Salinger
Ted Kennedy
The Patrick Swayze

this reminds me: I gotta pay a visit to Amy W. before it's too late

Can we use this thread to talk about the videos of Amy Winehouse dancing naked or not?

no and don't make one

Originally I was going to say that eligible celebrities include anyone with a NNDB entry, but I'm not confident that that site includes top Australian cricketers, for instance. So let's open it up to Wikipedia, too, with the caveat that picking extremely obscure or local celebrities will probably be frowned upon.

I don't like this rule change, given that ILXors generally don't give a fuck what is and isn't frowned upon. I think anyone with a Wikipedia entry opens it up too much.

One rule is "anyone who gets an obituary printed in a national newspaper"

Or has their death reported by AP/PA/Reuters.

Barbara Billingsley
Maurice Sendak
Lois Lowry
Judy Blume
Jasper Johns
Robin Guthrie
Ivo Watts-Russell
Twiggy
Mort Walker
Al Jaffee
I.M. Pei
Elie Wiesel
Art Linkletter
John Eisenhower
Cory Doctorow

Fidel Castro
Gene Hackman
Mikhail Gorbachev
Billy Graham
Nancy Reagan
Lena Horne
Jasper Johns
Ernest Borgnine
Larry Hagman
Fats Domino
Little Richard
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Patrick Swayze
Steve Jobs
Ted Kennedy

oooo steve jobs...

also Little Richard will live forever.

I did not realize Zsa Zsa was older than the Queen

WHY TWIGGY

waht

I don't like this rule change, given that ILXors generally don't give a fuck what is and isn't frowned upon. I think anyone with a Wikipedia entry opens it up too much.

You may be right. I don't feel particularly strongly about this, so if we want to stick with NNDB or go by the "obit in a national newspaper" rule, that's fine. I guess I'm just hoping people use their best judgment when it comes to this.

wHY GORBY

Oh, I must've forgotten that Twiggy, also known as "Immortal Woman He," is one of the eight immortals of Taoist mythology. I'll just have to live with my mistake.

1. mikhail gorbachev
2. olivia de havilland
3. patrick swayze
4. babi badalov
5. andy dick
6. kirk douglas
7. blake edwards
8. peter falk
9. amy winehouse
10. daisaku ikeda
11. bob barker
12. helen levitt
13. phyllis diller
14. jake lamotta
15. kristen nygaard

aruba, you shall be forgiven
after all,it was Tw-gy Who said:

"This is what should be done By one who is skilled in goodness, And who knows how to smile with one's eyes: Let them be able and upright, Straightforward and gentle in speech. Humble and not conceited, Contented and easily satisfied. Unburdened with duties and frugal in their ways. Peaceful and calm, and wise and fierce, Not proud and demanding in nature. Let them not do the slightest thing That Tyra would later reprove."

if only Miss J were that eloquent

Cory Doctorow

Is he going be crushed by a giant steam-punk replica of an ipod?

No, quadruple heart attack when a girl finally talks to him.

ballooning accident/inoperable rope burn after trying to "bring xkcd into the real world"

1. John Ashbery
2. George HW Bush
3. Jerry Lee Lewis
4. Ray Price
5. Roger Ebert
6. Gore Vidal
7. R. Crumb
8. Bill Wyman
9. Ryan Adams
10. Eunice Kennedy Shriver
11. Shane MacGowan
12. Mary Kate Olsen
13. Charlie Louvin
14. Betty Ford
15. Garbiel Garcia Marquez

Why R. Crumb?

I've just got a feeling.

ebert :(

Wendy Richard
Patrick Swayze
Kirk Douglas
Norman Wisdom
Margaret Thatcher
Vera Lynn
Clive Dunn
Bobby Robson
ZsaZsa Gabor
JD Salinger
BB King
Patrick Moore
Gore Vidal
Ken Russell
Amy Winehouse

I wish gore vidal would come up here and explain to all of us why he deserves to make it through 2009

He was good in Family Guy.

Early list, in case somebody kicks off from new year's revelry. I might change a name or two before the 8th.

Farrah Fawcett
George Steinbrenner
Robert Novak
Patrick Swayze
Kelsey Grammer
Kim Jong-Il
Steve Jobs
Ted Kennedy
Annette Funicello
Seve Ballesteros
Ariel Sharon
Fidel Castro
Elizabeth Edwards
Roger Ebert
Amy Winehouse

Yogi Berra
Frank Broyles
Robert Byrd
Chi Cheng
Walter Cronkite
Peter Falk
Billy Graham
Paul Harvey
Don Hewitt
Steve Jobs
BB King
Sam Moore
Arial Sharon
Patrick Swayze
Elizabeth Taylor

And if Mike Wallace and Andy Rooney both die, I'll be pissed. I couldn't justify picking the whole 60 Minutes set though.

Ariel Sharon

He hasn't been sentient for the past 3 years. Judges, is this allowable?

So, Amy Winehouse is this year's Britney?

If she can dance naked, she can life another year.

she gained some weight lately, ditched the ratty beehive and started rocking her own natural jewfro
I say she will survive

Ariel Sharon is not dead, though. Terri Schiavo ballots weren't counted until 2005.

And oh. I forgot to put Claiborne Pell on my list, do-over ;-)

Patrick Swayze
Fidel Castro
Robert Novak
Ted Kennedy
Ariel Sharon
Robin Williams
Betty White
Keith Richards
James Earl Jones
Dick Clark
Bob Barker
Barack Obama
Sean Connery
Omar Sharif
Haley Joel Osment

1. Jose Saramago
2. Merce Cunningham
3. Lucian Freud
4. Elaine Stritch
5. Camille Paglia
6. Patrick Swayze
7. Lindsey Lohan
8. Robert Wyatt
9. Larry David
10. Jean Luc Godard
11. Faye Dunaway
12. Mick Fleetwood
13. Noam Chomsky
14. Eamon Dunphy
15. Harmony Korine

14. Eamon Dunphy

^^^only death on any of these lists that would be a true tragedy

whatever

Judges, is this allowable?

Of course. I've had him on my list for the last couple of years.

Susan Atkins
Shirley Temple Black
Fidel Castro
Gary Coleman
Marianne Faithfull
Louis Farrakhan
Jack Kervorkian
Artie Lange
Sara Jane Moore
Nancy Reagan
Carl Reiner
Patrick Swayze
Amy Winehouse
Alan Young

Phyllis Schlafly
Donald Sinden
Zsa Zsa Gabor
Clement Freud
Partick Swayze
Anna Wing
Liz Dawn
Olivia de Havilland
Jean-Paul Belmondo
Margaret Thatcher
Jade Goody
Ronnie Biggs
Joseph Wiseman
Patrick Moore
Mare Winningham

John Harris. RIP.

scott weiland
joyce carol oates
bob newhart
macauley culkin
lemmy (of motorhead)
harold bloom
dick cheney
bil keane
william "refrigerator" perry
anne rice
holger czukay
liza minnelli
tuesday weld
thomas pynchon
nancy sinatra

I get halfway through doing my list and each time I abandon it because it's too much like wishing death upon someone...

Susan Atkins
J. G. Ballard
Blake Edwards
Peter Falk
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Annette Funicello
Jake LaMotta
Edwin Newman
Carroll Shelby
Herman Wouk
Scott Carpenter
Kenneth Anger
Sandy Koufax
Les Paul
Lyndon LaRouche

Ariel Sharon
Wendy Richard
Liz Dawn
Paul Gascoigne
Farrah Fawcett
Elizabeth Taylor
Jade Goody
Margaret Thatcher
Alex Higgins
Larry Hagman
Muhammad Ali
Ian Brady
Ian Huntley
Doris Day
Patrick Swayze

Theodore Bikel
Patrick Swayze

Haley Joel Osment
Macaulay Culkin
Lindsay Lohan
Britney Spears
MK Olsen
Hilary Duff
Drew Barrymore
Shia LaBeouf
Fred Savage
Gary Coleman

oops

Theodore Bikel
Patrick Swayze
Mike Wallace
John Wooden
Maureen O'Hara
Dana Wynter
Joan Fontaine
Silda Spitzer
Pat Boone
Eddie Van Halen
Mickey Lolich
Dick Gregory
Nancy Reagan
Wayne Newton
Nick Nolte

add to my list:

Harrison Ford
Elizabeth Tailor
Clint Eastwood
Kim Jong-il
Muammar al-Qadhafi

Fidel Castro
Peter Falk
Paul Gascoigne
Billy Graham
Merle Haggard
Ted Kennedy
Ed McMahon
Stan Musial
King Norodom Sihanouk
Terry Pratchett
Carl Reiner
J.D. Salinger
Ariel Sharon
Patrick Swayze
Margaret Thatcher

Barack Obama
Tom Baker
Keef
Brian Wilson
Peter Salis
Richard Griffiths
Liz Smith
Wendy Richard
Keith Floyd
Tony Curtis
Mark E Smith
William Shatner
Thatcher
Tony Benn
Olivia de Havilland

Patrick Macnee
Patrick Swayze
Margaret Thatcher
Sir Bobby Robson
Teddy Kennedy
Salman Rushdie
Fidel Castro
Hamid Karzai
Jerry Lee Lewis
JD Salinger
George Cole
Ally MacLeod
Fats Domino
Adam West
James D Watson

Ally McLeod's already dead, Billy.

Unless he meant his son who played for Hibs?

Oh well, in that case remove him and put Kim Novak in his place.

She doesn't play for Hibs afaik.

Eddie Izzard
Barack Obama
John Bardon (Jim from Eastenders)
Pete Doherty
Neil Kinnock
Fidel Castro
Bobby Robson
Paul Gascoigne
Kool Herc
Macho Man Randy Savage
Lil Wayne
Gene Wilder
Eusebio
Richard Attenborough
Daniel Johnston

I feel really bad with like half those names on that list but you have to go with ye gut feeling.

Suggested reading: profile of Lil Wayne in the current issue of GQ.

I kind of already thought a lot of these people were dead.

My list is filled primarly with randomly Wiki'd people who happen to be in the autumn of their years, as I felt bad about putting any of my idols down. Come to think of it, most of my idols are dead anyway.

Izzard? Why?

John McCririck (UK)
John Howard (AU)
Robert Mugabe (ZW)
Patrick Swayze (US)
Steve Jobs (US)
Hazel Hawke (AU)
Amy Winehouse (UK)
Robbie Maddison (AU)
Nelson Mandela (ZA)
Jon Anderson (UK/US/whatever the fuck he is now)
Giorgio Moroder (DE)
Don Lane (AU)
Xanana Gusmao (TP)
José Ramos-Horta (TP)
Michael Parkinson (UK)

Izzard? Why?

― Henry Frog (Frogman Henry), Monday, 5 January 2009 11:14 (28 minutes ago) Bookmark

That much coke a day (supposedly) can't be healthy. Just sayin'.

ah. he should switch to Diet then.

Lou Reed
Gary Glitter
The Queen
Johnny Borrel
Mick Jagger
Stephen Hawking.
Justin Hawkins
John Martyn

also:

J.D Salinger
Mel Smith
Jona Lomu
Catherine Tate
Barry Manilow
One of the Proclaimers
The drummer of Franz Ferdinand.

There, that's my 15.

One of the Proclaimers

I don't think the rules allow you to pick an unspecified member of a band.

Craig, then.

Anyway, here's my 15:

Fidel Castro
Doris Day
Ariel Sharon
Dave Brubeck
Jack Chick
Mauno Koivisto (a former Finnish president, I think he's notable enough)
Michael Jackson
Patrick Swayze
Charlie Watts
Jerry Lewis
Lauren Bacall
Ravi Shankar
Robert Mugabe
Amy Winehouse
Mort Walker

Bob Hawke
Henry Blofeld
Chuck Berry
Patrick Swayze
Margaret Thatcher
Neville Wran
Engelbert Humperdinck
Elizabeth Taylor
Frank Tyson
John Elliott
Winnie Mandela
Hal Holbrook
Bernie Ecclestone
Lauren Bacall
Charles Manson

ahahahahaha Bernie Ecclestone.

To be murdered by his wife his daughter Max Mosely Jackie Stewart.

Dead pool links courtesy of Wikipedia.

A brief moment in Eddie Izzard's comedy tour from 1999, Dress to Kill, has Eddie Izzard "announcing" the supposed death of Engelbert Humperdinck, both confirming and denying this fact, until he eventually states "I think he's got a cold, that's what they're saying. No wait, a tan."

Actor Patrick Swayze, who has pancreatic cancer, has admitted he may survive only two years.

Slight change to my list if it's allowed ahead of the deadline.

Patrick Macnee
Patrick Swayze
Margaret Thatcher
Sir Bobby Robson
Teddy Kennedy
Fidel Castro
Hamid Karzai
Jerry Lee Lewis
JD Salinger
George Cole
Kim Novak
Fats Domino
Adam West
James D Watson
Gerry Rafferty

No problem. Reminder to all those who haven't submitted lists yet: deadline is tomorrow, let's say midnight Pacific time.

Quick, think of some famous old people!

I certainly empathize with Swayze, but headlines like Swayze faces cancer (and a new TV series) bravely are cracking me up.

The 56-year-old actor, however, still smokes. While he says he’s “cut back” on the smoking, quitting for him is not a “priority.”

How the hell one can smoke while on chemotherapy is beyond me.

I'm not even talking about moral or health issues. I'm saying that even ice water is hell on a chemotherapy patient. I can only imagine what smoking a cigarette tastes like.

I've never played this game, want to be bad at it, score 0 points, and for these folks to live another 20 years in their prime.

Harold Bloom
Dominic Chianese
DMX
Elizabeth Edwards
John Edwards
Lynndie England
Robert Evans
Charles Graner
Rupert Holmes
Robert Iler
Lil Wayne
Robert Novak
Joaquin Phoenix
Mickey Rourke
William Safire

I kinda wanna do this but don't think I can be bothered to pick another 14 to go alongside Kerry Katona.

In that case, my revised list:

John McCririck (UK)
John Howard (AU)
Robert Mugabe (ZW)
Morgan Tsvangirai (ZW)
Patrick Swayze (US)
Hazel Hawke (AU)
Amy Winehouse (UK)
Robbie Maddison (AU)
Nelson Mandela (ZA)
Jon Anderson (UK/US/whatever the fuck he is now)
Giorgio Moroder (DE)
Don Lane (AU)
Xanana Gusmao (TP)
José Ramos-Horta (TP)
Patrick Moore (UK)

as its before the closing date, can i swap lil wayne for swayze?

OK, being as we have 24 hours left to change our picks, I wanna make some substitions.

We now line up as so:

1. Vasily Aleksanyan
2. Susan Atkins
3. Paul Birch
4. Fidel Castro
5. Reverend Ian Cundy
6. Bobby Heenan
7. Alex Higgins
8. Edward Kennedy
9. Roy Mason
10. Robert Novak
11. Wendy Richard
12. Sir Bobby Robson
13. Roberto Saviano
14. Željko Šturanović
15. Jeremy Thorpe

That's Roy Mason as in Baron Mason of Barnsley, the former Northern Ireland Secretary in the Callaghan government, not one of probably 20 other minor notaries called Roy Mason.

lil wayne is a good long shot pick

Can I take out Muhammed Ali and replace him with Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi please?

I'd considered Al Megrahi. Imagine actively choosing to spend your dying days in Scotland.

Also on the "I'd considered" list: that model with the cancer who's in the papers all the time, except she doesn't have a Wikipedia page.

Leader - David Cameron
Chancellor - George Osborne
Chairman - Caroline Spelman
Commons - Theresa May
Culture - Jeremy Hunt
Defence- Liam Fox
Higher Education - David Willetts
Environment - Peter Ainsworth
Cabinet office - Francis Maude
Foreign Secretary - William Hague
Health - Andrew Lansley
Home Secretary - Dominic Grieve
Treasury - Philip Hammond
Policy - Oliver Letwin
+ BORIS

You planning a latter-day Guy Fawkes attempt?

^^^positive thinking in the 09

xp

I'm in.

• Margaret Thatcher
• Jimmy Saville
• J. D. Salinger
• Patrick Swayze
• Amy Winehouse
• Arvo Pärt
• Stephen Hawking
• Fidel Castro
• Kim Jong-il
• Terry Pratchett
• Mark E. Smith
• Tony Hart
• Iggy Pop
• Prince Philip
• Steve Jobs

I guess no one really believes that Jeremy Piven mercury poisoning story, eh?

Still time? If so:

Joanne Woodward
Margret Thatcher
Thomas Pynchon
Wendy Richard
Mickey Rooney
Stanley Donen
Blake Edwards
Stan Lee
Whitey Ford
Jane Russell
Blake Fielder-Civil
Amy Winehouse
Mena Suvari
Lindsay Lohan
Lil’ Wayne

Tried to hedge bets with ten old people, and five young'uns while allowing for some Ledger-esque surprises.

lol at what you get when you type "alex higgins" into google:

Related searches: is alex higgins dead?

Yes, today's the last day to pick. You have approximately 14 hours left.

eek, am I too late?

Bob Barker
Boutros Boutros-Ghali
Wendy Carlos
Jean Chretien
Macaulay Culkin
Pete Doherty
Kirk Douglas
Mikhail Gorbachev
Sue Johanson
Gershon Kingsley
Charles Manson
John McCain
Robert Mugabe
Jake Roberts
Betty White

Not too late. Thanks for playing, salsa shark.

Not to be any more morbid than this game already is, but if someone had picked Jett Travolta...

eddie izzard! what the...

Why's everyone picking Macaulay Culkin?

All right, deadline's passed. I'll put the .xls together this weekend.

Saw that the singer Dave Dee had died aged 65 on the BBC News and sadly the first thing I thought was I wonder if anyone has him in their dead pool.

"Why's everyone picking Macaulay Culkin?"

In hope???

I'm confident this year. Very confident.

I'm all excited. People better start dying soon...

Dom, you think they're going to get to Saviano this year? That would be a shame.

Saviano is the closest thing I have to a wildcard pick... let's put it this way: when you gamble, if someone offers you 6'4 on a coin coming up heads you take it, because the actual odds on it landing that way are evens (that's... 2.2 and 2.0 in American odds, I think). The odds on Saviano surviving this year are heavily outweighed by the fact that if he does get Falcone/Borsellino'd, he'll net me something like 70 points. tbh there's not been a guy I've selected for a deadpool team I wanted to survive the year more than him since I picked Zevon, but still... it's all in the game.

Yeah, maybe I'm being naive but he's one of those few people I believe to be purely on the side of Good and Right and I hope isn't martyred for it.

Also he looks about 90% like one of my exes, if said ex had ever buzzed all his hair off.

I agree with you completely, I mean there's an argument that he probably is the Greatest Living Italian. But he is going to be capped at some point in the next decade.

Saw that the singer Dave Dee had died aged 65 on the BBC News and sadly the first thing I thought was I wonder if anyone has him in their dead pool.

Ha, I saw the long-term-cancer-sufferer thing and thought "I bet Dom's got him".

Hey, technically two of my guys don't have long-term fatal illnesses.

Now the deadline's over, we can always look into Vasily Aleksanyan's current health status:

AIDS
Cancer of the liver
TB
Surgically removed spleen
Has been in prison for three years
Recently did an eleven day hunger strike

That strikes me as a lock.

My girlfriend kept shaking her head last week as she watched me type phrases like "ailing," "in poor health," and "diagnosed with" into Google News.

Haha. As soon as Wikipedia introduces an "on their deathbed" category, deadpools are done for.

Fuck that. I went for 40/40 people I want to die and people I think will be shot, very little of this immiment-cancer business.

(this is why I keep losing)

Yeah, that's pretty much how I won in 2006 -- there were grave news reports about Wendy Wasserstein and Lou Rawls in late '05, and I had 75 points by the end of January.

Model dubbed the new Twiggy dies of cancer at just 23

So, do I get a point or two for having Twiggy on my list?

this really just makes me sad though...

Dom: Also on the "I'd considered" list: that model with the cancer who's in the papers all the time, except she doesn't have a Wikipedia page

Could have been an unassailable lead right there

Ah, for fuck's sake. Should have just created a page for her myself a few days back and hoped nobody noticed.

I bet you could have used reporting in an actual newspaper in lieu of Wiki. Ah well.

(obviously it is a shame that she died, but this is a thread of competition and points and that)

She died two days after Christmas ('08) anyways, so the question is moot.

There was an article about "her struggle" in the Mirror on... Monday or Tuesday. lol journos keeping articles in reserve over Christmas and not phoning their subjects up for updates.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/7829267.stm

YAY I MADE A GOOD SENSIBLE SUBSTITUTION EARLY IN THIS THREAD.

GOOD FOR YOU

I think Dom is being sarcastic.

Is "Keef" on DavidM's list supposed to be ... Keith Richards?

I KNOW

did Kim-J Ill keel over yet or what

xp I'm going to guess yes, you all can tell me if I'm wrong.

In the interest of transparency, I've posted a rough version of my spreadsheet here:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key=py9p6WZcDr69S5-NkYYzKTg

And now some statistics for this year's Dead Pool:

31 participants chose 316 separate celebrities.

Celebrities most frequently chosen were...

Patrick Swayze (19)
Fidel Castro (11)
Margaret Thatcher (10)
Amy Winehouse (8)
Ted Kennedy (7)
JD Salinger (6)
Ariel Sharon (6)
Wendy Richard (5)

Participant with the most unique list:
tomofthenest, with his all-Shadow Cabinet + BORIS list (15 names shared by no one else), followed by aruba, I know right?, and Mark G (13 each)

Participant with the least unique list:
ailsa and WmC (only 3 names shared by no one else), followed by ?, jaymc, Jimmy the Mod , and joygoat (4 each)

I'd be curious to know which strategy is more successful. (Perhaps it's telling that last year's champ has exactly eight unique names this year.)

The most morbid, but perhaps most pragmatic list, points-wise, would include Suri Cruise, Trig Palin, etc.

i almost guarantee that this ^^ is false. i think conservative play is the name of the game. just to put y'all on notice, im lurking this year, but im bout to smash the earth in DP2010.

We need a Dead Pool SusperSystem.

Yeah, there's usually one person each year who does a list featuring only people under 30. The closest this year is warmsherry's list. And when I was inputting that, I did wonder if it might not be pragmatic to pick at least one or two young people. Dom won last year with 68 points, but if Amy Winehouse had OD'd, then the sole person who picked her wouldn't have needed any other help to take the whole thing.)

*"so if" instead of "but if"

stellar work there, john

Most of my not-very-unique list were on last year as well and refused to die, with the exception of the high-profile cancer sufferers I added to make up the numbers.

Yeah, kudos to Mr Excel-sior for his work on this thread.

I disagree with him on dead pool strategy though... although technically young players would easily win you any deadpool you play, they only win when they actually die. And unless you're picking players to die in accidents, you're betting on the eventually of drug overdoses. How many celebs in the 20-40 age range are heavy drug users? Let's say, I dunno, 4%? Now how many celebrity drug overdoses are there a year? deadoralive.info only lists Renfro and Ledger for 2008, and only Bam Bam Bigelow and Mitch Hedberg for overdoses in the past three years for celebs under the age of 40. It's a fool's game to pick, although, weirdly, the most points I've ever seen anyone gain on a dead pool was for a Renfro pick... maybe on the Derby Dead Pool?

Most points I've ever gotten was for John Tenta who crapped out aged 42, but then he was a long-term cancer sufferer. Stick with the terminally ill in their 60s is my advice.

i was surprised my list ended up being not-so-unique, since i was basically just jotting down anyone who came into my head, not picking names based on any specific criteria like age, sickness, etc. after i posted mine, though, i noticed some of the names from my list popping up on other lists. i don't know if people were using earlier lists for research or if i was just making "lucky" guesses or if it was just a coincidence.

Nick, yours actually was among the more unique lists: the only celebs that other people picked were Culkin, Pynchon, and Bloom.

What's tricky if you're thinking overdoses is that the experienced ones like Winehouse and Pete could be completely resillient fools, so you have to figure out the inexperienced ones whose lives are undergoing a major transition this year.

So, Amy Winehouse is this year's Britney?

― Plaxico (I know, right?), Thursday, January 1, 2009 5:19 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

This is eerily OTM. Last year, there were 8 picks for Britney, 1 for Amy; this year, it's 8 for Amy, 1 for Britney.

Oh, what's the deal with Lil Wayne? I never bought that magazine.

In contrast to my reputation, I find I am no longer enough of a shit to play this.

That GQ profile just had him in a daze with a yes-man mixing syrup and water all night. Didn't sound so healthy.

Lil Wayne and Eric Estrada were my random throwing-darts picks last year but I took them off this year in favor of a solid base of the old and/or infirm.

I just went for a list of people who first popped into my head as possibilities and after enough "Izzard? Really?" type comments, that next time I may need to google some cancer sufferers.

Kinda shocked that nobody had Montalban. Long-term illness PLUS old PLUS lol pop culture namedrop usually leads to big money picks.

i'm going with gavin macleod next year

Looks like someone got an early lead with Hart.

I'm sadder than I am happy.

There's a surprising amount of pathos in willing 15 people dead in the space of a year.

Suggest rule changer: as of the 2010 dead pool, ILX posters cannot be nominated, regardless of whether or not they have a Wikipedia entry.

shook

So much for any posthumous wins by myself.

http://www.avfc.premiumtv.co.uk/page/NewsDetail/0,,10265~1542111,00.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Birch_(footballer)

This is the official start of the season, fuck a Tony Hart.

Updated.

Jacko's got MRSA—Tuomas may come up this year!

http://img.thesun.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00733/carousel-news-1_733196a.jpg

Looks like a result for ailsa & JTS

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7912668.stm

32 points for myself, Grisso, David M, aisla and ?.

*35

Updated. (Fucking British celebrities.)

Hah, I just realised all three deaths so far are Britishes.

I blame Obama putting money into healthcare.

mandatory smoking for british soap characters gotta be a factor.

Yeah, Tony Hart's years on Hollyoaks really took it out on him.

Update

(Paul Harvey = 10 points for Pleasant Plains)

I'm telling you, old people who have lost a spouse in the past 12 months = easy pickin's.

Old men especially...old women tend to push on.

Looks like my googling for celebs with cancer is going to pay off :-(

http://www.mirror.co.uk/celebs/news/2009/03/01/cancer-stricken-star-farrah-fawcett-says-last-goodbyes-as-she-prepares-to-die-exclusive-115875-21161650/

Though, fuck's sake, priorities people...

It must be very hard for a woman who had a gorgeous head of blonde hair to be bald.

Update please: JTS and I had Jade Goody for a whopping 73 points.

Geez I didnt know Farrah Fawcett had colon cancer :(

yeah she had it, got rid of it, and got it again which kind of scares the bejesus out of me.

colon cancer will kill you, yes. :\

that mirror article is terrible. firstly, what the hell is 'anal cancer' and secondly this line:

"Farrah - who has had cosmetic surgery - calls her cancer "the terrorist inside my body"."

anal cancer = fag cancer

ahh gotcha

Since that came from the mirror, I honestly don't know if you're referencing cigarettes or sodomy, JtMAtRoHB.

US actress Farah Fawcett, who has been battling cancer for almost three years, has been admitted to a Los Angeles hospital, according to reports.

The 62-year-old Charlie's Angels star has been in an unidentified hospital since Thursday, People magazine said.

Poor Clement Freud, hope the Bassett hound is waiting for him :(

Dude it was a bloodhound.

I'm 21.

Elvis Telecom debuts on the leaderboard with 22 points for J.G. Ballard.

I'll probably check in a couple weeks to see if I've missed anyone over the first third of the year, but you can let me know, too.

Dom got another one with his #13 Ian Cundy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/8039869.stm

Dude's going to be the Mel Carnahan of this thread.

lol Dom actually e-mailed me to tell him to give him points

tell ME, rather

Dude, Clement Freud.

Got it. Man, British ILXors are absolutely dominating this year.

yeah i saw this on dom's fb status lol

From the IMDb boards:

Where's Joe Wiseman? His phone is disconnected. (From an old friend)

Joseph Wiseman and his wife, Pearl Lange, are old family friends. Just after Pearl died, a couple of weeks ago, their phone was disconnected and now we do not know where Joe is and cannot reach him.

Does anyone know how to reach him now? Since he is elderly and in poor health I don't think he will be able to get in touch with all his old friends right away to tell them where he is. If anyone knows anything, please contact me at (address)

Damn, not only did I did the wrong spouse, but I also have a few points in limbo.

Does anyone have Ed McMahon? Eighty-sixed at 86.

C/D: "TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes" with Your Hosts Dick Clark & Ed McMahon

Yes! I'm on the board!

This will probably occasion a phone call from my mom, who strikes when minor/old-skool celebs bite the dust.

what a disaster for...whatever network he used to be on with Carson

Bump for my Farrah Fawcett points :-(

Yeah, I had her on my list too.

And ailsa now takes the lead.

I'm so bad at this game, I don't think I've ever scored a single point.

This is the first year I've ever been good at this, usually me picking someone is like a special shield of immortality.

That shield is enveloping Ariel Sharon.

Ariel Sharon
Wendy Richard
Liz Dawn
Paul Gascoigne
Farrah Fawcett
Elizabeth Taylor
Jade Goody
Margaret Thatcher
Alex Higgins
Larry Hagman
Muhammad Ali
Ian Brady
Ian Huntley
Doris Day
Patrick Swayze

― ailsa, Friday, 2 January 2009 17:50 (5 months ago) Permalink

RIP

i kinda liked Swayze..too bad..

He's still alive, isn't he? Or have I totally missed the news?

j/k about ailsa's prophet abilities

I'm so bad at this game, I don't think I've ever scored a single point.

― Tuomas, Thursday, June 25, 2009 12:20 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

You realize you were the only person that picked Michael Jackson, right? The timing is almost eerie.

:o

Nostruomus

All right, Tuomas, you got your wish: you're in 4th place now.

tuomas killed michael

Genuinely a bit spooked out by Tuomas here :-0

Good job Tuomas! ::terrorist fist bump::

this. is. amazing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ni/God.jpg

@TUOMAS, I DIDN'T REALIZE YOU WERE SO FAR BEHIND
-about 4 hours ago from heaven

LOL

maaaaaaugh ek
ahnnnnn.
snaf snaf myeeeeeehhhhh.

Nostruomus

― velko, Thursday, June 25, 2009 6:02 PM (Yesterday)

loll

Holy shit, now I feel kinda awful for picking Michael. I did pick him last year too though, so it's not like I'm that great at seeing the future.

And I can assure that me lamenting the fact I have 0 points last night had nothing to do with his death.

tell it to the judge, sonny

Pleasant Plains moves out of the cellar.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_xt0I704c9zs/Sdb_tswMMyI/AAAAAAAAANw/H4wKDcFjBug/s400/AlbumCovers-Ratt-OutOfTheCellar(1984).jpg

Gonna nickel and dime this thing, just you wait.

i know, right? is on the board.

I know, finally, how many points is that

omg@xls btw

It's a labor of love.

do you have any other ilx spreadsheets available online?

Nah, that's it.

Do I shoot-the-moon if all of mine survive (my secret hope)?

I almost had Merce on my list as lucky number 15. Unfortunately the name reminded me of the slightly ropy but do-able female lead in Turner and Hooch (Mare Winningham), so I decided to use her instead as a wildcard.

When will I learn that reasonably young and unassuming people don't just die.

Ha, I noticed Mare Winningham on the spreadsheet as I was scrolling down looking for Cunningham.

Brits - Bobby Robson has just been called by BBC.

You ain't kidding. Passantino back in first.

Elvis Telecom moves into the top 10.

I had Les Paul for the last couple of years, but ditched him for a couple of people who would get a few more points - didn't seem worth it for six points. Am hoping AlMegrahi's imminent release from jail on compassionate grounds means he's not going to make it to the end of the year for another 40+ points.

Doesn't he know this is important?

I know! Mass murderers are good picks really, you get to cheer the points without feeling very sad that someone has died (ethical debate as to whether he was actually responsible for another thread, I think).

wouldn't surprise me if al-megrahi was on ilx

Ugh... In the top 10 with Ballard and Les Paul. I'm going to hell for this...

Dom expands his lead, WmC moves up to #4, and both Eazy and robertwolf8080 make their debuts on the leaderboard.

Cool, points for someone I'm not sorry to see go.

Passantino killing it. Robertwolf8080 and I move into the top 10. Jimmy the Mod and joygoat make their debuts.

you missed eunice kennedy, she died 2 weeks ago

and don hewitt

Thanks. I obv. forgot to check for Eunice; didn't occur to me that anyone would have Don Hewitt. I'm probably due for a thorough review of the list.

sheeeeeeeeeeit, I wouldn't want to be any of the people still standing on Dom's list.

one of the best ILX-lols (in a sad way) is Tuomas complainin about never scoring a point the nigth before MJ dies.

Swayze still hanging in there. Castro doesn't look like dying at all judging from his recent appearance.

dom is on some haley joel osment shit

spekaing of
is he still alive

is there anything in the FAQ that disqualifies dom tho?

does the scoreboard only list people with 10 points minimum? i had helen levitt on my list, earning me a whopping four points

Sorry about that. Yeah, I've only been updating when I hear of someone who's died and I suspect that someone may have picked that person. Like I said, I'll do an extensive review soon to catch people like Levitt. You're in luck, though -- she was 95, so you get FIVE points!

Swayze has "gone home to die" according to reports so there'll be a few 43 pointers coming up.

next year, any choice with terminal illness should be disqualified

^insurance executive^

Passantino would be hosed without the ability to just google people with cancer.

exactly, but he'd have to come up with outside-the-box suggestions like that Italian journalist who wrote Gomorrah as his stock option, not his punt

I dunno, I think that rule would be tough to enforce.

Everyone else has the ability to google celebrities with cancer, you know. Just depends which ones you pick.

But that takes the fun out of randomly guessing and then spending the rest of the year seeing that person on telly and wondering if you want them to die or not.

Swayze's death puts four new people on the leaderboard. Doesn't change the order much near the top, since nearly everyone had Swayze on their list. I say "nearly," however, because Dom, unbelievably, did not. Which makes this a much tighter race than I was anticipating, as ailsa is only 15 points behind now.

does anyone other than me still have 0 points? i guess probably so

woah ailsa. shit just got real.

dom just didn't want to live in a world w/o swayze

Ain't how the game is played, brah. It's a cold, cold world.

I also just did some housekeeping and found that Mark G. picked someone who died back in January, so that's been updated, too.

Oh and Nick, you're one of five contestants with zero points.

Following his release from prison, Biggs' health improved, leading to suggestions that he might soon be moved from hospital to a nursing home. In response to claims that Biggs' state of health was faked, his lawyer stated, "This man is going to die, there is going to be no Lazarus coming back from the dead, he is ill, he is seriously ill." However, Biggs himself stated, "I've got a bit of living to do yet. I might even surprise them all by lasting until Christmas, that would be fantastic."

Until Christmas. I guess that still counts as within the year.

My Passantinoesque tactics are paying off. Ian Brady's trying to get off home to die as well, according to a headline I saw in a shop yesterday, but I suspect, like Al-Megrahi, he's going to hang on until January to spite me. Yes, me personally. Dom's probably spending his enforced retirement in a hospice administering personal care to everyone not on his list.

RIP Patrick Swayze, obv.

This Dead Pool and the one running at work were my first thought on hearing the news this morning. I'm an evil selfish man.

Anyone have Keith Floyd?

DavidM.

Got it.

Anyone else have Susan Atkins?

I do.

Joe Wiseman's been gone for a few weeks now.

All right, got it. 9 points for you.

i don't see ted kennedy on dom's list, but it's on his spreadsheet list?

He changed his list, Ted's on there.

The end is drawing near.

Oh Maggie Jones, well-loved actress... if only you'd held on a few more weeks... I'd have had a 25 right off the bat! Goodly darn you!

ps. RIP

The end is drawing near.

― krakow

when do we have to put our picks in for next year?

I'll start a thread on New Year's Day, probably. (Also will tally up winners for 2009.)

I'm going on holiday with limited internet access. Let me know if it's ten or fifteen, and I'm email you a list today at some point if that's OK.

am i the only person who went 0/15 this year? i'm tempted to roll my 2009 list over to 2010

I think 15 worked well -- more people on the leaderboard -- so let's do it again in 2010.

As usual, I'll give people until the 8th of the month to submit lists.

i would like to join this

Is everybody ok with posting their lists here as they come up with them, or would it be more interesting/have less overlap if everybody kept them secret until after the deadline? If we wanted to keep them secret, they could be emailed to jaymc not to be opened until the deadline, or a disinterested third party who could forward them to jaymc after deadline.

I admit there are always a couple of names I add after seeing other people's lists.

[Is everybody ok with posting their lists here as they come up with them]

...or we could come up w/ a Dead Pool 10 thred? (bonus pts for calling it "Dead Pool x"

yeah, I meant in a new thread -- the question mainly is do you want lists to be public or private

I just sent mine to jaymc via webmaily thing.

mostly because I don't want to sit in an internet cafe on holiday googling for celebrities with cancer.

Hmmm, I didn't see the debate here until just now. Tbh, I'm OK with keeping the lists public, but if you'd rather e-mail them to me, that's fine, too.

Btw, I still have to do a final tallying, but the preliminary winner of this year's pool was DOM PASSANTINO: 6 of his 15 picks kicked the bucket, for a total of 204 points.

cautionary tale

Correction: SEVEN of Dom's picks died (I missed Susan Atkins), for a total of 243 points.

TOP TEN

1. Dom (243 points, 7/15)
2. ailsa (189 points, 4/15)
3. JTS (141 points, 4/15)
4. WmC (126 points, 4/15)
5. ? (102 points, 3/15)
6. Tuomas (93 points, 2/15)
7. Billy Dods (90 points, 3/15)
8. robertwolf8080 (88 points, 3/15)
9. kingkongvsgodzilla (82 points, 2/15)
10. jaymc (80 points, 3/15)

Honorable mention goes to Pleasant Plains, who had only 75 points but 4/15.

See the rest here.

In a sense, didn't Dom, too, die in 2009?

so it's true what they say about the hunter getting captured by the game.

I feel proud of my placing and resolve to do even better this year. Die celebrity bitches die!

Dom's result is impressive because he knows how to play the game, and so won. Tuomas's result is in a way even more impressive, because Michael Jackson was 50 points worth of random guessing. What are th' freakin odds?