Cowboy Ronnie

If only the people who put together that excellent bunnies' version had been allowed to edit the steaming heap that James Cameron put on screen. How the same man who brought us The Terminator, a witty, lean, poignant cinematic triumph that wrung every drop out of its modest budget, could serve up the better part of 3 hours of such inexorable tripe is truly one of the mysteries of motion picture history. And the Academy rewarded him with a boatload (yawn) of Oscars, snubbing the vastly superior LA Confidential? He's not even the king of his own living room.

Q. How do you revive an unconscious German boxer? A. Schmeling salts

Did Sister Lucia's ancestors predict those popes dying? I suppose as a nun she never had kids of her own, which is too bad because after the misses we've been having in '05 the DL could use some divine inspiration in pulling together next year's list. This really has nothing to do with Russ Meyer any more, does it?

"I must, however, take issue with you about the Germans and sunbeds!!!!" Hey, I'm just perpetuating a stereotype, not necessarily saying it's true. http://englischlehrer.de/uk/sunbeds.php http://rcswww.urz.tu-dresden.de/~english3/Jana/stereot.htm After all, stereotyping saves time......

I think Mr. Terminator is a bit off base suggesting the Dutch would have anything to do with the Germans. As an ignorant American I can't understand any of that foreign stuff that people typed in this thread, and can't be bothered to go to a translating website, but will presume the interpretations provided are roughly correct. But I've known quite a few Dutchies over the years, and they have one thing in common - they all hate Germans. Goes back to the war, apparently, when amongst other atrocities the Jerries stole thousands of Dutch bicycles. To this day, while Brits go around accusing Germans of putting their towels on the good sunbeds the night before, or not mentioning the war, our friends in The Netherlands' are forever asking, "Can we have our bikes back?" Ever seen Holland and Germany play football? Makes England-Scotland look like a love-in.

Did you know that The Simpsons character Roger Myers, owner of Itchy & Scratchy Studios, and featured in what I would submit as the best ever episode http://www.snpp.com/episodes/3F16.html was named from a combination of schlock horror director Roger Corman and soft core purveyor Russ Meyer?

Although Cruz can be a girl's name, it's more commonly given to boys. Any fans of the old NBC soap opera "Santa Barbara" out there? They will of course remember Detective Cruz Castillo. I wonder if any of the Beckham boys wish their parents had named them something normal like Kevin or Tim

Didn't even one of the 70,000 to 100,000 people who were around to corroborate the spinning Portuguese sun think to bring a camera along that day? I'm sure not many people had cameras back then, but we've all seen both photos and film from that era. You'd have thought some of the sceptical journalists would have brought one with them. Amazing how despite all the ghosts, and UFO's, and miracles there are buzzing about, there has never been one decent picture or video of any of 'em......

....unless they get an obit in any English newspaper, in which case their demise is of earth-shattering importance. Why just today I was shocked, and saddened, to read in the Torygraph of the passing of Gerry Glaister and Canon Austin Masters.

Hmmmm, you'd have thought a good Catholic would actually tell the Pope he was going to be shot, rather than keeping it a secret. Although I suppose by only revealing the secret after the event, she did increase the likelihood of her prediction being correct. Did she foretell any footie results? I see Man U are 6-1 for the title, so if I could just get some tips on the run-in to the season.....

So let me get this straight. The Vatican has known about the 3rd secret since 1957, but no one ever bothered to tell the Pope? Otherwise, surely he would have worn a bulletproof vest on the day he was to be shot, just like Doc Brown in Back to the Future.

that would have been ironic - missing out on points b/c one of our entries wasn't famous enough for the DDP. Personally, I'd never heard of Sister Lucia, and her claim to fame doesn't sound much more plausible than the plot of Independence Day. But it's nice to pick up some more points and get back in the race

Castro still has the trillion dollar bill that he swiped off Monty Burns, so the You've been Framed cash is just a drop in the ocean. http://www.simpsoncrazy.com/episodeguide/season9/5f14.shtml

Does Camilla Parker Bowels over the new Royal Daulton item? On that pleasant note........

hmmmmm, just came across this thread. Mr. Kid might have been referring to some of my critiques of the DDP's fame threshold. But the good news is I've decided to retire them and focus on supporting his excellent site. Bad news though is someone's off to an absolute flyer in the 2005 competition - 5 deaths already. Of course, I'd only heard of 2 of 'em......

Whilst Linda Boreman did indeed go so far down she's now 6 feet under almost 3 years ago, this is a witty and timely post (props to Mammy) because there are rumors in Washington that the guy who was Deep Throat in the Watergate scandal is about to die, and when he does Bob Woodward, the reporter who apparently knows his real identity, will reveal it. And was that the longest sentence ever posted on the DL Forum? http://politicalwire.com/archives/2005/02/...oat_is_ill.html

Actually, it depends on which leap year one is born in, because every 100 years they skip a leap day when it's supposed to take place (e.g. there was no Feb 29, 1900), unless the year in question is divisible by 400, in which case they have the leap day (e.g. Feb 29, 2000). So, someone born on say Feb 29, 1850, was slightly less likely to die on their birthday than someone born on Feb 29, 1950.

What about all the midgets who are so sad that they're midgets they top themselves (e.g. Tattoo/Knick-knack and that one out of Time Bandits)? They didn't live to be 100...

This is a good test for the "are they famous enough" standard. We've all seen Sherwood Schwartz' name, hundreds of times if you're American, probably at least 20 times for everyone else, just by sitting through the closing credits of the Brady Bunch. But if someone asked me 5 minutes ago, "Who's Sherwood Schwartz?" or "Who was the creator of the Brady Bunch?" I couldn't have told you. However, in real life the dad was gay, and Greg shagged the mom. That I know. I'd vote no for Sherwood for the DL.

alas, looks like the old Mars bar tale is yet another rock 'n' roll myth http://www.snopes.com/music/artists/marsbar.htm

Shouldn't the original question therefore have been: "what's the difference between a womens' track team and a tribe of crafty pygmies?" as pygmies aren't especially well known for being cunning, are they? Not to get pedantic or anything......

Heaven and Teddy combine to win the points: what's the difference between Kate Moss and a counterfeit dollar bill? one is a phony buck

with all these McDonald's types going maybe we should go for The Hamburglar or Grimace for 2005. Not sure how long they've been around, but based on childhood memories 25 years at least. Considering how sick the guy who made Supersize Me got from a month of Big Macs, the McDonald's gang must really be pushing it. Anyone want to second a nomination for Mayor McCheese? http://members.iinet.net.au/~mclerp/catalog/95danglers.jpg (still can't post links - how does one do so?)

As Teddy notes, nice to add another variation of "loser" to the vernacular, alongside the "Looser" graffiti scribbled over a picture of Beckham at the National Gallery last year. Too bad that after some consideration Ed "Lou Grant" Asner didn't make the 2005 list, because if he died he could have been deemed a "Lou-ser"

what title is he trying to retain? Dart tosser most likely to be nominated for the DL? Now that I know who he is, along with his 40 stone frame and near death experience on PPV last weekend, I'd say sure. Un point