Spade_Cooley

His partner, Crash and Zzap publisher/founder Roger Kean, is also being reported dead. Learned he was in the final stages of ALS over Christmas, but the fact that Frey only got a brief mention in the Metro made me think there wasn't any chance of a QO.

It does make me wonder.... @Octopus of Odstock, back when you were GM, was the game running off the Microsoft Access widget that's still the cornerstone of the site today? I'm curious when the DDP made the switch from "guy with a pen and paper" to the current.... quasi-automation.

Yeah, most student record labels would consider themselves a success if they had one artist playlisted on 6 Music. For Electric Honey to have launched the careers of three bands (B&S, Biffy Clyro, Snow Patrol) that could all headline major music festivals is frankly staggering.

Suing subtle, thought-provoking political cartoonist Ben Garrison:

Surprised people thought Fornasier had any chance of breaking through FFBI rules. Her journalism before diagnosis was some freelance shifts for an obscure Australian celebrity gossip blog. I tried Elena Huelva (792k Instagram followers) but that ran directly into FFBI barriers, and I wasn't that surprised.

Fantastic write up and let's just have a moment to thank everyone who works on the DDP - in January especially it effectively becomes a second job, and to go through that second job without telling people to fuck off on this forum is a Herculean effort. And yeah, I can't be disappointed with that as a year. The DDP is the industry standard when it comes to deadpooling, and that's down to two things: the aforementioned committee and the players themselves. Standards go up year on year around here - long gone are the days when that nutjob who used to camp outside parliament would be a unique hit. A mid-table DDPer sent back 10 years could easily be a podium placer such is the quality of research, celebrity knowledge and game theory that can be found on this forum. I'm a competitive fuck so La Sexta is always going to be the aim, but I go into tournaments now thinking "well, there's 50 potential winners out there, top 30 would be a respectable finish" rather than "there are 5 potential winners out there, I really hope I podium". Funny how the only time of the year we can really talk strategy on here is January, as the longer the season goes on the more people want to keep their cards close to their chests for the following campaign. Still think the value of a guaranteed 90-99 hit is underrated by the average player, and am more and more onboard with defensive play these days. Anyway, let's play us out with a second song:

Is Micheline Bernardini definitely still alive? Feel like we've had this conversation before...

There's only been six unique hits for top 10 teams in the past three years. Mary Fairhurst, Sonia Kinsella and Pete Felton were all big gambles on getting QOs (and in Felton's case it took around 10 months for one to finally show up). Maggie Griffin was known to be ill but at 99 people probably didn't consider her a viable hit points-wise, Traci Braxton's illness was very, very off-the-radar and Alan Melinek... well, I dunno. He was famous enough and discussed on here. Fortune favours the bold I suppose.

Surprised Dinamite hasn't got more traction, seems to be permanently in hospital with his cancer now and surely his spell at Barcelona gets him a QO no problem?

It was worth it just to learn some sleight of hand.

This clip from the ESPN documentary on Jeanette Lee broadcast in December was what made me think she was a must-pick for 2023. Pretty hard watching tbh:

I assumed there'd be some mumblings out there about Stokes passing if he had gone, even without an official announcement. If he has gone over the festive period, he gets replaced by Nelson Mandela's granddaughter for me.

Good to see him branch out into the world of hit BBC reality competitions:

Looks like Frank McGarvey is the first DDP hit of the year?

OK, here's the disappointing follow-up to DQSP's record-breaking year: Gianluca Vialli (joker) Mark Stokes Joe Doering Jonnie Irwin Johnny Ruffo Dikembe Mutombo Adrian Sutton Jeanette Lee Steve McMichael George Alagiah Frank McGarvey Roberto Dinamite Chris Stone Simon Cowell Ryuchi Sakamoto James Whale Denny Crum Frank Field Bill Steel Rolf Harris I think Chris Stone and Denny Crum are the only two picks not previously discussed on the forum, Stone probably my only shot at a unique and even then I'd be surprised.

John Calvin - possibly wrongfully imprisoned murderer rather than the reformation cleric. Seemingly dying but not getting much traction outside of regional press without a Yahoo link. Daniel N. Paul - pretty important First Nations historian, but again didn't want to be reliant on QOs that never came. Eric Angle - no news whatsoever since his kidney cancer announcement. Did he get a transplant? Christ knows. Mutulu Shakur - definitely feel like he's got another 12 months in him Toon Greebe - darts player who had a foot amputated three years ago, and the opposite leg amputated in 2022. We've seen this pattern before and I'm not predicting a triumphant return to the oche for him.

"A severe but treatable form of cancer with a great prognosis" my arse.

Dream blunt rotation.

https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/cd41d48a-984f-4d6a-a2a2-080cb7a50fe9

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Right, team submitted/sent in otherwise I'll be staring at Google Docs until 11:59pm.

I'm doing a very rushed entry here, will be massively uncompetitive, but one thing 10 minutes of research has revealed: goddamn the Time 100 is just a banal clickbait shitshow. I get that you have to include celebrities for "buzz" but I'm pretty sure at no point has Blake Lively ever been one of the 100 most important people in her own house, let alone the world. The bylines from when they started letting other "celebs" write them are pretty funny though. "Elizabeth Holmes by Henry Kissinger" was my favourite, although "Literally Every Single Basic-Ass Landfill Romcom Actress by Mindy Kaling" cropped up a few times.

Has sold the studio featured in Dance Moms. A sign of something?

Big year for him, between having a stroke and texting pictures of his dick to female co-workers at Ajax.

A more innocent internet time