msc

Actually I had Starmer-Smith on my longlist since Willz pointed out he had dementia earlier this year. My memory of him was always a fairly robust guy, imposing confident presence, TV regular not so long ago. This is from the BBC this week. Bloody hell.

Just on gut feeling, Malcolm McDowell has always felt like one of those names that never get close to the DL because they die in their sleep aged 80 or there abouts. Although back in 2016 I took a shortlist of 30 names I thought wouldn't see advanced old age on gut feeling and 25 of them are still standing! (Phil Spector, Bill Paxton, Dale Winton, John McCririck and Jimmy Hood the unlucky five, and only McCririck I translated into DDP points because he was public about getting ill about 9 months before he died!)

The only ill name I thought was a cert died today! Maybe James Whale, he felt so Cmme friendly that surely they wont skip him twice. Not ill, just old, but I have a feeling one of Hackman/Eastwood/Duvall will make their debut, but that all 3 will eventually be on the list till they die.

@YoungWillz ever get a daft idea? (It amused me but not enough to sacrifice 2 spots that would otherwise go to forgotten old stars to use it!)

Glio has a rep for swinging back hard when people think its under control so Parker could be crucial in 2022, whichever way his health goes.

Even a nerd for facts and peoples like me sees a name at times and goes "Who?" (Yeah, I know, a disgraced sports admin guy, I looked him up.)

Remission, old but never confirmed ill, clearly a top 2022 pick, remission, not ill enough yet seemingly, another big 2022 pick, maybe a 2022 pick. In order.

@Bibliogryphon joins the 2 pool winners club.

Well done Biblio. Your first deadpool win in 7 years!

In that case, can I swap Antony Sher (RIP, fine actor, sad news) with Gary Burgess, who I appear to have forgotten to add first time around.

I always look forward to the TOTP theme team. Actually, my first theme team is in already, so I don't need to worry if there was room for Jon Laurimore. (Ahem) The main team, well, it's suffering a shortlist deficit. More folk have died since October than been replaced. At least Jimmy Carter is there if needed!

I mean, I know I'm about to piss off and leave all this stress to others () but I felt the theme team fixes were to stop ringer teams coming in and ruining it. Like those Shameless sides or fake theme teams. Theme teams with gags in them (there was a Hague war criminal theme team once with Cliff Richard iirc) weren't going to be party pooped on. Gris Gris, Hits of 36 Years Ago, All Quiet on the Westerns Front, and many others I wont bore you all by naming all have proper theme team ideas and tend to work around that set structure.

I think we did quite well with the FFBI ban, and it'll get better as folk get more experienced with it and spot Trojan Horses. Not Trojan Hearses though, they're cool. That team name cracks me up.

The DDP 2010 page was generated 3 DDP hosts ago, so you'll have to put that down to a quirk of the old days. He's been on the list nearly every year since, and isn't dead on the master file. The Lazy Town chap is clearly a typo as he's marked in his obit as dying aged 43. The points are the same anyhow. And too late to change. Pickering I don't think ever came up. I thought he was a snooker player tbh, he was already in the system. If he pulled a fast one, well, that'll depend on the new Cmme as to if he qualifies for 2022. @Death Impends @gcreptile (And if Reptile goes "msc, you said X, Y and Z on this last year", well, I forget!) I admit I can't see the repeat in Fujimori (though it may be accent based - for example Albert-oo Fujim-oo-ro) but in general, a theme team is a theme team. The basic rule this year was try not to take the piss, which some folk had been doing with their "men only theme teams" (basic the Drop 40 cancer sufferers), and so on.

Wildly out of practice, I wouldn't expect anything of note in 2022 tbh. Although both my Deathrace wins were based on sheer dumb luck, which I always welcome.

Yeah, I know a guy who won this thing twice and has a terrible habit of forgetting to add a joker to his team.

At least since 2014 as when Margo MacDonald died, there was some surprise that Ewing had outlived her given her health at that time. It's now 3 years or so since Prunella Scales was shown a memorial to Princess Diana on the TV and asked "Oh did she die?" which the most blatant late stage dementia thing I've ever seen broadcast on TV.

That bloody song, which I still know most of by heart, was so big, only Geri Halliwell managed to stop it reaching number one in the UK charts! Not one hit wonders either as they had a bunch of big chart hits, and a few top twenty ones, but never got that close to the top spot again. Annoyingly catchy.

Yeah, that's life for you. Or no life, in the case of Miss Gascoine...

As hints go, very subtle! It shall, soon.

Ah, Steve Buscemi. He seems OK just now (afaik) but he was working as a fireman in NY after September 11th, sad cancer news at some point wouldn't surprise.

For the first time this makes me twig that Greta Thunberg, Jude Bellingham and that youngest Oscar nominee girl from a decade ago are now eligible picks. Another sign of getting on a bit! Incidentally, for those with suspicious minds, yours truly no longer has access to the DDP email log in, DI does instead now. I couldn't log into the bastarding thing half the time I had the log in details, but you know what I mean. Access to the actual main site remains for the rather obvious reason I've got a month of obits to go! That said, DI got to terms with the tracker at the top of the DDP page first go. That took me months of swearing and an Idiots Guide by Spade to work out last year!

Even!!!!! Yeah, fair enough. That could be an advert for Cmme replacements: "Excel so bombproof, even msc used it!"

Good luck @Death Impends. You'll be great.

Hello Pedro, hope you've been keeping well!