gcreptile

Random suggestion nr. 635, eminent British violinist Ida Haendel, who celebrated her 88th birthday last week: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_Haendel

Just because it's a funny story: Trump is having to find artists for his inauguration, but blind tenor Andrea Bocelli agrees to do it: http://slippedisc.com/2016/12/report-trump-wants-andrea-bocelli/

Long time ensemble member at La Scala, Chilean tenor Claudia Parada, dead at 89: http://slippedisc.com/2016/12/a-long-serving-la-scala-diva-has-died-at-85/

British tenor David Johnston dead at 85: http://slippedisc.com/2016/12/death-of-an-english-tenor-85/

Edit: wrong.. sorry...

Shameless pick Steven Monks is ... probably.... dead: https://www.gofundme.com/st3n7g2k There's a comment by a John Ogden (11 days old, as of today), mentioning his passing.

Australian murderer Simon Kepenci, 39, could be dead within a year without HIV-medication (that he refuses to take to teach his family a lesson) http://www.smh.com.au/victoria/dying-killer-jailed-for-15-years-but-could-be-dead-within-one-20161219-gte2c0.html He made the Daily Mail by saying that he enjoyed the crime.

Former Dallas Mayor Laura Miller faces a second fight with breast cancer: http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/commentary/2016/12/07/fighting-breast-cancer-laura-miller-epiphanies-regrets

Billy Graham

"Is Bill Clinton being eaten alive by cancer?" asks the always reliable RadarOnline: http://radaronline.com/celebrity-news/bill-clinton-skinny-extreme-weight-loss-cancer-fears/

Quite the massacre this year. Zsa Zsa's death at least makes my performance disappear into the outer reaches of the midfield.

My problem is: without Shameless a couple of these non-entities would enter the main teams. Also, I hoped for a more drastic rule change. I admit however, that letting Shameless die after one successful year, has its' charms. But then "sister of Carol McGiffin" will be my replacement for Craig Sager in my Main team. You will all be picking her anyway, so I won't feel particularly guilty. And there is one other thing: Even if I don't pick them, someone else will. And then that pick has a higher chance of being unique, giving these picks even more weight in the main competition. Just looking at the current Top Ten: Hassan Asif, Jade Pateman, Sonny Lang,...

In terms of "still not dead?" Billy Graham takes her place, in my opinion. But it won't be for long. Now I hope that the DeathList makes space for either Gina Lollobrigida or the Prince himself.

No fucking way!

Let me guess, Val Kilmer at 200th place?

I also knew of Suzanne Wright, but would never have expected her to obit ...qualifyingly. I think my main team will end up having no uniques at all. My B-team however will have a couple of them. Shameless will have fewer uniques than this year.

Aye, even more esoteric and of less general interest than the Fort William FC caper with myself and PB talking to teach other whilst the world ignores us. I say for 2017 we work on a conceptual thread, one so marginal and pointless it exists only in our minds. Any ideas? "Why did you stop beating your wife?"

He says he has beaten cancer: http://www.newsdzezimbabwe.co.uk/2016/12/i-have-beaten-cancer-tsvangirai.html Suspicious timing, though.

I wonder what it means..... Here's a Daily Mail article from march about "cancer mum" Indira Jayasuriya rejecting chemo so that her baby can live: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-3503145/Mother-diagnosed-terminal-cancer-28-weeks-pregnant-refuses-early-C-section-treat-disease.html She then died in November and it turns out that she was the daughter of a former minister of Sri Lanka, who is now Speaker of the Parliament: http://dailynews.lk/2016/12/14/local/101940 I wonder why the Daily Mail didn't tell.

Giving up his voting rights on the Viacom board: http://www.investors.com/news/ailing-viacom-chairman-redstone-to-give-up-board-voting-rights/

My move cost me two months of research time. I have three DDP teams ready (but didn't get to replace Craig Sager yet) but none for the other competitions. Last year, I had my first draft ready in August (DDP, HPDP, Deathrace, Hare's, Shaun's death by numbers). This year, it was impossible. I will also start to make multiple use of names. I couldn't do it the other way this time. However, beginning on Monday I'm off work for a week, so time enough to do something.

Is this thread an attempt to get him into the Drop 40 to make him a valuable joker?

Shameless pick Craig Lyons now has a documentary out: He also gets visits from Liverpool player Lucas Leiva: http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/liverpool-midfielder-lucas-leiva-leaves-11877085 Dead per this tweet. No obits yet, qualifying or otherwise. (though it's only been a day, so there'll probably be some local press coverage in due time) He gave a good fight, indeed. He lasted far longer than one could have expected.Now I'm waiting for an article on the phenomenon of cancer celebrities ("2016, the year of terminal illness fame"), mentioning Lyons, Angela Sykes, Jack Wells, Sarah Swindells, Helen Hutchinson, and Mark Nurthen, to give me the win in the main team competition. More realistically, Lisa Brown most likely dies in the next few days, giving Shameless the record of most non-obiting people (I think I'm tied, right now?). I think the theme Team competition will be much harder next time and the typical Shameless picks will increase in number (I see, Spade is looking for a joker among them). At the same time, I don't see the same "quality" and quantity as last year. I think I'll have to move the G. Monty Brinsons of 2017 into Shameless. I think I have a few names to spare. Plus, cancer celebrities apparently don't obit post-April for DDP purposes. I think one has to get a little lucky in picking the right names. I would guess a team like Shameless still couldn't win it all. I missed some names though, I didn't know about Hassan Asif and DDT's corresponding pick. I had Jade Patemam and Sonny Lang on my mind. I could have moved Linda Horan, Rowena Kincaid and Monty Brinson into Shameless. That would have made it close - but those are too many ifs.

Falling into a vat of melted chocolate, delicious death: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/12/14/young-mother-dies-falling-vat-melted-chocolate-russian-sweet/

Another one for future editions: Sheriff Joe Arpaio, illegal immigrant hunter nr. 1, and a deep scholar of Obama's birth certificate. He's 84 years old, set to retire soon, and his wife has stomach cancer.