The
Loveline
Companion

Yes, it's that time of year again, another chance at victory. get ready, get set...

—jizzgrenade

1. Fidel Castro
2. Ariel Sharon
3. "Chemical" Ali Hassan al-Majid (just because i'd kill myself if he died and i hadn't picked him again.)
4. Zsa Zsa Gabor
5. Dick Chainey
6. Billy Graham
7. Clint Eastwood
8.
9.
10.

i'll finish it later

—jizzgrenade

1. Mark Mangino
2. Ed Asner
3. Brittany Spears
4. Abe Vigoda
5. David Letterman
6. Mel Brooks
7. Tiger Woods
8. Keith Richards
9. Ned Beatty
10. Lindsay Lohan

—Mayonnaise

wutz a deatb pool?

i've never done one of these, and will continue that fine tradition.

—plurry

well i sure as hell aint pickin' Walter Cronkite. last time i did that, he DIED. :(

—catloaf

i've changed my mind on the death pool. i'm in:

lexie (murdered by someone from the internet)
mandee (drug/alcohol overdose)
catloaf (suicide after mass homocide (i'm thinking andrea yates with a twist))
dusty (heart disease/failure)
bguirk (commuting accident)
anfernee (cop bullet or high speed chase)
kevin u (alcohol overdose)
stefanie (car accident)
whois (overdose or bizarre accident)
jizzgrenade (rabies or avalanche of empty bottles and cans)

—plurry

murdered? by anyone in particular?

—lexieho

see above edit. i'm going with someone you haven't met yet.

—plurry

aw :(

—catloaf

why did you change catloaf's fate? i liked imagining her being domestic to death.

—lexieho

i decided that mania was more likely.

—plurry

i also like the idea of me being domestic to death. but mania does seem more likely.

—catloaf

and yes, i consider all of you celebrities.

—plurry

courtney love

Jeff Conaway

—000

1. Margaret Thatcher
2. Artie Lange
3. Peter Falk
4. Whitney Houston
5. Carl Reiner
6. Michael Gough (Alfred Pennyworth)
7. Hugh Hefner
8. Jimmy Carter
9. Pat Summerall
10. Al Davis (Raiders)

—OneNutAaron

There's the list. Might as well give me the trophy now.

—OneNutAaron

bguirk (commuting accident)

I'm just happy to be nominated.

The Celebrity Death Pool is fucked out tlc'ers. This will be my second year of non-participation. I am glad that when famous people die I will no longer have to see acm's cunty screen-name though.

—bguirk

IT SOUNDS LIKE BGUIRK IS AFRAID OF LOSING

—mandee

i don't have time for your reindeer games.

—bguirk

3. Brittany Spears

It's britney bitch!

Speaking of deaths, I noticed at work that workers are climbing on the top of the cooler to get down shelves that are stacked way up high on top of the cooler. If there was an earthquake, those shelves would all fall and kill someone. Should I call OSHA?

—Natalia Carolla

Just get someone to take down the shelves?

—stellagold

1. Zsa Zsa Gabor
2. Jerry Lewis
3. Ariel Sharon
4. Ray Bradbury
5. Dick Clark
6. Marion Barry
7. Ruth Bader Ginsberg
8. Carol Channing
9. Jack Kevorkian
10. BB King

—mandee

do you have anyone under 80 on that list?

—bguirk

how dare you, ruth bader ginsberg (or ARBEE, as all the kids call her) is 76. get with it.

—airking32

I love that jizz managed to misspell both "death" and "Cheney."

I keep spelling Cheney wrong to annoy awag, but my subtlety eludes him.

—bguirk

i keep calling ben, "mj" but my.....wait never mind.

—lexieho

fuk u.

i'm going to amend my list because jizzgrenade chose ariel sharon.

DA RULL LIST

1. Zsa Zsa Gabor
2. Jerry Lewis
3. Robert Mugabe
4. James Garner
5. Dick Clark
6. Marion Barry
7. Ruth Bader Ginsberg
8. Carol Channing
9. Jack Kevorkian
10. BB King

in case any of them die tonight, my alternate is Annette Funicello

—mandee

nice alternate mandee. I think everyone on your list has some kind of cancer or disease.

BTW--we've long established that Sharon is only worth 1/2 point because he's half dead already.

—bguirk

did anyone add up who "won" last year. tlc did a pretty good job...lot's of deaders.

—lexieho

that's how the game is played bjerk. we're not fucking around here.

i think wagner won, but i'm sure i came in second. i've already called that i came in second. don't check it. just trust me. i came in second.

—mandee

1. Rush Limbaugh

—Natalia Carolla

^ because of this?:

CNN-- Talk radio show host Rush Limbaugh "resting comfortably" at hospital after suffering chest pains.

—pookie

1. Joan Jett
2. Suzanne Somers
3. Mike Rowe
4. Christina Aguilera
5. Sarah Palin
6. Eddy Curry
7. Gilbert Arenas
8. Nick Lowe
9. Mark Knopfler
10. Tex Winter

—drakeguy19

CNN-- Talk radio show host Rush Limbaugh "resting comfortably" at hospital after suffering chest pains.

it's all just a transparent ruse so he can score his hillbilly heroin.

—bguirk

I'm gonna do a central search for 'limbaugh' when they need counter help in pharmacy.

Do celebs and obama have a special place to get meds from?

edit: wiki is telling me that he gets his meds illegally.

—Natalia Carolla

^ he was having his maid get some of the vicodin in her name.

—pookie

Mandee - you and I BOTH came in second last year.

—OneNutAaron

ffffffffffff whaevz

—mandee

1. Fidel Castro
2. Jimmy Carter
3. Andy Rooney
4. Henry Kissinger
5. Ariel Sharon
6. Dan Rather
7. George Blanda
8. Kirk Douglas
9. Ali Hassan al-Majid (Chemical Ali)--SERIOUSLY. THIS IS THE THIRD YEAR IN A ROW FOR HIM. WHY IS HE NOT DEAD YET!? FUCKING ON DEATH ROW FOR 3 YEARS NOW!?!?!?!??!
10. Mickey Rooney

—awag777

I'm still not in, but the huge amount of old-ass political figures is a weak cop out. I'd argue that they're public figures, but they're not celebrities.

—bguirk

f u bjerk. leave this thread.

—mandee

my insightful commentary bothers you? tough shit beyotch.

—bguirk

imma fite u

—mandee

heres a guarantee: mike smith

none in particular, but odds are strong someone with a very popular name will die this year

—000

Almost got #7 on my list a few days ago. Here's hoping Gilbert Arenas makes more bets he can't pay off. Maybe Sir Charles can help him out?

—drakeguy19

000! mike smith is my brother!

—catloaf

2. M. Shadows :(

—Natalia Carolla

#2. Artie Lange is in the hospital!

—OneNutAaron

fuckin hell dude, deatb? i think i was kinda drunk, so the "b" looked close enough to an "h" that it evaded my discovery. as for cheney lol, i copied my list from last year and just changed a few names, so the typo is over a year old., but that probably makes it worse.

—jizzgrenade

3. Tila Tequila

cause her "gf" Casey Johnson is dead.

—Natalia Carolla

i think she killed her.

—mandee

what if the person who killed casey is the same person who killed brittany murphy? *gasp* i wonder who's next?

—pookie

In 2007, Johnson adopted a daughter, named Ava from Kazakhstan. Was it after she saw borat? lol

One of her ex-girlfriends was Courtenay Semel (whom she dated on and off during 2008-2009 and who set Johnson's hair on fire in January of 2009, after a fight

Johnson was arrested for allegedly stealing jewelry, shoes,.....Johnson allegedly left a used vibrator and wet towel as a calling card

WTF???

—Natalia Carolla

1. Angela Lansbury
2. Pamela Anderson
3. Allen Iverson
4. Brock Lesnar
fuck I can't finish this.

—HocusPocus

wtf why was she allowed to adopt a kid?

—mandee

I wouldn't be surprised if Tila had something to do with it. She's the biggest fame-whore on the planet. Just look at her twitter

"Everyone please pray 4 my Wifey Casey Johnson. She has passed away.

wtf?

—Natalia Carolla

and you buy into it.

wtf

—HocusPocus

is it true that artie lange stabbed hisself 9 times?

—pookie

i read it on perez.....apparently he is being fired. something leaked about howard stern waiting until he was in a better condition before telling him, but it sounds more like he found out that he was fired and then he tried to kill himself.

—lexieho

dennis hopper is rull sick.

—mandee

"knocking on death's door"

—lexieho

Looks like I was pretty smart putting Artie at #2 on my list.

—OneNutAaron

smells like a ratings stunt to me. setting it all up for a triumphant return february sweeps, just in time for stern to negotiate a new contract.

—bguirk

No way does he successfully carry anything out after that.

—awag777

RIP jay reatard!

Memphis musician Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr., better known as Jay Reatard, was found dead in his home in Midtown's Cooper-Young neighborhood this morning, according to family and friends. He was 29.

Lindsey was found in his home on Meda around 3:30 a.m., Memphis Police spokesman Jennifer Robinson said. Friends said his roommate found Lindsey in bed.

Homicide investigators have opened an investigation into Lindsey's death, Robinson said. Such an investigation is typical for an unexpected death and doesn't necessarily indicate any evidence of foul play.

Friends say Lindsey had been complaining of flu-like symptoms lately.

The news shocked much of the Memphis music community, many of whom found out while they were attending the memorial service for soul great Willie Mitchell.

"It hasn’t hit me yet. It’s a major loss for me as someone who really loved Jay as a person and as an artist," said Scott Bomar, who has worked with Lindsey in the past.

Goner Records, which released some of Lindsey's records, posted this statement on its Web site this afternoon: "It is with great sadness that we report the passing of our good friend Jay Reatard. Jay died in his sleep last night. We will pass along information about funeral arrangements when they are made public."

His current label, Matador Records, posted this statement: "We are devastated by the death of Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr., aka Jay Reatard. Jay was as full of life as anyone we’ve ever met, and responsible for so many memorable moments as a person and artist. We’re honored to have known and worked with him, and we will miss him terribly."

Lindsey emerged on the Memphis music scene as the leader of late-'90s punk outfit The Reatards. He co-fronted the cult-favorite synth-punk act Lost Sounds in the early portion of this decade. More recently, Lindsey had risen to international prominence in indie-rock circles on the strength of his recent solo releases. After a string of hot-selling singles on New York-based indie label Matador Records, he released the full-length album Watch Me Fall on Matador last August.

—mandee

R&B singer Teddy Pendergrass has died at age 59, CNN has confirmed.

—pookie

:(

—catloaf

rue mclanahan had a stroke. ;___;
ilublanche!

—mandee

lol jay reatard.

michael c. hall has cancer. :(

—stellagold

5. Jean-Paul Belmondo

—HocusPocus

LOL thats like the guy adam was on that show with, named like "niger amus" or something. that guys name is two letters away from gay retard.

—jizzgrenade

Niger Innis?

—Dusty TheHick

ahh yes, that was it. thanks.

also, if it wasn't clear, i meant that it was a similar situation, because niger innis is a few sylables from nigger anus, and jay reatard is two letters away from gay retard

—jizzgrenade

Pernell Roberts, last star of TV's 'Bonanza,' dies

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Pernell Roberts, the ruggedly handsome actor who shocked Hollywood by leaving TV's Bonanza at the height of its popularity, then found fame again years later on Trapper John, M.D., has died. He was 81.

Roberts, the last surviving member of the classic Western's cast, died of cancer Sunday at his Malibu home, his wife Eleanor Criswell told the Los Angeles Times.

—pookie

CHEMICAL ALI IS FINALLY DEAD. 3 YEARS OF WAITING HAS FINALLY PAID OFF.

—awag777

as bguirks said, now we'll never find those darned weapons of mass destruction.

—plurry

FUCK YESSS im so glad i chose that son of a bitch a third time.. *gives huge high five to awag*

—jizzgrenade

watching the state of the union right now, i think ruth bader ginsburg is sleeping.. possibly dead.

—plurry

yea she really looks like she's in a vegetative state except for when she stands up and/or craps

—jizzgrenade

i like how the military guys were all gruff, and didn't clap when obama talked about teh gays.

—plurry

wow, that was classic. Big O mentioned that he's gonna work on making it so that gays can serve in the military, and like after everything else he's said, the crowd applauded, but the camera panned around the room and found a small group of men in uniform who were dead still; apparently the only ones in the room who weren't pleased

EDIT: lol i guess you noticed that too

—jizzgrenade

howie zinn

Alternative US historian Zinn dies

Howard Zinn, the leftist academic whose alternative history of the United States became required reading for millions of ordinary people, as well as a following of celebrities, has died. He was 87.

Zinn's death was confirmed by his website, www.howardzinn.org. The Boston Globe reported that the cause of death was heart attack and that he died Wednesday while traveling in Santa Monica, California.

An anti-Vietnam war activist and champion of the post-World War II civil rights movement for blacks in the United States, Zinn was at the forefront of the country's social upheaval between the 1950s and 1970s.

But he was most famous for his 1980 "A People's History of the United States," which sold millions of copies.

In this radical reordering of the familiar story, the heroes were not the US Founding Fathers but early trade union activists, feminists and leaders of other leftwing causes.

"His writings have changed the consciousness of a generation, and helped open new paths to understanding and its crucial meaning for our lives," leftist MIT professor Noam Chomsky once wrote, the Boston Globe reported.

A tall, white haired man, he collaborated on projects with numerous celebrities, including Hollywood star Matt Damon, director Oliver Stone, rock singer Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan.

Born in New York, he was a shipyard worker and Air Force bombardier in World War II, before he went to college and received his doctorate from Columbia University in New York.

From there, he went on to teach at Spelman, a mostly black women's college in Atlanta, Georgia, and then at Boston University, where he became famous for leading strikes and anti-war protests.

In his autobiography, "You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train," Zinn wrote that objectivity was not the main goal in his teaching.

"I wanted students to leave my classes not just better informed, but more prepared to relinquish the safety of silence, more prepared to speak up, to act against injustice wherever they saw it. This, of course, was a recipe for trouble."

—mandee

awww

J.D. Salinger, author of "The Catcher in the Rye" has died, according to his literary agent

—pookie

Reclusive U.S. author J.D. Salinger, who wrote the American post-war literary classic "The Catcher in the Rye," has died of natural causes aged 91.

His literary agent, Phyllis Westberg, said he died on Wednesday at his home in New Hampshire.

"The Catcher in the Rye" was published in 1951. Its story of alienation and rebellion, featuring the teenage hero Holden Caulfield, immediately resonated with adolescent and young adult readers.

The novel's first-person narrative shadows Caulfield through New York City in the days following his expulsion from a Pennsylvania prep school.

Generations of young people read the novel and embraced Caulfield, the phony-hating personification of teenage angst, as a proxy for their own experiences.

Many schools and libraries either banned the book due to its use of profanity and occasional scatological references or championed it for its portrayal of adolescence.

"Catcher" has been translated into the world's major languages and sold more than 65 million copies. It is routinely listed among the best novels of the 20th century.

Alarmed by his sudden fame, Salinger has been a recluse since 1953, ferociously protecting his privacy in Cornish, a small town in northwest New Hampshire.

Besides "Catcher" he published only a few books and collections of short stories, including "9 Stories," "Franny and Zooey," "Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenters" and "Seymour: - An Introduction."

RECLUSE

Neighbors in Cornish rarely saw him and he never returned phone calls or letters from readers or admirers. Only rumors, infrequent sightings, and rare, brief interviews brought him to public attention.

He has not published a work since 1965 and the real-life Salinger would have been a disappointment to his most famous creation.

"What really knocks me out," Caulfield said in "The Catcher in the Rye," "is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it."

In a rare interview with the New York Times in 1974, he said there was "marvelous peace" in not publishing.

"It's peaceful. Still. Publishing is a terrible invasion of my privacy. I like to write. I love to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure," he said.

Salinger often turned to the courts to help him guard his privacy. In 1982 he sued to halt the publication of a fictitious interview with a major magazine. In 2009, he sued to stop the U.S. publication of a novel by Swedish writer Fredrik Colting that presents Holden Caulfield as an old man.

WAR EXPERIENCES

Jerome David Salinger was born on New Year's Day in 1919 in New York to Sol Salinger, a cheese importer, and Marie Jillich. He attended three colleges but never graduated.

Salinger began writing magazine stories in 1940 before joining the Army during World War Two and seeing combat as part of the D-Day invasion and the Battle of the Bulge.

In her controversial 2001 biography "Dream Catcher," Salinger's daughter Margaret said her father was one of the first soldiers to arrive at a liberated concentration camp.

The book portrayed him as a self-centered wife-abuser who told his pregnant daughter to get an abortion because she "had no right to bring a child into this lousy world."

Salinger married three times. The first was an eight-month marriage with a woman he had arrested in Europe for being a minor Nazi Party official.

Salinger met a young Radcliffe student, Claire Douglas, in New Hampshire in 1953. The pair married in 1954, and had two children, Margaret and Matthew. He and Claire divorced in 1966.

His third and surviving wife, Colleen, was a nurse who was some 40 years younger than him. (Reporting by Ros Krasny, editing by Christine Kearney and David Storey)

—mandee

how bizarre 4 realz

Pauly Fuemana of "How Bizarre" fame dies
WELLINGTON
Mon Feb 1, 2010 11:11am EST

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand musician Pauly Fuemana, who found international fame with his country's biggest selling record ever, "How Bizarre," died in hospital on Sunday after a short illness, according to media reports.

The 40-year-old recorded under the name OMC, or Otara Millionaires Club, whose 1995 single "How Bizarre" reached No. 1 in eight countries, including Canada, Australia and Ireland. It peaked at No. 4 on the radio chart in the United States.

The deceptively upbeat song -- whose title was inspired by a ubiquitous catchphrase -- revolved around peculiar encounters with policemen and circus performers. But behind the catchy melody and Mariachi horns lurked a darker story, hinting at Fuemana's upbringing in a crime-infested suburb of New Zealand's biggest city.

"I put a lot of hidden stories in there so people could read between the lines and sense it for what it is instead of telling them, 'Yeah, we got pulled over by the cops, and my mate got his head smashed in, and we got arrested, and they found some pot on him,'" Fuemana told Reuters in a 1997 interview.

Fuemana failed to match the success of "How Bizarre," and was declared bankrupt in 2006, losing his house and other assets, including his songwriting royalties.

The Otara Millionaires Club was originally a rap group named for a suburb of Auckland where offshoots of Los Angeles' Crips and Bloods gangs reigned amid fenced-off schools, run-down buildings and curfews. Brandishing machetes, the preferred means of settling gang disputes, the band would throw bottles at fans to hype them up.

When things got too hot, Fuemana quit the group in early 1995, took the name with him and recorded "How Bizarre" as a solo artist under the abbreviated moniker. It was produced and co-written by Alan Jansson .

The follow-up album of the same name, made for just US$25,000, was released worldwide by PolyGram the following year.

After Fuemana's star faded he kept a low profile. He and Jannson reunited in 2007 to release a single "4 All of Us."

Radio New Zealand said Fuemana had been ill for several months and was surrounded by his family and friends when he died in Auckland.

—mandee

Boston Legal Actor Dies in Wisconsin Car Crash

An actor who appeared on Boston Legal has died in a one-car accident in rural Wisconsin, according to reports.

Justin Mentell, 27, who played attorney Garrett Wells on the ABC show from 2005 to 2006, was found dead Monday near his crashed Jeep, the Associated Press reports.

His car had gone down a steep embankment near Blanchardville, Wis., and hit two trees. Police said Mentell, who was born in Texas and attended high school in Waukegan, Ill., was not wearing a seat belt.

Mentell's recent film credits include a role in last summer's G-Force with Nicholas Cage.

—pookie

How bizarre...how bizarre?

—Mayonnaise

'Deadliest Catch' captain Phil Harris dies after recent stroke

Phil Harris, captain of the Cornelia Marie on the Discovery Channel show "Deadliest Catch," has died at age 53.

On the show's Web page, where updates on Harris' condition had been posted since his Jan. 30 stroke, sons Jake and Josh Harris gave notice of their father's passing:

"It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to our dad -- Captain Phil Harris. Dad has always been a fighter and continued to be until the end. For us and the crew, he was someone who never backed down. We will remember and celebrate that strength. Thanks to everyone for their thoughts and prayers. -- Jake and Josh Harris"

Harris, who was based out of Seattle, suffered the stroke during an offload of crab. He was found unconscious in a stateroom, was airlifted to Anchorage for 12 hours of surgery, then placed in a medically induced coma. He'd shown signs of improvement last week, squeezing hands and even telling his doctors and nurses, in his signature gruff style, to not screw things up.

"Deadliest Catch" follows several crews working the Bering Sea during the area's crab fishing seasons. Harris, a fisherman for 32 years, was a co-owner of the Cornelia Marie, which he'd captained for 18 years; Jake and Josh work on the ship as deck hands, and Josh had remained on the ship immediately after his dad's stroke, awaiting the arrival of relief captain to continue the work.

Fans reached out Tuesday night on the show's message boards -- where comments have been posted since Phil Harris fell ill -- offering condolences to the family.

Discovery Channel in its statement referred to Harris as "more than someone on our television screen. Phil was a devoted father and loyal friend to all who knew him. We will miss his straightforward honesty, wicked sense of humor and enormous heart."

—mandee