Monday, June 16, 2014

the great Casey Casem has finally reached the sky

Bad news, the great Casey Casem has passed.  The good news?  It puts me, once again, back on top.  Now, here is some fun.  Here is a pretty famous audio clip of Casem bitching at his producer.  It's nothing too scandalous, his concern is valid.  But, he drops an F bomb, which is pretty awesome.



That clip got used by a found sound sample group called 'Negativland'.  They used the clip, and then called the song 'U2'.  Well, that caused a lawsuit that drug on for many many years.  This poor band, who got eviscerated by lawyers for Casem and U2, made lemonade out of lemons.  They wrote a great book about the whole experience.  Then, with quite a suicidal pair of balls, they included the contentious recording.  You can find the book, and the recording, below.

It is a fascinating story of 'fair use' and 'found sound'.  This band set legal precedents in this battle.  If you love the history of rock, or Casey Casem, or U2, or SST records, or free goddamn speech... read the book.  I have a copy, but I haven't picked it up in 20 years.  I would offer you my copy, but these poor guys really need the money

         

Wednesday, January 01, 2014

2013 Winner Announced

There was a long and heated 5 way tie throughout almost the entire year.  In that case, the youngest corpse guess wins.  That would have been Deron M with Hugo Chavez.

Very late in the year, though, we lost Harold Camping on Dec 15, 2013.  He was one of those end times preachers, and a couple years ago had millions thinking he had calculated perfectly the date of end times.  Now, you titter when you see this on the news, but keep in mind what happens to the people who believed it.  When this story came up, there were people who sold or gave away EVERYTHING.

Anyway - the winner is me (Kevin, or Lono) once again.  I had two bodies - Roger Ebert, and Harold Camping.  This is why I call myself  'Master of Death Emeritus'.  I win.  A lot.

I am the winner, and the winner is me.  This can not be stated enough.

Does that make me a better person than you?  Yes.  Yes it does.
I am also putting in a new modification.  I will go through the old list and strike through the dead celebs, like this.   Rober Ebert.  This will make your research easier down the road.  Note, when you see a strike through, it doesn't necessarily mean they died during that calendar year.

Happy Hunting you sick fucks!

2014 Dead Pool lists

* update 1.1.2014 - 8 pm > four new lists just added.  I am still accepting them.

Happy New Year, you sick bastards!  Here are the lists I have so far.  It is not too late to turn one in.  There is no money here to fight over, so who cares?  Of course, that is easy for me to say, since I usually win.  Sometime today I will post the winner for 2013.

The rules are posted somewhere, but it's pretty straightforward.  Generally speaking, the winner is the person who guessed the most correct dead celebrities.  The top teams and guessers generally have 2 or 3 of their 10 who turn up dead.  That is all it takes.  If there is a tie breaker, it generally goes to whomever's picks were the youngest.  Obviously, it is more impressive to guess someone who is 27 that is going to die versus someone who was 90.

Now, there is this business of an 'alternate'.  What that is for is if you sent me your list on Christmas, and one of your picks died between Christmas and New Years, you still get 10 names in.  This is the only time an alternate pick is rewarded.  Let's look at a real life example.  This last year (2013) Roy had Maggie Thatcher as his alternate.  She died during 2013, but he gets no credit for it.

Now, if you are a really sick bastard, there are websites that will update you every time a celeb dies.  This is one I use.  It shoots me an email every time someone of note passes.  It's great.  They have no spam, and it's totally free.

It should  be noted that Abe Vigoda is still alive.  Abe Vigoda is the father of celebrity death pools, since he has been incorrectly assumed and reported dead for a good 20 years.

** update as for April 2014 > the bodies are piling up.  Most notably, a LOT of you had Mickey Rooney

Julie N

1.    Lindsay Lohan
2.    Zsa Zsa Gabor
3.    Stephen Hawking
4.    Ariel Sharon
5.    Jan Michael Vincent
6.    Fidel Castro
7.    Rose Marie
8.    Jake La Motta
9.    Shirley Temple Black
1.  Valerie Harper

Alternate:  Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger aka Pope Benedict XVI

Roy N

1.    George W H Bush
2.    Prince Phillip
3.    Zsa Zsa Gabor
4.    Stephen Hawking
5.    Nancy Reagan
6.    Billy Graham
7.    Lawrence Walsh
8.    Fidel Castro
9.    Bob Dole
 Helmut Schmidt

Alternate: Eli Wallach

Kevin L

1.      Casey Casem
2.      Sid Cesar
3.      Mickey Rooney
4.      Zsa Zsa Gabor *
5.      Lindsay Lohan
6.      George Bush Sr
7.      Fidel Castro
8.      Don Pardo
9.      Nancy Reagan
10.   James Garner

Alternate    Billy Graham

Deron M

1.    Fidel Castro
2.    Billy Graham
3.    Fidel Castro
4.    Jake LaMotta
5.    Amanda Bynes
6.    Kirk Douglas
7.    Mickey Rooney
8.    Jimmy Carter
9.    Hugh Hefner
1  Michael Schumacher

aalternate
1  Joseph Ratzinger

Chris M

1.    Il Papa Benedictus XVI
2.    Alex Trebek 
3.    Billy Graham 
4.    Olivia de Havilland
5.    Nancy Reagan 
6.    Mickey Rooney
7.    Doc Severinsen 
8.    Robert Dole
9.    Randy Travis 

1  Jahi McMath

* editors note - Chris has no alternate


Erin M’s list

1.    Beverly Clearly
2.    Nancy Reagan
3.    IM Pei
4.    Maureen O’Hara
5.    Tom Lehrer
6.    Fats Domino
7.    Carl Reiner
8.    Mel Brooks
9.    Zsa Zsa *
10.  Kirk Douglas

Alt – Don Pardo

* I am not adding 'Gabor'.  I am pretty confident that there is not a melange of Zsa Zsas out there.

Sage

Stan Lee
B B King
Kirk Douglas
Michael Douglas
Billy Graham
Terry Pratchett
Barbara Bush
George Bush Sr
Lindsey Lohan

Zsa Zsa

Jamie


1. James Avery

That's it... That's all I got.

2. Lance Armstrong... One of the weirdest stories ever. Still waiting for the movie...

3. Yes I would take a pill if it would make me a better teacher. 

4. Who broke up Wing? (editors note.  Allen Klein)

additional editors note.  i have reason to believe Jamie's lists consists only of the name 'James Avery'.  However, since it is a bit short, I am leaving the entirety of his email reply to me (out of context, of course) in.  So... what the hell?  Maybe Lance Armstrong will die, and he will win it all.  It could certainly happen, I mean... think about it.  He is hated and villified, he is dead broke, and he has destroyed his body with roids and cancer.