Two days left... End of year roundup

Two days left, and how quickly things have changed in the home stretch. Jim C. has blown into the lead from nowhere with the unlikely passings of two members of his list within a single 24 hour period - Harold Pinter on December 24th and Eartha Kitt on December 25. That brings his total to 5, a 10% prediction rate. Very grim reaperish, Jim. This is second in percentage only to Dom, who seems not to have gotten the memo about the scoring system and correctly predicted the deaths of seven centenarians and Johnny Carson, who has been six feet under since 2005. Lookin' sharp, Dom.

Ben has done yeoman's work compiling the point totals and making notes, though you should each take responsibility to double check your tally at year's end.

The leader board is as follows:

jim c: 88 points
charlton heston 16, eartha kitt 19, harold pinter 22, jesse helms 14, paul newman 17

jeremy m: 68 points
yasser arafat (died in 2004, N/A), tony snow 47, bo diddley 21

tom m: 48 points
william f. buckley, jr. 18, jesse helms 14, charlton heston 16,

Ben: 41 points
charlton heston 16, studs terkel 4, bo diddley 21

sean m: 31 points
charlton heston 16, alain robbe-grillet 15, (possibly some of the people he picked from the most-wanted iraqis list have died, he should do his own research on that)

davis w: 26 points
harvey korman 19, richard widmark 7

angela l: 0 points
decent chance Mullah Bakht Mohammed is dead which would give her points in the high 60s, but there is no source to confirm this

jackie: 0 points

jonny m: 0 points

katie l: 0 points
james brown (died 2006, N/A), robert goulet (died 2007, N/A)

lenny l: 0 points

dom g: -78 points
johnny carson (died 2005, N/A), charlton heston 16, edna parker (died at 115, so negative 15 points?) arbella ewing (died at 114, -14 points), tsuneyo toyonaga (died at 113, -13 points), Marie-Clémentine Solignac (died at 113, -13 points), catherine hagel (died at 114, -14 points), kaku yamanaka (died at 113, -13 points), elizabeth stefan (died at 112, -12 points)

Mid-year roundup

Here we are nearing the midyear point, and 2008 has not been an ingratious host year for the inaugural death pool. Requests for extended stays have been denied, and checkout time has come for several of our prospects. Here's the breakdown of the leaderboard thus far:

Ben B: 37 points
Tom M: 34 points
Sean M: 31 points
Davis W: 26 points
Jeremy M: 21 points
Dom G: 16 points

The events of June the 2nd have vaulted Ben into the lead that yours truly has held since the passing of Buckley, and have placed him, for the time being, in position to haul in the big purse come new year's eve. But judging from the shifting tide of current events, we should have some strong finishers in the second half. I'm looking at you, Robert Mugabe!

Harvey Korman died. Who saw that one coming?

Davis did! 19 points for the shrewd prognosticator.
(Dom, looks like you made a minor mistake reading the tea leaves when you picked Roger Corman).

Bo Diddley, age 79

Bo Diddley died today, giving Jer and Ben 21 points each.

So long, Charlton Heston

This is long overdue, but Charlton Heston died on April 5, 2008. He was 84.
Tom, Jim, Ben, Dom, and Sean each received 16 points.

French avante-garde novelist and filmmaker Alain Robbe-Grillet died February 18, 2008 at the age of 85.

I didn't even realize he was dead until today. I hope there is no expiration on expirations in this here deathfest. If not this actually put me on the board with the first points of the year prior to Tom's Buckley points. Sorry to be a historical revisionist.

(Image not intended to portray actual moment of death.)

RIP, Richard Widmark

Actor Richard Widmark died at age 93. Davis is now on the board with 7 points.