Does anyone else read Ask a Manager? Letter from someone defending their “quirky” office atmosphere:
The office betting pool is less about hostility toward specific celebrities and more about the kind of morbid joking people make about public figures who seem as though they have been old forever. The attitude is usually more “I cannot believe this person is still alive” than “I want this person to die…I do not participate in the betting pool because I would feel too guilty winning a paid day off by correctly guessing someone’s death, but people do sometimes mention their picks during lunch.”
Alison doesn’t pass judgment on the death pool, specifically, but quite a few people in the comments think it’s mean-spirited, morbid, weird and so on, and no one has spoken up in favor of it.
In fairness, no one playing the SDMB death pool wins anything other than bragging rights, while the office Deadpoolers are competing for a day’s PTO. Still, I follow this thread every year, and I don’t think it’s at all morbid to see all these tributes. Some of the deceased are people I’d never heard of before, and now I know what they gave to the world. And I like having a centralized place to track celebrity deaths, especially when someone I’m a fan of/interested in passes on.
Maybe the commentariat on AAM have a wrong idea about death pools, like they think the participants speculate on the manner of death, and make crude remarks? And I’m not sure how I’d feel about some of the co-workers’ other antics, if I were there in person. Still, I never thought we were the only group who did this!
A former Miss North Carolina is a relatively low level of celebrity. But Carrie Everett has died of cancer at age 22.
https://people.com/former-miss-north-carolina-22-dies-after-cancer-diagnosis-11944527
I suspect it was the Greys.
I didn’t know he was ill. But I did have him on a themed list for next year. Why couldn’t it have been Giorgio Tsoukolos?
Former MLB player, coach, and manager Davey Lopes has died at 80.
Jim Whittaker, first American to climb Everest, dies at 97.
Game of Thrones Actor Michael Patrick Dies at 35
https://people.com/game-of-thrones-actor-michael-patrick-dies-at-35-11946127
Michael Patrick has died at the age of 35 following his battle with a neurological condition called Motor Neuron Disease
Patrick, known for his appearance in an episode of Game of Thrones, was given the incurable diagnosis in February 2023
In her tribute, his wife, Naomi Sheehan, said that “words can’t describe how broken-hearted” Patrick’s loved ones are by his death
No doubt! That letter and the responses made me think of think of a podcast that gets a lot of flack for its name – people who have never listened to a single episode think it’s mocking/punching down.
Outside of the board, the only person I share my death pool participation with is my mom. She’s always interested in my picks.
He had the pivotal role of “Wilding Rioter” in Game of Thrones.
I was actually watching a Chapelle’s Show episode earlier that mentioned him.
He has no page on IMDb. I have a page there as one of the 200-odd "TusCon Atttendee"s when a film was shot at one. I do appear prominently in the background of one shot.
Thanks for mentioning. Chapelle Show. It was so fresh and funny when new.
I’ll never think of Wayne Brady without thinking of him being the toughest horrible person in humanity, killing cops and giving Dave PCP.
Wayne Brady ← scary!
We laughed so hard. I mean, Brady does make Bryant Gumbell look like Malcolm X.
Actually he does but for some reason it doesn’t populate when you search for his exact name. I had to dig a little further. He had a few small roles where he got a real name. I wasn’t trying to be snide towards him, I’m just annoyed at some of those headlines sometimes.
Odd. It was the first time a known actor – even one as minor as I – failed to come up so I tried every way I could think of to find his name short of sorting through even just GOT season 6 cast list through all those single appearances, never mind the whole series.
DesertWife died of MND at age 49, nine months after she was diagnosed.
Sorry to read about your wife, my condolencies. MND is cruel and 49 much too young.
It was 34 years ago so I should be over it.
But I’m not.
My heart went out to his widow,
Angela Pleasence, actress and daughter of Donald Pleasence: Age 84.
What’s the name and the topic, if you don’t mind my asking?