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[Nov. 1st, 2009|06:43 pm] |
The big deal on eBay is the Motorized Lay-Z-Boy chair that was confiscated during a DWI arrest last month. The novelty went on eBay on 10/29 with a $500 opening bid and has already surpassed $40,100! I was looking at the bidding trends - here is my observations:
- 48 different bidders. Average of 2 bids/person with average bid at a whopping $9,753.
- I'm especially intrigued by the two bidders (#28 and #47) who started bidding low ($1,702 and $9,000 respectively) and have dramatically increased (both to almost $38,000)!
- Interestingly, the top six bidders are all either lurkers or just late the game. The $38,000 mark appears to be the cut-off for the earlier bidders - though, time will definately tell!
There's still 1 day and 15 hours left. I wonder if this will break $50,000! We might see Minnesota cities seizing all manner of self-propelled cupholding monstersities then! ROCK.
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| MPR |
[Oct. 1st, 2009|09:19 am] |
Yesterday, the "question of the day" at MPR (Minnesota Public Radio) was about Texting. Honestly, asking the NPR audience about their thoughts on texting is about as relevant as asking AARP about their thoughts on the Teen Choice Awards. (Or as Adam put it, "Asking NAMBLA how to reform Megan's Law.") There was a report on that station a few weeks ago that said that teens called it "driving while intexticated". I will say that NO TEEN has EVER called it that. It's just swanky news jargon that allows them to aggigate the elderly who still watch evening news, blargh!
I've been doing a little Pro Wrestling Stat crunching lately including the "Smarkschoice Top 404 WCW Matches" poll and the upcoming "DVDVR New Japan 175 Matches" matchlist.
In other news, I've been helping Alissa get ready for Sunday's Vento Dinner, watching Kimbo on TUF and dealing with the temperatures plummeting here in Minnesota from 70 (Saturday) to 40s (Sunday-Thursday). This weekend my friend Mark is flying in from Rochester to run the Twin Cities Marathon. Next weekend, I fly to Rochester for Meliora Weekend and (more importantly) Tom & Alli's Wedding! I've also got some improv shows this weekend with my new team at the Bloomington Sheraton at 8 pm on Friday & Saturday night. (Tickets are only $7.50 with the two-for-one deal - plug plug plug). Rock! |
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| Japanese Wrestlers in WWE/WWF |
[Sep. 22nd, 2009|09:30 pm] |
I was watching ECW tonight and started thinking about how many wrestlers from Japan that have wrestled in WWE/WWF/WWWF.
Of the top of my head...
Yoshi Tatsu - currently on ECW
Ultimo Dragon (Yoshihiro Asai) - link is a matchlist I complied of his year in WWE from 2003-04.
Sho Funaki - still working for WWE! Smackdown's #1 announcer.
Taka Michinoku
Men's Teioh
Dick Togo
"Mrs. Yamaguchi-San"
Great Sasuke - had a memorable match against Taka at Canadian Stampede that got Kaientai hired!
Yoshihiro Tajiri
Hakushi (Jinsei Shinzaki)
Genichiro Tenryu - 1993&1994 Royal Rumble appearance
Jumping Bomb Angels (Noriyo Tateno & Itsuki Yamazaki) - decent 80s women's tag matches with the Glamour Girls.
There was the SWS/WWF union back in 1990-91 which involved a number of Japanese wrestlers working with WWF such as Koji Kitao (famous for the Japanese match which devolved when he wrestled John Tenta a.k.a. Earthquake, another former sumo wrestler). Internet indicates that Tatsumi Fujinami worked in WWF in 1978&1979. Oops! I forgot about Bull Nakano - she had such awesome hair. I think that Crush Gal (Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka) fits in the timeline sometime too. Rock. There's more -- I'll check my records page later. |
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| Yum. Media. |
[Sep. 18th, 2009|08:10 am] |
I've been devouring some media lately. Things I've enjoyed:
* Book: The Informant: A True Story (7/3/01)
* Dailymotion: RAW - Chris Jericho/Chris Benoit vs HHH/Steve Austin (5/21/01)
* iTunes: Breaking Bad, episodes 1-3 of Season One (1/20/08 to 2/10/08)
* Tivo: Smackdown - Rey Mysterio vs John Morrison (9/4/09)
* Television: Design Star - Season Four (7/19/09 to 9/13/09)
Last night I watched the latest episode of "America's Best Dance Crew" (I'm pulling for either "Massive Monkeys" and "We Are Heroes"), the VMAs (Pink's performance was really interesting and the opening MJ sequence was extremely good; Beyonce & Taylor Swift performances were stellar; Russell Brand was worse than his Comedy Central Standup special - which I didn't even think was possible), Sports Soup, The Office, Community, Parks & Rec and the SNL Thursday Special. Sports Soup is so pathetic - the canned laughter, the awful host. I can enjoy Web Soup and love The Soup, but the VS' show is just baffling. The only good part this week was the crazy hand motions of the News Desk host. Community was better than I expected, especially with the Breakfast Club jokes. The SNL special was nothing of note, at least the 2/3 that I saw. The Office was strong and Parks & Rec was pretty good. Tonight I start my last weekend of Stevie Ray's shows with my current team. I have new auditions on Sunday!
Nashville rocked - especially seeing Jeff, Leigh & Strider. I played a lot of Wii with them - Guitar Hero, Super Strikers, Mario Kart, Wii Bowling & Tennis. I am surprised that the racing is better with a nunchuck instead of the wheel. It was a good time! |
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| Oh, end of August, you bring a bitter wind! |
[Sep. 4th, 2009|08:19 am] |
185 Tilt-a-whirl operators walk into a bar.
Bartender says: “We don’t serve Tilt-a-whirl operators here!”
Tilt-a-whirl operators reply, “Is it because we refuse to use the coasters?”
Alissa & I did some fun things this weekend including:
• Szechuan Scallops at Big Bowl Happy Hour on Friday!
• Munching on Fried Food at the State Fair Visit on Saturday!
• Watching Inglorious Bastards and cooking Stir Fry on Sunday!
STATE FAIR FOOD REVIEWS:
• TEXAS STEAK OUT: Turkey Leg
o BAD. Too big. Too hot. Too greasy. Not tasty.
• TEXAS STEAK OUT: Tater Dog (a spiral cut potato wrapped around a course ground sausage)
o WORSE: Too salty. Sausage is burned to a crisp.
• CORN DOG
o GOOD: Better than a Pronto Pup. Moist on the inside. Yummy.
• CHEESE CURDS
o GOOD: Nicely fried. Not too hot. Filling and tasty.
• GRANNY’S CARAMEL APPLE SUNDAES: Strawberry Lemonade
o GOOD: Colorful and nourishing.
• MAC & CHEESE ON A STICK
o OKAY: Not as good as cheese curds. As adequate as the TGIF version.
• MINNESOTA WINES: sampled 6
o Two Good (Zeitgeist & Old Vine). Two OK. Two Bad.
• IZZY’S ICE CREAM: APPLE CINNAMON & CHOCOLATE RASPBERRY
o GREAT: Apple Cinnamon was the best thing I had all day!
• MINI DONUTS
o SUPERB.
I liked the Tarrantino movie a lot. Alissa & I saw it on Sunday. Christoph Waltz was fantastic. It was not nearly as gory as I expected. I don’t care for Eli Roth and so I found his performance frustrating and a bit grating. Some of the suspenseful moments reminded me Hitchcock, but that might just be me. I also went to see the new "Star Trek" movie with Adam which was stellar. I was hoping that we'd have Kirk climbing more mountains - be not yet.
ROCK.
TONIGHT (FRIDAY) & TOMORROW (SATURDAY): STEVIE RAY IMPROV AT BLOOMINGTON SHERATON (7800 NORMANDALE BLVD) - 8 PM - 2 for 1 tickets available ($7.50/each!) and FUNNY IMPROV COMEDY.
EXPLOSION IN RICKY TIC - http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=rickytic3
It was at 300 views yesterday. Now it's 15,000. |
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| Cucumber Sandwiches~! |
[Aug. 24th, 2009|07:57 am] |
This weekend, Alissa & I made Cucumber Sandwiches. Mandolin-sliced Cucumbers, Philly Cream Cheese, Fresh Dill and sliced bread. They were very yummy! Huzzah.
Yesterday, I did real yard work. I cleaned my gutters and emptied a rather omnious leaf barrel which I collected months ago when I ran out of lawn bags. I still haven't mowed my lawn in a few weeks, which is just THRILLING my neighbors, but I might use some of the options on Craigslist to solve this lawn-haired problem.
185 Shirpas walk into a bar. Bar tender says, "We don't serve Shirpas here." Shirpas reply, "We're NEPALLED that you would throw us out."
Sunday was the first "Super China Buffet Day~!" which I haven't celebrated in several years. Normally, I hit "Old Mexico" or a similar place. It's a F4W tradition always held on the Summerslam Sunday. Instead, I had some leftovers from Saturday's trip to the "Tea House" in St. Paul. So, at least I was eating Chinese food this year instead of Mexican. (I didn't order Summerslam this year either. It's normally a great card, but this year it really didn't captivate me. I was surprised to read that both Brett DiBiase debuted in a fan role - hopefully doing better than Eric Angle did in a similar spot - and that Bryan Danielson is coming to the WWE! I guess between Regal & HBK, they convined him? He'd be incredible on ECW.)
On Friday night, I hosted at Stevie Ray's. I was a little nervous, which was very evident in how I switched up my planned line-up and some of my rambling, side-comments which I made throughout the night ("And like Pavlov's dog, you'll clap.... because Pavlov taught his dog to clap?!") Alissa made it out to the show which was really nice and the place was oddly packed for a Friday night (mainly because the Proverbial Party Princess Cristi made it a cornerstone of her 22/29th birthday bash!) Before the show, we tired out Mel by bringing her over to play with Abbey (our friend Travis' dog). It's amazing to see how some dogs can play fetch (grabbing the ball out of the air, tracking it mid-throw: Abbey) and others can't (losing interest/sight of you throwing anything - jumping on your lap: Meliora).
I went up to Maplewood Prime Video Store. They are liquidiating their VHS tapes at ten for $10. There's some unique selections there - particulary when it comes to forgotten mid-80s wackiness like Remo Williams (box says: "It's like James Bond meets Karate Kid!" HUH?!) and Scren Test. Maybe I will send Vinny V a Christmas basket of eighties goodness with treats like Society. ROCK. |
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| Splended Shows! |
[Aug. 10th, 2009|09:19 am] |
Another weekend, another round of laughs!
Friday night, Mel (our Schnoodle), had a rough night. She was wound up and making wacky tummy noises all evening. So, we didn't get to sleep until 5 AM which was particularly unhappy for Alissa, who had a political event at nine. In good news, Meliora is doing a lot better and slept on the bed quietly both nights this weekend so whatever was troubling her has passed.
I had two shows this weekend - both at Stevie's. I was happy with the performances and we had ample & bountiful audiences which makes the experience quite rewarding. I am beginning of "play-it-safe" by focusing on the games which I can pull off without worrying too much -- Alphabet Scene, Jeopardy, 185. I need to realign my chikras and start working on the scenework/spacework skills I'm really neglecting right now.
There's a new class of students for my level I course on Tuesday nights. I'm pretty pleased with how that's progressing. I learn more about improv theory and the concept of theatre (as a whole) when I'm teaching. I'm also trying to emphasize seeing Improv Arts in the community while you're taking the class (not just at Stevies - Brave New Workshop, ComedySportz, Treppenwitz, anywhere). So, we'll see if I can hit my goal of 100% of students seeing some kind of an improv show over the 8 week course. We're at about 10% last week and probably 25% after this weekend (I had at least four students at Saturday's show).
Friday was a half-day at work, so I got my hair cut at the "Golden Razor" at the Eden Prarie Center, bought four NES games (Chubby Cherub, Mario is Missing!, Wisdom Tree's Exodus: Journey to the Promise Land and Dr. Jekyl & Mr. Hyde) for $21 total, a green rubbery ball that Mel loves and watched the movie "The Hurt Locker". (It's really, really good. It's surprisingly not as sad as I would have expected - nor is it rosey-cheeked.) Mark Boal, the screenwriter, did an incredible job translating his experience as an embedded reporter to the screen. It's a very astounding movie -- eleventeen rocks out of ten.
On Sunday Alissa cooked up a bunch of our CSA food with Turkey Burgers+Basil+Feta Cheese, Fresh Corn and BLUE potatoes. These suckers are purple and wacky. Delicious too, I should add! I got some coffee at Starbucks, played "My Life as a Darklord" on Wii (finished chapter 3), watched some "Survival Tobita vs. the World" DVD, cringed through my terrible performance as El Cmar (w/ Colin Delaney as E.L. Generic & Lou as OG Hendrix) vs Sean Lane, Marc Kreiger and Vince Beach from Rumble in the Roc 2006 (same show where Buff Bagwell calls me, "Spooky") and attended Improv-a-Go-Go at BNW.
The four performing groups were Idle Hands, Hobo Chili, Splended Things and That Guy. You're never going to beat a dollar for almost two hours of quality improv. Idle Hands had a Church Improv Troupe gimmick. I appreciated the Dinosaur Puppet addition. Hobo Chili had an okay show -- they warmed up with their appearances 8 months ago and delivered a killer final show, so I hope that they'll continue to climb. I liked the Pumpkin Carving scene. That Guy again "headlined" (i.e. played in front of the tired crowd) and did a super job. They were better last week but continued to play with their unique blend of declarations and emotionally unmoving characters. It was a lot of fun. Splended Things was amazing. I'd never seen them before, but they did a scene where both improvisers stopped talking and were just mouthing words to each other. An entire audience was reading lips and it was a magical moment. That will be a scene I never forget. |
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| CNR - A great man |
[Aug. 4th, 2009|08:41 am] |
The new Weird Al video (CNR) is not only a great tribute to Charles Nelson Reilly but a funny generic parody of White Stripes song. It's a win!
I've been working on a lot of results to my Pro Wrestling Statistics Page but I haven't uploaded a lot of the files. Recently, I completed:
ECW 1996, 1997, 1998
WWWF 1969, 1970
WWF 1982
This past weekend I had a fun show at the Park where we successfully avoided rain (audience did chant on my behalf), introduced Press Conference (Trey & Brittany Spears discovered Cold Fusion in Narnia) and dropped Peter flat on the ground with my stand-by "alphabet scene not going so great" command of, "Jump on my back!". I went to the Improv A GoGo show immediately afterwards (returning the van to Stevie's and talking with the head honcho himself for a little while) to catch Adam's new improv group - "That Guy". They were headlining (or more accurately, they were just last) and even after over two hours of improv, they really tore the place down! Logan is pretty amazing and frightening. I was impressed that they were able to get such a tremendous reaction from the audience without being overly referencial (ha! they said "facebook"! ha!), which is a common pitfall at IAGG shows! I didn't get to see Crockpot which was disappointing because they're one of my favorite groups. Next week, Hobo Chili will be on the bill which means I need to be there because they had a terrific set last time I caught them. Once again, I entered the lottery for IAGG and I haven't heard anything back yet. I'm guessing that means another swing & a miss (#4?).
Two weekeneds ago, Brian & Cortney came to visit us in the Twin Cities. We went to their wedding back in July when we drove through Madison WI on the way back home from Rochester NY. It was nice having some friends from college visit us, but it was EXHAUSTING. They are very active people so we attacked the "SEE ST. PAUL & MINNEAPOLIS" mission with an intensity normally reserved for bear-fighting.
SATURDAY:
- Breakfast at Key's Cafe
- Trip to Grand Avenue - see ALL of the shops
- Visit our House to check on Puppy
- Lunch at Mai Village - eat some Pho
- Visit the Sculpture Garden in Minneapolis
- See all of The Walker Museum
- Walk around the entire Mall of America
- Dinner at MOA
- Improv Show at Stevie Ray's
** Collapse into bed. **
SUNDAY:
- Bagels & Coffee in St. Paul
- Lumberjack Days in Stillwater
- Visit our House to check on Puppy
- St. Paul Science Museum
- Cook a Stir Fry at home
- See Harry Potter and the confused bodybuilder
** Collapse into bed. **
This weekend was considerably quieter, by comparison! ROCK. |
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| DESIGN POTTER MADISON LUMBERJACK |
[Jul. 27th, 2009|09:22 am] |
It’s been a busy few weeks for Alissa & I. We drove a thousand miles and spent the July 4th weekend with my family at my parent’s house in Rochester, NY. On our drive back, we attended Brian & Cortney’s wedding in Madison, WI (which included Alissa as a groomswoman). We finally returned to Meliora ten days after we left. After a week of work, I flew back to Rochester to attend Rob & Nikki’s wedding (which included Chris as a limbo champion). Then I returned, for a week of work. And then Brian & Cortney came to Minnesota to visit us for the weekend. In the midst of all this, I taught a bunch of improv classes and performed a few shows. We just tired. It will be a quiet weekend with not much going on except….
IMPROV IN THE PARK
SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY (AUGUST 2)
AT THE LAKE HARRIET ROSE GARDEN (MINNESOTA!)
5 PM
7 PM
FREE
Last night, I drove to Lumberjack Days and experienced beautiful Stillwater traffic (UGH). We cooked Stir Fry (by “we”, I mean “Alissa & Brian”) while I watched the series premiere of DESIGN STAR. How was Tashica NOT eliminated last night? She’s turning into Sanjaya – but not in a good way. I’ve been watching Season Two of “The Wire” and it’s still an awesome series. I can see why it’s got so many commendations for being “the best written show on television”. Rock.
In half-priced books news, I went to Half-Price Books on Friday. I ended up being a book of Frank Herbert short stories, a book of Alfred Hitchcock stories, “One Day in September” DVD, collection of writings by Graham Chapman and Robin Wilson’s “Four Colors Suffice: How the Map Problem Was Solved”. As expected, the book on math & four-color theorem is awesome. I will probably either buy additional copies (it’s only $7/apiece) or loan mine to my brothers to read.
In between episodes of DESIGN STAR, the four of us went HARRY POTTER 6: Harry Potter and Gandalf fight CGI graphics! It was a decent movie. (Obviously, the “raging hormones” comment is well-suited for this installment.) I’m baffled that I’ve now apparently seen FIVE other Harry Potter movies – but at least the stakes keep going up on these. |
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| The Trip - part one... |
[Jul. 13th, 2009|01:06 pm] |
The Trip!
This was probably the longest trip that Alissa & I have taken since our wedding in January 2007. It went well!
We left bright & early on Thursday morning for the border in our Pontiac Aztek (Dr. X) with a newly purchased Ray Charles CD, several suitcases and garmet bags and a cooler filled with berry Propel water & Ginger Ale. One of our first major stops (according to my Twitter feed) was “The World’s Largest Culver’s” in Newville, Wisconsin. As promised, it was stocked with plenty of kitschy Brett Favre memorabilia and frozen custard (283 miles from home). We ended up spending the night at the Holiday Inn Express in Perrsyburg, Ohio (636 miles from home) that evening. It was a very nice hotel with an extremely kind staff. We had dinner at the Holiday Inn Resturant across the street which had a LEGENDARY uncle/niece duo singing in front of less than 3 customers (who were sitting at the bar, facing away from the stage). The next day, we finished our trip to Rochester, NY which according to Google Maps is actually the 1,006 miles which I’ve been claiming. During this phase, we settled into our heavy “West Wing” consumption. We would put the portable DVD player (a wonderful Christmas gift from my old boss Angela) on Alissa’s lap and I would listen on our headphone while Alissa listened on the other. So far, we’re through all of Season One and more than half of Season Two. I find that I like television a lot more than music because you feel engaged with the storyline and there is a sense of wanting to know more after each episode since it’s some quality Sorkin writing!
While in Rochester, we spent most of our time with my family. For the first time since my wedding, everyone was together. That meant my grandmother, my parents, both of my brothers & sisters-in-law, my three nieces (Matt & Rachel’s daughters) and my two nephews (Jim & Joanne’s sons). We went to the zoo. We had a BBQ. We played in the kiddy pool. It rocked and was a really great time. I also had the opportunity to play some board games with my brothers including Thurn & Taxis (most fun you’ll ever have re-creating the German Postal System) and Citadels. I spent awhile in my basement sorting through photographs and other boxes of stuff from High School & College. Enjoy the gallery!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2084020&id=3702725&l=5af3f01ed1 |
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| Countdown to Rochester! |
[Jun. 30th, 2009|12:21 pm] |
I'm excited because I'm heading back to Greece this weekend. Alissa & I will leave on Thursday and start driving back to Rochester to spend the weekend with my entire family. My dad retired from Kodak earlier this year, so for the first time since my wedding back in January 2007, everyone will be together including both of my brothers, my sister-in-laws, all of my nieces (3) & nephews (2), my Mom & Dad as well as my grandmother. It will be a really memorable fourth of July! Hopefully, it will be a smooth drive out there and the weather will remain blissfully nice.
This weekend, we had improv-a-mania. Thursday, the under-30 set of Stevie Ray's improvisers performed at the Twin Cities Improv Festival. We had a solid set alongside North Dakota's Bearded Men and I had the opportunity to sing an epic song about baldness with Mr. Litz, which is always a highlight. You can see a video of the festival which includes some clips of Stevie Ray's in action! http://twincities.decider.com/articles/video-recap-twin-cities-improv-festival,29776/
On Friday & Saturday nights, I had shows at the cabaret with my Stevie Ray's team (Dave K., Peter R., Maureen T., Tom R., Brittany P., Adam F. and Brett W.) and we had solid, very different shows on either night. Friday was pretty sparse - we only went an hour - but I was Thomas Jefferson, eating Avocados and performing a headstand. If that isn't improv, what is? On Saturday, we had a full room and I got to guess in party quirks which is always enjoyable and challenging. Dave came up with some fun new structures to try and it was really enjoyable doing new stuff on stage, sometimes for the first time ever!
I'm teaching class tonight & I taught a class last night, so it's been a full five days. (I have rehearsal tomorrow, additionally.)
On Friday night, Alissa & I went to the Brave New Workshop to see my favorite improv group in the world - IRON COBRA from Toronto, Canada. Geva Comedy Improv did a workshop and show with Iron Cobra several years ago. That's still one of my favorite shows - especially the scene with Graham talking about "goo!"
Anyhow, Iron Cobra ROCKED despite it being approximately eight million degrees in the theatre, and nine million degrees on the stage.
So, during our long drive, Alissa & I might watch/listen to some West Wing episodes. Melissa has loaned us several seasons worth - any particular season worth watching? We'll have 16-18 hours and a portable DVD player. Do suggest!
Mook |
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| Board Game Reviews! |
[Jun. 22nd, 2009|09:23 am] |
On Saturday, I went over to my friend Jason's house and played a variety of board games along with his pal Abe. Here are some reviews and links to the Board Game Geek (BGG) website! We had about 6 hours of fun and I found at least two games (Puerto Rico and Thurn & Taxis) which I'm excited about sharing with my family in the near future.
Puerto Rico - Rio Grande Games - I bought this boardgame back in 2004, but have never played it. Luckily, Jason & Abe were up for the challenge! With six different roles and a lot of text, it was easiest to just choose a role each round, read the rules, play them out and then learn slowly! I like the economy balance in this game as well as the growing incentives to choose neglected roles (Citidels could learn from this!). Again, it's hard to "hurt" other players -- you could choose the production tile they wanted or fill up the salehouse or ship before they could load the good they wanted to send, but overall I think there's a lot more cooperation and independent gameplay, which I enjoyed. It's important to emphasize that earning victory points is the point - not goods or money or even buildings. I would love to play this with 4-6 just to see how things change. With only three players, the number of colonists ran out rather quickly and we reached the end of the game. This is definitely a keeper and obvious why it's #2 over at BGG. Along with Power Grid, this is my favorite new game that I've played in the past twelve months! Overall grade: A.
Thurn & Taxis - Rio Grande Games - The Bavarian Postal System has FINALLY been converted to a board game experience! Sound ridiculous? It's not. In fact, it's tremendous (as evidenced by all the awards this title has won). The simple directions combined with the quick nature makes for an enjoyable experience. Only the geography, which might be a bit vexing to intuitively guess at first, can be difficult. An American adaptation for this would be well-welcomed! It was fun with three and would play just as well with four! A game where you're mostly playing independently - you can take a card that someone else wants to grab to vex them, but overall it's largely how you play your own cards. You might want to pay attention to how your opponents are scoring but it's not like you can do an immense amount about it! Good stuff - overall grade: A-.
Saboteur - Z-Man Games - This is card-based game for three to ten players. It's a fun, multi-player game where some players are dwarves attempting to reach the gold caches while other players are secretly Sabotuers. I've played this with 3 players and 5 players, and while I enjoyed the three player outing more, I think the game really is meant to be played when you have 7 or 8 players. With 5 you have two saboteurs and three miners. With 3 you have one saboteur and two miners. Neither are really great ratios. We played the optional rule that if any miners are incapacitated when the gold is revealed, they do not receive any goodies because otherwise what's the point of playing a round where all three players are miners (besides the luck of the draw for the gold pieces). It's a quick game and doesn't take too much work, though finding pieces that can build in the right direction are often a challenge. I'm happy they found a strong game for a multiplayer environment. Overall grade: B.
Bootleggers - Eagle Games - After some initial confusion, this turns into a fun little game of economic trickery as you battle fellow mafia stars for whiskey production, the best shipping trucks and control of the various speakeasies. My impression was similar to what I'm reading on the BGG site - it would be much better with 4-6 players, especially 6. With three, you're only making deals with player A or player B - pretty much flipping between them because you don't want to enrich either one too much. With more players, a much better division of factions would emerge. Overall grade: B-.
Goldbräu - Rio Grande Games – This game comes with coasters. They play no role beyond being an effective advertisement. However, I can’t imagine playing this board game while drinking because there is some math involved – especially partial shares and division between breweries, beer gardens, bosses and multi-owners of each stock. While this sounds like the sort of game that I would love, it got some perceived flaws that really keep me sour (such as if you become the boss of place where you have no stakes, you can spend the entire game as the boss and yet never receive money for it!) I think it would play much better with four players rather than three. The messy math and relatively uneventful play nature create an adequate but less than exciting experience. It’s not a bad game, but it’s something that I could never get anyone besides the most enraptured or captive friends to play. Overall grade: C. |
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| Comedy Sketch Run-down |
[Jun. 3rd, 2009|09:47 am] |
We performed the Stevie Ray's Sketch Showcase last weekend at the Cabaret. I received some positive feedback on my piece, Obama's Morning Briefing, which I owe a lot of thanks to Alissa & Adam for making funny. They helped a ton with the content, jokes, pacing and subject matter. Basically, I typed it up and that was about it.
Doing this inspired me to collect my managerie of sketches (both performed & unperformed) into a single webpage so I don't lose them:
http://chris.harrington.googlepages.com/comedysketches
READ & ENJOY. Many of the unperformed pieces are far from finished.
I've got cake to eat & MS Access queries to run. ROCK~! |
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| BIOHAZARD WARNING~! |
[May. 29th, 2009|12:49 pm] |
Adam was out sick on Tuesday. Actually, he's been ill for several days as he wasn't able to make the Memorial Day BBQ we held on Sunday. So, since he returned on Wednesday, I've made sure to mark his cubicle with an adequate warning symbol each day:
WED
THURS
FRI
It's important to make sure your co-workers & friends know that you care!
In other news, I broke 110 wpm on some facebook typing test! Also, Alissa & I have been cleaning the house top to bottom this past week. We moved the living room furniture (glass tables, mostly) to the basement. We bought new tables for the Living room. We moved the eletric piano to the basement and with the help of Melissa, my wife built an IKEA Sideboard/Buffet cabinet. She's amazing! I even mowed the lawn before the mower went kaput. We installed some solar lights and added a flag light but isn't nearly as powerful as we originally hoped. Still, it's nice to have a clean new house. This was all kicked off last week when Alissa came home with a new drawer "as-is" piece from IKEA which was installed in the basement resulting in a dramatic overhaul of our giant bookshelves of doom down there. ROCK!~
I've been teaching Improv Classes regularly for more than a year now. I just finished another round of Improv Tech I (this has to be the fourth or fifth time I've taught the course by myself) and next week I'll have Improv Tech II class starting with at least five or six students so that should be fun. I'm finishing up my sketch comedy class tonight with a presentation at 930 PM (free if you just come to that) at the Sheraton Hotel in Bloomington following the usual Stevie Ray's Improv Show that my team is performing. This summer I'll perform at the Sunday Park Show (at Lake Harriet Rose Garden) on June 13 & August 2 (5 pm & 7 pm). I wrote a sketch called, "Obama's Morning Briefing" which I am pleased with. Ultimately, I'm glad that I wrote a new sketch but I can't say that I learned as much as I hoped for, especially for the price of the class.
Work has been pretty busy but I'm keeping my head above water. Mel remains funny. Life is good! Have a nice Summer. |
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| Coffee / Lawns / Me |
[May. 22nd, 2009|09:52 am] |
If you put a mustache on Blagojevich, he looks like Charles Bronson.
Yesterday, I mowed my sod-foresaken lawn. Until my mower died on me. At least I got the front so my neighbors will stop sending me the evil eye.
Eariler in the month, I heard a Terry Gross story with an entomologist named Doug Emlen. He told quite the story about instant coffee (starts moments before 35 minutes into the interview). This bugged me for days (pun intended) until I realized that they always tell us that eating insects would probably be healthy. Then I felt better.
If you put mustard on Blagojevich, it sounds like an Polish sausage.
I played Atari 2600 for awhile last night. Some of the games included:
* Fast Food (You're a pair of lips!)
* Ms. Pacman (great music!)
* Jr. Pacman (huge scrolling levels!)
* Towering Inferno (my version wouldn't let me play)
* Amidar (painting!)
* Jungle Hunt (can you believe that Edgar Rice Burroughs sued them being too "Tarzan"-like?)
* Kung Fu Master (I like this better than the NES version)
* E.T. (the graphics are really tremendous - especially the FBI men; I couldn't remember what the arrows/icons were supposed to be telling me though!)
* Galaxian (Galaga is SO much better.)
* Infiltrate (Robots on Elevators! I thought maybe it was going to be related to the Apple ][ game Infiltrator II.)
* Trick Shot (it can fight with Lunar Pool for randomness)
ROCK.
Also, is there any port ever as ugly as Donkey Kong for Atari 2600?
Look at Kong?! |
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| POP QUIZ: FLASH by Queen |
[May. 12th, 2009|01:26 pm] |
According to Queen, what is Flash?
x A tropical Fruit
x A Mighty Fortress
x King of the Impossible
x Doctor Hans Zarkhov, formerly at NASA
How should Flash be considered?
x As a miracle
x As a disaster
x As a question to be pondered
x As a war rocket Ajax
Who will Flash save?
x Extraordinary Intergalatical Upsets
x Solar Eclipses
x Not the Golden Grail
x Every one of us
ROCK |
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| Who Framed Roger Rabbit is Awesome |
[Apr. 27th, 2009|08:45 am] |
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit is Awesome: It's an incredible movie. I really haven't seen it in at least five years and watching it once more, I'm stunned by the several levels how many levels all of the writing works. It's on the top five movies alongside my favorites (namely Clue).
BIG MIXX CEREAL~!
What happens if you lease a Car from a dealership and they go-under/close? Is the Lease really with a Bank so you're protected? Do they transfer your services/warranty to another dealership?
Anatomy of a Bank Takeover - great NPR/Planet Money story from 3/26/09 - by Chana Joffe-Walt. Maybe I should go work for FDIC?
Mooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooookie ROCKS. |
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| 4/25/09 - World Malaria Day |
[Apr. 22nd, 2009|01:00 pm] |
Instead of Earth Day, I'll be making a fuss about Malaria Day - 4/25/09.
http://www.rollbackmalaria.org/worldmalariaday/
Over 350 million people a year are affected by Malaria, especially in Africa & parts of Asia. It's a disease that can be controlled and combated. If I was ever on Celebrity Apprentice, that would be the charity I would be working for.
In other ideas: I was playing a typing game today and got to thinking that these sort of exercises could be used for transcription services, especially for old documents. You would show a line from a document several times to several people. Then, based on the results, you could project the most likely transcription based on how similar the results were. Obviously, with OCR software the easier type-written papers can be analyzed, but I imagine hand-written papers could be tackled via group efforts.
Rock. |
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| 4/21/09 = .021164021... |
[Apr. 21st, 2009|01:47 pm] |
* I can't seem to break the 135 wpm barrier on the Twitter typing game over at fast140 ( http://www.fast140.com/mookieghana ). Basically, it gives you someone else's tweets and you retype them as quickly as you can. As you will see, most of the messages are about Perez Hilton/Miss USA, Susan Boyle, Columbine and Chuck. Still #215 isn't a shabby standing, right?
* I have a Pigs in Space postcard in my cubicle. It rocks.
* I've been playing Fantasy NASCAR this season. I don't watch the races or really care about the results. The fun is in the picking.
PRESEASON
"Budweiser Shootout : 14 Tony "Stacker 2" Stewart
Rookie: Scott "IBS" Speed
Make: Chevy Kodiak
Champ: Cale Yarborough. Failing that, Nord Gordley. Failing that, Stroker Ace. Failing that, Jimmie Johnson. Failing that, Ichy McGhee. Failing that, Skinny Mike. Failing that, Tayler Malsam. Failing that, Hicky Dicky Doo. Failing that, Alaska Senator Ted Stevens.
Daytona 500: Mark Martin / Kurt Busch / Lothar the Destroyer
Duel 1: Jeff "I took a whiz on the World of Coke" Gordon
Duel 2: Elliot "Don't call me Hermie because I took a pill and got
that problem fixed" Sadler"
WEEK ONE:
Kevin "But Greg Biffled in my Childress!" Harvick
Aaron "Hey Kid, Want to buy some candy?" Fike
Jeff "Don't Call me Lance" Burton
WEEK TWO:
UNSCRAMBLE!
Rad Rads Clew (hint: "I married Iron Man's sister!")
Handymen Nil (hint: Nannerpuss!)
WEEK THREE:
pick #1: 03, 0C, 09, 0E, 14, 02, 0F, 17, 19, 05, 12
pick #2: 07, 12, 05, 07, 02, 09, 06, 06, 0C, 05
Where will Jason put you in? "03, 0C, 0F, 13, 05, 14"
WEEK FOUR:
Pretend that the car #s were in fact the current ages of my picks.
In eight years from now, the sum of their new ages would be equal to
twice the current age of older one of them. Conversely, nine years
ago, one was then three times older than the other one.
WEEK FIVE:
10 HOME
20 ?"WELCOME ROB!"
30 INPUT "Driver #1: ";X$
40 INPUT "Driver #2: ";Y$
50 IF LEN(X$)=11 THEN Z$=X$:X$=Y$:Y$=Z$
55 Z$=""
60 FOR T=1 TO 12
70 READ X
80 Y=ASC(MID$(X$,T,1))
90 Z$=Z$+CHR$(Y-X)
100 NEXT T
110 ? Z$
120 Z$=""
130 FOR T=1 TO 11
140 READ X
150 Y=ASC(MID$(Y$,T,1))
160 Z$=Z$+CHR$(Y-X)
170 NEXT T
180 ? Z$
190 END
300 DATA 15,8,-9,-2,-5,0,-4,8,-6,0,-4,11
310 DATA 2,-4,12,13,0,0,0,-4,1,-16,-45
DRIVER #1 is "SMELT DIGLEY" (all caps)
DRIVER #2 is "LARS GONE?!" (all caps, include the exclaimation point
and question mark)
WEEK SIX:
10 GR
20 HOME
30 COLOR=1
40 FOR Q=1 TO 2
50 FOR T=1 TO 3
60 READ X,Y,Z
70 IF T<>2 THEN VLIN X,Y AT Z
80 IF T=2 THEN HLIN X,Y AT Z
90 NEXT T
95 NEXT Q
100 DATA 10,30,10
110 DATA 5,10,30
120 DATA 25,30,5
130 DATA 10,30,30
140 DATA 25,30,30
150 DATA 25,30,25
190 ?"DRIVER #1":?"PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE"
200 GET X$
500 HGR
510 HCOLOR=3
520 HPLOT 10,10 TO 10,80
530 HPLOT 80,10 TO 10,40
540 HPLOT TO 80,80
550 HPLOT 90,10 TO 100,50
560 HPLOT TO 110,10
570 HPLOT 100,50 TO 100,80
580 HPLOT 120,10 TO 120,80
590 HPLOT TO 145,80
600 HPLOT 155,10 TO 155,80
610 HPLOT TO 175,80
620 HPLOT 155,10 TO 175,10
630 HPLOT 155,50 TO 175,50
640 HOME
650 ?"DRIVER #2":?"PRESS ANY KEY TO CONTINUE"
WEEK SEVEN:
Solve these Gaming Puzzles and you'll find my picks!
XzzYzz & zzzz: (sequel was set on Funkotron)
zXYzzz zzzzzz: (has Abobo)
XYzz: (defeat "Mr. Big" - shoot the enemies or arrest them so they are "BUSTED")
zzzz zXzzY'z zzzzz zzz: (Soda Popinski haunts your dreams!)
Xzzzz zzzYzz: (join the Federation of Space Loonies)
Pick #1: XXXXX
Pick #2: YYYYY
all the z's are letters that can be ignored!
WEEK EIGHT:
Open a New Excel Spreadsheet
in cell B1 enter the formula on the next line
=CHAR(MID(A1,1,2))&CHAR(MID(A1,3,2))&CHAR(MID(A1,5,2))&CHAR(MID(A1,7,2))&CHAR(MID(A1,9,2))
then in cell A1 put this number in: 8479788983
replace cell A1 with 7565836989 to see pick #2 |
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