February
2014
By Douglas Kent 911
Irene Drive, Mesquite, TX 75149
Email: diplomacyworld@yahoo.com or dougray30@yahoo.com
On the web at http://www.whiningkentpigs.com
– or go directly to the Diplomacy section at http://www.whiningkentpigs.com/DW/. Also be sure to visit the official Diplomacy
World website which can be found at http://www.diplomacyworld.net.
All Eternal
Sunshine readers are encouraged to join the free
Eternal Sunshine Yahoo group at http://games.groups.yahoo.com/group/eternal_sunshine_diplomacy/
to stay up-to-date on any subzine news or errata. We also have our own Eternal Sunshine Twitter
feed at http://www.twitter.com/EternalSunshDip,
and a Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/group.php?gid=112223650909
Check out my new Internet radio station, “Music You
Should Know,” at www.live365.com/stations/musicyoushouldknow
Quote Of The Month – “How can you watch this my skin!” (Clementine in
“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”
Welcome to Eternal
Sunshine, the only Diplomacy zine that keeps getting bigger while the
hobby gets smaller. Don’t blame me…I TRY to fold this rag and get rid of it for
good, but so many columns and subzines show up in my
inbox that I can’t pull the brake. So,
instead, here we are again. Welcome
back, my friends, to the show that never ends.
I don’t have a lot to say right now, or much time to say it. Heath Gardner needs standby players for his subzine, especially for Deviant Dip; so let him know if
you’d help him out. My game openings
fill like molasses, so sign up or they’ll disappear. We’ve got Milewski
(twice), Gardner, McHugh, Burgess….it’s almost like the old days.
I’ve been working on the near-final edits for my prison book. Two unnamed friends are doing a lot of work
helping and making suggestions. When it
is done I’ll have to decide if I should approach agents,
or publishers directly. Who knows, maybe
that piece of crap will get published one day!
Oh, I was happy to discover a small lump under my right testicle
the other day. I’ll go to the doctor
next week and have him feel me up. Good
for a cheap thrill if nothing else.
See you in March! Sign up
for some games, darn it!
Playlist:
Soundtrack – Vision Quest; Rain – Joe Jackson; SHEL – SHEL; 17-11-70 – Elton John.
An Eternal Sunshine
List Challenge
The late – and much
missed – Richard Walkerdine is the one who suggested
this topic for the next Eternal Sunshine list challenge. The basis is simple:
you submit three TV series per month, over the next seven months, along with
any commentary you would like to attach to your choices. In the end you’ll have 21 selections! There is not mean t to be a specific order to
your choices; you’re not ranking them from best to 21st best. Also, the category of “best” in this instance
should mean something like “most enjoyable” rather than “most
influential.” Finally, you should
consider within the context of your choices whether the series holds up in any
way…in other words, if you are listing it as one of the 21 best, could you sit
down and watch episodes now and enjoy them?
Non-U.S. television
series are – of course – welcome. (Many
modern American series were reworked versions of English series anyway). To qualify as a “series” the show must have
aired at least six episodes. All genres
are welcome: comedy, horror, suspense, detective, science
fiction…anything you like. Oh, and if
the series has multiple incarnations (as many of the more popular science
fiction series do, for example) specify which one you mean. You can list multiples, but they each take up
a spot on your list…and you only get 21!
I am offering prizes: two of the respondents who submit a full
complement of 21 TV series will be selected at random for prizes. So to win, all you have to do is play.
Next
month: The full recap, including a compiled list of ALL entries and perhaps
each person’s full list individually.
John Wilman: My final selection
comprises 3 more cop shows.
1st up is Taggart, and by Taggart I mean the
original version with Mark Mc Manus in the title role. They tried to revive the
franchise after he died, but it was only ever a pale imitation.
Unlike Oxford and
the fictional county of Midsomer, Glasgow really was
the murder capital of Scotland when the show was first aired. Even the title
music was moody and magnificent. Taggart was an old fashioned cop who played it
by the book, but he was harder than any villain who had done time in Barlinnie.
By way of light
relief, Monk features a detective
with OCD who cannot get through life on a daily basis without a minder and a
shrink. Despite these handicaps, he manages to solve baffling crimes
NCIS has an ensemble cast of kooks and misfits, including a
Mossad assasin, who work
surprisingly well as a team despite being led by the famously wooden Mark
Harmon as an unlikely marine (that haircut would never pass muster).
It's as much about
espionage and power politics as it is about forensics and detecting crime, and
it doesn't take itself too seriously.
Heather Taylor: Charlie’s Angels, Fantasy Island, Quincy.
Andy York: The
Carol Burnett Show, I Love Lucy, The Ed Sullivan Show.
Andy Lischett: 19. The Bob Newhart Show - The one set in
Chicago.
20. Who Wants to be a
Millionaire? - The Regis version.
21. Okay, last call.
I originally had Dancing With the Stars, which I doubt
will age well. To replace it I've wracked my brain and checked old issues of ES
for other's choices, and come up with The Twilight Zone, The Rockford Files and
Family Classics (long ago on Sunday afternoons a Chicago station - WGN - ran a
family oriented classic movie. Stuff like The Quiet Man, Treasure Island,
Captain Blood, National Velvet, Old Yeller).
All good shows, but
my final pick goes to cheap, sleazy sex appeal... Movie Macabre. Old and often bad horror and sci-fi movies with too many
commercials, but hosted by slinky, voluptuous Elvira - Mistress of the Dark.
Kevin Wilson: Well, since this will finish the list, I
had to think a bit. Did I finish my Sorkin preference by listing Sports Night and Studio 60 on
the Sunset Strip or go with some memorable comedy like Friends, Cheers,
Seinfeld or The Carol Burnett Show SNL or with some old family favs like The Waltons, or some
recent favorites like Elementary and Grimm.
Hard choices and some/many/most of these haven't been listed by anyone
else. I think I'll split the different
and go with:
1. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. This only last one season (and not a full one
at that) but was up to Sorkin's usual superb
quality. I really wish it had gone
longer as I really enjoyed it while it was on.
If you like The West Wing or Sports Night, I highly recommend this one
too. The ensemble cast was great, the
writing engaging and quick and the concept, the behind the scenes look at a
weekly sketch show gave a lot of great opportunities for story lines and
laughs.
2. Sex in the City. I know this was aimed more at females but the
first time I stumbled across an episode I was laughing out loud,
repeatedly. Not every show was that
funny but most were.
Not all were on a topic of key interest to me but most were. Not all even held my attention but most
did. It was a funny, well written and
entertaining show. It got a bit heavy in
the last season but there were some gems in the first 6.
3. Fringe.
I started with sci fi shows and I'll end with
one. Fairly recent but
a great show. Lots
of twists and turns and lots of interesting plots and story arcs. A lot of fun for any fan of
sci fi or similar types of shows.
Andy Bate: So, only three to go. Let's end with children's programmes
that I remember fondly.
Bagpuss is about "an old, saggy cloth cat, baggy, and a
bit loose at the seams." It was
created by Peter Firmin and Oliver Postgate, who were jointly responsible for other classic
kids TV programmes like Noggin The
Nog, Ivor The Engine and the Clangers. Bagpuss would
magically come to life each episode in the shop - a misnomer, since the shop
didn't sell anything, but simply featured broken items which Emily had found
and which were displayed in the hope that their owner would seem them and
collect them. Bagpuss
wasn't the only inanimate object to come to life in the show, but we also had
Gabriel the toad, the woodpecker Professor Yaffle, Madelaine the rag doll, and the mice from the side of the
"mouse organ". A story would
then be told while the mice mended the item.
A classic! I can't believe that
there were only thirteen episodes, but I guess that's the joy of a children's programme, you can watch them again and again without
getting bored. Would I watch them again? Well, I did buy the DVD recently...
From the sedate to
the stoned and the strange world that was The
Magic Roundabout. This was
originally a French animated cartoon, but the BBC took the original footage and
got Eric Thompson (father of Emma) to write some new English scripts. This resulted in the characters changing
quite dramatically - with thanks to Wikipedia - "The British Dougal (dog) was grumpy and loosely based on Tony Hancock. Ermintrude (cow) was rather matronly and fond of singing.
Dylan (rabbit) was a hippy-like, guitar-playing rabbit, and rather dopey.
Florence (young girl) was portrayed as courteous and level-headed. Brian
(snail) was unsophisticated but well-meaning. Zebedee (jack-in-the-box) was an
almost human creature in a yellow jacket with a spring instead of feet. He
always appeared and disappeared with a loud "boing"-sound and usually
closed the show with the phrase "Time for bed"."
Right, it nearly is
time to put this to bed. John Wilman got to Dangermouse before
me, so instead I'll plump for Tom &
Jerry. I must say that I'm somewhat
shocked that no-one has mentioned this one before. I bought several series of this to watch with
my son, Jake, as he was growing up. and enjoyed them
all. Daft but
eminently enjoyable. As this 21
TV Series exercise has been.
Hugh Polley: 19. Breaking Bad: I did not start watching
this till it was in its last year, but I caught up with it on Netflix. Watching someone go from law abiding citizen
to criminal was most engrossing.
20. Deep Space Nine, Great characters and
interesting plots, a bit over acted in places. My favorite
character 'Quark'.
21. Howdy Doody:
The show which first directed advertising at the Baby Boomer generation, the
start of media for the masses age.
Douglas Kent: For me, the last three are comedies which
I haven’t bothered to put on the list yet…Seinfeld,
Mr. Bean, and Monty Python’s Flying Circus.
While I imagine I’ve forgotten some shows that deserve being listed, all
three of these certainly do.
Geoff Kemp: Back to 70's British TV and The Sweeney - excellent police series
- The Title was Cockney rhyming slang
for The Flying Squad aka The Sweeney Todd
aka The Sweeney! Two British actors who appeared almost exclusively on
British TV (I think), John Thaw , Now sadly deceased,
who played in many detective type series
and Dennis Waterman who I think is still acting and still on TV - I last
saw him in New Tricks (A British
Detective Series dealing with cold cases) which is the second of my three this
time around. How's that for a link?
The third is another
British detective Series, this time set in the seventies, 'Life on Mars' featured a current
detective who appears to go back in time to the 70's after being
involved in a car crash. I enjoyed this, especially the music theme which ran
through the whole series featuring music from the 70's, the storyline was a
little suspect but in general held in together.
Dane Maslen: So, with just
three series left to select to complete my 21, how many do I still have
remaining on my short(hah!)list? 22, that's how many.
Drop the Dead Donkey (UK) - A sitcom set in the offices
of a TV news company. I really regret
that it hasn't been repeated on any free-to-air channel here in the UK for many
years. That might be because some of the
humour was topical and so some people would consider
it now not so funny. I think I'd still
find it hilarious.
Not the Nine O'Clock News (UK) - Already
mentioned by at least one other reader.
Like many such shows some of the sketches didn't work very well, but the
ones that did were brilliant.
Twin Peaks (US) - I agonized for some time over
whether to include this as my final selection, but given that it's one of the
few series I ever bought on VHS (though unfortunately lacking the pilot) I
suppose it belongs on the list.
Rick Desper: WKRP in Cincinnati - A classic sit-com
made back in the era when sitcoms weren't formulaic tripe written by marketing
executives. Great
cast, fun storylines, brilliant characters. Every Thanksgiving I call up the YouTube
video of WKRP's promotional turkey drop.
"As God as my witness, I thought turkeys could fly."
Game of Thrones - Another HBO drama, this one based on
a prominent fantasy series, and with certain political aspects that should
appeal to all Diplomacy players. No
fantasy series has done intrigue and treachery this well. The first season was a bit hampered by budget
constraints which often left them short of extras. More recent series have not been held back as
much, and a healthy CGI budget has helped immensely with the task of showing
dragons, giants, wights, etc.
Doctor Who - Really a series of related shows that have
been broadcast by the BBC since the 1960s.
The original show tried to balance science fiction with historical
fiction, and emphasized that the Doctor couldn't "change" the
past. As the years have gone by, the
show has focused more and more on sci-fi and less on historical fiction. An early decision has allowed the show to
last for 50 years, while constantly changing the cast. The producers came up with the notion that
the Doctor was a "Time Lord" and that he could regenerate into a new
actor.
The show became
wildly popular in the 1970s during the tenure of the fourth actor to play the
Doctor, the irrepressible Tom Baker. It
faded somewhat during the 1980s as his successors were not quite able to
maintain its level of popularity. The
show was canceled 1989 with Sylvester McCoy playing the Fourth Doctor. There was an attempt to revive the series in
the mid-90s with Paul McGann as the Eighth Doctor,
but that never got further than a pilot (which was, to be blunt, not very
good).
Then, almost ten
years later, in 2005, Russell Davies revived the show again, with a different
format. Where the classic series had
been known for serials consisting of 4-6 half-hour episodes, the new version
consisted of standalone 45-minute episodes. The Ninth Doctor was played by
Christopher Eccleston, who played him with more of an
appearance as a regular guy wearing a leather jacket (as opposed to his
predecessors, who were known for flamboyant costumes).
The Doctor Who
reboot was wildly popular, but Eccleston left after
only one season. He was replaced by
Scottish actor David Tenant, who was himself replaced by youngster Matt
Smith. After a few years under the
control of Davies, the show has been taken over by Stephen Moffat. The show has gone down a bit in my opinion as
a result, resulting in a series that seems dedicated to the proposition that
all of time and space revolve around The Doctor. (Matt Smith's last episode consisted of his
Doctor defending a planet named "Christmas" against an alliance of
pretty much ever bad guy species that the Doctor had ever faced. How thoroughly silly this premise is appears
to have not occurred to Moffat.)
So, to wrap this up,
even though I think the show has veered away from the path of "good
sci-fi" under Moffat's stewardship, there's still enough good stuff over
the past 50 years to merit Doctor Who's inclusion.
Jim Burgess: For these last three, let's do three TV
Shows from the 60's 70's that still are remotely watchable (many are not):
Hogan's Heroes: This silly WWII POW camp comedy holds up
way better than most of its ilk at the time.
The cast had spunk, and John Banner's Sgt. Schultz is a classic of pop
culture. "I see NOTHING!" Remembering the time he brought flowers to
meet who he thought was a beautiful woman, but really was General Burkhalter's ugly sister in a barn and then got shot at by
Col. Klink was well, silly/sad. You
wanted John Banner's Schultz to be OK.
Perry Mason: Has there ever been a better defense
attorney? And Paul
Drake and Della Street?? Raymond
Burr was a great actor. The variety of ways that he elicited confessions and otherwise exposed
the "true murderer" were incredibly inventive and always
interesting.
Cannon: And then who was the best detective that
you couldn't imagine as a detective?
This arguably was Quinn Martin's greatest show. William Conrad was great. He had a car phone, so it sort of seems
up-to-date, no one else had portable phones back
then. And he had those great old cars (I
think Lincoln Continental Mark IV, sometimes more than one in a show if one of
them got shot out from under him). He
also kept gaining weight as the series continued. Sort of like the Daleks
being on wheels in reverse and with K-9 on wheels, you had to account in the
writing for Conrad's inability to run very far after bad guys. It never got much in the way. Interesting.
Jack McHugh: my last three shows:
cops...love this show....although it can get
repetitive watching the same lame excuses and drunken people over and over
again...
will and
grace....surprising
this show has held well over the years...
always sunny in philadelphia...very off beat
show that is kind of like monty python meets
friends...assuming that the friends are very literal minded about
things....incredibly over done but hilarious cast led by danny
devito's outrageously over the top frank reynolds and his dimwitted adult children and their idiot
friends...
Dick Martin: righto - the last three...
saturday night live - bringing the fun and excitement of live tv. sometimes the sketches are
duds, or the musical acts disappoint, but when it's good it's amazing.
kids in
the hall
- the north american counterpart to monty python. canada
isn't totally useless after all.
the simpsons - no explanation needed. i've never seen an episode that was less than very
entertaining...and they're at 25 years now.
and since this is the
last roundup, a few honorable mentions that don't make the main list: 30 rock,
star trek, game of thrones, weeds, buffy the vampire slayer, all in the family,
the sopranos
Richard Weiss: So many shows, so
few spots to list. My criteria this time
are simple – before the days of TiVo and DVDR, did I make sure to watch the
show every week and for how many years was I committed. NFL football for decades, Monday Night
Football, for decades, Ed Sullivan for ten years or more (the show also marked
the end of the weekend and when it was over, better be ready for Monday),
Mission Impossible (high school and in college), Happy Days (few years), Archie
Bunker (maybe didn’t miss an episode, I didn’t want to be a meat head, MASH
(some years, not devoted while in college).
Out of these, I need to list some NFL Football show, so will go with MNF, ala
Howard Cosell and Don Meredith as my first on this list. Then Ed
Sullivan, and my favorite Topo Gigo. Foe Hugh Polley,
who listed The Ed (probably what it’d be called now, or TES), Lassie was on at 7 AM.
Then it was time for shower and be in pajamas
for The Ed. I wonder if Bonanza wasn’t
on after it – beyond my bed time. I have
no idea either if anything else was on tv
during The Ed. Final
for the list this month, Mission
Impossible. And, all, please
be careful, because this list will self-destruct in eight seconds after you
read it.
Per Westling: I had put Holocaust as one of my 21 but
it was just 4 episodes...
Should
have put the hockey series 7/24 but I have not watched any (although I probably
would have loved it).
So,
that leaves... if I have not made any double mentioning:
19. X Files - so much have already been
said about this so I have nothing really to add.
20. Sons of Anarchy - was highly
recommended by a guy who loved Sopranos. Even though I have
not seen the latter (!) I am sure I got the geist
of it. Did watch 3 seasons, I Think, and did enjoy it,
BUT... the leading character is a bit one dimensional and I am not sure that I
like the stepping up of menace in each season. What will come next after Medina
cartel? Aliens?
21.
Firefly - a series that is highly
rated in the TV series site I am following even though it did not manage to
complete one full season! But I do like
the mashup of Space Opera and Western. Some time after the series was cancelled they made a Movie
tying up all loose ends, Serenity.
Hank Alme: Last one, I choose "Cartoons"
The Simpsons: Awesomeness,
though I have not been watching regularly for a while. I recently read Simon
Singh's new book _The Simsons and Their Mathematical
Secrets_ which both showed me how many high-powered degrees are in the writing
room for that show and that the mathy things I
thought I saw in the show were for real.
Futurama: This could also be
files under my "Netflix is evil" category. My son and I return to
this constantly. Most of my favorite bits involve Bender, the foul mouthed
thieving robot.
South Park: Up-to-the-second
satire that I have found helps me avoid taking myself too seriously.
Marc Ellinger: For the last 3 (or next
3…whichever!) it
is back to my childhood:
MASH (well it went
through high school, I guess).
Happy Days (schmaltz and all
that, but I really loved watching it!)
Fantasy Island (Ricardo Montalban and Herve Villechauze on Saturdays as a kid…it was great!)
Martin Burgdorf: 19. Nikita: It is a pity that this series
was canceled last month.
20. Kommissarin Lund –
Das Verbrechen (Dänisch
Forbrydelsen, Englisch The Killing): The English title is not correct, Forbrydelsen means crime, not killing. But then the
American RE-MAKE plays in Seattle not Kopenhagen. I
like the dark atmosphere.
21. Numbers – Die Logik
des Verbrechens (Originaltitel:
NUMB3RS): I was working at the California Institute of Technology, when the
original run started. They showed us the first episode in the biggest
auditorium on campus, before it came on TV. At this event the producers and a
few actors were present. They told us a lot about the making of the show, and
answered questions from the audience. One of them was, whether there were ideas
for more stories than just the first few episodes that were in the pipeline
already. It seemed like even the mathematicians present could not imagine many
different ways to catch criminals with the help of arithmetic. Some professors
wanted to be hired as advisors. At one point the showmaster
suggested that in case of high popularity a spin-off should be created: NUMB3RS
at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I found that funny, but there were
boos for several minutes. At the end the dean ordered the students to go out on
Fridays only after having watched this program. Then there was a delicious
buffet for everybody. We were told that we could while eating there ask further
questions to the TV people, which was a really great
announcement, because Prof. Amita Ramanujan
(Navi Rawat) was present.
Unfortunately I did not find her among the many people, but not for lack of
searching.
Heath Gardner: House of Lies. Don Cheadle is generally an amazing character actor
(and great poker player... respect) who, in this often amazing Showtime
program, plays a management consultant (read: shark who feeds on nice big fat
whales) who gets into all sorts of bad behavior but brilliantly manages to
figure things out in a Machiavellian way. He seems like the type that would be
an AMAZING diplomacy player. For that reason and others, it seems like a show
that dip players would love. From my perspective, any show that is really well
written gains my attention, and this is tops. With its 30 min runtime and
various storylines it's not quite as demanding as the hour-long shows that
require you to keep up with a serial, though there is one. Show takes lots of
chances and it's faaantastic.
World Series of Poker. Sure, they only
show the big hands, which is a horrible training tool for new players (hmm, I
should bluff all-in every hand, worked for that guy!), but the slick production
and the ingenious invention of the hole card cam that revolutionized the game
is the reason for my abiding addiction to this game. I've known how to play
poker since my dad taught me when I was 5, but ever since I started watching
ESPN WSOP broadcasts (pre-moneymaker, even!) I have fallen more and more in
love with the game, started my own extensive study, and now I play live and
online on sort of a semi-pro basis. I'm not the best of the best by any means,
but i always DVR it When I was in the hospital, I
watched all 20-some episodes of the 2013 main event on my kindle fire. Great way to pass the time. Highly recommended to be sought
out: the coverage of the 2012 "All In for One Drop", where each
player anted up a million dollars to get into the tournament. Huge game.
Everything Is Terrible
(everythingisterrible.com) You know how I said I liked
Tim and Eric? Forget that. These guys (a Chicago comedy group) use found footage
ONLY along with insane editing techniques that create some of the funniest most
mesmerizing stuff you'll ever see. Their website is full of clips they've
produced, but their real works of art are the DVDs you can order from their
site -- hour long works of art made up of thematically related and twisted
found footage. Especially recommended "Doggiewoggiez! Poochiewoochiez!"
using only footage of corny dog movies, their Christmas special, and the
Comedy/Hip-Hop double feature they just released. Check their website for free
entertainment. I know it's not exactly a TV show, but it needs to be one, and
since this is my last entry I couldn't keep it from you. If anyone is interested in their hour long
specials but doesn't want to risk the money until they know it's good, email me
at heath.gardner@gmail.com. If you send me a SASE and a blank DVD, I'll make
you a copy of one. They wouldn't mind.
Larry Peery: 21 BEST TELEVISION
SHOWS OF ALL TIME [[I won’t be counting these in the final tally as they don’t necessarily
fall into the challenge category and in some cases are just one episode or a
special]]
For me 22 April,
1978 marked the date of the end of television worth watching for entertainment.
Why? Read on.
As far as I’m
concerned TV serves or should serve three purposes: news, education, and
entertainment. A show could do one well, sometimes two, but rarely all three on
a consistent basis. That’s what I was looking for when I made up my list.
In no particular
order and grouped into categories that might not be perfect matches I’ve picked
what I thought were the best shows that were also my favorites. My five top
picks are indicated with a *
Sit Cons: I love
Lucy, Honeymooners, Maude, All in the Family, Lucille Ball was the greatest,
not to mention being one of the shrewdest, TV stars in Hollywood (Only Mae West
can compete with her in that department, I think.). The combination of Normal
Lear and Bea Arthur was a winner episode after episode. Funny
and thought-provoking at the same time.
Sports: Wide World
of Sports, The Masters. Wide World of Sports gave me a
chance to vicariously enjoy a whole lot of sports I’d never experience in
reality. Why The Masters? Because I’m a sucker for a
nice green lawn and lots of flowers that I don’t have to take care of.
Drama: Masterpiece
Theater, Perry Mason, Hallmark Hall of Fame, The Waltons, Bonanza. Masterpiece Theater
because I liked the theme music (J.J.
Mouret, Rondeau from
Symphonies & Fanfares for the King, Listen to it played on the organ of
Notre Dame de Paris (See, there’s the WDC 2013 link!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sdNJ5G2In0
I like this version
even better because it has the trumpet in it. Note how the trumpet player looks
just like Jim Bob!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZQG-DZy7uY
Hallmark Hall of
Fame broadcast one of television’s seminal events in 1951. I was four years old
at the time but I remember the program (it was broadcast every Christmas for
many, many years. In the words of Wikipedia:
Amahl and the Night
Visitors is an opera in one act by Gian Carlo Menotti
with an original English libretto by the composer.[1]
It was commissioned by NBC and first performed by the NBC Opera Theatre on
December 24, 1951, in New York City at NBC studio 8H in Rockefeller Center, the
same studio where it was broadcast live on television from that venue as the
debut production of the Hallmark Hall of Fame. It was the first opera
specifically composed for television in America.[2]
This link is barely
a minute long but in my opinion it’s the most beautiful piece of music written
in my lifetime. Give it a listen and see if you can resist the urge to dance to
it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vhxItuVnCM
Earle Stanley
Gardener and Raymond Burr were both fascinating men, albeit for very different
reasons. Perry Mason only ever lost one case. Can you remember which one?
Hallmark put on some great TV shows over the years and just seeing that name as
the sponsor would make me watch anything they put on. The Waltons
taught me what it must have been like for David Hood growing up. I admired
Bonanza but I wasn’t a big fan of it. I must preferred
The Big Valley with Barbara Stanwyck.
Variety: Ed Sullivan
Show and Bell Telephone House. Ed Sullivan wasn’t much good at anything himself
but he definitely had an eye and ear for talent. From rock and roll to the classics, and slapstick comedy to the latest in sports
heroes he brought them all to Sunday night TV. In entertainment you weren’t
anybody unless you’d be on The Ed Sullivan Show. The Bell Telephone Hour was more
high-brow but before Live From Lincoln Center it was
one of the few mass audience cultural shows on TV in the early days.
News:Howard K. Smith (ABC News), That Was the Week That Way,
Howard K. Smith (on ABC) was my favorite of the Big Three television news
anchors that included Walter Cronkite and Huntley and Brinkley. I always got
the impression that no matter what the story, Howard K. Smith really understood
it. That Was the Week That Was (TWTWTW) was an early import from the UK, I
believe. You had to watch and listen carefully to get the news and satire in
it. It only ran for two seasons, but it introduced David Frost to American TV.
Documentaries: Frontline, Victory At
Sea. Civilisation. Frontline (PBS) has, for thirty years now, provided
thought-provoking and often controversial documentaries on issues and events of
the day. Victory at Sea: I remember, as a kid of eight sitting on the floor
watching this series with my aunt and uncle. It was 1959 and televisions were
still pretty rare. My uncle, who served in the Pacific as a naval engineering
officer and was at some of the major battles, never said anything much during
the broadcast. He just sat and stared at the TV screen. My aunt told me years
later that many times after the broadcast he’d go in his den and just sit there
lost in his thoughts. Here again the
music made the show. Listen to the theme music by Richard Rodgers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-EXNounv-U
Watching Victory at
Sea at that tender age helped prepare me for the horrors of all the wars to
follow that would fill TV screens for the next sixty years.
Civilisation, the BBC series
narrated by Lord Kenneth Clark aired in 1969 and in thirteen weeks taught me
more about art than all my classes and all my visits to art museums. It also
changed forever the way I pronounced the word “Renaissance.”
Arts: Live From
Lincoln Center: Another long-running PBS series that has drifted away from
mostly classical to mostly popular programming. Still, with good seats at
Lincoln Center running several hundred dollars it offers a poor man’s dose of
culture in a time when culture for the masses has become something only the
elite can afford.
The Star Made the
Show: Jack Paar Show, Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Bob Dale’s Weather. From 1957 to 1962 millions of people stayed
up late to watch The Tonight Show. It seemed decidedly wicked as a ten year old
to be staying up so late to watch a show in the living room that my parents
were watching in their bedroom so I wouldn’t know it. Jack was both funny and
witty and set a high bar for those who followed him into late night TV hosting.
Before there was Julie and Julia the movie (in 2009) there were Julia’s shows
on cooking on TV. I actually did what Julie did back in the 1960s, but it took
me four years to pull it off. I learned to cook from her first cookbook. I’ll
never forget my first effort, making a deboned stuffed leg of lamb. I’d never
even seen a leg of lamb before I tackled that challenge. Bob Dale was not a
trained weatherman in San Diego back in the ‘50s and ‘60s, but he knew his
weather in a day when there were no NOAA or satellite weather pictures. He’d go
out on the TV station roof a half hour before the broadcast and then come on TV
in his bow tie with his folksy mid-western accent and big smile and tell us it
wasn’t going to rain tomorrow and we’d have another beautiful San Diego day.
And it would.
Travel: National
Geographic, Rick Steve’s Backdoor to Europe. National Geographic made me
appreciate nature in all its variety and glory. Rick Steve’s made me appreciate
Europe in all its diversity and complexity. Both made me want to get out and
travel and I have.
22 April 1978 was
the first broadcast of the last episode of Maude.
Note, no *. That’s
because these are all my favorites!
Hint to the Person in the Closest
Geographical Guess:
I was a contemporary of yours, and I have been identified by someone else.
Deadline
for Turn 4 is: February 25th at 7am my time
Civil Disorder Removal and Other Matters
by Paul Milewski
Rule XIV.4 CIVIL DISORDER REMOVALS
in the 1976 Rules for Diplomacy, unchanged in the “2nd Edition/Feb.
’82” rules and in the “3rd Edition – 1992” rules, reads as follows:
If a country in civil disorder has to remove units, because it has lost
supply centers, the unit farthest from home (most distant from the nearest home supply center as computed by the
shortest available route, including convoys) is removed first, the fleet
before the army. If more units are
equally eligible for removal than should be removed, priority is established by
the names of the space in which they are located, the earliest in alphabetical
order coming off first.
Suppose
Austria only controls Venice and is left with A Ven,
A Tyr, F Alb and F Adr (4
units) on the board. It has to remove 3
of those 4. All are equally distant from
the nearest home supply center (one space away, or “adjacent to” a home supply
center). No one of those 4 is farthest
from home than any of the others as “farthest from home” is defined in the
parenthetical. The rule of long standing
calls for removing the 2 fleets and then choosing between the two armies based
on alphabetical order, (T)yrolia
before (V)enice.
Austria is left with one unit, A Ven, on the
board. Suppose instead that Austria
controls only Venice but is left only with F Alb and
F Adr on the board.
F Adr would be removed based on alphabetical
order.
The corresponding provision in the
“4th Edition 2000” rules departs drastically from those previous
editions:
If a country in civil disorder has to remove units, the units farthest
from the country are removed first. If units are equally distant, then remove Fleets before Armies and
then in alphabetical order by the provinces in which they are located.
“Farthest
from the home country” is a lot different from “most distant from the nearest
home supply center as computed by the shortest available route, including
convoy.” Suppose Austria only controls
Venice and is left with A Ven, A Tyr, F Alb and F Adr (4 units) on the board. It has to remove 3 of those 4, but this time
A Tyr Is in the country.
The other 3 have to go. Austria
is left with one unit, A Ven, on the board.
“Then
remove Fleets before Armies and then in alphabetical
order…” denotes a process of two discrete steps, one occurring before the
other, as in “then add sugar and then add lemon.” This has a different meaning than “then add
sugar and lemon” insofar as it does not dictate that the sugar be added
first. One hopes the meaning of the 4th
edition was intended to be “remove Fleets in alphabetical order by the
provinces in which they are located and then remove Armies in
alphabetical order by the provinces
in which they are located.”
Outside of this peculiar departure
from precedent regarding civil disorder removals, also new with the “4th
Edition 2000” rules is the definition that “there are three types of provinces:
inland, water and coastal.”
This is just plain weird. The
1976 rulebook stated that “the Great Powers are also cut into ‘provinces’ by light,
solid, black lines” and that “the seas are divided into ‘bodies of water’ by
light, solid, black lines.” Also, “each
province or body of water is a ‘space.’”
Also new in the “4th
Edition 2000” rules is the bit about “preventing foreign powers from kidnapping
an Army and convoying it against its will.”
The new rule is, “if at least one of the convoying Fleets belongs to the
player who controls the Army, then the convoy is used”
and “the land route is disregarded.”
Furthermore, “if none of the convoying Fleets belongs to the player who
controls the army, then the land route is used” although “the player
controlling the army can use the convoy route if he/she indicated ‘via convoy’
on the Army move order in question.” In
the case of England A Pic—Bel and France A Bel—Pic, F Eng C English A Pic—Bel the convoy order would be ignored and neither A PIc or A Bel would move unless
England had ordered “A Pic—Bel via convoy.” This arguably is a big improvement over XII.6
BOTH A CONVOY ROUTE AND AN OVERLAND ROUTE in the “2nd Edition/Feb.
’82” rules: “If an army could arrive at
its destination either overland or by convoy, one route must be considered and
the other disregarded, depending upon intent as shown by the totality of the
orders written by the player governing the army.” That was new to the “2nd
Edition/Feb. ’82” rules and was reproduced word for word in the “3rd
Edition – 1992” rules, which goes to show how little thought the people who
write these rules give to them.
Frobozz
house rules provided that, in the case of civil disorder removals, “those units
which are not in supply centers will be removed first.” No Fixed Address house rules provided
that “players may not ‘refuse’ a support or convoy order from another
country.” It gets worse. A GM may have his own interpretation of “most
distant from the nearest home supply center as computed by the shortest
available route, including convoys” but it may not be included in his house
rules. For instance, a body of water
containing no fleet cannot be included in computing “the shortest available
route.” I think these problems may arise
from the people who write the rules, and the people who play the game, thinking
of Diplomacy as a military simulation instead of just a role playing game.
Brain Farts: The
Only Subsubzine With It’s Own Fragrance
By Jack “Flapjack” McHugh – jwmchughjr@gmail.com
(or just email Doug and
he’ll send it to me)
Issue #63
I thought I had a shitty contract job,
but they keep pushing the start date back a few days at a time so I don’t know
if I am working or not. If I don’t have
a job I’ll be homeless soon. I am so
tired of this hanging off the cliff bullshit, and it never ends.
This won’t be much of a subzine. I just
don’t care. Fuck the world and everybody
in it.
This is if I still had a
damn job:
Excerpts from Len Deighton’s
Blood, Tears, and Folly
Selected by Paul Milewski
A blurb on the back cover says:
Despite the volumes
written about World War II, many questions remain unanswered. In this balanced and thoughtful chronicle,
historian and World War II expert Len Deighton dares
to explore intriguing questions, including why the British weren’t more
prepared for the Blitz and why Hitler failed to thoroughly support his U-boat
program. He also warns that we haven’t
yet learned the lessons of World War II, as ethnic cleansing, Middle East
violence, and the widening gap between rich and poor still plague the world.”
My copy shows an ISBN-13 OF
978-0-06-092557-4. (The ISBN-10 is the
same only without the 978 at the beginning.)
I’m only a little more than halfway through this 601-page tome, but my
first choice is the first paragraph of the introduction:
It is a national characteristic beloved of the British to see
themselves as a small cultured island race of peaceful intentions, only roused
when faced with bullies, and with a God-given mission to disarm cheats. Rather than subjugating and exploiting poor
people overseas, they prefer the image of emancipating them. English school history books invite us to
rally with Henry V to defeat the overwhelming French army at Agincourt, or to
join Drake in a leisurely game of bowls before he boards his ship to rout the
mighty Armada and thwart its malevolent Roman Catholic King. The British also cherish their heroes when
they are losers. The charge of the Light
Brigade is seen as an honourable sacrifice rather
than a crushing defeat for brave soldiers at the hands of their incompetent
commanders. Disdaining technology,
Captain Scott arrived second at the South Pole and perished miserably. Such legendary exploits were ingrained in the
collective British mind when in 1939, indigent and unprepared,
the country went to war and soon was hailing the chaotic Dunkirk invasion as a
triumph.
Deighton reproduces (in English) the text of a leaflet the
Germans “ahd prepared to guide their occupation force
through the complexities of British social life.” (In his footnotes, Deighton
writes that “one copy that was not scrapped is in my collection.”)
GUIDELINES FOR THE BEHAVIOUR OF TROOPS
IN ENGLAND
1.
The Englishman suffers
from a certain lack of imagination when faced with new situations. Therefore he reacts more slowly to given
instructions or inquiries than do most European people. His slowness in reaction is not necessarily
malevolent.
2.
The greatest
strength of the Englishman is to appear ignorant (stupid). He is a master of questioning others while
not giving away anything of himself. When he disagrees he almost always has a
hidden purpose. Mostly by disagreeing he
wants to get others to speak.
3.
The
Englishman doesn’t like to say yes or no, he doesn’t like to commit himself and
is a master at the art of evasion.
Instead of yes he likes to say: “It’s possible”. Instead of no: “That might be difficult”. The Englishman will not tell others, even
when they ask, that they have done something wrong, he doesn’t correct.
4.
The
Englishman is very reserved. Pushiness
is considered in bad taste in England.
It is considered extremely tactless to intrude in another’s domain, or
to push oneself upon someone. That
explains the cool attitude to strangers.
Compared to the Englishman the Scotsman is avowedly taciturn, the
Welshman is much more open-minded and temperamental. With him one has to watch his cunning.
5.
The
Englishman is used to having even orders and instructions preceded with the
word “Please”, whereas the word “verboten” will automatically arouse resistance
in him.
6.
Extreme
friendliness and humour especially pay off with
members of the public (lower class.)
With a joke one achieves more than with an order when dealing with a
workman.
7.
The working
class man, when handled with reserve and friendliness, is easily trusted (won
over). He is then reliable up to a
certain level and will be grateful for being treated decently.
8. The English woman of all
classes is used to an unusual amount of consideration and courtesy from the
opposite sex.
Wikipedia’s biography of Len Cyril Deighton mentions that he was born: February 18, 1929 in Marylebone
in England (Marylebone is an affluent inner-city area of central London,
located within the City of Westminster, sometimes written as St. Marylebone),
that he was educated at Central Saint Martins College
of Art and Design, Royal College of Art.
He received the Martin Beck Award.
(The Martin Beck Award is an award given by the Swedish Crime Writers'
Academy (Svenska
Deckarakademin) for the best crime novel in
translation.) It is one of the most
prestigious international crime-writing awards. He was nominated for the Locus
Award for Best Science Fiction Novel and Edgar Award for Best Novel. My favorites are his spy novels.
As usual, my contribution to Eternal Sunshine is
wholly devoid of proper literary attribution.
Octopus’s
Garden
Issue
Eighty-Six
25th January 2014
Sub-editorial
HELLO, good evening and welcome to Octopus’s Garden,
the subzeen with its very own 7 x 7 Gunboat Diplomacy
tournament gamestart. It is a subzeen
to Jim Burgess’ The Abyssinian Prince, which is
now a subzeen to Douglas Kent's Eternal Sunshine.
It's produced by Peter Sullivan, peter@burdonvale.co.uk.
It's also available on the web at: http://www.burdonvale.co.uk/octopus/.
___________________________________________________________________________________
Gamestart – 7 x 7 Gunboat Diplomacy
“ANDREW JOHNSON”
Player A: Unknown
Player B: Unknown
Player C: Unknown
Player D: Unknown
Player E: Unknown
Player F: Unknown
Player G: Unknown
Game 1: “Schuyler Colfax” (2014?? rb32)
Game 2: “Henry Wilson” (2014?? rb32)
Game 3: “William A. Wheeler” (2014?? rb32)
Game 4: “Chester A. Arthur” (2014?? rb32)
Game 5: “Thomas A. Hendricks” (2014?? rb32)
Game 6: “Levi P. Morton” (2014?? AF rb32)
Game 7: “Adlai Stevenson” (2014??
AG rb32)
GENEVA:
OK, so after a few hassles (including one potential player managing to identify
himself via a mailing list posting), we now have seven names and are ready to
start. I'll send a more detailed game-start to the players, so that they know
which country they are playing in each of the seven games.
The
deadline for Spring 1901 orders is FRIDAY, 14st
FEBRUARY, 2014, to Peter Sullivan, peter@burdonvale.co.uk.
I'm not sure if having a Spring 1901 deadline on
Valentine's Day is ironic, post-ironic or whatever. But as usual with Gunboat,
if I have all the orders in earlier, I'll adjudicate earlier.
Houserules for this game are at http://www.burdonvale.co.uk/octopus/gunboat.html
That was Octopus's Garden #86, Startling Press
production 373.
EQUINOX
#2
An Eternal
Sunshine subzine by Heath Gardner
Deadline: Just Repeat
it to yourself: Five Days Before Doug’s!
heath.gardner@gmail.com
I don’t know these guys,
but they are true heroes. (image from boardgamegeek)
Welcome to
the second issue of Equinox, WHERE THERE
IS A GUNBOAT GAMESTART (see below). Equinox is the only subzine to feature A PRESS COMPETITION IN EVERY DIP GAME.
All games are black press (you can use any dateline except the GM’s reserved
one, which is RALEIGH, NC.) YOU DON’T
HAVE TO BE A PLAYER IN THE GAME TO WIN THE CONTEST.
“The hell you
say!” you say. (Having fun with redundancy). But,
seriously, folks: every time I process a turn in a game, I will run as much
press as you send. And each turn, a person’s press will be graded TOTALLY
subjectively, depending on my mood, taste, the weather, etc. And scores are
kept completely secret until the end of the game. The general rule for
observers is if you manage to seriously complicate a game with your press OR
provide regular hilarity OR provide trenchant commentary OR a number of other
things, you’ll be getting a lot of points. Players earn press points from me in
those ways and more.
“The
why you say?” PRIZES. That’s right people, P-R-I-Z-E-S. I am a book
junkie, have read voraciously my whole life, every Christmas and birthday
receive as many books as my mom could afford to buy me that year, and make
monster runs on used book stores myself nowadays. We have way more books than
we have book space. And these aren’t bad books by any means, just well-used
ones that are ready for new homes.
SO! If you
win a press competition, you name a genre, and I will give you about 5
choices. If you wish to remain anonymous
and not claim your black press, you will still receive the award,
we’ll just have to do the deal in secret!
IF I decide,
after you choose the book, that it’s actually too cool to part with, you’ll
receive a used copy purchased on Amazon.
This
is rank bribery, I’m aware – but I want lively press. I want press that would
make Jim Burgess blush! I want press written by Jim Burgess while blushing! I
want press that would make Jim Belushi burgess! Get
to getting folks!!
It has been a
very creatively fertile (hopefully just for me, not for my wife, amirite?) few weeks for me. I have been getting a lot of my
own creative writing done as well as work-work. I wrote an 8000 word story
draft, which I’ve called Poker for
Beginners, which I think is the best thing I’ve ever written. I am doing a
major rewrite of it tomorrow and using this subzine
to put it off, but I’ve got it all written on the page in pen. It just needs to
come together on the screen. Should be cut down a bit when
it’s done, closer to 7500 words. Having focused more on a novel that
I’ve written into a corner the past couple of years, I had almost forgotten the
joy of short story writing, the setting out to create and complete and rework
and rework.
I sent it to
some writers I know who are exacting critics – I’m lucky to have a lot of
connections in this field, because my mom is one of the many dozens of
celebrated North Carolina authors – and she’s friends with/I grew up around all
of them. I got some amazing feedback and an invite to a writing group. Just
continuing to ride this wave, why the hell not?
We
got a Lenovo all-in-one desktop, so I’m not clickety-clacking
on the damn tiny laptop keyboard anymore (it’s actually full size, I just have
huge hands, and you know what that means…. That’s right,
I’m able to hold bigger apples while I’m picking apples. What did you think I meant?). The new computer has been fantastic for work
related stuff. Big HD touch screen monitor, so I can get chocolate all over my
screen like a 5 year old (hasn’t happened yet, but it will.)
Last time, I
listed the things I was reading, listening to, watching and playing. I WAS
interested in doing that again this time, and listing some other people’s
submissions on that front, but I only got one submission, from Scott Allen. The
thing is, he sent me a KICKASS submission. Not only
did he respond to every category, he sent me a book review. So I’m going to
again sound the call – please send me brief capsule reviews of things you’re
currently reading or recently have read, movies and shows watched, music
listened to, games played. That way we can all learn some new stuff. I am going
to hold back Mr. Allen’s lists, in the hopes I’ll get more submissions. But
look for his book review of Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at
the End of the Lane at
the bottom of the zine! It’s a great review, and I’m personally sold on the
book. I’m a fan of Gaiman’s work, though no expert! But first…
GAMES!! First we do word games, then we do Dip games.
WHERE IN THE WORLD IS KENDO NAGASAKI?
You know the
drill here, folks – you send me a person and a place, I’ve got an answer
already in mind, and I can confirm that it is a human being that is lived or
has lived, somewhere in the world… in an at least medium-sized city, hamlet,
town or township. Probably won’t be the most obvious city in the world but you
never know. I’m not going to make you find this person by exact latitude and
longitude. (Read: I don’t want to deal with that level of detail.) I will
notify the CLOSEST geographically by email that they were the closest, and
publish a clue somehow linking THEIR person guess and the actual answer.
Got
several submissions. BUT NEXT TIME I WANT MORE! Heeere we go.. Round
1.
Jim Burgess
Theodore Roosevelt
in Paramaribo, Suriname
Tom Howell
Leo Africanus in Oualata, Mauritania
Rick Desper
Jennifer
Lawrence in Germantown, MD
Chris Babcock
Mitt Romney
in Fukushima, Japan
Richard Weiss
Oliver
Cromwell in Irkutsk, Russia
Andy Lischett
Denver Pyle
in Denver, Colorado
Kevin Wilson
Francis Crick
in Melbourne, Australia
Mike Ruttinger
Agatha Christie
in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Doug Kent
Stephen King
in Stockholm, Sweden
Mark Firth
Sheldon
Cooper in the Pygmalion Club, Valletta, Malta.
HINT TO CLOSEST GUESS: We’re both humans. Oh, you wanted more
than that? OK, well.. you
were born about 10 years or so before me… but we died within a few years of
each other.
DEADLINE
FOR NEXT GUESS: AS ALWAYS, 5 DAYS BEFORE DOUG’S!
FACTS
IN FIVE. Signed up: many.
I have decided to not announce who is signed up, because I want MORE to sign up
in response to these categories. Remember, for each of these categories, you are
trying to give examples WHOSE KEY WORD .. not necessarily the first word .. .starts
with each of the letters given. That’s five times five answers per
round. If more than one person writes the same thing as you, you get two
points. For each valid answer, you get one point. If your
answer is invalid, zilch. I will be selecting categories, then letters
completely randomly. PRESS WELCOMED..
Categories:
Emotions
Nations
Ways to Say I
Love You
Pop Music
Professions
That Require Special Training/Schooling
Letters:
P, L, N, O,
S (note, if I ever draw 5 random
letters and they spell something dirty, it’s an honorary point for the GM).
PLEASE GET ME
YOUR ENTRIES BY …. FIVE DAYS BEFORE DOUG’S!!
WOULD
YOU RATHER?!: OK, folks, I get it, this one crashed
and burned. Message received, JERKS! J just
kidding. However, with interest in both Kendo and FiF,
I’m happy. On to…
GUNBOAT (BLACK PRESS) GAMESTART:
“Don’t Taze
Me, Bro!”
All players have been notified, the trap is set, the game is on.
All 7 nations have units at their starting positions… you’d
hope so, anyway.
Orders are due, as with
everything in this zine, FIVE DAYS BEFORE DOUG’S. And write LOTS OF PRESS,
remember, PRESS IS OPEN TO NON-PLAYERS. And I have asked one player to actually
play Switzerland and attempt to win the press game. So get creative as
possible. Remember, quality over quantity, but quantity ain’t
bad.
DEVIANT DIPLOMACY GAMESTART:
“Bob Denver’s Accordion”
Dramatis Personae:
The quote inspiring the title: "I am not a demon. I am
a lizard, a shark, a heat-seeking panther. I want to be Bob Denver on acid
playing the accordion." -Nicolas Cage
Austria - Mike Ruttinger -
mruttinger@gmail.com
England - Doug Kent - dougray30@yahoo.com
France - Kal Miller -
kalvin.miller@gmail.com
Germany - Rob Draniczarek -
robert.draniczarek@gmail.com
Italy - Mark Firth - mark.r.firth@capita.co.uk
Russia - Mark Gallagher - markpgallagher@comcast.net
Turkey - Scott Allen - scottdjallen@gmail.com
The "rules" for Deviant were printed in the last
issue and have been sent to all players as well.
I am going to do this game a little differently than my other
games (typical deadline: five days before doug's).
If no one objects, I am setting this as a 2 week deadline game for every phase,
and, if we make more than one turn before the next issue, will print a digest.
With that in mind, the deadline for S1901 RULE PROPOSALS -- MOVES NOT DUE YET -- will be Mon Feb 10, 8 pm
United States Eastern time.
I will then publish the rule proposals via emial and people will submit votes along with S1901 moves.
Please have fun, be as creative as you want, and don't
explicitly TRY to make the GM's life hell (Doug, Jim Burgess told me you
would.... I'm watching you...)
DIPLOMACY
HOUSE RULES. I didn’t run
these last time, so here you are. They’re very simple.
1. Any level of deception is okay
except deceiving or impersonating the GM.
2. ALL games EXCEPT Deviant will have
deadlines of FIVE DAYS BEFORE DOUG’S.
3. Non-DIAS draws are allowed.
4. Standby players needed, if a player NMRs,
I’ll seek out a standby.
5. We will be doing AMERICAN style
split seasons, though it only takes TWO player requests to divide the seasons.
6. All games are black press and the
press competition, described above, is OPEN TO ALL, NOT PLAYERS ONLY.
DIP GAME OPENINGS: (And others by request)
Gunboat Diplomacy.
Black
Press. Anonymous. Will keep pumping these out as
long as people keep signing up. Needs 7.
Modern Diplomacy (no stinkin’ Wings!) – signed up: Doug Kent, need 9 more. Variant info: http://www.variantbank.org/results/rules/m/modern2.htm
Stonehenge Diplomacy – Signed up: Doug Kent, Geoff Kemp. Needs 7 more. Variant
info here: http://www.variantbank.org/results/rules/s/stonehenge2.htm
Nuclear Yuppie Evil Empire Diplomacy – signed up: Richard Weiss, needs 6 more. Folks, this is a small time commitment:
just a Spring, a Fall, and a WTF happened here? Diplomacy with nukes that are fired by all nations in S1901 and
vaporize centers, spaces and units. Last one standing – or last one
standing with the most supplies – wins.
Variant info here: http://www.variantbank.org/results/rules/n/nuclearyuppie.htm
Scott Allen’s Corner
This
will be a regular feature – a review, opinion, story, or any other piece from
Scott Allen, a fellow English major Diplomacy player introduced to us via Jim
Burgess’ TAP.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman
I've had a
difficult time deciding how to go about writing a review about this book. I
mean, I absolutely love it--no questions about that. But how
to write about the book to express what this book was to me? That was a
difficult one.
One section
sticks out in my mind and may help me explain what I am trying to get to.
"Grown-ups
don't look like grown-ups on the inside either. Outside they're big and
thoughtless and they always know what they're doing. Inside, they look just
like they always have. Like they did when they were your age.
The truth is, there aren't any grown-ups. Not one, in
the whole wide world.[...] I thought about adults. I
wondered if that was true: if they were all really children wrapped in adult
bodies, like children's books hidden in the middle of dull, long adult books,
the kind with no pictures or conversations."
This book is not
for adults. It is a children's book (a fairy tale if you will) wrapped up in an
adult book. To truly be able to enjoy The Ocean at the End of the Lane, one
must leave their adult life and exist, for a time, in the realm of childish
things. That cross over, the transition from serious adult
life to child-like wonder is a seamless one. While you exist in the
adult story of this book everything seems in focus and crisp. Then as you
transition things become foggy, dream-like. But once in the realm of the child,
once again things re-focus and you can see clearly.
"Children,
as I have said, use back ways and hidden paths, while adults take roads and
official paths."
The book is about
a man who upon visiting his childhood home becomes engulfed in memory. Remembering fantastic things that happened to him as a boy.
Things that are difficult for our adult brain to
imagine, but easy for the child in us to believe.
The story is
mythic and dark and beautiful. The kind of story that any well-read book lover
will immediately connect with, if not also recognize. This isn't just a well
written book, this is myth and legend. This is the stuff of fairy tales and
tall tales, told around a fire in a cave. A modern fairy
tale.
"Adults
follow paths. Children explore. Adults are content to walk the same way,
hundreds of times, or thousands; perhaps it never occurs to adults to step off
the paths, to creep beneath rhododendrons, to find the spaces between
fences."
And Neil Gaiman...I cannot even express how genius and wonderful he
is. I've read several other works of his, but this is his masterpiece. His
writing is crisp, his images beautiful. His characters, while created beings,
feel like people that I knew during my childhood--they are that fleshed out.
They live in our reality. I cannot say that they don't because they seem real
to me.
This is such a
special special book. I cannot do enough to recommend
it to everyone I know. If you want to give yourself a gift, read this book.
Stop whatever you are doing, whatever rubbish you are reading at the moment and
read this book.
"I do not
miss childhood, but I miss the way I took pleasure in small things, even as
greater things crumbled. I could not control the world I was in, could not walk
away from things or people or moments that hurt, but I found joy in the things
that made me happy."
This book is one
of those small things. Created to make you happy. If
you do not smile and glow as you are hitting the last few pages of this book,
then you are not human nor have you ever been. This is the stuff of humanity. A once in a life-time book.
On the back
cover, Joanne Harris says, "Some books you read. Some books you enjoy. But
some books (like this one) just swallow you up, heart and soul." And I
agree.
That’s All, Folks! See you
next time. Heath.gardner@gmail
Diplomacy (Black Press – Permanent Opening
in ES):
Signed up: Paul Milewski, Arthur Shulman, Brad Wilson, Mark Firth, Heath
Gardner, needs two more.
African Dip: Phil Reynolds’ fun
map variant. Rules and map in issue
#84. Signed up:
Gardner, K. Wilson, needs 4 more.
The following indented listings are just SOME
of the games now offered in Heath Gardner’s new subzine Equinox. Make sure you sign up with him directly for
these, not with me. And check out his
subzine to see what other games are offered, including his own game of Kendo
Nagasaki.
Modern Diplomacy: A 10-player
variant including powers like Poland, Egypt, and Ukraine. Run by Heath Gardner in his new subzine
Equinox. Contact him at Heath.Gardner@gmail.com to sign up or
to ask for rules and a map. Signed up:
Douglas Kent, needs 9 more.
Stonehenge Dip: A 9-player
variant, also GM’d by Heat in his subzine Equinox. Contact him at Heath.Gardner@gmail.com to
sign up. Signed up:
Douglas Kent, Geoff Kemp, needs 7 more.
Facts in Five: Also GM’d by Heat
in his subzine Equinox. Needs between 3 and 5 players. Contact him at Heath.Gardner@gmail.com to
sign up.
Acquire: Can take up to six players. Signed up: Hank Alme, Tom
Howell, Ricvhard Weiss, can take up to three more.
By Popular Demand: Back to the regular
BPD instead of BAPD. Join
at any time.
Eternal Sunshine Movie Quote Quiz: Join anytime.
Where in the World is Kendo Nagasaki?:
Rules
in ES #58. Join anytime! Also a SECOND game being run by Heath
Gardner in his subzine Equinox and a THIRD game in The Abyssinian Prince!
Coming Soon?: 1898,
Middle Eastern Diplomacy, Balkan Wars VI, Colonia VII-B. If you’re interested in one of these
variants, or have a suggestion, let me know.
Standby List:
HELP! I need standby players! – Current
standby list: Richard Weiss, Jim Burgess (Dip only), Hank Alme, Martin
Burgdorf, Paul Milewski (Dip only), Brad Wilson (including Woolworth), Chris
Babcock, Marc Ellinger, Heath Gardner, Jack McHugh, and whoever I beg into it
in an emergency.
Diplomacy
“Dulcinea” 2008C, F 27
Austria (Martin
Burgdorf – martin_burgdorf “of” hotmail.com): Retreat
A Belgium – Picardy,
A
Silesia - Berlin.. A Berlin - Kiel
(*Disbanded*), A Burgundy Supports A Picardy – Belgium,
A
Paris - Brest (*Fails*), A Picardy - Belgium (*Fails*), A Ruhr
Supports A Picardy - Belgium.
England (Hank Alme –
almehj “of” alumni.rice.edu): A
Belgium Supports A Holland (*Cut*),
A
Brest Supports F Gascony (*Cut*), A Finland - St Petersburg, A Holland
Supports A Belgium, F Kiel – Berlin,
A
Moscow – Ukraine, A Munich Hold, F North Sea Supports
A Belgium, F Norway - Norwegian Sea,
F Norwegian Sea - Barents Sea, A St Petersburg - Moscow.
Turkey (Jim Burgess
– jfburgess “of” gmail.com): F Adriatic Sea - Ionian Sea,
F
Aegean Sea - Eastern Mediterranean, A Bohemia Supports
A Munich, F Constantinople - Aegean Sea,
F English
Channel Supports A Brest, A Galicia Supports A Moscow
– Ukraine, F Gascony Supports A Brest,
F
Gulf of Bothnia - Baltic Sea, F Ionian Sea - Tyrrhenian Sea, F Piedmont –
Marseilles,
A Prussia
Supports F Kiel – Berlin, A Sevastopol Supports A St
Petersburg – Moscow,
A Silesia
Supports F Kiel – Berlin, F Spain(sc) Supports F
Piedmont – Marseilles, A Tyrolia Supports A Munich,
F Tyrrhenian Sea - Western Mediterranean.
W 27/S 28 Deadline is February 25th
at 7:00am my time
Supply
Center Chart
Austria:
Budapest, Paris, Vienna=3,
Remove 1
England:
Belgium, Berlin, Brest,
Denmark, Edinburgh, Holland, Kiel,
Liverpool, London,
Moscow, Munich, Norway, St Petersburg, Sweden=14, Build 3
Turkey:
Ankara, Bulgaria,
Constantinople, Greece, Marseilles, Naples, Portugal, Rome, Rumania, Serbia,
Sevastopol, Smyrna,
Spain, Trieste, Tunis, Venice, Warsaw=17, Build 1
PRESS
(THE
SULTAN to THE EMPEROR): No, I
am not proposing anything that I cannot vote for, and we're almost to the
end. One more game
year ought to seal it. You've been a
noble foe. But of course, this
"could have been you" had you gone along with the original Lance
Anderson deal.
(JIM-BOB
to LANCE): I'm not sure you're even
paying attention any more. I hope your
life has sorted out positively as we've played this out to the end.
(JIM-BOB
to HANK): I wish our great cooperation
here could lead to something in OTHER games we're in.... ;-) Oh well, we shall see. Next game year should be fun.
(BOOB to
PEANUT GALLERY): Does everyone see what happens
next?
“Dulcinea”
Diplomacy Bourse
Billy Ray Valentine: Probably in his
limousine.
Duke of York: Sells 500 Pounds. Buys 352 Piastres.
Smaug the Dragon: Snore.
Rothschild: Sells 500
Piastes. Buys 710
Pounds.
Baron Wuffet: Zip.
Wooden Nickel
Enterprises:
Sells 500 crowns. Buys
536 pounds.
VAIONT Enterprises: Resting his eyes.
Insider Trading LLC:
Grand
Jury hearing.
Bourse Master: Stands pat.
PRESS
(DUKE OF
YORK to ROTHSCHILD): I'll match you pound for pound
and stay ahead. I don't think anyone
else is trading.
(DUKE OF
YORK to DOUG): I'm still not sure Mr.
Rothschild knows what's coming..... but YOU do....
Doug –
Duke: I don’t see how anybody
couldn’t by now, but you may be right.
(DUKE OF
YORK to BOURSE MASTER): Oh I
see what you and Rothschild have in mind.
Well, while it will reduce the total value of my holdings, perhaps I
shall go ahead and rebalance to prove him wrong. Let's see... hmmm, just enough time.
(DUKE OF
YORK to THE DUKE OF EARL): I bow
to your wisdom. Would you deign to visit
our little game?
Next Bourse Deadline is February 24th at 7:00pm my time
Diplomacy
“Jerusalem” 2012A, W 08
Seasons
Separated by Player Request
Austria (Melinda Holley
– genea5613 “of” aol.com): Has A Tyrolia, A Venice.
England (John Biehl
– jerbil “of” shaw.ca): Remove F Helgoland Bight..Has F Baltic
Sea, A Belgium, A Brest,
F
English Channel, A Kiel, F Mid-Atlantic Ocean, F North
Atlantic Ocean, F Norway, A Picardy, F Portugal, A Ruhr.
Germany (Heath
Gardner - heath.gardner “of” gmail.com): Remove
A Gascony..Has A Berlin, A Paris.
Italy (Mark Firth – mark.r.firth
“of” capita.co.uk): Has
A
Burgundy, F Gulf of Lyon, F North Africa, A Spain,
F Trieste, F Western Mediterranean.
Russia (Richard
Weiss – richardweiss “of” higherquality.com): Build A
Moscow..Has A Moscow, A
Prussia,
A Sevastopol, A St Petersburg.
Turkey (Geoff Kemp -
ggeoff510 “of” aol.com): Build A
Constantinople..Has F Aegean Sea, F Black Sea,
A
Bohemia, A Budapest, A Constantinople, A Munich, A
Piedmont, A Silesia, F Tuscany.
Now Proposed – Concession to Turkey. Please vote. NVR=No.
S 09 Deadline is February 25th at 7:00am my time
PRESS
(BOOB to ISRAELITES): If the
Palestinians in this game won't write press, then YOU have to! I cannot believe how this great group of
players and writers can only produce a one-liner from Melinda! Check ALL of your pulses!!!
(BOOB to BIEHL): Can you buy a clue, call a
friend? Nope, I think you're in decline.
(BOOB to DOUG): This is a game that
demands great press, I wish they would start, and then I can read and
respond. But where has it all gone??
Doug – Boob: Press? At
this point we’re all lucky if most of them bother to send in orders. What a bunch of rubes.
Diplomacy
“Walkerdine” 2012D, W 04
Seasons
Separated by Player Request
Austria
(paul.milewski “of” hotmail.com): Has A Budapest.
England
(Marc Ellinger - mellinger “of” bbdlc.com): Has F
Barents Sea, F Finland, A Livonia, A Moscow,
F North Sea, A St Petersburg.
France
(Jim Burgess – jfburgess “of” gmail.com): Build F Marseilles.. Has A Belgium, F Marseilles,
F
Mid-Atlantic Ocean, F Rome, F Tunis, A Tyrolia, F
Tyrrhenian Sea, F Western Mediterranean.
Germany
(Steve Cooley – tmssteve “of” gmail.com): Build
A Kiel, A Berlin, A Munich.. Has A
Berlin,
F
Gulf of Bothnia, A Kiel, A Munich, A Silesia, F
Sweden, A Venice, A Vienna, A Warsaw.
Italy
(Harold Zarr - skip1955 “of” hotmail.com): Has F Naples.
Russia
(Hank Alme – almehj “of” alumni.rice.edu): Retreat A Moscow – Sevastopol, A Vienna - Galicia..
Remove
A Galicia.. Has F Adriatic Sea, A Sevastopol, A Ukraine.
Turkey (Chris
Babcock - cbabcock “of” asciiking.com): Has F
Aegean Sea, F Apulia, A Bohemia, F Greece,
F
Ionian Sea, A Trieste.
Deadline
for S 05 is February 25th at 7am my time
PRESS
Italy
to Turkey:
I wonder how much longer the French-English-German alliance will hold with all
of those supply centers so ripe for the taking.
(FRANCE): What, who, me???
(NAVAL
OPERATIONS: NICE): What
is this? A sailing
ship? Are we taking on the
Barbary Pirates? Yes, yes, that's what
we're up to.
(FRANCE
to ITALY):
I'll bite....
(FRANCE): We SUCK MORE!
(BOOB
to HANK):
So, my man, can we talk? Steve is off at
WACCon, no one is listening....
(BOOB
to WACadoodles):
I hope everyone who went to WAC had a great time, including Steve. After this brief separation interlude, can we
get back to some REAL Diplomacy??
Black
Press Gunboat, “Fred Noonan”, 2013Arb32, W 05/S 06
England: F London Hold (*Dislodged*, retreat
to Yorkshire or OTB), F North Sea - Edinburgh.
France: Build A Paris, F Brest.. A Belgium
Supports A Burgundy (*Cut*),
F
Brest - Mid-Atlantic Ocean (*Bounce*), A Burgundy Supports A Belgium, F
English Channel – London,
F
Liverpool - North Atlantic Ocean (*Fails*), A Paris – Picardy, F Wales
Supports F English Channel - London.
Germany:
Retreat A Belgium - Holland.. A Berlin Support A Munich – Silesia (*Fails*),
F
Gulf of Bothnia Supports A St Petersburg (*Ordered to Move*), A Holland -
Belgium (*Fails*), A Kiel – Munich,
F Norway - North Sea, F Skagerrak - Denmark.
Italy: Disband A Galicia.. Build F Naples.. F Adriatic Sea Supports F Ionian Sea – Albania,
A
Budapest Supports A Trieste, F Ionian Sea – Albania, F
Naples - Ionian Sea, A Silesia – Bohemia,
A
Trieste Supports F Ionian Sea – Albania, A Tyrolia Supports A Trieste.
Russia: Remove A Munich.. A Moscow Supports A Warsaw – Ukraine,
F
North Atlantic Ocean - Mid-Atlantic Ocean (*Bounce*), A St Petersburg –
Livonia, A Warsaw – Ukraine
(*Dislodged*, retreat to Prussia or Silesia or
OTB).
Turkey: F Albania - Trieste
(*Disbanded*), F Constantinople - Aegean Sea, A Galicia – Warsaw, F Greece
Supports F Constantinople - Aegean Sea, A Rumania Supports A Serbia, A Serbia
Supports F Albania – Trieste,
A
Sevastopol Supports A Ukraine, A Ukraine Supports A
Galicia - Warsaw.
Deadline
for F 06 Will Be February 25th at 7am My
Time
PRESS
France
to Russia: The fleet of the damned is sailing to its
destruction. Better you should have sunk
the ships in the fiords of Norway than to have sent it on a fool’s errand to
die in the icy waters of the north.
France
to England:
As Russia slides into oblivion, so too will your fleets suffer the same
fate. Better for you to have allied with
me against the German menace in the north than to have played the toad and lead
your people to defeat and ruin.
France
to Germany:
My moves are designed to shore up your western frontier from the threat of English
and Russian pirates and mercenaries. A
great threat rises in the east from the
Turkish Sultan. I pray you, keep your attention turned to the southeast so that we
might survive the deadly onslaught that is coming our way.
Ger -
Fra: With friends like you, who needs enemies?
France
to Italy:
Build a fleet and take Munich, as you should have done last season!
(AMELIA
to FRED):
Who are all these nutcases? I just want
to find our plane!
(TATTOO
to FRED):
The plane, the plane!!!
(GERMANY
to FRANCE):
I don't recognize the danger, stay away!!
(GER
to FRA): I
choose the danger.
(Constantinople
to Rome):
I'm not sure I trust what you're doing,
How come ***I*** didn't get a build and what are my fleets supposed to
do now?
(Italy
to France):
Don't listen to them, we're good.
(RUSSIA
to FRANCE and TURKEY):
I'm your friend, really, you both have to stop Italy
now!
Russia-All: You guys suck!!
Diplomacy “Sweet Spot” 2013A, F 05
England
(Harold Zarr - skip1955 “of” hotmail.com): A
Liverpool - Edinburgh (*Bounce*),
A Yorkshire - London.
France (Melinda Holley – genea5613 “of” aol.com): F
Belgium - English Channel,
A
Gascony - Burgundy (*Bounce*), A Holland – Kiel, A Kiel – Munich,
A
Marseilles Supports F Mid-Atlantic Ocean - Spain(sc)
(*Disbanded*),
F
Mid-Atlantic Ocean - Spain(sc) (*Fails*), F
North Sea - Edinburgh (*Dislodged*, retreat to Belgium or Holland
or Helgoland Bight or Norwegian Sea or Yorkshire or OTB).
Germany
(Jack McHugh – jwmchughjr “of” gmail.com): A
Denmark Hold.
Italy
(Heath Gardner - heath.gardner “of” gmail.com): F
Gulf of Lyon Supports A Piedmont – Marseilles,
F
Ionian Sea Hold, A Munich - Burgundy (*Dislodged*, retreat to Ruhr or
OTB),
F
North Africa - Mid-Atlantic Ocean (*Fails*), A Piedmont – Marseilles,
A
Portugal Supports F Western Mediterranean - Spain(sc),
A Tyrolia - Munich (*Fails*),
A
Vienna - Bohemia (*Bounce*), F Western Mediterranean - Spain(sc).
Russia
(Chris Babcock –
cbabcock “of” asciiking.com ): A Berlin Supports A Kiel – Munich,
F
Norway - North Sea, A Prussia – Warsaw, A Silesia
Supports A Kiel – Munich,
F
Skagerrak Supports F Norway - North Sea, A Sweden - Denmark (*Fails*).
Turkey
(Larry Peery – peery “of” ix.netcom.com): F
Aegean Sea Hold, A Budapest - Galicia (*Fails*),
A
Galicia - Bohemia (*Bounce*), A Greece Supports A Rumania – Bulgaria, A
Rumania – Bulgaria, A Serbia Hold.
Now Proposed – F/I/R/T Draw. Please vote, NVR=No.
Deadline
for W 05/S 06 Will Be February 25th at 7am My Time
Supply Center Chart
England:
Liverpool, London=2, Even
France:
Belgium, Brest, Edinburgh,
Kiel, Munich, Paris, Holland?=6 or 7, Build 1
Germany:
Denmark, Holland?=1 or 2, Even (No Room to Build)
Italy:
Marseilles, Naples,
Portugal, Rome, Spain, Trieste, Tunis, Venice, Vienna=9, Even or Build 1
Russia:
Berlin, Moscow, Norway,
Rumania, Sevastopol, St Petersburg, Sweden, Warsaw=8, Build 2
Turkey:
Ankara, Budapest, Bulgaria,
Constantinople, Greece, Serbia, Smyrna=7, Build 1
PRESS
England to Europe: I
see a Russo-Turkish steamroller beginning to form.
England to France:
Perhaps a rapprochement is in order?
Central France is open to invasion; the Mid-Atlantic is soon to be
occupied by Italian fleets, and the Iberian Peninsula has already fallen to
Italy. And you are concerned about dark
chocolate?
Fra - Eng: Hey, I took my shot. Either I got your centers or the Russian will
get them. Because I
can't stop him now. Look for him
in the North Sea & then on your shores.
Fra - Rus: Well, that was rather harsh. I'd rather we be friends.
(Versailles) - "Madam,
the peasants are revolting."
The Woman eyed her aide with confusion
then nodded. "Yes, Robert, they
certainly are."
"Madam...I mean, they are
protesting in the streets. There is no
bread."
The Woman turned to study the large map
on the wall. "Let 'em eat
cake."
"But,
Madam!"
"Let them have all the cake in the
bakeries. Those bakers are hoarding
those cakes for the rich folks anyway.
Once the cakes are all gone, inform the bakeries that by my decree they
are to bake and sell nothing but bread.
Problem solved."
"Yes,
Madam."
The Aide took a deep breath, wondering how he would phrase that order
more diplomatically. Obviously, Madam
had never dealt with an irate French pastry chef.
"And my
incompetent Generals? Where are they right now?"
"With Madam Guillotine," the
Aide solemnly replied.
"What?! They're at a
cathouse?"
"What...what is a cathouse?"
The Woman heavily sighed. "A cathouse. A brothel. A den of sin."
"Oh...oh,
no, Madam!"
The Aide made a slicing motion across his throat. "THAT Madam
Guillotine."
The Woman blinked. "So, they're not at that house close to
Napoleon's Tomb with the red doors...well...*ahem*...Good! Excellent!
Let the people be shown that incompetent fools will be
punished!" The Woman turned to eye
the map once again. "They
squandered our victories."
"Yes,
Madam."
The Aide glanced at the map.
"What will happen now?"
The Woman's eyes flickered to her Aide
and then back to the map. Suddenly she
pointed at a spot on the map. "Now,
Robert...we try to outguess the Devil."
(BOOB to EVERYONE BUT LARRY): You don't need anything from me,
you have MORE than enough from Larry.
Enjoy....
Heath to Melinda -
sorry, but they convinced me you were going to kamikaze against me if I turned
back. This merits further discussion. I didn't want to have to end up removing
a bunch and giving you guys the key to the boot. but
there's no way I move to eliminate you now. I'm just hoping to ride out the
Russian solo attempt and survive to a draw. You'll make it too.
Heath to ALL - I
don't know why, but Chris divulged his solo intent to me via email this season.
I'm not trying to eliminate anyone at this point, just find my way into a
position where I can hopefully wait this out. If Larry helps Chris, it's over.
Heath to CHRIS and LARRY
- If you guys duped me with this "let's rule the world very
unconventionally" thing, good job. It should have been obvious, but the
dulcet tones of both of your soothing voices lulled me into a false sense of
security. Now I'm kinda stuck with my choices...
Heath to LARRY -
If you did what you said you were going to do, you're my friend tiil the end of
the game. Which I think will be a draw, 4 or 5 way,
unless Chris changes his mind.
Woolworth
II-D “Coney Island” 2013Bcb19, W 04
Seasons
Separated by Player Request
Austria
(Secret): Ret A Vie-OTB..Has A Swi.
Balkans
(Secret): Bld A Ser, A Gre..Has A Ser, A Gre, F Alb, A Tri, A Vie.
England
(Secret): Remove F NAO..Has F Lon, A Lpl.
France
(Heath Gardner - heath.gardner “of” gmail.com): Remove A Hol..Has
A Bre, F Eng, F Tys.
Germany
(Marc Ellinger - mellinger “of” bbdlc.com): Remove A Gas..Has A Bur, A Ruh, A Kie, A Ber.
Italy
(Secret):
Has F Tun, F Tus, A Pie, A Nap, A Ven.
Russia
(Jim Burgess - jfburgess “of”
gmail.com): Has F
Bal, A Sil, A War, A Pru, A Ukr.
Scandinavia
(Geoff Kemp - ggeoff510 “of” aol.com): Bld F Nwy..Has
F Nwy, F Edi, F Nth, A Den.
Spain (Secret): Bld A Por..Has A Por, A Bel, F Mad, F Wms, F Nwg.
Turkey (Hugh
Polley – hapolley “of” yahoo.ca): Has F Bla, A Rum, A Bul, F Ion, F
Ems.
Deadline
for S 05 is February 25th at 7am My Time
PRESS
(JIM-BOB
to GEOFF): Whoops,
I guess we didn't talk more, but I've still got your back!!!
HEATH
to EUROPE: Now
offering janissary status at a low rate. Contact me, one and a half countries
for the price of ... none.
By
Popular Demand
The goal is to pick something that fits the
category and will be the "most popular" answer. You score points
based on the number of entries that match yours. For example, if the category
is "Cats" and the responses were 7 for Persian, 3 for Calico and 1
for Siamese, everyone who said Persian would get 7 points, Calico 3 and the
lone Siamese would score 1 point. The cumulative total over 10 rounds will
determine the overall winner. Anyone may enter at any point, starting with an
equivalent point total of the lowest cumulative score from the previous round.
If a person misses a round, they'll receive the minimum score from the round
added to their cumulative total. In each round you may specify one of your
answers as your Joker answer. Your score for this answer will be
doubled. In other words, if you apply
your Joker to category 3 on a given turn, and 4 other people give the same
answer as you, you get 10 points instead of 5.
Players who fail to submit a Joker for any specific turn will have their
Joker automatically applied to the first category. And, if you want to submit
some commentary with your answers, feel free to. The game will consist of 10 rounds, with the
10th round being worth double points. A prize will be awarded to the winner. Research is permitted, but cooperation or
collusion between players is not!
Round 2 Categories
1. A U.S.
President from the 1900’s.
2. A film
featuring Gene Hackman.
3. A Ford
car model.
4. A type
of drum.
5. A Native
American tribe.
Selected Comments By
Category
President – Kevin
Wilson “Interestingly, when I looked a the list, most
of the Presidents from the early 1900s aren't that memorable. The most memorable from the early period was
FDR. I would go for him but some of the
more recent like Clinton or Reagan may also stick in people's minds. I think we are more likely to hit the recent ones
than past so I'll go with Bill Clinton.”
Andy Bate “So, just those ten years, or is this the Twentieth
Century? Well, as Theodore Roosevelt was
1901-1909 then I have to assume that's pretty much the only answer that you can
give.” Dane Maslen
“Will players assume that "1900's" means 1900-1909 or 1900-1999?”
Richard Weiss “A millennia ago. I guess Republicans will pick Reagan (I had
to check on the spelling) and the other three best guesses are FDR, Kennedy,
and Clinton. No one
for Silent Cal from my home state.
Hoover, Carter, and Ford are on my “no one will list” bet.” Hank Alme “I assume "from the
1900's" means "20th Century" and not "1900-1909" It
looks like that decade was covered by McKinley and TR.” Marc Ellinger “Greatest president of the
modern era, the Great Communicator and the man who won the Cold War!!” Heath Gardner “I couldnt tell if you meant
just the 1900s decade or the 20th century. Seems like just the 1900s makes it a
little easy (only three... right? choices). But I'd consider TR as a 20th
century overall pick too. One of those presidents both parties can generally
agree was totally a badass.”
Hackman – Brad
Wilson “If I was naming my favorite, though, I'd say "Heist" or
"Twilight", the latter an overlooked 'film noir in pastel' with an
unbeatable cast (Paul Newman, Hackman, Susan Sarandon, James Garner, Stockard
Channing, Margo Martindale, M. Emmet Walsh, Reece Witherspoon and more) and a
terrific Elmer Bernstein score.” Kevin Wilson “Wow, way too many to choose from. One of my all-time favorites is Bat-21 in
which GH starred. But I don't think it
is that well known. I do highly
recommend it though. He's had some great
movies: The French Connection,
Mississippi Burning, Hoosiers, Class Action, Unforgiven; some OK one's: Crimson
Tide, Absolute Power, Runaway Jury; and some bad ones like any of the Superman
movies. I want to say my favorite but I
think The French Connection will get more nods so I'll go with that.” Geoff Kemp “Although wanted to put Young
Frankenstein, Didn't think anyone else would put that though!” Dane Maslen “I don't expect 'Mississippi
Burning' to be a popular answer, but it was an excellent film, so I'll go for
it.” Heath Gardner “That's one of my
favorite movies of all time. Every time I think of Hackman that's the movie I
think of. A close runner up would be "The Conversation." My films of
the 70s grad school class was THE coolest class I took all thru my academic
career. I prefer films of that period to any other... and Hackman was in a lot
of them.”
Ford – Andy
Bate “Let's hope that the Ford Escort was as popular the other side of the pond
as it was this.” Geoff Kemp “Thought
there would be more chance with an American Ford rather than a British one.” Dane Maslen “'Model T' could prove to be an
inspired or a disastrous answer. In the
process of googling for a list of Ford models I saw a reference to the Model T
and thought "Of course!" I
hope other players have a similar experience.”
Richard Weiss “Mustang, Model
A, or Model T. I’ll go with
Mustang. Ford F – 150 or F -100 aren’t cars.” Heath
Gardner “First I almost put Focus, then I almost put
Model-T. I guess this is sort of a compromise?”
Drum – Kevin Wilson “I admit I
know next to nothing about drums. I
played in the band one year in high school.
We had a bass drum, snare drums and a the big
kettle things in the back but other than that I have no idea. I'll go with snare drum for lack of any
reason to go otherwise.” Richard Weiss “A type of
drum. Hmm, manufacturer, probably not. Snare, bass, bongo, congas, marching… I’ll go with Bongo and hope others avoid the
types that are in a typical drum set-up for rock groups.” Heath Gardner “The only drum I was ever
allowed to touch when I played percussion in grade school band. BORING ass solo practice sessions.”
Tribe – Rick
Desper “Also known as the Dine'” Steve Cooley “Can I pick one from
F-Troop?” Richard
Weiss “There is an “official list of 566 tribes that are Indian Entities Recognized and
Eligible To Receive Services From the United States
Bureau of Indian Affairs” per Wikipedia.
I’m “Hopi” entries will come for Trail of Tears,
BCBS Champion Florida State, Navajo, Goano'ganoch'sa'jeh'seroni,
Apache because of Geronimo or the SUV. I
really want to take Goano'ganoch'sa'jeh'seroni (OK, known to most as the
Iroquois nation, because they invented Lacrosse; but, competitively, I’ll go
with Cherokee.” Marc Ellinger “They
killed Custer (what an idiot!), and Sitting Bull is the biggest sculpture in
the West (maybe the world!)” Heath
Gardner “I have donated enough, via raked poker pots, to their nation to make
up for whatever horrible shit my ancestors did (not really).”
Congrats to Robin ap
Cynan who got the highest POSSIBLE score of 85.
Poor Hugh Polley only scored a 26, the worst of the bunch. At least we had no NMRs!
Round 3 Categories
1.
The one and only correct religion (answers must match exactly).
2. The most guilty party in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
3. What Hitler was right about.
4. The NFL team with the biggest crybabies for fans.
5. Which amendment in the Bill of Rights we should do away with (answer by
number).
Deadline for Round 3 is February 25th at 7:00am
my time
