IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

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IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by Auks Ran Ova »

Hello everyone,

Much like last year's edition, this year's #quizbowl Festivus celebration will forgo the traditional Airing of Grievances in favor of, as the name might suggest, an all-Feats (of Strength) schedule. What this means is that if you have written, or want to write, any sort of novelty packet, I encourage you to write it by December 23, on which date you'll hopefully have a decent audience waiting in the #quizbowl IRC channel to read it to. Packets can be any length, at any difficulty, on any subject; the important thing is that they be fresh and entertaining.

I've learned a few things from last year: first, there probably won't be a need to fill time, given the absurdly full schedule we had. On that note, we're going to be starting earlier this year--I don't have a definite time yet, but last year's started around 2pm and ran for something like 12 hours, so I'd like to avoid that late a finish. To that end, please exhibit common sense when writing your packets; each packet should take somewhere between 30-45 minutes at most. There are many ways to do this--for example, if you want to write a larger number of questions, keep the individual question length down.

Please post in this thread if you're planning on writing/reading something. I'll have more information on scheduling and the like as packet announcements come in and as we get closer to the date. Hope to see you there!
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by Cheynem »

I'd reiterate my suggestions from last year that:

-people reading packets go promptly
-people playing packets DO NOT buzz and then say nothing for 30 seconds or buzz and say something like "I don't know his name, but he was the head of General Motors in 1932..." Only buzz if you have a concrete guess ready to be delivered. Obviously there are some packets when the fun is with esoteric answerlines in which people don't quite know what to say, but there is nothing more galling than having 20 people buzz with bullshit non-answers
-perhaps try to avoid bonuses or at the very least, hard 1 part bonuses. This isn't as bad as the other points, but I do think bonuses tend to slow things down a lot.
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by hydrocephalitic listlessness »

I have a themed packet of music tossups that's been sitting on my computer for a while, so I guess I can read that. :party:
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by UlyssesInvictus »

I've been meaning to write a handful of vanity movie answerlines, so I guess I'll write it for this.
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by Wynaut »

I have 20 NAQT-length music tossups whose answerlines are all songs, like Mike Cheyne's music packets.
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by Auks Ran Ova »

Avoiding bonuses is good advice--if you've got hard or weird shit you want to ask about, just write a short tossup!
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by InvadErGII »

I've been meaning to get around to writing a second Forbidden Packet, so I'll put one together for this.
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by anderson »

I'll have 20 (maybe a few more) tossups on random music-related things, including some amount of "indie" music from 2015.
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by Gen. Winfield Scott Hancock »

I'll most likely write a soccer packet for this.
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by Auks Ran Ova »

Oh, also, I should mention--just because this is posted in the trash forum doesn't mean your packets can't be academic. Write whatever your heart desires.
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by ThisIsMyUsername »

I'll write a 20-tossup packet on things John Cleese has appeared in. It will be heavy on Monty Python and Fawlty Towers content, but I'll throw in some film stuff too.
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by RexSueciae »

I should have finished the packet I've been writing about the life and times of W. H. Auden. Featuring absurd difficulty and, at this point, 5 out of a planned 20 or so questions.
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by Good Goblin Housekeeping »

I jokingly considered writing a bunch of absurd science speedchecks but then realized nobody would actually enjoy playing a bunch of 3 line tus on dumb chemistry nobody's heard of. If I have time I may write a bunch of vanity questions that might heavily be related to the food network and/or whatever cartoons I watched in middle school
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by Auroni »

I will write another poetry packet of similar difficulty to my last one. There will be no theme, beyond "stuff I like."
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by Ike »

I'm using Mike Cheyne's tricon packet distribution to write questions for this.
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by That DCC guy »

I have some time based(years, decades, and centuries) questions for history I could contribute to this about 2 packets worth actually. So would you be interested in me contributing? I'll probably just read one full packet for time purposes since the questions are rather long
Last edited by That DCC guy on Mon Dec 21, 2015 1:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by Victor Prieto »

I'm writing a packet containing an undisclosed number of tossups on Quentin Tarantino films for this.
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by adosreme »

I can read somewhere around 10-15 tossups from my MacVanity 2 pack. They are all common link tossups and mostly trash.
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by jonpin »

I am designing a packet of 20-30 tossups that has a theme. I will try to adhere to a semi-reasonable distribution, though there may be somewhat more trash.
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by Valefor »

I will do my best to write a packet of 10-20 questions on things that pissed me off in video games. There may or may not (read: will) be bonus points available for identifying which questions describe things that made me break a controller.

EDIT: I can now confirm that this is absolutely happening, and is 99.9% likely to consist of a full 20 tossup packet.
Last edited by Valefor on Thu Dec 17, 2015 11:22 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by The Time Keeper »

Vissi d'arte wrote:I will do my best to write a packet of 10-20 questions on things that pissed me off in video games. There may or may not (read: will) be bonus points available for identifying which questions describe things that made me break a controller.
I'm already on board with this
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by Auks Ran Ova »

If I have time I'm going to put together a sequel to my surprisingly-well-received "stuff in my apartment" packet, with perhaps shorter tossups and probably fewer questions on furniture.
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by The Favourite »

I'm working on a packet of 10-20 questions about one and two star movies on Netflix. If anyone is interested in something crappy like that.
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by Beast Mode »

I have a few things I could potentially read for this, none of them original works:

-I recently won a Star Wars original trilogy trivia night put on by Trivia A.D. (which New Yorkers with unhealthy knowledge of certain pop culture topics should totally check out) and wrote down the questions. There are five rounds, each consisting of ten very short questions (except for round five, which has 20).

-The next night, I won an Anchorman trivia night also put on by Trivia A.D. This is also five rounds of ten very short questions apiece (except for round two, which has 12, and round five, which has 20). I suspect that people would rather hear Star Wars at Festivus, so Anchorman is probably best saved for another time.

-Since this is quizbowl, I'd be remiss if I didn't offer to read the tossups from an Avatar (Korra included) packet that one of Columbia's sophomores wrote for the "trash day" we did at our last practice before Thanksgiving break. We'll see if anyone can dominate this packet the way Wilton Rao did.

-One of our freshmen subsequently wrote a harder Avatar (Korra excluded) packet so that Wilton could defend his title against the author of the first packet. Wilton also dominated this one.

I'm happy to read whichever of these packets Pope Rob and you, his flock, decide is best.
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by Wynaut »

Also, I may have 5-10 Pokemon/painting mashup questions to make up for that Pokemon/academic mashup packet that never materialized.
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by #1 Mercury Adept »

I have about a half-packet's worth of before and after tossups that I wrote for that thing in the summer but didn't finish in time and never sent. I might write a few more between now and then.
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by Tejas »

I was inspired by Jason's idea to write a packet on games that annoyed me. It will hopefully be 15-20 questions.
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by Ike »

Ike wrote:I'm using Mike Cheyne's tricon packet distribution to write questions for this.
So, for some reason, I can't seem to find my packet that I had written for this. (Or rather the first third.) I sadly will have to withdraw from writing.

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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by Auks Ran Ova »

FESTIVUS UPDATE:

Things will start around noon on Wednesday, December 23. Just like last year, there will be a Google doc where people can add their names to the reading queue (which I reserve the right to modify at any time, though I'll do my best to be sensitive to people's time constraints).

Here's some basic guidelines for the event itself:

IF YOU'RE READING
-Read quickly and efficiently. Paste about a clue at a time, every five to ten seconds or so.
-Recognize people when they buzz, by either real name or screen name.
-Keep things moving much as you would a regular game of quizbowl--i.e. don't let people chatter too much between questions, enforce a sane limit on how long someone has to answer (not necessarily the "five seconds and you're done" you may be used to, but something like what you think a reasonable amount of time to type the answer might be, after which it's good online form to prompt the buzzer for an answer).
-If people do the cliched online quizbowl thing where they buzz and say "oh man it's that thing by the guy", prompt them once for a real answer then cut them off if they're not making any progress. Shit takes forever otherwise.
-"wd" means people are withdrawing, which is always acceptable within limits.
-Keeping score is not required but is encouraged.
-When you're done reading your packet, send it to me so I can put it on the archive.

IF YOU'RE PLAYING
-If you're recognized by your IRC handle, give your answer as well as your real name ("the green light from The Great Gatsby (I'm Rob Carson)"). #quizbowl isn't an anonymous channel the other 364-5 days of the year and Festivus is no different; you're a person! Don't be afraid to be one.
-Try not to buzz until you have a real answer. If you buzz and can't think of the name for something, neg yourself or withdraw out of respect for everyone else's time (then don't incessantly continue to buzz and withdraw).
-Don't chatter a lot between questions! Some comments are okay, jokes are fine (I'm not the fun police) but don't waste everyone's time or try to carry on secondary conversations during packet reading. Please restrict those to side channels or PMs.
-If you've never played quizbowl on the IRC before, here's some basics: buzz by saying "buzz" or some obvious variant, then wait to be recognized before answering. Be aware that the order of buzzes on your screen may not match the order on the reader's screen (the latter of which is the only order that matters) due to lag/latency issues.
-Avoid protesting or complaining about questions. There is no benefit to doing either of those things, since it slows everything down and wastes people's time.

IF YOU'RE NOT ME IN GENERAL
-I reserve the right to kick your ass out if you're being disruptive. Other #quizbowl ops may do so as well. Please don't be disruptive! It dampens the holiday spirit.
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by Auks Ran Ova »

To clarify, all times are Central.
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by UlyssesInvictus »

Is the doc already up, or will it be posted sometime tomorrow when this starts?
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by Auks Ran Ova »

The latter. It's easiest to have people sign up in the moment.
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by theMoMA »

Here is an attempt to list all the packets so far:

Academic

* Vasa Clarke's packet on "the life and times of W. H. Auden"
* Auroni Gupta's "poetry packet"
* Austin Foos's "time-based (years, decades, and centuries)" history questions

Music

* Will Holub-Moorman's "themed packet of music tossups"
* Kenji Golimlim's "20 NAQT-length music tossups whose answerlines are all songs"
* Anderson Wang's "20 (maybe a few more) tossups on random music-related things"

Film/tv

* Raynor Kuang's "handful of vanity movie answerlines"
* John Lawrence's "20-tossup packet on things John Cleese has appeared in"
* Victor Prieto's "undisclosed number of tossups on Quentin Tarantino films" (~40)
* Tracey Hickman's "packet of 10-20 questions about one and two star movies on Netflix"
* Saul Hankin offered to read either Star Wars trivia, Anchorman trivia, an Avatar packet, or another Avatar packet

Sports

* Ryan Bilger's "soccer packet"

Video games

* Jason Thompson's "packet of 10-20 questions on things that pissed me off in video games" (likely 20)
* Kenji Golimlim's 5-10 Pokemon/painting mashup questions
* Tejas Raje's "packet on games that annoyed me"

Miscellaneous/other

* Erik Nelson's "Forbidden Packet"
* Aaron Dos Remedios's "10-15 tossups from my MacVanity 2 packet" (common link trash)
* Jon Pinyan's "packet of 20-30 tossups that has a theme"
* Rob Carson's "stuff in my apartment" packet
* Mia Nussbaum's "half-packet's worth of before and after tossups"
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by Good Goblin Housekeeping »

Uh sorry for the late post but my ill advised packet probably isn't happening
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by That DCC guy »

Is there a prescribed order on who's reading? Or will that occur once the Google Doc is up?
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by theMoMA »

That DCC guy wrote:Is there a prescribed order on who's reading? Or will that occur once the Google Doc is up?
I don't speak ex cathedra, but in past years, the Festivus Pope (Rob) has ordained the order very loosely, with folks lining their packets up a few in advance, and the occasional rejiggering to accommodate packet authors' schedules and commitments.
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by Auks Ran Ova »

This year's Festivus feats of strength concluded at 1:10 am central time! Thank god we started earlier. Thanks a ton to everyone for writing and reading packets and coming out to hang out!

If you haven't already sent me your packets, please do so (address in my profile is fine). I'll post them on the archive within a couple of days.
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Re: IRC Festivus 2015: Rex Ryan's Revenge

Post by Auks Ran Ova »

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