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IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 11:32 pm
by Auks Ran Ova
Hello friends,

With the advent of winter, it's once again time to start thinking about Festivus--specifically, the Third Annual All-Feats of Strength Quizbowl IRC Festivus Celebration. 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.

As with last year, we'll probably start around noon central time on Friday, December 23, which provided a reasonable compromise between getting done by a reasonable time and not having to wake up too ungodly early. 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. Relatedly, don't write bonuses--if there's something hard or weird you want to ask about, just write a short tossup on it!

As we did the past two years, scheduling will be on a somewhat ad-hoc basis: we'll have a Google doc to maintain the list of packets to be read and the active queue, and I'll be there through the entire event as your presiding pope to manage things as necessary.

Please post in this thread if you're planning on writing/reading something, or if you have questions about the proceedings. 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!

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 11:33 pm
by Good Goblin Housekeeping
billy and i will write the wrost science packit

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 11:36 pm
by Amizda Calyx
I have like 50+ shitty questions mostly in medicine and real science that I could probably read.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 11:40 pm
by Auks Ran Ova
ok now someone promise a fun packet

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 11:46 pm
by Ciorwrong
I hope to have the Pokémon packet done by then. It should be 20 tossups on mostly stuff from the video games.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Tue Nov 22, 2016 11:59 pm
by RexSueciae
I will probably have finished at some point a packet on "fictional characters in popular music."

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2016 12:04 am
by Mike Bentley
I'll have some combination of things. Possibly on videogames that skew heavily towards my interest. Possibly some biography questions on academic people.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2016 12:09 am
by Auks Ran Ova
Mike Bentley wrote:I'll have some combination of things. Possibly on videogames that skew heavily towards my interest. Possibly some biography questions on academic people.
porque no los dos???

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2016 12:59 am
by Majin Buu Roi
I intend to have a Broadway packet ready to go. I'm about halfway done with it at the moment.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2016 1:02 am
by naturalistic phallacy
RexSueciae wrote:I will probably have finished at some point a packet on "fictional characters in popular music."
I am ready for this

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2016 1:39 am
by Dantooine is Big!
If I end up having time, I might write a Seinfeld packet. Seems appropriate.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2016 2:28 am
by Wynaut
I'll have either an "Internet content" or a Philippines-themed packet by Festivus since I don't feel like reading two packets this time.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2016 3:35 am
by Harpie's Feather Duster
might have a vanity packet prepared by then, who knows

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Wed Nov 23, 2016 5:37 pm
by anderson
I'll probably have a music packet for this, similar to last year (~10 tossups on 2016 "indie" releases, ~10 tossups on random things).

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2016 2:01 am
by Nine-Tenths Ideas
No promises, but I might write a "fun" packet akin to 1997 ISSAC, but without the 1997 conceit, if people are interested.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2016 5:23 am
by Eddie
In case Kenji's doesn't come to fruition, I'm also writing an "internet content" (aka memes) packet. There are currently four TUs, hopefully more to come.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2016 9:30 am
by AKKOLADE
I'm going to say I'll write something, but in reality I won't because I'm too lazy after spending X hours in the hospital.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2016 1:14 pm
by Auger recombination
I might have a packet of comic book questions based mostly around the theme of "stuff I liked that wasn't in GRAPHIC"

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2016 2:02 pm
by naan/steak-holding toll
Jason Cheng and I will be writing a packet.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2016 2:38 pm
by Mike Bentley
Mike Bentley wrote:I'll have some combination of things. Possibly on videogames that skew heavily towards my interest. Possibly some biography questions on academic people.
There's also an off-chance I might write some questions on magazines, although whether I'll be able to finish all of these for Festivus is TBD.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2016 3:19 pm
by Silverman
I'll hopefully be writing half-packets each on Harry Potter and Star Wars, with the possible addition of a couple vanity questions.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2016 1:53 am
by avp
I'll probably have a packet on pre-2000 film/television/etc.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2016 1:19 pm
by Mike Bentley
Mike Bentley wrote:
Mike Bentley wrote:I'll have some combination of things. Possibly on videogames that skew heavily towards my interest. Possibly some biography questions on academic people.
There's also an off-chance I might write some questions on magazines, although whether I'll be able to finish all of these for Festivus is TBD.
I looked through what I already had written and the videogames portion of this is pretty much already done, so that will definitely be happening.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2016 3:53 pm
by ThisIsMyUsername
I'm writing a packet on animation, live-action films, etc. featuring Batman. There will be no questions related to (or acknowledgment of the existence of) Batman v Superman.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2016 10:13 pm
by 1992 in spaceflight
ThisIsMyUsername wrote:I'm writing a packet on animation, live-action films, etc. featuring Batman. There will be no questions related to (or acknowledgment of the existence of) Batman v Superman.
In an unrelated note, I'm now really excited for Festivus.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Fri Nov 25, 2016 11:01 pm
by AGoodMan
Time permitting, I want to write a half-soccer, half-baseball packet.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2016 2:08 am
by SpanishSpy
I wrote a stupid packet called Alex Wallace's Terrific Trash Packet. We could use that. It has internet nonsense, video games, movies, some music, and other stuff.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Sat Nov 26, 2016 10:41 pm
by CPiGuy
I might write an "other sports" packet about sports other than the American Big Four (baseball, basketball, football, hockey).

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2016 4:35 pm
by eliza.grames
I'll have some myth packets (or maybe just one big packet of ~50 questions) ranging from regular difficulty to "why would you write that" without all that Greco-Roman crap.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2016 6:04 pm
by Thaumatibis gigantea
I have a "things that could reasonably be tossed up with normal clues but instead all the clues are musical theater" packet that has been seen by some folks but (hopefully?) not too many.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2016 6:42 pm
by DeepakM
True Hindu Govind Prabhakar and I will be writing a Hindu Myth/Religion packet, ranging from College Reg- to ACF Nats difficulty.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2016 12:21 am
by Shashmaqam
eliza.grames wrote:without all that Greco-Roman crap.
This sounds amazing.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2016 12:28 pm
by #1 Mercury Adept
For real this time: I will have a short packet of <20 before and after tossups.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2016 6:37 pm
by Auroni
May have a 20/0 Ace Attorney packet ready for this.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Mon Nov 28, 2016 6:54 pm
by Unicolored Jay
I have a non-zero number of Clickhole Clickventure TUs that I could read for this.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2016 12:00 am
by CPiGuy
CPiGuy wrote:I might write an "other sports" packet about sports other than the American Big Four (baseball, basketball, football, hockey).
This packet has been written to 20/0.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2016 7:44 am
by dhumphreys17
Auroni wrote:May have a 20/0 Ace Attorney packet ready for this.
I am officially excited for Festivus. I may write a "chain reaction" packet for this, where each answer derives from the last.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2016 5:46 pm
by El Salvadoreno
One of the reasons I joined the forums was to improve my writing (I hope to get a gig writing questions when I get out of high school) so I might practice by writing some questions for this. I've already made an answer list for the Tricon distribution, but finals are coming up so I will see if I get a chance to write it or not.
That being said, I will definitely try and join the party and play some packets.
:party: :party: :party:

EDIT #1: My Tricon set (entitled TRICON: The Realest In Cool Original Nonsense) is now 100% written with 35, 5-6 line tossups in TNR 10 (which from what I know is fairly par for the course) though I will give it one hard edit before Festivus.

EDIT #2: This is now in its final form and is ready for Friday. It has a couple of cameos from famous QBers which I hope they like.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2016 5:54 pm
by kitakule
randomguy1997 wrote:Time permitting, I want to write a half-soccer, half-baseball packet.

Nice!

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2016 8:42 pm
by mozzarella
I can do a the-fun-parts-only Election 2016 packet!

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2016 11:30 pm
by Aaron's Rod
I should be free that day, and I've been encouraged to read my 20 academic/trash mashup tossups, where the academics basically follow an ACF distribution, and the trash distribution is "some stuff I like, some deplorable TV trash."

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2016 12:16 pm
by Too Late
I have ~20 ASOIAF/GOT tossups if people are interested.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2016 2:20 pm
by Majin Buu Roi
Quantumhovercraft wrote:I have ~20 ASOIAF/GOT tossups if people are interested.
Seven hells, yes.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2016 5:17 pm
by merv1618
jasongg17 wrote:
Quantumhovercraft wrote:I have ~20 ASOIAF/GOT tossups if people are interested.
Seven hells, yes.
Guess my side project will be read much later then.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2016 5:54 pm
by Majin Buu Roi
jasongg17 wrote:I intend to have a Broadway packet ready to go. I'm about halfway done with it at the moment.
Right, so my Broadway packet is now two questions from completion (one actual question and the tiebreaker), so it'll definitely be good to go for Festivus and will follow the following answerline distribution:

5 Musicals
5 Composers
4 Common Link
2 Songs
2 Characters
2 Other/Weird Things

There are two or three answer-lines that I would consider quite difficult, but they are on things where the questions are (I think) worth hearing on account of either the importance of the subject to the history of Broadway or the sheer wackiness of the question. I've also tried my best to vary the timeframes of the question, such that there is a reasonable amount of modern stuff that doesn't get asked a lot without sacrificing the classics.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2016 6:52 pm
by That DCC guy
mozzarella wrote:I can do a the-fun-parts-only Election 2016 packet!
All parts are fun and I can't wait to play this.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Sun Dec 11, 2016 11:44 pm
by noobynoob
I have 14 orgo tossups that I would like to read, but that number will probably go up, hopefully to 20. They're maybe nats minus level.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Tue Dec 13, 2016 9:20 am
by Ethnic history of the Vilnius region
I'm going to write a sequel to a packet a wrote a few years ago for this thing called The Pain of Quizbowl Past. This year's iteration will be more of the same. Basically 20 or so questions playing around with incidents in my personal and quizbowl life that have caused me pain. I think the last iteration included questions on things like Zaxby's, robot competitions, and the death of Chewbacca the Wookie. It's funner than it sounds!

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Wed Dec 14, 2016 10:45 pm
by CPiGuy
CPiGuy wrote:
CPiGuy wrote:I might write an "other sports" packet about sports other than the American Big Four (baseball, basketball, football, hockey).
This packet has been written to 20/0.
This packet has been written to 25/0, and now includes powers.

Re: IRC Festivus 2016: Still Not Dead Yet

Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 3:46 pm
by Knot Gneiss
Nathan Weiser and I have written a packet of ~20 film tossups, the vast majority of which are ill-conceived common links. It's potentially a preview for a future tournament. I'm not 100% sure I'll be around but if I'm available, I'd be happy to read it.