PRELIM ANNOUNCEMENT: Strange Literature Vanity Side Event

[Cheynem]

People seem to like early announcements, so:

I am tentatively planning on writing a side event for (probably) Minnesota Open 2009. It will be entirely written by me. It will consist of at least 10, probably more, packets of 26 tossups of fairly short, four-line or so, length. Generally, the tossups will be about odd literature, either from three different categories:

1. Really hard works from well known authors
2. Musty lit books that may have some mild academic significance but aren't really studied (i.e. "Pulitzer-winning trash lit")
3. Popular, pulpy, kid lit stuff. These will play to my own vanity interests.

There will be powers and negs. There are no bonsues. There may also be some random trash tossups with mild literature connections.

If you happened to play the odd lit single packets I wrote and read in the IRC, then you know what to expect. Packets will favor my own vanity interests--works made into films should dominate, American and English lit as well. Clues will follow little rhyme or reason and may reference all sorts of trash media. There is no set distribution and certain authors and genres may end up appearing multiple times.

Because of the admittedly oddball nature of this, the fee will be very very nominal (no more than $5 per team, of which the sizes will depend upon interest).

[swwFCqb]

This actually sounds pretty baller!

[Red-necked Phalarope]

As this is probably the best-for-my-interests side event I'm going to see until Guy writes the Louis Hjelmslev Memorial in 2011 or so, I'll definitely try to play this should MO or a suitable mirror be close to wherever I end up next year.

[Auks Ran Ova]

I'll play this!

[women, fire and dangerous things]

As this is probably the best-for-my-interests side event I'm going to see until Guy writes the Louis Hjelmslev Memorial in 2011 or so...

Oh man, if that actually happened...

[EncyclopediaCDRom]

I will definitely play this side event, too. After the Minnesota Open itself, I trust that there will be time for Mike's lit, Eric's science, and Ted's fine arts. I have read about a fifth event. If that would be Jeremy's video games, I could staff. Could one of the satellite events be held on the evening of Friday, October 16?

Happy NASCAR Day,
Rom Masrour
CPS/UIC

[Cheynem]

Quick update. I've completed tentative answer selection. I would say the questions run the gamut from "This comes up every once in a while in academic quiz bowl" to "Hmm, I've heard that once in a lead-in or a hard part of a bonus" to "C'mon, now, you're just writing out of your own vanity interests!" to "This is isn't literature!" The few caveats I will say based on what I've done so far is:

1. It's pretty much works written in English (not entirely). SORRY, JAPANESE LIT LOVERS.

2. There's one genre that is probably way overrepresented, so apologies in advance.

3. There's going to be a decent amount of trash clues or trash lit, so don't play this if you're expecting a completely academic experience. For example, there isn't a tossup on Encyclopedia Brown, but there are certainly tossups on stuff with equal academic importance. Also, as per my wont, movie clues should appear quite frequently.

[Mechanical Beasts]

I look forward to getting all the questions on Todd Strasser and Bruce Coville.

[Cheynem]

Since other talk about MO side events has surfaced, I suppose it's time for an update.

First, this is almost half done, so I expect no problems in having finished it for MO weekend. It will feature twelve packets of twenty six tossups each, each about five lines of size 11, Calibri font (which are actually pretty short). Format will be determined closer to tournament date and will be based on resources and interest. It's entirely written by me, although a recent playtesting found some questions praised by Ahmad Ragab as "good stuff."

The definition of literature has been expanded to include "anything in the written word," so there will be some tossups on historical documents, magazine/journalist pieces, trash involving writing, and meta involving documents/writing (none of these to an excessive amount).

My point in writing this is for my own amusement but also to learn some harder-level works of literature (which is why I went with quantity over perhaps quality), as well as practicing the ability to write succinctly (which is why I imposed a very strict size cap).

[grapesmoker]

Calibri?! I'll tolerate many things, Mike Cheyne, but I don't know if I can tolerate that.

[Cheynem]

We used it for MUT (I think) and I liked the look as a change of pace from Times New Roman.

[Cheynem]

This tournament is 100% written. The amount of trash got a little bit larger than what I originally intended, so bear that in mind if you wish to play, but there's still quite a bit of exciting academic literature. Further details to come as Minnesota Open draws near.

[Cheynem]

Bumping it to note that, of course, this can easily be mirrored if any of the other sites wish to do so. E-mail me about it at cheyne AT wmis DOT net.

[Cheynem]

This will be played sometime on the Sunday of the Minnesota Open Weekend (see the main thread for a rough schedule of events--it will probably be the last event). I'd sort of like to get a rough idea of how many people wish to play so I can think of a format (or perhaps hire Dwight Wynne to think of a suitably enjoyable format--just kidding). Due to the potential lateness of the day when this event will begin, I am seriously learning towards a more informal format perhaps involving a free-for-all, unless, of course, there is suitable interest to justify doing brackets or round robins or what have you.

PLAYING
Brendan Byrne
Rob Carson
Trevor Davis
Andrew Hart
Michigan People (at least three)
Rom Masrour
Eric Muhkerjee

MAYBE PLAYING
Mike Bentley
Hannah Kirsch
Seth Teitler
Brian Weikle

[Red-necked Phalarope]

OSU is holding their high school tournament the same weekend as MO, so it's rather unlikely that I'll be able to make it up for this after all. Best of luck, though!

[Pilgrim]

I definitely plan on playing this fantastic tournament.

[Strongside]

I intend to play this.

[Mike Bentley]

I'll play in this tournament if it doesn't conflict with my return flight.

[Not That Kind of Christian!!]

I'll play in this tournament if it doesn't conflict with my return flight.

[theMoMA]

If we are indeed planning to play this freestyle, I think it makes the most sense to do what we are planning to do with the sports event. Perhaps we can have sports and strange lit free for alls in the Mayo auditorium lobby back-to-back before Coffman opens at noon.

[Cheynem]

That's fine with me. While there are twelve packets, they're pretty short so it should go quickly especially if it's free for all. If it is free for all, I will charge $2 per person.

[Quantum Mushroom Billiard Hat]

A couple of us from Michigan will play.

[Auks Ran Ova]

Yeah, I still want to play.

[Sima Guang Hater]

I'll play. This free-for-all thing sounds fun. And I support Andrew's plan.

[theMoMA]

We haven't quite finalized the schedule for MO yet. The sports tournament will definitely take place before noon on Sunday, but this event may be happening with teams in the building rooms. Expect a finalized schedule in early October.

[EncyclopediaCDRom]

I'm still interested in playing Mike's already completed lit as formally as possible. I might drive Harvard's team back-and-forth among MSP, Days Inn (?), and/or Coffman Hall. I remain a free agent for MO, ready to write my share of a packet. I can't seem to relocate the fine arts thread, but I would play Sat night till 2 AM.

Happy Rosh Hashanah,
Rom

[sds]

A couple of us from Michigan will play.

Leigh Stutler and I will definitely play. Michael and Scot are still thinking about it.

ETA: Phil Guan is playing for sure, also.

[Cheynem]

Okay, barring some major demand to play this with full teams and round robin whatever, in the interest of time and personal amusement, this tournament will be played freestyle shootout.

Hopefully there will be enough buzzers for all, else we may need to allow 2-person teams which share one buzzer. The basic idea will be that there is a running score for each individual throughout all 12 packets. For each packet, the top three individual scorers (more if there are ties) will get points. Highest--3 points, second highest--2, third highest--1. The rest get none. Those points carry over, but each packet is scored independent of the rest. The winner of the tournament is the individual with the highest number of points. Prizes will be whatever books strike my fancy when I go to the bookstore later this week.

There are definitely negs. I am not sure about powers yet, as the shortness of the tossups and difficulty in determining where the power should begin or end makes it hard to put power marks in.

[theMoMA]

This event will be played in the Mayo auditorium after the sports tournament concludes. As the sports tournament is planned to start at 8:30, and is pretty short, people should plan to arrive sometime between 9:30 and 10:00.

[Cheynem]

This tournament happened. In a mass free for all conducted without buzzers, Matt Weiner took first place, followed by Brendan Byrne, and then Ike Jose. My attempts at writing tossups on early American poetry and nineteenth century Americana were met by blank stares and incredulous expresssions.

[sds]

It was a good time, though! The trash lit and kid lit were brilliant.

[Cheynem]

The set is at quizbowlpackets.com. I know J. Magin is eager to play them at some point in the IRC, though, so consider that.

[Captain Sinico]

I had a great time at this, even considering my taking almost half a minute to remember the titles of books I've read within the past month. Thanks for writing this, Mike.

MaS