The Quizbowl Resource Center

by **women, fire and dangerous things** » Fri Jan 06, 2012 9:50 pm

Okay, maybe not wildly experimental, but significantly more so than my previous lit tournament, MELD. Like MELD, this will be at least 10 packets (hopefully more) of 21 tossups and no bonuses, and will cost only $5 a person to play. It will be ready to play by fall 2012, and I hope to get it played in as many places as possible. Specifically, I hope it gets attached to at least one open tournament, so it can attract a strong field. Despite the name, tournament organizers can run it however they want: singles, quads, whatever.

Tossups will be 9 lines (occasionally 8 and very occasionally 10), with 4 or 5 lines of power, typically. The distribution will be closer to ACF distribution than MELD was (in other words, less world lit). It will also, hopefully, be much better proofread than MELD. This will be a difficult tournament - there will be a lots of answerlines that I've never seen come up, but everything will be on stuff that I deem to be important, and probably also on stuff that I've read. There will also be plenty of easier answerlines, though, so you don't need to be an elite lit player to enjoy this tournament.

As a taste of what you can expect, here's a tossup I wrote for MO that didn't get used. This is pretty much what the harder tossups will be like:

The speaker of this poem describes his poetics as an integral with lower limit speech and upper limit music. Words that appear repeatedly in this poem include “clavicembalo” and “liveforever” written as a single word. One section of this work consists solely of the four words “an inequality wind flower,” while another section ends with a partially homophonic translation of Catullus 51 followed by an image of William Carlos Williams’ signature. Horse imagery and the figures of Karl Marx and Henry Adams pervade this poem, as does the music of J. S. Bach, including in the opening section, in which the speaker attends a performance of St. Matthew’s Passion. The final section of this work consists of excerpts from the poet’s work set to Handel’s Harpsichord Pieces by the poet’s wife Celia and is entitled L.Z. Masque. For 10 points, name this work finally published in its entirety in 1978, an autobiographical epic in 24 parts by Louis Zukofsky.
ANSWER: “A”

by **Ukonvasara** » Fri Jan 06, 2012 10:33 pm

Now I know who to blame for that!

(Seriously, though, I'm looking forward to this tournament.)

by **women, fire and dangerous things** » Tue May 08, 2012 10:42 pm

As noted in the CO thread, this is now officially being played at CO after history doubles on Sunday.

FIELD:

Mike Cheyne & Rob Carson (Carson Saeculare)
Auroni Gupta & Eric Mukherjee (Mukherjesus' Son)
Andrew Hart & Chris Borglum (A Hart So White)
John Lawrence & Kevin Koai (Obabakoai)
Ike Jose & Austin Listerud (The Love-Philtre of Ike Jose)
Spencer J. Weinreich & Matt Jackson (Bread and Weinreich)
Evan Adams & Chris Ray (An Argument Against Abolishing Chris Ray)
Greg Peterson & Billy Beyer (A Beyer's Market)
Kurtis Droge & Sam Bailey (Your Love Is My Droge)
Ted Gioia & Trevor Davis (Trevor Let Me Go)
Matt Weiner & Brendan Byrne (Incarnations of Byrned Children)
Saajid Moyen & Mike Bentley (I've Never Had It Done So Bentley Before)
Stephen Liu & Dallas Simons (Dallas's Adventures in Wonderland)
Brendan McKendy & Charles Hang (Charles Hang Don't Play Pinball)
Seth Teitler & Selene Koo (A Koo Million)
Matt Lafer & Ryan Westbrook (West-Running Brook)

FREE AGENTS: Max Schindler, Joe Nutter, Doug Graebner

STAFFERS:

Marshall Steinbaum
Jeff Hoppes
Matt Hayes
Libo Zeng
Drew Scheeler
Mik Larsen
Jasper Lee
Patrick Liao

by **Cheynem** » Wed May 09, 2012 11:52 pm

I don't know if you want like a field list here or team formation stuff, but I'm playing this with Rob Carson.

by **Kenneth Widmerpool** » Thu May 10, 2012 12:00 am

Playing with Eric Mukherjee.

by **Mike Bentley** » Thu May 10, 2012 10:56 am

I'm looking for a teammate who is not interested in winning.

by **Tees-Exe Line** » Thu May 10, 2012 11:29 am

I'd be happy to be a competent moderator, or if the field desperately needs it, an incompetent player.

by **theMoMA** » Thu May 10, 2012 2:28 pm

Chris Borglum and I are teaming up for the event.

by **bt_green_warbler** » Thu May 10, 2012 2:36 pm

I'll volunteer to staff.

by **magin** » Thu May 10, 2012 2:53 pm

Sign me up. This looks great.

by **women, fire and dangerous things** » Thu May 10, 2012 2:57 pm

The third post in this thread will be updated with the field, and teams will receive names that are bad puns on works of literature that I enjoy.

by **Charbroil** » Thu May 10, 2012 4:04 pm

I'll play this.

by **JamesIV** » Thu May 10, 2012 4:16 pm

I'm still figuring out whether I'll be able to come to CO (75% sure, at this point), but I'd love to play this.

by **kdroge** » Fri May 11, 2012 12:58 am

Sounds like fun. I'm playing this with Sam Bailey.

by **Ras superfamily** » Sat May 12, 2012 1:51 am

I'll join someone to play this. Be aware that I'm not good at hard questions.

by **ThisIsMyUsername** » Sat May 12, 2012 1:23 pm

Kevin Koai and I are playing this as a team.

by **Ike** » Sat May 12, 2012 3:57 pm

Austin Listerud and I are playing this together.

by **JamesIV** » Sat May 12, 2012 7:40 pm

EDIT: Matt Jackson & I are playing together.

by **Matt Weiner** » Sat May 12, 2012 8:04 pm

Calling for teammate

by **vcuEvan** » Sun May 13, 2012 10:20 am

I'm playing this with Chris Ray.

by **Matt Weiner** » Sun May 13, 2012 10:32 am

vcuEvan wrote:I'm playing this with Chris Ray.

Does this mean all the questions will be parody tossups on "elephants in literature" written by Ted?

by **vcuEvan** » Sun May 13, 2012 10:34 am

Matt Weiner wrote:
vcuEvan wrote:I'm playing this with Chris Ray.

Does this mean all the questions will be parody tossups on "elephants in literature" written by Ted?

I legitimately hope so.

by **cornfused** » Mon May 14, 2012 12:59 am

I'm playing this with Billy Beyer.

by **mhayes** » Mon May 14, 2012 2:54 pm

I can staff this.

by **Magister Ludi** » Tue May 15, 2012 10:42 pm

Matt Weiner wrote:
vcuEvan wrote:I'm playing this with Chris Ray.

Does this mean all the questions will be parody tossups on "elephants in literature" written by Ted?

I will actually write this thing for VCU Open if Chris and Evan are interested, even if at this point it is just for fun, but elephants would be a disappointingly unoriginal answer choice. A question asking about the appearance of the number "a baker's dozen" in literature seems more appropriate.

Also, I will play this tournament.

by **Vernon Lee Bad Marriage, Jr.** » Wed May 16, 2012 12:26 am

Magister Ludi wrote:
Matt Weiner wrote:
vcuEvan wrote:I'm playing this with Chris Ray.

Does this mean all the questions will be parody tossups on "elephants in literature" written by Ted?

I will actually write this thing for VCU Open if Chris and Evan are interested, even if at this point it is just for fun, but elephants would be a disappointingly unoriginal answer choice. A question asking about the appearance of the number "a baker's dozen" in literature seems more appropriate.

Also, I will play this tournament.

Interested in teaming up?

by **Weighted Companion Cube** » Wed May 16, 2012 8:04 am

I can help staff this

by **Magister Ludi** » Thu May 17, 2012 4:06 pm

Vernon Lee Bad Marriage, Jr. wrote:
Magister Ludi wrote:
Matt Weiner wrote:
vcuEvan wrote:I'm playing this with Chris Ray.

Does this mean all the questions will be parody tossups on "elephants in literature" written by Ted?

I will actually write this thing for VCU Open if Chris and Evan are interested, even if at this point it is just for fun, but elephants would be a disappointingly unoriginal answer choice. A question asking about the appearance of the number "a baker's dozen" in literature seems more appropriate.

Also, I will play this tournament.

Interested in teaming up?

Sure, lets do it.

by **Matt Weiner** » Fri May 18, 2012 11:21 pm

I am playing this tournament with Brendan Byrne.

by **Ras superfamily** » Mon May 28, 2012 12:10 pm

I will be playing with Mike Bentley

by **dsimons** » Mon May 28, 2012 10:47 pm

I'm looking for a partner for this.

by **Ringil** » Sat Jun 02, 2012 12:50 am

I'll staff.

by **Rothlover** » Fri Jun 08, 2012 5:02 pm

is there a spreadsheet for FA's or whatever. I'd like to play this (also history possibly...) PM me or FB message me.

by **saintanthony** » Fri Jun 08, 2012 6:01 pm

I'll staff.

by **gyre and gimble** » Sat Jun 09, 2012 5:53 pm

I'm playing this with Dallas.

by **Mewto55555** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 2:53 pm

Does anyone still need a partner? I'm interested in playing this.

by **Madagascar Serpent Eagle** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 7:07 pm

If somebody wants to play this with a person who will be proud if he gets 1 tossup, let me know. Barring that, I'll gladly staff.

by **women, fire and dangerous things** » Sun Jul 08, 2012 7:15 pm

It would be nice to get the teams and staffing situation firmed up soon. We could use a couple more staffers, with the number of teams signed up now. By the way, I just finished compiling the packets for this - there are 12 in total.

by **bmcke** » Mon Jul 09, 2012 7:27 am

I'm also still hoping to play this. Let's assume I will bring a staffer.

EDIT: Playing this with Charles Hang.

by **No Rules Westbrook** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 11:28 am

It occurs to me that I haven't signed up for this yet. I'd like to be a free agent, if possible. I may play with Lafer depending on his Sunday schedule, or if not, would team with anyone else. (I can also staff if it's necessary).

by **magin** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 3:08 pm

Hey, if this is being played after history doubles, I won't be able to play since I need to make my flight, so I'm going to withdraw.

by **ValenciaQBowl** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 7:22 pm

Hey, good point--do we have a rough idea when we think the history doubles will be over so we can start this? A quick look at the CO history thread tells me they have seven teams with submitted packets; does that mean that they'll run a 7 game RR? And when are they starting?

It would be nice if we could start the lit tournament by early afternoon to allow for Sunday night and absurdly early Monday flights.

by **women, fire and dangerous things** » Sun Jul 15, 2012 9:51 pm

I'm going to set Wednesday afternoon as the deadline for signing up for this, so I know where we're at. If you don't sign up by then, I can't guarantee you'll be able to play. Having an even number of teams would be convenient, so if there ends up being an odd number of teams or there's a last-minute drop, and you're on the fence about playing, you can play for free if it evens up the number of teams.

by **Magister Ludi** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 10:10 am

magin wrote:Hey, if this is being played after history doubles, I won't be able to play since I need to make my flight, so I'm going to withdraw.

Could we switch the times of the history and lit tournaments on Sunday? Considering that Will has devoted tons of hours to actually writing a whole tournament it only seems fair that his tournament should take precedence over the slapdash, unedited history doubles.

by **ValenciaQBowl** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 12:33 pm

I'm already on record as thinking this is a fine idea, but I am sympathetic to the idea that the history folks have dibs and nothing should be changed if it deeply inconveniences any of them. If we're going to be serious about proposing it, though, it seems to me we'd be wise to be willing to drag our butts to the UC campus really early to get started as a show of good will. 8 am, anybody???

by **Vernon Lee Bad Marriage, Jr.** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 12:42 pm

ValenciaQBowl wrote:I'm already on record as thinking this is a fine idea, but I am sympathetic to the idea that the history folks have dibs and nothing should be changed if it deeply inconveniences any of them. If we're going to be serious about proposing it, though, it seems to me we'd be wise to be willing to drag our butts to the UC campus really early to get started as a show of good will. 8 am, anybody???

I'd be in favor of this plan.

by **mhayes** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 12:47 pm

Magister Ludi wrote: Considering that Will has devoted tons of hours to actually writing a whole tournament it only seems fair that his tournament should take precedence over the slapdash, unedited history doubles.

True, but others may have made travel plans around the assumption that history doubles would be played first.

That being said, I think starting at 8AM isn't a terrible idea, especially if the tournaments are switched.

by **Vernon Lee Bad Marriage, Jr.** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 12:58 pm

The way things are going and tend to go with quizbowl people, we're probably going to keep playing poodle-dee poodle-doo right up until the tournament date without deciding anything. Who has the ability to make the final call here? I'd suggest we either make a thread with some sort of vote enabled or appoint Ryan dictator to decide it.

by **Mike Bentley** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 1:14 pm

As the self-appointed Thomas Huxley to Ryan's Charles Darwin, I am declaring that CO History registration will be from 8:00-8:30 AM on Sunday morning. If you're not there on time, we're starting without you. We will do a round robin and then a final. At 20 minutes a round, I anticipate we'll be done by 4 PM. WELD will begin immediately after this.

by **DumbJaques** » Tue Jul 17, 2012 1:20 pm

See my post in the History Doubles thread for a more detailed explication of why switching the events is bad, but basically: You can't totally flip the schedule a few days before the event after everyone has set their travel plans. As far as I can tell, this tournament was (as soon as it had a firm home) scheduled for after History Doubles on Sunday. It's not really fair to people who booked flights to fit that schedule (like, say, me) to completely alter things for the people who booked flights in spite of it.

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