Search found 657 matches

by gyre and gimble
Mon Aug 14, 2023 10:24 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2023 Chicago Open - General Discussion and Thanks
Replies: 41
Views: 19530

Re: 2023 Chicago Open - General Discussion and Thanks

I’ve seen a few bold manifestos like this one crop up recently, and while I admire the passion they demonstrate (and, in this case, think Arya did a great job as an editor), I tend to find these things rather overstated. Quizbowl is, fundamentally, an academic trivia game. I hold it in very high es...
by gyre and gimble
Fri Aug 11, 2023 1:36 am
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2023 Chicago Open - Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 17
Views: 7885

Re: 2023 Chicago Open - Specific Question Discussion

Marie-Denise Villers has never come up in quizbowl before, at least based on a quick search on QBReader. She's definitely someone who could, based on growing recognition -- she, e.g., has a chapter in art museum gift shop book Broad Strokes: 15 Women who Changed Art and History (In That Order) . Th...
by gyre and gimble
Wed Aug 09, 2023 8:54 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2023 Chicago Open - Specific Question Discussion
Replies: 17
Views: 7885

Re: 2023 Chicago Open - Specific Question Discussion

A few scattered thoughts: This tournament did a great job of indicating when specific terms were required, but the myth question on "thralls" notably did not. Most translations of the Grottasongr, as far as I can tell, refer to Fenja and Menja as either maids or slaves (the two answers I g...
by gyre and gimble
Sat Jun 24, 2023 7:13 pm
Forum: Collegiate Announcements & Results
Topic: ARCHIVE - Online Mirror - 6/24/23
Replies: 13
Views: 4685

Re: ARCHIVE - Online Mirror - 6/24/23

I hope more people play this set. It was fun.
by gyre and gimble
Sat Jun 24, 2023 4:05 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Should ACF tossups be shorter?
Replies: 30
Views: 12507

Re: Should ACF tossups be shorter?

After that, both Andrew and Stephen argue for an additional virtue of longer questions, one that the eight-line version would possess that the seven-line version wouldn't: giving the player more time to think. But if I were following that logic (by treating that as a virtue unto itself), it seems l...
by gyre and gimble
Tue Jun 20, 2023 10:20 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: Should ACF tossups be shorter?
Replies: 30
Views: 12507

Re: Should ACF tossups be shorter?

But there are lots of players who enjoy playing lengthy questions with challenging early clues. It's fun to hear questions that are trying to demonstrate an interesting conceit or set the table with clues that are more contextual than imminently buzzable, and that's just a totally different playing...
by gyre and gimble
Fri Dec 23, 2022 4:25 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NorCal Summer Side Event Weekend (Stanford, August 20-21)
Replies: 17
Views: 5697

Re: NorCal Summer Side Event Weekend (Stanford, August 20-21)

It would be nice to see the stats for JAVASCRIPT posted on the database, if they're still around.
by gyre and gimble
Mon Nov 07, 2022 12:52 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: We Need to Make Up Our Minds About Trash
Replies: 27
Views: 8898

Re: We Need to Make Up Our Minds About Trash

I'm not really involved with writing or editing anymore, but I would like to suggest to future writers the idea of a regular, consistent 1/1 trash distribution that is reserved for things that are considered "higher culture." (Accordingly, it probably shouldn't be considered "trash.&q...
by gyre and gimble
Wed Aug 17, 2022 1:20 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NorCal Summer Side Event Weekend (Stanford, August 20-21)
Replies: 17
Views: 5697

Re: NorCal Summer Side Event Weekend (Stanford, August 20-21)

JAVASCRIPT and Eyes, which will be multi-room shootouts. Do you guys have a sense of what the format will be for these? Assuming not too many people are playing just Javascript or just Eyes, the field's shaping up to be pretty strong. If logistically feasible, I'd suggest having three rooms with th...
by gyre and gimble
Tue Aug 09, 2022 2:53 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: 2022 Chicago Open: General Discussion
Replies: 39
Views: 12324

Re: 2022 Chicago Open: General Discussion

This was a very good set. In the other thread someone pointed out how this is a relatively less experienced editing crew and it's really impressive how successful they were with this. I can't stress this enough. I hope this set and its reception will be strong inspiration for other aspiring editors...
by gyre and gimble
Tue Jul 26, 2022 4:51 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NorCal Summer Side Event Weekend (Stanford, August 20-21)
Replies: 17
Views: 5697

Re: NorCal Summer Side Event Weekend (Stanford, August 20-21)

Scheduling is flexible: this promises to be a fairly small event and so the format will depend on what the attendees want to play. If attendance is expected to be relatively low, I would suggest not doing a full tossup-bonus quads event (or to consider running tossups-only singles or doubles events...
by gyre and gimble
Tue Apr 12, 2022 5:52 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: ACF Nationals 2022 Thanks and General Discussion
Replies: 30
Views: 11974

Re: ACF Nationals 2022 Thanks and General Discussion

I'm not such a great visual arts player, but I did find that this category tended to be a fair bit more extracanonical than the classical music at least, with me having never or barely having heard of a number of the answer lines. I'd be curious if better VA players felt this way, or if my knowledg...
by gyre and gimble
Wed Feb 16, 2022 7:58 pm
Forum: Collegiate Discussion
Topic: ARCADIA General Discussion
Replies: 12
Views: 3324

Re: ARCADIA General Discussion

This was a fun set and rightly praised for its creative ideas. (For me, the tossup on the Shakespeare family comes to mind as a really great question). But I'd like to make a cautionary point about "overdoing" creativity in question writing. Others in this thread have praised the "Fig...
by gyre and gimble
Wed Nov 03, 2021 11:37 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Announcement: Dede Allen Audio Film Tournament (Online, Asynchronous Audio Tournament)--October 18 to October 29
Replies: 26
Views: 8765

Re: Announcement: Dede Allen Audio Film Tournament (Online, Asynchronous Audio Tournament)--October 18 to October 29

Bummed that I didn't realize this existed. I don't know how much interest there is, but I'd play if you guys ran it again.
by gyre and gimble
Fri Sep 03, 2021 2:51 am
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Favorite Albums
Replies: 29
Views: 4104

Re: Favorite Albums

Here's mine, as of a three or four months ago. Big Star's Radio City and Mary Lattimore's Silver Ladders probably make this list now but I didn't want to re-generate the chart.
by gyre and gimble
Mon Aug 16, 2021 10:13 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Chicago Open 2021 Team Formation Thread
Replies: 6
Views: 3471

Re: Chicago Open 2021 Team Formation Thread

gyre and gimble wrote: Thu Aug 05, 2021 3:20 pm Chris Ray has had to drop from our team, so if you're still looking for a team, we have an open spot.
Rafael Krichevsky and I have headed in the wrong direction and are now down to two. If there’s anyone out there looking to play CO on a whim, let us know, we’d be happy to have you.
by gyre and gimble
Thu Aug 05, 2021 3:20 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Chicago Open 2021 Team Formation Thread
Replies: 6
Views: 3471

Re: Chicago Open 2021 Team Formation Thread

Chris Ray has had to drop from our team, so if you're still looking for a team, we have an open spot.
by gyre and gimble
Fri Jun 25, 2021 2:12 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: JAVA 2021
Replies: 15
Views: 5771

Re: JAVA 2021

ThisIsMyUsername wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 9:10 am What is the format going to be for this tournament?
Selfishly, I'd love to be able to play all 8 packets. But I don't know if the number of teams makes that feasible.

EDIT: Oops, sorry I hadn't seen the logistics email yet when I posted this.
by gyre and gimble
Mon Apr 12, 2021 6:49 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: LIBERACE - A Rock Audio Tournament (March 27-April 7)
Replies: 17
Views: 6797

Re: LIBERACE - A Rock Audio Tournament (March 27-April 7)

Thanks Jeff, but maybe it should go in the Trash subforum? I don't think Collegiate Discussion is the right place.
by gyre and gimble
Sun Apr 11, 2021 9:23 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: LIBERACE - A Rock Audio Tournament (March 27-April 7)
Replies: 17
Views: 6797

Re: LIBERACE - A Rock Audio Tournament (March 27-April 7)

Hi mods, could we get a private discussion forum up for this set? Thanks.
by gyre and gimble
Fri Mar 26, 2021 10:21 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: LIBERACE - A Rock Audio Tournament (March 27-April 7)
Replies: 17
Views: 6797

Re: LIBERACE - A Rock Audio Tournament (March 27-April 7)

LIBERACE kicks off tomorrow morning! Registered teams should have received a logistics/introductory email from Qblitz today. On behalf of the writing team, I hope everyone enjoys the set, and we are very excited to see your great buzzes. For teams who have not included a team name in the team format...
by gyre and gimble
Sun Mar 21, 2021 3:53 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: LIBERACE - A Rock Audio Tournament (March 27-April 7)
Replies: 17
Views: 6797

Re: LIBERACE - A Rock Audio Tournament (March 27-April 7)

We're less than a week away until the first round of competition! Please make sure you register on Qblitz. We will be closing registration end-of-day Thursday (Pacific time).
by gyre and gimble
Sun Mar 14, 2021 12:00 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: LIBERACE - A Rock Audio Tournament (March 27-April 7)
Replies: 17
Views: 6797

Re: LIBERACE - A Rock Audio Tournament (March 27-April 7)

I'm pleased to report that the question set is now complete.

We will be setting an initial field cap at 36 teams. We might not get there, but do please register as soon as you can so we have an accurate count.
by gyre and gimble
Fri Feb 19, 2021 2:01 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: LIBERACE - A Rock Audio Tournament (March 27-April 7)
Replies: 17
Views: 6797

Re: LIBERACE - A Rock Audio Tournament (March 27-April 7)

Hi everyone,

Registration on Qblitz is now live. Please make sure to register if you intend to play. If you do not register on Qblitz, you will not play, even if you have "signed up" with a team in the team formation sheet.

https://www.qblitz.online/?w=events&s=LIBERACE

Thanks!
by gyre and gimble
Tue Feb 09, 2021 11:38 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: LIBERACE - A Rock Audio Tournament (March 27-April 7)
Replies: 17
Views: 6797

Re: LIBERACE - A Rock Audio Tournament (March 27-April 7)

We've settled on March 27-April 7 for this tournament. Thanks to everyone who filled out the poll! Here's an informal team formation spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MyrFuroh73FAW9_yhz0a-MGd0Rg9mrbSm_juljuznRk/edit#gid=0 Please note that registration will officially be done throu...
by gyre and gimble
Thu Jan 28, 2021 11:50 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: LIBERACE - A Rock Audio Tournament (March 27-April 7)
Replies: 17
Views: 6797

Re: LIBERACE - A Rock Audio Tournament (March/April)

If you're at all interested, please fill out the poll! We would like to settle on a start date fairly soon, and will probably close the poll on February 7.
by gyre and gimble
Fri Jan 22, 2021 1:50 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: LIBERACE - A Rock Audio Tournament (March 27-April 7)
Replies: 17
Views: 6797

LIBERACE - A Rock Audio Tournament (March 27-April 7)

Hi everyone, I am pleased to announce LIBERACE, an upcoming online audio tournament dedicated to rock music and its related antecedents, adjacents, and offshoots. The tournament will be written by myself, Kyle Sutherlin, and Nathan Weiser. It will start on March 27 and run until April 7. Format: We ...
by gyre and gimble
Wed Dec 23, 2020 2:19 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: 2020 PAveMEnT: Discussion Regarding Specific PAveMEnt Questions
Replies: 5
Views: 361

Re: Discussion Regarding Specific PAveMEnt Questions

Great set, and thanks to the writers for their hard and creative work. I learned a lot and was also moved to revisit a lot of my favorite music. My only complaint is that some clues didn't really fit the question prompts. For example, "Devil Town" does not refer to the Devil, so it's confu...
by gyre and gimble
Wed Dec 23, 2020 2:09 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: PAveMEnT: A Remote Cooperation Audio Tournament (Winter 2020)
Replies: 31
Views: 12240

Re: PAveMEnT: A Remote Cooperation Audio Tournament (Winter 2020)

This was a really fun event. In fact, it was so fun that Nathan Weiser, Kyle Sutherlin, and I are going to write an audio tournament of our own. We'll put up an official announcement once we work out the distribution, but as a preview it will be largely rock music oriented. I am not aware of any oth...
by gyre and gimble
Tue May 26, 2020 8:13 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Oxford Open Online Mirror - Saturday 27th June
Replies: 39
Views: 15789

Re: Oxford Open Online Mirror - Saturday 27th June

I would also vote against Americanization, the British content introduces a lot of bonus difficulty variance but it's interesting to listen to and does meaningfully differentiate teams in the tossups. Agreed. I would suggest, though, that the very British bonuses have easy parts replaced with thing...
by gyre and gimble
Tue May 26, 2020 8:06 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Running Zoom Tournaments
Replies: 67
Views: 33258

Re: Running Zoom Tournaments

As Stephen points out, it's rather unfair to expect early weekend wakeup times from West Coast players while not having any real concessions from East Coast / Midwest players. Hunh? Non-standard meal times (or fitting meals in while playing the tournament), playing well into the evening (i.e. well ...
by gyre and gimble
Tue May 26, 2020 3:39 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Running Zoom Tournaments
Replies: 67
Views: 33258

Re: Running Zoom Tournaments

Re: start time, I find it very unfair that the community expects West Coast players to get up super early, just so East Coast players don't have to stick around in the evening. The fact that West Coast players have put up with this over and over again in the past does not make it okay. As someone w...
by gyre and gimble
Mon May 25, 2020 11:43 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Running Zoom Tournaments
Replies: 67
Views: 33258

Re: Running Zoom Tournaments

Re: breakout rooms, I suspect that the perceived delay was not really a delay. When you reassign people into breakout rooms, you basically need to wait for all of the rounds in the bracket to finish. Re-assigning breakouts is not difficult and should take 1 minute max per team. I am guessing that if...
by gyre and gimble
Fri Apr 17, 2020 3:28 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: This Time, A Stern Warning
Replies: 179
Views: 146916

Re: This Time, A Stern Warning

not everyone gets the same punishment for the same crime in our criminal justice system Hold on, is this supposed to be a good thing? Anyway, I think that whether or not it has a perfect correlation with playing skill, there are some people who are very well-known and well-regarded in quizbowl, and...
by gyre and gimble
Thu Apr 16, 2020 2:58 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: This Time, A Stern Warning
Replies: 179
Views: 146916

Re: This Time, A Stern Warning

Like Bruce says, Eric has a lot of goodwill built up in this community. Whether you think he has spent some or all of it, that should count for something. In the same way that not everyone gets the same punishment for the same crime in our criminal justice system, I think we should be more lenient o...
by gyre and gimble
Thu Apr 09, 2020 12:50 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: This Time, A Stern Warning
Replies: 179
Views: 146916

Re: This Time, A Stern Warning

As someone who has personally weathered irresponsible suggestions of cheating (albeit by shitty journalists, not the quizbowl community), and as someone whose job constantly demands adherence to rules designed to protect due process, I agree this thread was handled very poorly. First, if you're goin...
by gyre and gimble
Tue Dec 03, 2019 1:41 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Best Song of the 2010s Bracket
Replies: 349
Views: 2323225

Re: Best Song of the 2010s Bracket

#1 Daft Punk (ft. Pharrell Williams & Nile Rodgers) - Get Lucky vs. #16 Phoebe Bridgers - Motion Sickness #8 Taylor Swift - Blank Space vs. #9 Jamie xx (ft. Young Thug & Popcaan) - I Know There’s Gonna Be (Good Times) #5 Joanna Newsom - Good Intentions Paving Company vs. #12 M.I.A. - Bad Gir...
by gyre and gimble
Sat Nov 30, 2019 8:38 pm
Forum: High school area archives
Topic: Best Song of the 2010s Bracket
Replies: 349
Views: 2323225

Re: Best Song of the 2010s Bracket

#1 Robyn - Dancing on My Own vs. #16 Lil Nas X (ft. Billy Ray Cyrus) - Old Town Road - Remix OR Rihanna (ft. Drake) - Work #8 Drake - Hotline Bling vs. #9 Angel Olsen - Shut Up Kiss Me #5 Bon Iver - Holocene vs. #12 Perfume Genius - Queen #4 Future Islands - Seasons (Waiting On You) vs. #13 Björk -...
by gyre and gimble
Mon Nov 18, 2019 10:51 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Fall Open at NYU (Nov. 9, 2019)
Replies: 28
Views: 14421

Re: Fall Open at NYU (Nov. 9, 2019)

To be clear, the understanding from the beginning of the tournament (i.e., it was noted in the logistics email and printed on the schedule as such) was that finals would be played only if the top two teams had identical records, which, as Will said, was in part an unfortunate holdover from before H...
by gyre and gimble
Mon Nov 18, 2019 9:28 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Fall Open at NYU (Nov. 9, 2019)
Replies: 28
Views: 14421

Re: Fall Open at NYU (Nov. 9, 2019)

Under normal circumstances I’d want to play a final, but I had a bus at 9 and was meeting an old friend who I wanted to spend more time with. Moses had a train at 8 as well. Speaking for myself I can understand Will’s POV and can’t really add much besides what he already said about being tired and ...
by gyre and gimble
Tue Jul 23, 2019 12:30 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: NorCal Weekend of Quizbowl (July 27-28, 2019) @ Berkeley
Replies: 9
Views: 5043

Re: NorCal Weekend of Quizbowl (July 27-28, 2019) @ Berkeley

Can we do Unanswered Question later in the day? One of my teammates will be driving back from Tahoe in Sunday morning.
by gyre and gimble
Thu Mar 21, 2019 9:07 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: Happy 6th Watkinsgate Anniversary!
Replies: 18
Views: 18209

Re: Happy 6th Watkinsgate Anniversary!

As the years go by I find myself more and more weirded out by the idea of continuing to take this level of self-righteous glee in what was ultimately a really shitty series of events. In particular, And because of Andy's insane knowledge of Thailand, I personally will be celebrating by eating Thai ...
by gyre and gimble
Thu Oct 25, 2018 7:29 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Announcement: Penn Bowl 2018
Replies: 23
Views: 23851

Re: Announcement: Penn Bowl 2018

There seems to be a significant amount of interest for this and a few Penn people have said they would run it, I'll post in this thread if/when we confirm a date. Would love an online mirror. Personal request is, if at all possible, for a date to be determined before this Saturday, so I can decide ...
by gyre and gimble
Sat Sep 29, 2018 3:09 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: EFT 2018 - Thanks and General Discussion
Replies: 35
Views: 12124

Re: EFT 2018 - Thanks and General Discussion

I thought that the set was pretty solid overall. Some questions dropped clues too early, but I'm sure the writers are already aware of those instances because people invariably complain in-game. The literature in general was much more stingily powermarked than the rest of the set (I thought science ...
by gyre and gimble
Sun Aug 19, 2018 12:11 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Cheyne movie set online mirror--August 19th
Replies: 13
Views: 6754

Re: Cheyne movie set online mirror--August 19th

Sorry to do this last-minute, but some work stuff came up and I have to drop from this event.
by gyre and gimble
Thu Aug 02, 2018 1:17 pm
Forum: Quizbowl History Forum
Topic: Fuck it, let's rank the sets
Replies: 28
Views: 25988

Re: Fuck it, let's rank the sets

Now, the situation has reversed. I think the best regular-difficulty tournament (Terrapin 2016) and the best hard tournaments (stanford housewrite, TTIAC) have been housewrites. (It seems like many others agree with this general assessment.) And I think that these are on the whole better than the f...
by gyre and gimble
Wed Jul 25, 2018 12:10 am
Forum: College area archives
Topic: CO 2018 Arts: Apology and discussion
Replies: 24
Views: 10307

Re: CO 2018 Arts: Apology and discussion

I should have pointed out the specific thing that jumped out at me: the top Met museum exhibit on Old Masters painting (in fact, most of the exhibitions listed) got far fewer visits than its Chinese art show. Ah, I see. For what it's worth, I agree that we should be writing more questions on Han an...
by gyre and gimble
Tue Jul 24, 2018 11:48 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: CO 2018 Arts: Apology and discussion
Replies: 24
Views: 10307

Re: CO 2018 Arts: Apology and discussion

The same goes for floor space at museums. Having been to many, many art museums I can say with confidence that the concentration of museumgoers gravitates heavily toward western art. It doesn’t mean much for a museum to have half its floor space devoted to Asian or African art if that floor space i...
by gyre and gimble
Tue Jul 24, 2018 10:55 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Chicago Open 2018 Thanks and Discussion
Replies: 37
Views: 17211

Re: Chicago Open 2018 Thanks and Discussion

OU's course offerings aren't necessarily universal; my own university's nonwestern art history course offerings are, for the next two semesters, roughly 1/3 of the total (there's no reason why this should be the standard any more than an Oklahoma-based level of representation should, but this shoul...
by gyre and gimble
Wed May 23, 2018 6:45 pm
Forum: College area archives
Topic: Chicago Open 2019 - Weekend of August 3rd
Replies: 98
Views: 76852

Re: Chicago Open 2018 - July 21st weekend

Since the field's expanded, I'll tentatively express interest. My case schedule keeps getting moved around but theoretically I am free for CO weekend.