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Cheynem

This is a good thread starter and I was very interested in your comments. As a relatively inexperienced question writer, one of the most difficult things for me is in writing the earliest clues, the first or second lines. It's easy enough to put down two lines of obscure crap (obscure book quotes, o...

Cheynem

You hardly were alone in negging on that question, Auroni!

Cheynem

5% pop culture + 2.6% sports + 4.7% current events (which at least in NAQT forms I'm familiar with, frequently is basically trash) equals more than 12%, more than fine arts. I think that's bad.

Cheynem

I like Google Books. I've also gotten into the habit of writing stuff based on the monographs I'm reading in class (obviously works better for history questions and if you're using quality monographs instead of just general survey textbooks).

Cheynem

I think lead-ins should be "memorable" if memorable means, "has a good chance of being known by someone with deep knowledge." I mean, the point of a lead-in is to reward deep knowledge, not to frustrate people wtih random obscurities. There are books I know inside and out that I ...

Cheynem

Chris' post raises interesting and very good points about the nature of side events. I wonder if it should perhaps receive its own thread, but I am not sure as to the amount of discussion it would generate. I am especially interested in hearing people's thoughts on how obscure side events should del...

Cheynem

I wonder if Jerry was referring to the tossup part that said "participants had earlier been part of the Uprising of Twenty-Thousand." In this instance, the word "participants" refers to "victims."

Cheynem

Holy crap, on paper, that looks like a neg for Reichstag waiting to happen. I think I benefited from being totally confused until I heard Frances Perkins.

Cheynem

I am interested in hearing thoughts about coyness/transparency in giving pronouns. For instance, if I write a toss-up on James Garfield, it would be transparent/non-pyramidal to say "This U.S. President" as the FIRST pronoun. Should I say "This man"? "This politician?" ...

Cheynem

And the Halloween party was just a big circle jerk! It all makes sense now!

Cheynem

One of the reasons that Sabrina episode stood out in my mind is the complex ethical lesson it seemed to be teaching children. Sabrina irresponsibly creates a magical duplicate of herself, which gets into trouble by streaking. Rather than owning up to her mistake and taking the penalty (embarrassment...

Cheynem

I thought the packets were pretty good. I'd be interested in hearing feedback on Minnesota's packet (which I wrote most of the history and some of the lit) and my freelance work (I think they kept the PLEASE MAKE FUN OF ME BECAUSE I SPEAK NEITHER LATIN NOR ENGLISH on 1812 election, As I Lay Dying, t...

Cheynem

It was very enjoyable to read for this tournament and I thank all the teams I read for in regards to their patience for a few (minor) gaffes made along the way. Teams displayed, at least the ones I encountered, very fine sportsmanship and competitiveness. In a minor but important point, I would like...

Cheynem

Here's what's worked for me (and I'm obviously in a different situation, being in my seventh year of college, not high school). I will use not question specific examples from the most recent tournament I was at, T-Party, to support my points. I WILL NOT MENTION ANSWERS OR DETAILS. 1. Pay attention i...

Cheynem

Greg: Thanks for hosting this and for doing a good job with the logistics. Obviously one would like to have more teams, but most of the matches our team played in were of very high quality. Things moved along nicely with a lot of games being played.

Cheynem

Charlie: I've heard talk of a comic book themed event perhaps around the time of Nationals (written by George Berry?), so I hesitate to suggest this so as not to step on anyone's toes, but I've begun writing a 6 packet (20 TU/Bonus) set of comic book questions. The packets would take an extremely br...

Cheynem

From practice Answer: Mahabharata Me: The Twilight Zone The lead-in (of which I flaked out on the pronoun) was talking about a guy who is rewarded for refusing to enter heaven without his dog. This is the exact plot of the Twilight Zone episode "The Hunt." Wikipedia claims the episode &quo...

Cheynem

That's the spirit, Greg! Accentuate the positive!

If my 5/5 somehow becomes an issue (which I doubt), I could just sit out/read that packet. None of my teammates has seen my freelance 5/5.

Cheynem

Another possible hit to my Sabbath-observing regimen.

Cheynem

Awesome. We could all just sit in one room and all play together.

Cheynem

Hey, I sent you my dubious freelance 5/5!

Cheynem

I'm not an elite player, so I don't speak for them, but I can say personally I like to play against any team that enjoys playing. I don't like playing against teams who have a negative attitude, whether they be "good" or "bad" teams. If you're enjoying yourself, making an effort ...

Cheynem · Re: ANNOUNCEMENT: Harvard T-Party - 12/6/08 Thanks.

Thanks.

Cheynem

Whoops--thanks, Greg, for reminding me that I'm a moron. Yeah, I'm playing this.

Cheynem

So, Andy, do you officially want freelance 5/5's? I can send you some, depending on what categories you would especially need (especially if it's history).

Cheynem

If you are someone who gets bored from sitting through 5 lines of question at ACF Fall, then frankly, I don't think quiz bowl is right for you. Perhaps I was in the wrong room, but at ACF Fall and EFT these years, I did not see teams bored and frustrated. Your argument about buzzer races is mystifyi...

Cheynem

So are we indeed doing a double/triple round robin?

Cheynem

I respectfully disagree with my esteemed teammate "Ulric." 1. I don't think quiz bowl is better as it gets more fun for more people. To use your sports analogies, bowling is more fun for more people if you use bumper lanes. Softball is more fun for more people if you play slow-pitch. Colle...

Cheynem

I guess the big question regarding Biblical characters, books, and events is how far from the Bible itself one wants to go. If you write a BIble toss up like a literature one where you only describe events that happen in the Old and New Testaments, I think it can get difficult. Like the Paul toss-up...

Cheynem

It does not get any easier in college. Especially graduate school. Go away, 400+ pages of reading a week.

Cheynem

After rereading some of the questions: -Aaaagh, I can't believe it took me as long as it did to get that "Love" common link trash toss-up. Buddy Love is referenced right in the first line. -The SNCC question seems a mite too easy, what with references to John Lewis and civil rights very ea...

Cheynem

Clearly it is a reference to Pope Sixtus.

Cheynem

Oh yeah, I forgot the CPR toss-up. That would have benefited from giving more specific examples instead of talking about it in generalities...I knew they were talking about a procedure that can hurt you if done wrong and when they started describing the motions, yeah, that was buzzable.

Cheynem

I enjoyed this tournament a great deal. Some general comments (if this is NOT clear for discussion, delete this obviously): *The question writers must really like The Avengers, as it came up in a bonus (the John Hollis common link one), plus it provided the lead-ins for the John Cleese TU and the &q...

Cheynem

Yeah, the Agincourt toss-up actually was pretty good--I just conflated it with the others because it was something that I buzzed in with no real concrete knowledge. In retrospect, I guess it was just more of a lucky hunch than a bad toss-up. In this regard, NOT having a lot of knowledge about the me...

Cheynem

General Comments -First of all, this was a very fun tournament, and I actually liked the lack of common link stuff. It was well run and enjoyable. -I kinda agree with the history. As opposed to the other disciplines, it felt like "my first guess" based on time period/nationality generally ...

Cheynem

Bentley Like Beckham wrote:I have some videogame questions written for some to be determined tournament in the future. I'd write some sort of videogame tournament or something, but I don't know if there's interest in having more than one of those a year.

Yes. There is.

Cheynem

One possible suggestion would be doing pop culture-related but smaller-scale events, along the lines of the recent RMPFest and Impossible Speedcheck, which just required toss-ups. If you end up doing something like this, I would be delighted to write toss-ups.

Cheynem

Oh boy, can we have a triple round robin?

Cheynem

After looking through the packets, some other comments: -It seemed a little annoying that saying "Loving" as the answer for "Loving v. Virginia" was not accepted. -My partner became violently angry at the vast number of common link toss-ups. I really didn't care. -I really liked ...

Cheynem

I liked this set. Wendigo was indeed awesome. In terms of questionable toss-ups, I can only speak to my area of knowledge (Bible)--of this, I felt that there were some good questions (1 Corinthians) and some bad ones (a Daniel toss-up that mentions the statue with feet of clay in the second line?). ...

Cheynem

Not THAT awful a neg, but it sticks in my head more than six years later from high school, when I said "Henry Fielding" wrote Moll Flanders instead of Defoe. This was in a game where my HS team was trying to pull a major upset and we ended up blowing a lead and losing on the last question....

Cheynem

As a Lions fan, I want to resent your analogy, but I cannot. Damn you, Matt Millen! Damn you all to hell!

The Rams did beat the Cowboys and the Redskins this year though.

Cheynem

Thanks for writing this. Despite sucking at it, it was very fun to play and surprisingly accessible. It was worth not sleeping to play.

Cheynem

This was an enjoyable tourney--thanks to those running it and those who wrote the questions. Without discussing specifics, I will just say they were very solid and definitely did not live up to the horrifying reputation I have sometimes heard of TRASH packets. Makes no difference, either, but the &q...

Cheynem

School...work?

Cheynem

Hee hee, I remember when I was a high school sophomore and tried to read through the first volume of Masterplots. I spent weeks (years) waiting for a question about Hervey Allen's Anthony Adverse to come up.

Cheynem · Re: TRASH Regionals Midwest: 11/16/08 at Illinois You did get me down, right?

You did get me down, right?

Cheynem

I think Joe Hansen (from Minnesota) will probably play this, so I'll partner with him if he does. If not, then I'd be willing to partner with anyone who knows something about M or P.

Cheynem

SepiaOfficinalis wrote:But good set, a lot of fun (couldn't say that for MO.)

Yeah, not as much of those damn clues, huh, Tom?

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