January 5 1999 RussCon Report

16 folks, including newcomer Tom of the slug tribe and the unexpected annual return of Dave! The RussCon Management is gratified to learn that RussCon attendance plays a role in someone's New Year's Resolutions.

Everyone be sure to tell KevinH he'd be crazy to move to Houston. Though it's probably better than Athens, TX.

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Game Results:

FlinkePinke 5 Clayton 4 WendyWhe 2 KevinH -2 RussW -2 Steve -2
Bluff 4 Steve 3 Clayton 1 WendyWhe -1 RussW -3
Exxtra 4 Steve 3 RussW 1 Clayton -1 WendyWhe -3
HighSociety 4 RussW 3 JeffF 1 Steve -1 Clayton -3
Settlers 6 William 5 Bob 3 TomK 1 Fred -2 Jerrie -2 JonathanC -5
Dorada 3 JeffF 2 Steve 0 RussW -2
Cribbage 2 William 1 TomK -1
TitanArena 3 RussW 2 Steve 0 JeffF -2
AufHellerUndPfennig 4 Jerrie 3 Bob 1 JonathanC -1 Fred -3
Guillotine 5 TomK 4 RussW 2 Steve 0 William -2 JeffF -4
SantaFe 5 Bob 4 Marty 2 JonathanC 0 KevinH -2 Brady -4
McMulti 4 KevinH 3 JP 1 DaveB -1 Marty -3
ZirkusFlohcati 4 William 3 TomK 1 JeffF -1 RussW -3
Mu 5 DaveB 4 JeffF 2 TomK 0 William -2 JP -4

Fred was the Devil and started things off with a 6 player Settlers game.

I enjoyed playing lots of different short games this evening. If nothing else, it's a great way to win the Dedicated Award.

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Evening's Soundtrack:

Herbie Hancock, Future Shock
The Moody Blues, Days of Future Passed
Michael Nyman, Gattaca Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Type O Negative, World Coming Down
Vangelis, Blade Runner

The followup to last week's soundtrack for the new year, 21st century, 3rd millennium, and all that jazz. Next week we return to our regularly scheduled non-calendar-based themes.

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Rank ratings:
 0.6667 Bob (3 games played)
 0.4286 DaveB (2)
 0.2941 William (5)
 0.2941 TomK (5)
 0.1429 Steve (7)
 0.1250 Jerrie (2)
 0.0769 Clayton (4)
-0.0833 RussW (8)
-0.0909 KevinH (3)
-0.1111 JeffF (6)
-0.1429 Marty (2)
-0.2000 WendyWhe (3)
-0.4286 JP (2)
-0.5000 JonathanC (3)
-0.6250 Fred (2)
-1.0000 Brady (1)

New Win ratings:
 0.4286 DaveB (2)
 0.4118 William (5)
 0.2500 Jerrie (2)
 0.1667 Bob (3)
 0.0909 KevinH (3)
 0.0769 Clayton (4)
 0.0476 Steve (7)
 0.0000 TomK (5)
-0.0417 RussW (8)
-0.1667 JeffF (6)
-0.2500 JonathanC (3)
-0.2500 Fred (2)
-0.2500 Brady (1)
-0.2857 Marty (2)
-0.2857 JP (2)
-0.3000 WendyWhe (3)

Bob & Dave are Co-Devils! Since Dave only comes once a year, I suppose Bob will be the Devil next week. Dave, you should play more go. William is Vice-Devil.

I win the Dedicated Award for playing the most games.

Congratulations to Brady for his stellar Reverse Brady Maneuver.

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Nosferatu!

Some of us saw Brown Whornet do their modern electronic music for Nosferatu at Alamo Drafthouse the past 2 Halloweens. Here's a more traditional treatment coming to the Paramount:

Sounds of Silents: Nosferatu
Saturday, January 22, 2000, 8pm. After last year's spectacular presentation of the silent war classic Wings, conductor Gillian Anderson returns to lead a live orchestra in the original orchestral score for F.W. Murnau's 1922 silent film classic the brilliantly eerie Nosferatu. The original version of the Dracula story.

If anyone's interested let me know. Tickets are pricey ($23). Wendy & I saw Wings last year and enjoyed it a lot. On the other hand, I did just see Nosferatu 3 months ago. Life is a dilemma.

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Links:

Humorously dire predictions of what Y2k was going to bring. 20/20 hindsight:
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,33419,00.html

Mock BBC TV Guide. A little like the Onion:
http://www.tvgohome.com/index.html

Gentlemen! Are you circumcised and sad about it? Everything you ever wanted to know about do-it-yourself foreskin reconstruction, from the writer who brought Dave's Pokemon cheating techniques to the world:
http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/1999/12/17/tuggers/index.html

Inexplicable religious fanaticism, railing against games, stuffed animals, paisley, etc. complete with annoying music:
http://www.demonbuster.com/cards.html
http://www.demonbuster.com

People who really dislike mobile phones; the slippery slope from guerilla street theater to criminal terrorism:
http://www.phonebashing.com/

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Breathe deep the gathering gloom,
Watch lights fade from every room.

Russ