August 30 2000 RussCon Report

Upcoming Events Game Results Evening's Soundtrack Ratings Links JeffS suggested I add Previous and Next Report buttons here, which seems a good idea, and I've separated out the navigation within a report from the navigation to places outside this report... RussCon Report Archives Previous Report Next Report RussCon Info Russ Zone my comics about games and stuff! 16 of us. 17 games. It would appear the huge attendance has dropped off and we're back to normal levels again. William outdid himself with the weird foods this week. The tamest stuff was 2 different off-brand imitation Twinkies (in an attempt to settle a little Twinkie mystery that came up between Jeffles & Carly during last week's game of Deprivation.) There were some bizarre lollipops in containers filled with powders (one of them hot chili powder) which you're intended to lick and dip in the powder. Two of these came with plastic cartoon heads on the sticks, of an Indian and an old west prospector. Jeffles opened one and spilled powder all over himself. But the best was the pictured clear packet of green goo, with mysterious hard black lumps. Like some flat squamous alien testicle sack, this translucent substance was a crowd pleaser. These tantalizing treats were all allegedly purchased at an ordinary HEB grocery store!

Upcoming Events

Clandestine, the great Celtic band out of Houston, will be playing the Cactus Cafe on UT Campus TODAY (Thursday August 31!) Woohoo! I plan to do my usual dinner beforehand at 7pm at Veggie Heaven (on the west side of the Drag south of 20th) if anyone would like to join me. The show starts at 8:30 and costs $10. We get in line early because it's become a very popular show.

Also, several of you are interested in the California Guitar Trio, which will be at the Cactus September 8 & 9 with Tony Levin.

The Rude Mechanicals are performing a new production of their Lipstick Traces: a secret history of the 20th century, which was an award winning critically acclaimed production last year. Rude Mechs are usually rather weird/experimental, and this show sounds like no exception: "The intrepid Dr. Narrator joins Sex Pistols' manager and self-proclaimed mastermind, Malcolm McLaren to recount an alternative history of the 20th century via the Sex Pistols, the Cabaret Voltaire, the May '68 riots, and a handful of medieval heretics." They're gearing up to take the show off-Broadway after this run (which ends September 16). Wendy & I are going next Thursday September 7, which is pay-what-you-wish night. Shows are at 9pm. Call 476-RUDE for reservations or sign up online at their website! I missed the show last year, so I'm looking forward to it.

Great Hall Games (the folks doing the upcoming Millennium Con) is opening a game store in Dobie Mall! According to my secret sources: Great Hall Games & Distractions will open its doors for business September 2, 2000. We are located in Dobie Mall (2025 Guadalupe, on the south edge of the UT Campus), on the ground floor, Suite 130. We'll be carrying the following sorts of games: Chess Backgammon Go Playing Cards and Casino Games Family Board Games Strategy Board Games Other Traditional Games Howard Hues Paints GeoHex and Other Terrain Historical Miniatures (Old Glory, Foundry, BattleFront, BattleHonors, GHQ, possibly Essex and others as we grow) Hours are Mon - Tue: 11:00 - 10:00 Wed - Thr: 11:00 - 7:00 Fri: 11:00 - Midnight Sat: 11:00 - 7:00 Sun: Closed The space is pretty small, but there will be gaming tables. Already in Dobie the Chess and Go clubs meet on Mon and Tues nights, respectively (hence the late hours). We'll have board gaming on Friday nights. Possibly miniatures gaming on Saturday afternoon?

A reminder that there is a Free Day of Yoga on Monday September 4. Lots of Austin yoga teachers will be giving free classes, so people curious about yoga as well as experienced yoga students can check out the different teachers and locations!

Game Results

Wendy finally got to play cribbage at RussCon, fulfilling a long time dream. Sadly it had been so long since she'd played that she was rusty and apparently William mugginsed her for about 15 points.

Meanwhile I have so thoroughly lost whatever Trainsport mojo I once had, coming in last horribly, though at least I ended with more cash than I started with, which is something. We decided the Switzerland map is definitely a different game from the Austria map; the 40 track build limit seems much more significant. Perhaps the map has more areas. We want to play more Switzerland games. RussD also has the new expansion which changes the contract rules (each player has their own hand of contracts), but we've not yet played with it.

For some reason there was a flurry of Button Men activity. Perhaps we will see more of this cute clever little game get played. The only problem is a shortage of d20s at my house.

Brady & I played Battle Cry's Shiloh scenario in match mode. This one ended up proving to be a more balanced scenario, as I won with both sides, first as the Union 6-4. Then as the Confederates, I was losing hideously as Brady killed 5 of my units, needing only one more to win, while I'd killed none of his. I managed to come back and win it 6-5! As I racked up kill after kill, I was amazed. We had never before seen such a comeback! (Not unlike that game of Bluff where Jay had 5 dice and I only had 2... ah, the glory days...) James and Daniel then played a game (I think just a single scenario, not a match), so the Battle Cry meme is spreading. If enough of us get into it, we should do a little Battle Cry tournament, or try a team game. I haven't actually bought a boardgame in a long time (since all these nice people bring them to my house every Wednesday), but I swear this game is tempting me.

Evening's Soundtrack

A healthy Celtic infusion of the RussCon Recommended Dosage of bagpipes fiddle guitar percussion singing.

Ratings

Rank ratings:
 1.0000 Clayton (1)
 1.0000 JP (2)
 0.4737 James (6)
 0.3000 JonathanC (3)
 0.2500 Jayson (5)
 0.1111 Dawn (5)
-0.0526 Jeffles (7)
-0.0667 William (5)
-0.1250 RussW (3)
-0.2105 Daniel (6)
-0.3333 RussD (1)
-0.4286 Carly (4)
-0.4444 BobR (5)
-0.5000 Marty (2)
-0.6000 WendyWhe (3)
-1.0000 Brady (1)

New Win ratings:
 1.0000 Clayton (1)
 1.0000 JP (2)
 0.5000 Jayson (5)
 0.2105 James (6)
 0.0000 JonathanC (3)
 0.0000 Daniel (6)
-0.0556 Dawn (5)
-0.0714 Carly (4)
-0.1250 RussW (3)
-0.2000 WendyWhe (3)
-0.2105 Jeffles (7)
-0.2667 William (5)
-0.2778 BobR (5)
-0.3333 RussD (1)
-0.5000 Marty (2)
-1.0000 Brady (1)

Links

Live365 has a huge number of net radio music broadcasts with a huge variety of musical genres. I especially recommend the station Covered In Punk which is all punk covers all the time. As I type this, I just heard punk covers of Don't Cry For Me Argentina and Alanis Morissette's You Oughta Know. This station rules!

Exoticon is a con coming up in New Orleans in November. Some of y'all at ArmadilloCon met Jay, Chris, and Jennifer from Houston; I just got email from them saying they enjoyed hanging with us at Dillocon, and they're going to Exoticon. The most curious thing about Exoticon to me is some event called The Way of the Russ...

The much-anticipated RussCon Picture Gallery is starting to shape up with a few pictures taken by William last autumn, and a surprise picture of JeffF and Jonobie from my UT CS alum newsletter.

Hey, go read that Ko Fight Club thing of mine! There's been a new strip every 2 days lately.

Chamoy Pulpa Green is people!

Russ