andrewducker: (Default)
[personal profile] andrewducker
Why do people go to the group "Fans of X" and ask "Is X any good?"

I mean, no, most members of the fan group loathe it with a fiery passion and are only in the group to warn passers-by how terrible it is.
neonvincent: For posts about food and cooking (All your bouillabaisse are belong to us)
[personal profile] neonvincent
I might have to change my lectures in the future because of it. Good thing I'm planning on retiring next year.

August 2025 Prompts

Sep. 26th, 2025 03:45 pm
fauxklore: (Default)
[personal profile] fauxklore
1. What do you think your life will be like ten years from now? Hopefully, not a lot different than it is now. Though I am contemplating moving to somewhere without stairs.

2. Where would you travel, if you could go anywhere? I’d love to take a cruise through the entire Northwest Passage.

3. Explain how you chose your career path. I started college intending to major in chemistry but didn’t like organic chemistry my freshman year. I read something about the Boston Arm, which was one of the earliest prosthetic limbs attached to the body’s nervous system and was intrigued. That led me to the mechanical engineering department. One of the two classes I took first semester sophomore year in that major was Intro to Systems Engineering, which really clicked with me. People told me if I liked that, I should take Control Systems and that’s what I ended up doing and going to graduate school for. When I was job hunting, I found that there were a lot of interesting controls problems in the aerospace industry, so most of the jobs I interviewed for were in that area. It worked out well for me.

4. Write about the last time weather scared you. Probably the last time I got caught driving through a severe thunderstorm.

5. What animal do you identify with most closely? Probably bears. I’m chubby and hairy, but still very cute.

6. What kind of jobs have you had in the past? In high school, I got paid for tutoring, primarily for math and science New York State Regents exams. I also was a summer camp counselor the summer after my freshman year of college. I worked desk at my dorm at MIT. I particularly liked doing the mail because I got paid for a full hour for it, but it generally took me less time than that. I also did that during the summers, as well as doing maid work when the dorms were used to house conference attendees. Most of those jobs reminded me that I was in school so I didn’t have to do jobs like that for the rest of my life. On a more occasional basis, I got paid for being a test subject for research projects. I only did one psych experiment that I can remember, but I did a lot of experiments for people who were working on speech processing. Those basically involved reading sentences into a tape recorder. The only requirement was being a native speaker of English and, for some reason, they thought New York qualified. You could only do two hours at a time, but you got enough money to afford to go out to dinner at Joyce Chen’s Monday night vegetarian buffet.

7. What is one skill you wish you had and how would that make your life different? I wish I had a long enough attention span to get my condo organized.

8. Have you ever had an incident because you overslept? I’ve sometimes missed an event I planned to go to because I overslept, but I’ve never had anything happen with real consequences.

9. How much was Gas the last time you filled up? I think I paid $2.79 a gallon near the Myrtle Beach Airport a couple of weeks ago.

10. What kinds of activities when on at the kitchen table at home when you grew up (eating doesn't count)? I did most of my homework at the kitchen table. I also spent time there drawing and coloring. And we played board games there a lot - everything from Candyland when my brother and I were little to countless games of backgammon with my mother and scrabble with my father later on.

11. What is the biggest risk you have ever taken? Probably going to Berkeley to go to grad school. Moving to California triggered a lot of culture shock.

12. When was the last time you sent or received a card from someone? My brother sent me a birthday card.

13. If money were no object, what would you spend your days doing? I’d fly in business class a lot more.

14. What is one thing in your life that requires immediate attention? I need to go grocery shopping.

15. How do you feel about change and uncertainties? I like change. I like to go to places I haven’t been to before, for example. And I usually like meeting new people.

16. Which foods do you remember eating often as a child? I’ve told this story before but it is worth repeating. My mother once bought 12 cases of bottled borscht, 24 bottles per case, as part of our local public television station’s annual fundraising auction. She gave some of it away, but we did eat borscht for dinner at least once a week for ages. Borscht with sour cream and boiled potatoes is still one of my favorite hot weather dinners. (We usually had a second course of tuna croquettes.) When my mother died (many many years later), my uncle and I found one bottle of borscht in the pantry and we joked that it was the last one from that purchase.

17. What kind of art is your favorite or least favorite? Why? When it comes to painting, I generally prefer modern art to old masters, though there are exceptions. I am often impressed by how a given painter uses color to invoke mood. I also like photorealism, including works by Edward Hopper and Richard Estes. I tend to prefer figurative sculpture to abstract sculpture, however. As for “why,” I suppose some of it is familiarity, but I’d also say there have been works of art I’ve seen that I made me see the world in different ways. Those range from Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” to Duchamp’s “Nude Descending a Staircase” (which captures movement more effectively than any other painting I’ve seen) to Faith Ringgold’s story quilts.

18. What do you think makes a happy family? I think families are happiest when their members respect one another, including accepting their differences.

19. How do you decide if you trust a person or not? Frankly, I find trust to be mostly a matter of instinct. I have been fooled by people who I thought were good people who turned out to be deceitful users, but, for the most part, I trust my judgmement.

20. How many pillows are on your bed? Generally, two or three. I normally like flat, squishy pillows, unless I have a cold.

21. Tell me about an old friend you've lost touch with. I stayed in touch with my best friend from high school for several years, but we lost touch when she got married to a man who I didn’t much care for.

22. Think of a loved one that you have lost. If you could ask this person one question, what would you ask, and what do you think they would say? There are lots of things I’d like to be able to ask my parents and grandparents. My paternal grandmother was killed in the Shoah and I’d love to be able to ask her what my Dad was like as a child.

23. What would you write in a letter you could send back in time to yourself as a teen-ager? Mostly, I’d like to be able to tell younger me not to take myself so seriously. There are lots of specifics, e.g. focusing on health instead of weight, and learning to deal with my curly hair instead of getting it straightened, etc., but the gist of the message I wish I’d learned earlier was that I’m basically okay.

24. How do you think instant riches would affect your friendships and familial relationships? I’d like to think they wouldn’t affect most of my relationships. Except, I know my brother would always be at my heels, begging for money.

25. Can you buy happiness? Money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy things that can distract you from misery.

26. What is a secret about you? If I wrote it here, it wouldn’t be a secret any more now, would it?

27. If you could travel anywhere in the world for a vacation, where would it be and why? Didn’t I answer that already in question 2? Seriously, I’d like to go almost anywhere that: a) I hadn’t already been and b) is not an active war zone.

28. Tell about a story when you got a parking ticket or traffic violation. I got a speeding ticket from a speed camera in D.C. once.

29. Is there a movie that has brought you to tears? Tell about it. There have been several. Let’s go with The Visitor, an exquisite 2007 movie directed by Tom McCarthy about a widowed professor (played perfectly by Richard Jenkins) who finds an illegal immigrant couple living in his apartment. (Note that this is entirely unrelated to the 1979 and 2022 movies by the same name.) This is one of my favorite movies of all time.

30. Name one of the kindest people you have ever met. Why? My friend, Teri, stand out. For example, when we eat out, she gets her leftovers wrapped up and gives them to homeless people.

31. Tell about a time you laughed until you cried. Back in 1998 I was on a trip on the St. Helena mail ship and one night, I was playing Pictionary with a few people. I don’t remember the exact trigger, but it might have had to do with my inability to draw a lamb. At any rate, one of the others said something that started me laughing uncontrollably. I eventually had to go to my cabin to stop.

Howtown video on body turnover

Sep. 26th, 2025 08:44 am
neonvincent: For posts about geekery and general fandom (Shadow Play Girl)
[personal profile] neonvincent

Three Months of Celebrity Death Watch

Sep. 26th, 2025 07:30 am
fauxklore: (Default)
[personal profile] fauxklore
Before I move on to things I did in August, let’s make an attempt to get more up to date on the ever popular celebrity death watch. This will cover May through July. I intend to do August and September next week and then I’ll be caught up for, uh, maybe a few hours.

Celebrity Death Watch - May 2025: Ruth Buzzi was a comedian, best known for appearing on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. Jill Sobule was a singer-songwriter, whose biggest hit was “I Kissed a Girl.” James Baker was the drummer for various punk rock groups, including Beasts of Bourbon. Stephen Fabian was a fantasy and science fiction illustrator. Nate Holden was a member of the Los Angeles City Council. John Edward sang with The Spinners. Richard Garwin was the author of the first hydrogen bomb design. Junior Byles was a reggae singer. Norma Meras Swenson co-founded the Boston Women’s Health Book Collective and co-authored Our Bodies, Ourselves, a book that was essential reading for women of my generation. Roger Nichols was a songwriter whose songs included “We’ve Only Just Begun” and “Times of Your Life.” George Wendt played Norm on Cheers. Mary Katharine Gaillard was the first tenured female physicist at Berkeley. Susan Brownmiller wrote the book Against Our Will: Men, Women, and Rape which raised awareness of the impact of rape on our society. Phil Robertson was the patriarch of the Duck Dynasty Robertson family. Robert Jarvik developed an artificial heart. George E. Smith was a co-inventor of the charge-coupled device and shared in the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics. Loretta Swit played “Hot Lips” Houlihan on M*A*S*H.

David Souter was a Supreme Court Justice from 1990 through 2009. George Bush appointed him, thinking he’d be a reliable conservative and he was opposed by both NOW and NAACP at the time. However, in part because of his respect for precedent and because of his recognition that all Supreme Court decisions have impacts on actual people, he came to be considered a liberal justice. He was probably the greatest intellectual of the people who’ve served on the Supreme Court in my lifetime and I had a lot of respect for him.

Charles Strouse was the composer of several musicals, including Bye Bye Birdie , Applause, and Annie. My favorite of his collaborations with Lee Adams was It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s Superman. An interesting bit of trivia is that he was Frank Loesser’s rehearsal pianist.

George Leitmann was a professor of mechanical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley. I studied optimal control and game theory with him.

Gerry Connolly was my Congresscritter, starting in 2009. While I generally agreed with his positions, I detested his use of autodialers.

Celebrity Death Watch - June 2025: Fred Espenak was an astrophysicist at Goddard Space Flight Center, known for his eclipse predictions. Dennis Waitley was a motivational speaker. Frederick Forsyth wrote thrillers, including The Day of the Jackal and The Odessa File. David H. Murdock owned Castle & Cooke and Dole Food Company. Sly Stone was a musician and songwriter. Jonathan Mayers co-founded the Bonnaroo and Outside Lands music festivals. John Robbins wrote Diet for a New America, which seems ironic for a descendant of the Baskin-Robbins ice cream dynasty. Mary Alice Torrance Malone was the heiress to the Campbell Soup Company. Ron Taylor was a relief pitcher for the 1969 “Miracle” Mets and later went to medical school, ending up a team physician for the Toronto Blue Jays. Charles Burrell was a bass player who was the first African American to be a member of a major American symphony. Sir Francis Graham-Smith was the astronomer royal from 1982-1990. Frederick W. Smith founded FedEx. Mick Ralphs played guitar for Mott the Hoople and Bad Company.

Surely you don’t need me to tell you who Brian Wilson was. But, in case you forgot, he sang with The Beach Boys (and on his own) and wrote songs like “Good Vibrations” and had a couple of very well publicized mental breakdowns. During a short period of the time that I lived in Venice, California (in the late 1980’s), there was a club a block or so from my apartment that played surf music for dancing on weekend afternoons. I still miss that place.

Bobby Sherman was an actor and pop singer. I had a huge crush on him when I was a pre-teen. My best friend and I would rush home to watch him in the TV show Here Come the Brides. And I am sure my whole family was sick of listening to me playing the 45 of “Julie, Do Ya Love Me.”

Bill Moyers was a journalist and political commentator. He had also been White House press secretary for most of a year under LBJ.

Celebrity Death Watch - July 2025: Alex Delvecchio was a Hall of Fame hockey player for the Detroit Red Wings. Jimmy Swaggart was a television evangelist. Richard Greenberg was a playwright, best known for Take Me Out. David Kaff was an actor, best known for playing the keyboard player in This Is Spinal Tap. Martin Cruz Smith wrote the novel Gorky Park. Dave Cousins was the lead singer of Strawbs. Robert Fuller co-founded The Hunger Project. Connie Francis was a pop singer, probably best known for covering “Who’s Sorry Now?” Jack McAuliffe founded New Albion Brewing Company, considered the first American microbrewery of the modern era. Edwin Feulneer founded the right wing think tank, The Heritage Foundation. Malcolm-Jamal Warner was an actor, best known for playing Theodore on The Cosby Show. Chuck Mansion was a flugelhornist and composer. Hulk Hogan was a professional wrestler. Cleo Laine was a jazz singer. Wallis Annenberg was a philanthropist who used her inherited wealth to support a variety of educational and arts organizations. Cecile Dionne was the fourth of the Dionne quintuplets to die, leaving just her sister Annette. Ryne Sandberg played second base, primarily for the Chicago Cubs, and later managed the Phillies.Allan Ahlberg wrote a lot of children’s books, many of which were illustrated by his late wife, Janet. Paul Mario Day was the original lead vocalist of Iron Maiden. Robert Wilson wrote the libretto for the opera Einstein on the Beach, which is probably better known for its music by Philip Glass.

Alan Bergman was a songwriter. He and his wife, Marilyn (who died in 2022), wrote lyrics for pieces by several composers, notably Marvin Hamlisch and Michel Legrand. Some of the songs they are known for include “The Windmills of Your Mind,” “The Way We Were,” “Yellow Bird,” and “In the Heat of the Night.”

Ozzy Osborne headed up the group Black Sabbath. I’d say he was a colorful character, but black is technically not a color. Incidents like him biting the head off a bat are, alas, more memorable than any of his music, in my opinion.

Tom Lehrer was best known for his humorous / satirical songs. I was raised on his work. My father regularly brought home comedy records and Lehrer was part of the rotation, along with Allan Sherman and various spoken word recordings like “You Don’t Have to Be Jewish.” Some of Lehrer’s most popular songs include “The Elements,” “The Vatican Rag,” and “The Masochism Tango.” I also saw the off-Broadway show “Tomfoolery,” based on his songs. By the way, I had forgotten at first that he was on my ghoul pool list but remembered in time to collect my 2 points.

Rosh Hashana at my new synagogue

Sep. 25th, 2025 05:36 pm
cellio: (Default)
[personal profile] cellio

I joined Beth Shalom in August. I'm still time-sharing Shabbat between there and my minyan, though that's winding down. (Sorry, minyan, I love my friends, but I'm settling into my new religious home.) Beth Shalom's Shabbat services are very comfortable and I'm seeing what I've been missing in the Reform movement. So I looked forward to Rosh Hashana this year.

It was great! Also, uh, long, but still a big win. I noticed that a lot of people drifted in over the course of the morning; there were not many people at the beginning and I could get a good seat, it was filling up by the torah service, and filled up more on the way to the sermon and then Musaf. On Rosh Hashana all the "big action" is in Musaf.

In addition to the Unataneh Tokef prayer, Musaf contains the themes of malchuyot (kingship), zichronot (memory), and shofarot (the shofar's call). For each of these three, the machzor (prayerbook) includes relevant passages from torah and prophets, piyutim (liturgical poems), and the sounding of the shofar. I've presumably heard some of those piyutim before, as I did go to Chabad for Rosh Hashana during the pandemic lockdown, but some of them stood out as if new to me this year. One in particular, Melech Elyon (king on high), stood out with some choreography -- this is sung in front of the open ark, except for one verse that talks, in contrast, about earthly kings, where we close the ark (and then open it again for the next verse). Neat, I thought -- as if to say, we will not trouble the king on high with stuff about mere human kings. And maybe that verse also stood out this year because of what is going on with our would-be earthly king, but I'll have to get a copy of the text before I can say more about that. (I do plan to buy both the siddur and machzor used by my new congregation, but haven't yet.)

The Reform services I have attended do basically none of this. The core part of Unataneh Tokef is sung, some other parts are read in English, and I think some of those biblical passages are included in the machzor. I never knew why they were there, and we usually didn't read them. And of course the shofar was sounded, along with the song after each set of blasts, but again, I didn't really grok the structure. And it wasn't in the Musaf service because Reform doesn't do Musaf; it was spread around in other places. I always thought my lack of connection with Temple Sinai's Rosh Hashana service came from an abundance of fluffy alternative English readings where liturgy should be -- and yes, that too, but not only that, I don't think. This year I felt like there was an integrated whole and that I was coming home to something I hadn't realized I was missing.

I knew that Rosh Hashana morning is the longest service of the year, but was still a little surprised by this one. (I expected four hours; it was more like four and a half.) Nonetheless, I appreciate that when we got to the silent repetition of the Musaf Amidah, they allowed us time to really do it. At other times I can't do the silent Amidah (any of them) in the time they leave for it; I'm just not that fast. But for this, we had space. That made a big difference to me.

During the public repetition (which is what takes up most of the time in Rosh Hashana Musaf), there were places where the congregation sang along, so it wasn't just "stand and listen to the leader". And some of those piyutim had lively, uplifting melodies.

I'm looking forward to Yom Kippur. (And Shabbat before then.)

The Rest of the Twin Cities Trip

Sep. 25th, 2025 04:19 pm
fauxklore: (Default)
[personal profile] fauxklore
After the conclusion of the NPL Con on Sunday morning, I got together with my friend, Melissa, who I’d met in December 2023 on the Aranui cruise to the Marquesas. We spent a lovely afternoon going to the Walker Art Center, which I had never managed to get to on my previous trips to Minneapolis.

Here’s a piece by Robert Rauschenberg, who is as famous for his relationship with Jasper Johns as for his art.

IMG_5185

Edward Hopper is one of my favorite artists and I find his work instantly recognizable.

IMG_5186


I had not heard of Gala Porras-Kim before, but I was quite intrigued by this series by her, which this is a small part of. These are all done with colored pencil, but they look 3-dimensional.

IMG_5188

We did also go outside. The best known piece at the Walker is Spoonbridge and Cherry by Claes Oldenburg, another artist whose work is easy to identify. We had to wait a little while to get a picture without a horde of people around it.

IMG_5193

We also did plenty of non-art related talking, including reminiscing about the Aranui and talking about other travel things. And we had mocktails at the Cardamom Cafe at the museum. I had a very tasty drink called solea, which had pineapple, sumac, lime, and ginger beer. Overall, it was a lovely afternoon. Afterwards, Melissa drove me to the hotel near the airport where I was spending the next couple of nights.

I spent Monday going back to the Mall of America. Melissa had pointed out to me that it was previously the site of Metropolitan Stadium, which had been the home of the Twins (and the Vikings) from 1956 to 1981 when they moved to the Metrodome. In memory of that, there is a red chair bolted to the wall that marks the longest home run ever hit at that stadium (520 feet, hit by Harmon Killebrew).

IMG_5200

There is also a marker showing where home plate had been.

IMG_5202

I also did some general browsing. The only thing I was at all tempted by, however, was a yarn store, which had some high quality yarn, e.g. Malabrigo and Nori, but nothing I can’t get at home.

On Tuesday, I went to Saint Paul. I’ve been there before, so didn’t feel the need to go back to the state capitol and state museum. The weather was pleasant enough to spend some time walking around downtown. Another friend had mentioned the Peanuts statues in downtown Saint Paul, so I did photograph some of those. (Charles Schulz spent much of his childhood there.)

IMG_5206

IMG_5209

The main reason I went to St. Paul was, however, to go to a St. Paul Saints game. They’re the AAA affiliate of the Minnesota Twins and play at CHS Field. The ballpark was pleasant and I enjoyed the game, especially since the WooSox (BoSox affiliate, based in Worcester, Massachusetts) won. I also ran into two NPL people there.

IMG_5216

All in all, I had a nice trip. My flight home went smoothly, too. I wish I could say the same about some of my travels in August.

Cute cat video

Sep. 25th, 2025 06:51 am
neonvincent: For posts about cats and activities involving uniforms. (Krosp)
[personal profile] neonvincent

Unused image for 'The Pitt' post

Sep. 24th, 2025 06:24 pm
neonvincent: For posts about geekery and general fandom (Shadow Play Girl)
[personal profile] neonvincent
I used another image for 'The Pitt' edges 'Severance' for Outstanding Drama Series at the Emmy Awards.

Oddly recurrent stomach issues

Sep. 24th, 2025 07:05 am
andrewducker: (Hold Me)
[personal profile] andrewducker
Facebook reminds me that we had norovirus on this day in 2021 and 2023. Jane has spent the last 24 hours with D+V. What are the odds?
fauxklore: (Default)
[personal profile] fauxklore
Sorry for the long delay in getting this post finished. I had underestimated the impact of an absurd amount of (domestic) travel on my getting things done.


This year’s National Puzzlers’ League convention was in Minneapolis. I planned things so that I stayed on a couple of extra days, enabling me to check off another AAA ballpark - namely, CHS Field, the home of the St. Paul Saints. I'll write about that part of the trip separately, since it will be a bit picture heavy.

The main hotel for the con was the Courtyard by Marriott. However, I reserved too late to get in there so ended up at the overflow hotel, which was the Aloft about a half mile away. It wasn’t a terrible walk, but it wasn’t at all scenic and was remarkably deserted at night. I also found the Aloft substandard as Marriott brands go, largely because of the lack of 24 hour coffee / hot water in the lobby. Lesson learned: I should book the hotel right when registration opens.

Anyway, I flew to MSP on American, which was fine. I took the light rail from the airport to downtown and it was a short, easy walk to the Aloft, though I had a wait before I could check in. Once I did, I walked up to the Courtyard for the con picnic (and to say hello to various people). The picnic was actually an indoor food event, the only thing of which I remember was that there was pizza. I would normally hang out and play games with other NPL people, but I wanted to call into my Book Club meeting so I walked back to the Aloft for the discussion of Long Island by Colm Toibin.

Thursday morning started with getting a breakfast of croissant perdu (i.e. French toast made from a croissant) at Mother Dough Bakery. Then I took the light rail down to the Mall of America, where a group of us were playing The Great Big Game Show. This involved two teams, who competed in a variety of games . For example, we started with having to build the tallest structure out of foam blocks. There were some trivia games, e.g. one called It’s Elementary which was roughly based on Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader. I was nervous about representing my team in Drawing in the Dark but, fortunately, I was able to draw a flashlight while blindfolded. Overall, it was fun.

I browsed the mall briefly afterwards and had lunch, before taking the light rail to downtown Minneapolis. I had to get a photo of the Bob Dylan Mural at North 5th Street and Hennepin Ave.

IMG_5171

From there, it was a short walk to the Mary Tyler Moore statue.

IMG_5182

I returned to the Aloft and rested for a little while before walking over to the Courtyard to meet up with a group for dinner. The Thursday night foodie dinners, organized by Neuromancer, are an NPL con tradition. The group I was with had chosen to go to Mama Safia’s Kitchen, a Somali restaurant. We ordered a bunch of different dishes - basically flatbread and rice with various types of meat (goat, lamb, chicken, beef) and a couple of plates of appetizers (a deep-fried dough called mandazi and sambuza). Everything was very tasty.

The official con program started shortly after we got back to the Courtyard. There were three games on the official program. The first one, Compound Sentences was an ice-breaker in which everyone got a card with a word on it and people had to connect their word with other people’s words to form a sentence. The tricky thing was that some words were a lot harder to use than others. Next up was Jibber Jabble! which was, essentially, a version of a commercial game and was fun to play. The final one, Segues, was a word association game and I have to admit I don’t remember anything specific about it. I know I played some unofficial games until late in the night, but I don’t remember which things I played which nights.

I won’t write in detail about Friday night and Saturday afternoon’s puzzles and games. The most notable thing about Friday night’s official program was that my storytelling friend, Sufian, joined us for the evening. This was a world that was completely new to him, but he seemed to have a good time. And he may have inspired me to work on a story about puzzles. For example, the unforgivable sin in my household when I was growing up was to enter anything into the Sunday New York Times crossword before Mom had given up on finishing it.

I spent part of the day on Friday co-solving con cryptics. I did Slik’s ConCryptic Junction with Nimbus and TMcAy’s Double Play with Needy. Both of those were really enjoyable and I found the latter particularly satisfying because we started out feeling intimidated but, once we got a few answers, things fell into place fairly rapidly. That aha moment is a lot of what I find so satisfying about cryptics.

The Saturday night extravaganza is always a highlight of con. This year’s was called Twin City and was based on the premise that when Romulus founded Rome, Remus founded Reme. Each of those two cities had a suite of puzzles associated with it. There were some particularly fun puzzles among those. One, called Puntheon, was so completely in my wheelhouse that it could have been custom written for me. For example, a dog breed that gets into minor fights at a Catholic service would be a mastiff.

I am also always impressed by the creativity that people put into the games they bring. Silk’s Jeopardy game was high on that scale, with a mixture of trivia questions in unusual categories and various gimmicks involving things like matchbox cars and, well, really you had to play it for yourself to appreciate it. Noam’s Jeopardy game was more normal, but he always has fun categories with interesting trivia. Bonus did a game of Faster, which had been invented by Dart, and has the gimmick that each round has the same answers (with different questions) and decreasing time to get through them. I’m generally useless at Trash by Ember because pop culture is not my forte, but there were a few Broadway-related topics that were involved, which is one of my strong suits.

Of course, the major reason I’ve prioritized the NPL con over other things I could do is the people. I won’t attempt to name names because there are too many to include. I will note that the kindness of NPLers really came to the fore in handling a situation with one person who was having difficulties due to memory issues and how people went out of their way to help him throughout the con.

I’m looking forward to next year in Bloomington, Indiana and 2027 in Philadelphia.
neonvincent: For general posts about politics not covered by other icons (Uncle V wants you)
[personal profile] neonvincent
Again, I decided I only needed the acceptance speeches in John Oliver examines Jimmy Kimmel & the FCC after winning two Emmy Awards.

Ice Cream Cone Day

Sep. 22nd, 2025 12:20 pm
neonvincent: For posts about food and cooking (All your bouillabaisse are belong to us)
[personal profile] neonvincent

Eurythmics cover in 'Wednesday'

Sep. 21st, 2025 05:37 pm
neonvincent: From an icon made by the artists themselves (Bang)
[personal profile] neonvincent

Profile

cahwyguy: (Default)
cahwyguy

September 2025

S M T W T F S
 1 23456
78910111213
14 1516171819 20
21222324252627
282930    

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags