Dearest and best beloved Scav Hunt,
As I reentered the real world today, I was asked several times: "What was it like, ya know, judging that Scav Hunt?" I did not know. I stammered and fumbled my words and went on overenthusiastic and somewhat distressing diatribes that went something like: "Yeah, Snitchcock had an ENTIRE LAMB! I could see its TEETH and EYES and oh my GOD, all of these people, they made VOLCANOS out of their ASSES in front of Ida Noyes and it was MAJESTIC! MajASSTIC! HILARIOUS!" Now, my inability to express my feeling on this issue could be chalked up to not having slept more than four hours a night for the past four days, but to do so would be to ignore the real reason why I am incapable of summing up the Hunt. In truth, I'm tongue-tied because this has been one of the most surreal, absurd, fantastic, heartachingly wonderful experiences I think I'll ever have. I still am not quite capable of believing that all of this went down, that anyone could produce even a few of all the shockingly marvelous things to which I was treated this weekend. So at risk of seeming nauseatingly sentimental, I want to thank you, Scav Hunt, for robbing me of my words and reducing me to rambles with your sheer awesomeness. Also for the whole ass-volcano thing -- that was great.
With my most sincere affection and admiration,
Judge Emily
Monday, May 12, 2008
A suggestion
I know I've taken a lot of pictures and video during the Hunt. I'm just gonna throw this out there: if you upload it to any site that has tagging (Flickr, YouTube, etc.), use the tag Scav08 in addition to any others you were gonna use. That way it's all easily searchable in this brave new Web 2.0 world.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
The Plan
Now that the Hunt has ended, I can reveal one of the deepest, darkest secrets that we have kept. A secret that has resulted in the revelation and performance of an act that has deep history and import to the world of the Hunt.
Item 214 read simply "22818877@N06". This cryptic phrase, as many of you realized, is a Flickr account ID. This leads to a trio of pictures of brownies. These tasty morsels are not simply for show - upon the confections are an odd assortment of sprinkles. These colorful bits are actually morse code, instructing people to read the first letters of each of the tags on the images. These read "nalpeht", "googlepages", "com/plan.html". Put them all together and you get the next site in the series.
The page hints at something called "the Plan". Odd, since item 119 is a cryptic one reading "Execute the Plan". The curious observer might wonder if there was more to the web page than what was seen. And that observer would be correct: in the source code for the web site, there is a comment instructing the reader to browse to http://followtheemu.blogspot.com/.
At this point, the reader was confronted with an odd graphic showing a plan, but not the Plan. The intent of this diagram was to show that this next step involved not just someone at the computer, but one or more people in a car. The person back at HQ would be given a location-specific question online and send the mini-road trippers out to that place. At that place, they would inform the person at HQ of the answer to the question. Upon receipt of the answer, the HQ person would use it as the name of another Blogspot (that is, _____.blogspot.com), which would lead to another clue at another spot, and so on.
While the diagram wasn't necessarily all that clear, it seems that everyone was able to glean the context from the post below it, giving the first location and question. The locations were as follows:
- The first set of coordinates (N 41°43'20.9" W 087°38'1.9") are for a portion of the parking lot of Trinity United Church of Christ; this is Barack Obama's church, located in the 400 block of E 95th Street. A picture was provided of a reserved parking sign, with only part of the words visible (the title Director of Music) - the question asked what the remainder said. Some people were able to find out online that he is Robert E. Wooten, Jr., and guessed the correct answer, rwooten.blogspot.com.
- The second set of coordinates (N 41°43'17.2" W 087°39'33.9") was one that was basically not web-accessible. About a mile and a half west of the Trinity UCC is a liquor store named George's Cut-Rate Food and Liquors. The question asked about a particular phrase on a warning sign outside the store. The gut reaction would be to attempt to use Google Streetview to find the phrase, but some strange problem with the Streetview camera meant that the particular block of 95th Street was essentially unviewable. It would have been possible, given a stroke of luck, to come across a Wall Street Journal article that referenced the correct answer: nodrugdealing.blogspot.com.
- The third set of coords (N 41°43'35.4" W 087°42'8.1") led the intrepid scavengers to a place called Snacksville Junction at the corner of 91st and Kedzie. This recently reopened restaurant has a substantial gimmick: your food arrives on train cars. Thus, everything is railroad themed, including the menu items. This question asked people to identify the first word of a menu item that ended in "& Ohio". The punny solution was, of course, cheeseapeake.blogspot.com.
- The fourth location (N 41°43'48.7" W 087°42'37.8") is just northwest of Snacksville Junction and led people to a particular area in St. Mary's Cemetery. A picture singled out a plot, and asked what the first letters/digits of the words on the headstone spelled. The headstone reads "Brother Edward C. Gaedele 1925 1961", so the answer is becg11.blogspot.com.
- Place number five (N 41°43'10.4" W 087°40'56.7") only led to the general area of the next clue: The Plaza mall at 95th and Western in Evergreen Park. A picture accompanied the clue, showing a sculpture of a man feeding/getting attacked by birds. The question asked what was written behind his right shoe - the answer being the signature of sculptor George Lundeen: gwlundeen.blogspot.com. There are other sights to see at The Plaza; Un dimanche après-midi à l'Île de la Royale avec Fromage and atrophied-limbed Snoopy are just two of them.
- The final location (N 41°43'16.5" W 087°40'9.4") is a fantastic place on 95th Street between Ashland and Damen called Jimmy Jamm Sweet Potato Pies. The clue was to read a particular section of the menu, leading to jimmyjammsloadedyam.blogspot.com. However, it was also heartily recommended that people get a slice of pie there, because it's mmmmmm good.
So after all this exploring, a tantalizing bit of The Plan is revealed: it involves someone known as The Man. How mysterious! The next step somehow involves a picture of a Beanie Baby named Steg.
Other hints also exist: a reference to the gentleman visited in the cemetery, stating that he once played baseball and that his team's name might be pertinent. Some sleuthing reveals that Edward Gaedele is more frequently referred to as Eddie Gaedel, who was a dwarf whom Bill Veeck played once in a 1951 game as a promotional stunt. His team was the St. Louis Browns. And an additional hint in the source indicates that that is to be written all lowercase. A third hint is hidden from view by being black text on a black background, suggesting that somehow a large ant is relevant.
So a stegosaurus image, the word "browns", and a large ant. How to fit it all together? The major clue is the subject matter of the image itself. Steg is not only a Beanie Baby but shorthand for a nifty spy-type message hiding system called steganography. Simply put, steganography is the art of hiding messages in a way that conceals the very existence of the message. A simple example is invisible ink - when put on a document, there's little clue that the secret message even exists.
Steganography is big in the digital age. Choose any type of file, and there's probably a way to hide information in it. One of the most popular is image files. How can you hide a coded message in a picture? Well, by occasionally altering the information in the file - making a tiny bit of it a little redder, and another part a little darker, all according to the system being used.
But! There are dozens of steganographic tools that don't work with one another - they all use different methods. How to choose the right one? Well, here the insect-related clue comes in handy: there is a steg tool called "maxant" listed on the Wikipedia page, and that is in fact the correct tool to use. (Another idea for a hint was an image of a giant ant and Max Palevsky Residential Commons, but that was rejected due to the possibility of Scavvies getting the Wrong Idea of what The Plan actually was.) One last obstacle remains, though - maxant requires a password for decryption. That's where "browns" comes in handy.
The result of the decryption is the following:
Good work.Steganography is great and all, but there's something to be said for plain old ciphers, don't you think?Guvf vfa'g n cnegvphyneyl uneq bar gb penpx. Jnag n qvssvphyg bar? BX, gel gur bar ng uggc://jjrfgvai.tbbtyrcntrf.pbz/ergebsvg.gkg naq frr ubj lbh qb.
Well, there's obviously some code there at the bottom. It's encoded using one of the simplest techniques around, ROT13. Basically, you swap A and N, B and O, C and P, all the way to M and Z. Doing this gets you to a file called retrofit.txt.
Retrofit.txt is up-front about itself, clearly stating it is a Vigenère cipher. (Check out the link for more information if you're interested, as explaining it is kind of complex.) The key phrase for the ciphertext, which is required to decode it, is stated to be a two-word phrase from this year's list. What could it be‽ Well, if you try a certain obvious phrase, you might get a hint: using "scav hunt" as the keyword, the first few letters are HOPEZULVO. This might encourage you to try something like "scav hunt", such as, say, "scav bundt" - the correct keyword.
Decrypting the Vigenère leads you to a Freewebs site with three phrases repeated many times:
- DO NOT EXECUTE THE PLAN UNTIL TOLD TO EXECUTE THE PLAN
- DO NOT EXECUTE THE PLAN UNTIL YOU ARE CERTAIN WHO THE MAN IS
- BE PREPARED TO EXECUTE THE PLAN AT JUDGMENT
So, after all this, the trail ends up at a YouTube movie. The movie is composed of several stills, showing a multistep process:
- Acquire coleslaw and a sock
- Place coleslaw in the sock
- Bunch the coleslaw in the end of the sock, creating a Highly Effective Weapon
- Swing the sock
To drive the message home, the description tells you what The Plan boils down to: BOP THE MAN.
Thus, at Judgment, Christian (who along with Kat and myself conceived and worked out this item), during judging of his page, made the following statements:
I am The Man.
Execute The Plan.
I'm The Man.
Execute The Plan.
Bop The Man!
Execute The Plan!!
I'm The Man!!!!!
Now the secret is out. Luckily, The Plan has been executed, and The Man has been bopped.
Envelopes & Antelopes
So! I bet you're wondering who won ScavHunt? I'll tell you right now, I won ScavHunt. Not in terms of points, perhaps. But if I didn't have one of the best weekends of my life, I'll eat even more of my shoe.
That's so true. But also, we're still judging in our hearts. Also, in the library. Mostly in the library. Using pressure waves. Because that's how we roll. In the library.
Things I saw that were awesome! That dude that turned an envelope inside out in, like, twenty-five seconds. Every single doublepipe: especially that Dr. Seuss-looking one made out of a bedpost. Cakes! I totally ate an elephant in one bite! And nearly choked to death! Thank goodness we had been instructed in the Heimlich maneuver. Feather guns! Bra bombs! Like, the entire FIST team turning envelopes around on every side of me. Tasting my shoe. Watching X! eat his shoe. And swords! By the Stairmaster, the swords! How many of you now have swordforging as a new hobby? At least one. And that's pretty much the best. How many of you are going to spend the rest of this year perfecting your Zeusophones? I think a few. And that's pretty much the best thing ever. How many of you won ScavHunt? If you're anything like me, all of you. And that's pretty much the best thing ever. Good.
No, but seriously, we'll announce the winners in like, forty minutes.
That's so true. But also, we're still judging in our hearts. Also, in the library. Mostly in the library. Using pressure waves. Because that's how we roll. In the library.
Things I saw that were awesome! That dude that turned an envelope inside out in, like, twenty-five seconds. Every single doublepipe: especially that Dr. Seuss-looking one made out of a bedpost. Cakes! I totally ate an elephant in one bite! And nearly choked to death! Thank goodness we had been instructed in the Heimlich maneuver. Feather guns! Bra bombs! Like, the entire FIST team turning envelopes around on every side of me. Tasting my shoe. Watching X! eat his shoe. And swords! By the Stairmaster, the swords! How many of you now have swordforging as a new hobby? At least one. And that's pretty much the best. How many of you are going to spend the rest of this year perfecting your Zeusophones? I think a few. And that's pretty much the best thing ever. How many of you won ScavHunt? If you're anything like me, all of you. And that's pretty much the best thing ever. Good.
No, but seriously, we'll announce the winners in like, forty minutes.
quote of the day
Max P. Scavvy #1: "You can float the lily pad in the kiddie pool."
Max P. Scavvy #2: "The kiddie pool is filled with blood."
Max P. Scavvy #2: "The kiddie pool is filled with blood."
Bring me new! Lots of new!
Or just Brand New! We are all pretty excited about this. Even beautifully excited. I'd go so far as to say "drop dead gorgeous" excited. Let's stick with that. We're that excited. Drop dead gorgeous.
And mad props to the good folks at Brand New for doing this. It's not the normal kind of press we get.
And mad props to the good folks at Brand New for doing this. It's not the normal kind of press we get.
I may be addiction
... to barnraisings. The first taste was free, but the second is, uh, also free. And the third. Pretty much all of them, actually. No wonder it's so easy to become a barnraising addict. I'm saying, you guys brought this, you brought it hard, and you brought it before noon on Friday. As these barns were raised, so were my hopes. My heart grew three sizes. Normally that would be really annoying -and I'll admit, the new, louder heartbeat does keep me awake at night- but it was just so awesome. It's totally worth developing a disgusting oversized feelings organ.
But, but.... where do I get more?
But, but.... where do I get more?
Saturday, May 10, 2008
Dude, guys, stop hurting yourselves. I know this is rich, coming from the Judges, given that we are the ones who instructed you to strap razor blades on to uncooked chickens and then swing them at one another. And given that we are the ones who asked you to compete in a knife competitions. But seriously, this isn't a "get as injured as you can" competition. Blood does not equal points. Except during blood drive, when it does.
Do you want a complete list of all the judges who are here for this Hunt? I bet you do. I bet you have been waiting all Hunt for such a list.
Cthonathan, Leila, CKam, Colin, Claire, SLucy, Tricky, Kat, JCrow, Fink, Nick, Bill, Joel, Will, Jim, Ian, Sam, Kate, Connor, Jess, Emily, Courtney, CBass, Lisa. Also Karl was here for list release. Therefore, Colin, let me point out that when I said there are "literally 25 judges here," I was, in fact, correct.
I hope all the scavvies' nights are going well. Just over 12 hours until Judgment! ARE YOU READY? (Actually, I hope you're not ready. If you were currently asleep because you are just that ready, I would be disappointed.) We Judges are currently in an epic pointing meeting. We have been deliberating for many hours now. We are very careful in distributing our points.
In closing, I give you a warning and a memory from today.
A warning: THE PRUPLE PLUNDERER IS OUT AND ABOUT. AS. WE. SPEAK.
A memory: Hey, remember when we played real-life Battleship? Goddamn that RULED.
Do you want a complete list of all the judges who are here for this Hunt? I bet you do. I bet you have been waiting all Hunt for such a list.
Cthonathan, Leila, CKam, Colin, Claire, SLucy, Tricky, Kat, JCrow, Fink, Nick, Bill, Joel, Will, Jim, Ian, Sam, Kate, Connor, Jess, Emily, Courtney, CBass, Lisa. Also Karl was here for list release. Therefore, Colin, let me point out that when I said there are "literally 25 judges here," I was, in fact, correct.
I hope all the scavvies' nights are going well. Just over 12 hours until Judgment! ARE YOU READY? (Actually, I hope you're not ready. If you were currently asleep because you are just that ready, I would be disappointed.) We Judges are currently in an epic pointing meeting. We have been deliberating for many hours now. We are very careful in distributing our points.
In closing, I give you a warning and a memory from today.
A warning: THE PRUPLE PLUNDERER IS OUT AND ABOUT. AS. WE. SPEAK.
A memory: Hey, remember when we played real-life Battleship? Goddamn that RULED.
This spring I don't know how I survived
I woke up still on fire!
Or rather, I woke up to ridiculously destructive breakfasts. I ate, like, three pounds of bundt on Thursday. I weighed myself later just to be sure. Nobody took the easy route on the 4*r^3*pi-zza, and we ended with a wide variety of styles. And good morning, burgers! By my boots and hair, if those weren't the tastiest burgers I've ever eaten. I mean, I used to work the graveyard shift at a Denny's, I could literally put anything on a burger or in a milkshake, and barely even got close to what I ate yesterday off the ground with a plastic spork. Also, coffee that tastes like jellybeans? Homiesaywhaaaaaaat? I mean, seriously.
Some of you may realize that I was not actively 'judging' anything during the parties, but the few nachos I sampled were not just macho, not merely machismo-er, but in fact machismost. Not in the realm of Iron Chef, many teams also had refreshments that made me jump with joy. Well, actually, eat with joy. Or in a few cases, with reckless abandon. I mean, hardtack? I love hardtack! Also swedish fish, and jell-O, and... jell-O containing swedish fish? Yeah!
Can we candy? YES WE CAN! Can we cola? Also, yes. I continued to go back for cups of pop throughout the Olympics. All the mock'n'm's were solid, and I don't just mean as opposed to liquid (though that was also important). Not a meal, but the perfect thing to spoil one with. Which brings us to supper.
Oh my pants, supper. We are all still arguing about what in the smorgasbord was most delicious, beautiful, and innovative. After seeing the options, I sat down and tried with all my might to get hungrier. If I could have gone back in time and stopped myself from eating anything else today, I totally would have. I mean, I'm running out of ways to say you guys rocked everything you put your hands, pans, and whisks to; but understand, it's not because I'm anywhere near running out of admiration. You are all my heros, the kind of heros I would hire to follow me around and cook every one of my meals for all time.
Someday, when I'm shamefully rich, my friends. Someday.
Or rather, I woke up to ridiculously destructive breakfasts. I ate, like, three pounds of bundt on Thursday. I weighed myself later just to be sure. Nobody took the easy route on the 4*r^3*pi-zza, and we ended with a wide variety of styles. And good morning, burgers! By my boots and hair, if those weren't the tastiest burgers I've ever eaten. I mean, I used to work the graveyard shift at a Denny's, I could literally put anything on a burger or in a milkshake, and barely even got close to what I ate yesterday off the ground with a plastic spork. Also, coffee that tastes like jellybeans? Homiesaywhaaaaaaat? I mean, seriously.
Some of you may realize that I was not actively 'judging' anything during the parties, but the few nachos I sampled were not just macho, not merely machismo-er, but in fact machismost. Not in the realm of Iron Chef, many teams also had refreshments that made me jump with joy. Well, actually, eat with joy. Or in a few cases, with reckless abandon. I mean, hardtack? I love hardtack! Also swedish fish, and jell-O, and... jell-O containing swedish fish? Yeah!
Can we candy? YES WE CAN! Can we cola? Also, yes. I continued to go back for cups of pop throughout the Olympics. All the mock'n'm's were solid, and I don't just mean as opposed to liquid (though that was also important). Not a meal, but the perfect thing to spoil one with. Which brings us to supper.
Oh my pants, supper. We are all still arguing about what in the smorgasbord was most delicious, beautiful, and innovative. After seeing the options, I sat down and tried with all my might to get hungrier. If I could have gone back in time and stopped myself from eating anything else today, I totally would have. I mean, I'm running out of ways to say you guys rocked everything you put your hands, pans, and whisks to; but understand, it's not because I'm anywhere near running out of admiration. You are all my heros, the kind of heros I would hire to follow me around and cook every one of my meals for all time.
Someday, when I'm shamefully rich, my friends. Someday.
Food, comma
How good this smells! I trust that all the food currently spread out before me will be so much less dangerous than today's Olympics, but just as awesome.
A few notes on Iron Chef in general: SO GOOD. A consistently high level of quality across items and across teams has made this the tastiest, if not the healthiest, weekend of my life. Bundts or burgers, candy or cola, it was all intensely palatable. That's kind of an understatement. This is the kind of food people get married over. This is the kind of food upon which nations rise and fall. This is the kind of food that food would eat if food wanted food.
No time for words anymore, my mouth will soon be too busy.
A few notes on Iron Chef in general: SO GOOD. A consistently high level of quality across items and across teams has made this the tastiest, if not the healthiest, weekend of my life. Bundts or burgers, candy or cola, it was all intensely palatable. That's kind of an understatement. This is the kind of food people get married over. This is the kind of food upon which nations rise and fall. This is the kind of food that food would eat if food wanted food.
No time for words anymore, my mouth will soon be too busy.
Fire from Olympus
Ladies and gentlemen, I have seen the future of music and its name is ZEUSAPHONE!
Imagine if you will arcs of purple lightning flashing out as "Jupiter, Bringer of Jollity" builds to crescendo--I nearly wept with joy. Afterwards, they hooked up a keyboard and let us play it ourselves, resulting in such once-in-a-lifetime happenings as Jonathan Williams playing the "Imperial March" from Star Wars and Nick playing the Pokémon theme song...ON A FRICKIN' ZEUSAPHONE! I can't stress that enough. Kudos, GASH, for bringing the awesome.
Regarding Scav Olympics, several of the events played out as epically as hoped. Live Action Battleship was endlessly entertaining, especially when it consisted of a prone dude getting water balloons in the junk. Absolutely no humans were harmed in the Cockfighting item, which was also a joy to behold. Dead chickens covered in razor blades being swung around at each other--let it never be said that Scav has become toothless in its old age! Pie fight and the peanut butter item both resulted in people covered in horribly sticky food, to the delight of young and old alike. All in all, a pretty good year for Olympics.
Imagine if you will arcs of purple lightning flashing out as "Jupiter, Bringer of Jollity" builds to crescendo--I nearly wept with joy. Afterwards, they hooked up a keyboard and let us play it ourselves, resulting in such once-in-a-lifetime happenings as Jonathan Williams playing the "Imperial March" from Star Wars and Nick playing the Pokémon theme song...ON A FRICKIN' ZEUSAPHONE! I can't stress that enough. Kudos, GASH, for bringing the awesome.
Regarding Scav Olympics, several of the events played out as epically as hoped. Live Action Battleship was endlessly entertaining, especially when it consisted of a prone dude getting water balloons in the junk. Absolutely no humans were harmed in the Cockfighting item, which was also a joy to behold. Dead chickens covered in razor blades being swung around at each other--let it never be said that Scav has become toothless in its old age! Pie fight and the peanut butter item both resulted in people covered in horribly sticky food, to the delight of young and old alike. All in all, a pretty good year for Olympics.
Friday, May 9, 2008
Thank you for making an old man happy.
I can prove that I'm an old man, because today I couldn't figure out how to work an electronic. Specifically, how to turn on a PS3 controller. It perplexed a whole squad of older judges, in fact. We had to go get a youth to set it up for us.
But being the old man that I am, naturally I expected to be surly and crotchety. You all have made this impossible. Completely impossible. But I gotta go! Explanations later!
But being the old man that I am, naturally I expected to be surly and crotchety. You all have made this impossible. Completely impossible. But I gotta go! Explanations later!
Chocolate Brains...
Coffee, Duct Tape, Good Morning Burgers and faux Champagne: part of a balanced Scavenbreakfast.
Things I have learned in the past twenty-four hours:
- Being the drummer in 'Rock Band' is insanely fun
- There ain't no rule says a chimp can't play hockey
- There is absolutely no good reason not to market Good Morning Burgers
- Spherical pizzas can be surprisingly tasty
- As long as I have the plague, I can sing 'Chocolate Rain' in the proper register
- Weathorr must be busy menacing somewhere else (Myanmar?)
- Cops in Kansas City have nothing better to do with their time than harass students who drop origami bat-boats into their fountains.
- Scavenbarnraising has indeed become the new face of 'Items proposed as a total joke that not only become real, but turn out surprisingly well'
Disturbing Judge Quote of the Day: "Bestiality? More like... BESTiality!" -- Nemo
Compromise; alternatively, the lack thereof
Deal or No Deal (U of C edition) went off swimmingly. It took a little while, but all nine teams went face-to-shadowed-face with our banker and, while some did not fare as well as others, there was plenty of drama. Ooh! Ohh! Gasp! Etc!
For those interested, the teams finished as follows (listed in order of their dealings):
- Burton-Judson: 9,999
- Broadview: 150,000
- Broover: 414,000
- FIST: 275,000
- GASH: 430,000
- MacPierce: 1¢ (a 1986 penny)
- Max Palevsky: 400,000
- Shoreland: 200,000
- Snell-Hitchcock: 19,050 and a copy of the most recent Noyes (the one with the photo spread of a Judge meeting), autographed by all the Judges
I think Snell-Hitchcock made the best deal of the night, as their dealer will be getting a Prized Collectible sure to appreciate in value. Points will not be given simply to the top three winners, but our pointing scheme is a proprietary secret unless someone tells me it isn't.
Also! The Purple Plunderer has pounced upon a prized possession! Previously property of PierceMac, the Plunderer partnered with a pernicious pal to pelt people with pennies. In the puzzlement, the Plunderer picked up the prize and pranced off. Please be apprised!
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Thursday!
It certainly has been a busy Thursday of Scav Hunt. I've haven't slept so little since my days as a Scavvie. List release went about as smoothly as it could, given that it was even more convoluted than last year and left open the possibility for more mistakes. Nevertheless, each team got the list at a reasonable hour one way or another and that is what counts in my book. Casa del Amor was replete with comestibles of every variety (nothing like French Toast, Bacon, Pizza and Old Style at 3 in the morning).
The first item that was under my responsibility was certainly my proudest. For weeks I have been toiling to set Scav Air in place. Really though, Scav Air has been a pipe dream of the Judgeship for years and it was so incredibly wonderful to see it all fall in place last night. Three weeks ago I collected the vital information of willing volunteer Scav Warriors. Unbeknownst to them, I purchased round trip tickets to Las Vegas in their name. Last night the unknowing Warriors met us at the Reynolds Club in evening-wear. Summarily they were blindfolded and put into our cars. Then we drove them to Midway Airport and surprised them with tickets for the 6 am flight to Las Vegas. They were utterly and completely stunned. Really, getting the opportunity to surprise nine people in that way is a completely unique feeling of joy. Few things have made me happier or put a wider smile on my face, and I think you could say the same for the brave Scav Warriors (many of whom thought they were going on some sort of sadistic camping trip). I think Cthonathon did a great job of describing the rest of the day, but I thought I'd give my input on what for me has been the biggest part of this year's Hunt.
The first item that was under my responsibility was certainly my proudest. For weeks I have been toiling to set Scav Air in place. Really though, Scav Air has been a pipe dream of the Judgeship for years and it was so incredibly wonderful to see it all fall in place last night. Three weeks ago I collected the vital information of willing volunteer Scav Warriors. Unbeknownst to them, I purchased round trip tickets to Las Vegas in their name. Last night the unknowing Warriors met us at the Reynolds Club in evening-wear. Summarily they were blindfolded and put into our cars. Then we drove them to Midway Airport and surprised them with tickets for the 6 am flight to Las Vegas. They were utterly and completely stunned. Really, getting the opportunity to surprise nine people in that way is a completely unique feeling of joy. Few things have made me happier or put a wider smile on my face, and I think you could say the same for the brave Scav Warriors (many of whom thought they were going on some sort of sadistic camping trip). I think Cthonathon did a great job of describing the rest of the day, but I thought I'd give my input on what for me has been the biggest part of this year's Hunt.
The First 15 Hours
Viddy well, droogs:
The Hunt started on a slightly off-key note, with a list release that did not go as smoothly as I had hoped. But soon enough, we were off to a rollicking start. Cans of beans were swept up, Casa Del Amor settled in for their first night together since last May, and I did a little (not enough) homework for today's classes.
Today so far I saw the Samurai Showdown (captain's meeting), sent off the road trips, enjoyed the Quads items, and witnessed -- to my sheer delight and stupefaction -- a De Lorean DMC-12 pull up to the curb in front of me. We can take these in turn:
Samurai Showdown: The captains looked great. Starting a trend that I hope persists throughout the Hunt, those without the resources of larger teams played to their strengths, and I was particularly wowed by BJ and Snitchcock. I was only looking for the sashimono, but I should have known that teams would go the extra mile. The meeting was mostly uneventful, but did lead to a near-perfect bundt cake from S/H (apart from the unique flavors, the texture was absolutely perfect), and an odd creative decision by Max to fill their otherwise delicious cake with small, inedible plastic beads.
Road Trip Sendoff: The larger teams caught my eye at this event. I think Snell/Hitchcock had the better-looking car, while Max Palevsky had better costumes. I don't know the teams for these next two, but my favorites were the car that lit itself on fire when great gouts of flame started bursting from its improvised chimney, and the (DC) Scarecrow in the burlap mask and business suit. He was acting the clown but still managed to scare me a little.
Quads Item (Escort Service): We thought we had finally found the Quads item to thwart Weathorr!! An umbrella service if it were rainy, and a parasol service if it were sunny. Of course, it was overcast and windy, inverting several umbrellas and parasols. Sigh. Still, it looked like most people were having fun, and random passersby were often approached (most notably Bill Michaels). Props* to Max for offering me cigarettes, a condom, a swig from a flask, and a shady 'massage' in about a minute and a half of French and/or French accents. Props* also to Snitchcock for making me feel uncomfortably dirty as four of their escorts did a dance number for me. Thank god the highschoolers dropped out, or else I'd probably never be able to look at myself in the mirror again. I think my Quads MVP was either BJ's Paddy Bartlet, Max's Evelyn DeHais, or GASH's Joan Wolkerstorfer by virtue of their costume, performance, and sheer endurance respectively. Tomorrow we'll see how each team steps up their game.
* Per the rules, all props are mad props.
The De Lorean DMC-12: Oh man. What can you say. Today I sat in a De Lorean. There was no way my quads-walking was going to get better after that, so I headed back here to the Casa del Amor.
DAMN YOU WILL WESTIN V!!!
Our plans have been foiled. We never wanted to give you the list. We wanted to watch it burn and to watch you cry. And we would have succeeded, too, if it hadn't been that rogue Judge we left for dead in the U.P. DAMN YOU!!!
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Presser
Hey Folks,
I did an interview for the ray-deeo this morning for CBS News in Dallas (yes, Scav Hunt has now done Dallas!). Not sure when it will air, if I find out, I'll let you all know. I'm sure it will be posted on their website in the next couple of days. I wonder how the audience will take the story about the umbilical cord and the twinkie?
I did an interview for the ray-deeo this morning for CBS News in Dallas (yes, Scav Hunt has now done Dallas!). Not sure when it will air, if I find out, I'll let you all know. I'm sure it will be posted on their website in the next couple of days. I wonder how the audience will take the story about the umbilical cord and the twinkie?
Monday, May 5, 2008
Captains Listhost Slam
Each team has leaders. These leaders are called captains. these captains have an email listhost they share with us judges.
Recently, out of the blue, a high school team emailed us to say they wanted to join. We added them to the listhost and sent them an email asking for more information.
Meanwhile, somebody on the listhost decided there needed to be more trash talk. A judge confirmed this.
Turns out what you get when you ask scavvies for trash talk is limericks. Lots and lots of limericks. In fact so many limericks that within a few hours they had also sprouted a sonnet, a set of haikus and something I'd never heard of before called a villanelle.
Shortly after that, the high school team captain emailed us the following:
"Uhhh, on second thought, I don't think I'm participating. Thanks though.The e-mail list is enough to drive me away."
Darn high school kids just can't handle their poetry.
Recently, out of the blue, a high school team emailed us to say they wanted to join. We added them to the listhost and sent them an email asking for more information.
Meanwhile, somebody on the listhost decided there needed to be more trash talk. A judge confirmed this.
Turns out what you get when you ask scavvies for trash talk is limericks. Lots and lots of limericks. In fact so many limericks that within a few hours they had also sprouted a sonnet, a set of haikus and something I'd never heard of before called a villanelle.
Shortly after that, the high school team captain emailed us the following:
"Uhhh, on second thought, I don't think I'm participating. Thanks though.The e-mail list is enough to drive me away."
Darn high school kids just can't handle their poetry.
The Countdown Commenceth
Whoa. With the Captains-Judges Kickball Game/BBQ (the Littlefeet were victorious over the Bigfeet) now over, things are starting to heat up. We welcome you all to a new tradition (tradition!) within the Judging community, the Fourdays Blog. From here we the Judges will be proffering our wit, wisdom and commentary about the 22nd annual University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt, the world's largest and most adored Scavenger Hunt. We have so many special and exciting things planned this year, I imagine the grin I have on my face right now will remain there throughout the week. Please check back for postings throughout the week and the Hunt to come!
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