Thursday, May 8, 2008

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.