Author Topic: December Madness!  (Read 179814 times)

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Kaleigh.Knights

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Re: December Madness!
« Reply #30 on: Dec 11, 2012, 02:35 pm »
I just want to let you know how much I love this. I've been sharing it with everyone I know, and we've all had great laughs.
It's been one of the things that brighten my day during the past couple weeks. I'm stage managing a dance showcase and we're nearing finals (this is my last week of classes before break), and I've really really appreciated this fun break!
To be a good stage manager you need to have the soul of an artist, the mind of a director, the eye of a designer, the joy of being an actor...
and the ability to manage them all.

LCSM

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Re: December Madness!
« Reply #31 on: Dec 11, 2012, 06:20 pm »
I am outraged that Post-Its did not make it to the next round. I will continue with this particular bracket event by championing my hatred for Spike Tape.

I hope it beats Gaff, just so I can watch it get annihilated by Paper in the following round.

PSMKay

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Re: December Madness!
« Reply #32 on: Dec 15, 2012, 01:05 am »
Ladies and gents, the first tier matches are finished. We now know all of the teams that will be headed to the sweet sixteen. I am out of pocket until late Monday, so I will be unable to update the bracket until then. In the meantime...

Here are the results from Round 4:
Stopwatch 41 (W) vs Call button 5
Highlighter 34 (W) vs Hammer 12
Cell Phone 44 (W) vs Mor-Tite 1
Glow Tape 10 vs Paper 35 (W)

The first four matches of the sweet sixteen have begun. As before, you have until Tuesday at noon to cast your vote in all four matches. The stakes are higher - all of these contestants have at least one win under their tool belts.

SMAshlee

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Re: December Madness!
« Reply #33 on: Dec 15, 2012, 11:39 am »
Maybe it's the stage manager skills ingrained inside my soul, but these new match-ups are stressful.  Choosing between them makes me feel like I'm turning my back on an old friend!

PSMKay

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Re: December Madness!
« Reply #34 on: Dec 16, 2012, 04:22 pm »

(In other words, before today one of our site moderators had the ability to fiddle with the poll numbers although he/she hadn't taken advantage of it. I've decided to remove temptation rather than risk accusations of funny business.)

I WANT VOTER IDS AT ALL POLLING LOCATIONS!!!!

(I didn't know I, I mean, I didn't know ONE could fiddle . . . I would never take away america's right to vote, no matter how wrong or stupid their vote may be.)

WE NEED VOTER REFORM!!!!!!!!! 

I believe you should have to PHOTOCOPY your first last page of your last run sheet and mail in in before voting - let's see someone do that with their precious multi-tool.

« Last Edit: Dec 17, 2012, 09:23 am by MatthewShiner »

PSMKay

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Re: December Madness!
« Reply #35 on: Dec 17, 2012, 11:24 pm »
The International December Madness Committee would like to note that the individuals responsible for sacking the individuals who could previously alter polls have been sacked.

PSMKay

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Re: December Madness!
« Reply #36 on: Dec 18, 2012, 01:17 pm »
Ladies and gents, our first quarterfinalists are now known. The first round of the sweet sixteen is over after some vicious battles, intense fan campaigning, a judging scandal and copious amounts of mudflinging.

The results for Round 5:
Gaff tape 34 (W) vs Spike tape 9
Multitool 18 vs Photocopier 24 (W)
Pencil 41 (W - Flawless) vs Three Hole Punch 0
Binder 32 (W) vs Scale Rule 8

As all of these competitors had previously won pretty decisive matches, we've learned here that victory at the lower levels is no protection from getting slaughtered further along. However, as we go into Round 6 we will encounter our first two competitors who won flawless victories in the first tier matches: Headset and Tape Measure. And if the multitool/photocopier battle was the one to watch this weekend, sources predict that this week's matchup of headset vs cell phone may require riot gear by the time we're finished. Sleeper hit Paper is also back in the game this week, which may mean another very interesting competition!

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Re: December Madness!
« Reply #37 on: Dec 21, 2012, 11:12 am »
14 hours remain in the sweet sixteen of December Madness. The votes are currently very uneven, with some matches seeing only 35 votes and others seeing close to 45. If you haven't voted in all four matches, make sure you do so by midnight CST tonight, when the quarterfinals will begin.

The IDMC would like to remind you that this is about the gadgets and tools in question, not about the people who support them. Some items will be more popular among the college and community theatre crowd, others will be the province of the professionals. This does not invalidate them, nor the people who use them. Trash talk is OK, but make sure it remains focused on the gadgets themselves and not on the lifestyle and career choices of the individuals who choose to use them.

For the IDMC,
PSMKay

PSMKay

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Re: December Madness!
« Reply #38 on: Dec 22, 2012, 12:59 am »
After a week of vicious battles, the sweet sixteen is over. We're headed towards the quarterfinals. This week saw some excellent fan support for many of our teams. Alliances were forged and broken. Accusations of socialism and an underhanded attempt by the professionals to undermine the amateurs showed us why these groups normally play in separate tournaments in the sporting world.

As predicted, Headset vs Cell Phone was the one to watch this time, with two excellent combatants (and their fans) trading places in the lead for the entire match. Despite Nick pressing his case against On_Headset over the Headset coach's decision to leave God Mic on the bench, On_Headset prevailed and battled through to a narrow three point victory for his namesake team. Headset survives to fight against the mighty Photocopier this weekend. With Cell Phone out of the running, that leaves only Laptop, which won its match against Highlighter without breaking a sweat, to carry the torch for the digital teams into the Elite Eight. Can Laptop survive against Pencil? Nobody knows for sure but paramedics are standing by.

Over in the Community league we saw a complete about face from the Regional Wrangling. While actor safety lost out to organization in Headset v Cell phone, the actors took a backseat to tasty, tasty organization in Flashlight vs Paper. Despite the unholy alliance of Matt and Nick in favor of the flashlight, upstart Paper rallied its fans with reminders that if you don't vote for paper, the terrorists win. This is a second surprise victory for Paper, which has pretty much come from nowhere to deliver the smackdown twice in a row. Paper will take on Gaff Tape in the next round though. We've proven that Paper can beat Stone, and it's outlasted Multitool which means it's essentially beaten Scissors too. It's proven twice now that it can beat Light. Can it hold out against the mighty Gaff?

Amid chants of "Power Switches All the Way" the humble Stopwatch rallied in the 2nd half of its match against Tape Measure to finish with a 10 point lead.  The PSM's tools are soundly thrashing the ASM's tools in this tournament.

Here are the final scores.

Flashlight 14 vs Paper 30 (W)
Headset 25 (W) vs Cell Phone 22
Laptop 38 (W) vs Highlighter 3
Tape Measure 14 vs Stopwatch 24 (W)

The quarterfinals will all run in one group over the next 3 1/2 days. The match will end at noon CST on Christmas Day. As our teams are now pretty evenly matched, there will be the chance of a tie. In this case the matches will go into sudden death overtime, with the first vote to break the tie ending the match.

GalFriday

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Re: December Madness!
« Reply #39 on: Dec 22, 2012, 01:09 am »
YEAHHHHHH! PSATW!!

Laptop was the only true competitor. We had some minor league folks that were good and competitive. They were fun to watch...and they were great games to take our friends and family too. But now, it is GAME TIME! Stand for your side. Be compassionate. Be vocal. Power to the People. PSATW!
"Now the best way to learn the theater, always, is to be a stage manager" - Stephen Sondheim

PSMKay

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Re: December Madness!
« Reply #40 on: Dec 25, 2012, 01:18 pm »
It is December the 25th here at Gadget Stadium and the quarterfinals are finished! The Whos in Whoville may be singing "Welcome Christmas" but oh, my stage manager friends, there is no joy in Mudville today. This was never going to be an easy fight for any of the elite 8 teams. We saw low fan turnout this week due to the Christmas holiday, and those lost 10 votes could well have turned the tide in some of these matches. Even so, the backstage world must pause today and doff its caps, for the mighty Gaff Tape has struck out.

That's right, folks, number one seed Gaff Tape has been dethroned. Once pegged as the odds-on favorite to go all the way, it's now out of the running. A diverse offensive from paper, showing its versatility, came from out of nowhere to take the Community Division pennant by 13 points. Meanwhile, the Regional Division Cup has gone to Headset, which knocked out the heavyweight Photocopier in a fairly unbalanced match. Above all this is a win for stage managers who like to value communication over paperwork - this decisive victory clearly shows how we interpret our own jobs, even if the outside may not see it that way.

Meanwhile, the old school/new school debate in the Commercial Division has given the championship to the new school - Laptop wins over Pencil by an extremely narrow three point margin. This means we're spared the agony of a Pencil/Paper final but it does mean that both of our semi-final matches will involve an electronic item up against a paper item.

And of course, that remaining paper item is closing out the University Division final with the three ring Binder trouncing the Stopwatch by an 11 point lead. This means that while we won't see Pencil/Paper, a Paper/Binder final is definitely possible.

The final scores for the quarterfinals:
Gaff Tape 11 vs Paper 24 (W)
Photocopier 9 vs Headset 26 (W)
Pencil 17 vs Laptop 20 (W)
Binder 23 (W) vs Stopwatch 12

Only two matches will run for the next three and a half days - the semifinals. Following that, the final vote will run for a full week from Saturday the 29th to Friday the 4th.

PSMKay

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Re: December Madness!
« Reply #41 on: Dec 29, 2012, 01:33 am »
Well folks, the semifinals are over and the finals have begun. As nmno called it, we've wound up with what may be the most epic battle that could have come out of the entire bracket, as well it should be.

The final scores for the semifinals:
Laptop 32 (W) vs Binder 10
Paper 24 (W) vs Headset 19

For the IDMC,
PSMKay

PSMKay

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Re: December Madness!
« Reply #42 on: Jan 05, 2013, 02:26 am »
Ladies and gentlemen, after a long tournament and many exciting battles, I'm pleased to announce that we have a winner! The finalists were very closely matched and finished within one point of each other, but at the closing whistle the final score was...

Paper 24 (W)
Laptop 23

... giving us no firm answer as to which is better, but at least allowing us to end the match before we had to pay double overtime to the strike crew.

I'm glad we could bring a little joy and silliness to your winter! It remains to be seen if this will return next year. The final matches show that it really does depend on the whim of the participants, and we could very well have seen any of our top 8 make it to the stand. (As it was I had to determine the third place finalist by margin of victory.) This means that we could certainly do it again and with a selection of new items to liven things up it could still be fun and exciting. Since the whole thing was pretty much a middle-of-the-night inspiration with very little planning (obviously) I welcome your suggestions as to how it could be improved if we bring it back again.

Hopefully it also gave you an opportunity to discuss what you do with your family - I know that there's a whole group of folks in central California who were introduced to stage management due to my constant dashing for the computer while I was traveling over the holidays.

This board will remain in view for a few days and then will go into hiding as a child board of Tools of the Trade, as most of the discussion is quite useful for providing new ideas on using the competing gadgets.

Thanks to all who participated in December Madness!

For the IDMC,
PSMKay




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Re: December Madness!
« Reply #43 on: Jan 05, 2013, 10:46 am »
Awesome Graphic! Thanks for the fun. And the craziness.
« Last Edit: Jan 06, 2013, 01:35 am by GalFriday »
"Now the best way to learn the theater, always, is to be a stage manager" - Stephen Sondheim

PSMKay

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Re: December Madness!
« Reply #44 on: Jan 05, 2013, 06:44 pm »
Thanks! I wanted to make the laptop scowl like McKayla Maroney but decided that the headset's jaunty approach to wearing its medal was enough. :D

 

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