.jpg "TEAM: Probot")
Super Vote by Loki
November 26th, 2007 3:06 AMIt is now my honor and privilege to present the Fun Spoon Award for Creative Tasking in the Glasnost Era to Jackie H, and Sam Lavigne.
It might have been nice to use the Super-Vote to celebrate an under-appreciated completion, instead of a front-page highest vote winner. At the same time, there are occasions where something is so fantastic that there can never be too much praise.
This is one such occasion. Jackie and Sam pulled off the most perfect task completion in the history of SF0 and the second greatest reverse shoplift in the history of commerce. It's also one of the first things I read upon discovering the game, as it happened to be featured on the front page. That particular praxis instantly won me over, and changed my opinion of SF0 from "this could be interesting," to "this is the most exciting thing I've seen in years."
Other tasks have given us equally impressive results, but always through the application of overwhelming effort. What I love most about this completion is that it's something two people can do in a few hours without any special tools except a heat gun; that assumes, of course, that those two people are tasking ninjas.
On the day I visited, Thrift Town was all out of incredibly fun spoons. I decided a moderately fun spoon would be more appropriate than an overwhelmingly fun gold plated, ivory-handled, combination knife/fork utensil.
What the store lacked in outrageous silverware they made up for with a perfect matching pair of trophies, just waiting to be hacked apart and repurposed. To whomever took third place in the Karate In The Kountry competition two years running, I salute you. May you one day win an award worth keeping.
Since my usual response to winning awards is, "great- more junk to clutter my apartment. Couldn't you have given me a commemorative sandwich instead," I added some good things to eat to each package. Then, at the last minute, I realized that nothing in the box actually mentioned what the super-vote was for, so I drew up an award certificate.
Creating the certificate was a lot of fun. Everyone knows what an award certificate looks like; however, when you sit down in front of a blank image file and try to create one from scratch, it takes a bit of thought and experimentation to come up with something plausible. (At least if you suffer from the total absence of graphic design ability, as I do.) I started out with something multicolored and much more elaborate, and found that paring it down to a bare minimum improved things dramatically. On reflection, the only item I should have left in place in order to make it a bit more certificatey was the date. "Glasnost era" serves the same purpose, but it doesn't quite feel complete.
Jackie's box also came with a letter explaining in detail my unsuccessful attempt to track her down using only information culled from sf0 postings. I included my own contact information as attempt to apologize for violating her privacy. (Sam never had any privacy to violate, so he got a very short letter instead.)
Finally, there's the matter of the group relationship. Some of you - especially those of you named Burn Unit - may be asking yourself, "how was this gift presented in the manner of his group's trajectory of desire?" The answer is obvious: it wasn't. This doesn't have a damn thing to do with BartPA. It's a 100% UoA completion, through and through. Wanna make something of it?
images
29 vote(s)
- Meta tron
- Charlie Fish
- Flitworth
- The Revolutionary
- Spidere
- Ben Yamiin
- JJason Recognition
- Sean Mahan
- Burn Unit
- teucer
- Malaysian Eddy
- The Vixen
- Orange Rose hopes of peace
- Tøm
- anna one
- Cthulhu Kitty
- susy derkins
- Jackie H
- lara black
- Fonne Tayne
- Tiny Dancing Tzarina
- Lank
- Bex.
- Blue
- Jellybean of Thark
- *la nerdrice*
- Not Here No More
- Lincøln
- N Mutans
Favorite of:
Terms
(none yet)21 comment(s)
Sounds like Jackie H has become the target of this task.
...Cola di Rienzo, Emperor Norton I, and Genghis Khan?
The ISPA gets you a vote, even without all the rest of the awesome in this task.
OH SNAAAAAP!!
"Some of you - especially those of you named Burn Unit- may be asking yourself, "how was this gift presented in the manner of his group's trajectory of desire?" The answer is obvious: it wasn't. This doesn't have a damn thing to do with BartPA. It's a 100% UoA completion, through and through. Wanna make something of it?"
What 'chu gonna do BU???
considering that Loki has already received a vote from yours truly - thus validating, if only tacitly, his gift / vote to another player - my qualms about making something of it are few.
Snap what? Snap nothing, Loki makes a good point, that the Trajectory of Desire doesn't have to be invoked narrowly, in this case with some stereotypical references to public transit and the derive or a bit about getting lost. His sarcasm is laid on heavily, but it is SO transparent once you know where he's coming from.
The BARTPA isn't about the BART trains themselves, haven't you heard, Vixen? ...it can be, but that just happens to be a theme or meme, a focal point, not unlike virtual reality for equivalenz. How many of their task completion have actually been about blurring the lines between the humans and the machines? Huh, how many?! There are a few good ones, but there is also Sutro Baths. A completion of that would take a great bending of the Trajectory to make me vote.
Remember SNIDE?
Aesthematics: "If you consider yourself an artist, click here!"
Crisis: "If you're into social justice and helping people, click here!"
BartPA: "If public transit gets your blood pumping, click here!" (OK, honestly, I've never truly understood BartPA...) -Lank
Comments like this one make little sense, when compared to Loki's attitude.
What's not to understand about it? Loki's embodied the trajectory of his group in many a task, without going overboard on a train fetish.... In fact, now mulling over this particular completion a little, it seems that he actually has not completed this task in the mode of an aesthematician, but rather ever so slyly as a psychogeographer! He himself claims to "suffer from the total absence of graphic design ability" - and please take this not as an offense, but someone else out there has got to agree with me that describing your work as "gold plated, ivory-handled, [with] combination knife/fork" doesn't exactly scream 'i am here to aesthetically wow you' the same as some techniques practiced by the excellent and talented painters, sculptors, sketch artists and performers we have here on the game. (Not that you don't have talent man, we all have seen how well you serve caviar).
Nay, this task is perfectly within the trajectory of your chosen group - despite your denial, Loki, you have not escaped psychogeography. To me, it looks like when you entered the space of this Thrift Town, you got there by accident - furthermore, you found yourself fatefully in between the spoons and trophies (does your thrift store really have a trophy section?). Are you absolutely sure you weren't on a derive to begin with? Clearly you were drifting off to some 'unitary urban dreamland', wishing to subvert the alienated space of capitalist production as you stood staring at the manufactured detritus of your particular neighborhood. Then, recalling a moment in which you had been inspired, you chose to express feelings of admiration - love! - for someone who had done the inspiring.
If psychogeography is "an open and experimental artistic discipline, research method, and process by which those who live in the city understand space, in subconscious and conscious ways" (thank you humble ms. flanagan) then Loki, don't be ashamed of artistically reflecting upon space, distance, and admiration in the city. You're too far from Mr. Lavigne? Can't find Ms. H? It's a good thing you have the capacity to express your ambient unity as one with theirs. The mental distances between you, made impossibly long by the physical barriers of motorized gas guzzlers in their asphalt death chutes, coupled with a lack of perfect transportation between the east bay and the city, have been obliterated by your conscious creation of a vote representative of your subconscious impulse.
Among the far-flung reaches of the urban archipelago, Loki, you are building bridges.
Hm, I think you took the "oh snap" in the wrong context.
I wasn't criticizing the fact that his completion didn't fit within the trajectory, I was simply awed by his ballsy "come get me" attitude towards you.
OH SNAP, B-U's been schooled! (is that better?)
So save your speech for another time.
maybe it's a little gauche to vote for a super vote task dedicated to oneself, but this was really surprising and awesome! neither sam nor i saw it coming. the trophies were incredible, and very much in the spirit of the fun spoon.
an entirely excellent super vote that packs a punch like only a true karate in the kountry champion could!
and despite your self-effacing disclaimer, i'd say those certificates are quite certificatey. i wonder if i could get anna one, the bandit, or lank to back me up on that...
;)
Dear Senator, once again your rhetorical skill amazes me. I happily concede all points.
In the interest of precision, I note that the "gold-plated, ivory-handled, combination fork/knife" referred not to my work, but to a piece of existing cutlery of unknown origin and purpose. None the less, your point is entirely valid. Were I to describe something I had made, it would sound much the same.
Sorry, my dear Vixen, but I will not become a pawn in your battle. I've seen what happens to pawns. They get taken early, lost in the carpet, and eaten by the vacuum cleaner. That's not the way I want to go. You and Burn Unit will have to fight this one on your own; although I do look forward to watching the coming war from some nice, safe, neutral place. (To explain my comments above, my original plans for an overt BartPA element to the task fell through and I felt bad about just ignoring part of the task requirement.)
Burn Unit is back in action, and he's coherent. Whoopee!
Ben, I rather expect the ISPA is a membership organization with a rotating board of dead, whimsical leaders. (Is Genghis Kahn whimsical? I'd argue that he is, despite being a military genius and pioneering statesman, should anyone want to debate the matter.)
Meta, if you ask me, that task would be much more interesting without the "consenting" part. Even then, a week of stalking is a hell of a lot of work, unless you live with the person or you happen to be stalking them anyway. A genuine stalker who convinces the victim to join SF0 in order to get points for it would be an interesting twist.
Laura, thanks. And, sorry about the misspelling. (I have enough trouble trying to spell all the old words!)
come loki, you can't misspell a word that didn't even exist at the time the praxis was written!
Loki: I apologize for subjecting and including you as a vessel in the skirmish between Burn Unit and myself. It was insensitive and slightly manipulative. Sucking you into a vacuum cleaner is the last thing I want to do as it sounds mighty uncomfortable. Again, I apologize.
I guess I've been playing a little dirty without much finesse. I need to clean up my act, damn it...
But observe the dueling beginning Friday at midnight!!!
coherent schmeeeerent--
but action always represents
ya see this kid here, always tryna to deaden my ascent
straight comin at me with, like, less than ten percent
ya gotta know i don't; i do a hundrid an ten
while i'm in the fast lane, girl, you're singin your lament
that's right, this battle: it's 'bout to be a non event
i'm gonna sing a revival, come on step in m'canvas tent
people come from far and wide just to hear me stand and vent
preachah burn got ballads and sure as hell ain't gon' relent
i'm 'onna take you by surprise, bring home first prize
when you walk away from battle gonna feel chastised
head spinnin' from a beatin' wit stars in your eyes
no time for goodbyes, much less askin why's
you'll be the pawn yourself as my tasks so spry
come at you right an left front YA CAN'T SEE STRAIGHT
an why you gotta hate on this guy so sedate
cool like zeno but tough like steel armor plate
your verbal assault should be classed lite-weight
cause whatever you got you know i'm gonna desecrate.
No need to apologize, Vixen. Manipulating noncombatants to gain an edge is part and parcel of going to war. I'd expect no less.
Number of words in Burn Units rebuttal 638
Number of words in Loki's completion 636
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I think it means that you(Loki) have a fondness for well composed task completions.
Burn Unit has a fondness for well compossed comments
& I have a fondness for your task completions
But I rather like having the numbers speak for themselves.
Damn, these Super Vote completions are all so worthy!