ALMOST TIME!

Hey Guys,

1 more sleep until GB! Exciting! If there's only one email you read from me this year, please make it this one.

0) ROSTER: Our roster is, how you say? Kick ass for fun, possibly also for winning games. Which is fun.

Ladies (8, but with injuries, let's say 6)
Anita Verma
Jana McLean
Kathryn Child
Laurel Berkowitz
Lisa Di Diodato
Meredith Macnaughton
Shiovean Woods
Sue Holland

Gentlemen (9, * means Sat. Only)
Brad Amson
Derry Crymble
Eli Fidler*
Jaleel Paje
Keith Sutherland*
Mike Varona
Rajesh Sthankiya*
Robert Svaluto
Yorgos Stamatopoulos


1) WAVIERS - if you haven't signed the online wavier yet, you may not be allowed into the party. The Wavier form is found online at: http://www.genderblender.org/waiverform.html and is only like 4 lines long. Please sign it! Except Brad, who won't be here for the nightly festivities :).

People missing waviers: Mike, Rob, Keith, Meredith, Lisa

2) SCHEDULE AND SEEDING - we're seeded at a lofty fifth, and play our 4 Saturday games (starting at 9:15 am) at the main fields (no driving needed). YAY! Schedule is attached. I think we can definitely win our pool. The second seed in our pool is Zen Asylum, who are a pretty young/new team. Let's take it to 'em!

3) FOOD DRIVE - when you pick up snacks for yourself this weekend, please grab one item for the food drive. You can 'win' at GB with donated food, but let's at least make sure we do our part. I've attached a list of requested items.

4) TENT - Please make sure you are bringing everything associated with your name on the blog (beat2008.blogspot.com). Please bring anything else you think would help spruce up our tent. It's gonna be hella cool.

5) SPIRIT PRIZES - If you see candy or small toys, please grab 'em up for spirit prizes.

6) DANCE and Costumes- try to dress up as MJ or a small boy for friday night. Bring your crappiest human clothes (i.e. best zombie clothes) for Saturday night! Practice dance moves!

7) PERSONAL STUFF - Suggested things to bring for yourself:
- Ear plugs
- Garbage bags
- Flash light
- Lots of drinks
- Small fan?
- Sunscreen, hat
- Rain coat/windbreaker
- Towel
- Cleats

8) SHIRTS - Printed and Ready!

9) HEAT WAVE- It's supposed to be frickin' hot this weekend, so make sure you stay hydrated.

See y'all in Fergus!!!

N

A couple must-have items

Hey guys,

Still looking for ideas/support on getting:

Prosthetic Face Pieces (Idea- can anyone pickup like 4 rolls or aluminum foil and masking tape?)

Sheets for Blind Petting Zoo - need a few bedsheets- shouldn't have to cut them...

Board Games/Operation Board Game/Trivia Questions (Shiovean is trying to get operation; Jay can you print out the trivia questions?)

These are three big things we need for the tent. Please give it some thought.

Special Treat for You: New Leaked MJ Album

Here ya go!

I don't know if it will make it to the top of the charts, but some of the songs are groovy.

Thrill the World on YouTube

This is the vid that Norm was talking about
If you read other parts of the TtW site it breaks down the dance into sets of moves (eg Zombie Stomp, Zombie Swim)
I'll post the order of the moves as she does them in the vid tomorrow.

The Dancing Deal

Okay, so the dance practice was (predictably) not that well attended. I think what we're going to do is the following:

I'll post some links below to a really great set of training videos. You can practice through the week (and the start of the weekend) to get these moves down well enough. If on Saturday you're not ready for the spotlight, we'll have a 'chorus' of zombies who hang around the periphery and don't really have to hit a lot of moves.

Thriller is a hard dance, a scary dance; that being said, some of us are going to ROCK IT. Here's the link:
Thriller Dance (go to video V: full dance)

A direct link

We're only going to 2:52 of part V: the full dance from the link above. But we're gonna do it well. We practiced it with the video for about an hour today, but it's gonna take about half an hour a day to do it well.

The moves themselves I think are broken down in subsequent videos, but we're mostly practicing off of that one.

N

If Jennifer Garner can do it so can we!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO0810JIF4Q

To Do List

Well, we're now exactly a week away from awesomeness!

Here's a list of stuff to do. If there's a name beside the thing, then that person has already agreed (perhaps drunkenly) to do this thing. If there's no name, then this thing still needs to be done/brought. Please sign up for unallocated duties. If you can't do the duty you've already signed up for, let me know ASAP:

STUFF ACCOUNTED FOR:
GB Video Game Release- Norm
Neverland Tent Rental- Norm
BEAT cotton print shirts (appx. cost $4 /per person)- Norm
FunHouse Mirror out of Aluminium- Eli
Giant Bottle of Vodka - Sue
Phallic Bottle - Sue
Baby and Veil Window Display - Kat
Stereo - Shiovean
Blender (Jay and Anita)
Sexy Time Whip (Jay and Anita)
Stuffed Monkey- (Jay, Anita & Yorg)
Camera (with a flash) - Jay
Old Sheets - (Jay & Anita; more the better so other people can bring some too)
Some Chairs (Lawn or Folding) - (Jay and Anita)
Juice, pop, grenadine, etc. can also get the cherries, ice (Raj).
Plastic cups (300 is enough?) - (Jana)
Red arm bands fabric- a couple yards should do it (Jana)
Make-Up (Jana)
Stuffed Animals (Yorgos + others?)


STUFF WE NEED:
Rope
Tarps
Neverland Ranch Sign
Chairs (Lawn or Folding)
Sheets for Blind Petting Zoo (could use tarp or garbage bags)
Operation Game
Sequined gloves
Prosthetic Face Pieces


INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITIES:
Tents/Sleeping Bags for the Sleeping
Come to dance practice on Sunday 4pm, trinity bellwoods or contact me if you can't/won't
Zombie Costumes - makeup and tattered clothes
Pay for tournament (budget $175-$200, minus money you put in for team stuff)
Dress up as MJ or a small boy

RIDES:
Shiovean's Car-

Sue's Car-

Kat's Car-

Jay and Anita's Car-

Derry's Car- Yorgos, Warren

Eli's Car-

Roster Update

Lots of people are wondering how the roster is shaping up:

Boyz:
1. Derry Crymble
2. Norm Farb
3. Jaleel Paje
4. Yorgos Stamatopolous
5. Rob Svaluto
6. Mike Varona
7. Brad Amson (Games only)
8. Eli Fidler- Maybe Sat. Only
9. Raj Sthankiya- Sat. Only
10. Keith Sutherland- Sat. Only

Ladiez:
1. Laurel Berkowitz
2. Kat Child
3. Lisa DiDiodato (injured :( still competing at the party aspect)
4. Sue Holland
5. Jana McLean
6. Anita Verma
7. Shiovean Woods

Costume Ideas

Here's some links that might help if you're racking your brain for a costume

http://www.allmichaeljackson.com/picture-gallery.html

this one teaches you how to moonwalk!
http://www.liketotally80s.com/80s-costumes-michael-jackson.html


Just BEAT It!!

Tent is booked.

The tent is booked and is huge. 30 feet x 15 feet, which makes for 450 square feet of debauchery. A small apartment's worth of plastic surgery and child molestation jokes. I'm putting it right at the start of the booth rows. It will cost $425, around $25 each if we send a team of 16. Along with the Texas Mickey of vodka, those should be our main major expenses. Yippee!

I did okay at my presentation today, which now frees up more time for finishing the video game.

Links to make you think

Here are some really important links:
I wish that this was the theme music to my life

Thriller:
This is intimidating
But this is not
You use this voice to persuade people to enter the tent. Too annoying to resist.

More links to come!

SUC-CESS: Planning Update

Great to see so many people out at the planning meeting. Especially the ladies. And Eli and Yorgos. This reinforces in my mind two things: the superiorness all-around of women, and also that we might need some more dudes, although most of you gave good excuses for not coming.

Okay, so we got a lot of things sorted out. I'll go over the broad strokes now while I still feel ebulliant off of the many Wellingtons I imbibed:

0) COST:
- We will try to keep total tournament costs under $200 per person, including the $110 tournament fee.

1) THEME:
- MJ's Neverland ranch!
- We will rent a tent (approximate cost $25 per person based upon last year's expenditures). The tent will form the basis of our booth.
- The tent will be adorned with a sign and a child in a veil hanging out the window. Possibly also hay bales.
- The tent will consist of 3 major stations:
i) Cosmetic surgery- mr. potatohead on partygoers with before and after pics. Fake ears noses, makeup, etc. Reward: a cup of ice to keep the swelling down.
ii) Operation / board game battle: quick head to head battles for surgical precision supremacy. Rewards will be mixed drink ingredients such as lemon/lime soda, orange or cranberry juice, etc.
iii) Blind petting zoo. Reaching through slits in cloth to pet and identify different objects. Some naughty things to pet as well (not my crotch). Final petting is on 'bubbles', MJ's adorable monkey companion. Bubbles will be connected to a 'Tall Boy' (read: GIANT BOTTLE) of Vodka. When bubbles gets excited, you get vodka in your drink. Add a stir stick and you have earned your mixed drink.


2) Transportation. We might have enough cars already. Kap is on his own to get there from Ottawa (though in a pinch we could take you from T-dot baby... anything for our Franchise player).

Shiovean: 2 spots
Kat: 3 spots (leave from West end)
Eli: 2/3 spots
Derry: assume 2 spots?
Sue: 3 spots

Please try to contact these team members to secure your ride. Drivers, let me know as your cars fill up so I can post to the BBS- or update it yourself!

3) Tents (for sleeping). The party tent will likely be too close to the action to be sleep-inable. Speaking from experience. We may need extra tents. Those of you not at the meeting please let me know if you've got 'em.

Sue: 2 person, 3 person
Eli: 2 person (occupied).

Based on the above, we definitely need more tents, unless you all want to win the party by not sleeping over the weekend, or toughing it out in the big tent.

4) #s of boys/girls. We will almost definitely have 8 ladies. Waiting to firm up the last lady's spot. For guys, we could really use 2+ more skilled dudes, aka Ringers. Send me your suggestions ASAP.

5) Video game: coming out reaaaaaaaaaaal soon. Though I might pass out tonight, leaving it for a release date in the next few days.

6) Dance contest: THRILLER. Practice at 4pm Sunday, June 1st, likely at Trinity Bellwoods park (to be confirmed soon). That's right, dance practice. See guys, this is what happens when you don't come to the planning meeting. GB this year has a dance contest and we are gonna put in a zombie routine. It will be amazing! Please come if you can muster up the courage.

7) Costumes: do it yourself with some help (looking for bedazzled gloves and red armbands for team uniformity). You can either go for MJ (any period), or a small child who he befriends (onesies anyone?).

Those are the broad strokes. I will post a list of duties and items needed in the next couple days when I am less inebriated. We may just be incredibly the best at being a team at Gender Blender. More to follow soon!

N

Planning and Training- Sunday May 25, Brunswick Pump House

GB is coming up fast. To get organized, it may be time to get together
to plan and train. By that I mean: PUB NIGHT!

I'm thinking this Sunday, 7pm (after all, it is a school day tomorrow
kids), so we'll try to get the actual planning stuff done by 10. As an
incentive, I'll get the first round of pitchers!

Brunswick Pump House
410 Bloor Street West, Toronto
Between Spadina and Bathurst on the north side. It's usually
relatively empty. They have food and beer.

http://maps.google.ca/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=brunswick+pump,+toronto&ie=UTF8&cd=1&ll=43.663463,-79.396563&spn=0.022197,0.040169&z=15&iwloc=A

Please let me know if you can't make it.

Also, the cost for coming to Gender Blender, which includes camping
fees, tournament fees, party tickets, Breakfast on Sat and Sunday,
Dinner on Saturday, Lunch on Sunday, etc. is $110 per person. Not bad
if you compare it to how much you'd spend on a regular tournie
weekend. Anyway, I put up the money for that, so if you can either
send me internet cash, bring it to the planning night, or make other
arrangements with me.

Finally, if you're thinking of pulling out of the tournament for any
reason, please let me know as soon as possible so we can find subs.

Our roster is looking really good. I think we can turn some heads at
the tournie, and at least win the party. But winning the party doesn't
just happen. It takes commitment. Let's start that journey together.
On sunday. At the pub.

Hin's game idea

From Hin's email telling me to set up a blog or discussion board- good idea Hin!

Hin suggests:

"For theme, how about Yo Gabba Gabba! Search YouTube for Yo Gabba Gabba and
Thriller."

From this, I imagine we would try to get drunken teams to do the thriller dance?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlzYxWainsg

Ohhhh Elijah Wood.

BEAT 2008: Gender Blender 12

Our GB team is officially in. Apparently we are called BEAT. June is
so far away and yet so scarily close. I'm still adding to the rosters,
but in the short term I am hoping to get some brainstorming ideas
about what sort of booth you'd like to see. I'm excited about our
roster- I think we're a good collection of fun type people with some
high skill, and definitely not in danger of underage drinking.

Putting together a booth at GB can be done by one person. However,
putting together a kick ass booth requires collaboration. In past
years we've also had a big tent rental, but it wasn't actually used
much last year, so it might be better to do individual/small group
tents.

Major things that need to be taken care of for GB:

1) Booth Construction
2) Booth Games
3) Drink
4) Costumes/Uniforms
5) Transportation
6) Shelter

In the next little while, can you tell me what you'd most like to help
out on? What sort of ideas do you have for the booth?

My current notion is to take the BEAT name (which traditionally stands
for Bacon, Eggs and Toast) and do a BEAT it theme, picking up on all
the Michael Jackson things that defined our cultural identity as
children of the 70's and 80's. I found a drink called a "Thriller",
but it consists of Canadian Club, Orange Juice, and Ginger Beer, so
I'm up for more suggestions. We could do make your own new face, kind
of like Mr. Potatohead for real, in honour of MJ's many surgeries. We
could do a dance off. We could do other things too.

Booth construction ideas and game ideas are what we most direly need
in the short term since they will take some planning and time to get
set up. Costume ideas are also good.

Keep in mind we'll be in the woods and have to drive up our supplies.
There will be limited electric power there. So in the short term,
please let me know:
1) What you'd prefer to work on
2) Do you have a tent? How big?
3) Do you have a car? How big?
4) Do you have costume ideas?
5) Do you have drink/food ideas?
6) Do you have booth/event ideas?

I'll summarize what I hear about over the next few days. Also I'll hit
you up for team fees soon, but I'll try to get some more people on the
roster first. If you have friends who are awesome at frisbee then let
me know.

N

Current Confirmed Roster:
Boyz:
1. Derry Crymble
2. Norm Farb
3. Jaleel Paje
4. Yorgos Stamatopolous
5. Rob Svalto
6. Mike Varona
7. Brad Amson (Games only)
8. Eli Fidler- Maybe Sat. Only
9. Kap Khatter (might arrive late from Ottawa)
10. Raj Sthankiya- Sat. Only

11. Keith Sutherland (70%- to be confirmed)

Ladiez:
1. Laurel Berkowitz
2. Kat Child
3. Lisa DiDiodato
4. Sue Holland
5. Jana McLean
6. Anita Verma
7. Shiovean Woods

8. Louise Evans (to be confirmed)