Mittens 2009 came and went, and it was a success!
Thanks to everyone who came, drove, bared the heat, bared the rain, and generally made Mittens an amazing experience as always.
I didn't take any pictures, but I will try and get our incomplete movie edited together to make some form of sense as soon as I can.
Hope you all enjoyed yourselves, and that you all have safe trips home. Looking forward to seeing your photos!
Francisco
Mittens is over already!!! As usual, looking forward to seeing the pictures when they come rolling in.
Welcome back from...oh, well, where you always are, Grundy!
Welcome back others
Yay, I can't wait to hear all about it!
I am home and uploaded a couple pictures.
http://www.sylpher.com/photos.php?album=2 (http://www.sylpher.com/photos.php?album=2)
I'll add more a bit later. More rest.
After many, many hours of travel I have arrived home safe and sound!
To those I'd met before, it was great to see you all again!
To the new-meeters; Scummbuddy, Sylpher, Pesty, Snarky, and Lackey it was great to meet you all!
If I forgot somebody it's due to lack of sleep, not lack of happiness at meeting you! I will post pictures later ... after I pay the master meter.
Why hello,
Jess and I arrived home at like 4 pm eastern standard only to find that one of us left the overhead lamp on in the car so the batter was dead, HOORAY!
We will get pictures and videos at some point, at the let the body of mittens 09 get cold before we start posting it's memories...
After being stuck behind 16 jets eager to take off on Atlanta airport (due to bad weather) I'm finally home. Had a total blast with all the Mitteneers. ;D I will upload pictures soon.
(http://www.sylpher.com/photos/full/27.jpg/bmi_orig_img/27.jpg)
Yahtzee went??!!!
LOL, sorry Creed :P
But wait! Are there two Adam Hay's??!
arghhhh my head!1
Yay, you're back!
It now struck me that I have missed as many mittens as I have attended! Sadness!
I demand plenty of pictures, especially of people rarely seen before, like Snarky.
The MASTER METER has been paid and Adamski and I got back at 1:30pm BST and crashed asleep for a bit but now I am awake and preparing to upload 500+ photos.
Thanks for hosting Grundislav, it was awesomely amazingly fun, even if I am sure I sweated three times my own body weight of sweat into your deathcar! To everyone else new and old, it was great to see you all, thanks for making this Mittens a wholly brilliant experience! I hope to see you all again :)
I returned home last night and I am still stupid from the heat. It was awesome meeting those I haven't met before and awesome seeing all those I have. All was fun.
Grund, I hate your car and your state's weather and mosquitos. I'm so happy to back in the correct altitude and temperature, even though I have a cold (thanks a lot, Europeans!!!) and my head is ringing from coming so far up from sea level. Still, it was all well worth the bites, bruises, cuts, and cold!
I look forward to seeing a million pictures and videos!
After a miserable turbulent flight I somehow managed to sleep throughout and several hours sitting in a plane on the tarmac at Heathrow I'm finally back home. I kind of miss the freezing air-conditioning in restaurants and stores already, but being able to stay outside for more than an hour without dying makes up for it.
It was nice meeting you all again, and it was nice meeting the few I hadn't seen before also. Hope I get to see you again next year, wherever that may be. Holland?
PS: Upload pictures, people.
Quote from: Esseb on Tue 07/07/2009 18:58:52
Hope I get to see you again next year, wherever that may be. Holland?
One of these years I will get you people to let me host in Japan. Just because I don't live there anymore (though I still own a house there) doesn't mean I wouldn't host a killer island Mittens with karaoke and sushi and t-shirts containing ridiculous English mistakes.
Quote
PS: Upload pictures, people.
Seconded! And with more captions! I still don't know who half the people in the pics are!
As eric said we had an uneventful trip home, I miss everyone so much already!
I was looking through the crowds at the airport sighting Phantom mitteneers!
It was wonderful and so much fun, some of the best times I've ever had. It was excellent to finally meet people I have known face to face and to giggle it up with the ones I already met, I can't wait for next year already! Thank you 10 times to Grund for Hosting and to Jeremy, CJ and Mills for carting everyone around all week.
HOWEVER I am disappointed we didn't have time to play the traditional 100 blank white cards for the last day of Mittens! SO I made some of my own.
Feel free to make some yourself! Maybe next year we can print them out and play them for reals.
(http://jessfink.com/mittens2009/Mittens_2009_blankWhiteCards.jpg)
Pictures to come!!
Those are superb, Finkenstein!
It was a wonderful experience all around. Too bad I felt like garbage the whole time. I'll try to add more pictures today, and I will go back and update them with a side note of who is who.
You all make it sounds like Mittens was in the Amazon jungle or something.
What? No 1000 blank cards?? I sure hope you had a proper Mittolympics, or mittens has truly degenerated over the years...
Oh hey, I'm awake! And alive, after hobbling back through London.
Still groggy and trying to caption an impossible amount of photograhps, so full reminiscing will occur later. All I can say is that I laughed so hard I got a sore throat, and then laughed so hard in the pool I swallowed gallons of water and got the other part of my throat infected, and then laughed some more until my lungs seized up. Illness can be fun!
Thanks to Francisco for hosting the whole massive, amazing event, and for driving us around everywhere in the Deathcar. It was great to finally meet Pete and Sylpher who I've known online for ages, as well as Snarky who's also a forum veteran. It was 100% fun times and I really will make it my goal to not leave it another 5 years before seeing the folks who were at Mittens 2004 again!
Photos will be arriving later today, no doubt.
Hehe, those cards are amazing! I am getting through the photos slowly but surely!
I have also returned, and never before has the cool miserable British weather seemed so refreshing!!
Thanks to Francisco for hosting, and to everyone for coming. It was great fun as usual!
And it's lucky we didn't play 1KBWC because it looks like Jess would have won by default!!
I didn't really take any photos this year... as I'm sure you all noticed I spent lots of time running around bugging you guys with the camcorder instead. I'll try and get something edited together over the next few weeks, but in the meantime here's the most important scene of the week:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/temp/QueenBurning.avi
Ahhh, patriotism.
Quote from: Andail on Tue 07/07/2009 16:41:42
I demand plenty of pictures, especially of people rarely seen before, like Snarky.
The forum-bound snarky is elusive and rarely glimpsed.
Having gone back to the regular grind of coding, meetings and hour-long commutes, Mittens already seems like some languorous week-long dream. My only physical evidence that it really happened is a sunburn and a cold. Sounds like I'm not alone, and Mitteneers are spreading pestilence all across two continents. Fear us, for we bring the Black Flu!
I don't have that many photos, but I should have a video of Queen Elizabeth being burned in effigy while all of Mittens cheers. Shocking!
(I'm sure we have enough different takes and angles on this event to put together a very impressive special-edition DVD.)
It was great to meet everyone and get to know all the cool people hiding behind the forum names and avatars. It was a lot of fun all-round, and pretty much the perfect way to spend a summer week. My friend Dana who dropped by on the last day was openly jealous. Special thanks to Francisco for setting it all up and to Mills for the rides.
Also looking forward to all the stuff people were working on throughout the week, including games, tutorials, documentaries and murder mystery movies. But more so to seeing you all again some time!
Nothing mentionable occured on my trip back "home" (I'll officially be back home next week). It was great to meet new people, and catch up with those I've met before.
The house was awesome! The penis jokes were plentiful! All around, a great trip!
Now I'm going to go into the long drawn out process of saying something to each of you, cause hey, I spent a week with yous guys.
AGA - While I don't think I mentioned it to you, I'll fondly remember the times you were swimming atop the water on our friendly dolphin. You looked rather silly, and it tickled my innards to watch you swim about.
CJ - Always a pleasure...thanks for AGS and all that...um...love you?
Creed Malay - What a guy! There's always a positive fun aura about you, even though I can only understand half of what you say.
Dark Stalkey/Becky - This time let's not wait 5 years to see each other again! Becky, it was a pleasure meeting you, as Eric said whilst in mittens, you fit in easily.
Darth Mandarb - Always fun, next time try to get off of work! And we need to do a Gloves sometime this year. We don't live that far apart.
Dutch Marco - Thanks for making us all diner that one night, Marco! I was glad to see you again.
Disco - Condoms on penis guns, revealing yourself to all those in the pool whilst playing Melee. So many memories, most of them involving penises.
Eric/Jess - You must of course give a detailed story of your mustache incident. Jess, Penis...
Esseb - The Dunder Salts weren't that bad...until they went into your mouth, then they were horrible.
Grundislav - Thanks for hosting this! Gloves sometime this year...we need to make it happen.
Miez - Your blue cup was superior to all other pixeled blue cups. It was good to hear that you were having fun making computer games for the near living.
Nacho/Lorena - Nacho you're just as manly as Lorena, according to what you drank the last night. I expect next year you'll be able to eat many more crackers, with success.
Pesty - It was fun to meet you, you were constantly providing both food and mustache for everyone.
Quintaros - You haven't responded yet, so I assume you're vomiting in some hotel room, wondering if the steak tar-tar was a bad decision, it was. However, I had an awesome time, maybe we'll communicate more outside of mittens as well, huh?
Scummbuddy - I enjoyed mentoring you over Space Quest I-III, and pixel blocks are amazingly good fun.
Snarky - Another new member! I hope we won you over for next year.
Sylpher - Another another new member. It was nice to meet you, and I enjoyed the bite of Hawaiian food.
I didn't get to know some of you as well as I'd have liked to, but that's why there's next year. Thanks for all the laughs!
-MillsJROSS
Got some pics online:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/miezpiez/sets/72157620978738951/
I have not been able to add titles and descriptions to all of them and they're rather small - if you see a picture that you'd like to have in a larger size, just send me an IM.
Again: I already have fond memories of this Mittens. Look forward to seeing you all next year... ;D
Oh and Jess: holy shit, those cards are COOL! :)
Wowie!
Just returned about 15 minutes ago, and boy is it good to be back (in the lower 20°s!), though do miss you all already :o
I left Nacho and Lorena on the Tri-Rail train this morning so they should be home in a bit (EST).
Anyways we all had quite the week didn't we? Thanks to Fransisco for getting us this beautiful Mansion to house all of our depraved and inane doings, also to Jeremy for hosting me the night previous and after Mittens and for driving. Also thanks to Chris for the few rides I had in the rental. You're a star ^_^
It was great to see everyone again, and to the few new faces, welcome aboard and do return next year! I hope we all had an impact and you are willing to return. Seriously, that daytime pool nudity was just a one time thing meant to score a point in Melee, that isn't an annual event :P
Like I said it was great seeing everyone, and I would like to write something about everyone but need to keep it brief....
Snarky- I'm glad you enjoyed your first Mittens and do hope to see you at one again or next time I'm in the Windy City. It was great fun chatting and seeing Hollywood and visiting the zoo with you. Keep in touch, mate!
Esseb- We didn't talk much last year, but I felt I got to know you a bit better this time and had fun chatting and hanging out during the week, as well as the last night swimming in the pool while everyone else was cleaning the house :P
Jess- Thank you for the 500 points! :D
Pesty- Who knew your packs of party mustaches could change the course of Mittens in so significantly??
My photos and videos may just end up in a zip folder to download, other than that my Facebook friends can look forward to seeing them soon. OOOOH Are you jealous CJ? (come on man! it's been like 1 1/2 years since I sent you a request! :P)
I am finally home and still seem to be alive.
Dudes, that was frickin' awesome. I honsetly don't think I've ever had a better two weeks. Big love to Gundy for the hosting, CJ and Lackey for the driving on the road trip, and everyone for being their awesome selves and contributing to the gestalt.
I'll post a proper detailed declaration of the joy of it all later, for now, have a Mittens Meat Machines comic.
http://mobilemeatmachines.blogspot.com/2009/07/my-hubris.html
(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3421/3699633292_b4d343bbfb.jpg?v=0)
What's going on here? :)
edit: I want to see the Death Car.
So Snarky is the Jesus-guy?
Don't get mad if I'm wrong; Miez photos didn't have proper captions.
Quote from: Andail on Wed 08/07/2009 02:12:01
So Snarky is the Jesus-guy?
Well, if this guy (http://www.flickr.com/photos/miezpiez/3698837059/in/set-72157620978738951/) matches your image of Jesus, then yes, he is :D
Oh, I took him for Esseb for a brief second.
Damn Norwegians, they all look alike.
Quote from: Andail on Wed 08/07/2009 02:12:01
Don't get mad if I'm wrong; Miez photos didn't have proper captions.
Captions? Not all of them have captions - yet. Still fighting the dreaded Jet Lag ;D
http://dasjoe.de/~becky/Mittens09/
You know you want these photos! Adamski and I worked on captions for these late? last night, they may make little sense in the cold harsh light of day!
Warning: There are 550ish photos, click at own risk.
Lore and me are back... It's been a lot of fun. People I had as mates are still mates and people I had as pricks are no longer that. See you next year.
Photos soon.
And yes, Mark, working in Foy... probably tomorrow I will have the three first characters appearing in the demo complete.
It's taken me half an hour, but I clicked through EVERY SINGLE ONE of Becky's snaps!
All I can see when I close my eyes is strange people made out of fireworks riding Kudu through a surf of pink milk! WHILE A MONARCH BURNS!
LOL Nacho they will be in GIF all over the beunos photoshop place? I hope so :D
Where are the group photo shots BTW? I wanna see :D Enjoying the all round photo fun so far :)
(http://www.2dadventure.com/ags/peepool.jpg)
;D
(http://dasjoe.de/~becky/Mittens09/Mittens09%20142.jpg)
It's a mee - Mario! ;D
Lesbian...garden?
@ Domino - hey! When you gotta go, you gotta go :D
Yay group photo time!
(http://www.lumpcity.co.uk/~disco/mittens09group.jpg)
Front: (from left) CJ, Miez, Disco, Esseb, Lackey, Nacho
Back: Scummbuddy, Darth Mandarb, DutchMarco, Snarky, Creed Malay, Finkenstein, Grundislav, MrColossal, Becky, Adamski, Pesty, Sylpher, Lorena, Quintaros, MillsJRoss, AGA
Here (http://www.agagames.com/mittens2009/) are the three photos I took.
Hey, I found the back of my head! Woohoo! I'm a star!
Some videos I took-
Cato and the Seven Crackers (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wt_bnGmMzo)
Burn the Queen! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYs_akt0fXE)
Grundislav's Welsh Accent (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3oyP9Wj4Iw)
The Terrifying Memphis! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCb2swpYi2o)
Quote from: Disco on Thu 09/07/2009 03:30:51
Yay group photo time!
Front: (from left) CJ, Miez, Disco, Esseb, Lackey, Nacho
Back: Scummbuddy, Darth Mandarb, DutchMarco, Squinky, Creed Malay, Finkenstein, Grundislav, MrColossal, Becky, Adamski, Pesty, Sylpher, Lorena, Quintaros, MillsJRoss, AGA
Squinky was there?? :P
Quote from: Darth Mandarb on Thu 09/07/2009 15:52:54
Squinky was there?? :P
Wow, although I've never met Squinky, that has got to be the ultimate insult :(
Yes. Being me is the ultimate insult. :'(
Incidentally (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUiu8HwBQOY).
I would post photos as well, but Flickr is being difficult.
Quote from: Snarky on Thu 09/07/2009 16:41:14
Yes. Being me is the ultimate insult. :'(
Noes! It's just funny that out of all the people I misname, it was the person I hung out with most :P
Hello guys... I am uploading the pics now to photobucket... but I am do not remember bad, visualization pics from that website is a hell... if someone could provide a space for upload the photos, I would appreciate it deeply...
Solved! I will upload them in americangirlscout... Tonight or tomorrow... Ciao!
Great pics and vids, guys!
Also, to whoever slipped the blue cup into my luggage -- thanks, it means a lot! Also, I'm grateful it was a cup and not a bag of heroin, because I didn't spot it until now :D
Word on the street is...check the bottom pocket again...
Then have your own Crackwell legacy :D
Did you drink more than your prescribed one beer a month CJ? hehe, did your liver explode all over the queen?
I'm confused ...
Did I insult Squinky and/or Snarky with that comment?
Quote from: Darth Mandarb on Fri 10/07/2009 00:30:46
Did I insult Squinky and/or Snarky with that comment?
No, I was saying
I may have since I credited Snarky wrong in the photo despite how much we hung out at Mittens this year, but the way it is written it can come across in a bad way :o I don't know why I though Squinky especially after I had not gotten it mixed up before that :P
Let's just assume that we are all offended. Or possibly offensive.
OK, I got my pitiful set of pictures up on Flickr. (Like the guy in Lost Highway who doesn't own a camera, I "like to remember things my own way. How I remember them. Not necessarily the way they happened.") Anyway: Here you go! (http://www.flickr.com/photos/harbg/sets/72157621199575564/)
Here (http://www.americangirlscouts.org/nacho_Mittens_09) are Nacho's photos.
Becky and Adam, those photos are awesome!
It's like re living the whole week! You must have been sneaky about it too, I don't remember a camera being permanently implanted in your hand...
A camera? Surely you mean my bionic hand.
I took so many photos so that when we all get senile we can reminisce about "those crazy internet days when people met in reality".
I am also enjoying the photos that other people have provided! The group photos especially turned out great, apart from grumpy AGA.
AGA being grumpy is a constant.
A CONSTANT SOURCE OF AMUSEMENT!
http://www.sylpher.com/photos.php?photo=41&album=2
Yes, it's too late now, Todd. In fact, as I'm typing this, I look around but there's nobody taking a photo. [cry]Where are you?? Anybody??[/cry] Oh ewll, the people heremake for a decent substitute, but you can't beat the real thing!
Anyway, I'm writing this (belatedly) from the hostel in Baltimore, I know I said I'd go to Charleston, SC and Atlanta GA, but I couldn't find any suitable (suitably located) accomodation there, so I took another (tiring!) busride over here. Now to consider where to go next.
BTW I've done a quick browse on the interwebs for the venue for next Mittens, and I've found this:
http://www.vakantieverblijf-nederland.nl/accommodatie/2357
a bit small(12-15people): http://www.familieweekend-drenthe.nl/
I've briefly also considered this:
http://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paleis_op_de_Dam
pro's: includes staff (cooks, cleaners, etc), quite well maintained, centrally located (downtown Amsterdam).
Cons: already includes royalty (occasionally), Sometimes contains politicians (a big bummer for a party atmosphere - though they might be good subjects for making fun of), security would make it rather diffficult to get into. I think they have a night-lockout too, + it's probably too expensive (if for rent at all).
So I'm thinking, even though I haven't looked at any prices yet (of any venues), that the Palace on Dam-square (Paleis op de dam) should be deleted from the list.
But back to the Vice-Mittens: I've already thanked Grundy for organizing it, but I'll do it again (and also thank you for driving me to the busstation): Francisco, thanks for the (good!) organisation. It was cool to see almost everyone again, and as for those who haven't made it, the replacements did a good job.
My only regret: missing on going to the gun range. (well,..... the other regret: we didn't get to finish the movie)
(an untrelated dislike: the heat + climate)
Oh, the penis gun was hilarious, so I'm thinking for next Mittens we buy Jess a pair of penis-clogs, or a squirting tulip (you could possibly actually buy those, but you'd have to put a knob on yourself). Oh well, she can go buy them herself in Amsterdam when she's here.
Sorry to bring this back, but I think I am lost of translation... I think Darth made a simple and innocent joke saying "where was Snarky? Was he there?" and Disco replied "Well... I was with Gunnar, but I was not aware till now that Gunnar=Snarky". I am wrong? (I repeat, I might be missunderstanding something).
If my interpretation of what Darth and Disco said was correct, then, I think nobody was offensive and no one must feel offended... Snarky, we are constantly doing jokes like that in mittens... I think that there's nothing wrong in being the target of jokes... actually, you should be worry if you were not! :) Now, you are just one more of the group.
And talking just for me, I dunno the other people' s opinion, but I did not like some of the thinks I saw about "Snarky, the AGS forums poster", but I really liked "Gunnar, the guy I meet at mittens". As a consequence, now I respect "Snarky the forums poster".
Point two... for future mittens organisators: (I assume next mittens will be in Dutchalandia). Some of us talked about renting a whole floor of a hotel. Just an idea. We reached to the conclussion that it can't be as much expensive as renting those big houses.
OR...
Doing a cruise... I assume you Oranges are excited about hosting a mittens... but we were also talking of doing a Cruise... A cruise through the Mediterranean? Barcelona, Marsella, MonteCarlo, Rome, Popeii, Tunisia, maybe?
As said... just ideas.
I am not sold on the idea of renting out a hotel floor - I reckon it probably -would- be more expensive than renting a house (hotels tend to charge per night!), and less convenient: we wouldn't be able to cook our own food easily, there'd be few common areas for us all to hang out, and even if we got a floor to ourselves, there'd still be other guests that could get in the way :P
Equally I am not completely sold on a cruise, for many of the same issues as a hotel (expense, convenience, common areas, other guests) and the inability to be flexible about what we want to do and when we want to do it.
I personally think that renting a house/cabin/villa/mansion works pretty well for our needs, we have space, privacy for individuals but also common areas for groups, we can cook as we please or go out to eat, we don't need to worry about intruding on anyone elses fun, and they don't ruin ours! :) Miami was perhaps an exception, as the mansion was pretty pricey (although I don't think anyone would argue that it wasnt worth the price?), put generally these house rentals work out reasonable enough between the size groups we're looking at. This is all just my opinion though, other people might love the idea of a cruise or hotel :)
I have to agree that neither a hotel nor a cruise ship would make a better Mittens. Similar problems to what we had at Camping Raco will probably result, as in we can sleep there but we can't really do anything else.
Common areas aside from bars and restaurants are essential, and in hotels the whole experience could be hampered by quiet hours and the possibility of a buzzkill showing up at any moment.
Additionally, it is not just the privacy a separate chateau/cabin/mansion provides, but also the character and history of a place. Imagine renting a whole floor at some global hotel chain like Marriott. Our rooms would all be indentical, and with some exception, would look kind of like the ones in Vancouver, which look kind of like the ones in Bangkok, which look kind of like the ones on Johannesburg. Not that this is a real problem, I believe most of us would agree that distinct places we can admire and call our own for a week are much more appealing and lend easily to a lot of core Mittens activities.
That said, I am sort of open to some kind of backpackers cruise or other no frills type of thing if it can be done right. For instance, this company (http://www.blueyachtcruise.com/yacht_charter_turkey/yacht_cruise/yacht_charter_turkey.htm) operates out of Turkey, and has several yachts for rental. If at sea for 5 days in the 20-person ship in September, it would be nearly â,¬300 a person and includes everything but drinks. There are other destinations to rent a boat as a group semi-cheaply, and I think this would be a good option instead of the floating casinos.
Hmm...also from Turkey are Alaturka Cruises (http://www.alaturkacruises.com/) and Big Backpackers (http://www.bigbackpackers.com/home.html). Alaturka offers private charters at the nearly â,¬300 weekly rate/person I mentioned before, but both of these companies offer 4 day cruises at about â,¬160 each before group discounts. Alaturka's largest ship, the Kaptan Acar, holds 21 people and during the month of June can be rented for â,¬42/day each if we have the full 21.
If we did one of these 4 day cruises with a couple nights at either end, could be a cool and different traveling Mittens experience. Still looking at other budget options at other destinations. Thoughts?
I am in agreeance with Becky and Disco about renting a hotel floor. A twin room would be somewhere in the range of eur80+ per night. For a room with a TV and 2 single beds. All food would have to be bought at restaurants/cafes, all communal gatherings would have to take place in bars (which not all mitteneers would enjoy) or a common area shared with other guests. This is an unacceptable option in comparison to the freedom of having a house, chateau or a castle.
As for a cruise ship, it sounds like a bit of fun, but what about those who suffer from seasickness or want to have a holiday where they get to explore cities and towns. If there were going to be a cruise, I wouldn't think it would work as a place to be for the entire duration of Mittens.
As for the location of next years Mittens, which I'd like to attend if I have the funds, I would much prefer a place like Italy over Holland. Personally I feel that some mitteneers would be inclined to explore the seedier side of Amsterdam or whatever, leading to a group that is constantly split. From what I've heard, it seems it wasn't a universal decision to hold mittens in holland. I believe fruitree has been trying to plan a Dutch style mittens event with little success.
Realistically as well, alot of the usual Mittens crew were unable to attend this years event, so it seems somewhat unfair on them not being able to have a vote in where the event is held in 2010.
I would prefer it if someone made a list on suitable location choices for mittens and hold a vote.
My 2p. :p
20+ people might be able to completely rent out a small hotel or B&B, if that helps.
Quote from: Nacho on Sat 11/07/2009 11:23:30
Sorry to bring this back, but I think I am lost of translation... I think Darth made a simple and innocent joke saying "where was Snarky? Was he there?" and Disco replied "Well... I was with Gunnar, but I was not aware till now that Gunnar=Snarky". I am wrong? (I repeat, I might be missunderstanding something).
If my interpretation of what Darth and Disco said was correct, then, I think nobody was offensive and no one must feel offended... Snarky, we are constantly doing jokes like that in mittens... I think that there's nothing wrong in being the target of jokes... actually, you should be worry if you were not! :) Now, you are just one more of the group.
No worries. Disco just mistyped the caption for the group photo, Darth pointed it out, and the rest was just joking about who should be offended.
QuoteAnd talking just for me, I dunno the other people' s opinion, but I did not like some of the thinks I saw about "Snarky, the AGS forums poster", but I really liked "Gunnar, the guy I meet at mittens". As a consequence, now I respect "Snarky the forums poster".
Cheers, mate. As for yourself, it's much harder to get upset with such a constantly cheerful and likable guy.
In the terrible ideas department, it might be amusing, or at least extremely embarrassing, to do a live reading of past forum fights with the actual participants. "Say that to my face!"-kind of thing.
On Miami-Mittens related discussion, here are the three brief videos I have!
Adamski discovers what a Warhead is. (http://dasjoe.de/~becky/Adamski%20Vs%20Warheads.avi)
We witness a storm (http://dasjoe.de/~becky/StormyBeach1.avi)
More storm (http://dasjoe.de/~becky/StormyBeach2.avi)
Quote from: Snarky on Sat 11/07/2009 16:11:40
In the terrible ideas department, it might be amusing, or at least extremely embarrassing, to do a live reading of past forum fights with the actual participants. "Say that to my face!"-kind of thing.
I wouldn't participate on that! :D
Rorschach's Journal, 12 July 2009
Welp, I'm back in my flat now having departed from Becky's house this afternoon, so I guess Mittens is finally over for me. Boo!
It's going to be hard going back to work after the sheer wonder and whimsy of the week we spent hanging out in Miami, making ridiculous fight scenes for films, tourturing each other with candy, swimming in the pool at night, playing hide and seek in the spooky mansion ("Jess: What was that noise?!" "Me: ...my stomach."), playing videos games, placing balls in Mills' hand, rekindling an obsession with water balloons, playing with fireworks, burning the queen, and most enjoyably of all, just talking and laughing with folks you'd never normally get to talk and laugh with face to face. There was just so much going on it felt like the week went by much too quickly, and I'm greatly missing the atmosphere and company... even nearly one week after it's formal ending.
So to all of you there I'd like to re-iterate that you're all awesome people and it was a pleasure to spend time with you all. I hope to see every last one of you at Mittens 2010!
(Which should be in Italy!)
I'm sick as a dog ... :( But I wanted to get my photos up for reminiscing
Darth's Mittens 2009 Photos (http://www.twin-design.com/mittens2009)
I took about 300 photos total, but I preened them a bit to select the ones I thought most worth sharing. I hope you enjoy them!
Quote from: Darth Mandarb on Sun 12/07/2009 06:29:09
I'm sick as a dog ... :( But I wanted to get my photos up for reminiscing
Darth's Mittens 2009 Photos (http://www.twin-design.com/mittens2009)
I took about 300 photos total, but I preened them a bit to select the ones I thought most worth sharing. I hope you enjoy them!
Could just be me, but I get a "failed to connect" page when clicking the link, Darth. :(
Me too, but yesterday it worked... It might be a problem with the server.
My hosting company has gone straight down the tubes ... sad. They used to be so reliable and now all my sites spend more time offline than on. I'm transferring them to a new company soon. It should be working now!
Post-Mittens report from the one who didn't get back on his plane right after Mittens
Guess who else came to town? (the Baltimore Hostel) Some real-life AGS'es (American Girl Scouts). Just wanted to let you know of this strange coincidence, not to gloat on my chances of hunting chicks or whatever (they're way too young - I know at Mittens, it was suggested that " if they bleed, they're old enough" - welll, the authorities may not agree with you on that, and besides, I do not intend to poke knives into them to see if they're old enough...
We saw a load of girl scouts in our hostel in Washington, D.C. on the pre Mittens roadtrip too. We thought about getting a photo, but that probably would have been weird/illegal.
Hahaha, oh you creepy bastards and your girl scout obsession. Won't you ever learn!
I thought I'd prove just how few photos I took at Mittens this year by posting them all:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/mittens2009/
I was even too lazy to caption them!
Also there are a few from our roadtrip here:
http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/roadtrip/
I third the talk about hotel rooms being bad. I like the houses we have rented I think they work perfectly! We paid for a whole week what would have cost 2 days at a hotel.
If anything, in Mittens to come we should take better account of the available beds so everyone has a place to sleep!
Disco's idea of renting a yacht is really interesting, it would definitely be an adventure!
Wherever we go next year, I am a fan of warmth. It doesn't have to be blisteringly hot but warm enough to swim and a place to swim seems to be a proven mittens success.
Italy has some nice beaches I hear! But Holland looks nice too! We should put it to a vote.
Quotes are up. (http://meets.americangirlscouts.org/events/2009/mittens/quotes)
Hooray, here is our Mittens movie (http://www.vimeo.com/5665932). At least, what we managed to film.
EPIC! I loved the cameos of people just enjoying the Mansion as all of this murdering is going on, such as me playing Space Quest when "Beverage" aka Nacho is getting smacked across the face.
Whoooo! Too bad there was no time to do more... next Mittens "the lost reels"?
Also - is there some way to download the movie, for posterity?
Also - pretty snazzy work on the "Wembley emerges from the pool" scene!
It looks like if you join with the site, you can download the file. Bottom-right corner of the videos page.
Or alternatively you can use this site (http://clipnabber.com/) to grab the video, I believe.
Edit: Yep, worked just fine :)
Excellent, um, work! everyone :D This is possibly the strangest/most amazing thing I've watched so far this year! I wish we'd managed to film more, hehe.
That was terrible and I loved it. I think it is only appropriate that we filmed everything but solving the case.
Awesomeness. I only wish we'd got more of all the characters.
And that I'd got to pretend to be Roberto more. I rather enjoyed storming around and slapping people.
That was awesome!! ;D
Especially loved the reverse coming-out-of-water scene!
Amazing work! The Wembley emerging scene will undoubtedly become the stuff of legend :D
Hoorah! It's great to see things that I had no idea were even filmed like the other intros. It's like I was at mittens but strangely absent* for parts of it
I made this for fun, an alternate intro for Baron Von Count
http://kafkaskoffee.com/junk/VonCountIntro.zip
*in the pool..
Eric, you basically lived in the pool, which was probably the most sensible thing to do because everywhere out of the pool was nightmare hot.
Also, that thing you did is kind of like one of those character introductions in the credits of a telenovela, and by that I mean, completely awesome.
Vimeo website doesn't work for me in multiple browsers, which is why I'm not a member - any chance you could put this video on YouTube Grundy? I'd like to watch :) I was going to ask earlier if there was a Melt the Limit 4...
Quoteany chance you could put this video on YouTube Grundy?
It's 14 minutes -- probably too long for Youtube without your super-powers, Mark :P
Anyway, editing together the Mittens video is taking longer than I expected, so in the meantime you'll have to make do with a quick teaser trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2aEKGAh-pk
Quote from: Pumaman on Mon 20/07/2009 19:02:49
Anyway, editing together the Mittens video is taking longer than I expected, so in the meantime you'll have to make do with a quick teaser trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2aEKGAh-pk
Whooo! awesome! Can't wait for the full-on goodness... ;D
Also Mr. Colossal: that Baron von Count intro is waaaay cool. Now lets make a beat-em-up with these characters! :D
Hehe, good one Chris :D Looking forward to seeing the full assembly!
That teaser makes the couple quotes I had this year seem a little more suspect than they were already :P
I tried putting it on Youtube first, but since it's almost 15 minutes they removed it, the jerks!
Maybe try directly downloading (http://www.vimeo.com/download/video:4603766?v=2&e=1248126832&h=af8615f9f71f82db04e018f83fe3e16b&uh=3aa642150bf3585f4aa1f2c4b7b1730c) it?
Cheers for trying! Whats the filesize? I can only download it if it's about 10-20mb WMV, and not until August now anyway, I've used up all my allowance for this month already :P
It's 179mb. Jeez, M0ds, you used your allowance already?! There's only so much porn out there.
Man, next you'll tell us you've been grounded from watching videos made by us. Excuses, excuses!
I needed Francisco to explain to me just what happened at the end, and then my brain exploded.
There should be a Brain Explosion warning at the beginning of this film!
I like the "Scene Missing: Pete and Wembley solve the mystery" screen. ;D
Did you actually write a script for this? If so, you should post it, so we know exactly what insanity the rest of the film would have included. Somehow I suspect you made it all up as you went along though...
We didn't write a script per se, but we did write a story outline:
Basically, Señor Roberto (brother of Bob from the Ben Jordan movie) calls together all these criminal characters to his house. There would have been a scene around the table where all the characters talked and it was revealed that every single one of them had some sort of motive to kill one another. First, Foreign Tom was to be found dead by the pool, prompting Detective Pete to show up and summon Wembley. As the movie went on, the rest of the characters would die one by one as Pete and Wembley tried to figure out what was going on. In the end, it would be revealed that Detective Pete actually orchestrated the whole thing, in order to steal a precious item from Señor Roberto's safe. In a double twist ending, it would be revealed that Wembley was actually the true mastermind behind it all, since he knew Pete was planning this, and so his intent was to take the item for himself.
Why I think my monocle just popped out!
I can 100% guarantee that I made everything up as I went along. There was probably some sort of plot involved, but I was mostly unaware of it.
I got all the plot outline (so far as me got with it) and character notes RIGHT HERE. Gimme a bit and I shall type them up.
*edit*
Okay, there is *lots* of this, this is the cast list and character motivation stuff, the first bits we worked out. As you can see, there are a lot of characters that iddn't make it into the final abortion. We were sort of overreaching our capabilities, I think. :P BUt man, it would have been awesome.
CAST
Inspector Pete (Pesty) - A mysterious and mustachioed detective. Pretends not to know anyone, but suspects Dr Starspan murdered her mother with a modelling balloon crossbow 12 years ago.
Wembly (Adam) - Instpector Petes bumbling assistant
Senor Roberto (Creed)- Short tempered drug baron, and brother of Bob form the Ben Jordan Movie. Irational and shouty. Has called all the criminals together to choose one to take over his brtohers place in his organisation.
Beverage (Nacho)- Robertos trusted manservant, secretly hates Roberto. He suspects that Sharon Becklespinax killed his brother. Had gsordid gay affair with Percival, has never admitted it.
Percival Quentin Jones - Posh guy and shifty con man. Had gy affair with Beverage, acts nervously around him. THinks he stands to inherit from Prof Goldberg
Countess Felatia (Jess Fink) - Elegant and debauched assasin, kills with a signature penis-gun. Was married to Goldberg, has since slept with Roberto. Baron owes her money.
Baron Von Count (lackey) - Baron of the Duchy of Riboflavin, gambler and con man. Also, a vampire. Owes both Sharon Becklespinax and the countess over gambling debts.
The Janitor (Mills) - Undercover agent and hotman, is bringing Bobs body back from France. Has Evidence on the butler. Fude and sarcastic, never tips. Was present at Bobs death in france - could he have plans for Roberto too?
Sharon Becklespinax (Becky) - Professor of Deathology, lawyer tot he mob, actress, and expert in poisons. Seems to hate the Janitor, having secret affair with doctor Goldberg, Baron owes her money.
Proffesor Goldberg (miez) - Preffesor and assasin, uses elabortie devices and formulae to kill. Recently changed will from leaving fortune to percival to Sharon Becklespinax from percival Jones. HAtes ROberto for having slept witht he Countess.
Butler (jeremy) - RObertos butler. He butles. A curiously silent figure, initially seems squesky clean, but the janitor has photos of him in a comprimising position.
THe Scandinavian Chef (gunnar) - Everyone once thinks he killed a man with a deserrt spoon, but it was never proven. A shady, short tempered character. Hates people criticising his food.
Doctor Starspan (disco) - Magician, kills people with rubber balloons, by either throttling them or stabbing them with balloon swords. BOrn again christian, flipped out when he realised his party tricks are THE WORK OF THE DEVIL and uses his madness as an excuse to kill. Murdered Detective petes mother 12 years ago.
Foreign TOm (marco)- A uniquley foreign man, from a country unheard of by everyone. Uses his baffling foreign customs to put others off their guard. Managed to upset the chef.
Carlo "speedy" Gonzales (eric) - Deputy drug dealer, one of Robertos most trusted allies, but is secretly planning to bump him off. Very critical of others.
ANd that was a lot of typing. I'll type up some of the plot outline and stuff soon.
Is 'hotman' a typo or an admission of Mills' machismo? :)
Davy and Mills hooked up. Pretty sure someone took photos/video.
Not that I have much to add, but just letting people now that I'm still alive, typing this from inside of an Apple store (ab) using their internet connection on one of their computers.
I have just visited the MOMA in Saint Grundislav (San Francisco)while I'm not at all into modern art, I have been thinking of Jess a few times, since she's not the only artist who's into penii. Pictures will be posted end of the month when I'm home.
Internetting costs money, but here in the Apple store it's free (until you get kicked out) BTW, I 've discovered that the Florida climate is typical (though extreme) for that of most of the USA, here in SF is the first time it is cold (not hot n humid)during all my travels so far Man, Virginia Beach was uncomfy. Multiple showers in the day were needed (no wonder they complain about water restrictions!), not that I did that, I'm not that extravagant...
Anyway I managed to put in a little Mittens-related comment, back to Mittens!
Ok, the Mittens Video is finally here!
Thanks to everyone for putting up with me constantly shoving the camera in your faces, I hope it was worth it!! Thanks also to everyone who helped out with the filming, and of course to you all for starring in Mittens 2009!
Here are some mirror links, please choose one at random to help spread the server load (it is 450 MB):
http://94.76.212.146/Mittens2009.avi
http://www.americangirlscouts.org/Mittens2009.avi
http://esseb.com/temp/Mittens2009.avi
PLEASE NOTE: This video is not suitable for children. Everyone at Mittens was over 18, and therefore you should expect there to be adult themes, language and content in the video. DO NOT DOWNLOAD this if you are under 18 or have sensibilities about this kind of thing.
Some people have expressed interest in a DVD of this; I do have a higher quality DVD version that's too big to upload, but we can probably arrange some sort of DVD copy-and-mail-it-on thing if other people are interested.
Where's my check? The Screen Actors Guild will hear about this!
(Excellent film)
Brings back so many memories! :) Thanks for this CJ! Adamski and I are very interested in a DVD-type package!
Quote from: Pumaman on Sat 25/07/2009 14:29:09
Some people have expressed interest in a DVD of this; I do have a higher quality DVD version that's too big to upload, but we can probably arrange some sort of DVD copy-and-mail-it-on thing if other people are interested.
Sorry to intervene but why not make a torrent, a handy way of spreading this dvd-version?
(I also did with the 5-years-mags-collection).
Thank You CJ, that was some real funny stuff. Enjoyed every minute of it. AGA (Ray Liotta) cracks me up.
Truly wonderful, and it was really nice to see some of the stuff that was going on while I was in different parts of the house/city - we didn't deliberitly abandon you when we went for falaffel guys, honest!.
Really nostalgic, makes me fell all :(, but a good kind of :(. A beautiful momento of one of the best holidays I've ever had. Cheers, Chris.
Now where's the road trip one? :P
You all have to watch the video, there is
Spoiler
BOOZE, BABES, SINGING, ROAD RAGE, PENIS GUN, APPLE PIE, A GUY NAMED HANK (A PROUD AMERICAN), FOOD MADE WITH SPAM, FIREWORKS, SMOKING, HOT TUB, AGA, MALT LIQUOR....
I give this video a 3 Thumbs Up and is funny as Hell. Check it out.
QuoteWhere's my check? The Screen Actors Guild will hear about this!
Hmm, but I thought you were a member of the Film Actors Guild ... or is that just AGA?
Glad you guys enjoyed the video ... sorry about the soundtrack still playing during the 4th July fireworks singing, every release always has a bug!! :=
Oh, also, I've finally updated the Mittens titles on the forum here, the meanings are the same as before:
1 = Mittens Initiate
2 = Mittens Faithful
3 = Mittens Regular
4 = Mittens Liege
5 = Mittens Addict
6 = Mittoholic
7 = N/A (nobody has been to 7 mittenses!!)
8 = Mittician
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 26/07/2009 14:20:18
Hmm, but I thought you were a member of the Film Actors Guild ... or is that just AGA?
I'm not a fag >:(
Quote from: Pumaman on Sun 26/07/2009 14:20:187 = N/A (nobody has been to 7 mittenses!!)
No one is even close to being in the same league as us, clearly.
Okay, after a long (and warm! well, mostly) stay in (several parts of) the USA, I have come home and uploaded my photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/rpost01.o5/MittensViceEdition09?authkey=Gv1sRgCKCM1ZjBjNSRsQE&feat=directlink
More photos are underway, of the Museum and zoo visits in Miami and of the rest of my vacation (not that you'll care about that).
P.s. Chris, I can live with not haing fired a gund while in America (nor having been shot at - I think I can [literally] better live (longer) without that) but having missed the strip club (you never mentioned that!) peeves me a little. You never mentioned you were fixing to go there (well, not in my vicinity anyway).
OK, this one of the Museum in Miami is done already:
http://picasaweb.google.com/rpost01.o5/MiamiMuseum09?authkey=Gv1sRgCITfvZeI2-mGogE&feat=directlink
Jess, I took some photos in honour/memory of you at the SF MOMA:
http://picasaweb.google.com/rpost01.o5/SF09?authkey=Gv1sRgCInMspaOlrS5LA&feat=directlink
(just look for the ones tagged with the text "Ms Finkenstein")
So you thought the master meter was a nuisance, here's what I kept running into in Baltimore:
http://picasaweb.google.nl/lh/photo/3Z7UsJBucJzghShNeYSMkA?feat=directlink
Hey, I finally got around to uploading a couple of videos I took on the very last night at Mittens where
Disco and Pete got into a knife fight! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZGcWPu2FDM)
and
Limes were used as metaphors (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYWv7-dDXFM)
Quote from: Pumaman on Sat 25/07/2009 14:29:09
Some people have expressed interest in a DVD of this; I do have a higher quality DVD version that's too big to upload, but we can probably arrange some sort of DVD copy-and-mail-it-on thing if other people are interested.
Ok, the DVD version is now available!
If anyone who went to Mittens wants a copy, send me a PM and I'll send you a link to download an ISO of the DVD (which is 3.79 GB).