Thursday, September 03, 2009

X Degrees of Separation (DugALugs's Game)

All credit to Doug for this one.

One of the cool things about going back and re-reading some of the classic standards laid out spectacularly by our own Diabolical Genius here in The Realm in his All-Time Favorite Realm Posts post, is that some of your -- you, our fair Realm denizens -- comments were golden. One such comment in the Cliches of the World post -- and that post is an outstanding example of our commenters making The Realm of Possibility far better than it could be with just Ken or me rambling -- was from our pal, DugALug who suggested a game that will probably remind you, of the old Six Degrees from Kevin Bacon exercise. I'm gonna lay out Doug's comment, in its entirety, right here for game instructions and examples:

Rich/Ken

Here is an idea for a post. How about calling it something like X degrees of separation. Start with an item/object/person/place Using one commmon word from the current state for the seed of the transitioned state. Here are two examples:

1) Bart Simpson
2) O.J. Simpson (The Juice)
3) Juice Newton
4) Orange Juice
5) Orange Julius
6) King Julius Caesar
7) Elvis Presley (The King)
8) Lisa Marie Presley
9) Lisa Marie Simpson (Bart's sister)

Or

1) Poison Ivy
2) Ivy League
3) Justice League of America
4) Captain America
5) Captain Cave Man
6) The Bat Cave
7) Batman

What do you think?

-Doug

Well, I'll tell you what I think, Doug. I think it's a great idea to try. So -- and this may be a bit of a departure from your rules, Douggie, but I think it might help the continuity of an ongoing Net game -- we can use one liners or characters from books, movies, TV shows, and then famous sayings, historical figures, lines from historical speeches, pop culture references, etc. to try to keep our connected separations going. Just one word has to match from the comment above. Also, like all these sort of games that we try, let's try not to post consecutively unless the game stagnates to the point someone feels like they have to if they want to try to keep it going -- I'll try to keep the comments moderated frequently so we don't have overlaps. This should be a great memory exercise for all of us, and let's try to get some clever references so it's fun!

I'll get it started in the first comment block.

[Ed. Note: Doug, if I've mischaracterized the game - just start it over in a comment, and tell us how it's done. Thanks, man!]

{Ed. Note 2: Forget the promise of trying to keep comments moderated frequently so we don't have overlaps.}

{Ed. Note 3: I will now embrace the overlap, intentionally posting a few of my own.}

88 comments:

Rich said...

Give me liberty or give me death. (Patrick Henry)

Diabolical Genius said...

Death Valley National Park (nps)

Rich said...

National Treasure.

(Darn it, I'm gonna play this game.)

Diabolical Genius said...

National Pasttime.

This is fun!! Why haven't we played this before?

Rich said...

Painting as a Pastime (Sir Winston Churchill)

[Ken, I'm not sure. Maybe we should change the rules so that just you and I can play.]

DougALug said...

Wow! I leave a couple days and I come back to this! Could life get better?

I'm painting myself into a corner.

Diabolical Genius said...

Little Jack Horner
Sat in a corner
Eating his curds and whey

DougALug said...

Hit the road Jack and don't you come back no more no more no more no more.

Rich said...

Hit Me with Your Best Shot (Pat Benatar)

DougALug said...

The best laid plans of Mice and Men.

Diabolical Genius said...

"We come from a land down under..."

-- Men at Work

Rich said...

The Land That Time Forgot (Edgar Rice Burroughs)

Joanna Ruth Meyer said...

T-A-R-D-I-S, time and relative dimensions in space. (The Doctor)

Milly said...

Only time will tell

Rich said...

Yipes!!! An overlap. Sorry about that. Let's see if I can hit on both Joanna's and Milly's:

"Only fools are enslaved by time and space." (Lost, Season 5, Episode7)

Diabolical Genius said...

"Space... the final frontier." (Star Trek, every episode)

Anonymous said...

Final Destination -- a movie I don't intend to go and see.

WandaV

Rich said...

Destination Unknown (Missing Persons)

Anonymous said...

Return to sender, address unknown

Joanna Ruth Meyer said...

Return to Me (chick flick :-))

Diabolical Genius said...

"Me Tarzan, you Jane." (

either the 2nd Edgar Rice Burroughs reference or a famous Buster Keaton kitsch line)

Rich said...

Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)

Diabolical Genius said...

"Terminate with extreme prejudice."

Anonymous said...

Extreme Makeover Home Edition

DougALug said...

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

Diabolical Genius said...

Home, home on the range,
Where the deer and the antelope play.

{It appears that great minds not only think alike, but anonymously think like Doug. Who knew?}

Rich said...

Our Town: A Play in Three Acts (Thornton Wilder)

Joanna Ruth Meyer said...

The Three Little Pigs

DougALug said...

Kryptonyte: Three doors down.

Rich said...

More overlap. More remedy:

A little down in the mouth. (Answer to old joke: How is the fella who swallowed a duck?)

Anonymous said...

Out of the mouth of babes

Milly said...

You're go'n down

Diabolical Genius said...

"The Mouth of the South"

--singer, professional wrestler, and world-renowned manager, Mr. Jimmy Ray Hart.

Rich said...

Ray Ban Wayfarer Sunglasses

Anonymous said...

I wear my sunglasses at night (so I can...so I can...) -- Corey Hart

Rich said...

The Two Coreys, Corey Feldman and Corey Haim

Rich said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
DougALug said...

Two and a half men.

Anonymous said...

It takes two to tango.

Diabolical Genius said...

If Bobby has a pie that is cut into eight slices, and Sally takes half, how many slices is Bobby left with?

(2nd grade math word problem)

Rich said...

Baseball, hot dogs, apple pie, and Chevrolet

{Nice job on the overlap, Ken, using both "takes" and "half". Are you really a genius?}

Diabolical Genius said...

"Baseball been berry, berry good to me!"

-- Chico Escuela (Garrett Morris)

Rich said...

Good Girls Don't (The Knack)

DougALug said...

Girls just want to have fun. [Cyndy Lauper]

Joanna Ruth Meyer said...

All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth.

Rich said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Rich said...

A Visit from St. Nicholas more commonly known as Twas the Night Before Christmas (Clement Clarke Moore)

Diabolical Genius said...

"One is the loneliest number."

-- 3 Dog Night

Rich said...

Dog Day Afternoon

Anonymous said...

On A Clear Day You Can See Forever -- a strange Barbara Streisand movie

DougALug said...

Who let the Dogs out? Woof Woof Woof-Woof.

Diabolical Genius said...

"I Can See for Miles"

-- The Who

Rich said...

See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me, Heal Me (The Who)

ooooouuuh! Mine was all over that last one of Ken's! Also, a couple more comments, and I think this puppy of Doug's goes to our # 1 most commented post.

Doug should start a blog. Oh, that's right, he has one. Gets hard to remember WHEN HE DOESN'T POST.

DougALug said...

She seems to have an invisible touch. Genesis

Doug holds his head in shame, as Rich's words are sadly true!

Rich said...

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1
-----
(I think this one puts us over or ties the Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head post. Congrats Doug!!!

I always tell Ken this: having the most popular post is always better than posting intelligently, having integrity in your posting, being sincere or honest in your posts, really anything. Whenever anyone says anything contrary to that, you just have to say one word:

"Scoreboard!")

Diabolical Genius said...

"Let's start at the very beginning
A very good place to start"

-- The Von Trapp family, Do-re-mi, from The Sound of Music

{If you knew you were blatantly copying me in time to say so in the comment, why did you do it anyway?}

Also, the firm of Price/Waterhouse is tabulating the actual real comments of both posts and removing duplicates and comments removed by the author to arrive at some actual post count number.

Rich said...

If you knew you were blatantly copying me in time to say so in the comment, why did you do it anyway?

Buzzard,

You totally mistook what I was saying. I was just saying that I hit "See" "The Who" on yours, not that I was overlapping.

Also, Price/Waterhouse, like all the Big 8 or 6 or 4 firms or however many there are now, is most certainly under criminal investigation, because that's what big CPA firms are - under investigation. You need a famous statistician or mathematician to do your counting. Not an accounting outfit.

But really, you're now just sore at Doug for having a more popular post than any of yours -- and you're not alone. I'm in that boat with you. So don't sweat it. If worse comes to worse, we can always quit blogging. There's always an out.
---

Let's Go (The Cars)

Diabolical Genius said...

"Arise, go forth and conquer as of old." -- Sir Bedivere

We could join forces in an attempt to beat the Doug... or we could just take a 3 year sabbatical.

What thinkest thou?

Rich said...

Old King Cole
---

Hark, what methinks ist that I further yon villainous whelp's crusade o' trickery by wallowing in this, his foul post.

Posteth anew, good sir, and so shall I turn from thou nemesis' faithless treachery against ye olde Pearce & Story, and reign in allegiance with thee, whereby ye shall receive a more bountiful lot.

Anonymous said...

King of the Hill


WandaV

Diabolical Genius said...

Blueberry Hill

{ummm... in ye newe English, please}

Rich said...

Strawberry Blueberry Smoothie

Anonymous said...

Strawberry Shortcake, my she's looking swell -- Cute little doll with a strawberry smell.

(remember those annoying commercials?)

WandaV

Diabolical Genius said...

Kewpie doll.

Rich said...

Kewpie Mayonnaise

Rich said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
DougALug said...

Fool enough to almost be it
Cool enough to not quite see it, doomed
Pick your pocket full of sorrow
Run away with me tomorrow, June

-Mayonnaise (The Smashing Pumpkins)

Anonymous said...

It's not Mayonnaise, it's Miracle Whip.

WandaV

Rich said...

Overlap - will hit both despite editorial notes to the contrary--
----
Cool Whip Non-dairy Whipped Topping

Diabolical Genius said...

Cool Runnings.
----------
{Kudos to Rich. I wasn't sure whether or not he would man up and go with mayonnaise, but he did. I can hear him retching in the background now.}

Anonymous said...

Cool Hand Luke

WV

DougALug said...

==> Wow I think that one will end the chain. Well done Ken!

Rich said...

Not so fast, my friend (in best Lee Corso voice)
----
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

Luke 2:11

Diabolical Genius said...

I'm sorry. But the chain was broken due to an overlap.

Try again.

Rich said...

I'm sorry. I'm still spewing bile from having to list that dreaded white putrid substance from Plant Evilhellmurderdoom.

Regardless Wanda played on. So ball's in play, as far as I'm concerned.

Rich said...

Plant = Planet

Apologies. Typing between dry heaves.

Anonymous said...

Between the devil and the deep blue sea.


(was I supposed to stop?)

WandaV

DougALug said...

Why is the devil red? - Lost Dogs

- Playing this just in case.

Rich said...

Land of the Lost

Anonymous said...

..."O'er the Land of the Free and the home of the brave." -- Star Spangled Banner

Rich said...

Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)

DougALug said...

New Kids On The Block... ;)

Rich said...

Spy Kids

Anonymous said...

I spy with my little eye...


WandaV

Diabolical Genius said...

Cool Runnings.
--------------
{I don't mean to be a buzzkill, but eleven comments ago, Rich took this post in a sublimely ridiculous direction.

Unfortunately, because of this recklessness, he forced an otherwise record-breaking post to quickly die on the vine.

By ignoring the very rules that he set forth with his own typing fingers (before we all bought into it I might add), he not only invalidated the game, but made a mockery of those who were playing it in good faith.

He even mocked the game's very namesake with a smarmy "Not so fast, my friend". I'm sorry, but that's offensive no matter whose voice it's in, but especially so in Lee Corso's voice.

One of the critical aspects of anything that hopes to call itself a game is the peril associated with potentially losing the game or failing to reach new heights and records.

Instead of rising to the challenge, steeling himself, and frankly manning up, Rich chose the equivalent of sticking his fingers in his ears and chanting "Nah, nah, nah, I can't hear you."

I can tell that many of you were left confused by this blatant disregard for your intelligence. The subsequent comments bear testimony to this. But to continue on as if nothing happened with your head buried in the sand was obviously more than most of you could stand.

I know that it also caused some emotional conflict as some of you were unsure whether or not to humor Rich due to your loyalty to the Realm and his treasured friendship.

But when the solution is so obvious, there is no reason to let one person, albeit a very important personage around here, ruin things for the whole group.

That's why I finally decided to write. It's apparent that the Poster/Commenter implied contract of trust has been broken, and it has made you hesitant to comment on other posts. What if he does it again? What if he asks you for book suggestions and then abruptly changes the time deadline or decides he wants ice cream instead of books?

I realize that the damage done cannot be completely reversed, it never can. But in honor of the good name of Dugalug, I suggest that we try to end this historic post on a high note.

Let's roll the game back to point where Rich caused the problem by not moderating comments like he promised to "try" and then exacerbating things by "trying" to sweep the rules and his failures under the rug.

Someone match the phrase "Cool Runnings", (unlike some people, I have complete confidence that you can), and bring the fun back to Doug's spectacularly successful game.

Thank you.}

Rich said...

You've already done:

Cool runnings

We're past that now.

I didn't read the rest of your gibberish.

Rich said...

Also, besides me, do you think anyone else ever ventures to the second page of this site?

Likely that.

Diabolical Genius said...

I thought this was all about us. You... mean... there are... others? [Shudder]