More Top 5s.

[saxikath]

I don't really have preferences when it comes to micro-organisms, though there are some I'd certainly rather not have inside of me. So I'll give you the five whose stuffed versions I think are cutest. :)

5. Mad cow. Okay, I'm sure it doesn't really look like that, but it's cute!

4. Streptococcus pyogenes, or flesh-eating bacteria. Complete with knife and fork!

3. Salmonella typhimurium. Just look at the flagella!

2. Orthomyxovirus, aka the flu. This may not look particularly cute on the webpage, but I have one (his name is Travis; one of my former coworkers had him in the office, and they gave him to me when I left), and it is.

1. Giardia. Nasty illness, cute critter.





In no particular order:

• "I will not eat this soup of Tharn!" -- I wasn't even there, and it still cracks me up.
  
• King Roderick: Eh. Well what did the Doge do?
  Hubert Hawkins: The Doge do?
  King Roderick: Yes, the Doge do.
  Hubert Hawkins: Well, uh, the Doge did what the Doge does. Eh, uh, when the Doge does his duty to the Duke, that is.
  King Roderick: What? What's that?
  Hubert Hawkins: Oh, it's very simple, sire. When the Doge did his duty and the Duke didn't, that's when the Duchess did the dirt to the Duke with the Doge.
  King Roderick: Who did what to what?
  Hubert Hawkins: Oh, they all did, sire. There they were in the dark; the Duke with his dagger, the Doge with his dart, Duchess with her dirk.
  King Roderick: Duchess with her dirk?
  Hubert Hawkins: Yes! The Duchess dove at the Duke just when the Duke dove at the Doge. Now the Duke ducked, the Doge dodged, and the Duchess didn't. So the Duke got the Duchess, the Duchess got the Doge, and the Doge got the Duke!
  King Roderick: Curious. I... I... hm? What? What's that? All I heard was that the Duchess had a siege of rheumatism. She's 83, you know.
  -- from The Court Jester, probably my favorite movie ever. (Thanks to IMDB -- don't think I could have reproduced the quote exactly otherwise.) There are lots of quotes I could choose from this movie ("Whogus the whatsler?"; the "Breckenridge's scourge" sequence, the opening song, the maladjusted jester song...) but this is the one that came to mind first.
  
• "You said often frequently only once!" -- Pirates of Penzance. Well-performed, the orphan/often sequence still makes me laugh, no matter how many times I've seen it.
  
• "I am Antonio Banderas, I am... handsome. I am Antonio Banderas, I am... Hispanic." -- tahnan. This probably isn't funny unless you were there. tahnan was trying to solve an Enigma flat. I gave him the hint that one of the words would describe someone like Antonio Banderas. He then wandered around the apartment talking in a bad accent and saying things like the above. Makes me giggle still, even though it's probably lost on anyone else.
  
• "That's my brain leaving out the back door while my face distracts you." -- Wombat, during the 2003 Mystery Hunt, explaining the look on his face when we realized what was going on in a particular puzzle.
  
  
  
  
  I'm actually having trouble picking just five, so here are my top eight. There are lots of other moments that are memorable, too -- meeting Vasa, water magic stuff, Kia stuff, Legends bizarro day, getting paid for passage by a troll... -- but let's stop now. :)
  
  8. The barbarians meet the bear spirit -- Tales of Valor. Something is wrong with the spirits, we know that. With help, we summon the great Bear spirit, who uses Ta'ima (my character) as a demonstration to try to communicate what had happened to him. This was my first ToV event, and it certainly got off to a good start.
  
  7. The Gold Court knighting ceremony -- Legends. This felt like the life-changing experience it was supposed to be.
  
  6. Bristlecone tells Ta'ima about her mother -- ToV. Ben is really good at delivering lines that make you go "what the f***??" Being told your mother had a destiny and wants you to fulfill it qualifies. :)
  
  5. The first elemental circle -- Legends. Intense personal roleplaying by a lot of people, leading to a lot of us wandering around looking slightly dazed for quite a while afterward.
  
  4. The Banshee battle -- Otherworld. Only women could fight the Banshee, because men would, at the sound of her voice, start following her. I don't want to spoil the rest of it for those who might attend Otherworld someday, but let's just say that the battle required some very impressive teamwork, and showed that women fighters rock. :)
  
  3. "Is that because she's a Kia or because she's Gold Court?" -- Legends. Explaining this would take longer than I really should be spending on LJ right now. Those of you who know the story will know why this makes the list, though. :) Those who don't and are curious, ask me sometime in person or by e-mail and I'll explain.
  
  2. Sinduri gambles for Chance's hair -- Legends. Probably the most nerve-wracking moment I ever had in a LARP. The bet was his hair or mine; if I got his, we could go on with what we needed to do; if he got mine, well, who knows what he would have done with it? It came down to one draw of the cards: highest card won. I drew a seven. The few seconds it took for him to draw and show his card -- a five -- seemed like an eternity.
  
  1. "But you don't understand -- It was Obsidian!!" -- Otherworld 2001. Being told that the town's beloved elderly cleric had somehow been changed into the leader of a nasty band of baddies was perhaps the single most emotional moment I've had in a LARP.

Comments

[rikchik.livejournal.com]

So what was the word that described someone like Antonio Banderas?

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

"Studly". I never did find it. "I am Antonio Banderas, I am...talking in a stupid accent."

[mabfan.livejournal.com]

I love the scene from Court Jester. But I always forget that it's the dart.

[gnomi.livejournal.com]

It's one of my favorite scenes, too.

[tahnan.livejournal.com]

Love the lists. Mmmmm, soup of Tharn. And mmmmm, banshee. But...

"Why didn't you help me..."

[lemurtanis.livejournal.com]

I am a dork, Lance, but that line still makes me tear up a bit.

[saxikath]

You're not the only one.

[leighjen.livejournal.com]

That line totally gives me the shivers!

[saxikath]

God. How could I have left that off??

Excuse me while I shiver.

Court of Shadows, too. I could fill the whole damn list with Otherworld.

[clauclauclaudia]

Yay, a Court Jester quote that isn't "the pellet with the poison...."

Which is also lovely but is often the only one people can quote.

Good luck Hunting this weekend!

[zahnarabai.livejournal.com]

God, I recognize most of those LARP moments, and they make me shiver. :)