What is the official 'generation' of a TRASH player these days: X (begins anywhere from 1960 to 1968 and ends anywhere from 1974 to 1985) Y (begins anywhere from 1968 to 1985 and ends anywhere from 1981 to 1995) or Millennial (begins anywhere from 1976 to 1986 and ends anywhere from 1989 to some time in the future)? I've gotta keep that in mind for TRASH purposes; if we are in the same 'generation' as unborn babies we can't use recent events :-) William On Wed, 19 Feb 2003, abillsmood wrote: > While I agree with your position that using 1980-2003 as > restrictions on trash questions does not guarantee that it is > focused perfectly toward college-age players, I think you need only > look to Trivial Pursuit 20th Anniversary edition's entertainment > category and compare it to the original's entertainent category to > see that the idea has merit ;) If this leads some people to > challenge themselves to find the most minute, annoying, unreleased > movie or 4 episode tv show of the 80's or 90's, then we will deal > with that as editors. However, I believe it will lead to more > familiar subject matter (as kids we watched 1980's kiddie movies; as > teenagers, we watched 1980's comedy reruns on cable and snuck into > early 1990's R-rated movies; some of us may have gone to the local > metropolitan movie theater to see a remastering of His Girl Friday, > and good for them for getting in touch with the past, but it's > simply not our generation). I, personally, believe that enough > happened in these last 23 years to make a perfectly reasonable set > of packets for the tournament. Furthermore, there remains ample > room for a few questions each round on cultural items that continue > to affect our generation (the Beatles, A+W Root Beer, Miles Davis, > etc. NOT Dr. Kildare, unless, I suppose, it's the John Flansburgh > song). If it turns out that this doesn't come to pass, then I > suppose Chris and I will work a bit harder on editing, and your > position will be justified. I still think it'll be fun though. > > - Brad, VP of Trash, Princeton > > P.S. Too far? That's sad. We get Penn Bowl and Qotc. Everything > else is either Maryland/DC (3 hours) or Boston (4.5 hours). I think > you Boston schools owe us for making it to your TRASH regionals and > junior-bird tournaments ;) > > --- In quizbowl_at_yahoogroups.com, walter_shandy <no_reply_at_y...> wrote: > > While I welcome news of another trash tournament (even one which > is > > likely too far away to attend), I would like to take issue with > the > > notion of skewing questions toward more recent events in an > attempt > > to bias the playing field toward younger players. The question of > > how well-advised it is to run a tournament that advertises up > front > > that it wants its questions to benefit one group or another of > > players is one for a later time; what I'm going to focus on now is > > the question of how exactly a bunch of questions on things that > > happened in the '80s benefit the undergraduate player. > > > > Take, for example, two players: > > > > -- Mark Coen, the World's Largest Gerbil -- graduated from college > in > > 1991, so without access to carbon-dating, I'll assume he was born > > circa 1969. In other words, your typical Masters Team player. > > > > -- Erik Nielsen, college senior, born in 1981. Your typical > > undergrad. > > > > And let's give them a series of questions. The first question is > on > > something that happened in 1965. According to your manifesto > here, > > Mark would have the advantage on this question, but in actuality, > > Mark was no more born than I was at that time. Advantage: > nobody. > > > > Next up, a question on something that happened in 1982. Mark was > 13 > > at the time, so it's plausible that he could have remembered it. > For > > my part, unless the question addresses the strained vegetables of > the > > era, I honestly have no chance of remembering it from when it > > happened. Advantage: Mark. > > > > And finally, a question from 1996. I was 15, and Mark was 30 -- > but, > > may I point out, Mark is a trash player. He's probably got at > least > > one eye on the progress of pop culture. Sure, I might remember > what > > was going on, but the same is true of Mark. Advantage: meh. > Could > > be me, could be Mark -- depends on what the question's about. > > > > So basically, what I'm saying is that the theory that questions on > > the 80's are going to help undergrads is faulty. For may part, I > > don't know a thing about crap that happened before, say, 1989, > unless > > I happened to take an interest in it later -- and much of the > early > > 90's is not my strong point either. For a freshman, I'd adjust > that > > time frame three years forward, and find Mark with a distinct > > advantage on everything from 1980 to 1995, and a minor > disadvantage > > (if any) on things after that. > > > > I think the advantage in eras is a function of personal preference > > more than one of age. Heck, for my part, I'd _rather_ have > questions > > on things that happened before 1980. And if I were playing in > this > > tournament, I'd be worried that this skewing would create a shift > > towards the minutiae of the '80s and '90s, and I'd be left > wondering > > what the hell these questions were about. > > > > I'm not sure whether the lack of questions about the cheesy pop > > music, boneheaded TV, and deservedly unwatched movies of today is > in > > fact a "common complaint" among undergraduates, but if I were to > > complain, it would be that there's too much of that stuff in > > tournaments already. I'd rather hear a tossup on Elvis Costello, > the > > Yardbirds, or even the Monkees than one on Britney Spears, Def > > Leppard, or Gerardo (rico and/or suave though he might have been). > > > > Not sure whether my opinion is a minority one, or even an > > insignificant minority one, but I'm suffering from insomnia and > > thought I would get it out there anyway. > > > Yahoo! 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