Time to start saving!

I'm planning to hit Europe next year. Here are some things I'd like to do over the course of two-ish weeks.


Here's a short list of places I'd like to check out in Europe:
Belgian Comic Strip Center - What can I say? I'm a big fan of Belgian cartooning. You might be familiar with Tintin or the Smurfs. There's just a certain quality of line that I've always appreciated. Heck, in researching this entry I found this amazing little tour: Brussels Comic Strip Walk.



Moi, j'm'en fous je triche - I want to play board games in French. They play a lot of the same games that I know, only they play in the language of love.

By the way, the pic above is from a filler game I've been enjoying recently. Travel Blog by Vlaada Chvatil is a ton of fun.

I want to take yoga classes and dance the lindy hop too, maybe catch some improv shows if they exist, all the stuff that I love doing at home, but more expensive and foreign. I'd like to eat cheese, yogurt and lots of fruit. Perhaps take in a game of petanque if I can find anyone to play.

Ooh, here's an idea: let's visit spooky places. Anyone got any ideas?

The play is the thing.

4 Decades of Whimsy - the clips.

This is an addendum to the post I wrote last week, 4 Decades of Whimsy, in which I outline my birthday plans.

For those folks who are curious what all my birthday events are about, here are some clips:

Lindy Hop

Here's the classic Groovie Movie, the film that inspired so many of us over a decade ago. I remember the night I shared this clip with the back room at the Derby. Oh, man, them's memories.

Improv

I don't have audio at the moment, but at some point I'd like to listen to this clip. I haven't watched it fully yet.

Yoga

Here's Anusara Yoga founder John Friend, speaking at a yoga conference.

Board Games

Watching people play board games on YouTube might not be the best way to experience it.

Okay, so play is the operative word. Come play with me next week!

4 decades of whimsy

I'm turning 40 this month. It's time to figure out the celebration plan!


Essentially, I'm inviting folks to join me for my weekly activities, which include yoga, improv class, Lindy Hop and board games. Here's the catch: I ask that everyone come to the activities with which they are least familiar. For instance, if I know you from board games and dancing, then you'll be urged to improv and/or yoga. Or if we met doing yoga, you'll be invited to come check out LindyGroove or improv. Everyone is still welcome to play in their comfort zone, but I'm challenging everyone to break out a bit. Does that make sense?

There are a lot of free options to be had. I'll explain more of those as we go.

Here's the schedule:
Saturday, January 22nd
4:30-5:30pm - 7 Dollar Yoga at Mission Street Yoga

Sunday, January 23rd
10:30am-Noon - Mixed level Yoga class at Mission Street Yoga
5:00-7:00pm - Improv class with Monkey Butler, Burbank

Monday, January 24th
8:00-10:00pm - One Buck Butler - Come watch me perform! Entry is one dollar. EVERYONE IS INVITED!

Tuesday, January 25th
9-midnight - Joe's Bar and Grille - Lindy Hop

Wednesday, January 26th
12:30-1:30 - 7 Dollar Yoga at Mission Street Yoga
8-11pm - Game Empire - board game party

Thursday, January 27th
7:30-midnight - LindyGroove - Lindy Hop

Friday, January 28th
5-11pm, Game Empire - board game party

Bonus!
Sunday, January 30th
4:00-6:00pm - Improv class with the Improv Trick! FREE!!
6:00-9ishpm - ASSSSCAT, improv show, Hollywood

Here's my Amazon wishlist. There are many items on here that can be bought for a penny plus shipping. If you feel like splurging for bigger ticket items, then be my guest.

Also, to be perfectly honest, I usually do improv on Tuesdays, but I felt like the schedule needed more Lindy Hop. Come check out La Granja's Game Night at IO West at some point. I'll probably be there!

FREE STUFF
Improv class - The Sunday class is free. Class with Nathan Davis of Monkey Butler. Media City Church, 269 East Providencia Avenue Burbank, CA 91502-1433
Mission Street Yoga - New students that live within a 10 mile radius of South Pasadena are eligible to take their first class for free.
Joe's Bar and Grille - There is no cover charge for this event. I think there's a bucket of love if you'd like to support.
LindyGroove - The first 10 folks who send me their email addresses can get free admission on January 27th. I'll save this for folks who haven't already been to LindyGroove. Please RSVP before January 24th.
Game Empire - Come hang out! Drinks and candy for sale. Buy a game if you like supporting local businesses.
ASSSSCAT - The Sunday show is free, though donations are suggested.


edited to add: Now there are videos! Check out 4 Decades of Whimsy - the clips

The Longest Road - part 2

Local gaming hero David Zevin won the Settlers of Catan pre-qualifying event at Gamex in May. Since flying to Indianapolis to compete in the qualifying round of the Settlers of Catan Worldwide Championship at GenCon, he comes home a champion. He won the GenCon event and will be heading to Burg Wildenstein in Germany to represent the United States in the final rounds! David met with Neil Figuracion at Game Empire in Pasadena to share his experiences.

You can read the first part of the interview here: The Longest Road - part 1

Strategicon: So here we are again, David. Things have gone your way it looks like.

David Zevin: (Chuckles) A little bit. A little bit.

S: Since you left the Settlers event at Gamex, you went on to win GenCon. That was just last weekend. What was your experience like getting there?

DZ: It was a little weird. Actually I was doing some volunteer work for the Jewish Community Center in Los Angeles and there was this big tournament of the Maccabi games - Jewish junior olympics and a friend of mine needed a tennis coach. So I kinda volunteered to do that. So I was in Omaha, Nebraska for five days leading up to GenCon and I missed the first day. I flew directly from Omaha to Indianapolis and I was kind of exhausted. I got like 5-6 hours of sleep for like five nights leading up to GenCon. So it had been a wild week.

S: So you got to GenCon. What was your first impression? This was your first trip, right?

DZ: First trip to GenCon, yeah. I was a little overwhelmed when I first got there. Just 'cause it was much bigger than I had thought it was... It was like Comic Con, basically - tons of people dressed up. It was just this room full of vendors and everything. I wasn't expecting quite that. I was expecting things to be more like our Strategicon, where there's a lot of gaming going, but not a lot of other things.

S: What do you think GenCon is focused on?

DZ: I'll say it's focused on making money. Every tournament you enter costs a ticket, which will cost you about two bucks or more. The whole room is just full of people selling you stuff. Mayfair games has a giant booth there and Rio Grande Games and all these other [companies] have all these giant displays there. They'll demo games, but they're doing it in the hope that they'll sell it to you. Everything there is set up to make you spend a lot of money. It's kind of tough to get off cheap at GenCon.

S: How different is that from the Strategicon conventions?

DZ: Well, one thing I like a lot better with Strategicon is that to enter a tournament is free. And then at GenCon, when you win a tournament you actually get nothing but a ribbon for the most part, unless it's a big event which costs a lot more money to enter.

S: So what do you think the Strategicon conventions are doing right?

DZ: It's just a lot friendlier atmosphere. It's kind of a very laid back atmosphere where you can just jump into a game. You can even play a game you've never heard of before in a tournament and win your first time out.

S: What was it like competing in the Catan events at GenCon?

DZ: Well, it was a little intense. I found out when we got there that everything was going to come down to two games, single elimination games. One thing I liked about the pre-qualifier was that we would play four games and then take the winning percentage. So even if you didn't win... if you scored well they would actually take that into account.

S: How would you describe the players that you met?

DZ: You know, there were some good players, like you would find anywhere. My last couple of rounds at [Gamex] were much harder. A little luck went my way [at GenCon] but I won pretty handily. No one had more than six points in my first game and seven points in the second. I was a good three to four points ahead of anyone. In Catan that's a good, wide margin. I was never really worried, but I was in a couple of games at Gamex.

S: What was the experience like - winning at GenCon?

DZ: It was cool! It was a little overwhelming knowing that I was gonna go to Germany as one of two Americans representing the U.S. I think there are going to be a pool of 40-50 people in Germany. Yeah, we're gonna do our best.

S: You are one of the two American players going to Burg Wildenstein in Germany. What do you imagine?

DZ: I think it's going to be a lot of fun! We're staying in a castle. We're gonna do some fun stuff around there I would assume. I think it's about a three hour train ride to the nearest airport. It's in the middle of nowhere in this castle playing Settlers of Catan. It's gonna be a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

S: ...with forty or fifty people from...

DZ: With forty or fifty people from other countries. Trading is gonna be interesting. Gonna have to brush up on my romance languages.

S: [laughter]

DZ: We'll see how things go. I'll learn "sheep" in a lot of different languages. That should be useful.

S: Do you have any messages to send to your potential competitors around the world?

DZ: I'm just gonna send the same message I sent in our last interview: Watch out! I'm coming to Germany. It's gonna be trouble for you guys.

S: Thanks very much and congratulations!

DZ: Well, thank you!

The next Strategicon convention is coming up in just a few weeks: Gateway is scheduled for September 3-6, 2010 and has a host of great events scheduled! Special guests include Race for the Galaxy designer Tom Lehmann and Looney Labs, who will be launching their new Back to the Future card game!

The Longest Road - Part 1

This was originally posted at the Strategicon website. In case you didn't know, I organize all of the board game tournaments for Strategicon, including the upcoming Gateway Convention, September 3-6, 2010!



After decades at the table, Dave Zevin won the Settlers of Catan Worldwide Championship pre-qualifiying round at Gamex 2010. We sat with Dave for a while to hear about his experience.

Interview conducted by Neil Figuracion

Strategicon: Dave, how long have you been gaming?

David Zevin: I've been gaming since I was three or four. I was playing the games that we [Eurogamers] don't really like as much any more, like Monopoly. I was kicking people's butts at Monopoly when I was like five or six, I would say.

S: How did you get introduced to Settlers of Catan?

DZ: Settlers, I was introduced to by a friend of mine in High School, pretty close to when it came to the United States, I think. I liked it then and I continue to like it today.

S: Have you played a lot of Settlers?

DZ: I have played a ton of Settlers. I would have to think that I have played more Settlers on an actual board than almost anybody that I can think of. Almost every day in college, me and my roommate would play two player Settlers, even though the box says 3-4. We would also play with our suite-mate a lot. One of them was Pre-Med and one of them was a Bio-Chemical Engineer. They both almost flunked out, because of Settlers, I think.

S: [laughter]

DZ: We would play just way too much. Like once, twice a day for that entire year. In college alone, I played 3 to 400 games.

S: What brought you to Strategicon?

DZ: I couldn't find enough gamers out here [in Los Angeles] that I knew. So I went online to look and found the SoCal Gamers. I found out through them that there was this game convention and I said "yeah, sure that sounds like something I'd like to do." It's just a very chill atmosphere and you can get in the games that you want to get in and you can win prizes. It's cool. I love it!

S: What inspired you to get involved in the World Championship competition?

DZ: I was kind of on the fence about it actually. I knew this would be a huge commitment. I know that I'm a pretty strong Settlers player. I won the Mega Settlers [tournament] a couple cons earlier. I was happy I did it, but it took up a good portion of my con and I knew this was going to take up even more. I wanted to do it. I wanted to see if I could make it to Indianapolis. See if I could represent the U.S. in Germany. I think that that would be awesome.

S: When you got to the pre-qualifier event last weekend, what was your experience like there?

DZ: It was positive. There were some good players. I was fortunate enough to have the best winning percentage there. The first game I lost. I won five straight after that. [joking] even I lose Settlers occasionally. Five out of six isn't bad.

S: [laughter] So what was it like playing with a group of Settlers players for hours.

DZ: It was kind of daunting by the sixth game in two days. You're kinda seeing sheep in your sleep. It was a good experience. I look forward to doing it again in Indianapolis.

S: You take it to the final table at Gamex. What was that final game experience like?

DZ: It was pretty easy actually. The semi-final was the scary one for me. There were a couple of instances... I kinda had to come out of nowhere to win that one. I had to use every trick of Settlers in my book to win that one. I wasn't getting the rolls. A lot of it comes down to initial placement and I got hosed. I was able to get some lucky cards at the right time and make some good moves and I won. The final game, I was ahead the whole game. People were teaming up against me the whole game and it really didn't matter beccause my placement was better and I was getting some lucky rolls. I started ahead and finished with a pretty healthy margin of victory.

S: So what does it feel like to represent your home convention?

DZ: I'm gonna do my best! It feels good. I'm gonna hopefully represent SoCal and hopefully take down these Midwesterners and Easterners. Show 'em what we're made of.

S: What do you have to say to your potential opponents?

DZ: I'm coming. You watch out!

S: [laughter] Thank you very much, Dave!

DZ: Thank you!

Click here for part 2, with the results of the GenCon tournament and more about David Zevin's journey on the Longest Road to the Settlers of Catan Worldwide Championships!

Also, check the Strategicon website for the board game events schedule. It's gonna be a rockin' fun weekend! See ya at the table.

For a tenth of a sawbuck!

The reason I've been less active blog-wise is that I have spent every waking minute online working out the schedule for Gamex, which starts in less than a week. I've received compliments and had to fix many, many glitches in the schedule. It's tiring work that usually happens in the middle of the night. It has been remarkably stressful, but it's going to be an exciting event!

I'm most excited about the Worldwide Settlers of Catan Championship pre-qualifier we're holding. We had a ton of people come to Game Empire today for the pre-pre-qualifier, and my friend Dan won his entry into the event next week. If he goes all the way he'll be taking trips to Gen Con in Indianapolis and competing at Burg Wildenstein in Germany for the title of Settlers of Catan world champion!

(I remain impartial for the event that I'm running. I'll root for the winner of the Gamex event as they take their steps on the road to the championship.)

Anyway, I have to thank my pal Kevin Pimentel, who hooked me up with a gift certificate for a one-hour massage. My appointment is tomorrow and I can't wait!

***

After improv class tonight, I scored a hardcover copy of Stanislavsky's An Actor Prepares as well as a book of Viola Spolin's Improvisation Games this evening, each for a buck. Also, Mike Wolfe convinced me to add an hour of improvisation games to the Gamex schedule next weekend. We're just going to take over some space and make some theatre. We're guerrilla.

I'll be performing with my Monkey Butler classmates tomorrow night in One Buck Butler! That's the workshop class for the Monkey Butler level one classes. There's not much improv in Los Angeles at a lower price. It costs a buck, or pay $10 and nine of your friends get in for free!

One Buck Butler
5831 W Centinela Ave,
Los Angeles, CA 90045
8pm

Finally, I read Improvise, by Mick Napier, upon many, many recommendations. It's a light book with some genuine nuggets of wisdom in it. I was fairly irritated by it, because I feel that some of the passages can really be misconstrued. It seems like the kind of book that would be better read aloud by the author, but maybe that's just me.

However, the book can also be read in a sitting or two, which makes it easier to read than Keith Johnstone's Impro. Impro to me is a superior book, but Improvise is much more immediate.

However, I have been working on Mick Napier's solo exercises and finding them quite the challenge. I even made flash cards so that I can do them on the run! If you see me talking to myself, it's intentional.

What I've been up to lately.

I am loving yoga and improvisation classes. I'm also playing plenty of board games.

I'm taking improv classes through Monkey Butler, which offer many free classes throughout the week all over Southern California and in some other places too. I'm currently in the level one class in Sherman Oaks. I'd take classes closer to home if they didn't conflict with the LindyGroove Technique Class. I'm also backing up this with the I.O. West Improv Jam, hosted by my buddy Nando Velasquez. The Improv Jam is an opportunity for students to play with IO team performers. They're currently reconsidering their schedule, but at the moment the Jam is scheduled for every Wednesday at 11:30pm.

I'm learning a ton there and really putting in the work that I was never able to do in college. I feel like I'm hitting a lot of breakthroughs, so I'm pretty happy with my progress.

I'm taking yoga at Mission Street Yoga in South Pasadena. At the moment I can only afford the $5 lunchtime yoga classes every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. There's a donation class tomorrow afternoon that I'm planning to take and there are FREE classes every Monday through the end of the month at 10:45am. I'm planning to hit those for the next couple of weeks.

Also hitting breakthroughs here too. I may even soon be more comfortable with going upside down. Don't know why that's so huge, but even being close to it is a lot for me. I'm also returning to a point at which I no longer need the belt to reach my toes in a sitting stretch. It's especially wonderful to be in a place where breathing is so praised. One day I was experimenting with Crow position, a position with which I've never been comfortable and the instructor (without my realization) had pointed me out to the class as having a fully engaged breath. I didn't in fact know that she was speaking to anyone but me until I heard the applause of the rest of the class. It took me by surprise because I take my breathing for granted. That should be the case after having done it for so long.

I'm playing board games a lot. I just picked up Vasco Da Gama and I'm really looking forward to getting it on the table. We've been playing a lot of Power Grid: Factory Manager lately and mostly I'm just going with the flow and being a decent host.

Build a better...

I don't think I've ever once actually played a game of Mousetrap. All the fun was in the Rube Goldberg-esque machinations it took to bring the cage down on that little plastic rodent. I still think this is endlessly cool and would not mind having one in my backyard for dealing with intruders.