KGB Wiki - User contributions [en]

Anniversary Party Post Mortem

2008-04-22T16:25:56Z

Kconnors: /* Friday Pizza Event */

This page is for everyone to throw in their comments on what went wrong or right at the 20th [[Anniversary Party]].

This is not the thank-you page; this is a skeweringly analytical interrogation of our souls, on behalf of the 25th Anniversary Party Committee -- or whoever wants to throw another one of these things. Tell them what is important for them to know!

("It was perfect" is a fine thing to say, but details are keen too.)

== Overall ==

On the [[Anniversary Party]] page, Jay says "The Saturday lunch is the big event. If you can only attend one, please come to the lunch." IMHO, this turned out not to be the case. Friday night was the big event for me. (Nearly) everybody was there, and I got to see everybody; it was big and fluid and open. Saturday was a day of getting together in small groups for longer periods of time. (--zarf)

(To be clear: it was very good that the big open event was first and the lunch was second. I would just bill Friday as the shindig and Saturday as the followup.)

I would suggest that the difference between the two was that Friday's theme was "Look at all the KGB people" and that Saturday's was "The History of KGB" with the memorabilia and longer remarks. As to which one was more or less important, I think that depends on your point of view. (--mg2x)

== Friday Pizza Event ==

Friday officer reports went on a little long -- as I said, I was more in the mood to circulate chaotically. But obviously if they had been shunted to Saturday, then Saturday would have gone on ''way'' too long. Maybe would have been better if just the presidents had given individual reports, and the other officer cadres had had collective goofiness to present. (--zarf)

Ran out of bottled water early. I think it was non-diet soda that was left over.

Snacks were heavily overbought; but they made their way to the con suite on Saturday, and the leftovers from that are being trucked to campus for the next regular KGB meeting. (Or booth teardown?) So no problem there.

The only issue I had with the Pizza Night was the pizza, there was pizza. Huge quantities of pizza. ANd people were carrying it out by boxes. My suggestion would be more veggies and fruit plates. Other than that, everything rocked. And I liked the officer reports, but we should have a filler. If you can't think of something to say, just say your name and year. -kconnors

== Saturday Luncheonus ==

Committee reports were excellent. Long, but in no sense ''too'' long, because all the presenters were good and the longer presenters were terrific. (--zarf)

After 2:00, a lot of people formed a lot of plans for what to do next. Chaotic. I stuck in Goob's company, and he was somewhat tuned into both the older and younger crowds; but not everybody is. It might have been good to have a big chart-paper up for people to write "Hey! Party over here!" "Bunch of us going out to dinner over there!" Etc. On the other hand, perhaps people ''wanted'' to plan for tighter groups. I only raise the issue because I really enjoyed the cross-generational aspect of the weekend. (--zarf)

KGB: The Movie 2: Death & Rebirth

2008-04-14T20:10:57Z

Kconnors:

This movie chronicled the resurrection of Dick Nixon to defend campus from the threat of invading Russians and the drama of clone creation. To aid Dick Nixon in his fight against the Russians (johnson6, cclark, lmarsh and company), he picks up trusty bubble gum chewing sidekick Maintenance Man Randy Wood and Hottie ECE Staffer Kirstin Connors. The trio battle their way across campus with an assortment of special effects and stunts.

Meanwhile, tragedy has struck the Princess of Puerto Rico ([[ykhodor]]), forbidden to marry her own true love ([[Cort Stratton]]). Her controlling mother and disinterested father are so busy sending spies after the ensieged couple, they don't even realize that a mad scientist has been creating scores and scores of [[Dan Hook]] clones!

Written by: [[Sean "Teki" Dobbs]], [[Christopher "Murdock" Clark|Chris Clark]], [[Kirstin Connors]]

Soon to come: [[KGB: The Musical]]

KGB: The Movie

2008-04-14T20:03:36Z

Kconnors:

== KGB: The Movie ==

This movie was "written" by [[Chuck Werner]] for the [[Sputnik]] [[Booth]] and films in the 1999-2000 school year. The plot loosely follows the story, that Russians sneak around campus to steal secrets from scientists. Later, there was a speech given in Kirr Commons to the huddling masses. There was not a lot of dialog as memorizing lines is difficult and it was supposed to be used as Sputnik Booth ambience.

If you reached this page in error, you may be thinking of [[KGB: The Movie 2: Death & Rebirth]]

KGB: The Movie

2008-04-14T20:02:30Z

Kconnors: New page: == KGB: The Movie == This movie was "written" by Chuck Werner for the Sputnik Booth and films in the 1999-2000 school year. The plot loosely follows the story, that Russians...

Snegurochka's Castle

2008-03-19T22:09:58Z

Kconnors:

[[Category:Booth]]

[[Snegurochka's Castle]] was KGB's [[2001 Officers|2002]] [[Carnival]] [[Booth]], themed after the Russian fairy tale of Снегурочка, the snow maiden. It took fourth place in the independent category.

==History and Organization==

Embittered over close and not-so-close defeats in recent years, KGB decided to skip Booth in 2001. Four-year turnover and a large infusion of new blood in 2000 meant that by the next year, well over half the organization had never participated in a booth; the decision was finalized when [[CorSec]] [[Sean "Teki" Dobbs]] volunteered to serve as [[Booth Chair]]. Ultimate responsibility for the booth was never quite clear: there was some sort of crazed power-sharing system which purported to split the responsibility between construction (Teki and [[johnson6]]) and visual design ([[kconnors]] and [[mid]], who were roommates at the time), and [[Cclark|Dred Uncle Pennybags]] holding the purse-strings, but the lines of authority were blurry, and communication was poor. As a result, some design decisions were made by last-minute fiat on Midway, and these frequently did not agree with earlier plans; examples include the decision to paint the interior of the booth to resemble castle-stones and the failure to implement an attractive interior for the tower.

==Story==

The character of snegurochka (the snow maiden) appears in several traditional Russian fairy tales; as a folk tale, of course, there is no single traditional telling, but nearly all versions result in her melting somehow. Since we hadn't chosen a canonical version of the story yet, and since it was clear that this would be of moderate importance to the booth, [[rjmccall]] decided to write one. The result was a bit long, and the judges evidently didn't believe that we told the story to whoever came by, but we really did make an effort to do so; Nat Manista was the prince of this. The story can be read [http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~rjmccall/snegurochka.html here].

==Structure and Design==
[[Image:Snegurochka_Plans.gif|thumb|One of the many CAD views created while planning the Castle]]

The booth was meant to resemble a castle enclosed in a snow-globe. Structurally, it featured a 15-foot circular tower (diameter ~6ft, height ~15ft, conical ceiling) in the rear-left corner. A straight line of steps led up through an enclosed hallway to the tower from the "street", and uncovered steps then led down along the rear and right walls into the courtyard. The right wall of the booth gently curved over to become the front wall of the booth, and the exit door was set in the center of the curve. The courtyard was paved with a layer of white gravel directly upon the asphalt; a "dome" of copper piping supporting a thin cloth mesh rose up from the courtyard walls and enclosed the entire space (except the tower). The structural components of the booth were "adapted" from the previous year's Fringe (?) booth, though of course they were built from scratch. I believe KGB no longer has any of the curved wall sections, although some of the flat wall sections remain in the cage and still see use in booths; these can be distinguished by the various Russian names (predominantly feminine) written inside them as identification, as well as by their thin paneling, which is considerably lighter than the plywood used for most wall sections. Sections of stairs from the Castle also remain and have been extensively reused.

The entire exterior of the booth was painted to resemble a castle; this was done by giving the walls a simple base coat, then sponge-painting rocks and mortar onto the surface in several shades of grey. The technique (which actually used scraps of paper towel rather than sponges) was proposed by [[lmarsh]]; it was carried out mostly by [[rjmccall]] with various assistants. The effect was reasonably nice for the exterior of the castle, if somewhat muted and labor-intensive; however, the decision to paint the interior of the courtyard in the same style was probably a mistake, carried out mostly because time was running short and no-one on Midway knew how to paint anything better. Additionally, the entire exterior of the booth was painted, even the wall which faced another booth (KGB's plot was at the end of a single row, so painting the other walls was conceivably justified). The interior of the entrance hallway was lined with a dark fabric and was (as I recall) somewhat claustrophobic. The interior of the tower was painted in several coats of primer, but never (I believe) given a real coat of paint, and the ceiling and stairs were not completely painted before [[Midway]] opened; the intent was that there would be extensive decorations here, but they were not completed in time. All of this I bring up, not to lay individual fault anywhere, but to drive home the importance of planning and communication.

The roof was covered in tar paper, which was obnoxious to lay, obnoxious to keep in place, and extremely attractive (for a roof). Take this as you will.

The design document submitted to Carnival Committee for Snegurochka's Castle contained the second-most number of CAD drawings out of all the booths that year – with the most being for a blitz booth.

==Game==

The game was a 5x5 grid of square blocks; blocks in the second and fourth rows and columns could slide freely, and at any given time there were several (one?) free blocks not on the board. Blocks were marked with paths connecting two or three of the edges, and the goal was to create a clear path from one corner of the grid to the opposite corner. Players had either two or three moves (for adults and children, respectively), each of which consisted of pushing a free block in any orientation along one of the sliding rows, which would then cause a block to fall off the other end, producing a new free block. This game was adapted from a toy puzzle game whose name escapes me.

==Worksong==

A traditional worksong, penned by an anonymous laborer on Snegurochka's Castle, has come down to us in part; some of the lyrics have been irrevocably lost, at least until they're found again. The song begins thus:

Now I've got scalene triangles on my shoulders,
And my friend is carrying a trapezoid.

ASA

2008-03-19T00:24:43Z

Kconnors: New page: ASA or the Asian Student Association was KGB's arch rival between 2000-2003. They used too much paper mache.

ASA or the Asian Student Association was KGB's arch rival between 2000-2003. They used too much paper mache.

Winter Palace

2008-03-19T00:23:47Z

Kconnors:

Winter Palace
The Booth of Carnival 2003

== Story ==
The Winter Palace was left to be guarded by young men and boys from the Bolsheviks during the revolution. Unfortunately, the Bolsheviks came signaling their attack with a red lantern. And the guard... ran away leading to an exceptionally successful and bloodless attack. [[mam5]] totally told this story awesomely.

== Structure ==
This was a 1.5 story booth with a balcony, gold encrusted columns, chandeliers, and fabrige eggs. There was a lovely parlour, with golden chairs and candle sticks, and arching doorways, but the roof left a bit to be desired. [[epr]] chaired. [[kconnors]] and [[col]] were the undergoddesses of the interior.

== Game ==
We were going to attack the winter palace KGB style, using lasers! The kiddies get to move around mirrors to bounce the light around trees rocks, and a train! When the laser hit the target on the palace mockup, all the windows lit with red leds and the attack was a success.

Unfortunately, the bouncing light was a little much for the toddlers to understand and the red leds didn't always light.

== Controversy ==
One late night, members left the crimson tapestries out to dry from the fire proofing. Lo, the day midway opened, [[ASA]]'s booth Rome had the cloth covering the banisters! The Carnival Committee elected to do nothing since there was no police report.

Snegurochka's Castle

2008-03-19T00:06:44Z

Kconnors:

[[Category:Booth]]

[[Snegurochka's Castle]] was KGB's [[2001 Officers|2002]] [[Carnival]] [[Booth]], themed after the Russian fairy tale of Снегурочка, the snow maiden. It took fourth place in the independent category.

==History and Organization==

Embittered over close and not-so-close defeats in recent years, KGB decided to skip Booth in 2001. Four-year turnover and a large infusion of new blood in 2000 meant that by the next year, well over half the organization had never participated in a booth; the decision was finalized when [[CorSec]] [[Sean "Teki" Dobbs]] volunteered to serve as [[Booth Chair]]. Ultimate responsibility for the booth was never quite clear: there was some sort of crazed power-sharing system which purported to split the responsibility between construction (Teki and [[johnson6]]) and visual design ([[kconnors]] and [[col]], who were roommates at the time), and [[Cclark|Dred Uncle Pennybags]] holding the purse-strings, but the lines of authority were blurry, and communication was poor. As a result, some design decisions were made by last-minute fiat on Midway, and these frequently did not agree with earlier plans; examples include the decision to paint the interior of the booth to resemble castle-stones and the failure to implement an attractive interior for the tower.

==Story==

The character of snegurochka (the snow maiden) appears in several traditional Russian fairy tales; as a folk tale, of course, there is no single traditional telling, but nearly all versions result in her melting somehow. Since we hadn't chosen a canonical version of the story yet, and since it was clear that this would be of moderate importance to the booth, [[rjmccall]] decided to write one. The result was a bit long, and the judges evidently didn't believe that we told the story to whoever came by, but we really did make an effort to do so; Nat Manista was the prince of this. The story can be read [http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~rjmccall/snegurochka.html here].

==Structure and Design==
[[Image:Snegurochka_Plans.gif|thumb|One of the many CAD views created while planning the Castle]]

The booth was meant to resemble a castle enclosed in a snow-globe. Structurally, it featured a 15-foot circular tower (diameter ~6ft, height ~15ft, conical ceiling) in the rear-left corner. A straight line of steps led up through an enclosed hallway to the tower from the "street", and uncovered steps then led down along the rear and right walls into the courtyard. The right wall of the booth gently curved over to become the front wall of the booth, and the exit door was set in the center of the curve. The courtyard was paved with a layer of white gravel directly upon the asphalt; a "dome" of copper piping supporting a thin cloth mesh rose up from the courtyard walls and enclosed the entire space (except the tower). The structural components of the booth were "adapted" from the previous year's Fringe (?) booth, though of course they were built from scratch. I believe KGB no longer has any of the curved wall sections, although some of the flat wall sections remain in the cage and still see use in booths; these can be distinguished by the various Russian names (predominantly feminine) written inside them as identification, as well as by their thin paneling, which is considerably lighter than the plywood used for most wall sections. Sections of stairs from the Castle also remain and have been extensively reused.

The entire exterior of the booth was painted to resemble a castle; this was done by giving the walls a simple base coat, then sponge-painting rocks and mortar onto the surface in several shades of grey. The technique (which actually used scraps of paper towel rather than sponges) was proposed by [[lmarsh]]; it was carried out mostly by [[rjmccall]] with various assistants. The effect was reasonably nice for the exterior of the castle, if somewhat muted and labor-intensive; however, the decision to paint the interior of the courtyard in the same style was probably a mistake, carried out mostly because time was running short and no-one on Midway knew how to paint anything better. Additionally, the entire exterior of the booth was painted, even the wall which faced another booth (KGB's plot was at the end of a single row, so painting the other walls was conceivably justified). The interior of the entrance hallway was lined with a dark fabric and was (as I recall) somewhat claustrophobic. The interior of the tower was painted in several coats of primer, but never (I believe) given a real coat of paint, and the ceiling and stairs were not completely painted before [[Midway]] opened; the intent was that there would be extensive decorations here, but they were not completed in time. All of this I bring up, not to lay individual fault anywhere, but to drive home the importance of planning and communication.

The roof was covered in tar paper, which was obnoxious to lay, obnoxious to keep in place, and extremely attractive (for a roof). Take this as you will.

The design document submitted to Carnival Committee for Snegurochka's Castle contained the second-most number of CAD drawings out of all the booths that year – with the most being for a blitz booth.

==Game==

The game was a 5x5 grid of square blocks; blocks in the second and fourth rows and columns could slide freely, and at any given time there were several (one?) free blocks not on the board. Blocks were marked with paths connecting two or three of the edges, and the goal was to create a clear path from one corner of the grid to the opposite corner. Players had either two or three moves (for adults and children, respectively), each of which consisted of pushing a free block in any orientation along one of the sliding rows, which would then cause a block to fall off the other end, producing a new free block. This game was adapted from a toy puzzle game whose name escapes me.

==Worksong==

A traditional worksong, penned by an anonymous laborer on Snegurochka's Castle, has come down to us in part; some of the lyrics have been irrevocably lost, at least until they're found again. The song begins thus:

Now I've got scalene triangles on my shoulders,
And my friend is carrying a trapezoid.

Winter Palace

2008-03-19T00:05:59Z

Kconnors: New page: aka. Snegurochka's Castle

aka. [[Snegurochka's Castle]]

Kconnors

2008-03-19T00:05:28Z

Kconnors: New page: aka. Kirstin Connors

aka. [[Kirstin Connors]]

Kirstin Connors

2008-03-19T00:04:59Z

Kconnors:

aka. [[kconnors]]

Former 2nd Vice President (2000-2001)

1st Vice Presidents (2001-2002)

Booth Under Goddess of the Interior - [[Snegurochka]] (2001)

Writer, Star - [[KGB: The Movie 2: Death & Rebirth]]

Booth Siren - [[Winter Palace]] (2003)

Chair of:

Long Hair Committee which hostily took over the Beard Committee regarding it as a subset.

Chocolate Committee

PDA Committee

[[Comittee for the Proper Nomenclature of Carbonated Sugar Water]]

KGB: The Movie 2: Death & Rebirth

2008-03-12T17:34:49Z

Kconnors: New page: This movie chronicled the resurrection of Dick Nixon to defend campus from the threat of invading Russians and the drama of clone creation. Written by: Sean "Teki" Dobbs, [[Chris Clar...

This movie chronicled the resurrection of Dick Nixon to defend campus from the threat of invading Russians and the drama of clone creation.

Written by: [[Sean "Teki" Dobbs]], [[Chris Clark]], [[Kirstin Connors]]

Soon to come: [[KGB: The Musical]]

Karaoke

2008-03-12T17:31:15Z

Kconnors: New page: In Fall of 2001(?), KGB went karaokeing in Shadyside. This was ons of fun, except one small detail, most active KGBers are under 21. With poor college kids not tipping on their sodas, we...

In Fall of 2001(?), KGB went karaokeing in Shadyside. This was ons of fun, except one small detail, most active KGBers are under 21. With poor college kids not tipping on their sodas, we got "asked to leave" to make room for bar patrons who imbibe expensive alcohol.

Among other songs that were sung:
California Dreaming
Devil Went Down to Georgia
White Rabbit

Committee for the Proper Nomenclature of Carbonated Sugar Water

2008-03-11T17:24:49Z

Kconnors: New page: Pop

Pop

Kirstin Connors

2008-03-11T17:24:34Z

Kconnors:

Former 2nd Vice President (2000-2001)

1st Vice Presidents (2001-2002)

Booth Under Goddess of the Interior - [[Snegurochka]] (2001)

Writer, Star - [[KGB: The Movie 2: Death & Rebirth]]

Booth Siren - [[Winter Palace]] (2003)

Chair of:

Long Hair Committee which hostily took over the Beard Committee regarding it as a subset.

Chocolate Committee

PDA Committee

[[Comittee for the Proper Nomenclature of Carbonated Sugar Water]]

Kirstin Connors

2008-03-11T17:24:08Z

Kconnors: New page: Former 2nd Vice President (2000-2001) 1st Vice Presidents (2001-2002) Booth Under Goddess of the Interior - Snegurochka (2001) Writer, Star - KGB: The Movie 2: Death & Rebirth Boot...

Former 2nd Vice President (2000-2001)
1st Vice Presidents (2001-2002)
Booth Under Goddess of the Interior - [[Snegurochka]] (2001)
Writer, Star - [[KGB: The Movie 2: Death & Rebirth]]
Booth Siren - [[Winter Palace]] (2003)
Chair of:
Long Hair Committee which hostily took over the Beard Committee regarding it as a subset.
Chocolate Committee
PDA Committee
[[Comittee for the Proper Nomenclature of Carbonated Sugar Water]]

Alien head erasers

2008-03-11T17:18:02Z

Kconnors:

In the spring of '99, a delegation of KGBers and allies based out of Morewood E tower toured campus and realized in fact that aliens had invisibly invaded campus. They marked their coming with tiny Alien Head Erasers. The erasers were in every nook and cranny of the University Center, Wean Hall, Doherty Hall, Baker Hall, and Porter Hall. One was even found taped to the venerable "good luck" Hammerschlag's nose!

This lead out KGBers to conclude that aliens:

- Use pencils

- Like Capture the Flag with Stuff

- Haven't figured out to dine off campus after 11pm.

Alien head erasers

2008-03-11T17:17:38Z

Kconnors:

In the spring of '99, a delegation of KGBers and allies based out of Morewood E tower toured campus and realized in fact that aliens had invisibly invaded campus. They marked their coming with tiny Alien Head Erasers. The erasers were in every nook and cranny of the University Center, Wean Hall, Doherty Hall, Baker Hall, and Porter Hall. One was even found taped to the venerable "good luck" Hammerschlag's nose!

This lead out KGBers to conclude that aliens:

- Use pencils
- Like Capture the Flag with Stuff
- Haven't figured out to dine off campus after 11pm.

Spackle Fairy

2008-03-06T18:03:56Z

Kconnors: New page: Also known as: Spackle Faery A spackle fairy can be identified by the tell tale white smudges on the face, hands, and clothing. He leaves a trail of dried spackle whereever he goes and c...

Also known as: Spackle Faery

A spackle fairy can be identified by the tell tale white smudges on the face, hands, and clothing. He leaves a trail of dried spackle whereever he goes and can often be seen on [[midway]].

Spackle

2008-03-06T18:00:29Z

Kconnors: New page: Spackle is a white paste substance used to patch...er... holes in a booth. It is not intended as a stopgap measure for booths' wall section gaps. To apply spackle, give the bucket ...

Spackle is a white paste substance used to patch...er... holes in a [[booth]]. It is not intended as a stopgap measure for booths' wall section gaps.

To apply spackle, give the bucket of spackle and a spackle knife to a [[Spackle Fairy]] and send them to the booth. Overnight, what may have been a pretty good paint job will now have large crumbly white lumps in the design.

An adequate substitution for spackle is a column or caulk.

Note: Caulk jokes do not apply.

Alien head erasers

2007-11-12T22:32:41Z

Kconnors: New page: In the spring of '99, a delegation of KGBers toured campus and realized in fact that aliens had invisibly invaded campus. They marked their coming with tiny Alien Head Erasers. The erase...

In the spring of '99, a delegation of KGBers toured campus and realized in fact that aliens had invisibly invaded campus. They marked their coming with tiny Alien Head Erasers. The erasers were in every nook and cranny of the University Center, Wean Hall, and Doherty Hall. This lead out KGBers to conclude that aliens:

- Use pencils
- Like Capture the Flag with Stuff
- Haven't figured out to dine off campus after 11pm.

20th Anniversary Party

2007-04-27T17:26:09Z

Kconnors:

A nefarious plot has been hatched among the defectors to overthrow KGB's control of its annual Carnival party in 2008 and throw a somewhat grander shindig to commemorate the 20th Anniversary of KGB's founding. [[User:Laefer|Jay Laefer]] is coordinating a list of people who would like to receive more party information via email. The rest of us will get our information here.

==The Plan==

Currently, there is no set plan for this party, other than we are intending for it to happen.

==The Central Committee==

If you would like to join the central planning committee who will be held responsible for this travesty, please log in and add your name below.

* [[User:Laefer|Jay Laefer]]
* [[User:Eeyore|Elliott "Eeyore" Evans]]

==The Brainstorming List==

It would be totally keen if:

* The party were held someplace near campus to make travel between Midway and the party easy.
* The party were held someplace where real food could be served or possibly provided.
* The party were held someplace that a full range of beverages could be served.
* We had custom KGB pocket protectors as favors.
* There were an associated game of CTFWS.
* The party were held on a cruise ship in some exotic location.
* We Defectors created a blitz booth.