Comments on: 311 points

311 points

lagado — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 05:17:01 -0800

Scrabble can seriously affect your mental health. [Flash]

By: glenwood

glenwood — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 05:26:16 -0800

This is a great tale. I was riveted the entire 8 minutes. Thanks!

By: Pretty_Generic

Pretty_Generic — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 05:42:16 -0800

Yeah, top stuff

By: psychotic_venom

psychotic_venom — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 05:45:53 -0800

Wow. That's all I can say. The other one on that site is pretty good as well. I'm impressed with the quality of writing and the interesting flash to accompany it. But these people are definatly wackos and not to be trusted.

By: mrplab

mrplab — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 05:51:38 -0800

haha i love it

By: kamylyon

kamylyon — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 05:55:09 -0800

that's teh craziest! and yeah, wow!

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 06:02:49 -0800

That was so marvelous! I was amused, then touched, then enthralled. Also, for a great book on scrabble mania, I highly recommend Word Freak.

By: glenwood

glenwood — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 06:12:29 -0800

This whole vidlit thing is pretty nifty, actually. The other story is great. As is the Editor's Notes.

By: JanetLand

JanetLand — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 06:19:39 -0800

I wish there was a way to pause and run this back. At the point where she flops the dictionary on the table, and words start floating by, I could have sworn I saw a misspelling: "bromiliad" instead of "bromeliad."

By: kamylyon

kamylyon — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 06:38:53 -0800

Janetland: you did. I was confused by that too. googling : Results 1 - 10 of about 1,950 for bromiliad Then asks if you meant bromeliad... Scrabble: it's all about the spelling.

By: taz

taz — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 06:40:59 -0800

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful.

By: Dagobert

Dagobert — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 07:16:03 -0800

Best animated story I've seen in awhile.

By: mkhall

mkhall — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 07:31:40 -0800

That's incredible, simply amazing.

By: Stan Chin

Stan Chin — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 07:36:36 -0800

Holy shit. I am totally going to rip off that format. Fuck blogging.

By: jpoulos

jpoulos — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 07:46:13 -0800

Minor quibble: Correct me if I'm wrong, but you only get the 50 bonus points if you use all eight of your letters. If she was going to use her opponent's S, it would have been worth "only" 261.

By: AstroGuy

AstroGuy — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 07:48:24 -0800

There's only 7 letters in the rack jpoulos. She did use all her tiles.

By: jpoulos

jpoulos — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 08:13:31 -0800

HA! I've been playing Scrabble on my Palm for months and I didn't realize that. * Make "L" sign on forehead *

By: Orange Goblin

Orange Goblin — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 08:29:57 -0800

Was I the only one really bored by that? I waited what seemed like 10 minutes and gave up before the end..

By: drezdn

drezdn — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 09:05:17 -0800

Isn't the first q without you word invalid for normal scrabble play (ie. because it's a proper noun)?

By: eperker

eperker — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 09:06:09 -0800

I watched the whole thing, which rarely happens. But I must say, the flash was a little on the nose. I'd like to see some more artful touches in the future.

By: ook

ook — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 09:52:32 -0800

Yes, Orange Goblin; you were the only one. This was nifty.

By: AstroGuy

AstroGuy — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 10:06:44 -0800

Isn't the first q without you word invalid for normal scrabble play (ie. because it's a proper noun)? Nope. It's not a proper noun. Here are the "sweet 16".

By: Witty

Witty — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 10:08:03 -0800

I enjoyed it. Although, I was waiting for an additional revelation of some sort... some neat little oddity of Scrabble perhaps.

By: szg8

szg8 — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 10:19:28 -0800

Well done. But, do they have too much time on their hands to make it, or do I for watching it?

By: Down10

Down10 — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 10:24:58 -0800

He spells out the word "ADIEUS" and then dies? That's creepy, man.

By: chrid

chrid — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 10:29:59 -0800

Superb stuff.

By: melissa may

melissa may — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 10:41:15 -0800

Wonderful. Thank you, thank you, thank you lagado. I haven't read Word Freak because, frankly, if I get any more interested in Scrabble it'll become a lifestyle, and this does not seem like a good idea. But in support of CunningLinguist, the word on Freak Street is that it's very good.

By: Mach3avelli

Mach3avelli — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 10:57:08 -0800

I'll cocur with OrangeGoblin. I was all into it at first, but it just reached a point where they were trying too hard, in my eyes. The credits rolled, and I thought, "That's it?" Not that it wasn't well told, or that the format was bad, but the story just lacked enough "oomph" to get me riveted.

By: delapohl

delapohl — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 11:20:43 -0800

I thought the story and narration were interesting, but the Flash, with its cutesy '50s clip art and incongruous animations (the "stray bullet" left an especially bad taste), was just too.... precious. Felt like PRI's This American Life gone all hip and ironic.

By: JanetLand

JanetLand — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 11:32:16 -0800

He spells out the word "ADIEUS" and then dies? That's creepy, man. And the thing is, she probably wouldn't have gotten the triple triple anyway. He couldn't have been finished with his turn -- if he's any kind of a decent scrabble player, he was going to spell more than ADIEUS -- that was probably the first letter of another word going horizontally that would have gotten him a triple word score, though not the triple triple.

By: CunningLinguist

CunningLinguist — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 12:10:11 -0800

I haven't read Word Freak because, frankly, if I get any more interested in Scrabble it'll become a lifestyle Melissa, my reaction to the book was fascination - but tinged with a little horror. Unless memorizing long lists of words for years on end holds some sort of creeping appeal for you, I'd say you can read the book in safety.

By: Johnny Assay

Johnny Assay — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 12:10:24 -0800

It's like π for people who hate numbers! Seriously, pretty good stuff. Kudos.

By: Mars Saxman

Mars Saxman — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 13:04:43 -0800

Huh? That was it? It felt like a nice long build-up to whatever the interesting part was going to be, and then bam! credits, and it's done. Also, that "sweet 16" list just destroyed all interest I had in learning to play Scrabble. I mean, seriously: "qanats"? "qindarkas"? This is supposed to be English? Why not throw in qanuippit, gqithapha, and tachaqqaq while we're at it?

By: grrarrgh00

grrarrgh00 — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 18:50:34 -0800

Has anyone else read Bee Season? Did this story strike anyone who did as being exactly like it, told in Flash, only without Hare Krishnas and nymphomaniacs?

By: somethingotherthan

somethingotherthan — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 20:20:19 -0800

Fabulous! Shared with all my Scabble-obsessed friends. Great find, lagado!

By: melissa may

melissa may — Wed, 22 Sep 2004 20:58:32 -0800

grr, I did read Bee Season, and I did think of it. during the story. Then again, in my experience, every story or film that deals with Jewish mysticism, Kabbalah, and obsessive word play has an inevitable outcome: bizarre symbols start flying around like the fish at Fulton Market. And then the Fool Who Dared to Nose Around Looking for the Name of God dies, or wanders around wordlessly, a shattered husk chased by gangster rabbis. (Well, there are slight variations, but death or husk are your basic options.)

By: Down10

Down10 — Thu, 23 Sep 2004 00:28:46 -0800

This doesn't bode well for Madonna then, does it? ...bizarre symbols start flying around like the fish at Fulton Market. Heh. I never considered that a film cliché until now.