Return Of The Trophy Challenge!

In the history of this blog, no two posts have generated as much controversy and commentary as the legendary ‘Trophy Challenge’ entries (*). You can review them here and here.

Two years have passed since that last post with nary an update! Dear readers, it pains me to say that the competition fizzled. My opponents, like craven dogs, simply gave up. They stopped logging on, they let their PS3’s die and didn’t buy a replacement, and worse of all they admitted defeat. The challenge was over…

Or was it…?

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Good readers, you’ll be overjoyed to learn that the challenge didn’t end, it merely moved! We collectively turned our backs on pS3 trophies as a measure of our merit, and instead wholeheartedly adopted Apple’s Game Center as our new flagship. Happily, I can report all such original contenders have once again rekindled their competitive streak, and unendingly seek to raise their Game Center achievement total above all others. (Of course some of them seemingly sought to hide their participation behind new usernames, but it was a work of trifling deduction to match them to their old PS3 ID’s)

In addition, a fresh face has entered the contest. This person – let’s call them ‘Bearbles’ – has sprinted from the starting line like a raging horse, and has truly and quickly become a force to be reckoned with in the hallowed halls of my Game Center friends list.

At last, the update we’ve all been waiting for: Here, my beloved followers, is the most recent standings, using the same user names as were used in the old challenge:

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The above chart shows total Game Center score. With great humility, I will direct your attention to my name, on the left.

And yet, what if we inspect average score based on the number of games played:

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I tip my hat to you Bearbles. You are a force to be reckoned with in the sport of Game Centering. If you can keep that average up and play the same number of games I have, your total score would verily dwarf mine.

I vow, loving readers, that I will update these standings periodically. And such updates will no doubt be necessary, for an even darker horse is waiting in the winds. A veritable Mycroftian in the world of competitive-achievement-score-accumulation, he is even now preparing to obtain his first iOS device and has no doubt already set his sights on unseating up to Foosrazzle, probably Bearbles and even – dare I say – the current undisputed King of Game Center Achievements – myself 🙂

* – Boldfaced lie

Morrissey

Last Thursday, we went here:

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To see this:

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And it was amazing!

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He came out and started with ‘Shoplifters Of The World Unite’ – a Smiths song! – and we knew we were in for a treat. What followed was a setlist that contained the best of The Smiths and both the early and recent parts of Morrissey’s solo career. He looked and sounded fantastic. I could only hope I hold up so well at age 53 🙂

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The venue was packed with an audience that skewed quite old! I’d say the average age was about the same as KLS and I, which means lots of old 1980’s Smiths fans were present! To say the audience cheered every time he played one of the classics was an understatement 🙂

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The concert was about 75 minutes long, and after the band went off and the audience started demanding the encore, I mentioned to KLS that I was positive it would include How Soon Is Now, which is probably the signature Smith’s tune. And I was not disappointed! They came back on and played probably the best version of the song I have ever heard.

During this encore, security allowed a few lucky fans to hop up on stage and give Morrissey a warm hug. They were all guys, and some of them weren’t much younger than Morrissey! He was very gracious during this, and the crowd roared. It was quite a moment.

Rumour has it that this may be his last tour. He was so good it’s hard to believe him not continuing, but I don’t doubt he’ll never come to Albany again, so we were so happy to have seen him live. Definitely a memory that will last forever 🙂

The Sequel

And two days later… it’s gone 🙂

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(Although, to be honest, the cage is on the ground near the base of the tree, abandoned now by squirrels, with not an atom of suet to be seen!)