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LDBC on CNN

Warning: watch this before midnight on Thanksgiving or after Dec. 23rd; it contains the dreaded tune, and will kill you dead.

(Well, not technically, since it falls under the “Hoist with His Own Petard” rule, which means you’re not out if you hear it during the game. But why traumatize yourself? It’s like bungee jumping with a steel cable instead of an elastic cord.)

Anyway, CNN got Lindsey Stirling and Pentatonix (a lethal act in recent years) to comment on the LDBC.

Game on, servants of The Boy!

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A Small, Good Thing

Mr. LDBC’s winning LDBC-elfie

Well, people, it’s a bit after 6 am on Howland Island, and the birds and crabs there are celebrating the dawn of a new day. The game is over everywhere on the planet, and it’s time to celebrate our victories and give our losses their due.

What’s that mean? First off, it means winning LDBC-elfies. Post your smiling, victorious faces as comments, please. I want to mix those in with the losses and leaven the sadness of defeat. To get you started, here’s mine. (I haven’t bothered to shower today and won’t subject you all to my Vonnegut-like pandemic hair, which really does need to have a machete taken to it.) I decided to highlight our light-up snowflake, which provides a glimmer of cheer against the gray backdrop of the day.

Mrs. LDBC and I rode to victory this year, and I know many of you did, too. We are joyous in our win but mindful of those who fell before The Boy was booted back to wherever the hell he hangs out the rest of the year. (Don’t worry, I’m sure I’ll make something up.)

So let’s see those smiles and victory dances. And don’t forget to fill out the form (bit.ly/LDBCform) with your win so that we can gather some fairly complete stats. For there will be stats once I get my act together to crunch all the numbers and do the wrap-up post (which seems to be getting later and later, 12 years in to this Thing of Ours).

Also, please don’t forget our friends at Americares, which is once again our charity of choice. People have been generous this year, and we really do appreciate it. And along with that comes my usual message. There’s no requirement to donate. Some people would rather give their own way, and others are finding it a little too tight this year. No problem. But if you’re up for it, the money goes to a great organization, and you can donate here.

Anyway. I suppose I should make myself presentable. We have to go grab food for tonight and our traditional eight-hour slow-cooker roast, which is tomorrow’s dinner. (It used to be five hours. But we switched recipes in order to be even slower.)

So with that, I’ll wish you and yours very safe and Happy Holidays and a bright New Year. A dozen years on, you make this Thing of Ours a pleasure to run, and you help warm the cold days and nights of December.

Please be kind to one another. No matter how it looks at times, we’re all in this together.

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Happy Thanksgiving—Now Armor Up

[Exorcist Boy by Jammin’ James Barnett]

Happy Turkey Day to you and yours, fellow LDBCers. Bond or battle with your family, as circumstance dictates. Watch or ignore the games. But come tomorrow, Black Friday, He walks among us, and we’re the ones gobbling and running from the axe.

Please don’t let those dark thoughts spoil your enjoyment of the holiday, though. Hell, he may not even show this year. [Insert Ron Howard narrator voice: “He did.”]

And should you require a quick review of the rules—if only to smack down that annoying uncle who insists he’s going to play it for you after midnight and knock you out of the game because he doesn’t understand we have a way of dealing with idiots like him—you’ll find them here: bit.ly/LDBCrules.

Now go be thankful!

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Look For the Helpers

Americares

Apocalypse Boy by Jubilant James Barnett

We’re trying to balance out the evil of The Boy by doing some good, LDBCers. So if you’ve got the giving spirit and are able to help this year, Americares is once again our cause of choice.

As I’ve stressed since we started doing this, no pressure. I’m happy to have everyone play the game who wants to, whether you’ve got the desire or the means to contribute. But if you can, Americares does great work, and your donation may be matched up to eight times if you donate by Giving Tuesday (Dec. 1).

Please donate here.

Otherwise, fight on, friends. For Rigdzin!

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Like Tears in Rain…

Blade Runner's Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer)

“Quite an experience to live in fear, isn’t it?”: the late, great Rutger Hauer

Why, yes it is quite an experience, Roy Batty. All LDBCers, both the fallen and the victorious, could have told you that. But with the 23rd in the rearview and the Boy banished for another 12 months, we may now relax our vigilance for a while.

That is to say, we did it again, people. The kid’s gone; the holiday music’s safe once more. So now we begin the post-game gathering of the LDBC-elfies and data, which will lead to the number crunching, graphs, and wrap-up. Let’s have at it, shall we?

If you haven’t done so, please report your victory or loss via the form; post your winning LDBC-elfie photos to the Facebook page; and if you’re able and are feeling generous, please contribute to Americares (seriously—no pressure). I’ll post a few more nags to make sure everybody who wants to has reported their result and contributed a photo, and then I’ll crank out the post-game wrap-up sometime after the New Year.

Speaking of which, this time around, 3rd Rock alum Kristen Johnston says it perfectly for us this holiday season.

Kristen Johnston: Merry Everything

Indeed. Merry Everything, all—however and whatever you celebrate, whoever you celebrate it with, whether you celebrate at all.

Thanks for joining in on the madness. You light up the season for us.

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Looks Like We Made It

Hans_Fall

Thirty years ago last night, Hans Gruber’s Christmas-Eve attack on Nakatomi Plaza commenced. And while some still believe he was framed by rogue New York cop John McClane, who dropped him off the building in order to guarantee his silence, I think the only thing that matters is that the threat was neutralized. I mean, it was a long time ago. Why start pointing fingers now?

Speaking of threats, as of midnight on the 23rd (that’s the end of the day, not the beginning), ours is gone for the year, too. Now all that remains is to tally up the stats and put together the hotly anticipated year-end wrap-up, which will probably be posted a week or so into January.

You know the drill, then: post your victory or loss to the reporting form if you haven’t already; drop a victory LDBC-elfie photo on the Facebook page if you’d like to be featured in the gallery; drop a contribution into the collection cup for Americares if you can and are of a mind to; and enjoy your holidays to the extreme.

Happy Holidays, LDBCers. You make this time of year for us, year in and year out.

It Has Begun
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It Has Begun

It has begun, people. We have always been at war with The Boy.
And already, we have our First Fallen. From here on out, the battle cry sounds for the late, lamented LDBCer Joyce Dudley Hindman.

Check the rules for a refresher (we have a new one that says you can’t hassle musicians), and don’t forget to report in via the official form should The Boy strike you down.

And hey—let’s be careful out there. For Joyce!

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Day 8: No Respect

Beth Hayes Bailie and sons

The look on Beth Hayes Bailie‘s son, above, who may or may not have been trying to give us his best Rodney Dangerfield but succeeded all the same, says it all, fellow LDBCers.

The Boy does not respect us. At all. In any way. (No, not her son. The Boy.)

He molests us with Muzak. Silences us with Simeone and Seger. Buries us in a barrage of Bing and Bowie. There are more than 3,000 of us who’ve liked the Facebook page now, which just means a happier hunting ground for the little jerk. And with the growing numbers come the growing number of victims.

Your friends, neighbors, and loved ones. These are their faces and tales.

Joanne Carey Blanchard, who only wished to deal with some doggie things, but ended up being thrown to the wolves. (“It’s all up to you to rep for the Family now, Mom,” she posted—with a capital “F” in “family.”)

And a capital “F” for a much angrier word is sent The Boy’s way over and over. But he doesn’t care. He just marches on, tapping out his rhythm of doom.

Many have fallen prey to viral videos. (Appearances can be deceiving, especially when you’re laying LDBCers low right and left with your otherwise admirable social message.) Others have suffered double-whammies.

Christine Chase Sacchi: “So while I’m laid low, stunned, stricken, does he leave it at that? Can he not gloat in silence and let me pull myself together? No! Two songs later he came back in another version to trample me where I lay.”

More than 200 of us who’ll have an “L” next to their names in the game-end tally. (You know, the tally I’m always nagging about. The one that you’ll only appear in if you fill out the reporting form.)

Faces and names, friends. And on top of the chronological list of them is this year’s First Fallen, Craig Barker.

So stay alert. Step lively. And should you fall, post an LDBC-elfie to the page or, at least, report in via the form that can’t be mentioned enough.

Godspeed.

For Craig!

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