This Narcissistic Actor Has a Cross to Bear

Scott Hardie | July 10, 2003
If anybody wants to trash talk Mike over the current goo, here's your chance. :-) This goo has generated more private discussion than any I've put up in months, so I'm creating this topic to open the floor to general discussion. And of course, do not give hints!

Erik Bates | July 10, 2003
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Lori Lancaster | July 10, 2003
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Jackie Mason | July 10, 2003
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Scott Hardie | July 10, 2003
That's fine, or you can re-enter the game in your control panel and make the guess on the site. Either way I'll tell you if you're right.

Mike Eberhart | July 11, 2003
Feel free to trash talk all you want, it's just a matter of time before I win one of these rounds....:-)

Erik Bates | July 11, 2003
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Mike Eberhart | July 11, 2003
A lot of talk, no substance.....:)

Jackie Mason | July 11, 2003
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Mike Eberhart | July 11, 2003
Yeah, mine too... I wasn't going to guess, but I decided to anyway...

Erik Bates | July 11, 2003
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Mike Eberhart | July 11, 2003
Well, me and my picture will conquer all!!!!!!!! Muhahahahaha!!!!

Mike Eberhart | July 11, 2003
Well, I SUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not only did I miss it, and fall back into second, I lost my goo streak.... So feel free to bash me all that you want...

Scott Hardie | July 11, 2003
When I started this topic, I didn't think it would result in Mike trash-talking himself... :-)

Scott Hardie | July 12, 2003
I hope Kelly Stokes enjoys being the Goo Streaker for the weekend. On Sunday night it will go to Matt, since everyone will be tied at a current streak of 0, and when there's a tie it goes to the player with the highest overall score.

Scott Hardie | July 12, 2003
I was wrong... Lori will be the goo streaker after Sunday night, since having requested this evil goo prevents her streak from being wiped out.

Lori Lancaster | July 12, 2003
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Matthew Preston | July 14, 2003
I think I am missing the "Celebrity" aspect from goo number 290...

Mike Eberhart | July 14, 2003
I have to agree with Matt, when I think of the word "Celebrity", I think of someone that people have heard of. This guy could be joe schmoe from down the street and I wouldn't know who he was. Actually, he could probably walk up to me right now, and I still wouldn't know who he was, or what he does. I think if you are going to make a request for a goo, there has to be a chance that someone has heard of that person. And obviously, no one here ever heard of this takehito guy. Just my thoughts.

Erik Bates | July 14, 2003
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Erik Bates | July 14, 2003
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Lori Lancaster | July 14, 2003
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Scott Hardie | July 14, 2003
I'm with Lori on this. The goo was designed to be very difficult, and I warned the players in advance that it was going to be a tough one. Most weeks, I try to put up something easy that most of the players can get, but if I only put up easy goos, the winner would always be determined by bonuses. If this game is to be settled by skill, there must be hard goos once in a while, to weed out the best players from the amateurs. Even with hard goos, there are usually still several correct guesses, so I like to put up a real ball-breaker like this once or twice a year, to stump even the best of them. If you can get a goo like this, you know you're good, and sometimes that's what the game should be about.

One of the problems with difficulty is that, even after five years of running this game, I'm still no good at predicting whether a goo will be easy or hard. I might put up something seemingly impossible and watch a dozen people get it right, then the next week I'll get asked for hints on what I think is super-easy. That's why I deferred to Lori's clue last week, and the same with Steve's rather obscure clue this week.

Another valid point that Lori makes: It's all about the knowledge of the field. Some of you football nuts would have no trouble guessing Barry Sanders or Ray Lewis, while the others would struggle, and that's not unfair. So, most of the players don't know anime very well as a subject, but the few who do would acknowledge that Takehito Koyasu is a famous person in the field.

The "International" category is a good idea, Lori. I'll consider that. Exactly 30% of the goos were born in foreign countries, so I should probably distinguish those from the people who are actually famous for something outside of the United States, like you suggested. I do, however, take issue with your claim that the game is "mostly Caucasian." Despite the fact that the vast majority of celebrities (especially historical ones) are white males, I make a real effort to include women and minorities in the game. There have been 92 non-Caucasian goos so far, which means that approximately one out of every three goos is non-Caucasian. That's a lot more than "once a year." :-P I would have hoped that the one non-Caucasian player would have taken notice of my efforts to keep the goos racially diverse.

As for the current poll, Lori, I don't think it will amount to anything. I have no intention of banning your requests, even with a very lopsided vote, because I like those requests and it's my game. :-) The hostile phrasing of the poll is based on the hostile phrasing of the complaints that people have made to me during the past week.

Lori Lancaster | July 14, 2003
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Mike Eberhart | July 14, 2003
Hey, no problem Lori. I have had a lot of inside discussion about this with Scott already. Yes, I do think having goos like last week's is good for the game. I may not like it, but it definately gives it an edge. As for my claim that I haven't ever heard of Takehito before and thus he's not a celebrity. I'm speaking for myself when I say that. He may be huge in Japan, and that's great. I only said what I said because at least with all the other goos that's been in this game, when I figured them out, I at least have heard of them, or find a little history about them and see exactly why they were a celebrity(of sorts). My only problem with searching for the anime voice actors was there are so freaking many of them, and I couldn't decipher your clue in order to narrow it down. Plus they all have done work on hundreds of cartoons so the search process was painfull. Other than that, I'm moving on, and looking past last week's little disaster...:-)

Mike Eberhart | July 14, 2003
Also, Lori, if you notice in my previous post, when I complained about losing my goo streak, I said that "I SUCK", not you or anyone else. It's my fault that I didn't get it right and now I have to start another streak. So, like Scott said, in a way, I'm bashing myself.

Mike Eberhart | July 21, 2003
Sorry Eric. I was going to wait until Friday to guess, but I had to get my smug picture back on the front page. :-)

Erik Bates | July 21, 2003
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Scott Hardie | July 30, 2003
The "International" category has been implemented. I'm surprised at how many of the goos in this category were requested by other people; I need to work on creating more non-American goos myself. Thanks again for the suggestion, Lori.

Erik Bates | September 15, 2003
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Erik Bates | September 15, 2003
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Scott Hardie | September 15, 2003
Yes, that was its intended purpose. Keep it alive as long as you want or start a new one.

Congrats Mike.

Mike Eberhart | September 15, 2003
Thanks all. I couldn't have done it without all your support.... :-) NOT! Just kidding.. It was a good round, definately long, and definately more difficult. I'm ready for another round to start though, just so I can continue my dominance.....Muhahahahahah!!!