A Letter to the League

We here at H.Q. pride ourselves that our league determines who is the very best at pop culture trivia, across all three of our current divisions. We determine this with our Championship, which is a 2-round single elimination competition. To qualify for this championship round, you must be among "the best of the best" in the league. The Wild Card seats for the Championship were created solely for the purpose of allowing a team that scored well compared to the league as a whole, but unfortunately came up against stiff competition within their division. It is intended as a "leveling of the playing field," so to speak. Should that team have competed in a different city, they may very well have won said division.

With the numerous cancellations this season, it has become clear that our Wild Card process was lacking the fairness that we created it for in the first place. With Portland having 13 week's worth of quizzes, versus San Francisco's 11 and Seattle's 10 weeks, things all of a sudden weren't on that "level playing field".

To solve this predicament, we are adjusting the rules ever so slightly to accommodate these unfortunate circumstances that were beyond our control, and to be fair to all teams in all divisions. The two Wild Card seats for the Championship will now be determined by the highest scores, league-wide, for the weeks that had all three divisions competing. We find that it is only fair that teams compete against each other for these Wild Card seats using the same opportunities, the same number of quizzes, and most importantly the exact same set of questions. This process of using the same questions is what makes All-Star Pop Culture unique and competitive.

You will now find a new ranking list on our website that shows the Wild Card race, and those team's position in this race based on this new criteria. This ranking includes the #1 ranked teams of each division, but at the close of the season, those teams will be removed since they will win their seat in the Championship by winning their division. With two weeks left to this season, and a potential 162 points going to any team, things remain just as competitive as ever.

Please understand, we are always hesitant about making any kind of changes mid-season, and our stock answer is always a "no". But we've faced some serious challenges this season that required these changes. We've given this much thought, and feel that this is the fairest resolution possible. We are very grateful for everyone's understanding, and we'll continue to make All-Star Pop Culture the best trivia night around.

Sincerely,

Trevor Trifiro
League Director
www.AllStarPopCulture.com

Ack!!

Sorry for the silence, but things have been very busy here at the HQ lately. We're glad we had a great turnout for last week's Duplicity tie-in. This week is our music themed night, so dust off your 8-tracks and mixtapes, and bust out your favorite Video Game of Rawk Simulation. The Super 6 this week? Guitar Greats! In that vein, here are Steve 5 Favorite Music-Oriented Films in no particular order:

1. This is Spinal Tap
2. High Fidelity
3. Sid and Nancy
4. Purple Rain
5. A Hard Day's Night (Just because Trev would stab me if I left it out)

A Return to Form

Wow! Great action last week! We've had good turnouts with lots of new faces. Apparently people have been spreading the word, and we appreciate it. But being the cruel masterminds we are, you've been rewarded with categories like That Guy! Tough but fun. We've been wheeling out fan favorites like Chick Flicks and more are on the way.

Newest Top 5 list? Post-Apocalyptic Flicks! Few genres really give writers the room for pure nuttiness like a bleak glimpse of the future based upon the destruction wrought by man's warring ways!

1) The Road Warrior - Any film with a guy named Lord Humongous has to be awesome.
2) A Boy and His Dog - A young Don Johnson does his best to get laid with the help of a telepathic dog. Yes, it's that weird.
3) The Omega Man - And not that Will Smith re-make. OH HELLL NO!
4) The Quiet Earth - Great survivor's tale in a classic cult flick from Australia.
5) On the Beach - A grim look at a world immediately after a nuclear war. One of the bleakest cold war movies ever made.

Anyone care to weigh in?