March 16, 2003 marked the first-ever Chicago Force Whirlyball outing. You say you have never played whirlyball? Well, neither had we.
Whirlyball starts with those plastic scoops you played with as a kid. You know, the ones where you would scoop up a ball and fling it at someone. They would try and catch it with their scoop and fling it back at you. OK, now add a court and basketball-style goals. Now put everyone in bumper cars. That is Whirlyball.
If you didn’t make it out, you missed quite an event. Everyone had a blast, and we played with the abandon of those who have no idea what they are doing and know they look silly, but don’t care because, well, everyone else looked silly too.
This was our staging area…
…or, “where to stand and laugh at people”
The field of battle
It was a good turn out, with over 20 people
The best defense is a good offense
Mark is offensive…er, plays offense
Ray! The ball’s down here!
He shoots! He misses!
New recruit, DestinyFroste
Mary keeps her eye on the ball
Having the ball makes Ray happy
Losing the ball makes Ray sad
Matt prepares to fling down court
Another fine miss
“You need to shoot the ball into the hole!”
SO close
Richie on defense
Jimmy’s car breaks down. He gets lonely.
In a practiced move, Dave rams Richie from behind
Guys! Guys! You’re on the same team!
Hey Mark! Lookin’ good.
Phyllis gets trapped in the corner by a teammate
Gooooaaaaaalllll!
The ball takes a beating
“It’s mine, my precious! It’s our birthday present! We loves it.”
On Saturday, March 15th at 1:00 P.M., Chicago Force presents our second Roleplaying Game session at the Edgewater home of Hans Aeschbacher (TheExecutor). For directions, send an RSVP e-mail to Mike Hammer (Master Daylan). For the latest on Chicago Force events, visit www.chicagoforce.org.
On Saturday, March 1 at noon, Chicago Force presents the debut of our Costume Club. The first project will be making Jedi outer robes and will be held at the Mokena home of Phyllis Schulte (Schph Gochi). If you plan to attend, you will need to bring a pattern, fabric (washed and dried), a 300-yard spool of all-purpose thread the same color as the fabric, straight pins, and scissors. For more detailed information on these items, please see this FanForce forum thread.
You will need to RSVP for this event by sending an e-mail to Heather Ast (Darth Jurist) by Thursday night. For the latest information on Chicago Force events, visit www.chicagoforce.org or stop by our Fan Force Forum.
In November 2002, “Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones” was released nationwide in IMAX theaters. IMAX film is a high-definition format, where the film is literally twice as big as the film used in normal theaters (70mm instead of 35mm). The result is a picture that is bigger, sharper, and more colorful than is found in regular theaters.
As “Attack of the Clones” was the first movie to be filmed, processed, and distributed entirely on a digital format, it presented the IMAX theaters with a unique opportunity to create a 70mm film print that was far superior to anything they had done before. Although they had to remove 23 minutes of film to fit the picture on the projectors, the two hours of movie they were able to convert was truly amazing. Most people who viewed the movie on the 6-story Navy Pier screen knew they were in for a treat as soon as they saw the 20th Century logo.
Navy Pier IMAX was very generous in donating 150 tickets to Chicago Force for an 8 AM showing on the morning of release. Chicago Force in turn donated 80 of our tickets to the Metropolitan Boys Academy, to let some children see the movie that may otherwise not been able to.
It’s not easy getting people out to a movie at 8 o’clock on a Friday morning, but by the time Obi-Wan and Anakin were assigned to protect Senator Amidala, the theater was mostly full.
Here are picture from the first midnight show, and the 8 AM show the next morning:
Youth from the Metropolitan Boys Academy
Chicago Force is Your Kind of Scum
Dave Gray, organizer extraordinaire
You can’t have too many pictures of Yoda
Ray won’t let anyone in until it’s time
What a great lookin’ group of people
More group pictures – Boys Academy
The gang’s all here
The general confusion before the movie starts
Chi-Force invades “Dick’s Last Resort” after the midnight show
Chicago Force had their First Annual Video Scavenger Hunt on October 19, 2002. The primary goal, as always, is to get together with like-minded people and have fun. The secondary goal is to place people in embarrassing situations so we can laugh at them later. Both goals met with spectacular success.
The tasks took the teams all over the city, and ranged from giving speeches in public places to interviewing strangers to trying to get members of law enforcement to participate in skits.
After the video taping, we met up at Bootlegger’s to wind down and watch the videos. The event was well attended, and I think it’s safe to say that everyone involved had a great time.
We mill around aimlessly waiting for people to show up
Dave explains the rules
We try (with varying degrees of success) to divide into two teams
The teams are set, we’re ready to roll
First stop, the Art Institute
“Do you know who Luke Skywalker’s father is?”
“Who killed Darth Maul?”
This guy was no help, but his girlfriend knew all the answers.
“Um, we don’t, like, watch war movies.”
They have to act out the Anakin/Padmé love scene and get people to guess what it is.
“Everything here is so soft…like you.”
Team 2 decides to bag it and move to another location.
“Oh, Anakin, you’re so pretty.”
“Look, here’s my lightsaber.”
Another group of people that have never seen AOTC.
How much is the doggy in the window?
Bootlegger’s on Division, the end of the line
“And this one time, at band camp…”
All that, and now we just sit around, watch TV and drink beer.
The action on the screen is entralling
Sometimes the action is just too much.
I have deep, profound respect for this man.
Phil’s here! It’s a party!
We had the whole back end of the bar to ourselves.
The Death Star: a glass of Red Bull, then drop in a shot of Jagermeister.
Commence primary ignition.
Standby…
“I feel a great disturbance in my throat!”
These guys kept the libations flowing all night.
The owner of Bootlegger’s, and our hero.
The regular crowd shuffles in.
It quickly became standing room only.
She has to squirt whipped cream ‘somewhere on his body’ and lick it off. No, I am not kidding.
She gets ready to squirt…
…then takes the noble way out, and goes for his mouth.
The good sport, and her oh-so-hot friend.
Dave’s had more than a few drinks at this point.
The Ladies of Chicago Force. Look for their upcoming calendar.
A bachelorette party came through, and Dave had to eat candy from the bride-to-be’s shirt.
Mary had the exact same look on her face when, moments later, Dave started chewing on her shirt.
Chicago Force will be holding a public meeting on October 12, 2002. The meeting will be held at 12:00 PM (Noon) at Zephyr’s Ice Cream Restaurant, located at 1777 W Wilson Ave, Chicago, IL.
Items on the agenda include the Video Scavenger Hunt coming up in two weeks, the IMAX showing of Episode II, and our scheduled attendance at the upcoming conventions.
I apologize for the late notification. Many people have had schedule changes in the past two weeks, and we have been trying to work around them, but we felt it would be better to have a meeting now that some people might have to miss rather than spend weeks trying to schedule a meeting that might never happen.
To get details on any Chicago Force event, simply go to:
On October 6, 2002, members of Chicago Force traveled to East Troy, Wisconsin to visit the Electric Train Museum there. The Museum has two working trains, and a warehouse of other restored train cars, many of which came from Chicago.
Those in attendance where Mark “Jodo Kast” Franklin, Phil “Mos Eisleian Radio” Salomon, Thom “Thom Solo” Olsen, Ray “Rex Karrde” Bosques with daughters Leah and Leann, and Matthew “Hazmatt” Callison. We were met by 3 members of the Milwookiee Council from Milwaukee, Wisconson: BYOB Kenobi, Jedi Isadore and Dawn. The Milwookiee people were great sports. We had arranged to meet there at 11:30 AM, but ran a bit late as Jodo Kast guided us through the wilds of north-western Illinois. When we didn’t arrive by the time the 11:30 train was leaving, they boarded and made the trip. We got to East Troy just before they got back and met them as they disembarked. In true fan spirit, they purchased additional tickets and rode the train again, just to be with us. Our hats are off to you, Milwaukee, that was a very cool thing to do.
Now, on to the photos!
The scoop on the railroad.Don’t they make a cute couple?Trains, trains, trains.They hit you with the gift shop early.“Fifteen thousand? We could almost buy our own train for that!”“Where’d they go?” “Where’d who go?”“Well, I think that the dichotomy of good versus evil is best summed up by the Crimean conflict of 1830…”Hey, we all made it!Thom favors us with a soft-shoe number.Pete, our conductor.Arrival at “The Elegant Farmer”Mark show us his Caramel Apple.Mark plays with Ray’s melons (yes, I know pumpkins are really a squash, but the joke doesn’t work that way)“BYOB Kenobi” must stand for “Bash Your Own Bee”The train ride back.
OK, the entire time we were sitting at the picnic table, these bees kept harassing us (leading up to the “insect-icide” shown above), and Mark had this little dance he did to fend of the deadly creature that was just hilarious. The problem was, by the time I could get the camera up and switch it to movie mode, he would be done flailing about. I finallly switched to movie and just sat there, camera pointed at Mark. As luck would have it, no more bees stopped by. So when he did this on the train, I just had to capture it, although it isn’t one tenth as funny as the others.
We arrive safe and sound.Mark shows off his Interactive R2-D2. Very cool.Anakin’s father must have stopped here for ice cream (you really need to read the white sign at the top of the picture).“Yes, but if we take 3 to the X power of Y, we find that it is close to the binomial derivation of the cosine…”We love ice cream! Oh, yeah, and ‘Star Wars’.Ray and Thom pull the “Oooh, the train is really moving” gag.
On September 22, 2002, Chicago Force went on their first paintball outing. It was a perfect day for paintball, a little cloudy in the morning and in the mid-60’s, clearing up by midday to be a gorgeous, sunny Sunday.
12 Chicago Forcers made it out: Matt “Darth Astuart” Springer, Dave “Bosh Talk” Gray and friend Ed, Ray “Rex Karrde” Bosques and friend Hector, Phil “Mos Eisleian Radio” Salomon, Mark “Jodo Kast” Franklin and friend Bien, Mary “Amber Eyes” and son Mike, Tom “TomTav” Tavrides, and Matthew “Hazmatt” Callison.
Everyone had a lot of fun, and there was talk floating around of making this an annual or semi-annual event, so stay tuned to Chicago Force Web. There was a lot of paint traded by both teams, with the group going through 5000 paintballs during the day. Yes, they sting when you get hit, but it’s certain there was more pain the following day, when little-used muscles made their presence known to the owner.
Finally, a very big thank you to Blast Camp Paintball and our ref, Whisler. The facilities were top-notch and the staff was organized and professional, creating a fun environment with zero delays. Good job Blast Camp!
Now, on with the evidence….
Meeting up at Huck Finn’s
The first order of business was to meet up in the morning to caravan out to Blast Camp. We chose Huck Finn’s Donuts on the corner of Damen and Archer.
Yes, everyone stared at us because of the way we were dressedBosh gets the BIG doughnut“And I’m going to shoot YOU in the head.”
Before the Battle
We played at Blast Camp near Hobart, Indiana, about 40 miles south-east from Chicago.
Ray, on the way to the fieldSmile for the birdie!The troops prepare for combat.
CENTER COLLAPSE
Waiting for the whistleGame on!View of the courtyardThe teams gather at the fieldWhisler explains the rulesThe long walkRay gets to the center octagon firstDave defends the backfieldBien provides cover-fire while Mike storms a buildingMatt tries to get an angleBien holds the buildingMike and Bien“Stop shooting, I’m already hit!”Tom scopes out the fieldEd, Matt and Dave prepare to attackTom tries to keep his head downEd moves into position with Dave coveringMark falls down, Take OneMary gets in on the actionMary shoots her sonHector and Ed move up the fieldDave checks his positionMark rushes the centerMark falls down, Take TwoGame over, re-group and change sidesGame on!Dave takes control of a buildingDave kneels before ZodEd advances through the buildingHey, don’t shoot the cameraman!Tom trades paint with EdBien gets eliminatedMike poses for the cameraBien gets resurrected and moves outRay waits at the resurrection point to make a break for itMark falls down, Take ThreeRay takes the middleMark moves around to help RayEd guards the entranceNice shot of Matt’s buttDave stays in the building too long and is taken out of the gameHector sneaks up on Ray in the middleHector eliminates RayFinal push at the end of the gameMary wonders if it’s safeRay pushes deep into enemy territoryBack to the staging area to reloadFARP (that’s military-talk for “Fuel-Ammo Resupply Point”)This is a tired bunch ‘o’ people, and it’s only about noon“And then I snuck around this corner and…”Hazmatt’s custom Tippmann CarbineWe never figured out what this was, we were shooting WHITE paintReady for the next gameWhisler, our fantastic ref
PROTECT THE PRESIDENT
The name of this game is “Protect the President”. This is a 15 minute game where one person is selected as “The President” and one person is assigned to guard them. They go deep in the field and hide, then everyone else has 15 minutes to find them. We voted for Matt to the be the President and Dave to be the bodyguard.
The action in this game was fast and furious and the brush was thick, so not much of the action is covered. Just use your imagination and think of your favorite Vietnam movie.
Whisler leads Matt and Dave to the fieldWhisler explains the rules. He did forget to tell them about the 3 hardened bunkers, unfortunately.Matt and Dave head deep into the “bush”Here comes the hunting partyWhisler explains the rulesShhhh! Be vewy quiet, their hunting wabbits“Nope, they’re not behind this bush.”Mark heads in after his preyAnd it’s over
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SPEEDBALL
The name of this game is “Speedball”. This is a 10 minute game where there is one flag in the middle. The object is to get the flag and take it down to your opponents goal. This is a game that is often played in paintball tournaments.
Speedball is called that for a reason: it’s fast. Normally, if you are behind a bunker for more than 20 seconds, you’re dead. Despite the 10 minute time limit, most games are done in less than 5 minutes.
Heading to the fieldOrange takes their placeYellow takes their place“3..2..1..Game on!”Ray rushes and is first to the flag, but gets pinned downHe calls for covering fireRay covers Bien as he moves upMatt keeps Ray from advancingBien moves up to assist RayHector takes a shot at RayTom lets it fly to keep Hector containedRay moves up within striking distance of the goalBien watches Ray hang the flagNew game, switch sidesGame on!Boy, that’s a good lookin’ paintgunEd rushes the center and gets the flagDave looks for someone to shootEd tucks the flag away and unknowingly drops itGun hits count, and this is all you have to expose to get eliminatedMatt watches Ed get eliminated and decides to make a run for the flagEd checks to make sure he is really hitMary covers Matt as he runs for itMark tries to shoot Matt to no availMark makes his own run for the flagMark pops up to get Matt and is promptly shot in the foreheadMatt makes it to where Ed was hit, but the flag’s not here…Matt braves the fire one more time to run back and pick up the flagThis is why auto-focus cameras don’t always work. Matt hangs the flag while we get a good shot of Dave’s head.Everyone checks their paint supply
THE AFTERMATH
Out of paint, we decide to call it a dayThe final walk off the fieldRay shows off his battle scarsMore woundsAs good as it was, we’re glad to be doneIt was a glancing blow, but it’s gotta hurt“Do you want to see my hiney?”Matt caught more than one at close rangeThat was fun. Let’s go home.We stop to have BK our wayWe need red meat and grease to combat all that exercise we just gotRay asks, “Wanna wrestle?”Looks like we over-loaded the cookAh, now to the grubRay on the way homeMust be contagious
On June 15, The Minnesota Force, The Milwookiee Council, and (probably) South Bend FanForce are meeting up with Chicago Force to see the 12:30 P.M. digital presentation of Star Wars Episode II at Streets of Woodfield in Schaumburg, IL. If you’re interested in joining us, please respond in this thread in the Chicago forum, so we have a better idea on how many people we’ll have.
On Saturday, June 1, Chicago Force had a night of cosmic bowling, pizza, prizes, and Star Wars! We gathered at Des Plaines Bowl at 656 Pearson Street in Des Plaines at 7:30 P.M. We rented out the entire bowling alley and gave away the first wave of prizes in our charity drawing, benefiting Jane Addams Hull House Association.
