So I’ve suddenly found myself with a wealth of things to give away— DVDs, t-shirts, tickets to events, and I’m trying to think of novel and inventive ways to give them out. I tried three tonight.

First was an event I will henceforth call PROST! That’s German for Cheers! The idea behind this game is that three contestants will give their name, toast the crowd, and down a truly rancid shot called a Cement Mixer. What’s a Cement Mixer? Wikipedia defines it as such:

1 part Bailey’s Irish Cream
1 part Lime juice (lemon juice may be substituted)

The drink is traditionally ingested by taking the shot of Bailey’s, holding it in the mouth, then sipping the lime juice and swirling the two around the mouth. The drink may also be combined as a layered shot, as the lime juice is less dense than most brands of “Irish Cream”. The acidic lime juice causes the cream-based Bailey’s to curdle. The curdled Bailey’s does not taste sour, but it does rapidly gain viscosity and stick to your teeth, reminiscent of cement.
Should I not have done that? The crowd seemed to enjoy it, if our contestants did not. And what did they win? Uhhh, a drink at the Highball bar. Here’s the shaky video taken by my very hand:

Then I had several DVDs to give away, courtesy of my friends at Magnolia Pictures. I asked a brief essay question that related to current local events, specifically concerning our beloved police chief, Art “No Refusal” Acevedo, who is presently trying to get a job running the Dallas police department. I asked what you would like to send from Austin to Dallas. Here were your responses:
Market Price: “I-35 traffic at Rush Hour.”

S & M: “The Domain!”

The Unbirthers: “Everything north of 183… and Sandra Bullock.”

Sinead O’Connor: “The Pope.”

Wicked Awesome: “The stretch of 35 between Riverside and the Split!”

Chix with Dix: “Leslie’s Attacker.”

Those Bitches: “All Californians” – Chip. “The Crackheads at Cap Metro” – Monica. “Pangea” – Robert. “Dallas Nightclub.” – Goose.

Alan Rickman’s Answering Machine: “I would send the Drag Rats to Dallas so they would no longer harass me and try to grab my ass.”

A’pos’trophe C’at’as’trophe: “The shark tank dance floor should keep moving up I-35 (and the bottle service with it).”

Perfect Attendance: “We would like to see Dallas receive back all of the homeless that they allegedly bus down to Austin, or so the Chronicle claims.”

Dead Last: “The grieving-father-prosecuting, divorcing-lesbian-persecuting attorney general… also the Thundercloud commercials.”

In Soviet Russia, Trivia Plays You: “UT Sorostitutes! Sorostitutes = sorority hoes, prostitutes, general slutty, unintelligent ladies belonging thereof.”

The Debasers: “We would like to send A’pos’trophe C’at’as’trophe to Dallas. That’s Lazer’s team, right?”

That last one was your winning response right there from the Debasers. So much love! You’d think that A’pos’trophe (under multiple pseudonyms) are consistently first or second place winners here at the Highball quiz, generating goodwill from our other regular teams by their humble victories. According to the Debasers, they now know the backs of their heads. Scary. Many people take these quizzes seriously. I’ve seen some with custom jackets, socks and/or spreadsheets.

Anyway, the Debasers won a Timecrimes DVD. Timecrimes is a freaking mind-bendingly superb Spanish language film made by a man who, essentially, has raped James and I (and on separate occasions!). I even have a picture:

The director of Timecrimes, Nacho Vigalondo, is on the right. The man in the middle is named David Roland Strong, and he is kindof a big deal in these parts.

So what else did we do? Oh yes, I had two passes to see Master Pancake Theatre’s mocking of “Goldfinger” playing this weekend and next at the Alamo Drafthouse Village. I brought two participants on stage—one wound up being from the Debasers, the other, sure enough, from their rivals on A’pos’trophe C’at’as’trophe. They were to name, back and forth, as many James Bond movies as they could—here’s video of the event, captured on my camera by my pal Christine:

It cuts off (thanks to my poor memory card budgeting), just as Heather (aka Janice, aka Heather) yields to Matt from The Debasers. Well done.

So, in between we did a quiz, right? A nice turnout and pretty good scores — some of these rounds were hard, yes? I thought so too!

A’pos’trophe C’at’as’trophe your first place winners tonight, will likely need to fill out tax forms the next time they come to the Highball.

The Debasers came in second but, between a DVD, a gift certificate and two passes to a Master Pancake show, arguably walked off with the most loot.

This gentleman is from The Unbirthers, who pulled off what I believe is their highest placing at the Highball yet. We were dressed as twins tonight, but I have the better ratty beard.

They have Perfect Attendance but tonight was not their night. Tara, however, was a trooper tonight as you can see in the PROST video.

Speaking of PROST, your winner was from Boot Hill Bootleggerz. THANKS FOR DRINKING CURDLED LIQUOR CREAM!

Here’s your scores:

A'pos'trophe C'at'as'trophe	75
The Debasers	                65
The Unbirthers	                60
Those Bitches	                53
Wicked Awesome	                50
Chix w/ Dix	                48
In Soviet Russia,
Trivia Plays You	        48
S&M	                        47
Boot Hill Bootleggerz	        47
Market Price	                46
Dead Last	                45
Alan Rickmans Answering Machine	44
Perfect Attendance	        38
Long One In The Wrong One	15
Sinead O'Connor	                 0