NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CleverNickName" data-source="post: 5213839" data-attributes="member: 50987"><img src="http://api.ning.com/files/7zqiUAiHbHft2ynSyIjpUKZ51rhPqSQwyD373fCeNa4TAH3iRxZ1fGiuY1upKiaelRNz102jeP9goLl68e2ByW5hqBzb2FPz/altonbrown.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />A very exciting match is underway in the Kitchen Stadium, where Chairman InVinoVeritas has presented one of the most interesting combinations of ingredients I have ever seen.  Let's go down to the floor for a closer look![Spoiler]Chairman IVV must be a fan of Shakespeare, because he has presented us with six ingredients taken directly from the Bard himself!  While I am not much of a Thespian personally, you could say that I have been romantically involved with the theatre for the last twelve years...I hope this list of ingredients will be as challenging for our contestants, as it is warming to my heart.But enough about me.  Let's get to the good stuff!Our first ingredient, Honorable Man can be found in "Julius Caesar," Act 3 Scene 2.  In this play, Brutus is the "honourable man" that Anthony is referring to...even though Brutus was a key conspirator in the murder plot against Caesar!  Why was he considered honorable, then?  Because he had the courage to do what he thought was right.Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;And Brutus is an honourable man.Will our contestants agree?The Heavenly Station comes from my personal favorite play..."Hamlet."  It can be found in Act 3, Scene 4, but it is a paraphrase, not a direct quote.  The actual text reads,A station like the herald MercuryNew-lighted on a heaven-kissing hill;Of course, in this competition, it could be something else entirely.Also from "Hamlet," we have the Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Fortune.  This one comes from the famous monologue in Act 3 Scene 1.To be, or not to be: that is the question:Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,And by opposing end them?This might be my favorite ingredient of all in this competition.  That's the good stuff.  Bottle that.For our fourth ingredient, Winter of our Discontent, we go to "Richard III," Act 1 Scene 1.  In fact, they are the first lines uttered in the play:Now is the winter of our discontentMade glorious summer by this sun of York;And all the clouds that lour'd upon our houseIn the deep bosom of the ocean buried.Here, Shakespeare does not describe what the "winter of discontent" is; instead he uses it to contrast the current season (which is "glorious summer.")  It is behind the action, not before it.Our fifth ingredient, the Bugbear of Small Minds, is a whimsical little device that is often attributed to Shakespeare, but was actually written by Ralph Waldo Emerson.  Hey, it's an honest mistake; Puck (from "A Midsummer Night's Dream") is the world's most famous hobgoblin, and Emerson borrowed Shakespeare's use of iambic pentameter when he wrote that famous quote:A foolish consistency isthe hobgoblin of little minds,adored by little statesman andphilosophers and divines.But!  See what our Chairman has done?  IVV has added a unique little twist, by switching goblinoids on us.  That's a bugbear, not a hobgoblin as per the original text.  The two words might mean the same thing in some legends and stories, but they are quite different in the world of D&D.Our last ingredient, Beer, can be found all over Shakespeare's work...but my personal favorite comes from "King Henry V," Act 3, Scene 2:Would I were in an alehouse in London!I would give all my fame for a pot of ale, and safety.Indeed, who wouldn't?But what is most interesting about this ingredient isn't its origins, but the manner in which it was presented to the contestants.  Chairman InVinoVeritas chose to embed a video clip into the ingredient list, rather than simply typing out the words.  This leaves the ingredient WIDE OPEN to interpretation by the contestants...there are many, many things in that video besides beer, and the Chairman did not specify.  Just from watching the clip, I could pick out a dozen fun ingredients that could be used...Bug-Eyed Chairman, Blue Silk Handkerchief, Refrigerated Table, Absurd Repetition, Fog Machine, Mound of Cubed Ice...the list could go on forever!  Will our contestants use only the obvious ingredient named in the video clip, or will they strip-mine the video it for random ingredients to suit their needs?[/Spoiler]Best of luck to both contestants!  To borrow a line from my favorite Shakespearian play:  "Come, give us a taste of your quality."</blockquote>

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