The Love Show!

When local TV network affiliates do battle, the viewers win. Luckily for you, you're one of those!

Melissa invited some of her workies to join my usual band of misfits on one of our crazy, Friday night game-fests. Was there a clear winner? Was there bloodshed? Did we happen to take a lot of goofy pictures and low-quality video?

Behold the spectacle that was Dual-Station Game Night (TM)!


As usual, the night started off with the customary pizza-gorge. Here, Josh and Wit (get used to these guys, they stole the show this night) hang out at the crappy little dining room table and scarf some eats. Note, the cupcakes...a gift from Melissa's coworker, Michelle. Were they just a trick to lure us into a false trust so they could destroy us when the games began?


Speaking of Melissa, she was the first player of the night's first game, Guitar Hero. Miss doesn't usually play, but has seen enough GH to be able to tear her way through "Iron Man" on Easy. Nice. Olive-branch extended, and both sides of this gaming war have officially been invited to jump in.


This is the only known picture of Melissa playing Guitar Hero, so I'd like to take this opportunity to milk it. LOOK at that focus. She's the next Jimi What's-His-Name...


My coworker Paula chats up Miss' pals Michelle (CUPCAKES!) and Steph while others jump on that axe and start shreddin'. So far, a peaceful night. No blood, no tears. A good sign, but a possible downer is that the Melissa's Station crew are hesitant to swing said axe. Guitar Hero, while cool, is pretty hard to just jump into blind...


And Steph steps up to take the bullet! On her third try, she clears "I Love Rock 'n Roll," and there is much rejoicing!


Much rejoicing.


Mike and Murray have formed a special bond, meanwhile. Mike didn't partake in the Guitar Hero, but I'm pretty sure he was just saving his energy up to bust some heads in a little Wii Sports Boxing later in the night...


Joe's here! He arrived a bit later than most, and took to playing a bit of Pokemon at the crappy dining room table for a while...then, joined the group when thigns were winding down and talk of changing games started. Josh also perked up to lemur-esque attention when I made the call for "Promotions people" to look up for a picture. Paula, notice, did not. She's half-news, you know. But I don't discriminate, her kind's welcome. Some of my best friends are newsies.


Comedy duo Josh and Wit strike a classic pose, in which nothing remotely phallus-related is happening. Good luck on the ballot in '08, boys. I support your right to marry.


Unable to top the antics of the previous shot, we did change games to something less-familiar to Game Night (TM). Paula had not only brought along a second guitar controller...she packed 2 Dance Dance Revolution mats and a copy of the game you need to use them! Here, she and Joe (the only 2 with actual DDR experience) get the rhythm pumpin'. Murray gives Michelle some serious lovin' around the end. And Josh is standing on our ottoman, meaning there's another angle of this, somewhere.


Miss' pals are way into working-out. In fact, they're quite a big part of the reason Melissa and I joined the gym a few weeks ago. Naturally, they were far more interested in trying this one out!


The classic Power Ranger Shot, as the ladies get on with their bad selves.


This one lasted a good while, as everyone but Mike and Melissa wanted to give it a try. Check out Josh and Wit, doing their thing. Wish I had video of my grand performance...I'm told I was breathtaking, but I obviously wasn't able to stand back and watch myself majestically stomping like an idiot.


More video from the DDR portion of the evening, where Joe plugs in his EyeToy (some crazy item for the PS2 that not a lot of people own) and attempts to dance with both his hands AND his feet.


To break up the video clips a bit, here's a lovely shot of Paula and me chillin' on the couch while others game. Adorable. I'd also like to formally announce that we're entering the Nintendo Wii/Talespin card game phase of the night.


More of Josh and Wit. This time, they're playing an intense 4-player Wii Sports Tennis match against Michelle and Mike. That's awesome. Also of note from the Wii-party: Melissa is sheriff of Bowling, Mike is STILL a Boxing beast, and Warioware Smooth Moves is a great time.


This is also adorable, in its own way. And by "adorable," of course, I mean "hilarious." Listen to the little "jump" sounds that accompany their gameplay, it's so comical. If there's one thing Wii's good for, it's comical video clips for the Internets.


After winning the race you just watched, they were given a victory pose to mimic. Here it is, folks. Sorry, no fake fellatio this time. (Um...wait. Maybe Josh.)


Melissa and Murray look on, a bit tired. We were all slowing down, but I thought it'd be fun to snap a candid shot of my girl from my perch at the Talespin table.

Anna arrived a little after 10Pm, but didn't make it into this particular collection of photos. Things pretty much wrapped-up by a respectable 2:30AM, after the first wave of party departers around 1:30.

All in all a big success. Great gaming, fun people, tasty food and plenty of entertainment from Murray and Bailey.

Dual-Station Game Night (TM) was a good one, and I hope to pull together such an event again in the future. It changed the dynamic a lot to have the influx of new faces, and I believe all of the guests enjoyed themselves.

What other crazy changes does the future hold for the proud tradition of Game Night (TM)?


Next time...I'm inviting Avril.