Post by Inside Australian Idol on Jun 12, 2005 1:23:45 GMT 10
Rock Paper Scissors battle looms
By Elisabeth Lopez
June 11, 2005
Need a new chief executive? Torn between two lovers? Can't choose between skim or full-cream?
The resurgence of Rock Paper Scissors as the decision-making tool of choice has hit Australia, with statewide heats starting next month for the inaugural Rock Paper Scissors national championships in August.
Suddenly, Rock Paper Scissors is everywhere - an American documentary is due for release soon, haiku is being penned, and the world championships attracts a lively groupie scene, apparently. Australian Idol contestants Casey Donovan and Anthony Callea used the schoolyard game to decide who would sing first in the show's final last year.
It has filtered into the scientific world - a team of University of California researchers invoked it to describe the mating behaviours of the Californian male side-blotched lizard and doctors have traditionally used it to memorise the complex array of muscles and nerves in the hand and gauge injuries.
But the game's stocks really peaked last month, when auction houses Christies and Sothebys engaged in the art world's biggest-ever game of chicken.
The head of a Japanese electronics firm could not settle on which house should auction the company's collection of Van Goghs and Picassos, so he invited them to a play-off. Christie's scissors won over Sotheby's paper in a single round.
Brett Provost, who is bringing the Rock Paper Scissors championship to Australia, is a Queenslander with a sense of the ridiculous - he was also behind the Australian Air Guitar Championships. Mr Provost, who calls himself Kool Hanz Luke, says that there is an element of chance in Rock Paper Scissors, it is also intensely psychological, with players baiting and intimidating each other with outlandish costumes and stage names.
"People get into a zone and they absolutely blitz it, 'crystal balling' or psyching a person out," he says.
"There's definitely a lot of luck, but you can fall apart."
Mr Provost started his obsession as a child.
"I swapped sardine and cheese sandwiches for ham, cheese and tomato, and then it continued on through my life," he says.
But it was only when Mr Provost went to last year's world championships in Canada, attended by 1000 and televised on Fox, that he realised he was not quite as hard-core as he thought.
Heats Friday, July 15, 22 and 29 at the Hawthorn Hotel. National championships on the Gold Coast, August 28.
www.theage.com.au/news/National/Rock-Paper-Scissors-battle-looms/2005/06/11/1118347606902.html
By Elisabeth Lopez
June 11, 2005
Need a new chief executive? Torn between two lovers? Can't choose between skim or full-cream?
The resurgence of Rock Paper Scissors as the decision-making tool of choice has hit Australia, with statewide heats starting next month for the inaugural Rock Paper Scissors national championships in August.
Suddenly, Rock Paper Scissors is everywhere - an American documentary is due for release soon, haiku is being penned, and the world championships attracts a lively groupie scene, apparently. Australian Idol contestants Casey Donovan and Anthony Callea used the schoolyard game to decide who would sing first in the show's final last year.
It has filtered into the scientific world - a team of University of California researchers invoked it to describe the mating behaviours of the Californian male side-blotched lizard and doctors have traditionally used it to memorise the complex array of muscles and nerves in the hand and gauge injuries.
But the game's stocks really peaked last month, when auction houses Christies and Sothebys engaged in the art world's biggest-ever game of chicken.
The head of a Japanese electronics firm could not settle on which house should auction the company's collection of Van Goghs and Picassos, so he invited them to a play-off. Christie's scissors won over Sotheby's paper in a single round.
Brett Provost, who is bringing the Rock Paper Scissors championship to Australia, is a Queenslander with a sense of the ridiculous - he was also behind the Australian Air Guitar Championships. Mr Provost, who calls himself Kool Hanz Luke, says that there is an element of chance in Rock Paper Scissors, it is also intensely psychological, with players baiting and intimidating each other with outlandish costumes and stage names.
"People get into a zone and they absolutely blitz it, 'crystal balling' or psyching a person out," he says.
"There's definitely a lot of luck, but you can fall apart."
Mr Provost started his obsession as a child.
"I swapped sardine and cheese sandwiches for ham, cheese and tomato, and then it continued on through my life," he says.
But it was only when Mr Provost went to last year's world championships in Canada, attended by 1000 and televised on Fox, that he realised he was not quite as hard-core as he thought.
Heats Friday, July 15, 22 and 29 at the Hawthorn Hotel. National championships on the Gold Coast, August 28.
www.theage.com.au/news/National/Rock-Paper-Scissors-battle-looms/2005/06/11/1118347606902.html