It's time for the 1997 awards! The envelope please....
Book Awards
1997 awards are given for books read by Kevin in 1997, regardless of publication date. The winners are...
- Best fiction: Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace. A mind boggling tour de force that is at once complex and difficult but also fun (and funny) and nearly impossible to put down. It has earned a place on my list of all-time favorites.
- Honorable mention fiction: The Count of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas. A fascinating glimpse into life in France before the Revolution. The story has a lot of defects, but Dumas' prose style is so energetic and commanding that it just doesn't matter.
- Best science fiction: The Diamond Age, by Neal Stephenson. Despite its weak ending, this is a truly inventive and well told story. Stephenson is clearly a writer to watch. Honorable mentions go to A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge, and Snow Crash, Stephenson's first novel.
- Best nonfiction: Guns, Germs, and Steel, by Jared Diamond. Why did Eurasians end up dominating the world instead of, say, Africans or Australians? Diamond makes a convincing and compelling argument that it was based not on chance but on fairly straightforward matters of geography, food production, and availability of large animals. The Eurasians had all those things first, so they were the ones who developed powerful civilizations first. A genuinely eye-opening book.
- Honorable mention nonfiction: How the Mind Works, by Stephen Pinker. An excellent and engrossing account of how evolution has shaped the way our mind works.
- Worst book of the year: The Other End of Time, by Fred Pohl. It's a close call, since A Crooked Man was such a wretched book too, but Pohl's latest novella was more than just bad, it was practically dishonest. It's one thing to be an untalented writer, it's quite another to be a talented writer and deliberately foist such pathetic drivel on the reading public.
Movie Awards
1997 awards are given for movies seen by Kevin in theaters in 1997, regardless of production date. The winners are...
- Best drama: Boogie Nights. Despite the amateurish camera work and a too-long closing scene, this was a very powerful and moving film, easily the best drama I saw this year. The 20-minute penultimate scene is one of the best I've ever seen.
- Honorable mention drama: Gattaca. In a weak year for dramas, Gattaca stands out for its intelligent consideration of the consequences of genetic testing, a brooding, engaging visual style, and a good workmanlike story. Other honorable mentions go to As Good As It Gets, a sweet, charming film with great performances from its ensemble cast, L.A. Confidential, a fine noir-esque film with good acting and smart storytelling, and Evita, a very watchable film version of the musical with a top notch performance by Madonna.
- Best comedy: Private Parts. Who would have thought that Howard Stern would make the funniest film of the year? Not me. However, this film rarely misfires and offers some of the biggest laughs of the year. I'm still not a Stern fan, but I'd go see this movie again....
- Honorable mention comedy: Grosse Pointe Blank. A smart, well written black comedy with an excellent performance by John Cusack and great support from his sister Joan. Other honorable mentions go to Men in Black, a witty look at aliens inhabiting the Earth, and Hercules, Disney's latest cartoon with a scene stealing performance from James Woods as Hades.
- Worst movie of the year: Sick: The Life and Death of Bob Flanagan, Supermasochist. Boring, stupid, and pointless; need I say more? Honorable mention goes to She's So Lovely, a film with nothing to offer except overblown pretensions of art and mood.
The final 1997 Top Ten list looks like this:
- Boogie Nights
- Private Parts
- Grosse Pointe Blank
- Gattaca
- As Good As It Gets
- Men in Black
- L.A. Confidential
- Evita
- Hercules
- Fierce Creatures
Book and Movie Statistics
The total number of reviewed books was 35 (Chung Kuo has not been reviewed yet since I've only gotten through four volumes so far), and they broke up as follows:
- General fiction: 10
- Science fiction: 10
- Nonfiction: 15
The total number of reviewed movies was 40. Grade distribution for books and movies in 1997 was as follows:
Note: a grade of B- is the cutoff point for recommendations: anything above it is recommended, anything below it is not, and anything that received a B- is on the edge.
Bridge Awards
- Best average: Dave wins overall first place, with
a year-ending ordinal average of 2.08 and an
average score of 2529, considerably ahead of the
rest of the pack. Kevin squeaks out second place
in the face of a determined come-from-behind
effort by Rick, who takes third, and Jay ends up
in fourth place.
Note: my statistical consultant has warned me that these results must be viewed skeptically. According to a standard t test analysis, Dave's result is better than Kevin's with only a 70% confidence, and better than Rick's with only a 71% confidence. However, his ending score is better than Jay's with an impressive 98% confidence.
- Highest single-night score: Dave scored 4080 points on February 21. An honorable mention goes to Rick, who scored 3990 points on November 7
- Lowest single-night score: Rick scored 380 points on April 11. This is such a phenomenal score that it really has no peer, but I suppose Kevin gets an honorable mention for his season ending score of 650 on December 20.
- Most first place finishes: Kevin finished first five times. Dave wins honorable mention with four first-place finishes.
- Most last place finishes: Kevin and Rick both finished last four times.
- Steadiest player: Jay had a standard deviation of only 652 points for the year, easily outdistancing Dave, who gets an honorable mention with a standard deviation of 786 points.
- Most erratic player: Kevin had a standard deviation of 1001 points, the only player to break the 1000 point mark. Nine of his scores (64%) were either first or last place finishes. Rick gets an honorable mention for his standard deviation of 984 and a total of seven first or last place finishes.
- Best streak: Dave came in first three times in a row from February 21 through April 11. Nobody else even did this twice in a row.
- Closest score: On March 21 Rick edged out Jay for second place by 20 points (1400 to 1380).
- Perfect attendance award: Withheld this year due to lack of entrants. We played 14 games out of 26 opportunities, a 54% hit rate. Pathetic.
Complete 1997 bridge statistics are below:
| Kevin | Jay | Dave | Rick | |||||
| Score | Rank | Score | Rank | Score | Rank | Score | Rank | |
| January 3 | 3000 | 1 | 2160 | 3 | 2360 | 2 | 1560 | 4 |
| January 17 | 1110 | 4 | 1420 | 3 | 1910 | 2 | 2920 | 1 |
| January 31 | 3670 | 1 | 1560 | 2 | 1420 | 3 | 1270 | 4 |
| February 21 | 1750 | 3 | 1270 | 4 | 4080 | 1 | 2420 | 2 |
| March 21 | 1290 | 4 | 1380 | 3 | 3370 | 1 | 1400 | 2 |
| April 11 | 2200 | 3 | 2420 | 2 | 2700 | 1 | 380 | 4 |
| June 20 | 3520 | 1 | 3050 | 3 | 3270 | 2 | ||
| August 29 | 920 | 3 | 3000 | 1 | 2720 | 2 | ||
| September 12 | 2870 | 1 | 950 | 4 | 2670 | 3 | 2730 | 2 |
| September 26 | 2720 | 2 | 1000 | 4 | 3130 | 1 | 2470 | 3 |
| October 10 | 2100 | 3 | 2770 | 1 | 2680 | 2 | 1250 | 4 |
| November 7 | 1400 | 4 | 1510 | 3 | 2220 | 2 | 3990 | 1 |
| November 22 | 3130 | 1 | 1430 | 2 | 1260 | 4 | 1320 | 3 |
| December 20 | 650 | 4 | 1850 | 3 | 2030 | 2 | 2590 | 1 |
| Total | 30330 | 35 | 22720 | 35 | 32880 | 27 | 30290 | 35 |
| Mean | 2166 | 2.50 | 1748 | 2.69 | 2529 | 2.08 | 2164 | 2.50 |
| Standard Deviation | 1001 | 652 | 786 | 984 | ||||
| Firsts | 5 | 2 | 4 | 3 | ||||
| Seconds | 1 | 3 | 5 | 5 | ||||
| Thirds | 4 | 5 | 3 | 2 | ||||
| Fourths | 4 | 3 | 1 | 4 | ||||
Tennis Awards
- Best overall record goes to Dave Dvorman, with an 81% win rate and a record of 55-13 for the year.
- Best record in tiebreaks also goes to Dave Dvorman, with a year-end record of 4-3.
- Longest streak goes, once again, to Dave Dvorman, who won 13 sets in a row between July 17 and September 11.
- Best comeback (I'm stretching here, folks) goes to Kevin Drum, who was 7-46 (13%) through September 11 and then went 6-9 (40%) in the last 15 sets of the year and 2-1 in the month of December.
Complete 1997 tennis statistics are below:
| Date | First Set | Second Set | YTD Score |
| January 19 | 3-6 | 2-6 | 0-2 |
| January 29 | 4-6 | 2-6 | 0-4 |
| February 1 | 1-6 | 2-6 | 0-6 |
| February 8 | 7-5 | 1-6 | |
| February 15 | 2-6 | 3-6 | 1-8 |
| February 22 | 4-6 | 5-7 | 1-10 |
| March 8 | 2-6 | 1-6 | 1-12 |
| March 15 | 6-3 | 1-6 | 2-13 |
| March 22 | 4-6 | 4-6 | 2-15 |
| March 29 | 2-6 | 2-6 | 2-17 |
| April 5 | 6-2 | 2-6 | 3-18 |
| April 19 | 3-6 | 1-3 | 3-20 |
| April 26 | 4-6 | 3-21 | |
| May 11 | 2-6 | 4-6 | 3-23 |
| May 17 | 2-6 | 7-6 (7-3) | 4-24 |
| May 24 | 4-6 | 0-6 | 4-26 |
| May 26 | 6-4 | 3-6 | 5-27 |
| May 29 | 4-6 | 5-7 | 5-29 |
| June 26 | 1-6 | 2-6 | 5-31 |
| July 3 | 4-6 | 5-32 | |
| July 13 | 3-6 | 6-1 | 6-33 |
| July 17 | 6-4 | 1-6 | 7-34 |
| July 19 | 2-6 | 4-6 | 7-36 |
| July 23 | 2-6 | 2-6 | 7-38 |
| July 31 | 6-7 (4-7) | 7-39 | |
| August 7 | 3-6 | 7-40 | |
| August 14 | 4-6 | 7-41 | |
| August 28 | 2-6 | 3-6 | 7-43 |
| August 31 | 2-6 | 6-7 (5-7) | 7-45 |
| September 11 | 1-6 | 6-1 | 8-46 |
| September 18 | 4-6 | 8-47 | |
| October 9 | 6-4 | 2-6 | 9-48 |
| October 23 | 6-7 (5-7) | 9-49 | |
| November 6 | 2-6 | 7-5 | 10-50 |
| November 8 | 6-7 (1-7) | 10-51 | |
| November 16 | 3-6 | 6-4 | 11-52 |
| November 20 | 4-6 | 1-6 | 11-54 |
| December 9 | 3-6 | 7-6 (7-3) | 12-55 |
| December 21 | 7-6 (7-5) | 13-55 |
Yahtzee Awards
- Player of the year goes to Kevin Drum for his astounding score of 631 on August 19. Honorable mention goes to Marian for her high score of 498.
- Handheld player of the year goes to Marc, for his score of 425 in the new, but increasingly popular game of handheld computer Yahtzee.
Minesweeper Awards
Player of the year goes to Marian, for her times of 12 seconds at beginner level, 72 seconds at intermediate level, and 220 seconds at expert level.
Kitten of the Year
In a stunning upset, the 1997 award for best kitten goes to Odile, Steve and Mary Lou's adorable little furball. However, we're hopeful that Rosebud will turn over a new leaf in 1998 and be a contender for Kitten of the Year (mature category) next year.
Wife of the Year
For an unprecedented seventh year in a row, the unanimous choice of the judges is....
Marian!
Where would I be without her?