Contests Archives

Ever thought you had what it takes to create a memorable character for The Simpsons?  Think you can come up with a personality that can share the screen with the likes of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa or Maggie?  A creation that could find itself sharing a beer with Barney at Moe's?  Buying a Radioactive Man book at Comic Book Guy's shop?  Or getting an exam from Dr. Hibbard?  Well then here's your chance to create a Simpsons character and take your place among the pantheon of Springfield's denizens.

Image courtesy SimpsonsTrivia.com

According to Yahoo News, the producers of The Simpsons animated series "is giving one lucky contest winner the chance to make others yellow with envy by creating a character for the animated TV series."

The character would be written into an episode to air in 2010.  The contest opens today and will run until11:59 p.m. EDT Oct. 24.

Submissions are to be made at thesimpsons.com, although I just went to check out the site and the contest does not appear to be running yet.  Yahoo News quotes executive producer Al Jean as saying that entries should be "pithy and funny," and will also be judged by series creator Matt Groening.

Hmmmmm...I wonder if Springfield has a geek blogger?

Posted at 12:55 p.m. - Tuesday, June 9

It was on this day seventy-five years ago that an ill-tempered and cantankerous duck in a sailor suit would debut on the silver screen.  Yeah folks, it's Donald Duck's birthday!

To celebrate the occasion, Disney is offering a special once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to create a piece of history.  From D23: The Official Community for Disney Fans :

"For the first time ever, Disney is turning to fans to create an official portrait of one of its biggest stars.  Finalists in the Donald Duck 75th Anniversary Portrait Contest will have their work unveiled and displayed at the inaugural D23 Expo, which will be held September 10-13 at the Anaheim Convention Center, adjacent to DisneyLand.

The contest is hosted by D23: The Official Community for Disney Fans, and is open to all D23 Members who are 18 or older. Full-length oil, acrylic or watercolor canvas portraits of Donald Duck, no larger than 24” W x 36” H, are eligible.  Artists must first submit an original sketch, in any medium or size, of the planned artwork.  The submission form, as well as full contest rules and additional details, can be found at the official D23 website, http://www.disney.com/D23.  All finalists selected to have their works displayed will be eligible for two complimentary, four-day admission passes to the D23 Expo.

The creator of the winning portrait will receive an authentic “Duckster” – an award that Walt Disney personally commissioned in 1960 and which has been presented fewer than two dozen times to people who made significant contributions to the Walt Disney Studios.  The last time a “Duckster” was awarded was nearly 20 years ago, and only a few of these rare, bronze statuettes of Donald Duck remain in the Walt Disney Archives. Among the past recipients of the “Duckster” are Clarence Nash, the original voice of Donald Duck, and famed Donald illustrator Carl Barks."

Now, I've always been partial to the fowl-mouthed (get it? 'fowl'? LOL!) Donald myself, preferring his hot-tempered antics to the comparatively cool-as-a-cucumber Mickey Mouse.  As a matter of fact, the Noah's Ark sequence of FANTASIA 2000, starring Donald as the legendary ship-builder is my all-time fave.  Although, can someone explain to me why Mickey, Minnie and Goofy ALL WEAR PANTS but DONALD DOESN'T?

Posted at 10:05 p.m. - Friday, May 15

ATTENTION ALL FANBOYS & FANGIRLS!  Dark Horse Comics is joining forces with G4 to offer a sweet deal for the pop-culture fanatic who can prove their geekiness and/or nerdiness in an exemplary fashion and win a spot as a Special Correspondent at Comic Con International in San Diego!  Here's the 411 from the 'horse's mouth':

MILWAUKIE, OR, May 15 – Beginning today, G4 and Dark Horse Comics are kicking off a search for the ultimate Comic-Con fan who will receive the opportunity of a lifetime – the chance to appear in G4’s special coverage of the year’s most buzzed about convention. One lucky winner will be selected as a “Special Correspondent” to G4 and join “Attack of the Show” hosts Olivia Munn and Kevin Pereira, as well as Comic Book Expert Blair Butler on the show floor.  Dark Horse, one of the largest comic book publishers, with titles like Hellboy, Star Wars, Umbrella Academy, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Alien will also welcome the winner as their “official guest,” granting access to their special event and more. To enter, fans are encouraged to create a video that demonstrates their pop culture knowledge and on-camera abilities, and submit to g4tv.com/comiccon. 

Sounds like fun to me!  The winner will get airfare and accomodations provided, along with some cool swag and an opportunity to see a ton of behind-the-scenes stuff. The contest kicks off today and ends on June 22nd, so get those digital cameras going folks, and maybe I'll see you in San Diego!

Posted at 10:55 a.m. - Friday, March 13

Oh boy, this is one fight that's gonna be bloody:

In the brown corner: the 'Browncoats', fans of the under-appreciated sci-fi series 'Serenity' by Joss Whedon.

In the Red, White and Blue corner: the 'Colbert Nation,' followers of faux-pundit and uber-geekoid funnyman Stephen Colbert.

The Contest: Who can gets the most votes to have a NASA module named for their favorite show/personality.

As of this writing, Serenity leads the votes among the four names NASA had chosen for the public to vote on.  'COLBERT' is in the lead of write-in votes, this after Stephen Colbert himself rallied the Nation to visit the site and vote for him as a write-in candidate.

Now comes this spirited skirmish between the two Nerd Nations, exemplified quite nicely by some trash-talk on the No Fact Zone, a Colbert fan-site.

I've seen what the 'Whedonites' can do when they come together.  Last year they scored a massive upset by voting Buffy The Vampire Slayer as the Best Superhero in the RedEye Superhero Tournament, ousting such popular heroes like Superman and Spiderman.  But can they take down the Lord of All Geeks?  (I mean, the guy played D & D as a youngster and even had Gary Gygax sign his Dungeon Master Rule Book.)

So, just who is going to come out on top is anyone's guess, but I've got my money on the guy with the arctophobia. 

Look it up, already.  Isn't that what the internet is for?  ;-)

Posted at 8:15 p.m. - Monday, November 17

The 2008 Wonder How To Award winners were announced and a interesting bunch of DIY videos were selected.  Here's one of my favorites, where a guy who specializes in close-up magic scams people into believing he has super-strength.  It's so simple, so obvious, and yet so clever.

http://www.wonderhowto.com/awards08/magic/

Here are the rest:

                                                   

2008 WonderHowTo Award Winners
Category	Video
Magic	Lift a friend with super   hero strength
Dance	Belly dance
World War III	Build orange smoke   bomb
Hacks	Hack Google
Redneck	DIY a redneck   roller-coaster
Pranks	Pull the porn star toilet   prank
Weird Science	Make fire from a   potato, salt & toothpaste
Recession '08	Save gas
McLovin's Playbook	Remove a bra   with one hand
Oddballs	Toilet train a cat
Sex	Last longer in bed
Most Wonderful	Cook pancakes in   stop motion

Hmmm...'Toilet train a cat'?

Let me know if these videos work for you!

Posted at 8:35 a.m. - Monday, November 17

Geek to Me readers may remember a previous post when I told you about the Forbes Boost Your Business Contest and the participation of local business Targeted Technology Solutions, LLC.  Now it appears that TTS and their computer keyboard designed for young children have made the final round of the contest!

One of the great things about being a geek or a nerd is seeing your brethren succeed, especially if they're using their geekiness to help kids.

So now's the time when we show our support for a local business and vote!

Posted at 2:45 p.m. - Wednesday, October 15

This message got to me via Geek Mail.  Sounds cool so I'm passing it on to you, my readers, AKA the League of Extraordi-Nerdy Geeks :

'Hey Elliott!

Here at WonderHowTo.com, we have launched the inaugural WonderHowTo Awards.  What is WonderHowTo.com you ask?  It is the online super-site for all how-to videos.  You can learn to do pretty much anything on this site – finally giving you the instruction you need to pull of those MacGyver or Jack Bauer moves.

The 2008 WonderHowTo Video Awards celebrates excellent how-to videos in a variety of unique categories including Weird Science, Hacks, World War III, and McLovin’s Playbook, among others.  You will have the opportunity to vote on your favorite videos in each category once a day until November 13 when the winners are announced.

Be sure to tell all of your friends about the competition and you can snag a FREE WonderHowTo.com t-shirt.  Click here, as Jackass front man Johnny Knoxville and WonderHowTo President Stephen Chao tell you how.

Vote early and often for the WonderHowTo.com Awards!'

Check it out and tell your friends.  And don't forget to let them know you heard about it here on the Geek To Me blog!

Posted at 2:30 p.m. - Wednesday, August 13

Virgin Comics, ever the maverick publishing company, has pulled out the stops in promoting their newest upcoming title: NOWHERE MAN.  They're holding a contest where 5 lucky winners will get to hang out with Hugh Jackman...in a comic book!

Posted at 10:19 p.m. - Tuesday, July 29

So I'm walking down the terribly crowded aisles of Comic Con and this guy asks me a peculiar question...