"What am I Saying?" Wednesday

”What Am I Saying?” Wednesday, or perhaps WAISW(?), can be traced back to an e-mail I received a few weeks ago from Captain Eucalyptus, A.K.A. Scott. Cap had an interesting request:

Help a Brother Out

Feel like helping me win a contest (or heck win it yourself)? Take a picture of yourself holding a printout of the sign that I've attached and shoot it back to me in an email.

Details here http://crunchgear.com/2006/08/24/
six-degrees-of-crunchation-contest/

Granted it's not strictly speaking what the rules say to do but as he says in the comments section he wouldn't disqualify someone. The quicker you do it the better as the contest deadline is Thursday. If you want to win it for yourself that's cool.

What was I to do? Within reason, I usually can't deny a request that begins with the phrase, “Help a brother out.” It's an unwritten rule, excluding the fact that I just wrote that, of course. So I guess technically it was an unwritten rule. The request was reasonable, save for the fact that I'm the Mysterious Cloaked Figure. I'm sure even the five people on my blogroll who've seen me in real life have no idea what I really look like. The dilemma extended beyond sending a photo of myself to a complete stranger. Even if I owned a printer, I didn't have the same fonts or software as Scott, and so the sign he attached to his e-mail was of little use beyond indicating what he wanted it to say.

“Help a brother out.” The words haunted me, even as a solution formed in my unique brain. I'm an art director. I didn't need the sign, only a blank piece of paper. The words could be digitally added with ease. I suppose I could have hand written a sign as well, but far be it from me to ever take the simplest route. I contemplated various ways to conceal my identity, from shooting in the dark to cropping my head. I realized some part of my face would have to show, for the entry to be of any use to him. Otherwise, he could have taken a picture of himself. I don't actually own a cloak, but I was certain I could improvise. Within an hour, the following photo was submitted:



Handsome devil, aren't I? Look at that hint of a Clooney-esque eye; why can't I find a girlfriend? Free time breeds creativity, if nothing else, so I decided to take the original unretouched photo, and try a contest of my own:



The rules are simple. By any means within your abilities, fill in the blank sign. That's all there is to it. Post the photo and leave a link to your entry here. You can submit as many images as you like, but only one can be the winner. I'll share the results next Friday, September 22nd. The deadline is midnight, EST, Wednesday, September 20th. Keep it clean and clever.

Historically, I haven't had much luck with voting participation, so I'll probably choose the winner myself. I welcome any input though, and if enough people protest, I may open it up to a vote, if I think I can get accurate and significant results. I may consider the possibility of second and third place prizes if participation is high enough. Obviously if there are only two submissions, that won't happen. As for the prize itself, the winner has a choice of:

1) A Free Digital Alteration: Want to see your head on a different body? Run with a famous crowd? Maybe you'd like to update your banner? Send me a photo and a reasonable retouching request and I'll see what I can do.

2) A Video of Me Congratulating You: To be clear, I'm still MCF, so you won't see my face in such a video. But you will hear my voice, so that's something new.

3) A Third Nifty Prize: I'm not sure what else I have to offer, but make some suggestions in the comments section and maybe, just maybe, something will jump out at me.

I think I've hit all the important points. I look forward to reading everyone's signs, and hope they all don't say “I'm with Stupid!” with an up arrow. Good luck, everyone!