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Home » Donors Choose and Contests

Fall contest ahoy!

Submitted by on September 17, 2007 – 9:34 PM63 Comments

The TN Fall Contest is set to launch on October 1 — once again, we’ll be raising money for Donors Choose as part of their Blogger Challenge.   Stay tuned for goal updates.

Before we start, though, we’ve got a little business to take care of. First, prizing — if you’d like to donate a prize, please email me at sars at tomatonation dot com. I’ll offer the usual array of gift certificates and whatnot, but if you’d like to join the fun, drop me a line.

Second, I need ideas for an incentive for the bonus round. Things I will not do include: shaving my head again; shaving one of the cats; bungee-jumping; registering as a Republican in New York State; getting another tattoo.

Other suggestions I’ve received:

1. go to a Red Sox bar in full Yankee-fan regalia

2. live-blog the entire World Series

3. a culture cram — the top 5 donors pick a bunch of movies and I have to watch and review them in a single weekend

4. dress up in some outrageous clown costume and walking down Wall Street that way, singing “Damn, It Feels Good To Be A Gangster”

5. NOT shaving, providing regular photographic updates on my armpit hair (…I don’t make the news, folks, I just report it)

6. shoot a video of myself doing the post-kiss sidewalk dance from My So-Called Life

7. eat a hamburger

8. go a month without alcohol (or cheese, or saying anything mean)

9. stay awake for 72 hours

10. “Beard of bees!” (see: my comments on #5)

11. ride a mechanical bull

12. “celebri-date”/Sars Pub Night in the city that raises the most money

13. offer guest spots on The Vine

14. learn to juggle; film the pathetic attempt/results

Off the top of my head: #1 isn’t quite stunty enough (unless someone has a Bucky Dent uniform shirt I can borrow). #2 is doable and sounds fun to me, but not so great for the readers who don’t care about baseball. #s 3 and 4, both doable; #4 in particular, with a few location tweaks, could be hilarious if I a) go to work dressed like that and b) film my entire day, including meetings. #5, meh; it’s about to be long-sleeve weather. #6 is too easy. #7 is…well, predictable, and also gross, and, you know, you can always rent Jackass 2.

Now, #8…#8 has possibilities. It’ll be like Tomato Lent-tion. Or something.

#9 is not happening because I’m too old. #10 is not happening because I don’t want to die. #11, meh. #s 12-14, all doable, and #14 could get awesome very quickly (note: I will not juggle cats, or at least not my own…sleeping kittens, maybe).

Any other ideas? Care to make me pay for your generosity by forcing me to give up booze for a month? Let’s hear it in the comments.

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63 Comments »

  • John says:

    No. 4 could be fun–would you want to add the challenge of memorizing the lyrics to “Damn It Feels Good to Be a Gangsta”? (Assuming you haven’t already.) I just looked (having known it only from “Office Space”), and that is one long song.

    Nos. 12 and 14 also have some appeal.

  • Krissa says:

    (Tisha…OKC unites! I’m North Side, though)

    I love that the only qualifier on the costume is that it not be pro-conservative agenda.
    So many other things would make my list, but that is funny.

  • KAB says:

    #12 ROCKS. Although #4 is also pretty funny. I understand you can’t do recaps here, but what about having to do the A2J recaps on TWoP? Or are you trying not to cross the streams?

  • Michael says:

    I’d like number 3 with a twist. How about the collective music videos of someone canonical and self-important like Madonna or Michael Jackson? Speaking as someone who enjoyed the Elvis special on TWoP, I’d love to see something on, saaaay… Moonwalker.

  • TWoP Fan says:

    Heh. I think you should have to come out here to Utah and ask some missionaries to come and tell you about the Mormon church. I know you think you can do that anywhere, but seriously, it’s not the same unless you are on their turf. It can take HOURS. I’ve been here for 24 years and they still aren’t completely convinced that I won’t change my mind.

    And the you should sing them “Damn it Feels Good to be a Gangsta.”

    Also, you need to watch the movie ‘Sons of Provo’. Of course, it may only be funny to Utahans. (Utahites? Whatever.)

  • Krissa says:

    TWOP fan: I’ve always liked “Utahnians.” :) But what do I know?

  • Loralei says:

    Okay, so they may not accept you as a contestant or anything, but I imagine just spending the day waiting in line at say, the AI auditions or something (or even better, SYTYCD) would be plenty torturous and also make for a hilarious report. Especially if you show up in a clown costume and use Damn it Feels Good to Be a Gangsta as your audition piece before they kick you out.

    As far as existing options go, I vote #3. And at least one of the movies should include The Rock in a leading role.

  • Sars says:

    What if I dressed up as a tomato?

  • herschel says:

    american idol audition, using “gimme more.” in costume or not.

  • Erin says:

    Well, I certainly don’t want to torture poor Sars. I like her. I vote for number three, too. That way we get lots of fun stuff to read.

    Okay, I’m going on vacation now.

  • Krissa says:

    …and threw yourself at bad street performers…

  • Christine says:

    I like the idea of recapping the movies. Especially if they’re really, really bad movies. Bad teenage movies. Craptastic horror movies. Sappy, formulaic romantic comedies. Pure comedy gold.

  • Jen S says:

    How about recapping a movie out loud while waiting in line for a reality show audition while playing “Gangsta” on a boom box and juggling? It would at least get you on the “mock the hopefuls in the waiting room” portion of the show.

    No? Hmm… how about nude modeling for an artist’s school for a day? You could post the best resulting sketches online (it’s art!)

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