Just to warn y’all, this post has nothing to do with writing per-say, but it does relate to creativity and insanity — two things any writer can relate to! *wink* So why not come down memory lane with me and learn what it is like to film Snake Oil commercials and take photos of a “Wood fired Jacket.”
This is how it all began: Last month, in November, I readily signed myself up for GISHWHES. What the hell is that you ask? Well, it stands for: Greatest International Scavenger Hunt the World Has Ever Seen! And oh boy, was it huge! There ended up being something like 6,000 participants from 65 different countries around the world. The whole thing was started by Misha Collins, an actor, who specifically plays the role of “Castiel” on a little show called “Supernatural.” Knowing that his “minions,” — what he lovingly calls his Twitter followers — would help him in the insane task of breaking a world record, he contacted Guinness. And so it began. We were going to help him break the record for: Largest digital scavenger hunt and we were ready, willing and able. The countdown began. Once we were assigned our teams, we waited with baited breath for the “item list” which consisted of either photos, videos and even websites/pages and i-phone apps, of which WE as participants had to create ourselves. When we did get the list, holy cow, were we in for some challenges, but we were ready… mostly… yeah, I’m pretty sure. On the list there were a possible 219 items to “secure.” You know, stuff like: A photo of someone completely covered in cotton candy and the only part of them that can be showing is their face, which has to have lipstick all over it. OR: A 30-second stop-motion animated short of a Cabbage Path doll doing a strip tease. You know, normal stuff like that.
For this competition I don’t think I had done so much arts and crafts since I was a kid and I learned quickly how to use windows movie maker. I also learned how to do a stop-motion animation, which I never thought I’d ever do. So yes, I did do the strip tease using a Cabbage Patch doll. I never would have guessed as a kid “Maggie” to be such a dirty, dirty dolly! Haha
So over all, the GISHWHES experience was amazing. My team mates were wonderful and worked hard to secure as many items as possible and we worked together quite well. Altogether we managed to do 26 videos, 66 pictures and I believe 2 websites. I think we did awesome!
I remember when it was all said and done, I was actually sad that it was over. I enjoyed the comradery, the go, go, go, part of the hunt and definitely the creativity that went into making each picture and video the best and entertaining it could be. I also discovered that for the most part if I have to make a fool of myself, I will.
Even though a good two weeks has passed since the hunt ended, they are still going through the 10′s of thousands of items. As far as I know, we are still not allowed to share our pictures or videos. Although we were given permission to show a couple of pictures and one video. Those I will show here and have a link to the one video. The other video is a blooper video for the Snake Oil commercial. So enjoy. This is what GISHWHES was about.
Here is the link to my team’s “Random Acts of Kindness” video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0zUoU-NBU4
Here the link to the bloopers of the Snake Oil Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15s9LzhZg4Q
#147: Show true love. Caption: Being Married 65 Years Without Strangling Your Spouse. (even though it sometimes seems very, very tempting)
Item #8: The reaction on someones face after being on the receiving end of a "Dutch Oven." Interpret however you like
I thought that since I’m working on the 3rd instalment to my Vampire Saga, and that I recently came up with the title one night while writing, it got me thinking about book titles in general and figured why not blog about it? To me a book title is just as important as the cover. They should work together, visually pulling a reader to want to touch the book and the title to drive the reader to pick it up and look at the back cover. With SO many books out there it can be hard to come up with at alluring title, but it can’t just be a cool title, it does have to reflect what you are about to read. As a writer I find coming up with a tittle is one of the hardest parts. I leave my manuscript as “Untitled” until it hits me and usually I don’t change it, but I have had to rework a title in the past. For example, with Awakened, it was changed slightly as the story itself changed and evolved. As for my newest book, I have titled it… wait for it… wait for it…. you ready for this? Wait for it….. Monarchy of Blood. *smiles* Every time I write it, see it, read it, it makes me smile. To me, because no one else has really read it yet, it encompasses my newest instalment completely. I cannot wait to share it with y’all! Soon, very soon.
