Where’s Weebs? The big reveal

First, a great big THANK YOU to everyone who donated to Movember—between the US and Canadian teams, we raised more than $1,500! And an equally big THANK YOU to everyone who participated by growing a ‘stache, writing a Movember blog post, reblogging or tweeting Movember posts, etc.  It was a magnificent effort by all (and no, Le Clown, I’m not paying you royalties for using your word).

And thank you to everyone who participated in the Where’s Weebs? challenge.  I’ve had a lot of fun with this and hope you did too.

To refresh your memory, here were the ten photos you had to choose from:

And here’s how you guessed:

Number 1:   4 guesses
Number 2:   1 guess
Number 3:   3 guesses
Number 4:   8 guesses
Number 5:   3 guesses
Number 6:   2 guesses
Number 7:   1 guess
Number 8:   1 guess
Number 9:   9 guesses
Number 10:  2 guesses

Now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…

But first, here’s a bunny.

Just a few more seconds…

Wait, I forgot to show you this photo of a baby elephant.  Isn’t he the CUTEST???

All righty, here we go now.

Sorry, those are kittens.  My bad.

Okay, this time I mean it.  Wait for it…

Yeah, I’m #5.

Apparently this is not what you were expecting, because only three of you picked photo #5.  I know, I know, you’re thinking, “What the fuck, Weebs?  You’re smiling for the camera?!”  Yeah, I know.  But I had just brushed my teeth and I wanted to show off.

Hearty congratulations to the winners: Mike, John the Aussie, and Cathy.  Well done!  Each of you will receive a Weeble of your very own!

I suspect more people might have guessed correctly if I had posted this photo instead:

And as I promised, I’m also posting a photo of me with a mustache.  I have to admit, it does make me look quite dashing and really enhances my look. I’m just not sure I’m ready for the responsibility of having a mustache on a full-time basis.  It’s a lot to work and a lot of upkeep.  So I might just continue to go clean-shaven.

And now that you’ve seen not one, not two, but THREE photos of me, chances are excellent that you’ll never see another.  Because as you know, I hate the whole photo thing.  This was a great experience, for a great cause, and I don’t regret it.  But I’m going to go breathe into a paper bag now.

That which vexes me today. Also, some announcements

First, that which vexes me today:

Over the past several years I’ve noticed a disturbing trend among newscasters and other media folk regarding the pronunciation of certain words.

It started with the words “harass” and “harassment.”  My understanding was that they were pronounced “har-ASS” and “har-ASS-ment.”  Then reporters started saying them differently all of a sudden: “HAR-ris” and “HAR-ris-ment.”

A similar thing happened with the word “details.”  I’ve always pronounced it “DEE-tails,” as does everyone else I know.  Except that on television, they now say “deh-TAILS.”

Two of the latest words to get a verbal makeover are “coyote” and “Neanderthal. ” Instead of “ky-OH-tee,” it’s “KY-oat.”  And “Nee-AN-der-THAL” has morphed into “Nee-AN-der-TALL.”  Yeah, yeah, I know, in other languages you don’t pronounce the “h” when it immediately follows a “t.”  I don’t care.  I’m not speaking other languages.

Also, obviously these people haven’t been watching enough Looney Tunes; Wile E. Coyote himself always said “Ky-OH-tay”—which I assume is a regional thing, but it’s still in the spirit of the original pronunciation.

I mean, what the fuck?  Who decided on this change, and why?  These newfangled pronunciations sound pretentious and stupid. As if I needed another reason to loathe people.

I don’t like it. I will continue to say these words as I always have. And if I have to, I will launch a grassroots campaign to stop the madness and to make sure no other words are so cruelly mangled.

And now, some announcements.

First, tune in tomorrow for the Great Unveiling—when I reveal to the world which of the ten photos seen in the Where’s Weebs? contest is, in fact, Weebs.

Secondly (and much more excitingly), I am titillated and overjoyed to announce my upcoming collaboration with two spectacular women…

Throughout history, there have been many legendary trios:

Rush
FDR, Churchill, and Stalin
The Three Musketeers
The Three Magi
Larry, Curly, and Moe

Soon, another three will join their ranks:

Madame Weebles, Speaker7, and Jen Tonic

That’s right, you read correctly.  Start taking your vitamins now so you can handle the awesome.

Seriously??

The turnout for the Where’s Weebs challenge has been very low so far.  I am ensaddened by this.

I understand that it’s entirely possible that you’re overwhelmed by the extreme beauty of my photo.  It’s like looking at the sun, I know.  So dazzling.  Or, it’s entirely possible that you are so sickened by my photo that you haven’t stopped vomiting since yesterday.

But suck it up.  It’s for a good cause.  Wear dark sunglasses or chug Pepto if you must.  And no donation amount is too great or too small.

Also, if you’ve already donated to Movember, even if not for this challenge, I’ll let you play.  Because I’m a good sport that way.  And because I think it’s wonderful that you donated.

Go here now.  I’ll keep nagging if I have to.  You don’t want that, trust me.

Movember Challenge: Where’s Weebs???

The idea for this challenge came from the ingenious mind of Honie Briggs.  Thank you, Honie!

Below are photos of ten women.  Nine of them are my beautiful friends.  One of them is me, the camera-averse Madame Weebles.  Your challenge:  Figure out Where’s Weebs?

You’ll notice these are all black & white photos and I’ve cropped out details like hair, etc.  I’ve also stripped each photo of EXIF and all other metadata, in case you were thinking about trying to get some clues that way.  But to give you a sporting chance, here are some hints to help you out:  I’m white, and I sometimes wear glasses.  Sometimes.  So I may or may not be wearing them in my photo.

Each donation you make to the Bloggers to Movember team will buy you a chance to guess which one is me.  Put your cursor over each photo for the hovertext number to use in your guess.  You can enter up to three guesses, but you’ll need to make a donation for each guess.  It’s only fair!

If you’re in the United States, click here to donate.  If you’re in Canada, click here to donate.  When you fill out your donation form, please leave a note with your blogger name and include “Where’s Weebs” so I know who you are.

Le Clown set the bar pretty high; he’s already more than halfway to his goal of $1000 in donations.  I, too, would like to get $1000 in donations for our team, but I’m pretty easy (just ask Mr. Weebles).  Any amount I can raise for this worthy cause will be wonderful.

Of all the correct guesses, I’ll choose one winner at random.  If you win, not only will you get eternal bragging rights, but you will also get A WEEBLE OF YOUR VERY OWN, from my vast collection.

Please enter your guesses below.  You have until November 30th.  Let the games begin!

My Movember dilemma

As you know, I was not able to participate in the Official Kickoff of Bloggers for Movember.  So I have a wee bit of catching up to do.

I’m trying to come up with a special Weebles way to encourage as many people as possible to donate to our Movember team.

Other bloggers have come up with clever and unique contests where each donation counts as an entry, with prizes like one-of-a-kind artwork, special blog writeups, customized banners, etc.  I don’t have any artistic skills, so that’s out for me.  I could offer a blog writeup or a guest post, but I don’t want to be a copycat.

I’ve had only one idea:  if I get X amount in donations (with the value of X to be determined), I will post an actual photo of myself, wearing a mustache.  You may recall that I am notoriously camera shy.  And some of you have expressed curiosity about the woman behind the Weebles, so I would be willing to show my face for a good cause.  However, I’m not nearly arrogant enough to assume that this would be sufficient inducement for people to part with their cold hard cash.

So I’m going to do the only sensible thing here.  I’m going to punt it back to you.  What do YOU think would be a good incentive?  A contest?  Quiz?  Other?  I’ll choose whatever is the best or most popular idea in the comments area.  Within reason, of course, so do try to behave yourselves…