2013 Caption Contest final tally!

And here's the final tally from the 2013 Caption Contests! Congratulations A.J. and all who played! I'll have new pictures (and reset the stats) starting next week!

Week 52 winner!

I’ll be taking next week off from the Caption Contest – so Patrick Stayton is the final winner of 2013! Congratulations Patrick on your third win, and thanks everyone for all of your hilarious contributions!

Honorable Mentions: Woody Woods: "Got to get there before the kid with the drum. Seems like a newborn would rather hear a soothing baritone than a kid beating a drum."; Stupid Guest Trick's Zazu: "Three kings ... and a Joker."; G Scott Lewis: "We three kings of orient are.... Followed by a 'Bat in a car..."; Christine Bledsoe Jamieson: "Unfortunately Brad forgot that it was a hump day too! Awkward...."; and Will Carleton: "Gold? Myrrh? Frankincense? Ha! Jesus gonna love his new go-kart!"

Thanks to all who entered! See you next year!

Caption contest for Dec. 27!

CAPTION CONTEST, Week 52 – How would you caption this picture? Comment below! The same pic will show here and on Facebook. I'll repost the pic with my favorite caption on Friday. As always, no prizes, other than the glory/infamy of being chosen.

Week 51 winner!

Ah, something about Christmastime brings out the sarcastic humor in my friends! Quite a few “Usual Suspects” references among the entries, but this one was my favorite. Congratulations Alan AJ Irby on your seventh win!!

Honorable Mentions: Doug Lewis (with another Usual Suspects caption): “When houses started burning down on Christmas Eve, nobody suspected Keyser Santa.”; My mom Gail Randall: “...And the war on Christmas takes a turn for the worse....”; and Stupid Guest Trick's Zazu: “Casting for the stage version of ‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’ was not going well." 

Thanks to all who entered! New picture coming Monday!

Caption contest for Dec. 20!

CAPTION CONTEST, Week 51 – How would you caption this picture? Comment below! The same pic will show here and on The World of Wombat (http://theworldofwombat.blogspot.com/). I'll repost the pic with my favorite caption on Friday. As always, no prizes, other than the glory/infamy of being chosen.

Week 50 winner!

Tough one for me this week with so many good entries, but I had to give the edge to my fellow marsupial Bryan White with this wordy but funny entry. Congrats Bryan on your first win!!

Honorable Mentions: Alan AJ Irby: “Wombat finds a solution for ending Icemageddon 2013. Heat Miser applauds.”; Lisa Lavelle: “Off his meds, Brad deals with his Hallucinations....”; and Stupid Guest Trick's Zazu: “Yeah, well, the weather inside is about to get frightful, too!" 

Thanks to all who entered! New picture coming Monday! 

Book review: To Cure the Humans

To Cure the Humans is the kind of story that I would write if I were actually as clever as I imagine myself to be. And, you know, if I were ever disciplined enough to make myself sit down and write a book.

The novel, the first from Austin-based author Douglas Lewis, is a sci-fi comedy set mostly on Earth. The story centers around an alien, Peter of Blutaark, who has a remarkable piece of technology called the “BAT” which has the ability to diagnose and cure almost any ailment in any species. Peter’s not exactly the rightful owner of the BAT, so there’s an inept bounty hunter on his tail. A few unlucky humans find themselves caught up in the chase, and the troubles escalate when (also inept) executives from insurance and pharmaceutical companies join the hunt, each with their own designs on the BAT. And of course a shadowy (and inept) government agency that deals with aliens soon becomes involved, throwing all of their resources into the matter – or at least those resources that aren’t away on a company canoe trip.

Don’t get caught up in the odd plot. As with the most famous books of another Douglas, Douglas Adams, the details of the story really aren’t that important. (Note that each version of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy – radio series, book, television series, computer game, big screen – contains major plot differences.) It’s the quirky characters and snarky humor that pull you in and keep you laughing all through the convoluted ride. Yes, comparisons to Adams are tossed around quite a lot these days, but To Cure the Humans comes as close as any book I’ve read to capturing the exuberant irreverence and parodies of storytelling convention of Adams’ best. What happens doesn’t matter nearly as much as how it happens. This book is loads of fun, and highly recommended.

To Cure the Humans is available on Amazon and Goodreads.

(Note: As I’ve mentioned here before, more and more of my friends are becoming authors as time goes by. In this case, though, I didn’t know Doug Lewis before reading his book – he was a friend of a friend-who-became-an-author who then himself became an author, and is now a friend. Read that through again if necessary, it really does make sense. Doug graciously provided me with a free copy of To Cure the Humans with no obligation to read, like, promote or review it.)

Caption contest for Dec. 13!

CAPTION CONTEST, Week 50 – He's Mr. Snow Miser, but I've got a flamethrower. How would you caption this picture? Comment below! The same pic will show here and on Facebook. I'll repost the pic with my favorite caption on Friday. As always, no prizes, other than the glory/infamy of being chosen.

Week 49 winner!

You all were just full of Christmas cheer this week! Well, full of Christmas something… Congratulations to Stupid Guest Tricks’ Zazu, who gets his third win with this endearing and slightly disturbing caption!

Honorable Mentions: SGT’s PatchOBlack: “Yes, I am the real Santa, but I can't just give the Vocal Majority the gold in the International Chorus competition....”; Darren Grabowski: “Cover photo for Brad and Santa's brand new Christmas Duet album ‘Two For Christmas’”; and two from Alan AJ Irby: “The Macy's Santa Claus suddenly and unexpectedly resigned today for unspecified reasons. In potentially related news, he was seen at the hospital complaining of lower leg pain.” and “In other Hollywood news, recently unearthed pre-casting tryout photos for 'Miracle on 34th Street' turned over interesting (some might say disturbing) candidates for the role eventually filled by Natalie Wood.” 

Thanks to all who entered! New picture coming Monday! 

Caption contest for Dec. 6!

CAPTION CONTEST, Week 49 – Ah, Christmas time. SO many possibilities for caption contest pics! How would you caption this picture? Comment below! The same pic will show here and on Facebook. I'll repost the pic with my favorite caption on Friday. As always, no prizes, other than the glory/infamy of being chosen.

Week 48 winner!

Sorry for the delay in posting – isn’t it worth the wait? Don’t answer that – but aloha and congratulations to this week’s winner (and one of only a few residents of Hawaii I know) hobie16 from Stupid Guest Tricks! It’s his first win! 

Honorable Mentions: Lisa Lavelle: “Brad enthusiastically volunteers, thinking The Hunger Games is some sort of gourmet taste-off....”; G Scott Lewis: “I volunteer as tribute!! Do I get to kiss Katniss?”; and Lyn Robbins: “Because he raised the wrong hand and, inexplicably, said ‘May the Force be ever in your favor!,’ Brad was relegated to the back row.” 

Thanks to all who entered! New picture coming Monday!