Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Dork Flag: Flying

Here for DorkFest?

Good for you. Explanation here. Commentary on Day One below. Feel free to let fly in the comments.

But First: They Clearly Read My Saturday Post!!!

Holy crap, look what I saw in the 'gonian!


I quote: "On the cusp of the state's susquicentenntial, Oregon needs a flag as distinctive as the place and its people. We invite Oregonians of all ages and backgrounds to tap your creative juices, grab a pencil -- and draw a new flag."

So, yeah, they are totally stealing my idea. But that's cool. We small media outlets are just happy to see our ideas get "out there," no matter what bloated journalistic juggernaut gets all the glory and credit!

But needless to say, I will be submitting all of the winners of last January's Beaver State Flag Makeover contest to this new effort. Maybe NOW the Governor will have to pay some attention. In the meantime, I encourage you apply individually, and to send copies of your entries in to the L&TM5K as well.

"To Enter: Flag designs must be rectangular, on a 3 x 5 card or one of that proportion, and one side only. They can be any color or combination of colors, but no gradated colors. Designs must be original. On the back of your entry, print your name, address, and phone number. Mail to Joan Carlin, 1320 SW Broadway, Portland, OR 97201."

Yeah Yeah Yeah, But What About DorkFest?

Well, DorkFest has certainly kicked into high gear! Quite a few contestants have been impressive in the first day of action:
  • Morgan not only checked in first, but revealed through a flurry of messages that he was actually sitting there watching the countdown in the final minutes before the 'Fest began. Seriously dorky behavior.

  • Sitting Vice-Dork Fingerstothebone has demonstrated that she doesn't mind throwing a few elbows. That's good!

  • Yankee in England got all scatological on us.

  • Jennifer let her vulnerabilities show, sharing some of her insecurities -- her feelings of both excitement and dread of potential disappointment -- regarding DorkFest. Very dorky!

  • Rex Parker announced that he would not be competing, then failed to not submit his lack of non-evidence over six comments before emailing in such visual evidence as this picture of his desk:

  • Rebel, who if memory serves thought that DorkFest '07 was just kind of weird, strutted her Dork in impressively comprehensive fashion on her blog, Work in Progress. [About which, without reference to the contest, can I just say: have you all been following her adventures in Thailand?!? Gooood stuff.]

  • ...and then Rex and Rebel got in a little bit of a scuffle, which I thought was excellent form. As was gl.'s abuse of the host.

  • d got in the second known dedicated DorkPost on his Mishaps, Mayhem, and Merriment.

  • ...and it just keeps coming: MJ, Sandy, karma, Boo -- I mean, BOO, the woman who brought you Fillup Monkee! We've got Dork in strength here, people! Even Blythe messaged me, complaining that there hadn't been a DorkFest Evite -- a gambit that put her right there in the running, I thought.

One thing is very, very clear. Sitting Dork G and I are not going to have an easy time of this.


Are the Judges for This Thing Really Qualified?

Here's the opening paragraph of G's current post:

Oh my god. After I emailed the professor [of my class on African masquerade subtitled: "Rhetoric, Theory, Practice")] a few sections from books I'd read recently, she suggested and approved a research topic on the trope of masks/ masquerade/ masking in contemporary romance fiction. She thinks it might be publishable. You know what this means, right? I’m going to read romance novels FOR A RESEARCH PAPER. OH MY GOD OHMYGOD OHMYGOD. I almost just jumped around the campus screaming with glee. Seriously.
Me? Well, when I read online yesterday that Paul Krugman, my very favorite economist, had been awarded the Nobel Prize, I leapt out of my office chair, pumped my fist, and shouted "YESSS!" And then -- this is the good part -- I tried to explain to my co-workers why I was excited.


The Dorky "Wednesday Weigh-In" Feature

+2 to 213, 3 over plan. And where I started. Which sucks! But, I nevertheless think that I am in some ways on the right track. Just wait 'til next week....

20 comments:

Rex Parker said...

Aw geez, you can't post the pic w/o the commentary... here's the text that accompanied the above pic:

Actual photo of my desk - the only thing that wouldn't normally be there are the shoes. There is the watch I spoke of. And my limited edition Charlie Brown statue. And foam Homer and Krusty dolls. And two timers, each with a different purpose - the orange kitty kat one, which I use for keeping my blog-writing under control, and the white digital one (just behind the heel of the shoe), which I use to time paper-grading (10 minutes and out!). See also the copy of "Tiny Titans," a superhero comic for children, where the Teen Titans are all, well, tiny. Like, in grade school. I am a subscriber. [cough]

rp

Yankee in England said...

So Rex I think your shoes would look cooler if you actually wrote stuff in them. Work on that and get back with a picture. It would make my year.

Yankee in England said...

So I am throwing my hat in the ring. http://elapsm.blogspot.com/2008/10/dork-fest-08.html

Christine M. said...

Ok, I have posted my feeble entry here:

http://christinemannix.blogspot.com

Jennifer said...

I obsess over pointless questions like why Dorkfest is October, whether it has anything to do with it being my birthday month (is egotism dorky?), why it started on both a different date and day of the week last year than this year, and why there's no countdown timer to the end of Dorkfest so I know how to pace my comments.

I believe in justice and have serious difficulty reconciling the real world to the way it ought to be, even when I ought to know better.

Now, I'm going to post on clothes, and I don't want to get docked because clothing isn't a dorky thing. Trust me, we're not talkin' cool clothes here:

I like to record what clothes I wear on what day so I can make sure that I don't wear the same thing two Wednesdays in a row, e.g. And I often wear clothes according to a "Language of Clothes" (known only to me, however, which means it's not a real language), where I convey covert messages through what I wear.

I sometimes pick a day and declare it a secret holiday and celebrate it by myself. Favorites are ones centered around friends, especially far-away friends, where I choose my clothes, music, food, etc., in order to celebrate that friend, either focusing on that friend's favorites or on experiences we've shared. I've never told a friend about this, though.

(Am I big on the secrets? Well, until Dorkfest came along, I was!)

Anonymous said...

1) What's a desk?

213) M5, at his point in the diet one says things like "it's better distributed" and "my clothes are fitting better" and "when I leapt up at work in a celebratory cry over Krugman winning the Nobel prize, the gorgeous female colleague who I've been secretly smitten with for over a year, and works nearby, asked 'Are you losing weight?'".

Jennifer said...

Perhaps I should also mention that I started driving with my emergency brake on yesterday because I was so busy mentally composing a list of dorky things about me. (Or maybe I shouldn't. . . )

Yankee in England said...

jennifer- don't tell your husband I once caused $200 worth of damage to our car because I drove for about 2 miles with it on and thought whats that burning smell. That burning smell was the last of our brake pads dying.

Anonymous said...

Well, if my X-Files obsession didn't do the trick last year, I'll have to step it up a notch. Currently scheming my game plan.

G said...

Hmm. I am wondering, M5K, if dork-fest related comments should be reposted in the dork-fest comments? Thanks for the shout-out! (But why no link to the post?)

Michael5000 said...

@g: eh, the whole week is DorkFest! Let the comments fall where they may...

Rebel said...

OMG OMG OMG!

1. They *totally* stole your flag upgrade idea! You've got the documentation. Do you realize... do you *realize* that when the flag does change, you can totally tell people it was your idea. Like, when you're all old and crotchety sitting in a rocker on your porch and the kids are playing in the street you can tell them - Back in ought 8 we had a really shitty flag... but then I told the gov'nuh it was time for a change... (somehow I imagine that when you get old you'll have a southern accent)

2. Did you notice that the submissions were to be on *one* side only? =)

Bridget said...

EEEK! Thank you thank you thank you for making me get my feeble eyes over to your blog! They're going to have a flag contest! I'm back in the running! THAT IS SO COOL!! (and so, considering this a sign from the gods, I throw my hat into the dork ring by encouraging you to first visit http://eyesaflame.blogspot.com/search/label/Oregon%20Flag%20Makeover%20Project)

gl. said...

my write-in candidate is fillup monkee. boo could accept the prize for him if she wanted.

Jennifer said...

Am I the only one worried to have Morgan's posts that haven't come yet hanging over our heads? I mean, there he is, waiting eagerly for the beginning, posting first, even coming back and posting briefly again, without any real dork credentials yet. "More to come," eh? I'm just waiting for the other shoe to fall here. . .

I CAN'T TAKE THE SUSPENSE!

:-)

fingerstothebone said...

Yeah, I thought of you when I saw that in the paper!

McGuff said...

After the initial elation over a mainstream Oregon flag contest, I'm now quite concerned about the fine print.

"By entering you release all rights to the design and agree to let it be submitted to the Legislature for its consideration.".


Imagine the 10's of dollars of royalties lost.

I just don't know if I can submit to such oppressive terms. My Dorkfest entry is in disarray now because I'm so distracted and distraught. Though it's good to see NM, AK, SC and the former Republic of Texas put forward as examples of fine flags. OK MD too. Sad, the legend defining them.

Anonymous said...

I can see the bar is way too high for me in this competition. I'm not really such a dork as all that.

Which, I've noticed, is just the kind of comment guaranteed to produce a long, long, awkward silence if I utter it in a social setting.

gl. said...

@mrs5000: i suppose it depends on the social group. :)

Rebel said...

@Mrs5K - that's what I was saying last year, you're not a dork, you're just artsy-fartsy. =)


But we love you anyway.