#newyorker magazine caption contest #363

January 1, 2013

So, like last time, you can put your caption here as a comment.  But better yet is to click on the picture, go to the New Yorker magazine website, and enter your caption in their contest.

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“C’mon.  It’s just my nose.  Not like last week.”

______________________________

Now get on with your creative bad self and come up with a caption.  You can’t win if you don’t enter.

Also, click on the picture below if you’d like to vote for one of the finalists from two week’s ago.

121217_contest_p465

1.  ”As long as it has four wheels, two headlights, and one steering wheel, we’re happy.”
Submitted by Pavel Cupal, Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y

2. “It’s a toy!”
Submitted by Gale Davis, Pasadena, Calif

3.  ”Mazda tov!”
Submitted by Aziz El-Tahch, New York, N.Y

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Posted by brainsnorts

#newyorker magazine caption contest #361

December 12, 2012

So, like last time, you can put your caption here as a comment.  But better yet is to click on the picture, go to the New Yorker magazine website, and enter your caption in their contest.

And – yes – there is something creepy about this one, and I made a caption quickly so I didn’t have to keep looking at it.

 121217_contest_p361

“Batteries included!”

______________________________

Also – I didn’t post last week’s cartoon because it wasn’t appearing on my screen for some weird reason.  There was just some kind of symbol in a little box, as if possibly my computer was blocking the image.  Oh well.

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Posted by brainsnorts

#newyorker magazine caption contest #358

November 26, 2012

So, like last time, you can put your caption here as a comment.  But better yet is to click on the picture, go to the New Yorker magazine website, and enter your caption in their contest.

 

“Okay, Doc.  Where would I like it?”

Now get on with your creative bad self and come up with a caption.  You can’t win if you don’t enter.

______________________________

Also, click on the picture below if you’d like to vote for one of the finalists from two week’s ago.

1.  ”Frankly, Sheila, I find this the most awkward part of our divorce agreement.”
Submitted by Ronald Rubin, Topanga, Calif.

2.  ”I hate our therapist.”
Submitted by Jorn Earl Otte, Mount Hope, W.Va

3.  ”I have the same exact dog.”
Submitted by Steven Baumholtz, Pleasant Valley, N.Y
.

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Posted by brainsnorts

#newyorker magazine caption contest #357

November 17, 2012

So, like last time, you can put your caption here as a comment.  But better yet is to click on the picture, go to the New Yorker magazine website, and enter your caption in their contest.

 

“Of all the things to ask, you want to know if his name is Jerry?”

Now get on with your creative bad self and come up with a caption.  You can’t win if you don’t enter.

______________________________

Also, click on the picture below if you’d like to vote for one of the finalists from two week’s ago.

1.  ”I’m up here.”
     Submitted by Jake Lane, Dobbs Ferry, N.Y

2.  ”I think the hormones are kicking in.”
     Submitted by Eugene L. Morgulis, Boston, Mass.

3.  ”Don’t laugh—it got my uncle out of the Army.”
     Submitted by Ric Teller, Santa Clarita, Calif.

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Posted by brainsnorts

#newyorker magazine caption contest #354

October 17, 2012

So, like last time, you can put your caption here as a comment.  But better yet is to click on the picture, go to the New Yorker magazine website, and enter your caption in their contest.

 

“I understand your hesitation, but if you won’t let me do the procedure, then you’ll just have to go pluck yourself.”

Now get on with your creative bad self and come up with a caption.  You can’t win if you don’t enter.

______________________________

17 Comments | writing | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by brainsnorts

#newyorker magazine caption contest #353

October 9, 2012

So, like last time, you can put your caption here as a comment.  But better yet is to click on the picture, go to the New Yorker magazine website, and enter your caption in their contest.

“Sorry.  I thought maybe a focus group would help me focus.”

or

“Well, they said to call if it lasts more than four hours.”

Now get on with your creative bad self and come up with a caption.  You can’t win if you don’t enter.

______________________________

Also, click on the picture below if you’d like to vote for one of the finalists from two week’s ago.

 

1. ”Come on! Do you have any idea how long it took to get through the turnstiles?”
Submitted by Michael Briddon, Cambridge, Mass.

2. ”Sheep Meadow? No, we wanna see the ‘Seinfeld’ diner.”
Submitted by Jon Bander, Astoria, N.Y.

3. ”For your information, I have a client who has a lot of trouble sleeping.”
Submitted by Richard Lee, Santa Monica, Calif.

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Posted by brainsnorts

#newyorker caption contest 343

July 24, 2012

 

So, like last time, you can put your caption here as a comment.  But better yet is to click on the picture, go to the New Yorker magazine website, and enter your caption in their contest.

 

“Horsepower?  You call that horsepower?”

 

Now get on with your creative bad self and come up with a caption.  You can’t win if you don’t enter.  Also, click on the picture below if you’d like to vote for one of the finalists from last week’s cartoon.

 

 

 

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Posted by brainsnorts

New Yorker caption contest #335

May 15, 2012

So, like last time, you can put your caption here as a comment.  But better yet is to click on the picture, go to the New Yorker magazine website, and enter your caption in their contest.

 

And don’t forget to vote on entries from two weeks ago.

 

Now you can vote on those finalists here:

http://contest.newyorker.com/CaptionContest.aspx?tab=vote

Meanwhile, get on with your creative bad self and come up with a caption.  You can’t win if you don’t enter.

My caption for the one above with the horses:        

“Sometimes the unions go a little too far.”

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Posted by brainsnorts

New Yorker Magazine Caption Contest #331

April 18, 2012

“Just ignore him, Bill.  Let him pass.”

Every week, The New Yorker magazine has an excellent caption contest.  You create an online account, and then you freely go to the link and submit your caption.  After about a week, there’s a vote among the top three captions, according to people at the magazine with no sense of humor.  Most weeks, the three finalists seem to suck.  Very often, the winner is a random thing that has nothing to do with the picture.

Regardless, it’s fun to enter.  Give it a shot.  You might like it.  I’ll attempt to remember to bring you each week’s cartoon for you to write a caption.  Click on the picture, and it’ll go to their site.

Ready….go.

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Posted by brainsnorts

- amazon breakthrough novel award

March 20, 2012

At the end of January, when I stopped teaching, I thought about the writing I’ve been promising myself to do for many years.  The first thing I did was put a couple of previously written, poorly written, novels for sale as ebooks.  There’s the Barnes and Noble “nook” and the Amazon Kindle as well as ebook sites such as www.smashwords.com and www.goodreads.com.

While on the Amazon site, I noticed a contest known as the ABNA.  Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award.  It’s a contest that involves uploading an entire manuscript as well as a short except of about 5,000 words and a synopsis.  There was no cost, but there was a cut off at the first 10,000 submissions.  Luckily, I was in on time.  The sponsors are Publisher’s Weekly magazine and Penguin Books.

At the end of February, the 10,000 was trimmed down to 1,000.  I had actually forgotten about it until I saw an e-mail telling me to go to their site and see if I made it to the next round, which I did.  I then set a reminder in my phone for March 20, which was today, which was the next round of cuts down to 500.  Luckily, I made it through again.

About another month from now there will be only 100 left.  Then in another month only 3 left.  At that point, there will  be online voting for Amazon.com customers combined with “celebrity” reviews of the three finalists.  The winner gets an advance of $15,000 plus a publishing contract with Penguin.  I’ve been told that very often the non-winners will be offered contracts if the reviewers – from Publisher’s Weekly magazine, like their work.  All entries that have made it thus far will get a thorough and complete book review from Publisher’s Weekly.

So – in about a month or two, I might be calling on some people to go to amazon.com, create an account – which is free – and then vote for my book.  I’ll let you know when.

Here’s one of the reviews I was given:

ABNA Expert Reviewer   The Curse

What is the strongest aspect of this excerpt?

The immediate disgust the author gives the reader for Hayden Greenbury is startling. I think that is easily the strongest aspect of this particular excerpt. Right off the bat we see what type of man Hayden is-murder, rape, disrespect, and that is just the tip of the iceberg. Here is a man that freely admits to loving money above all else. He holds money in the highest regard, and when I read the Stranger’s price I wondered what Hayden would have done if he had to part with his half daughter, or his wife? Would they be expendable? When an author can create such an immediate sense of dislike for a character I know I want to continue reading, if only to see Hayden get what is coming to him. OR perhaps see his redemption.

What aspect needs the most work?

I think the only flaw so far is the name of the book. It is such a generic name, that sadly I would probably pass right over this story in the bookstore or on a website. Granted the curse is at the heart of his story, and what a doozy of a curse this is, but I would still love a more intriguing title, something that sparks some real interest.

What is your overall opinion of this excerpt?

I was hooked right from the beginning. The author has already created such a reprehensible character in Hayden that I would keep reading if only to see what happens to him. But then we have the curse, the stranger and the sad man in the shack at the end of this excerpt? Is Hayden the man in the shack? And who is the woman that is watching him through her telescope? How much time has passed? But the real question for me is what is Hayden’s final tale? Will he get what he deserves or does he somehow redeem himself? Has he learned anything? The answers to those questions would keep me reading.

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Posted by brainsnorts

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