Zoomdoggle: More fun than work!

It all started with an argument between me and my Buckybuddy Craig. I called him a dick, he called me a douche. Nothing new there really, we have similar discussions about each other’s foibles almost daily (you can set your watch to it actually, it’s how I know it’s time for lunch). Yesterday however, he pointed out something interesting: While it was just me calling him a dick, the whole of the Internet seems to be in agreement over my douchery. No really, take a second to mull it over. A simple google search of my name along with the word “douche” returns thousands of results. And most of the first page actually refers to me. For example:

1. In 2005, I decided it might be fun to free a fish (a real live fish – all 25lbs of him) from a Chinese grocery store and release him into the wild. So I did. It was fun. Some people found it inspiring. Some people not. Many anonymous commenters called me a douche.

2. Later that year, following an appearance on G4′s Attack Of The Show, I posted a story about how/why that appearance got me fired from FHM… to which a commenter named “Pomp” said: “I thought you were a douche on AOTS, but not because of anything you said.” Good to know.

3. Remember when I figured out how to take laser finger pictures? Fun, right? Tim Giachetti noticed (in reference to me): “The expression on his face says, “Total club kid douche.” What a retard, hope his head explodes from eating X.” I never realized I was so expressive.

4. Remember when I tried to force a missed connection? Regarding that one, “Babyhiter” wrote: “This dude is a douche. he doesn’t care about love. all he cares about is getting some wookie on his wookie.”

5. And then there was the time I thought the Fiesta Ford had lent me was stolen. “SuperSedanMan” noticed something interesting (again, about my face):”Lol, poor guy, he is getting screwed. But than again, his face has “douche” written all over it. He looks like he should be driving and import, and singing with Justin Timberlake.”

6. Thanking customer service? Nothing wrong with that, right? But Anthony called me a “Danecookian level douche” while Jake D thought I was more of a “douche canoe.”

Keep in mind, these are all people who don’t know me but have somehow all come to the same conclusion. And what Craig doesn’t know is how many times I had to delete shockingly similar commentary from my old blog. So I guess it’s settled. Craig wins that round, but now I’m looking to you Internet… any idea how to un-douche? Short of that, any idea where I can find some hot chicks to take pictures with?

 

Yeah yeah yeah, I know I said no more PuppyNamer talk. Being a man of my word I’ll bite my tongue and resist the urge to tell you that Pup 3 is soon to be named Beatrix, or that, though I won’t be talking about it here, the site is still going strong.

What I would like to say however is that the Zoomdoggle Facebook group that we started to alert people every time a new puppy is put up for naming, has just crossed the 100 member mark. And we’ve decided to open it up some…

From here on out, any time Zoomdoggle does anything interactively awesome
(like the Gurn-a-Thon, or the Love Letters), or just something plain fun (like The Fun Idea Machine or Fun Text), we’ll be alerting people via the Facebook group as well. Not that often, just when we’ve got something really great.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN NOW and you’ll never have to miss out as the fun will periodically come right down your feed. How fun is that?

LINK: Facebook.

Hey Zoomdoggle, sorry to leave you high and dry. As some of you might have noticed, yesterday was the first business day in the year and a half Zoomdoggle’s been up and running that nothing got posted. Long story short, me and the very lovely Kristina (and the very handsome Cashew) decided to take a bit of an impromptu personal day. No big deal, but sometimes it’s fun to just drop everything and run. Today things were meant to return to normal here on the Doggle, but my morning hours – the pre-work hours when Zoomdoggle is typically written – were stolen by CBS’s The Early Show. Tomorrow we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled 5-to-8 post programming. In the meantime, you’ll just have to make fun without me. Or of me. Whichever makes you happy.

With some many requests for more BuckyBall giveaways, we decided to mix it up some. This time out, we’re looking to reward those who’ve learned to do something with their balls. It’s simple, make a video within the next 7 days, send it to us, and we’ll send you a free set! Give it as a gift, keep it for yourself, whatever makes you happy. But the fun doesn’t end there: We’ll reward the top 4 videos with $50 each. We’ll also put them on our YouTube channel and whichever has the most views at the end of a week, earns an additional $100!

Don’t have BuckyBalls yet, but want to get in on the fun? Fair enough. We’re slashing prices 10% for the first 20 Zoomdoggle readers who order a set at www.getbuckyballs.com. Just use promo code “Zoomdoggle” and watch the price drop.

Now for the fine print:

1. Videos should feature BuckyBalls in action… but just BuckyBalls (no faces, backgrounds, or props, just hands and balls).
2. Videos should be shot on a solid, dark background (ideally black), watch our video for reference.
3. Videos much display at least one shape being made or trick being performed and must be at least 1 minute in length. No editing required – a single continuous shot will do.
4. Video should be the shot and uploaded at the highest resolution possible. Anything better than cameraphones or webcams should be fine, but the bigger the file the better.
5. Lastly, by uploading a video, you give us the right to use it in any and all BuckyBall promo materials including but not limited to YouTube and TV.

Once you’re ready to go, push the “add” button on the BuckyBall Drop.io to send it to us. Then drop us a note with your name, adress, and the title of your video at getbuckyballs at gmail dot com and we’ll drop your free set in the mail, watch your creation, and smile warmly, content in the knowledge that others are loving our balls almost as much as we do.

LINK: Getbuckyballs and Drop.io.

 
3 players. 7 games. All of it for a good cause. Here’s how it works: “Beginning Friday, July 10, gamers from Lafayette, Indiana will host the second annual Mario Marathon benefiting Child’s Play Charity, which provides toys, games and books to patients of children’s hospitals world wide. The multi-day Internet event, broadcast live online, attracts an audience from around the world to watch as a team of three plays through twenty five years of Super Mario Brothers video games.” Last years lasted 57 hours and raised $12,000.

BONUS: Over the past year they’ve collected all kinds of sweet Mario Swag. They’ve stuffed it into the “? Blocks” below and they’re giving them away during the event.

Want to win a box?
For every $5 donated to Child’s Play during the event you’ll receive an entry in on of their 4 Donor Drawings. The 5th goes to someone on twitter: Help them promote the event by telling all of your friends on Twitter! Just include our hashtag #mariomarathon and you’ll automatically get an entry for the last box in the Twitter Drawing. How fun is that?

LINK: Mariomarathon.

We’re giving away one free set per day, from now until the 4th of July…

Ready to win? Just mention how much you want free BuckyBalls (www.getbuckyballs.com) on Twitter. We’ll be searching and randomly selecting a winner everyday. Not on Twitter? It’s OK. Just mention how much you want free BuckyBalls (www.getbuckyballs.com) in your facebook status update.
How fun is that?

NOTE: As facebook statuses aren’t searchable the way twitter is, if you go the facebook route you should probably also join our facebook group and let us know. We’ve also started posting how-tos over there, so if you’ve got a set already, now is a good to join.

CONGRATS 6/24 WINNER 1 @jcbstn77 (DM @jakehimself your address so we can send ‘em).

CONGRATS 6/25 WINNER 2 @Treezypoo (DM @jakehimself your address so we can send ‘em).

CONGRATS 6/26 WINNER 3 Gillian Morello via Facebook.

CONGRATS 6/27 WINNER 4 @Lasticko (DM @jakehimself your address so we can send ‘em).

CONGRATS 6/28 WINNER 5 @brassfield (DM @jakehimself your address so we can send ‘em).

CONGRATS 6/29 WINNER 5 Daniel Ozankan (DM @jakehimself your address so we can send ‘em).

CONGRATS 6/30 WINNER 6 Lori Anderson (send me your address so we can send ‘em out).

CONGRATS 7/1 WINNER 7 @manonfootpath (DM @jakehimself your address so we can send ‘em).

CONGRATS 7/2 WINNER 8 @ZippingMeteor (DM @jakehimself your address so we can send ‘em).

LINK: Getbuckyballs.

Mike G writes in to tell me that my Shower Balloons that people liked so much have gotten the nod from one of his favorite photogs, Sabino:

Not sure that I can really take the credit there—I’ve got believe that as long as there have been showers and balloons people have been combining them to great effect—either way, Sabino certainly used more balloons than anything I’d considered. Good times.

Jon Klein writes in to say that the T.Hanks photo I’d taken on my local pizza place, seems to have found a second life on Tumbler. CLICK HERE to see all the pass-around it’s gotten in just the past few days.

Again, fun, but I think the real credit goes to the owner who, as the counter guy told me, “put the dot in the word first… the Tom Hanks cut-out came a few days later.”

Lastly, Tatiana dropped me a line to share this picture she’d taken of an “Idea Machine” in a mall in Barcelona being used to promote ATTIC’08, The International Ideas & Invention show that takes place every year.

Look closely. There at the bottom. In the middle. Do you see what I see?

Yup, this one I just might take some credit for. How fun is that?

WHEN: Thursday, June 4th, 8PM
WHERE: NYC’s Collective Hardware, 169 Bowery
WHAT: An evening of photography, pretty faces, and fun supplied by Kristian Schmidt, arguably the funnest photographer on the face of the Earth (that’s him in the picture). Additional photos presented by Marcus Andersson, Yan Dandois, and Justin Polkey. A portion of all proceeds will be donated to Charity Water.

NOTE: On Monday I had the pleasure of speaking at Meet At The Apartment‘s ongoing series First Mondays. A great time was had by all and I highly recommend checking into their next event if you get the chance (it’s the first Monday of every month). While there though, someone asked who my influences are. I mentioned Kristian in my answer. His work makes its way into nearly every presentation I give, including the pitch for the magazine Zoomdoggle evolved from.

Remember that free car? Remember when I said it got stolen? Remember when we thought the NYPD was holding it without properly putting it into the system so it could be retrieved? Turns out the shocking reveal isn’t so shocking at all. I parked it in a tow-away zone… and I guess we (that is, just about everyone involved excluding the NYPD) had the wrong plate number all along. And not by a little bit.

Anyway, each month me and the car get a Ford-sponsored mission. This months, “Up, Up, and Away,” was travel themed and was meant to involve my taking a hot-air balloon ride. Only, as we now know, the car did some travel of it’s own. “Up, Up, and Away” indeed. The video below tells the story… kind of (bear with me, I had to make something from nothing).

A special thanks to the NY Post who came out and took some pictures when we thought the car was stolen (and being tracked via GPS), and Fox 5 who sent a helicopter over the impound to confirm the location of the car then sent a hidden camera in with me when we thought the NYPD was holding it without putting it into the system properly. The MVP award however goes to Gothamist who not only contacted the authorities (same as all the other news outlets and people involved) but were able to actually figure out that we had the wrong plate number, get the right plate number (honestly, that bit’s amazing, again we were more than a few digits off the whole time), and send me an email letting me know the car was now free for pick-up. Big tip of the hat. Big.

LINK: Fiestamovement.

Remember not so long ago when I told you Ford had lent me a car for 6 months… gas, parking, insurance, all included?
Remember when I said it got stolen?

The plot thickens:

If memory serves, last time we spoke Ford was tracking the car using the Lojack-like homing device they’d installed for just such an emergency. Turns out they were tracking the wrong vehicle. The one that on the joy ride from NYC to Boston, Connecticut and beyond? That wasn’t my car at all, just another car in the program. Nope, my car wasn’t giving off a signal at all. To some, this would seem to confirm the “stolen” theory (maybe the criminals, being smart enough to steel a car has a key-less ignition, had also disabled the device). I wasn’t so sure. But where could it be? The police said they didn’t tow it; their automated number said they didn’t tow it; hell, even my frequent and frantic calls to all of the city’s tow-lots all turned up the same response… “the NYPD does not have this car.”

This weekend though was supposed to be my first “mission” day. Ford had arranged for me and a lady (probably Kristina, but I reserve the right to call an audible) to take a hot air balloon ride. Only with storms on the horizon all weekend, the company running the thing was too scared to take the skies. With nothing else to do, I decided to go Kojack on this car problem.

STEP ONE: I staked out the place where I’d last seen the car. Kristina and I found a meter-man who said that on occasion cars get towed. And sometimes, just sometimes, they wind up in the system with the wrong plate number. When that happens, you’re pretty much screwed because the city will say they don’t have the car… and because they won’t let you walk around the lots they tow them to, that’ll pretty much be the end of it. Forever.

STEP TWO: Me and lady went to the main lot our friendly ticket-writer thought it would go to. They were closed, but did my best to see what there was to see through a fense.

STEP THREE: Run. It turns out “closed” doesn’t mean “empty.” When one of the at least two guards inside made eye contact, the police were summoned.

STEP FOUR: We returned about an hour later, and this time approached the problem from a different angle. The goal was to lift the lovely Kristina high enough so that she could see over a brick wall into areas of the lot I’d missed on my first pass.
“Hand me the camera,” she said, “I think I see something.”
I gave her my camera. She took just one picture, then it was “run” all over again. They really don’t like you hanging around this place.

At first glance the picture is fairly uneventful.

But wait, what’s that? Behind the blue car, backed up against the green van…

Those pink spots, that fun profile, those sleek yet powerful lines… yup, that’s my car.

Here’s the really fun bit though, I just got off the phone with place – again – they still say they don’t have the car and that it would be impossible to see in. Weird. That’s no fun. What to do now? Any ideas?

LINK: Fiestamovement.