The BAT Challenge: Playing Favorites Results!

Which of the nominees in Caption Contest 182 (Victoria Roberts's totem pole cats)was my favorite? Myra and Deborah picked

"Yes, Officer, they say he was about six feet four, with pointy ears and abnormally short arms."
Alexia Kauffman (Arlington, VA)

but Debbie went with

"I wasn't laid off—I just decided to pursue other interests."
Christy Yoest (New York, NY)

while nobody, but nobody, picked

"Hello, YouTube? I've got something you might be interested in."
Judy Goldberg (Brooklyn, NY)

And you know what? I didn't pick that one either! What tickled my fancy (and that of voters at The New Yorker) was Alexia Kauffman's submission. Which means that Myra and Deborah advance by one point each!


The current standings:

14 Deborah (includes WWI? credit and Attendance Award and bonus point)
12 Ellen (includes one WWI? credit)
12 Myra (includes 2 Attendance Awards, one 3/3/09 photo credit, and an unredeemed Bronze Medal credit)
10 Debbie (Gold Medal and Attendance Award plus unredeemed Silver Medal and Silver Medal and Bronze Medal and WWI? credits, plus February 2008 and November 2008 WWI? credits)
10 Scott (Two Gold Medals plus two unredeemed WWI? credits)
9 Gary (Gold Medal and Silver Medal plus three unredeemed WWI? and one unredeemed Silver Medal and one unredeemed Gold Medal credits)
7 David (Bronze Medal plus Attendance Award)
2 Luke N. Atmaguchi
2 Daniela
2 Dolph (Bronze Medal)
1 bellj
1 Myron
1 Trapezia

Debbie and Deborah and Ellen and Gary and Myra and Scott can send in their own photos—or propose their own BAT challenges!

Cartoon Caption/Anti-Caption Contest Coverage Continues

Two nominees from New York could have won Caption Contest 182 (Victoria Roberts's totem pole cats) but the spoiler turned out to be

"Yes, Officer, they say he was about six feet four, with pointy ears and abnormally short arms."
Alexia Kauffman (Arlington, VA)

Was this caption my favorite? Stay tuned to find out!


The nominees in Caption Contest 184 (David Sipress's body outlines on bar floor) are

"So what makes you think we need a health inspector?"
Galen Lloyd (Charlottesville, VA)

"Beat it, buddy. We're out of chalk."
Paul Snare (University Place, WA)

"Seven men walked into a bar and died. What's it to ya?"
Lisa Peters (Minneapolis, MN)

Nothing from me on this one.


The winner of Anti-Caption Contest 185 (Mick Stevens's naked man chasing fish out of water) is

"The ape should've come before me. Next time I'll try thinking about baseball."
Damon

My loser:

A rare surviving cel from the prototype of the Pepe Le Pew cartoon series. Note that the cat was originally a fish and the eponymous skunk was originally a cheerful naked man nicknamed Slippery Dick. The concept was reputedly sent back to the drawing board after Mel Blanc experienced problems developing a consistent voice for Slippery Dick. Copyright Warner Bros. 1944

Caption Contest 186 is here. Anti-Caption Contest 186 is here.


THE STANDINGS

Here is the current New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest breakdown by state. You can find it all (almost) mapped out here.

31 California

30 New York (26 from the Big Apple)

13 New Jersey

11 Virginia (five from NOVA, two from Richmond, one from Charlottesville, one from Newport News, one from Roanoke, one from Stanardsville)

9 Illinois (seven from Chicago, two captions by Lawrence Wood, two drawings by Leo Cullum)

8 Massachusetts

6 Connecticut (two from New Haven, four not)
6 North Carolina (two from Charlotte)
6 Pennsylvania

5 Maryland (none named Mary)
5 Texas (three from Houston)

4 Arizona (two from Tucson)
4 Georgia (includes two-time winner Carl Gables)
4 Ohio

3 Michigan
3 Minnesota (Minneapolis 2, St. Paul 1)
3 Rhode Island
3 Washington

2 Alaska
2 District of Columbia
2 Florida
2 Mississippi
2 Missouri
2 New Hampshire
2 Oregon (both named Eric, both from Portland)
2 Utah
2 Vermont

1 Alabama
1 Arkansas
1 Delaware
1 Iowa
1 Kentucky
1 Louisiana (New Orleans)
1 Nevada
1 New Mexico
1 Oklahoma
1 Wisconsin

Map Introduction

Thanks to Andriy Bidochko for Map Builder.

Parodic The Gothamer illustration realized by Deborah Grumet from concept by David Marc Fischer

The BAT Challenge: Playing Favorites

As you might recall, the nominees in Caption Contest 182 (Victoria Roberts's "totem pole cats") are

"Yes, Officer, they say he was about six feet four, with pointy ears and abnormally short arms."
Alexia Kauffman (Arlington, VA)

"I wasn't laid off—I just decided to pursue other interests."
Christy Yoest (New York, NY)

"Hello, YouTube? I've got something you might be interested in."
Judy Goldberg (Brooklyn, NY)

Which of the three is my favorite? One guess per player, with winning guesses (submitted by 6pm ET Saturday, March 21, 2009) getting one point each.

Anybody can play—just make sure you use a distinct moniker so we can tell you apart from the usual gang of players, such as Debbie and Deborah!

Cartoon Caption/Anti-Caption Contest Coverage Continues

The winner of Caption Contest 180 (Paul Noth's life raft survivors eating fruit off a Carmen Miranda-like skeleton) is

"Here's to Little Miss 'Don't You Touch My Hat.'"
Kevin Forhan (Seattle, WA)

This third win for Washington was a blown opportunity for front-runners California and New York.


But New York has a big opportunity coming up, because the nominees in Caption Contest 182 (Victoria Roberts's cats in totem pole formation) are

"Yes, Officer, they say he was about six feet four, with pointy ears and abnormally short arms."
Alexia Kauffman (Arlington, VA)

"I wasn't laid off—I just decided to pursue other interests."
Christy Yoest (New York, NY)

"Hello, YouTube? I've got something you might be interested in."
Judy Goldberg (Brooklyn, NY)

My loser:

"I don't know their breeds, but I think they're Native American."

Maybe I should have gone with "I don't know their breeds, but I think they're totem polecats."


The Anti-Caption Contest appears to be on a hiatus.


Caption Contest 184 is here


THE STANDINGS

Here is the current New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest breakdown by state. You can find it all (almost) mapped out here.

31 California

29 New York (25 from the Big Apple)

13 New Jersey

10 Virginia (four from NOVA, two from Richmond, one from Charlottesville, one from Newport News, one from Roanoke, one from Stanardsville)

9 Illinois (seven from Chicago, two captions by Lawrence Wood, two drawings by Leo Cullum)

8 Massachusetts

6 Connecticut (two from New Haven, four not)
6 North Carolina (two from Charlotte)
6 Pennsylvania

5 Maryland (none named Mary)
5 Texas (three from Houston)

4 Arizona (two from Tucson)
4 Georgia (includes two-time winner Carl Gables)
4 Ohio

3 Michigan
3 Minnesota (Minneapolis 2, St. Paul 1)
3 Rhode Island
3 Washington

2 Alaska
2 District of Columbia
2 Florida
2 Mississippi
2 Missouri
2 New Hampshire
2 Oregon (both named Eric, both from Portland)
2 Utah
2 Vermont

1 Alabama
1 Arkansas
1 Delaware
1 Iowa
1 Kentucky
1 Louisiana (New Orleans)
1 Nevada
1 New Mexico
1 Oklahoma
1 Wisconsin

Map Introduction

Thanks to Andriy Bidochko for Map Builder.

Parodic The Gothamer illustration realized by Deborah Grumet from concept by David Marc Fischer