GISHWHES scavenger hunt team 2012

October 30, 2012 9:36 AM

We formed a GISHWHES 2012 team, of sorts. Did you want to see what we are up to?

Some of you may remember from this thread that a keen group of scavengers were girding our loins for a grueling, short duration hunt. The list was released today and we thought some of you would like to see what we are looking for: 151 items to photograph or video

We are furiously collaborating via spreadsheet to find these items, but we can't share that with you. If something on the list does jump out as easy for you to find, please get in touch with me. Some we have covered, many are not. My email address is in the link if you want to get in touch, or if you know a guy that knows a guy, feel free to pass it on.

The competition closes in 5 days and 12 hours at the time of posting this so I won't be able to hang around this thread and play in my best capslock finery. Contact us directly through the link if you can help.

Hope us Metafilter!

posted by Trivia Newton John to MetaFilter-Related at 9:36 AM (28 comments total)

(another team member here)

International folks that are able to make it to any of the locations on the list your help would be appreciated. The localized ones that we can't complete on our own are:

- [IMAGE] You and 8 of your friends standing outside the Copenhagen City Hall. One of you, smiling, is holding a large sign that says: "Denmark - ranked 2012 'World's Happiest Country!'" Everyone else in the photo must be either pissed off or crying. Mascara must be running.

- [IMAGE] You and 3 of your friends/family dressed like Egyptians in a chariot on the steps of the Wellington Monument in Dublin.

- [IMAGE] There is a quote on a piece of paper stuck to the bottom of a bench overlooking the bay in Sausalito. Find it and follow directions. If the paper disappears the points will be deducted from the last team to a link.

- [IMAGE] Go to the Grimm Brother's statue with 10 of your friends and dress up and pose as a "Fairy Tale gone bad!"

- [IMAGE] Belgium is known for its beer. Go to A La Becasse Brewery and hold up a GISHWHES labeled beer.

- [IMAGE] Drop a school bus (may be a toy bus) into red, molten lava from an active volcano.

- [IMAGE] There is a quote on a piece of paper stuck to the bottom of a bench in front of a massive LCD screen in Wuhan, China. Find it and follow directions. If the note disappears the points will be deducted from the last team to the last team to a link to an image.

- [IMAGE] A bookstore on the Left Bank declares "Be not inhospitable to strangers lest they be angels in disguise." Stand in front of this Parisian landmark dressed as an angel holding up a sign saying, "Don't touch me."

- [IMAGE] Rio is the location for the next summer Olympics. In front of the Christ the Redeemer statue, you and 6 of your friends must all be dressed in different Olympian athlete event costumes, and each of you must have at least one piece of equipment (bow and arrow, javelin, pole vault, discus, paddle, puck, etc.) and must be posing as if you were competing in the sport. You may NOT choose tennis, cycling, golf, basketball or football/soccer. If you choose equestrian as one of them, we must see the horse.

- [IMAGE] In front of Hallgrimskirkja, you and a friend hold up two signs and two bags of ice. One sign says "Welcome to Iceland!" the other says "Keep your hands off our ice!"
posted by [insert clever name here] at 10:20 AM on October 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

Just to let people know-one of the rules is you can't share any of the images or video you get or GISHWHES until AFTER the hunt is over. It's just six days (well five days and 11 hours) so it's not so long to resist temptation.
posted by miss-lapin at 10:21 AM on October 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

Oh and if anyone has a santa outfit in NYC one of the challenges is a photo of a person in a santa outfit with a sack of toys at a PO in line with ten people. I figure at one of the major POs (like at 85th and 2nd) it would be totally easy to get that pic if someone has a santa ensemble!
posted by miss-lapin at 10:22 AM on October 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

I wish I'd managed to sign up!
posted by Pronoiac at 11:47 AM on October 30, 2012

I'm glad I didn't. Good luck y'all, sounds like you'll need it.
posted by RolandOfEld at 12:56 PM on October 30, 2012

Wow, I do not envy those on this scavenger hunt, though I certainly look forward to the results. Some of these don't even seem possible to me! If you still need #84, I am a Shiite Muslim (...not very religious or observant, but I assume it counts?) in the LA area, and would be happy to have a cultural exchange dinner with a Sunni! Good luck!
posted by yasaman at 1:15 PM on October 30, 2012 [4 favorites]

I'm on the team - if anyone's in London this weekend and fancies meeting up with me to attempt a near-perfect on-location recreation of a scene from Harry Potter, drop me a MeMail. Locationwise I'm in a good place to do this, but my friends and acquaintance are displaying a marked reluctance to get roped in.
posted by Acheman at 1:25 AM on October 31, 2012 [1 favorite]

So, so glad im not involved in this.
posted by Joseph Gurl at 4:06 AM on October 31, 2012

Do the videos have to filmed in the time frame allotted? Or can you use footage previously made that you find (and verify as real), like on YouTube? If the former, #104 seems kind of weird and hinky to me.
posted by bluefly at 9:56 AM on October 31, 2012

Madamina and I are arranging "Whip My Hair" for four-part chorale as we speak.
posted by KathrynT at 10:02 AM on October 31, 2012 [5 favorites]

Uh guys I appreciate you're glad you're not involved but I am and I'm even in post sandy NYC so it's not really inspiring to hear how happy you are not to be involved. I've completed one challenge and I'llhave another one at least today if not three so a little "go team go" would be nice if you're not willing to do anything else to help. (And yes one of the challenges is showing what you're doing to help post Sandy survivors. Not to mention the random acts of kindness challenge.)
posted by miss-lapin at 10:09 AM on October 31, 2012 [1 favorite]

Also kathrynT I'm dying to see that vid.
posted by miss-lapin at 10:11 AM on October 31, 2012 [1 favorite]

I can't imagine I'm the only one with an acquaintance with a stormtrooper costume in this crowd. Have you done that one already?
posted by divka at 12:02 PM on October 31, 2012

I've made a note on my calendar to look for GISHWHES sign-up info a bit more timely than 13 hours before the deadline and post about it next year, so maybe we can have a full team or two of MeFites participating.
posted by hippybear at 5:33 PM on October 31, 2012 [2 favorites]

I've got a friend that has the storm trooper costume (and a pool)! I haven't reached her yet, but I'm pretty confident I will be able to in the allotted time. At least I hope so . . .
posted by [insert clever name here] at 8:57 PM on October 31, 2012

Not one university engineering society has responded to my request for assistance with a catapult. Is beer not a standard currency for student engineers these days?
posted by Trivia Newton John at 10:08 PM on October 31, 2012

[IMAGE] We’ve all heard of a “flea circus”. What do “flea strip clubs” look like?

Private showings only.
posted by fleacircus at 11:02 PM on October 31, 2012 [4 favorites]

I thought someone around here would fancy having a go at #66
posted by Trivia Newton John at 4:19 AM on November 1, 2012

[VIDEO] Recode a version of the original Pac Man so that the ghosts are now unicorns and Pac Man is the face of George Bush. Then play a game.

Seems like someone around here ought to be able to do this one, right?

A lot of these require that they be done by "you", as in, the team- so in the spirit of things, it seems like it wouldn't help to have someone else's picture wearing kitchen utensil armor or eating dinner with a puppet, I'm assuming? Not that there aren't plenty of "find this weird thing" type items on the list that outside mefites might be helpful with.
posted by Secretariat at 8:47 AM on November 1, 2012

Oh god oh god oh god.

Making my church choir sing "Whip My Hair" -- even the version that KathrynT and I wrote, which might as well get my two years of college-level music theory revoked -- may have been one of the most humbling things I have experienced in my life. And you have to understand, here: I have a parent who enjoys standing on a street corner dressed as a carrot.

There are not enough doughnuts in the world, people.
posted by Madamina at 8:06 PM on November 1, 2012 [1 favorite]

Madamina, that was the most awesome thing to behold with my ears (behear?). Thank you so much for making it happen!
posted by Freyja at 7:55 AM on November 2, 2012

I have a cousin who can maybe do #26. He says he has the commodore 64 on a stool already, just by happenstance, and he is the kind of guy who could source a camera like that. Let me know if he needs to spring into action.
posted by KathrynT at 6:45 PM on November 2, 2012

he also could do 105 for SURE and mmmmmaybe 84.
posted by KathrynT at 6:47 PM on November 2, 2012

Actually he's throwing ideas at me so fast and furious, just let me know what you still need done.
posted by KathrynT at 6:48 PM on November 2, 2012

Memail me if you come up with anything that's partway done in Portland, and maybe I can help- for example, I just saw the camera for #26 yesterday in a store window near my house, so if someone had the commodore 64 I bet we could talk them into letting us photograph their camera.
posted by Secretariat at 7:35 PM on November 2, 2012

Kathryn, I would love you to spring into action. I've shared the team's working spreadsheet with you so you know where we are up to with things.
posted by Trivia Newton John at 10:51 PM on November 2, 2012

Can you share it with me, too? I don't think we can get the news desk one after all, but who knows.
posted by Madamina at 11:33 AM on November 3, 2012

Sadly GISHWHES is over. I miss emails from my teammates and even doing things like coming up with a spur of the moment "psycho" Brady ensemble in an apartment with no heat. However, for those interested Misha is hosting another event Christmas Will Never Be the Same . I'm already signed up because I'd like to try one of Misha's challenges when I have heat.
posted by miss-lapin at 11:19 AM on November 9, 2012