What did you think of Holiday Funfest 2002?
News:
Mailbag for January 27th, 2003
It’s So Hard to Think of Titles
I've been going to this site ever since ssb came out and made earthbound my fave game of all time, but this is the first time i've decided to actually enter. I think the funfest was awesome! Just seeing stuff fans made to celebrate the holidays with nintendo filled goodness several times every year makes me happy to see that people are still huge fans of Earthbound and show off their fun talents to share with us at starmen.net. Especially fanarts and comics :D
For this year, I think that the Holiday funfest did better because there wasn't so many ^%$@&^# flukes! They're everywhere!! RUN!! Ok, so dont.I don't dislike them but when the funfest is filled to the brim with them, it really got on my nerves. The holiday funfest also had more quality, because some of the stuff peeps made were accompliced in about five minutes.
The eb tree by jigglysama wowed me, making my entries look like Master Belch's twin cousin that was hit with the ugly stick thirty or fourty times (well, not THAT bad, but you get the picture). It kinda made me want to try something like that too, so I dashed for supplies to make my very own EB ornament. It's a tenda i'll hang on my tree every year, and when im an old gimpy lady, my grandkids 'll sit around the fireplace, point to it on the tree and say:
" WTF is that??"
Ok, maybe they wouldn't use the profanity...but i still must give Jigglysama kudos for that sweet entree. Get it? Kudos? Sweet? Entree? ....forget it...
I also have to say that another fave of mine was the Mr.Saturn Plush made by zenmaster. *squeals* OHHH!! ITS SOO CUTE!!!! I WANT ONE! Then I can toss em at people like in ssbm :D Still, other that the pink, cute fuzzyness, I think that it was one of my favorite entrees. I mean, it was made in pretty decent condition (note: removable whiskers by accident) and it was a great and original idea. Good job!!
And another honorable mention from moi, to Emilio's 'getting ready' picture. I really like her artwork, especially how she makes it so 'cute-like'. Theres even a tomato and reid ornament! She also did a great job on the cg. NICE!
That pretty much wraps it up for my mailbag entry. Now if you excuse me, there's the starmen.net forum i'm trying to squeeze into. ( AAAAH! WHEN'S MY^%#&^@! PASSWORD GONNA COME IN THE MAIL?!? GRR!!)
--TANI

Congrats on writing a Letter of the Week
Be honored! Be happy!
It seems like the topic of Flukes has taken over nearly everybody this week. There’s no denying it, it’s a full-on Fluke invasion. But there are still some good Flukes among the hoards of space-suckers. Anyway, it’s cool to hear you enjoyed the Funfest. We aim to please. I can tell you really got into the Funfest this year, and I also have to agree that if a certain Zenmaster does not send me a Mr. Saturn plushy in precisely negative ten minutes, I may just explode cuz’ its so fuzzy and cuddly! I just want to hug my widdle Saturn when I’m down, and then find the person responsible for my bad mood and incomprehensibly mash them into submission with said Saturn and his super Saturnarific power. If it weren’t for a certain Nintendo and their certain boogery lawyers, Zen would so make a fortune selling those Mr. Saturns. Especially if they had a little thing in the nose that went “Boing!" when you squeezed it.
…for some reason, from your mentioning of a super-cool Tenda ornament, I got the strangest implication to go model a 3D Tenda in Maya. I’ll get back to you if I ever finish / start. I’d do it this very minute if it weren’t for a certain Mailbag. Though interestingly I’m almost done. There’s no rhyme nor reason as to the order in which I respond to letters, really. Congratulations and happy January!
--GuyInSummers

Congratulations on writing a Least Boogery Letter of the Week! I think emilio is a guy though. Since you're right about everything else you said, though, I'm going to go out on a random thought.
Why do we let people say "wtf" but still discourage swearing? I smell hypocricy on the air. What does a bedraggled parent say when a young child asks them "What does 'wtf' mean?" Do they redirect the conversation to something easier to talk about, like how babies are made? I think that, as a family-oriented site, we should all make an effort to stop using this acronym. It's not conductive to coherent speech anyway - too many posts on the forum are just like "WTF??!?!?!?!ONE SIX BOO." Everyone did a great job with stopping the "CLICHE TUESDAY" comments, and I think that this is just taking that one step further.
Anyway, congratulations again to TANI. Now read the rest of the mailbag, it's a good one this week.
--- SimonBob
For this year, I think that the Holiday funfest did better because there wasn't so many ^%$@&^# flukes! They're everywhere!! RUN!! Ok, so dont.I don't dislike them but when the funfest is filled to the brim with them, it really got on my nerves. The holiday funfest also had more quality, because some of the stuff peeps made were accompliced in about five minutes.
The eb tree by jigglysama wowed me, making my entries look like Master Belch's twin cousin that was hit with the ugly stick thirty or fourty times (well, not THAT bad, but you get the picture). It kinda made me want to try something like that too, so I dashed for supplies to make my very own EB ornament. It's a tenda i'll hang on my tree every year, and when im an old gimpy lady, my grandkids 'll sit around the fireplace, point to it on the tree and say:
" WTF is that??"
Ok, maybe they wouldn't use the profanity...but i still must give Jigglysama kudos for that sweet entree. Get it? Kudos? Sweet? Entree? ....forget it...
I also have to say that another fave of mine was the Mr.Saturn Plush made by zenmaster. *squeals* OHHH!! ITS SOO CUTE!!!! I WANT ONE! Then I can toss em at people like in ssbm :D Still, other that the pink, cute fuzzyness, I think that it was one of my favorite entrees. I mean, it was made in pretty decent condition (note: removable whiskers by accident) and it was a great and original idea. Good job!!
And another honorable mention from moi, to Emilio's 'getting ready' picture. I really like her artwork, especially how she makes it so 'cute-like'. Theres even a tomato and reid ornament! She also did a great job on the cg. NICE!
That pretty much wraps it up for my mailbag entry. Now if you excuse me, there's the starmen.net forum i'm trying to squeeze into. ( AAAAH! WHEN'S MY^%#&^@! PASSWORD GONNA COME IN THE MAIL?!? GRR!!)
--TANI

Congrats on writing a Letter of the Week
Be honored! Be happy!
It seems like the topic of Flukes has taken over nearly everybody this week. There’s no denying it, it’s a full-on Fluke invasion. But there are still some good Flukes among the hoards of space-suckers. Anyway, it’s cool to hear you enjoyed the Funfest. We aim to please. I can tell you really got into the Funfest this year, and I also have to agree that if a certain Zenmaster does not send me a Mr. Saturn plushy in precisely negative ten minutes, I may just explode cuz’ its so fuzzy and cuddly! I just want to hug my widdle Saturn when I’m down, and then find the person responsible for my bad mood and incomprehensibly mash them into submission with said Saturn and his super Saturnarific power. If it weren’t for a certain Nintendo and their certain boogery lawyers, Zen would so make a fortune selling those Mr. Saturns. Especially if they had a little thing in the nose that went “Boing!" when you squeezed it.
…for some reason, from your mentioning of a super-cool Tenda ornament, I got the strangest implication to go model a 3D Tenda in Maya. I’ll get back to you if I ever finish / start. I’d do it this very minute if it weren’t for a certain Mailbag. Though interestingly I’m almost done. There’s no rhyme nor reason as to the order in which I respond to letters, really. Congratulations and happy January!
--GuyInSummers

Congratulations on writing a Least Boogery Letter of the Week! I think emilio is a guy though. Since you're right about everything else you said, though, I'm going to go out on a random thought.
Why do we let people say "wtf" but still discourage swearing? I smell hypocricy on the air. What does a bedraggled parent say when a young child asks them "What does 'wtf' mean?" Do they redirect the conversation to something easier to talk about, like how babies are made? I think that, as a family-oriented site, we should all make an effort to stop using this acronym. It's not conductive to coherent speech anyway - too many posts on the forum are just like "WTF??!?!?!?!ONE SIX BOO." Everyone did a great job with stopping the "CLICHE TUESDAY" comments, and I think that this is just taking that one step further.
Anyway, congratulations again to TANI. Now read the rest of the mailbag, it's a good one this week.
--- SimonBob
It’s So Hard to Think of Titles
Ah, the Holdiay Funfest! Nirvana to some, bane to others. It is my humble opinion that funfests get better every year/time/funfest. With new folks showing of their unique skills and veterans showing off new skills. So, logically, I believe that Holiday Funfest 2002 was spectacular. I love Holiday Funfests far more funfests; they jsut seem... more fun, and festive, really. I was surprised this year. There are usually a ton of Flash movies. Maybe I missed some but I didn't watch many... I love watching flash movies, y'know? Now I'm all sad. Sad like a FOX! Bruhey. Hmm... My favorite entry is probably that Fourside Christmas Website. It's really creative and funny to boot. I truely hope that someone gets some mighty fine recognition for that... I can't say I'm happy with the winners considering that they haven't been announced as of my writing this. I guess I'm just an early bird. However, I'm am 100% positive that they will be judges fairly, so I can premtively say: Yes. Yes I am.
Rock over London, rock on Chicago, Ore Hana Daro?
--MadWilliamVane

RaSeb’s entry was definitely one of my favorites, especially when just admiring the creativity that must’ve gone into it. Then again, I couldn’t see it winning a major division sadly because it didn’t fit any of them. I mean, it obviously wasn’t music. Maybe it could count as art, but in that sense, it couldn’t possibly compare to things like Artemis’s Winter Romance. So I suppose Bob really made the only choice he could. And here to probably talk about the exact same things I just did is Bob himself.
~GiS

FoursideDept.Com was one of my favourite entries this year, but it brings up an interesting point: What kind of prize do I give it? It's not really art or literature in the traditional sense. If I ever run this again, I'm putting in "Best Creative Entry" as a major category. But enough about me. You're sad like a fox, bruhey? Don't be sad, be glad! You're a darn good writer, and I enjoyed reading your entry almost as much as I enjoyed watching flesh-mutilating virii eat stick figures.
--- SimonBob
Rock over London, rock on Chicago, Ore Hana Daro?
--MadWilliamVane

RaSeb’s entry was definitely one of my favorites, especially when just admiring the creativity that must’ve gone into it. Then again, I couldn’t see it winning a major division sadly because it didn’t fit any of them. I mean, it obviously wasn’t music. Maybe it could count as art, but in that sense, it couldn’t possibly compare to things like Artemis’s Winter Romance. So I suppose Bob really made the only choice he could. And here to probably talk about the exact same things I just did is Bob himself.
~GiS

FoursideDept.Com was one of my favourite entries this year, but it brings up an interesting point: What kind of prize do I give it? It's not really art or literature in the traditional sense. If I ever run this again, I'm putting in "Best Creative Entry" as a major category. But enough about me. You're sad like a fox, bruhey? Don't be sad, be glad! You're a darn good writer, and I enjoyed reading your entry almost as much as I enjoyed watching flesh-mutilating virii eat stick figures.
--- SimonBob
Well, Duh
Obvisly, better than last year! Why, you ask?!?! I wasent at Starmen.net last year! ha.....
--Carmino

I have a feeling SimonBob can tell you which Funfest was the best.
~GiS

That's why we invented archives. To be honest, I don't like ranking the Funfests on a scale from best to worst because they're all pretty awesome.
--- SimonBob

That’s very kind of you, SimonBob, being fair like that. If I did the Funfest, I’d probably be like WHOO OMG LOLOLZ THIS FUNFEST > ALL OTHERS.
~GiS

(Though SimonBob didn’t actually have any say in re-re-responding, I can only assume that right about here he’d say something like, “I thought I told you last time, STOP DOUBLE REPLYING!)

Don’t ruin my fun.
~GiS
--Carmino

I have a feeling SimonBob can tell you which Funfest was the best.
~GiS

That's why we invented archives. To be honest, I don't like ranking the Funfests on a scale from best to worst because they're all pretty awesome.
--- SimonBob

That’s very kind of you, SimonBob, being fair like that. If I did the Funfest, I’d probably be like WHOO OMG LOLOLZ THIS FUNFEST > ALL OTHERS.
~GiS

(Though SimonBob didn’t actually have any say in re-re-responding, I can only assume that right about here he’d say something like, “I thought I told you last time, STOP DOUBLE REPLYING!)

Don’t ruin my fun.
~GiS
Well, Maybe
Can I coreply to this week's Mailbag?
---SimonBob

No.
Oh, wait. Yes.
--- SimonBob
---SimonBob

No.
Oh, wait. Yes.
--- SimonBob
Oozing With Sarcasm
Man I sure love flukes, they make every funfest, especially this one worthwhile. The intense work put into them by the caring individuals that created them just ASTOUNDS ME TO NO END. I think we should make a funfest that's JUST FOR FLUKES, and watch the spectacular results.
*Author's note - this is all a lie, disregard this.*
Well, what I'm trying to say is, at least 75% of the entries are, surprise, flukes. One would think that a community such as ours could think of something better than this. Boo.
--Saotome

It’s sad, really. (Formerly) www.earthbound.net’s Fluke collection (at least, I think it was www.earthbound.net at that time) was one of the things that first attracted me to the site, but the Flukes quickly went oh so far downhill. People just stopped caring and only made Flukes for the sake of ‘participating and submitting to the site’. Ugh. Then again, I still remember the Last Great Fluke. The one where Ness and the gang came across roadblocks in Giygas’s chamber was classic. If only people could make more Flukes like that, the section could honestly make a huge comeback.
~GiS

I think Flukes are alternately good and bad. On the one hand, a clever idea combined with a well-designed image can result in a wonderfully funny fluke that earns the respect of the maker's peers. On the other, flukes are certainly just cut & paste, so they attract the worst kind of idiot to their simplistic style. I think that we as a community need to take fluke-making back to a high point again. I plan to ask Wampa to take a couple of crappy flukes out of my gallery. I'd rather see people post one good fluke than six sloppy ones, too. It is possible to make funny flukes - I maintain that "an arcade full of Pin-Bot machines?" is one of the funniest things I've ever written in my life - but too many people have ruined their good name. Let's take Flukes back for the people. Peace out.
--- SimonBob
*Author's note - this is all a lie, disregard this.*
Well, what I'm trying to say is, at least 75% of the entries are, surprise, flukes. One would think that a community such as ours could think of something better than this. Boo.
--Saotome

It’s sad, really. (Formerly) www.earthbound.net’s Fluke collection (at least, I think it was www.earthbound.net at that time) was one of the things that first attracted me to the site, but the Flukes quickly went oh so far downhill. People just stopped caring and only made Flukes for the sake of ‘participating and submitting to the site’. Ugh. Then again, I still remember the Last Great Fluke. The one where Ness and the gang came across roadblocks in Giygas’s chamber was classic. If only people could make more Flukes like that, the section could honestly make a huge comeback.
~GiS

I think Flukes are alternately good and bad. On the one hand, a clever idea combined with a well-designed image can result in a wonderfully funny fluke that earns the respect of the maker's peers. On the other, flukes are certainly just cut & paste, so they attract the worst kind of idiot to their simplistic style. I think that we as a community need to take fluke-making back to a high point again. I plan to ask Wampa to take a couple of crappy flukes out of my gallery. I'd rather see people post one good fluke than six sloppy ones, too. It is possible to make funny flukes - I maintain that "an arcade full of Pin-Bot machines?" is one of the funniest things I've ever written in my life - but too many people have ruined their good name. Let's take Flukes back for the people. Peace out.
--- SimonBob
There’s Breaching and then There’s…
Well then...you said that breaching the topic is allowed? Very well. I don't feel like discussing the Funfest, as I am still sulking after not getting my entry finished. However, I will respond to LAST week's mailbag.
In reference to your list of rules, the following is the 143rd rule:
No trying to figure out what rule number 143 is
now...I know I'm not supposed to do that, but, it's your fault. After providing a link to "Pacman Eats Up all the Dots", unsuspecting me clicked on it. After listening through the entire 4 minutes (yes, I endured Mario's "exercise seesion") I was in a state of stupidity I have never been in before. Therefore, my mind shut down, and to rectify the situation, my adrenal glands kicked in to the my Operating System (which, by the way, is neither Windows or Macintosh). In reality, I don't even recognize that I am typing. In fact, I'll break another rule.
No cliches
Ever been caught up in the moment? Well, that's happening to me right now. Although, it is not really me. However, I have not broken the following rule:
No thinking
As it is not really my brain sending the impulses to my fingers but, I have broken the following rule:
No thinking about thinking
Even still I technically haven't, because my mind is not functioning.
In addition-...*brain noises*...-Oh no!...The main...system is...kicking...back...in...
*Full power restored*
*reads the letter*
..................
(Oh, and here's $500...this had better be Letter of the Week ;)
--soursurfer

You may not be able to realize this, but you are in fact still under the horrible satanic influence of Pacman Eats up all the Dots. In the good news column, you actually didn’t violate the rule No Thinking.
~GiS

CONGRATURATIONS!!! You win a Not Another Roll of Tape award. While I approve of insanity in small doses, I do not approve of generic stupidity. You're obviously trying for a rather random effect but you take it too far. If you'd stopped just after talking about the Pacman song, then you would've been fine. That's the trouble with pretending to be insane. Most people take it way too far.
--- SimonBob

You may not be able to realize this, but you are in fact still under the horrible satanic influence of Pacman Eats up all the Dots. In the good news column, you actually didn’t violate the rule No Thinking.
~GiS

CONGRATURATIONS!!! You win a Not Another Roll of Tape award. While I approve of insanity in small doses, I do not approve of generic stupidity. You're obviously trying for a rather random effect but you take it too far. If you'd stopped just after talking about the Pacman song, then you would've been fine. That's the trouble with pretending to be insane. Most people take it way too far.
--- SimonBob
Simple Enough
It sucked.
--Mr. Tenda

Oh, now you’ve done it. Do you KNOW who the corresponder is?
~GiS

Gosh, thanks so much for your totally unfounded and unproven verbal slash against what most people are hailing as one of the most exciting events of 2002! Obviously you're so absolutely correct in your condemnation of the Funfest that you don't need any proof whatsoever! It's just so obvious! Wow, I can't believe I ever let myself update that mutilation of webspace without repeatedly stabbing myself through the arm! Oh, wait, that's not the Funfest making me want to do that, it's your worthless two-word mockery of a letter!
A good rule of thumb is that if you're gonna rag on something, you typically have to offer reasons why you're opposed to it, and possibly alternatives to what's being presented. A good anti-Funfest would be something like "I didn't like Funfest because it had too much commercialism, maybe instead we can do something like post pictures of ring-tailed lemurs." See? It's got a reason and alternative.
--- SimonBob

Oh, now you’ve done it. Do you KNOW who the corresponder is?
~GiS

Gosh, thanks so much for your totally unfounded and unproven verbal slash against what most people are hailing as one of the most exciting events of 2002! Obviously you're so absolutely correct in your condemnation of the Funfest that you don't need any proof whatsoever! It's just so obvious! Wow, I can't believe I ever let myself update that mutilation of webspace without repeatedly stabbing myself through the arm! Oh, wait, that's not the Funfest making me want to do that, it's your worthless two-word mockery of a letter!
A good rule of thumb is that if you're gonna rag on something, you typically have to offer reasons why you're opposed to it, and possibly alternatives to what's being presented. A good anti-Funfest would be something like "I didn't like Funfest because it had too much commercialism, maybe instead we can do something like post pictures of ring-tailed lemurs." See? It's got a reason and alternative.
--- SimonBob
Funny Monkey
Actually, I can firmly say that I didn't really participate. *looks at topic again*
Oh! Hmm...
Well, lessee... Diving into my Endless Handbag, I'd say that the last Funfest (and it's predecessor, the Hallowe'en funfest 2002) didn't generate as much response as those occurring in the prior year, which is to say... *snaps out of coma*
Well, they were fun, and some of the entries were rather farout, but not as good as the 2001 ones. Too many lame flukes. Although, those animated ones were [darn] hilarious, especially the one with the title goof-off (which, alas, had a really slow framerate), and the one done in flash (the noises, man! Think of the noises!)
I suppose I should be more humble now, but I've noticed that most of the top letters tend to be rather long, so I'll continue babbling.
EB No Matsuri is probably the best holiday tradition on the planet, with the possible exception of that thing that the rabbit kid on Arthur came up with...
It's incredibly funny to discover that someone actually celebrates it. It's no so funny when you find out that they've been hospitalized by the contents of a very evil-looking petri dish.
I imagine that there'll be a few people wondering "wtf is with this niteshade bs ^#*&@*^" etc. as mentioned in my name below. Well, Nightshade was a Role-Playing/Action-Adventure game--kinda like a crossbreed between Hugo's House of Horrors, Commander Keen VI: Aliens Ate My Baby Sitter, and Earth Bound: The War Against Giygas... The result being Not Entirely Like King's Quest VI with Mortal Kombat for the fight scenes...
Ish.
Nightshade is a detective/budding superhero-type-thing set in the elusive Metro City after the city's old superhero, Vortex, is defeated at the hands of Sutekh, a creepy-Egyptian-underworld-gate-guard-dog dude.
I highly recommend playing it. I originally read about it in an ancient issue of Nintendo Power (back when people knew who Nester was)... the main focus of which being a Zelda 3 walkthrough... Rather, a Nintendo Offical walkthrough, which only covers the first quarter of the game.
Okay, I have to do something else now, so, like, yeah.
--Adereth 2000

Dude. Commander Keen > me.
~GiS

You win the Super Bowl! Your mention of Hugo's House of Horrors clinched this one for you, although it also has to do with your never-give-up attitude and your timely points on the number of flukes. Although, as I said, "fluke" is not a synonym for "bad." Heheheh... Pin-bot.
--- SimonBob
Oh! Hmm...
Well, lessee... Diving into my Endless Handbag, I'd say that the last Funfest (and it's predecessor, the Hallowe'en funfest 2002) didn't generate as much response as those occurring in the prior year, which is to say... *snaps out of coma*
Well, they were fun, and some of the entries were rather farout, but not as good as the 2001 ones. Too many lame flukes. Although, those animated ones were [darn] hilarious, especially the one with the title goof-off (which, alas, had a really slow framerate), and the one done in flash (the noises, man! Think of the noises!)
I suppose I should be more humble now, but I've noticed that most of the top letters tend to be rather long, so I'll continue babbling.
EB No Matsuri is probably the best holiday tradition on the planet, with the possible exception of that thing that the rabbit kid on Arthur came up with...
It's incredibly funny to discover that someone actually celebrates it. It's no so funny when you find out that they've been hospitalized by the contents of a very evil-looking petri dish.
I imagine that there'll be a few people wondering "wtf is with this niteshade bs ^#*&@*^" etc. as mentioned in my name below. Well, Nightshade was a Role-Playing/Action-Adventure game--kinda like a crossbreed between Hugo's House of Horrors, Commander Keen VI: Aliens Ate My Baby Sitter, and Earth Bound: The War Against Giygas... The result being Not Entirely Like King's Quest VI with Mortal Kombat for the fight scenes...
Ish.
Nightshade is a detective/budding superhero-type-thing set in the elusive Metro City after the city's old superhero, Vortex, is defeated at the hands of Sutekh, a creepy-Egyptian-underworld-gate-guard-dog dude.
I highly recommend playing it. I originally read about it in an ancient issue of Nintendo Power (back when people knew who Nester was)... the main focus of which being a Zelda 3 walkthrough... Rather, a Nintendo Offical walkthrough, which only covers the first quarter of the game.
Okay, I have to do something else now, so, like, yeah.
--Adereth 2000

Dude. Commander Keen > me.
~GiS

You win the Super Bowl! Your mention of Hugo's House of Horrors clinched this one for you, although it also has to do with your never-give-up attitude and your timely points on the number of flukes. Although, as I said, "fluke" is not a synonym for "bad." Heheheh... Pin-bot.
--- SimonBob
Hi, PappyCat!
Hiya GiS!
I decided to write my Mailbag funfest reaction before the winners were announced so there wouldn't be ANY risk of my letter was either "Booya! I won! In all of your faces!" or "Oh. Well. Excuuuuse me! So my entry isn't good enough eh? Well la-ti-frickin-da." Yeah.
Sooo..Funfest eh? This is my second ever. I got in the spirit a bit more for this one. I started my entry at the beginning of the month, but it only got about 10% done. On christmas day, I was like: "Oh, it would be cool if I did this." And after that, it spiraled and kept getting bigger and bigger.
Now, I was pretty rushed to finish. I didn't finish until today (The 31st). The night was pretty hectic. My entry was a clay scene, and when I went to take a picture, I found that I couldn't fit everything into the frame. So I started making everything closer together and took picture after picture on my digital camera. This is when my camera's battery died.
So, of course, I freaked out. I ran down the stairs. "Mom! Oh my god, the camera died and my scene is too big and nothing fits and I'm not going to get it in on time, and everything is ruined and I did all that work for nothing." Thank goodness my mother is a patient woman. Not only did she magically charge the camera in time (seriously, it only took an hour and it usually takes like all day) but she helped me arrange my scene so it worked. And she did this all while my sister had a horrible case of the stomach flu. Thanks mom!
So, I got my entry in on time (about an hour before the deadline) and I had a awesomely fun time working on it! And thats the point of the FUNfest right?
So, good luck to everyone out there. There have been some truely excellent entries out there.
Oh, and by the way: I looked and looked, and there was NO monkey. I was quite disappointed.
--PappyCat

Three cheers for PappyCat’s mom!
(Insert cheers.)
And even more cheers for you. For one, getting the Articles position! I have no doubt you’ll do an awesome job; you got off to a great start, and we here at starmen.net hope we’ll have your soul under custody for a good long time. And second, cuz’ your entry was soo cool! The Christmas lights were particularly impressive, but my favorite parts were the clay reid and Tomato figures. You did a great job and should be proud of how you did. And if you’re not, here’s the guy to take it up with.
~GiS

Adventure! Excitement! And really wild things! Your mom is cool and so is your entry. But what monkey? I have no idea what you're talking about.
--- SimonBob
I decided to write my Mailbag funfest reaction before the winners were announced so there wouldn't be ANY risk of my letter was either "Booya! I won! In all of your faces!" or "Oh. Well. Excuuuuse me! So my entry isn't good enough eh? Well la-ti-frickin-da." Yeah.
Sooo..Funfest eh? This is my second ever. I got in the spirit a bit more for this one. I started my entry at the beginning of the month, but it only got about 10% done. On christmas day, I was like: "Oh, it would be cool if I did this." And after that, it spiraled and kept getting bigger and bigger.
Now, I was pretty rushed to finish. I didn't finish until today (The 31st). The night was pretty hectic. My entry was a clay scene, and when I went to take a picture, I found that I couldn't fit everything into the frame. So I started making everything closer together and took picture after picture on my digital camera. This is when my camera's battery died.
So, of course, I freaked out. I ran down the stairs. "Mom! Oh my god, the camera died and my scene is too big and nothing fits and I'm not going to get it in on time, and everything is ruined and I did all that work for nothing." Thank goodness my mother is a patient woman. Not only did she magically charge the camera in time (seriously, it only took an hour and it usually takes like all day) but she helped me arrange my scene so it worked. And she did this all while my sister had a horrible case of the stomach flu. Thanks mom!
So, I got my entry in on time (about an hour before the deadline) and I had a awesomely fun time working on it! And thats the point of the FUNfest right?
So, good luck to everyone out there. There have been some truely excellent entries out there.
Oh, and by the way: I looked and looked, and there was NO monkey. I was quite disappointed.
--PappyCat

Three cheers for PappyCat’s mom!
(Insert cheers.)
And even more cheers for you. For one, getting the Articles position! I have no doubt you’ll do an awesome job; you got off to a great start, and we here at starmen.net hope we’ll have your soul under custody for a good long time. And second, cuz’ your entry was soo cool! The Christmas lights were particularly impressive, but my favorite parts were the clay reid and Tomato figures. You did a great job and should be proud of how you did. And if you’re not, here’s the guy to take it up with.
~GiS

Adventure! Excitement! And really wild things! Your mom is cool and so is your entry. But what monkey? I have no idea what you're talking about.
--- SimonBob
Too Late
I'm just glad it's over so now we can force d`Jeu to get of his lazy arse and update AoE for once in how many months? Who does he think he is? Luna`!? It's not like AoE can be THAT hard to update, and I can thin of a million cool topics to use. Oh well. Maybe he'll finally let people submit stuff this time without breaking the [dang] thing.
--FujisakiSuguru

Bob has this one covered; there’s no need for me to say more.
~GiS

Too late, AoE is dead. Next!
--- SimonBob
--FujisakiSuguru

Bob has this one covered; there’s no need for me to say more.
~GiS

Too late, AoE is dead. Next!
--- SimonBob
Overbearing Headache Attack Entrenching My Veins
This is by far, the best website I have ever seen, and I hope the petition is all signed soon. Anyways, the Funfest was extremely funny, and provided a distraction from my normal life. I give all who submitted a bid round of applause. My favorite was the submission where Ness's dad was Santa. I saw a little of the Halloween Funfest, and I think this Funfest was a bit better. May this website grow into the #1 EB site for 2003! a faithful followwer for three years running,Dias Flac, (P.S. Flukes ROCK!!!!!!!!!!!)
--Evil King Dias Flac

I can proudly tell you that we have no need to “grow into" the #1 EB site for 2003, ‘cuz we already are. Yay arrogance!
~GiS

What do you mean, "grow into?" I thought we were always #1. And thanks for being the only person to mention the rockingness of Flukes. Everyone else chants "Flukes suck" like it was a mantra.
--- SimonBob
--Evil King Dias Flac

I can proudly tell you that we have no need to “grow into" the #1 EB site for 2003, ‘cuz we already are. Yay arrogance!
~GiS

What do you mean, "grow into?" I thought we were always #1. And thanks for being the only person to mention the rockingness of Flukes. Everyone else chants "Flukes suck" like it was a mantra.
--- SimonBob
Hate Making Titles. Hate It.
First of all, I always love the Funfests, and they should be held as often as possible (Easter, Sumer vacation, etc.) Submitting enteries and viewing others is always great. I'm sure all of the artists out there love the idea of hundreds of people seeing their artwork and get a sense of satisfaction when it is posted and therefore recognized. I have been in awe of how EarthBound comes to life with the artistic talent of some of the people who submit pictures. It's great to see how a simple 2-D can be brought to life with people's imagination. There is also an astonashing amount of creativity as well, with people who do not do conventional pictures, songs, or Flukes, but rather create carved pumpkins, Christmas ornaments, and flash animations. Even people such as myself, that I wouldn't consider an amazing artist still get to put their own spin on Earthbound and bring it to life in their own way.
I have no ground to say if this Holiday Funfest was better than last year, since I was a regular visitor of starmen.net. However, I would have to say that it was not quite as good as the Halloween Funfest, simply because there was not enough art work and eye candy. There were so many awesome pictures in the Halloween Funfest. This time around, people seemed to focus on songs, which Christmas happens to have an abundance of. There is nothing wrong with that ofcourse. It's just that, well, I like to see art work :)
My favourite entry would have to be my own, simply because I put a good amount of work in to it. However, it certainly isn't the best. Winter Romance, Getting Ready, and Still Worthless? were my favourites this year.
As for the next Funfest, I would like to see more art and less Flukes. No offense to the people who make the Flukes, as they are often the funniest enteries. I just like to see more artwork, but that is just a personal preference. I would also like to see people laying off the Japanese style of drawing's and make up your own. Be creative. That's what the Funfest is all about! :)
--pogopunk

Though I used to support equality for all artistic mediums, I have to agree, I’ve definitely been falling for the awesomeness of traditional eye-candy art. It also gets me a little jealous though; looking at artists like Meeellla and SoupaBoy and Emilio and Artemis and Pancake and thinking “Blarg how do they do that." That’s why I’m also a huge fan of fan music. I can actually understand/play/write music, plus I can listen to it while I’m doin’ other stuff, like Mailbag. Actually, when I’m doing Mailbag, music is practically my life support. Yay music. I guess what this comes down to is the only art form I’m not truly interested is / are Fanfics. …(GiS runs screaming)
~GiS

It's been pointed out many a time that an Easter Funfest probably would be in bad taste. "Celebrate the rebirth of Jesus Christ with a fluke about bunnies!" I think twice a year is often enough. I also thought the artistic styles were great this year. Artemis proved that coloured pencils are still a valid form of medium, emilio put up a pretty rockin' X-mas tree, and ZenMaster brought the house down with what must've taken 6 hours of stitching. I want a Saturn plushie now.
--- SimonBob
I have no ground to say if this Holiday Funfest was better than last year, since I was a regular visitor of starmen.net. However, I would have to say that it was not quite as good as the Halloween Funfest, simply because there was not enough art work and eye candy. There were so many awesome pictures in the Halloween Funfest. This time around, people seemed to focus on songs, which Christmas happens to have an abundance of. There is nothing wrong with that ofcourse. It's just that, well, I like to see art work :)
My favourite entry would have to be my own, simply because I put a good amount of work in to it. However, it certainly isn't the best. Winter Romance, Getting Ready, and Still Worthless? were my favourites this year.
As for the next Funfest, I would like to see more art and less Flukes. No offense to the people who make the Flukes, as they are often the funniest enteries. I just like to see more artwork, but that is just a personal preference. I would also like to see people laying off the Japanese style of drawing's and make up your own. Be creative. That's what the Funfest is all about! :)
--pogopunk

Though I used to support equality for all artistic mediums, I have to agree, I’ve definitely been falling for the awesomeness of traditional eye-candy art. It also gets me a little jealous though; looking at artists like Meeellla and SoupaBoy and Emilio and Artemis and Pancake and thinking “Blarg how do they do that." That’s why I’m also a huge fan of fan music. I can actually understand/play/write music, plus I can listen to it while I’m doin’ other stuff, like Mailbag. Actually, when I’m doing Mailbag, music is practically my life support. Yay music. I guess what this comes down to is the only art form I’m not truly interested is / are Fanfics. …(GiS runs screaming)
~GiS

It's been pointed out many a time that an Easter Funfest probably would be in bad taste. "Celebrate the rebirth of Jesus Christ with a fluke about bunnies!" I think twice a year is often enough. I also thought the artistic styles were great this year. Artemis proved that coloured pencils are still a valid form of medium, emilio put up a pretty rockin' X-mas tree, and ZenMaster brought the house down with what must've taken 6 hours of stitching. I want a Saturn plushie now.
--- SimonBob
I said, “Which one do you like?"
I like pie
--demi

Apple Pie, Boysenberry Pie… Cherry Pie… Raspberry Pie… Pumpkin Pie… Pecan Pie… Blueberry Pie… Chocolate Pie… Coconut Cream Pie… Vanilla Meringue Pie… Lemon Pie… Peanut Butter Pie… Which one do you like?
~GiS

(Delete this one, I'm not funny enough to answer it.)

Heh.
~GiS
--demi

Apple Pie, Boysenberry Pie… Cherry Pie… Raspberry Pie… Pumpkin Pie… Pecan Pie… Blueberry Pie… Chocolate Pie… Coconut Cream Pie… Vanilla Meringue Pie… Lemon Pie… Peanut Butter Pie… Which one do you like?
~GiS

(Delete this one, I'm not funny enough to answer it.)

Heh.
~GiS
A Little Philosophy
This Year's Holiday Funfest 2002 was a great one, and with all the fun entries that many EarthBound fanatics submitted, it made it even better. I really liked the Runaway Five icon on the Starmen.net logo! I think that this Holiday Funfest 2002 was great compared to other years, and it was just as good as the Halloween Funfest 2002.
As for the favorite entry and winners...well, if you think about it, "winner" is just a word that makes one person feel superior to others. I mean, come on! So many entries were made that it would take a loooong time to watch, grade, and recognize each entry and the person who made it. So, why should one person win when others made Funfest entries? Because he's the best? No. It's because he worked hard on it and made a great entry. But that doesn't mean he's the greatest of all. Think of all the other people who made entries for the Holiday Funfest 2002. They might have put some more work into what they entered, and maybe not, but they all are "winners" as long as they enter something. Sure, give someone a bronze, silver, gold, or whatever colored name for getting a Letter of the Week. Does this really matter? It just makes other people feel sad. Maybe they'll try again and enter again, but most of the time it's so they'll "win", and try to feel superior to each other. At least in Christianity, that isn't what we're supposed to do. And besides, in all truth, "winners" "win" eventually, and will be favored for a week, then maybe a couple days, but eventually, these "winners" will be forgotten as soon as the next contest comes around.
I'm not trying to dis or make fun of the "winners" of letter of the week, Holiday Funfest 2002 and past Funfests, or any other contests. Sure, we all need our time to be honored as the "winner", the best, etc. But everyone else that tried never really gets any recognition. I mean, congrats to the "winners", but seriously, hasn't everyone "won" once? And no, I'm not talking about those annoying YOU WON!! messages in EarthBound. I'm talking about people who have entered contests. As long as you try, people should recognize you as the "winner". :D
And hey, if by a miracle I do "win" Letter of the Week, you should acknowledge the other entries, even if they didn't "win", and that's the last time I put those thingies around "win". (DOH!)
--Darkest Ness

Mind rule #34, please.
~GiS

I tried to give out extra recognition to people who were cool, but I still got yelled at. Seems like you can't please everyone, so I just try to keep a number of people happy and drown out the unhappy ones. Look at it this way: just because you "lost" to TANI doesn't mean I don't like your letter. :-)
--- SimonBob
As for the favorite entry and winners...well, if you think about it, "winner" is just a word that makes one person feel superior to others. I mean, come on! So many entries were made that it would take a loooong time to watch, grade, and recognize each entry and the person who made it. So, why should one person win when others made Funfest entries? Because he's the best? No. It's because he worked hard on it and made a great entry. But that doesn't mean he's the greatest of all. Think of all the other people who made entries for the Holiday Funfest 2002. They might have put some more work into what they entered, and maybe not, but they all are "winners" as long as they enter something. Sure, give someone a bronze, silver, gold, or whatever colored name for getting a Letter of the Week. Does this really matter? It just makes other people feel sad. Maybe they'll try again and enter again, but most of the time it's so they'll "win", and try to feel superior to each other. At least in Christianity, that isn't what we're supposed to do. And besides, in all truth, "winners" "win" eventually, and will be favored for a week, then maybe a couple days, but eventually, these "winners" will be forgotten as soon as the next contest comes around.
I'm not trying to dis or make fun of the "winners" of letter of the week, Holiday Funfest 2002 and past Funfests, or any other contests. Sure, we all need our time to be honored as the "winner", the best, etc. But everyone else that tried never really gets any recognition. I mean, congrats to the "winners", but seriously, hasn't everyone "won" once? And no, I'm not talking about those annoying YOU WON!! messages in EarthBound. I'm talking about people who have entered contests. As long as you try, people should recognize you as the "winner". :D
And hey, if by a miracle I do "win" Letter of the Week, you should acknowledge the other entries, even if they didn't "win", and that's the last time I put those thingies around "win". (DOH!)
--Darkest Ness

Mind rule #34, please.
~GiS

I tried to give out extra recognition to people who were cool, but I still got yelled at. Seems like you can't please everyone, so I just try to keep a number of people happy and drown out the unhappy ones. Look at it this way: just because you "lost" to TANI doesn't mean I don't like your letter. :-)
--- SimonBob
Hi GURUZETH!
I really ought to get out of the habit of writing my mailbag letter on Saturdays. Then again, GiS needs to get out of the habit of updating mailbag on Tuesdays... But once I get back to school, probably my letters will begin to be written sometime during the week, because then I'll need something to help prevent my mind from being completely dissolved into tapioca pudding by my schoolwork. But anyway, the following public service announcement is brought to you by a man named Vito, who is a Syndicate "subcontractor" and has acquired a nuclear missile and is not afraid to use it on GiS:
If I wanted my name to read "guruzeth" in the "Hall of Fame," I would sign my letters as such. Please change it immediately to TAFKACC, or we will be forced to incite an unfortunate international crisis. Thank you.
And in this week's Harrison Bergeron Memorial Department for Random Thoughts (HBMDRT):
Where's Da Niznik? Anyway, you should note that two weeks ago I called PSI322 winning the overhyped "Letter of the week" award. She will continue to win said award for as long as she wants to; if she wants to sweep 2003 and win it 52 consecutive times, she will have little trouble doing so. My two cents is that she would make an excellent Articles staffer. (The new staff positions have not been announced yet, as of when I'm writing this letter.)
In a response to someone's letter last week, you mentioned that the Insignificant Item is actually a tangled Slinky. I'm not sure how you managed to determine this, but it is, in fact, true. It really IS a tangled Slinky. And if you ever spend some time using a tangled Slinky, you'll find yourself having a very fruitful experience that cannot be understood by someone who does not use anything insignificant. Anyway, I can't believe Ness would trade a tangled slinky for a lousy magic truffle... I also can't believe the staff of the Threed hospital let that weird guy take a tangled slinky into the hospital with him. That thing could be potentially dangerous to other patients, especially the neurotic ones. Probably he left it there because he knew the Twoson Hospital wasn't about to let him take it in there.
I also promised some time ago (although, as usual, no one noticed) that I would address a few of my New Year's Resolutions in my mailbag letter. So here's a brief list of the ones I made this year:
(1) Set new world record for caffeine consumption in a single calendar year. (Probably I already have set this record, back in 2000 when I worked third shift all summer long and then went to college and made a habit of staying up until 4 AM and getting up for class at 7 AM. This will be a difficult goal to accomplish.)
(2) Try to find SOME explanation for the eerie fact that 1337 + 666 = 2003. Either that, or poison myself.
(3) Figure out some way to get my mom to just buy me a pack of Pez refills instead of buying the dispenser along with two packets of Pez next Christmas. For the same price, you either get 10 packets, or 2 packets and an inedible dispenser. It's basic economics, to which evidently my mom did not pay attention in high school.
(4) Prove that 2+2=4. Then use same logic to prove 2+2=5. (NOTE: As anyone who has ever taken "discrete math" in school knows, you can actually do this.)
(5) Take the Cincinnati Bengals to the NFL championship in Madden 2003 (or 2004, if I wait until later in the year to accomplish this.)
(6) Find George Steinbrenner and smack him up-side the head.*
(7) Find a pen that's actually worth what you pay for it.*
(8) Get Anthadd to speak in jive and/or trash talk just once. It would be the ultimate achievement. *** TAFKACC was kicked by Anthadd (Yo G, I ain't down wit' jo' or jo' mama. Werd up, c-funk. --AutoThaddeus Mark II)
(9) Steal SimonBob's mojo.
(10) Lose weight, quit using drug(s), get a promotion, get a better car, be a more friendly person, etc. etc.*
(*) indicates a failed resolution from last year that is being carried over.
Now, as for the funfest, I was quite impressed by the high quality of a lot of submissions. This is the first funfest in a long time where there may actually be some high-quality submissions that actually don't win anything, because there are so many of them. However, I was distressed to see the ever-declining quality of flukes. Every time I become certain that there is no possible way someone can make a fluke worse than the ones I had just seen while being serious about it, another funfest rolls along and someone finds a way to do it. Flukes really ought to simply be outlawed from funfest consideration. Either that, or the funfest maintainter du jour should reject some of the really bad ones.
Speaking of this funfest's maintainer, we have the following bulletin from the Department of the Obvious: SimonBob did an excellent job. Plus he's awesome. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to work on my time machine now... (NOTE TO SIMONBOB: You are not allowed to acknowledge this acknowledgement in your co-response. Please move along now, nothing to see here.)
I have a feeling there'll be a Spring Funfest or something before too long. The last two funfests went very well, which makes me worry that SM.Net is going to go funfest-happy again, such that there is a funfest currently going on more often than not, as it was a couple of years ago. I guess "worry" isn't really the right word for it; I won't stay awake at night thinking about it or take happy pills to help me forget about it. But it's a cause for at least four or five sentences' worth of concern, don't you think? I guess three funfests a year is about the norm; summer, halloween and Christmas, er, holiday. Maybe it's just me, but that seems like poor spacing of funfests; all three are packed within the same six month period, two of them in three months. Then again, that's not really starmen.net's fault; that's the fault of various pagan cults of the days of yore for placing Halloween so close to Christmas and not in someplace like late March, where it would be more convenient for our funfest schedule. I'll check into correcting this situation if/when I finish working on my time machine.
Well, on that previous paragraph, Notepad actually hit the end of the line and went to the next line, which indicates that it was WAY too long. (I write my mailbag entries in Notepad because I'm extremely paranoid about losing my work, so I have to save it every two sentences. And you think I'm exaggerating. *saves* Nothing saps my desire to write, even on something like mailbag, more than something weird happening and the thing I was writing being lost and having to be rewritten. *saves*
It's a wrap for tonight, guys. You ain't gotta go home, but you gotta get the heck up outta here...
--The Artist Formerly Known As CPTCrunch

Another fabulous CTPCrunch essay. Now, let’s see what of it I remember so that I may respond.
Bah! My mom just made me play Mortal Kombat II with my freak sister, and I forgot all of your letter. I have a bad cold and headache, so I’m just going to apologize and skip this one. Hopefully Simon has some insightfulness to share.
~GiS

I'll acknowledge whatever I darn well please. Thanks for the acknowledgement.
PSI can't win LotW if she doesn't put in a letter. Bit of a shame, really; she always has something insightful to say.
If I have anything to do with it, we won't have more than two Funfests a year. I think two is enough.
You can't steal my mojo. It doesn't exist. I have something else that you might potentially call mojo, but since I don't call it mojo, it ain't mojo. Now, if you ever figured out what it was called, you could steal it, but that's about as likely as Tampa Bay winning the Super Bowl.
Oh, wait.
If you're paranoid about losing your work, you'd hate my computer. It freezes all the time, forcing you to save after every word some days.
Now that Articles are back (under the control of PappyCat, I might add, since this was clearly written before she took the helm) how about putting some of your long-windedness back towards articles? Your wacky style is exactly what we need to rekindle the dwindling interest in our favourite forsaken writing section.
--- SimonBob
If I wanted my name to read "guruzeth" in the "Hall of Fame," I would sign my letters as such. Please change it immediately to TAFKACC, or we will be forced to incite an unfortunate international crisis. Thank you.
And in this week's Harrison Bergeron Memorial Department for Random Thoughts (HBMDRT):
Where's Da Niznik? Anyway, you should note that two weeks ago I called PSI322 winning the overhyped "Letter of the week" award. She will continue to win said award for as long as she wants to; if she wants to sweep 2003 and win it 52 consecutive times, she will have little trouble doing so. My two cents is that she would make an excellent Articles staffer. (The new staff positions have not been announced yet, as of when I'm writing this letter.)
In a response to someone's letter last week, you mentioned that the Insignificant Item is actually a tangled Slinky. I'm not sure how you managed to determine this, but it is, in fact, true. It really IS a tangled Slinky. And if you ever spend some time using a tangled Slinky, you'll find yourself having a very fruitful experience that cannot be understood by someone who does not use anything insignificant. Anyway, I can't believe Ness would trade a tangled slinky for a lousy magic truffle... I also can't believe the staff of the Threed hospital let that weird guy take a tangled slinky into the hospital with him. That thing could be potentially dangerous to other patients, especially the neurotic ones. Probably he left it there because he knew the Twoson Hospital wasn't about to let him take it in there.
I also promised some time ago (although, as usual, no one noticed) that I would address a few of my New Year's Resolutions in my mailbag letter. So here's a brief list of the ones I made this year:
(1) Set new world record for caffeine consumption in a single calendar year. (Probably I already have set this record, back in 2000 when I worked third shift all summer long and then went to college and made a habit of staying up until 4 AM and getting up for class at 7 AM. This will be a difficult goal to accomplish.)
(2) Try to find SOME explanation for the eerie fact that 1337 + 666 = 2003. Either that, or poison myself.
(3) Figure out some way to get my mom to just buy me a pack of Pez refills instead of buying the dispenser along with two packets of Pez next Christmas. For the same price, you either get 10 packets, or 2 packets and an inedible dispenser. It's basic economics, to which evidently my mom did not pay attention in high school.
(4) Prove that 2+2=4. Then use same logic to prove 2+2=5. (NOTE: As anyone who has ever taken "discrete math" in school knows, you can actually do this.)
(5) Take the Cincinnati Bengals to the NFL championship in Madden 2003 (or 2004, if I wait until later in the year to accomplish this.)
(6) Find George Steinbrenner and smack him up-side the head.*
(7) Find a pen that's actually worth what you pay for it.*
(8) Get Anthadd to speak in jive and/or trash talk just once. It would be the ultimate achievement. *** TAFKACC was kicked by Anthadd (Yo G, I ain't down wit' jo' or jo' mama. Werd up, c-funk. --AutoThaddeus Mark II)
(9) Steal SimonBob's mojo.
(10) Lose weight, quit using drug(s), get a promotion, get a better car, be a more friendly person, etc. etc.*
(*) indicates a failed resolution from last year that is being carried over.
Now, as for the funfest, I was quite impressed by the high quality of a lot of submissions. This is the first funfest in a long time where there may actually be some high-quality submissions that actually don't win anything, because there are so many of them. However, I was distressed to see the ever-declining quality of flukes. Every time I become certain that there is no possible way someone can make a fluke worse than the ones I had just seen while being serious about it, another funfest rolls along and someone finds a way to do it. Flukes really ought to simply be outlawed from funfest consideration. Either that, or the funfest maintainter du jour should reject some of the really bad ones.
Speaking of this funfest's maintainer, we have the following bulletin from the Department of the Obvious: SimonBob did an excellent job. Plus he's awesome. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to work on my time machine now... (NOTE TO SIMONBOB: You are not allowed to acknowledge this acknowledgement in your co-response. Please move along now, nothing to see here.)
I have a feeling there'll be a Spring Funfest or something before too long. The last two funfests went very well, which makes me worry that SM.Net is going to go funfest-happy again, such that there is a funfest currently going on more often than not, as it was a couple of years ago. I guess "worry" isn't really the right word for it; I won't stay awake at night thinking about it or take happy pills to help me forget about it. But it's a cause for at least four or five sentences' worth of concern, don't you think? I guess three funfests a year is about the norm; summer, halloween and Christmas, er, holiday. Maybe it's just me, but that seems like poor spacing of funfests; all three are packed within the same six month period, two of them in three months. Then again, that's not really starmen.net's fault; that's the fault of various pagan cults of the days of yore for placing Halloween so close to Christmas and not in someplace like late March, where it would be more convenient for our funfest schedule. I'll check into correcting this situation if/when I finish working on my time machine.
Well, on that previous paragraph, Notepad actually hit the end of the line and went to the next line, which indicates that it was WAY too long. (I write my mailbag entries in Notepad because I'm extremely paranoid about losing my work, so I have to save it every two sentences. And you think I'm exaggerating. *saves* Nothing saps my desire to write, even on something like mailbag, more than something weird happening and the thing I was writing being lost and having to be rewritten. *saves*
It's a wrap for tonight, guys. You ain't gotta go home, but you gotta get the heck up outta here...
--The Artist Formerly Known As CPTCrunch

Another fabulous CTPCrunch essay. Now, let’s see what of it I remember so that I may respond.
Bah! My mom just made me play Mortal Kombat II with my freak sister, and I forgot all of your letter. I have a bad cold and headache, so I’m just going to apologize and skip this one. Hopefully Simon has some insightfulness to share.
~GiS

I'll acknowledge whatever I darn well please. Thanks for the acknowledgement.
PSI can't win LotW if she doesn't put in a letter. Bit of a shame, really; she always has something insightful to say.
If I have anything to do with it, we won't have more than two Funfests a year. I think two is enough.
You can't steal my mojo. It doesn't exist. I have something else that you might potentially call mojo, but since I don't call it mojo, it ain't mojo. Now, if you ever figured out what it was called, you could steal it, but that's about as likely as Tampa Bay winning the Super Bowl.
Oh, wait.
If you're paranoid about losing your work, you'd hate my computer. It freezes all the time, forcing you to save after every word some days.
Now that Articles are back (under the control of PappyCat, I might add, since this was clearly written before she took the helm) how about putting some of your long-windedness back towards articles? Your wacky style is exactly what we need to rekindle the dwindling interest in our favourite forsaken writing section.
--- SimonBob
Yay I’m Contagious
Well all in all, The Funfests are always fun and good times but Id like them to get more recognition....like a page you could go to and have comments posted about this piece or that piece by normal site goers but especially staffers. Id like to see Reid and mato say something about the peices, or even have one of them in charge of the funfests. Id also like to see better or more prizes given out to submitters. For example...
1) Every contestant gets a Eb cd.
2)Winners should get a forum rank or something forumish.
3)Winners should get something from the starmen.net store.
4)If its a 1st place piece then I think they should get something really nice like an Eb manga or something cool like that.
This way I think there would be more contributions, a bigger audience and over all, a bigger deal...because, lets face it, theyre not that big a deal. Now I know this could become kinda pricey but it would be a good thing. But all in all, the thing Id like to see the most is me entering something myself!
--Psionic Brawler

EVERY contestant gets a CD? Now that would get people into the Funfest. Sadly, it would also get Jonk into bankruptcy. Next idea.
~GiS Winners are getting ranks and stuff from the store. And besides, we got lots of entries from people who totally didn't care about the prizes at all. There were lots of comments on the forums, too. So next year, enter something! I'm looking forward to it. :D
--- SimonBob
1) Every contestant gets a Eb cd.
2)Winners should get a forum rank or something forumish.
3)Winners should get something from the starmen.net store.
4)If its a 1st place piece then I think they should get something really nice like an Eb manga or something cool like that.
This way I think there would be more contributions, a bigger audience and over all, a bigger deal...because, lets face it, theyre not that big a deal. Now I know this could become kinda pricey but it would be a good thing. But all in all, the thing Id like to see the most is me entering something myself!
--Psionic Brawler

EVERY contestant gets a CD? Now that would get people into the Funfest. Sadly, it would also get Jonk into bankruptcy. Next idea.
~GiS Winners are getting ranks and stuff from the store. And besides, we got lots of entries from people who totally didn't care about the prizes at all. There were lots of comments on the forums, too. So next year, enter something! I'm looking forward to it. :D
--- SimonBob
*cough* *hack* *throb*
Well, to tell the truth, in my opinion is was a lot better than last year's. And the Halloween Funfest. As for my favorite entry, I like any of the Fanfics and Poems/Songs. Sprite comics are great, too. I haven't seen the winners yet, but with all the good entries, there's no doubt they'll be good! It's always nice to see people that get in to the EB Holiday spirit!(:D) We've had our ups and downs this year, as like every year no matter where you are, and the Funfests are always ups(to me at least!). [Boy, I'm jumping from topic to topic a lot, huh?]I think the improvement was because of many newcomers to the site. They, and not only they, contributed to the Funfest in a way I couldn't have. And to everyone at this site, thank you. You made my (and I'm sure other's) holidays great. I really hope we can do it again next year. ;D
--Moochie

Ooh, my aching head. Bob, take this one for me, will ya’?
~GiS

Yep, newcomers will do that for ya. I like new people, I like the squeaky noise they make when you squeeze them.
--- SimonBob
--Moochie

Ooh, my aching head. Bob, take this one for me, will ya’?
~GiS

Yep, newcomers will do that for ya. I like new people, I like the squeaky noise they make when you squeeze them.
--- SimonBob
…W T F.
I wasn't here for most of the funfest. You see a funny thing happened. I was just walking along and suddenly I fell in a time warp to another dimension full of flash animations. Then I was pulled into a dimention somewhat parallel but more diagonal by Robin Williams and taught the meaning of life, which I subsequently forgot (something about Michael Jackson, a gorilla, and women). Then I found a strange room which had a banana and a ¥ dancing to a funny tune. After I got out of there I tried to open a portal in the fabric of the space time continuum with a Dolorean and a firecracker. Needless to say it worked. So I was back home, but I did wrap the car around a telephone pole. Then I was once again walking on my happy way and I spotted a Spiteful Crow talking with Barbara Steisand. I was frightened but I threw a Darwin fish at them and destroyed them. So all was good. Except for one thing. I was being stalked by Goldust. So I ran home, locked the door with PSI, ate Steak, made one funfest entry, and fell asleep on a monkey's back. I had fun, and Barbara Steisand is gone. Now to do something about the banana...
--Heartbreak Kid

…
…
I HAVE THE HEAD-EXPLODY!
~GiS

(OUT TO LUNCH)
--SimonBob
--Heartbreak Kid

…
…
I HAVE THE HEAD-EXPLODY!
~GiS

(OUT TO LUNCH)
--SimonBob
Zzzz…
I know this has nothing to do with the topic, but the petition seems to need some kind of push to get it finished. Is the staff planning to do anything?
--AcidPhire

We are, in fact. We meet weekly to give a human sacrifice to get that final push. We believe their dead spirits can be contacted and instructed to possess others into signing. And to think you wonder what happened to GaruruGirl.
~GiS

I'm holding a seance next weekend, and Wampa is apparently logging the handwritten sigs, but beyond that we just have to wait and see. For the most part, all we can do is wait...
--- SimonBob

Our responses fit disturbingly well together.
~GiS
--AcidPhire

We are, in fact. We meet weekly to give a human sacrifice to get that final push. We believe their dead spirits can be contacted and instructed to possess others into signing. And to think you wonder what happened to GaruruGirl.
~GiS

I'm holding a seance next weekend, and Wampa is apparently logging the handwritten sigs, but beyond that we just have to wait and see. For the most part, all we can do is wait...
--- SimonBob

Our responses fit disturbingly well together.
~GiS
Hey It’s Seb
I think that this Holiday Funfest was pretty sweet. I'm really happy to see that MikeTheEBGuru got best litterature and I am also pleased about my first place in the most creative category. On a sad note, I'm a bit disappointed about the fact that SoupaBoy's Santa Wars got nothing. I thought it was a great entry.
--RaSeb

OMG it’s RaSeb, the dude who made the AWESOME entry! Let’s rip out his spleen and exchange it for drugs on the black market!
~GiS

It was pretty great but I had to make a judgement call somewhere. There was too much good art and not enough prizes for it.
--- SimonBob
--RaSeb

OMG it’s RaSeb, the dude who made the AWESOME entry! Let’s rip out his spleen and exchange it for drugs on the black market!
~GiS

It was pretty great but I had to make a judgement call somewhere. There was too much good art and not enough prizes for it.
--- SimonBob
YAY Stuff!!
Ah, finally I can write about the Holiday Funfest cause the winners are up. All in all I thought the Holiday Funfest was really cool. But, the Halloween Funfest was a lot better (even though they got my name wrong on my entry). I think the Halloween entries were a lot better overall. I looked at all of the Halloween entries, but not at all the Holiday ones. My favorite entry? That's a real tough one, I'd probably have to say it's a tie between the Mad William Vane story and the Foursidedept.com entry. And yes I'm happy with the winners, they clearly deserved the honor.
Also I don't need anything for giving you Excitebike. But I have more to give. Say this code to Tom Nook:
4UF6T948GZ3ZW3 dw#%jtLEqj5ZBf
It works for anybody and it gets you the closest thing to EB that is actually in the game. It has the same name as your site, but it's the Starman from the Super Mario series. Oh and by the way, it's awesome that GameCubeAdvanced is supporting your Mother 3 petition and I know it is gonna reach the goal.
--Jog DMC

Hoorj-w00t! Many thanks! Though that item does make you wonder. Why is Mario special enough to get his own series, while EarthBound gets nothing? I think it was a conspiracy. Starman was originally intended to be an EarthBound item, but then Mario h4x0red the game. Well, what goes around comes around. Somebody, steal the source code to AC and make a whole EB theme! Think of the possibilities!
(GiS drools over the thought of turning the nose to the On position on his Mr. Saturn radio)
~GiS

GCA is supporting us? I didn't know that. Just how out of the loop am I? Oh well, thanks for the code dude. --- SimonBob
Also I don't need anything for giving you Excitebike. But I have more to give. Say this code to Tom Nook:
4UF6T948GZ3ZW3 dw#%jtLEqj5ZBf
It works for anybody and it gets you the closest thing to EB that is actually in the game. It has the same name as your site, but it's the Starman from the Super Mario series. Oh and by the way, it's awesome that GameCubeAdvanced is supporting your Mother 3 petition and I know it is gonna reach the goal.
--Jog DMC

Hoorj-w00t! Many thanks! Though that item does make you wonder. Why is Mario special enough to get his own series, while EarthBound gets nothing? I think it was a conspiracy. Starman was originally intended to be an EarthBound item, but then Mario h4x0red the game. Well, what goes around comes around. Somebody, steal the source code to AC and make a whole EB theme! Think of the possibilities!
(GiS drools over the thought of turning the nose to the On position on his Mr. Saturn radio)
~GiS

GCA is supporting us? I didn't know that. Just how out of the loop am I? Oh well, thanks for the code dude. --- SimonBob
Disregard Everything from Here Down
About last weeks topic, I just drew the creepiest conculsion. My life is just like Ness's, without the psycic powers. When I was born, we had a new puppy, that was a mutt (and a good one at that), and our house was small, VERY small. Ness had me beat out by one room, but that's only because his house doesn't have a bathroom. I'm also too smart for my own good, kind of like Ness, but it's all good for him. Though I do have to admit: I haven't ran around the neighbor hood beating up dogs an snakes with a bat (yet). But the next simmilarity is one that no one noticed: there are bathrooms in Earth Bound!! Think back to those few times you weren't playing a RPG that was Earth Bound, not one of them has a bathroom, with the exception of FF6, which has one, maybe two. I just realized how much we take toilets for advantage, especially those of us in a cold climate, such as Minnesota. Excuse me while I hug the porcilin god....
--Psycic Psyco

There is a freaking bathroom in EarthBound!!!!
(GuyInSummers grabs Psycic Psyco’s face and shoves it in the drawer of you-know-which-town’s you-know-which-type-of-public-municipality.)
(GuyInSummers, slightly deranged, stomps off to make every room in EarthBound into a bathroom.)
~GiS

How come nobody remembers the bathroom in Robotrek? It was a magic bathroom that teleported you around the evil empire's base of operations.
What? I don't make this stuff up, guys.
--- SimonBob
--Psycic Psyco

There is a freaking bathroom in EarthBound!!!!
(GuyInSummers grabs Psycic Psyco’s face and shoves it in the drawer of you-know-which-town’s you-know-which-type-of-public-municipality.)
(GuyInSummers, slightly deranged, stomps off to make every room in EarthBound into a bathroom.)
~GiS

How come nobody remembers the bathroom in Robotrek? It was a magic bathroom that teleported you around the evil empire's base of operations.
What? I don't make this stuff up, guys.
--- SimonBob
Conclusion
Ugh. Well, I have to say, it was a great week and thanks Bob you did a great job and yay Funfest and sorry my updates will be regular again and stuff now just SHUT UP AND LET ME SLEEP. Ooww, my throat. :(
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