This is a Worldbuilders blog.
This year’s fundraiser has taken off amazingly fast, breaking all the records we’ve had in the past.
For example, this year we raised more money in our first week than we did in the entire first year we ran worldbuilders, back in 2008.
Needless to say, this gives me a big warm fuzzy.
Another perk is that we’re hitting our stretch goals faster than ever before. So today we’re going to share a few of those:
- $25,000 – Peter V. Brett shaves Myke Cole’s head.
This year, we wanted to make more of our stretch goals more whimsical and fun. And as you can see just from the title, Myke Cole and Peter V. Brett started us off on the right foot.
Here’s the thing. When Myke sent in his idea, I laughed my ass off and said it sounded great….
… but I had no idea they were planning to use a straight razor.
The first I heard about it was on Twitter:
And this is true. Any of you who have read my blog for any amount of time know I regularly make bad decisions in the pursuit of science, mischief, or entertainment. My attempts to distil coffee, for example. Or the time I accidentally burned a pentagram onto the carpet of the house I was renting….
Anyway, the point is, I’m the person you should be talking *out* of doing something, I’m not used to it being the other way around.
But back when I used to shave, I shaved with a straight razor. I have a few very pale, slender scars from those days that I could show you if not for the beard. It’s *hard* shaving with a straight razor, and if Peter was going to try for the first time ever on Myke….
I caved. I called Peter on the phone.
But he didn’t pick up. And I knew why. This had obviously already gone terribly wrong. Peter couldn’t pick up because he had to use both of his hands to stanch the blood that was even now gushing from Myke’s head.
I left a truly incomprehensible voicemail message that was broken up with bouts of panicked/hysterical laughter. Imagine what the Joker would sound like if he drunk dialed Batman. My voicemail was like that.
Peter called me back about three minutes later. The conversation went roughly like this.
Me: Are you guys seriously using a straight razor?
Peter: Oh yeah. I went out and bought one just for this.
Myke: [In the background. Laughing.] Pat! Is that you? Send help!
Me: So you’ve really never used one before?
Peter: I watched a five minute video.
Myke: [In the background] You watched thirty seconds of a video.
Peter: I skipped some the boring bits. It seems pretty simple. You just go against the grain of the hair….
Myke: [In the background] I think he’s been drinking.
In the end, all I could do was beg them to be careful. Partly because they were in New York and I was in Wisconsin, but also because they obviously really wanted to do this.
And also because I can’t start being the voice of reason at this point in my life. It’s just too late for me.
So:
They kept posting up pictures through the whole process, while I did the twitter equivalent of watching with my hands in front of my face, peeking between my fingers….
And honestly, I wouldn’t have stopped them if I could. Because they’re my kind of crazy.
They took video of the whole thing, but it’s going to take a while to splice it all together in a pleasing way. Rest assured that as soon as it’s ready, we’ll share it around.
(Suggestions for the soundtrack should go into the comments.)
- $50,000 – Paul and Storm Lyrically Mock Patrick Rothfuss
As many of you know, I did a couple shows with the fabulous lyrical duo Paul and Storm early in November. In our brief stint on the road, I like to think we bonded a little. Over the long hours on the road, we learned and shared and grew closer together.
We also discussed the following song….
I’m going to let it speak for itself. The tune might sound familiar, but trust me it’s a different version than the one you’ve heard before.
Suffice to say that when I heard it, I laughed my ass off.
If you know about Paul and Storm, I’m guessing you’ve already heard about their awesome Kickstarter project that’s ending in just a couple days. But you might not know that I’m writing up a short anecdote about our time on the road for inclusion in their PaulandStormonomicon stretch goal.
If you *don’t* know about Paul and Storm, and you got a chuckle out of the song up above, you might want to check them out. And if you’re looking for a good place to start, might I casually suggest their amazingly innuendo-laden-yet-playful 5th album: Ball Pit?
More stretch goals are coming folks. We have some *amazing* stuff lined up.
So stay tuned, and thanks for spreading the word…
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Want to learn more about Worldbuilders? You can check out our shiny new website here. Or you can get all the details about this year’s fundraiser on my blog.
There are a bunch of cool auctions up right now, as well, some of which haven’t even been blogged about yet. If you want to get in early, be sure to check the Worldbuilders eBay page.