WINNER of the BLENDER and MORE!

Thanks to everyone for playing this week. Our grand prize winner of the Bizarro Blender (formerly known as Cuisinart) is Andrew D.

Second place is Megan, who will soon be the proud owner of a couple of packs of Bizarro Trading Cards. (settle down, Megan, catch your breath)
Third place this week is a dude named Rex, who did not give me his email address. If you know who you are, leave it in the comments section and mention your last name so I'll know you're not a FRAUD just trying to snag some free trading cards!

I'll be emailing each winner soon to get your mailing addresses for your treasure delivery.

Please come back tomorrow for more fun, cartoons, shenanigans, monkey shines, and folderol. (The spell check on Blogger does not recognize "folderol." Curious.)

Here's the winning list:

contest #14

This week is a little harder, I think, because I flipped one of the images. But, THE REVERSAL OF THE ENTIRE IMAGE IS NOT ONE OF THE DIFFERENCES! (UNLESS one individual thing is NOT reversed as it should be. hint hint)

RULES, ETC:
As usual, two images are posted below, one is the original cartoon, the warped image beneath it has been changed in subtle ways. Your mission, if you have the right stuff, find them first and post the list in the comments.

1. There are 15 differences between the two cartoons.
2. NONE of the differences have to do with the warped nature of the second image OR THE REVERSAL OF IT.
3. ALL of the differences are something missing, added, or moved, not just "bent" from the distortion. The differences will not be too subtle, so once you spot one you should be relatively certain you've found it. (As opposed to something like, "I think that guy has one extra whisker. Hmmm.")
4. FIRST PERSON to correctly list the 15 differences in the comments section of the contest post wins this fabulous Cuisinart blender! of , mailed by me personally from Bizarro International Headquarters in Brooklyn. I'll even lick the stamp, unless it's self adhesive. SECOND AND THIRD persons with correct answers will each get 2 packs of Bizarro Trading Cards!
5. Put your email address on your comment so I can contact you if you win. I won't post it or keep it or file it or sell it or mount a Broadway musical about it.
6. If you live outside the U.S./Canada, I may not be able to send you a prize. Depends. Canada is probably fine, Antarctica, probably not.

Click on the image below to ENLARGE and PLAY!

Seeing Things

Bizarro is brought to you today by Hallucinating 101.

Hallucinating can be fun as long as it isn't dangerous. There are many recreational drugs that will cause hallucinations, some are safer than others, of course. As a matter of legality, I'm not recommending any of them. Hallucinating during a fever is no fun, mostly because a fever that high is quite painful and can kill you. Sleep deprivation can also cause you to see things, as any parent of a newborn will tell you.

Turns out it's fairly easy to cause a person to hallucinate. I'm not going to get all grammatically literal about it, but some optical illusions can reach the level of a sort of hallucination. If you've ever been in those fun house places that are built with everything all catawampus, and balls appear to roll uphill and water pours sideways, that's pretty close for my money.

Our brains are actually geared toward this sort of thing. We (and most other creatures) have evolved to spot patterns and make some version of sense of them, which helps us survive. For instance, it is much safer to see a shadow and think it is an intruder than to see an intruder and assume it is a only a shadow. This is one reason people so regularly see faces in random shapes, like the image of the Virgin Mary in your toast or the bark of a tree. One of my favorite examples of this is this image of Jesus in a dog's behind. Wow.

Here's a good one that has nothing to do with religion.

Contest #14

This week is a little harder, I think, because I flipped one of the images. But, THE REVERSAL OF THE ENTIRE IMAGE IS NOT ONE OF THE DIFFERENCES! (UNLESS one individual thing is NOT reversed as it should be. hint hint)

RULES, ETC:
As usual, two images are posted below, one is the original cartoon, the warped image beneath it has been changed in subtle ways. Your mission, if you have the right stuff, find them first and post the list in the comments.

1. There are 15 differences between the two cartoons.
2. NONE of the differences have to do with the warped nature of the second image OR THE REVERSAL OF IT.
3. ALL of the differences are something missing, added, or moved, not just "bent" from the distortion. The differences will not be too subtle, so once you spot one you should be relatively certain you've found it. (As opposed to something like, "I think that guy has one extra whisker. Hmmm.")
4. FIRST PERSON to correctly list the 15 differences in the comments section of the contest post wins this fabulous Cuisinart blender! of , mailed by me personally from Bizarro International Headquarters in Brooklyn. I'll even lick the stamp, unless it's self adhesive. SECOND AND THIRD persons with correct answers will each get 2 packs of Bizarro Trading Cards!
5. Put your email address on your comment so I can contact you if you win. I won't post it or keep it or file it or sell it or mount a Broadway musical about it.
6. If you live outside the U.S./Canada, I may not be able to send you a prize. Depends. Canada is probably fine, Antarctica, probably not.

Click on the image below to ENLARGE and PLAY!

Contest TODAY!!!

As promised, the winner of today's Bizarro Giveaway Puzzle Contest Scramble Competition Game will get a brand new Cuisinart blender, from this site, shown here.

At 8pm NYC time tonight, December 10, 2009, I'll post the two pieces of art with which to compete. Hope to see you then! If you've never played this game before, check out last week's contest.

P.S. I haven't checked with the company donating the prize, but there is some possibility you can't win if you're outside of North America. Sorry, Finland.

HUGE Contest News!

Tomorrow is my usual Thursday Bizarro Puzzle Game Contest Seek-n-Find Competition Thing but this week something will be different!

Assuming some of you are tired of competing for Bizarro Trading Cards (perish the thought!) I figured it might be fun to give away a REAL prize worth ACTUAL money. Accordingly, a company has agreed to award this Cuisinart machine object to the winner of tomorrow's contest!

Check out the price, dudes and dudettes! It's worth over a hundred bucks! That's class!

They sell tons of stuff online, like this thing, counter stools, and some of my favorite modern furniture. Check them out and get all purchasy. By the way, if you want to give something nice to your favorite cartoonist, this would be an excellent choice. (Note the free shipping!)

Meanwhile, spread the word that tomorrow's contest is for REAL! I'm so excited, I'm going to drink the pink stuff in this blender I'm giving away.

BY THE WAY, THIS IS NOT A JOKE, I REALLY AM GIVING AWAY THIS BLENDER.

Playing With Your Food

Bizarro is brought to you today by Bill Maher.

As a lot of you know, like my friend Bill Maher, I'm an ethical vegan. (As opposed to someone who is vegan purely for his own health.) I occasionally think of cartoons that have to do with this topic and its related issues – nutrition, cruelty, health, the environment – and I toss them into the mix. I have been guilty of being pretty preachy about it in the past, it is difficult not to be when you are fighting against the suffering of those unable to speak for themselves, but I try very hard not to be and I hope I'm getting better.

I think this is a fairly successful cartoon in that regard. It evokes the subject of food choices without being overt. To me, there is something inherently funny about a little girl expected to slaughter a live chicken at her school lunch table.

Lots of people are concerned about environmental issues these days, so they choose local foods to save the pollution caused by shipping foods across country. If you're doing this but still buying meat, you're undoing your efforts many times over. Animal agriculture is responsible for far more greenhouse gases than all transportation combined.

Many people insist on organic meats to protect their family from harmful chemicals. Animal protein, in and of itself, feeds cancer and heart disease as fast as the hormones and chemicals you fear. Organic meat is a bit like organic bullets. It misses the larger point.

Many people become angry and defensive when they hear these things and I understand that. Attacking a person's diet is like attacking their religion, ethnicity, traditions, and family. Sorry about that. I'm the sort of person who is more than willing to toss a tradition overboard if it serves no purpose, harms me, or depends on the victimization of someone else. Like cheap sneakers made by orphans, I can do without them. It's just how I roll, homey.