The Commuter Challenge

We will be returning to illustration in April. The challenge is to create a image which is centered around a chessboard. The chessboard and its pieces can be the whole of the illustration, or it can just function as the image’s focal point. But it must play a central role in the image. There are no further requirements as to the contents or the purpose of the image. Render your favorite moment from 1999’s Kasparov vs. Toplov, or use this opportunity to present your own idea for a chess set.

If you’re really feeling the need for a challenge, forgo the 2-D requirement and create your own chess pieces, in which case you can earn bonus points for sending your prototype to the Franklin Mint for consideration.

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Write and record an original song of any style and any length, but using no more than three chords. Submit a Ramonesesque three-chord masterpiece, create your own two-chord “Dreams” or “Horse With No Name”, or come up with a new one-chord wonder like “O Superman” or “We Will Rock You”.

Permitted options that might make this challenge easier: You may get help with the composition and/or production of the song from as many people as you want, and they may help you to any extent that you like. Instrumentals are allowed (as are songs with lyrics/voice, of course). You are allowed to use common formats/chord progressions (the twelve-bar blues, for example) for the basis of your original composition. Or, if you prefer to take a different route, you are also allowed to go as avant-garde as you like, just as long as it includes no more than three different chords.

Also, if you use different forms of a chord, they all count as the same chord; D, D minor, D7, and Dm7sus4 all count as the same chord. Please note that D and D# count as two separate chords. You have met the requirements of the challenge if someone can play along with your song using no more than three different ‘base note and fifth’ combinations.

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Write an essay, between 2000 and 4000 words long, about something you think is interesting. Show the rest of us why we should consider it interesting too. It can be anything from a genial explication of science in the style of Isaac Asimov, or a gonzo drug-fueled screed in the style of Hunter S. Thompson.

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Compose a poem of any length and format using only found phrases/text – street signs, courtroom transcripts, spam email – anything at all is fair game except for other poems or lyrics. You may add, change, or disregard punctuation if you like. Free-form, free-verse poetry is perfectly acceptable. You must also provide your sources (a list is fine, or a set of links, or photos, or whatever is applicable). See some information and examples at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Found_poetry
and http://learning.blogs.nytimes.com/tag/found-poem-favorite/.

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Write a Random Rubaiyat. Go to the Wikipedia website. On the left is a navigation box. Near the bottom of this box is a link titled “Random article”. Click on that link and write a rubaiyat on the subject of the article that comes up. No, you may not click on the link a second time if you don’t like the one that comes up. Seriously. If you happen to get a Disambiguation Page, then you should use the first link as your subject. But otherwise, you must accept what first comes up.

What is a rubaiyat, you ask? The rubaiyat form was popularized by Edward FitzGerald’s well-known English translation of “The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam”. It consists of any number of four-line stanzas, with a rhyme scheme of AABA. For the “interlocking rubaiyat”, which is what we’re doing this month, the third line provides the rhyme for the next stanza, thus AABA BBCB CCDC. For the final stanza, possible forms include XXYX, XXAX, and XXXX. Probably the most famous example of the interlocking rubaiyat is Robert Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”.

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Write a limerick, or a series of limericks, about any literary classic. The limericks can be your re-telling, parody, commentary, alternate version, or abridgement of the classic – whatever you want to do.

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The challenge for this month is to construct a sequential word-association puzzle.

Take a look at the online puzzle From A to craZy if you haven’t seen it before. At each step, the game gives you a word (or short phrase), and requires you to supply the appropriate next word (or phrase). The object of the puzzle is to work out the proper association for each entry before you can proceed to the next one. The challenges start out extremely easy at first, allowing you to get a sense for the sort of thinking required as it gets progressively harder. The association linking each pair is unique, but they all follow the overarching sequence.

Your challenge is to create your own puzzle that is made up of a sequence of association puzzles. The puzzles don’t need to be of the word association type; they might involve sentences, numbers, or maybe even illustrations. Anything goes, as long as there is a definite answer at each step. Likewise, the puzzles don’t need to be tied to a strict sequence (like the alphabet), as long as there is some obvious theme to guide the player along.

Your puzzle can be of any length, but should have at least eight distinct steps, starting out easy and getting progressively more difficult.

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Create an addition, or tribute, or parody, of/to any internet meme. Create a photoshopped “All your base are belong to us” image. Make a demotivational poster. Do some unnecessary censorship. Re-dub a few minutes of a nature documentary. Or create something totally new that you just know is going to go viral on the internet.

Too easy? Then do more than one.

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Select a song — any song, though preferably one that you like — and record a cover of it. Perform as much of it yourself as you can. You may enlist the aid of friends and/or machinery to help you create some bits (particularly parts for which you lack ability and/or necessary equipment), but the lion’s share of the final recording should be your own product. You are not limited in the nature of your cover, but as a rule of thumb you should aim for being faithful to the spirit of the original.

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Create a design for the face of a clock or wristwatch. You may choose to submit a purely decorative design for a traditional clock face, or you might want to envision a complex mechanical design … or perhaps an innovative new visual representation of the passage of time.

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Write a villanelle describing your least favorite food and why you are right to loathe it. Bonus points will be awarded for excoriating the tastes of those who enjoy it. Alternately, make the subject your most favorite food and why anyone of sound mind should love it (in which case bonus points for trashing those who don’t).

For reference, here is the Wikipedia entry for villanelles.

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Compose the text to an original children’s picture book. Maximum length is 1000 words, but you should be aiming closer to the 500-word range. And although these words are intended for a picture book, illustrations will not be part of your submission. Strictly text. (Illustrations may come up at some point in the future.) There are no other constraints, other than that your book should be as delightful as humanly possible.

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