Everything That Has Happened So Far…
November 9, 2007 – While randomly perusing upcoming stories on the Apple section of Digg, I notice a story titled “Win a Macworld Expo 2008 Conference Pass”. Well, the first thought that came into my head was that if I was going to have any chance of winning this pass, there was no way I could let this hit the Digg front page. I quickly “buried” the story and blatantly posted the comment “Buried because I want to win.” I then proceeded to see the details of the contest.
To enter, listeners must send an email telling us why they need/want to go to Macworld Expo SF 2008. (This could be something as simple as a letter/poem, or as involved as a self-created video/movie.)
I love creative projects like this. People that know me realize that I make little random movies all the time. I pondered making some kind of silly music video, but the idea didn’t really materialize. I knew I would find some sort of inspiration in the upcoming month. Submissions would be due December 5, 2007. For the chance to win a Super Pass or possibly even a Platinum Pass to Macworld 2008, the small project would be well worth my time.
November 13, 2007 – While in the car with my dad, I casually asked him, “Hey, do you think we could ever manage to take a trip to San Francisco this January?” I explained to him that there was a contest I was planning on entering, and if I won I would get to go to Macworld in San Francisco sometime in January. He said, “Yeah, sure we could go,” but he later confessed he only said this because he was fairly confident that I had no realistic chance of winning the pass.
November 14, 2007 – At school, I’m taking a Digital Video Production class with Mr. Chovanes. Mr. Chovanes just happens to be an Apple fan, so I always make video projects that are Apple-related in some way. My first project was a stop motion film, so I made a stop motion featuring my iPod touch in the style of the Apple commercials. The next project was an instructional movie, so I made a video explaining how it’s possible to customize an iPod touch. It very closely followed the style of the guided tours on Apple’s website. You can see these videos, among others, on Youtube. Anyway, our next project was a commercial, but when I introduced the contest to him, he told me I could substitute my submission to the contest for that project. We were equally excited about the possibility, but we were both realistic and realized how unlikely it was I would win.
November 25, 2007 – Thanksgiving is over, and that means Christmas music is perpetually playing on the radio. I was in the kitchen when I heard the Chipmunks Song start playing. Little did I realize that this would become the inspiration for my contest submission. When I heard the song, I wondered what it would sound like slowed down to half the speed. That is, did they simply speed up the audio to get the “chipmunk” effect, or was there more to it? A few minutes later, I downloaded the song and slowed it down. Guess what? The chipmunks were simply this creepy sounding guy at half speed! I could do that! I played around with recording my voice very slowly, and then speeding it up. This entertained me until I remembered I had homework left to do. Tomorrow was the first day of school after vacation, and I wasn’t exactly looking forward to it.
November 26, 2007 – Before the bell rings for classes to start at 7:45, I always sit in the hallway with my friends. Today was no different, and I had all my homework finished so I had time to fool around with the chipmunk effects. I took the bridge out of the original song (since that part has no vocals) and slowed it down. Me and one of my friends, Chris, sang along slowly with the original lyrics to the slowed-down bridge. I recorded this and sped up both tracks after. The result sounded just like the original song, except for the random laughing as we sang. It was then that I realized I could imitate the Chipmunks Song completely, but I still didn’t make the connection to the contest.
November 27, 2007 – I impressed more people during Spanish class, during which I got about 4-5 people together to sing La Cucaracha slowly, and then speed it up. I also read the introduction of an essay I was working on for that class (which was what we were supposed to be working on), and sped that up. The results were fantastic. Next period, I had Digital Video Production again with Mr. Chovanes. During class, I again demonstrated the chipmunk effect, this time with my own rendition of the Lollipop Guild. Mr. Chovanes seemed impressed in a you-are-so-ridiculous sort of way.
November 29, 2007 – I told Mr. Chovanes that the video was due December 5, so my only opportunity was to finish the video during the upcoming weekend. Since the commercial project wasn’t due for quite a while, I told him I would do the commercial as well.
December 1, 2007 – I spent the day with the Lego League team that I coach down at the middle school. The name of the team was “The Seventh Sense: We See Lego People”, and they thought they should have a theme song. I recorded everyone singing the Lollipop Guild with the words changed slightly for our team. It was the first time I had changed the words of a song in a sort of parody, chipmunk style.
December 2, 2007 – Remember that Spanish essay I mentioned earlier. That’s due tomorrow. And I have no more than the introduction done. With that on track to take over the rest of the day, there is simply no way I can get this done in the next few days with school. My only hope: there is a huge snow storm coming tomorrow, and if I’m lucky, that will mean school is canceled for the day.
December 3, 2007 – Two words: Snow Day. That’s right, there’s no school today, and it’s a good thing too. Between you and me, that essay wasn’t finished. It was 5:00 am when I found out school was canceled, so first thing on my priority list was to go to sleep. A few hours later, I got up and started thinking about what to do for the contest. I’m not sure what exactly made me think of the connection between the Chipmunks Song and Macworld, but I finally decided that I would just do a parody of the Chipmunks Song for the contest. I remember not even really being all that excited about the idea, because I wanted to do something more elaborate. But, I figured I was pressured for time, so I settled on that.
I started with the lyrics, with a couple ideas right from the start. First, I made certain I would find a way rhyme something with “Steve”, “One more thing”, and “Macworld 2008”. With the exception of getting stuck a couple times, everything else seemed to fall into place after that. I put together an instrumental version of the song, sang along slowly three times (to make it sound like a group), and sped everything up. It was kind of awkward when my parents asked why I was singing. Add a couple clips of chipmunks and Macworld things, and boom! A contest entry ready for submission.
By the way, if you appreciate your ears, don’t slow down the audio of the movie I made. You may go deaf.
December 5, 2007 – Before I went to school that morning, I played the video for my parents, who seemed impressed with the video but confused about Macworld. I also played the video for my friends that morning at school. I had class with Mr. Chovanes today, so I showed him and the rest of the class the video. Jake, my good friend and Apple fan who also happens to be in that class, told me, “If that doesn’t win, I’m going to have to kill someone.” I gave Mr. Chovanes the URL of the website for the contest, so we would both know who the winners are at 8:30 pm that night.I’m on our school’s Speech & Debate team, so I had to be at school from 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm. I didn’t get home until 8:45 pm, when I instantly went to the website to see who the winners were. Oh…my…god…
Congratulations to Neil Pomerleau of Auburn, ME for his video submission, “Why I Wanna go to Macworld Expo!”
I’ve never jumped so high. Not only would I be going to Macworld for the first time, but I would be going with a Platinum Pass, valued at almost $2000. I ran downstairs to show my parents the announcement, who took a few minutes to internalize it and believe it was real. Everything was happening so fast. After going over the ramifications in my head, I reluctantly got back to studying for tomorrow’s Physics test.
December 6, 2007 – The first person I told was my friend, Dan. “Do you remember that video I showed you yesterday morning?” I asked. I played the audio from the winners being announced. I don’t think he could believe it either. I told some of my other friends, who were either amazed or didn’t realize exactly what I won. I went to see Mr. Chovanes, and I could tell he already knew by the look on his face. We ran toward each other and (literally) did a little jumpy dance in the hall. “You’re going to Macworld!” he screamed. “I’m going to Macworld!” I confirmed. We were both confirming what I could hardly believe. My spontaneous history teacher from last year walked by, giving us the same awkward look that everyone else in the hallway was giving us. When we explained everything, she joined us in our ceremonial dance.
Classes started a few minutes later, and I had Physics. Right before the test was about to start, there was an announcement made over the intercom. Our assistant principal said, “And now, a message from Santa Claus,” referring to Mr. Chovanes because of his crazy hair and beard. Mr. Chovanes explained that I won a $2000 pass to Macworld, but unfortunately, he didn’t explain exactly what Macworld is. From that point on, everyone was convinced that Macworld was some sort of computer store, and I won a $2000 shopping spree.
Macworld 2008 is going to be the week before finals week for me, so I already started getting work ahead from teachers. I also decided to make this blog. So, that is everything that has happened so far.
Next: Confirmation Emails Already
About Me
Hi, I'm Neil! I'm passionate about building delightful products at scale, creating music, and performing in theatre and comedy shows.
Leave a Comment