I'll admit, you guys had me worried there. I know my competition to win a copy of Moon was unexpected and only ran for four days, but I was concerned when only one entry had arrived by Sunday evening. But, it appears that everyone was just waiting for inspiration (or grappling with writers' block), as Monday and Tuesday saw a healthy slew of 69-word answers to my little poser...
I asked UK-based readers, "what would be the best thing about living on the moon?" Below are my top 5 entries, in ascending order (with a few comments):
5th
Mike Richmond
"It's 2009 so maybe soonSurprisingly, this was the only poem entered, and I appreciate the craft and effort that goes into such things. But I'm still struggling to get "might" and "weight" to rhyme in my head! Great attempt, though, Mike!
We'll leave the earth and live on the moon
It would be strange if people choose
To keep on eating diet food
Low gravity will mean we might
All lose four fifths or so of weight"
4th
Chris Ready
"Living on the Moon would be splendid. Presumably we have huge bubble cities packed with blocky robots whose sole programmed function is to bake cakes for us, their wicked human masters. That'd be us, drifting around weightlessly all day long whilst grumpy automatons shovel food into our mouths. That'd be the best thing about living on the Moon. Magic."See? Conquering the moon is all about automaton slavery in the pursuit of cake-based gluttony. I approve.
3rd
Neil Baker
"The most amazing thing about living on the moon would have to be the sightseeing. Think of all the stars who visit -– Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, and even Sam Rockwell! You would also see some interesting objects fly by –- Transformers, Galactus, The Enterprise. Most importantly, you could shoot a short film showing Superman trading blows with Nuclear Man from Superman IV (voiced by the amazing Gene Hackman!!!)"Nicely film/TV-centric, which befits the blog.
2nd
Matt Murrell
"Nothing. The moon landings were faked. NASA would just stick you in a big shed full of dirt somewhere in the Nevada desert and make you move in ssslllloooowwww mmmmooootttttiiiiioooonnnn. You'd spend all your time eating rust-coloured, freeze-dried food, drinking recycled urine* and being kept awake at night by the bloody Clangers. (*if you're lucky, your own)"This made me giggle and twisted the question around to fun effect. But was it too pessimistic to win?
1st
John Soanes
"Living on the moon would provide the perfect reason (and opportunity) to create playlists to accompany even the most mundane of actions, in the style of An American Werewolf in London; Bad Moon Rising for the more challenging days, Debussy's Clair de Lune for the more reflective moments, Moon River for romance, and Kate Bush's Hello Earth playing as the blue planet rises over the horizon... I have more."I can imagine those choices of music playing out of an astronaut's iPod, while overlooking the planet below and the heavens above, see. It spoke to my musical side.
Congratulation, John! That makes you the winner. If you'd kindly e-mail me your delivery address and specify the format you'd like the disc in (DVD or Blu-ray), then I'll get the ball rolling. I'm hoping you'll receive your FREE copy of Moon by the weekend, a few days before its national UK release, but it depends on how fast you get in touch. If I haven't heard anything from you by tonight, I'll send you a private e-mail myself.
Thank you to everyone who entered, too. Even better, nobody went over my stipulated 69-word limit (and most hit it bang on, which was cool.) I think we can chalk this competition up as a success, so I hope to have a few more in future. In the meantime, all you
