Hi folks, your friendly neighborhood genetically modified organisms here. Today is the last day to nominate someone for Community Contest #2, so remember to plug your worthy adversaries while there is still time!
For those who feel like grabbing a cutting tool when talking about genetic engineering, this next contest is for you – the first annual Biofortifed Frankenfood Carving Contest!
GMOs are often depicted harshly. For some reason, moving a couple genes around is supposed to make a plant grow teeth and attack the hand that waters it. Greenpeace turns onions into spiders and others turn corn into grenades. While I could be offended at such cultural misunderstandings, I want to turn this hyperbole around on its stalk! Let’s make veggies really scary!
Here are the rules:
- This contest is open to everyone – you need not have ever commented on the blog before the day you enter in the contest. But, you will need to register for the blog to enter.
- Carve any fruit, vegetable, grain, or heck, fungus into the scariest creature imaginable. While you may carve the classic pumpkin, extra points will be awarded for creative use of alternatives. Feel free to splice different plants together to enhance the phenotype! Do a little genetic engineering.
- Upload a photo of your mad creation to your profile page, and mention it in the comments on this post below.
- To give you time to upload a picture from a Halloween carving party, the contest is open until November 3rd, at midnight Pacific time in the US.
- Biofortified’s Editors will decide on a winner and announce it on Friday the 5th Tuesday the 9th.
And what will you win? Like both previous community contests, you will get your very own Biofortified Tote bag. Look how happy MaryM looks with hers at the farmer’s market!
Update: The contest winner will also receive a mint-condition Norman Borlaug commemorative coin.
Start thinking of some ideas right away. You could carve a likeness of your favorite GE commentator, and browse around Extreme Pumpkins for techniques. Grab that rotten celery from the back of your fridge and transform it into a Frankensteinian Freak! As art is often commentary – make yours mean something about some aspect of the debate and you’re sure to be noticed. Give your creation LIFE!
Here I am with my entry, which I carved out of a Delicata squash! I think it has evil powers. (Obviously an unintended side effect of the transformation process.) Next to this vegetable, I’m downright cuddly. It’s gonna get youuuu!
Good luck!
Well, since no one else has given it a go, here’s my attempt: a rendition of the old classic puking pumpkin with a spaghetti squash. Too bad my kiwano plant didn’t produce anything this year (blasted tree-shaded Appalachia always ruining my fun) or I’d have something real exotic. Still a cucurbit, but eh, that’s a cool family.
Alternatively, this is me seeing that Economist poll’s numbers. 38% for/62% against? Frank, don’t you have some way of summoning PZ Meyers to pharyngulate the heck out of that thing? :b
Ok, img tag fail, it was there in the preview. Link. In retrospect, not as intimidating as your Delicata, but better than my first idea: ‘carving’ a kernel of the popping sorghum I grew this year.
Oh darn! I totally carved a Frankenstein’s monster pumpkin and a friend has a snake eating its tail sort of design. I was so busy collecting data this past week and so busy enjoying time with Brandon over the weekend that I forgot to post them!
Well, better late than never, I suppose.
Easily the scariest pumpkin I’ve ever seen by Angie:
My silly tribute to Frankenstein’s monster:
Loaded 3 pics of Pumpkins my sister carved this year – I unfortunately had no time to do so this year – my only prior effort in this vein being a “yes on 2” pumpkin a few years back (prop 2 was the propostion to allow stem cell research funding in/by MO – I felt a pumpkin was adequete response to all my fundangelical neighbors “no on 2” yard signage)
Lets see if I can actually display the images…
In the light
Gizmo in the dark (awesomeness)
Very nightmare before christmas (had he not already done so for shock value I’d suggest Tim Burton eat his heart out)
Oh, that totally worked in preview… now it just looks silly
Awesome.
Formatting fixed! I think we can accept late entries. You have till the end of the day, folks!
Oh good, I was feeling kinda dumb being the only one. The Jack Skellington pumpkin, now that’s cool.
As a side note – my pics should only be considered eye-candy and not an actual entry – as they involved no effort whatsoever on my behalf – unless years of being a dickish older brother can in some way explain my sister’s artistic abilities.
I had all manner of plans for cool looking pumpkins this year, but the best laid plans of mice and men and all that (perhaps next year my “imagine” and other corporate lackey type gourds will feature)