Every so often, friends of Team SideQuesting need a little help. Sometimes that means stepping out beyond our day-to-day lives and donating a little to support a cause.
Our friend and yours, the Internet’s James Gillard, has recently been in-and-out of the hospital, out of work, and dangerously close to losing his place of residence. If you’ve been following his tweets, you’d understand how much of a dire situation he is in. And, since he’s a pretty good guy (apart from the constant murdering of us on XBox Live) he’s been as positive as you could ever hope someone could be. Though he’s not asking for it, we, virtual and actual friends of his, are banding together to host an online event.
Much like the “New Gums Day” fundraiser this past January 1st, this event — Romancing the Stones, taking place this Sunday, July 25th — will help James in great ways. Featuring an auction, prizes, and a terrific live show with some incredible guests, Romancing the Stones will not only be a great charity event, but a great event overall.
So, help out! Donate, join the event page, or spread the word!
Full info below! (Thanks to everyone who’s helped to arrange this!)
Dear Big-Hearted Friends in This Here Club the JPAG,
In case you didn’t know, this is a real love-in of a Facebook Group. Every now and then a serious need arises among our group, and so we band together to do good. We’ve helped repair consoles; we’ve helped pay crazy dental bills.
And so, Ladies and Gentlemen, I now sound the clarion call once more.
While we’ve jokingly adopted Twitter memes when James “Take My Bike — Please!” Gillard has been hospitalized, he has unfortunately suffered multiple hospitalizations of late, and British healthcare unfortunately doesn’t come with British job security for part-time teachers. It’s been one damn thing after another, and none of those things are generating dough.
Put bluntly, he hasn’t been able to work for some time, and times are desperate. As in, eviction-desperate, and in short order.
Are we going to sit idly by while Mr. Sophistication gets kicked to the curb? Most assuredly not, fellow fans of Battenberg cake!
To wit: on July 25, from 2 – 5 PM CDT, the JPAG will host a live JPAG podcastravaganza, featuring fabulous prizes and live call-ins! This time, no prawns will be present.
Oh, yeah, I said PRIZES. Prizes to be awarded in a fashion TBD (likely similar to the New Gums Day method); there will likely be a raffle for some items of particular significance, and some other thank-you gifts sent to all those who donate, or who donate at some TBD level. Here’s what people have committed to donate thus far:
*** BEGIN PRIZE DESCRIPTIONS, LARGELY PLAGIARIZED FROM DONOR COPY ***
Evan Hodgins (Toronto, America’s Hat): Evan will put you in as a guest in his comic Of Noobs and Men (a two-time winner of the Joystiq Weekly Webcomic Wrapup). Get famous, in line-art!
Kyle Collis: Kyle donates three prize packs, as follows…
1. Dreamcast Prize Pack – PAL Dreamcast with two controllers, a VMU, and a scart cable. Also comes with four games: Mr Driller, Shenmue, SoulCalibur and Jet Set Radio.
2. Promotional Consideration Prize Pack – Eight promotional PlayStation 2 games: Destroy All Humans, Burnout Revenge, The Warriors, Brothers in Arms – Road to Hill 30, Ultimate Spider-Man, Fantastic 4 and Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2006. He says: “Since these are a little crap I also included a copy of Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box on PS3 (without the sleeve), Final Fantasy VII Complete (a two-disc DVD set of an entire playthrough of FFVII I bought off eBay years ago for some reason) and The Legend of Zelda: Melodies of Time (a soundtrack CD that came with an issue of the official UK Nintendo magazine).”
3. Arty Prize Pack – Art books for Devil May Cry 4, InFamous, Dead Space (hardback, includes 3D glasses), Jade Empire and five art cards for Halo Wars. Also includes the 10th anniversary Complete Pokedex hardback book and comics for Halo: Uprising, De Blob and Wanted.Jarret Green (St. Louis, Missouri):
Seth Cohen Starter pack:
2 lucky winners will get 1 book, 1 game (PS or Stream, prob), 1 cd (or mix CD), 1 movie, and 1 wildcard item from Jarret’s personal collection based on your own taste (and ability to enjoy such a items)*
*your taste to be determined by painfully generic facebook quizzes.
It’s like JPAG Secret Chrismakkuh Guy in July!**
**All prizes will be related to The O.C.***
***in that they are in the same house as every season of the O.C.Patrick Young (Waldorf, Maryland): A homemade plush Sackboy made out of some of his BBMT wristbands from PAX East.
Klee Baker (Manhattan, Kansas): Dungeons and Dragons 4th Edition Players’ Handbook.
Jeff LeClerc (Chicago, IL): New copy of Batman: Arkham Asylum (360 version).
John Moore (Medford, Oregon): Two MP3/CD audiobook packs!
Pack one includes:
-Death by Black Hole, by Neil deGrasse Tyson
-The Pluto Files, by Neil deGrasse Tyson
-Where’s My Jetpack?, by Daniel H. Wilson
Pack two includes:
-Sex Lives of Cannibals
-Getting Stoned with Savages
-Lost on Planet China, all by J. Maarten Troost
Pics here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=140366112655950#!/photo.php?pid=1548586&o=all&op=1&view=all&subj=140366112655950&aid=-1&id=1242062878Dustin Deckard (Wichita, Kansas): Lord of the Rings Online limited edition box signed by the entire lead development team. These boxes were given away at PAX Prime and include the game (no expansions) and soundtrack, as well as a poster and map of Middle Earth. It’s a big, cool-looking box, and although it’s not shrink-wrapped or anything, it’s brand new and the code has never been activated, meaning it’s good for 30 days of gameplay. Considering that LOTRO is going free-to-play this fall, it’s a great way to dip your toes into the game. Also: digital codes for 2,000 Turbine Points, usable in Dungeons & Dragons Online (retail value $20).
Steven Strom (Fargo, North Dakota): Custom-designed t-shirt, designs TBD.
Justin Russo (Oak Park, Illinois): A complete set of his videogame art posters, signed and numbered by the artist, PLUS the super-secret pack-in poster, given only to those who backed at a premium level. I got my posters the other day, and let me tell you, this is a SWEET PACK. As in, better than my joystick. It took a lot to write that. So there.
Alan Black (Asheville, North Carolina): An invaluable chance to be ‘chopped in with the Joystiq Podcast hosts in one of his podcast banner pictures.
Mare Odomo (Seattle, Washington): Personally donated copies of his Pokexistentialist mini-comic _Letters To An Absent Father_. See more here: http://mareodomo.com/#425319/Letters-To-An-Absent-Father
Alexander Bevier (Tacoma, Washington): A brand-new, unopened Razer Boom Slang 2007 Collector’s Edition mouse, numbered 05978 out of 10000. See more here: http://store.razerzone.com/store/razerusa/en_US/pd/productID.169415700
Holly Attesi (Springfield, Massachusetts): XBLA codes, nature TBD.
Wesley Johnson (Greenville, Kentucky): Some “pretty sweet graphic novels.”
Jesse “Mainfinger” Gregory (Bellevue, Washington): Three copies of Mode7, his game music CD compilation, physical copies of Save the Princess Vol. 1 (previously available only via digital distribution), several games in pristine condition, and the right to pick ANY game music song you know and have him make a custom remix of the song just for you. Remember that this is the guy who won the Capcom Dark Void contest for doing just such work. Now he can do it for you! See prize pics of the games and Mode7 CDs here: http://www.mainfinger.com/misc/prizes.jpg
Oscar Mancia (Chicago, Illinois): A Fulgore Killer Instinct T-Shirt (size XL), two 500 Nintendo Points cards, Pokemon Gold and Silver display boxes, Scribblenauts/A Boy and His Blob posters, and a digital photo of Ryan Mulvaney in front of the Eiffel Tower.
*** END PRIZE DESCRIPTIONS ***
So mark your calendars, peeps! This is going to be all kinds of fun, and all for a cause that will have immediate and lasting impact on one of our own.
Lastly, if you are good at something or make things that could be used as raffle prizes and you’d like to help, please message me right away. If you have the time and willingness to help organize this dealio, that’s also appreciated.
NOTE: This year, instead of mailing all donated goods to a central location whereupon a bedraggled volunteer packs it all up again and sends it out, we are relying on donors to take on the task of shipping the goods to the winners. Bear in mind that in some cases, international shipping may be involved, and thus it could tak…e several months for your prize to arrive by ice floe.
*** If you want to donate now, you can paypal your funds to jpaganimalrescue@gmail.com. ***
Your brother who never beat you up and always defended you in the schoolyard,
-Randall
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