pun intended: GISHWHES 2013

From August 11-18, I participated in GISHWHES. GISHWHES is a 3-time Guinness World Record breaking scavenger hunt hosted by actor Misha Collins. It is comprised of a global community of thousands of individuals (94 countries and growing!) that "gather" for a week online once a year, form international teams, and then go out into the real world and create "art" the likes of which the world has never seen.

This content is captured as videos or images to memorialize the annual Gishwhes experience. Art pieces range from the touching: "Take a picture of you hugging a war veteran" or "Create a video of you visiting a children's hospital and giving a puppet show" to the weirdly sublime: "an image of a formal tea party replete with parasols, silverware and a string quartet situated in a junkyard or garbage dump" or "a fully dressed storm trooper cleaning a pool next to a sunbather."

I made a Southern California team and got partnered with a group of people from Texas, and a group from Scotland. We were TheMainAttractionLovesMazer. Here are my top 20 favorite moments that I was a part of:

1) Hug the world-

GISHWHES attempted to break a Guinness World Record for largest online album of hug photos. The previous record was 69,004. GISHWHES aimed for over 100,000. The last time I was able to check before our time ran out, there were 107,500 hug photos submitted.

GISHWHES crashes my cousin's wedding.

Because hugs from Heidi are the best.

2) Create a four panel comic book with no Photoshop-

I like this one because it required Dylan to belly flop onto the ground multiple times.

3) Draw a portrait of George Takei using only sand and your fingers-

I hope I don't have to explain to you why I loved drawing this so much.

4) Take a spinning class in full scuba gear-

Average conversation that day:
Stranger: "What are you guys doing? Taking a spinning class in scuba gear?"
Me and Nick: "Yep."
Stranger: "Hahaha. No, really. What are you doing?"

https://www.facebook.com/breakawaystudio

5) Project the YouTube film "Stranger Danger" in an abandoned drive-in movie theater-

The drive-in was private property, so we had to project the film from the sidewalk onto the back of a screen. While taking some stock footage of the abandoned place, a car's headlights suddenly turned on from inside the gate. The car proceeded to chase us for five miles on the freeway before giving up, which I'm glad they did because I don't know what I would have done if I got arrested while wearing my glow-in-the-dark dinosaur onesie.

6) Reading Heidi's status updates-

Heidi took on turning herself into a dessert and taking pictures of herself in a place where that dessert would be found. She went with birthday cake. She also later told me that it didn't occur to her that all that frosting would clog the drain. So she had to remove as much as she could with a spatula before she could shower.

7) Film a University professor making a lecture about why the telegraph will inevitably make a comeback-

Just watch it.

8) Dragon burned down my castle-

We went to Laguna Beach to fulfill this one. We would have raised more money for the poor if we had time to drive out to Venice Beach. Or if a tiny, tiny bunny had not upstaged them.

BUNNY!

9) Dress a family of four for a holiday card. Time lapse a video of them standing perfectly still for five minutes in a public place-

We originally tried to film this inside of the Laguna Hills Mall, but a mall cop said we had to go outside because of 9/11 and structural integrity.
I am also wearing a tree skirt as a skirt.

10) There is something you have always wanted to do as a child. Do it-

Done.

11) Hold a pillow fight with ten people. Everyone has to be in their pajamas-

This one I love because it was destiny. We needed ten people for this shoot. Four of us were gathered together, wondering who we could call this late to join in a pillow fight when suddenly my friend Emily appeared. She was having dinner at the same restaurant with Jordan, Roni, Brandon, and Phil. Then while waiting for everyone to meet at my parent's house, Maria was randomly at our house to visit. She also happened to be in pajamas just because she felt like wearing them.

12) Photograph two surfers talking on a tin can line while surfing-

Nick had to wake up at 6 in the morning to accomplish this one. It took hours to do because the surf was so awful that morning.

13) Take the road less taken-

This was the first item Nick and I did.

14) Build a recognizable structure using only books-

Even mini-Big Ben is taller than my mom.

15) Put an ad for your cult in a local newspaper-

The day after we set up this alien cult ad, the newspaper called us to tell us they were uncomfortable running it because of a production problem. The problem was that they thought "puppies & ice cream for all" was a little misleading.

16) Stare down an animal in a cage. You are also in a cage. Your cage is in his cage-

Addie did not like seeing me in puppy jail. She sat by my side the entire time for moral support.

17) Knit a sweater for a statue of a famous historical figure-

I had to knit through my cousin's wedding to finish this in time. I went to dinner after taking photos, and when we returned, about a dozen people were pointing out Ben had a sweater and taking pictures with him. I have a feeling alcohol had something to do with it, but it was still cool to see.