CHRISTMAS COMPETITION 2013: MOUNTAIN

[Icetank]

ages come, and ages gone,
the mountain stands,
from dusk to dawn,
its only friend,
the river bend,
with all that flows,
never moves,
never goes,

ages come , ages gone,
the ancient mountain stands alone,
river stays,
but will not speak,
for it feels small,
under its friends great peaks,
yet never moves,
never goes,

the endless eons,
ne'er moving,
the mountains grinding,
the rivers grooving,
yet eternal silence,
upon the wind,
is the only sound,
that they will find,

mountain tall, river low,
the sands of time , shall always flow

[Jubal]

Ooh, okay, late entry, fair enough, we'll allow

Welcome to Exilian, Icetank! How did you find us, btw?

[Icetank]

uh, idek, i got bored of another forum and remember seeing the name in google

[Cuddly Khan]

Or you heard me and Death Nade talking about it...

[Icetank]

probably

[Jubal]

Right, I'll probably advertise externally for judges, I think?

[comrade_general]

I win.

[Jubal]

I finally posted on impossible to ask for some random people to judge, let's see who we get 

[Jubal]

If anyone wants to watch the discussion of the judging process, as done by crowdsourcing judges from impossible.com, this link should hopefully work:

http://www.impossible.com/WMMMj2VlzgyO3U8UZcOGH26ji93Eqxyj0

[Jubal]

ALL THE JUDGEMENTS ARE IN!


Judge 1 (gwx30):

Let the judging commence:

Well, firstly let me please say what a privilege to be able to receive and measure such unique and original work - and of course a big thank you to all the entrants, your efforts are much appreciated and brought me at least a warm tingly glow.

So, the 5 entrants, in order of submission:

Lenin Cat:

A fantastic python-esque narrative that takes the reader upon a brief LSD trip that conjures a visual treat of an Orwellian animal farm with the soundtrack of an early Elton John. Much kudos here both for originality and linking in with the site.

----- a) interpretation of the prompt 7.5/10 – minus .5 for a tenuous mountain link...!
----- b) originality/creativity of idea 9/10
----- c) excellence/execution of the project/piece 8/10
24/30

Comrade General:

Excellent work, which must have taken a lot of effort so – wow – if you did this for this competition, hats off to you sir. Definitely an interesting take on the Hobbit and the descriptions from the book, I find it fascinating what each person takes from it and the images its words conjure.

----- a) interpretation of the prompt 9/10
----- b) originality/creativity of idea 9/10
----- c) excellence/execution of the project/piece 7/10
25/30

A Khan:

A literal take on the prompt and a moving piece, showing an artistry and deepness of thought that took me by surprise. It poses existential questions that many readers can postulate; what has this mountain seen, what ages of man have climbed its peaks, is there an underlying sexual innuendo that only the depraved can appreciate?!

----- a) interpretation of the prompt 10/10
----- b) originality/creativity of idea 7/10 – minus 1 mark deducted for perceived smut!
----- c) excellence/execution of the project/piece 7/10
24/30

Jubal:

Well, if Comrade General gains points for effort, you certainly are on a par given the length and thought that went into this epic tale of fortitude, wisdom and generosity. One has to say that, being very true to the guidelines, I would have much preferred for the soldier to hack Tammin and the priest into small pieces, feed them to the cat and then in turn, cook it for lunch. That is just me, and I do have a lot of issues around cats and exes called Tamsin. Chances are if your hero was named Bob, you would have won.

----- a) interpretation of the prompt 9/10
----- b) originality/creativity of idea 1/10 – minus 7 marks for reminding me of a girlfriend that broke my heart and stole my cat.
----- c) excellence/execution of the project/piece 7/10
17/30

IceTank:

Again, a melancholy and thoughtful prose on the prompt in question, despite reference to 70's disco in the second verse. It did however make me laugh and lift spirits, at the right pivot in the piece to warrant a sturdy and appreciate round of applause.

----- a) interpretation of the prompt 8/10
----- b) originality/creativity of idea 8/10
----- c) excellence/execution of the project/piece 6/10 – minus 2 marks for missing the deadline, twice!
22/30

In summary, a fantastic pleasure in reading your work. It is also truly amazing how humbly I started reading only to turn into Simon Cowell towards the end. It is true, absolute power corrupts absolutely! It was honestly very difficult to decide who should win, and to whom the laurel placed, that allows the bearer to politely gloat on their artistic superiority over fellow forum members.

I hope I have treated your efforts with both the respect you all deserve, and the humour which seems prevalent within your community. Whilst it always seems a shame to call someone a 'winner' and someone a 'loser' – Jubal is obviously a complete bastard and that wh*re Tammy can tie a golem to her feet and jump off the mountain into the lake.

And congratulations to Comrade General, the worthy winner, whose artistry is on a par with all of you, however the massive effort involved slightly tipped the balance.

*If it turns out the picture was re-purposed for this competition and not painted for it uniquely, they lose 10 points for Lance Armstrong type skulduggery*

Comrade General: 25
Lenin Cat:24.5
A Khan: 24
Ice Tanks: 22
Jubal: 18

Judge 2 (matthewsmazes):

Here's my rankings and some notes for each.

****

1st- Jubal's story (30 points)
2nd- comrade_general's painting (28 points)
3rd- (two tied) A Khan's poem (26 points)
3rd- (two tied) Icetank's poem (26 points)
4th- Lenin Cat's poem (22 points)

**

A Khan
A) 10 points for "Interpretation of the prompt"
B) 8 points for "Originality/Creativity of the idea"
C) 8 points for "Excellence/Execution of the project"

I liked the choice to rhyme the lines in each stanza.  It flows nicely.  Used 'old' as a rhyme more than once, though.  In a poem of only 4 stanzas, you might consider finding unique rhymes for each stanza instead of relying twice on one word.

**

Comrade_General
A) 10 points for "Interpretation of the prompt"
B) 8 points for "Originality/Creativity of the idea"
C) 10 points for "Excellence/Execution of the project"

Excellent painting, comrade_general!  The depiction of fog at the base of the mountain is very well done, and that's a difficult thing to paint.

**

Jubal story
A) 10 points for "Interpretation of the prompt"
B) 10 points for "Originality/Creativity of the idea"
C) 10 points for "Excellence/Execution of the project"

Great story, Jubal!  Unique blend of folklore and adventure story.

**

Icetank
A) 10 points for "Interpretation of the prompt"
B) 8 points for "Originality/Creativity of the idea"
C) 8 points for "Excellence/Execution of the project"

I enjoyed this poem very much.  It reminded me of the "Cold Mountain" poems of Han Shan.  They are personal favorites of mine.

**

Lenin Cat
A) 6 points for "Interpretation of the prompt"
B) 8 points for "Originality/Creativity of the idea"
C) 8 points for "Excellence/Execution of the project"

I enjoyed the humor in this piece.  It made me smile.  The mountain could have been exhibited more in the piece to help improve the score overall.

Judge 3 (amakash):

Results as follows:
1st place > The story - total score 26 (prompt - 9, originality - 9, execution 8) - I thought a lot of time and effort had gone into it and it was a very original interpretation of the image.
2nd - joint - with total scores of 24 > Poem by Icetank (Prompt - 9, Originality - 8, Execution - 7) - I thought it was a good interpretation of the prompt and I liked the original approach to describing the relationship between the river and the mountain > Painting -(Prompt - 9, Originality - 7, Execution - 8) - good interpretation and clearly a lot of time and effort gone into it. I liked the ethereal style of execution
3rd - total score of 20 > Poem by Lenin Cat (Prompt - 6, Originality - 7, Execution - 7) Not as strong an interpretation of the prompt, but I thought it was quite original
4th - total score 19 > Poem by A Khan (Prompt - 8, Originality - 5, Execution - 6) - a good effort and interpretation of the prompt, but I felt the execution wasn't a strong as some of the others and it lacked some originality.

Thus totalling scores:

COMRADE_GENERAL 25 + 28 + 24 = 77/90
JUBAL 18 + 30 + 26 = 74/90
ICETANK 22 + 26 + 24 = 72/90
A KHAN 24 + 26 + 19 = 69/90
LENIN CAT 24.5 + 22 + 20 = 66.5/90

I thus declare COMRADE_GENERAL the competition winner by a three point margin, with JUBAL the runner-up. Congratulations to everyone who took part, all very respectable scores indeed.

[comrade_general]

I win.

Please let gwx30 know that I did indeed do the painting just for this competition.

[Pentagathus]

And please let him know I'm very sorry to hear about the cat theft.

[Jubal]

Unpinned.