This year I’m running with the whole Obama vibe and making my moustache a much more interactive and Web 2.0 experience, so here’s another video I made showing the actual making of my ’stache. I know, I know it’s exciting stuff. And yes, it makes me look silly, but as I say in the video — I’m willing to give up my dignity if you’re willing to give up $20, or $10, or whatever you can give.

This is the 826 CHI homepage (and make sure you scroll down to “Mike S” — that’s me, and I can only win this thing if you give to my name), or you can click here to head right over to the Paypal page and give directly. Thank you for giving, and if you haven’t given yet, please do.

We’ve met the $100 goal, so everyone who gives has a chance to win a 30-minute conversation with me about whatever they want. If we can hit $200, I’ll be drawing that picture and sending the original art to another winner. At $300, the Blizzard swag comes into play, so if you know me from WoW Insider, you’ll want to get your guild all giving so we can reach that goal and you can have a chance at winning that. And so on as the donations stack up.

Thanks again! Stay tuned — hopefully I’ll have a better way of showing off the moustache. I’ve always been plagued in this contest by having light colored hair, so maybe it’s time to take the next step and put some dye into the mix?

I twittered about this song, and it got me thinking that I should have a music blog, where I can post music that I really like. Then I realized that I already have a blog, and that there was nothing wrong with me posting music on it. So here you go — this is actually a mashup of the Ting Tings song with some crazy kids show, but I like it anyway.

To donate: Click here, scroll down to “Mike S.” (that’s me) and click the Paypal button. Or just follow this link straight to Paypal.

So here’s the deal with the prizes: as the total given hits the number below, I’ll throw each one of these prizes into the pot. And at the end of the contest, everyone who gives has a chance to win them, one person per prize, randomly.

$100: I will call this winner or the person of the winner’s choice and have a nice 30-minute conversation about whatever they want to talk about.

$200: I will draw an original picture of whatever the winner wants (probably in crayon, though medium may be negotiable if you have an idea), and send it to them, signed.

$300: I will give the winner an official BlizzCon 2008 Blizzard Authenticator, plus some other WoW-related goodies. If you play World of Warcraft, you know how valuable these are, and if you don’t, they can easily be sold on eBay, making you back your donation (and maybe a little bit extra).

$400: I will use my considerable talents (!) to write 1000 words about whatever the winner wants. It can be an essay for school, a love letter for their loved one, a poem in their honor, or a summary of that day’s New York Times (so they can save time reading it themselves). Or whatever else they come up with.

$500: I will buy dinner for the winner in Chicago at the restaurant of their choice. If they want me there, I’ll go, otherwise I can purchase it for them and they can go with whomever they’d like.

And if the amount of donations goes up from there, I’ll add more prizes to the list. To reiterate: everyone who donates is eligible for all of these prizes, given that the total amount of donations reaches the amount stated above — if the total reaches $500, there will be five different prizes, and everyone who gives will have an equal chance at each one (though if you win one prize, it wouldn’t be fair to give you another one, now would it?).

But whether you give for greedy reasons (who wouldn’t want a picture drawn by me, right?) or for generous ones, please do give. Head on over to Paypal and give whatever you can (suggested donation is $20 — which, you might then realize, will keep your chances at 1/5 to win any of the prizes — but you can give whatever you want). And thanks!

Yes, it’s back. Even though I was not able to grow a terrific (or even respectable) moustache last year, I was able to raise a nice chunk of money for my good friends at 826 CHI (a writing center that I volunteer at here in Chicago), and so I’m back at it again this year, in their yearly fundraising and facial-hair growing enterprise. But just like our nation at large, I’ve made some changes, and I have a little more hope than last time around.

• I have decided to go all out with my facial hair. While I have never been able to grow a moustache (and last year’s attempt was no big surprise in that vein), I have always been able to grow some good sideburns, and so this year I’m going to just go all the way. I’m going for the full mutton chop. I have no reason to believe that this will be any more successful than the moustache itself, but I found last year that the more people who asked me what was up with my face, the more people I got to donate money, so I feel that this tactic will have more of an impression on those around me.
• I feel like I know more people this year. I have no numbers to back this up, but 2008 was a productive year for me, and surely someone noticed.
• Oh, and I’m resorting to bribery this year. If you give money to my account (by going to 826 CHI’s official page and clicking on the PayPal button under Mike S. — that’s me), you’ll be entered into a drawing to win an amazing prize. I’m not quite sure what this prize will be yet (I have quite a few things in mind, including some things that are very valuable), but I will let you know before the contest ends what it will be.
• Additionally, for every $100 I raise, I will add something to the pot of things you might win for donating to me in the Moustache-o-thon, and add one to the list of winners (so that as you can convince others to give, the odds don’t change — if $100 is donated in total, I will choose one winner from among all of the donators, if $200 is donated, two winners, if $1,000, ten winners, and so on). The prizes could be anything. Perhaps it will be something personal to me or created by me, or perhaps it will be something of great financial value. You never know. As we hit $100 totals, I will reveal the prizes, so start donating now.

Cheap ploy, you may say? So be it. But as you can see from last year’s picture, my moustache isn’t going to win me any contests, so I might as well raise some money. To donate, you can just click on the PayPal button under my picture, or send me a check if you’d like (you can email me for my address).

The first check-in is two weeks away, and I assure you that I am growing my facial hair as fast as I can. Every time there’s an update, I’ll post a picture here, and I’ll reveal as many prizes as have been unlocked. The more money you give, the more prizes there will be, and the more creative I’ll have to be with them, so feel free to start giving now. In two weeks, when I am updated with the current totals, I’ll let you know what they are and where we’re at. Wish me luck.