USA Today Photo Request

I just received this request from USA Today. I'm not sure how to respond to it. Any suggestions?

Hello,
We are doing a story on 10 great places that have fools in their name. Do
you have any handout photographs of the exterior or interior of the museum?
Thanks so much,
Life Picture Desk
USA TODAY

Miscellaneous Photos

Posted on Mon Mar 21, 2005



Comments

Hey!!! send them a picture of your bathroom!!!! Make sure the Jackalope is in there.
Posted by X  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  02:44 PM
And what do they mean by "have fools in their name."??
Posted by X  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  02:46 PM
Don't fall for the HOAX!!!!

DELETE!!!!!!!!!!!!

okay, take a chill pill amy

hee hee
Posted by thunder  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  02:50 PM
I suggest making a photoshop contest of your own... get someone to make the outside of the Museum of Hoaxes... as if it were a real place. I also like the bathroom idea. lol
Posted by Casey  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  02:56 PM
I would send them the image I have up on the 'About Museum' page, but I don't have it in high enough resolution.
Posted by The Curator  in  San Diego  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  03:10 PM
Is it actually FROM USA Today?

Spoofin's not that hard, and it just kinda seems like something someone who threatens to send you boxes would do.

Seeing as how you said (in "about me") that USA Today has previously interviewed you, would they really think you have an actual MUSEUM built since the last time you communicated?

And I'm still trying to figure out where they found "fool" in "Museum of Hoaxes".

So, myself, I would drag out photoshop and paste the MOH logo above the white-house entrance, and send them THAT. And it would be what they deserved, after not doing any research before sending an email, that is assuming of course, that USA Today sent it.

I would have to imagine that the people at USA Today would be a little more business-like, also.
Posted by Rod  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  03:13 PM
WOW, diod I just make a colossal ASS of myself. After all the complaining I do that nobody reads the entire website before posting, I seem to have, until now, entirely missed the page where you have info on the actual building.

The redness of my face cannot be expressed with the English language.

:red:

Talk about making myself look like a total tool.
Posted by Rod  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  03:17 PM
Outside: Screen shot of the front page.
Inside: Screen shot of the view-source of the front page.

/confused too
Posted by Splarka  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  03:17 PM
I believe, Rod, that the Museum consists of Alex's house and not much more. The picture he has is not the real museum. I think he just dredged it up somewhere 'cause it looked cool.
Posted by Charybdis  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  03:20 PM
I think it is real. I left out the name of the actual person who sent the email to me. USA Today is a big organization, so just because one reporter from there once interviewed me, doesn't me anyone else there would remember that.
Posted by The Curator  in  San Diego  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  03:25 PM
Send them a picture of the White House 😊
Posted by David Elliott  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  03:25 PM
It can't be the White House because I want it to be something they might actually print. The White House is too recognizable.
Posted by The Curator  in  San Diego  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  03:28 PM
Some good pictures here
http://www.schoolshistory.org.uk/images/Russia/

I especially like this one.
Museum
Posted by Charybdis  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  03:35 PM
Send them a picture of Baby Boy Bulmash, or a shot of Mad Dog Gnzbrg's Butt Floss dispenser station... You asked...
Posted by Hairy Houdini  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  03:36 PM
So, either way, I made an ass of myself with ONE of those posts...

:red:

Thinking of this as a real request from them puts it in a whole new light...

I'm still wondering where the fool is hidden, though.
Posted by Rod  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  03:39 PM
I think I spotted one Rod.

:coolsmile:
Posted by Charybdis  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  03:40 PM
Here's a nice one they might actually believe. I like that fact that it's tilted just a little.

http://www.westerlo.be/Museum/Foto/DCP00769.jpg
Posted by Charybdis  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  03:47 PM
Yes, yes, yes.

I do not disagree.

At least, not today. I have proven myself rather deficient in the ol gray matter on this one.

How about the "Amityville Horror" house? Fairly recognizable, but not to all. And it's alreday been the subject of ONE hoax, why not another?

I'll go back to beating my head off of the wall now.
Posted by Rod  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  03:47 PM


That one's good, but it looks like a military academy with the flags and all; you need something that looks simple and small, perhaps even just a normal victorian-style terraced house with a blue circle on the outside, or whatever equivalent there is in America.

Hey look, it's the Brighton fishing museum:
Posted by Ashley Pomeroy  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  04:10 PM
Where in the name Museum of Hoaxes does this person see the word "fool"?

Are you sure someone isn't pulling an April Fool's prank on you, Alex?
Posted by Myst  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  04:57 PM
This is a great opportunity to hoax USA Today. Send in a photo of a building (take a picture of a masonic temple or something) and give them a fake address to some location in San Diego (the zoo, for example).
Make sure to throw in the info about the pancake breakfast every Thursday!
Posted by Chris Carlisle  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  05:41 PM
You could use a picture of Suzzallo Library from the University of Washington. A gothic building yet clearly not a cathedral.

http://www.nationaltrust.org/magazine/archives/arc_news/062303.htm
Posted by Saint Cad  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  06:38 PM
If you do, make sure to change the name to something like img00351.jpg or one of those digital camera default image names.

Like I need to give hoax advice to the museum curator!
Posted by Chris Carlisle  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  07:12 PM
I think you should come up with something they'll print. Think about it, the Museum of Hoaxes, involved in a 'hoax.' Can't beat that.

Though the bathroom idea does have some appeal.
Posted by lilad  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  07:29 PM
if that is the letter verbatim, i'd have to agree with whoever said they didn't seem too professional.
heck my first letter to you alex, was more business like than that.

send them a photo of a barn, and claim it's out by A51.
Posted by MrKurto  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  07:38 PM
I've received lots of emails from reporters. They all tend to be quite informal. I would have found it unusual if the email was more 'professional'.

I like the picture of the Brighton fishing museum, but I don't have the photoshop skills necessary to change the sign in front of it.
Posted by The Curator  in  San Diego  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  07:48 PM
And I don't know what the guy meant by 10 great places that have fools in their names. I'm assuming he's a photo editor who was told to find pictures of '10 great places for april fools' and somehow misheard it.

Or maybe they realize that the Museum isn't a real museum, and that's what they're really looking for: 10 places whose names are jokes (or fools).

In other words, I have no clue.
Posted by The Curator  in  San Diego  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  08:01 PM
You should definitely send in some photos of a real building. Perhaps something slightly famous so that it will be worse for them should they print it. My brother suggests the Amityville House.

Anyone else have any ideas?
Posted by ErikPSO  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  08:11 PM
Meh, just wander on down to a nice-looking victorian home or something.., possibly one with a sign already in front of it, just take the photo such that the sign is at an angle so it can't be read..

Could explain that interior shots aren't really available, pending renovations, but you can show some of the exhibits..

Get one of those doll display domes, and a scrap of black velvet. Then have (for example) a small curl of bacon resting inside it, well-lit, and a small card reading 'Van Gogh's Ear', then have an blurb explaining how this was the actual item used to fool people at an art museum...
Posted by Bobcat  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  08:17 PM
On a side note sort of related to getting emails from reporters, I forgot to tell you Alex that a women from an MTV show on high school hoaxes aparently uses your site to find new stories for their show (I don't remember what it's called though). Just a few days after a post I did awhile back I got an email from a women working on the MTV show who wanted to get more detailed information from me about my post. I just found it rather interesting.
Posted by Razela  on  Mon Mar 21, 2005  at  11:18 PM
What'd you end up telling her, Razela? I think I'd be quite nasty and snap, "Think up your own damn story ideas, lady!" Reminds me of this:

http://www.snopes.com/humor/mediagoofs/sixpence.asp

I caught that show and almost died. Good Lord, the thievery!

And Alex: hoax 'em, hoax 'em good!
Posted by Katherine  on  Tue Mar 22, 2005  at  12:50 AM
OH MY ME, COMMANDER RIKER STEERED ME WRONG???



It cannot be. I don't even remember watching the show about three years ago. Or do I?
Posted by Rod  on  Tue Mar 22, 2005  at  01:46 AM
rip open the server and take some pics of the memorybanks and harddisks
Posted by Unfairly Balanced  on  Tue Mar 22, 2005  at  02:32 AM
a photo of yourselve wearing something ridiculous for the soutside; and an X-ray for the inside....
Posted by LaMa  on  Tue Mar 22, 2005  at  02:46 AM
How about a photograph of the Ananova building?!
Posted by LaMa  on  Tue Mar 22, 2005  at  02:50 AM


I haven't been able to find a better picture.... if you want to know *why* I looked for this one, this is a better picture of the statue in front;



:D
Posted by aw  on  Tue Mar 22, 2005  at  05:39 AM
Send a pic of your moniter for the exterior shot and remove the cover of the CPU and use that for the interior
Posted by mIKE  on  Tue Mar 22, 2005  at  08:40 AM
Alex, I think you should go down to balboa park and take a picture of one of the museums or buildings there. It would look more San Diego-ish, and not so east coast.

And Katherine, I told her anything I could remember about the incident (it had to do with a counterfeighting chain from when i was in high school). Unfortunately it was years ago so I didn't remember much, she can spend her own time looking up old newspaper articles on it.
Posted by Razela  on  Tue Mar 22, 2005  at  08:49 AM
My original idea was to send them a photo of the inside of your computer. But it would be neat to hoax the people writing about hoaxes by sending them a photo of another building.
Posted by Doug  on  Wed Mar 23, 2005  at  12:00 PM
How about my school?
http://www.lealands.luton.sch.uk/index.htm
the van on the playground is delivering a new hoax item you ordered off of eBay 😛 and you use the field and playground as a hoax items market where you make most of your money 😛
Posted by thunder  on  Wed Mar 23, 2005  at  12:45 PM
Here's an English B&B

/Copy of Nitas B&B 004.jpg" title ="B&B"] B&B
Posted by Charybdis  on  Wed Mar 23, 2005  at  01:56 PM
Send 'em a picture of the Taj Mahal.
That's close enough for USA today, and, if they're up to their usaul standard of reporting, they probably won't recognize the image.
Posted by Big Gary C  on  Wed Mar 23, 2005  at  03:29 PM
Er, make that "their usual standard of reporting."
I'm up to my usual standard of typing, obviously.
Posted by Big Gary C  on  Thu Mar 24, 2005  at  09:08 AM
How about Cologne Cathedral?

Posted by Nick  on  Thu Mar 24, 2005  at  10:27 AM
Alex-
Here are 3 shots of buildings in San Diego and one from Singapore. I chose these for their "funky museum" looks. I can dotor-up any of your choosing with a nice M.o.H. logo for the article. I'll try to find some interiors next.







Posted by Eric  on  Fri Mar 25, 2005  at  02:12 PM
I agree with Eric. I like the pictures of already existing museums in balboa park. They look more real for san diego.
Posted by Razela  on  Sat Mar 26, 2005  at  11:08 AM
"http://users.tkk.fi/~mwesterb/iaeste/iaeste/glasgow/2.jpg

I haven't been able to find a better picture.... if you want to know *why* I looked for this one, this is a better picture of the statue in front;



:D
Posted by aw on Tue Mar 22, 2005 at 04:39 AM"

Next time I'm in Glasgow, I'll make a better picture of the front of the statue and post it in the same place... I own thorwald.nl 8-)
Posted by Bokkie  on  Tue Jul 12, 2005  at  01:43 AM
ahahaha i live beside the amityville house on ocean avenue and it is ssosoooooo freaky!!! i heard the shots of the guns and if u have any quesions ask!
from , omg i hope we move soon! :ahhh: :ahhh:
Posted by ihopeimovesoon  on  Sun Jan 15, 2006  at  09:21 AM
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