So Long, Suckers
I’m not a sentimental sort, so I’ll just say it - Inventing Situations is going on an indefinite hiatus once the reunion is over. Fortunately, you have at least two other options for your capping pleasure - Hipsoda’s Caption Crack for that old time live capping experience and Glitter’s Cap-Page Board for that fan boy message board capping experience. I’m hoping you all make those spots your new homes away from homes and all you folks rediscovering capping will stick around at one or both sites. And some of these places are still up and about too.
When that where-are-they-now thread over at the egroup first morphed into this reunion, I wasn’t planning to make it IS’ swan song, but as the day came closer, it just seemed like the time to finally bow out and let others keep the torch of capping going, as I’m sure they will with your continued help.
Anyhoo, if anybody gives a rat’s, Wasting Precious Time will keep limping on and maybe even get some of the attention I’ve been giving IS, and I’ll keep on capping (you can exhale now), and IS might be back for Turkey weeks or if the world ‘needs’ it again. Anyway, thanks to everyone’s who helped out over the half decade or so of this site and everybody who’s capped here.
As a parting gift, I give you this AgentQ masterpiece:
“Well, Lieutenant, I’m glad to see your efforts are SURPRISE MARTY FELDMAN IMPRESSION!” “JESUS CHRIST! Man, you always get me with that.”
p.s. this blog will stay open for whatever bees occupy my bonnet.
July 20th, 2007 at 1:05 am
Jesus Fucking Christ. Gerson, if I had known that this was going to be your swan song, I would have… Christ, I don’t know. Sent out more emails, made some phone calls, been a whole lot more disconsolate (or active, if I thought it might have helped), and taken the next few days off. You ought to warn a guy. Or guys. Or community of hundreds. Damn.
Damn damn damn.
This puts everything in a whole new light, and suddenly I’m in a power shortage. Damn.
Say it ain’t so, Gerson. Say it ain’t so.
July 20th, 2007 at 1:11 am
NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
Hell of a thing to be first post for.
Don’t you dare go away from us…(reads again, “I’ll keep on capping”)…oh, good, at least you’ll still be around. As someone who kept IS (all the way back to Caption That!) refreshing on her computer 24/7, I have had many a fine cap and friendship on those pages. If you reopen the site for Turkey weeks or the regular grind again, just call and I know I won’t be the only one running.
Guess I can’t go blaming Bonnie Hammer for this one. Didn’t say I wouldn’t try, though.
July 20th, 2007 at 1:11 am
Aw, hell. Missed by 6 minutes.
July 20th, 2007 at 1:19 am
#1 What can I say, I hate long goodbyes.
#2 By capper standards, I’m leaving you in trustworthy hands. Just as IS was the same but different from CT, so are HCC and CPB to IS. Or something like that.
July 20th, 2007 at 1:39 am
Man, I hate to see IS go, but I love to watch it leave — no wait…
Well, poo! I’m sure you have your reasons, Gerson, but I’ll still miss IS. Whether it comes back or not, thank you SO MUCH for providing us with the fix we so desperately needed! We may have teased you a lot (MEAT! MEAT! MEAT!) but we only tease the ones we love.
July 20th, 2007 at 4:57 am
aw, fuck…
July 20th, 2007 at 6:14 am
Wha–? Huh?
I didn’t even know IS existed until I spotted your LJ post, and since then I’ve been loving every minute of glorious old-school-style capping.
I am really sorry to see it go (especially so soon after discovering it), but as Agent_Moldy said I’m sure you have your reasons, but I am going to miss it terribly.
July 20th, 2007 at 8:12 am
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! *sobbing*
Gerson NOOOOOOOOOOO!!! Do you know what it’s like to sit at a desk for hours witho — ok, you DO know. Oh, MAN!! I am sorry to see this site go! I’m going to miss it TERRIBLY. But you’re right, maybe WPT will get more attention from all sides now. Omigawd, I’m really upset. *sniff* I’m glad you (Gerson) aren’t leaving, I’d be devastated (seriously). It’s going to be difficult adjusting.
July 20th, 2007 at 8:17 am
I only found out about it about 4 or 5 months ago and have been loving it. It’s become my newest time-waster, for sure! It’s been a wonderful flashback to the good old days of Caption This! Thanks so much for having it at all. It was awesome!
July 20th, 2007 at 8:35 am
Let me just emphasize that if I didn’t think HCC was capable of taking our place, I’d keep this place open. But it’s time for me to move on to new things and give new folks a chance to step into the spotlight.
July 20th, 2007 at 9:35 am
Thank you, Gerson, for all you have done over the years.
IS will be sorely missed.
July 20th, 2007 at 10:45 am
Thanks for even having this Gerson! I don’t make it as much as I’d like, but love it each time. :)
I do vote for TurkeyDays though… :)
July 20th, 2007 at 10:48 am
HCC take its place? Heck, if CT! came back, in all its glory, I don’t think it could take the place of Inventing Situations. You’ve done great work here, and if you’re bound and determined to move on, this place will be sorely missed. This comes as a real shock, and I can’t but hope you’ll reconsider, but I respect the decision if that’s what you’ve decided.
Thanks for all the great years of IS!
July 20th, 2007 at 10:51 am
I haven’t been around in so long I’m just a fart in the wind to these other folks, but I’ll miss the opportunity and the humor and the occasional brilliance that came through while people typed silly things underneath little pictures. Good luck, sir.
And I, too, support Turkey Day.
[does Iron Eyes Cody tear-by-the-roadside bit]
July 20th, 2007 at 11:55 am
In the words of Jack Bauer, “DAMNit!” Gerson, you gave us a lot of fun over the years and I can only say a hearty thank you. I can’t tell you how many times I almost fell out of my ergonomic chair with tears streaming down my face, laughing hysterically. And that was just for MY caps. I was just thinking yesterday, “Capping. More effective than Paxil”. And as for the comedic brilliance of all of you, bravo, brava, bravura and whatever else brav you can think of.
I am all for Turkey Day, by the way. *This is touching moment* *snif*
July 20th, 2007 at 12:07 pm
Mais non! Since a new job last year effectively ended my long and unlustrous capping career, I manage to get into IS about once every six months, when I’m lucky. That doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate it. I mean, I still have to go to meetings and all. And I’m not immune to relapse. But not having access to a fix isn’t the same as simply being clean and sober. I NEED this site, Gerson - have you no heart for a poor, jonesing capper??
But really, thanks for keeping this running as long as you have; I hope you manage to find a way to bring it back soon (outsourcing to India, maybe?).
July 20th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
my heart just exploded.
July 20th, 2007 at 1:10 pm
As one of the earliest Caption-This!ers, I am sad to learn the news. As things die their natural deaths, they can’t help but to mark our own aging as well. When I began capping in college 10 years ago at my Very First Desktop computer, I was young, free, life full of potential (and, evidently, full of free time)! Now that I am elderly (31) and mother to three, it is no wonder I don’t have time to make appearances as often as I’d like. But the KNOWLEDGE that something exists to connect my college days to now has kept a youthful spring in my step. Don’t take that time capsule away from us! Or, if you do, somebody else had better take the torch…!
July 20th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
You’ll find me in the garage with the car running
July 20th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
falvio - you’re just trying to piss off Xig now aren’t you? (sorry, egroup ‘joke’). To reitirate my second sentence once again:
Caption Crack/IS same difference while glitter’s, is just like vitamins Big E, ‘cept different.
July 20th, 2007 at 3:05 pm
Beware of the capper’s corbamite device. Life has little meaning to us. If you really intend to end IS after midnight tonight, then do it now. We grow annoyed at your foolishness.
Captain James T-Rex
July 20th, 2007 at 3:14 pm
Wow–I totally did not see this coming. I’m sad to see the end of IS–it’s been like my capping home. I was only around for the last part of CT, so when it ended, it wasn’t really a big deal for me. IS, though, is the place where the most and best of my capping memories occurred. I met a lot of people here that I consider my friends–it’s not easy to find people who “get” my admittedly bizarre sense of humor.
Gerson, thanks for everything–it’s been a wild ride……you rock the world!
So long, IS, and thanks for all the memories….
SFS
P.S. Now I guess I’m gonna have insult all the meat products in my fridge at least once a week……gotta keep ‘em in line somehow…… :)
July 20th, 2007 at 3:35 pm
Say it ain’t so , Gerson!!! You mean , I’m gonna have to get a real life now? I will miss Inventing Situations a lot. Thanks for having it for all these years. I know you felt underappreciated at times , but this place was a nice place to spend time at.
July 20th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
Now ain’t that a bite in the butt……….
and not some little nibble on the soft fleshy part of one cheek either.
I’m talkin’ about a big toothy chomp right out of the underside where…..
I’m sorry….
Sometimes I get carried away
July 20th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
Having spent many words and some of my lighter efforts on support here, I won’t say the words of gratitude again.
But I *did* get tears in my eyes - actual wet tears - around noon today when capping Gamera Vs. Guiron w/all the others that were around then. Tears of joy were always common from IS. And all your efforts (ROUND ROBIN TEXT:) everybody, you were pretty unreplaceable.
No more IS?
Will there even be a universe any more?
And, worst of all - will I never hear from any of you again? eeeeeeeek [into the night].
VOTES (ROUND ROBIN TEXT): TURKEY DAY. WE WANT OUR SPECIAL TURKEY DAY.
and also IF IS *is* GONE, (since I’ve never really visited the alt. choices at all), WILL SOMEONE POST ME SOME LINKS PLEASE? THX. UpSky2 signing off… until again, or until forever.
(PS: Gerson, If you bring back IS - or any other project that could use my clumsy suggestions and minor criticisms - call on me.)
July 20th, 2007 at 4:50 pm
PS: I propose the creation of a Normal Rockwell clone, an ‘IS Memorial Image’, to be titled:
F R E E D O M F R O M W A N T O F I . S .
July 20th, 2007 at 5:05 pm
Wow, it’s a real surprise, especially with the new voting system (which I really like) and improvements all around I had no clue it was on any sort of decline. But if it’s for personal reasons, I think we all understand even if no one is happy about it. Though I’ve only been doing this for about half a year, it’s been a blast, and I really appreciate everything. Thank you, Gerson, and all the other cappers for the laughs.
July 20th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
I would hope it’s less of a feeling of decline than a passing of the torch. Right, Gerson?
July 20th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
Aw phooey.
Thanks for the laughs, gerson.
*bows deeply*
*looks up, turns around and bows deeply facing gerson*
July 20th, 2007 at 8:42 pm
I’m still crying. IS sustained me thru a dark period in my life. I– I guess it’s time to let go. *sniff* Gerson — thank you for what you’ve done for the past 6 years. THANK YOU. *sniff* *sigh* Glitter, you plan to keep CPB running, right? Hopefully, you’ll reconsider IS when things change for you, Gerson. i vote for Turkey Day in the meantime.
July 20th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
Oh sure, I FINALLY get to a point in my life where I can access the internet from somwhere other than the damn library that’s 15 miles away, and now IS is leaving. I don’t know what I did to deserve this kind of karma, but whatever it was, I’m sorry. Oh well. Thanks for the fun I had on the few occasions I was able to play!
July 20th, 2007 at 10:17 pm
thanks for all the hard work, Gerson.
July 20th, 2007 at 11:15 pm
Verdammt noch mal! Das ist einen großen Entäusschung. Schade…
July 20th, 2007 at 11:46 pm
Does this mean the Inventing Situations T-shirt I’m wearing is now a collector’s item?
July 20th, 2007 at 11:58 pm
Well, damn, and just when I was starting to remember what live capping was like again, for the somewhere in the area of the 35th time or something. But, I guess with all these other options out there, it’s best if you do what’s right for you, man. Thanks for all the fun, dude!
July 20th, 2007 at 11:58 pm
cheers :)
July 21st, 2007 at 12:31 am
It sure is amazing how as you get older, you appriciate the things you used to do. I first found Caption This! 10 years ago and over time, my steam to write captions seemed to fade and I didn’t go there as often as I used to. Then, I remember how empty I felt when I found out that it was gone. This reunion today made me realize just how much things such as MST3K, Caption This! and all the wonderful people I met at CT! over the years have ment to me. These are momories that I’ll never forget and there will ALWAYS be a special place in my heart for it! So thanks to Gerson for making this reunion possible! I hope to see as many of you as possible at HCC, because I’m going to try to spend as much time as I possibly can there! Thanks for all the wonderful laughs, everyone! You guys are the BEST!!!!!!! -Robert
July 21st, 2007 at 12:47 am
Promise me somebody will sing “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” before it’s over.
July 21st, 2007 at 1:15 am
Is Gerson going to wake up next to Suzanne Pleshette?
…and does that mean that I will wake up next to Bob Newhart?
July 21st, 2007 at 1:59 am
Dammit, Gerson!! Just as I was getting back into capping - you had to shut down the site… DAMMIT all to HELL!! Now, seriously, I have nothing to do but homework!! In the last several weeks, I reintroduced myself to the joy of capping… now, all I have to look forward to is playing Mahjongg and Spider Solitair instead of doing homework. *sigh* I HATE you!! Okay - I really don’t, but DAMMIT!! Where can I cap CWI??? DAMMIT all to hell!!
*sigh* staring numbly at the screen and crying in my beer (which is a REALLY bad thing…) *sigh* I’m SOOOO depressed!
July 21st, 2007 at 2:00 am
No GizM…it means you will wake up next to Victoria Principal! Get it right!
Now that IS is going the way of our original and beloved Caption This!, I wish I had spent more time there!!! In the words of the immortal band Cinderella…Don’t know what you got till it’s gone! *COUGH* excuse me…I was choking on Aquanet for a moment there…
As a card carrying member of the Captioneers from way back in the days of ‘97, I’d like to give a GersonK a hearty load of praise for carrying on the fun for this long! Kudos to you pal!!!!! And that’s NOT just the Jack and Coke talking!
What everyone needs to remember is that us Captioneers are like cockraoches…we’ll be around long after everyone else has wasted away or died from the nuclear fallout. We’ll always have somewhere to go and make fun at others expense!!! Now off with you all! Meet me at Hipsoda’s place!!! I’m buying the first round!!!!
July 21st, 2007 at 3:02 am
This makes me sad. I love this site. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
July 21st, 2007 at 3:26 am
I’m going to hold all the capper crushes hostage until Inventing Situations returns!
July 21st, 2007 at 4:41 am
Thanks for keeping the torch lit as long as you did for all us displaced Caption This! ungrateful bastards
July 21st, 2007 at 5:10 am
Nice work, Gers. Rest well.
July 21st, 2007 at 8:58 am
In the decade or so I’ve been capping I’ve lost Caption This, two cats, three friends, my father, my uncle, my grandmother, and my wife. Talk about kicking a guy while he’s down.
Oh, relax. I’m just jerking your chain. (Grin) I understand what it means to want to move on, Gerson. Thanks for making IS a place where our kind could be welcome, where we could raise the practice of being a wiseass to high art. Thanks also for making sure we still have a place in this cold, humorless (or as my fiancee would say, humourless) world.
July 21st, 2007 at 12:30 pm
So long and thanks for all the fish!
July 21st, 2007 at 12:32 pm
So long and thanks for all the fishnet stockings!
July 21st, 2007 at 12:33 pm
Let me just say thank you for filling a void, my friend. IS is a capper institution and will always be spoken of with reverence and fond memories. I am sorry you feel it necessary to go on indefinite hiatus at this time, but as someone who knows a bit about burning out when it comes to capping-related websites, I completely understand.
If you get the bug again, you know how well it will be received after reading the comments here.
We’ll see you at HCC and the CPB, Gerson.
Thanks for your hard work and dedication.
Now are we going to finish that logo contest or what? ;)
July 21st, 2007 at 8:40 pm
Thanks for the humour!! I only just started capping and will already miss this place.
July 21st, 2007 at 10:04 pm
I find it so much easier to do IS than WPT.
As for HCC …. didn’t know it even existed.
I’d prefer IS stayed around
July 21st, 2007 at 11:34 pm
Whoops! When did this happen?!? Oh, that’s what I get not pay attention.
Thanks, Gerson!
July 22nd, 2007 at 12:56 pm
Happy Trails I.S.!
I started my caption career at CT! and as that drew to a close I migrated to IS. After I graduated college in ‘04, I didn’t have time for capping anymore although I tried to pop into IS whenever I got the chance. Now, three years later, I rediscovered IS after sitting around my new home on the comp since the weather outside was bad. It’s kind of odd that I came back to IS just a few days before the webmaster decided to retire this caption venue. It was awesome to see some familiar faces from the old CT! days on IS’s last day and thanks for some great fodder for capping during the reunion.
IS will be missed.
July 23rd, 2007 at 1:00 am
Heh,
The Samurai isn’t one prone to emotion, expect no tears, whimpers, or sniffles. I am however a man of few words, especialy online. And to even write this it means I have to admit how much capping means to me. One fo teh first things i EVER did when my computer was first introduced to the internet was try “Caption This!” (The other was to try to find nude pictures of Lola bunny, I was a weird kid) For over ten years, three jobs, one Book, two failed engagemnets, one battlebot, Two books, and one pound of liverwurst, Capping has been one of my passions. You say I can get my fix elsewhere, this is an untruth. No site will ever be like Caption That, no place will offer me the same good times I had capping, and I say that with the most sincere words I can type without using Esperanto (Witch i could if I wanted to).
The Samurai will not beg you to re-open, instead I choose to thank you from my deepest bowels for giving me to giood times you did, selflessly keeping this place going without even one stuck screegrab or unexpected shutdown. I owe you alot Gerson, and I will diligently struggle to keep capping without your wonderful site to do it on. You will not be forgotten
Joshua
The Samurai Has Spoken
July 23rd, 2007 at 12:10 pm
Oh, sure… I suffer through years of school with the prospect of wasting time at IS at the end, only to have it go bye-bye! *sob* I’ll cling to the hope that it’s really just a haitus and that it’ll be back by the time the cold winds come barrelling through this winter.
July 23rd, 2007 at 6:57 pm
First off, I’m honored that you picked a cap of mine as a “parting gift.”
And now that IS has gone the way of the dinosaur, there is a hole in my heart. I’m not sure if there’s a correlation between those two facts, but in either case it doesn’t really matter. I have to get to a hospital right away.
Farewell, IS. May flights of Angel_Noirs sing you to your rest.
July 24th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
What??? I thought this was a stunt about IS going off..!? Its not..??? I wrote another message on the other board going along with what I thought was just a leg puller. This is serious, How are we going to get our Fix Man..???
So, there are some other sites as I understand, but, I’m not too much up on how to log on, I’m lucky to have been on CT and IS, now I have to use what’s left of My Brain to get on another capsite. Oh the Humanity!!!
What kind of Cheese do I want with My Whine, You Ask..?
AGH..!!! My Addiction..!!!
Thanx again for all of the years of Cookie Free capping, Gerson.
July 25th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Reason #1 why the world is going to hell…
July 25th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
This should keep the DT’s down a little for most of us:
http://www.filmcrewonline.com/
I think we may even have some suggestions for them for The Wild Women of Wongo, since it was pretty thoroughly trashed during the reunion.
July 31st, 2007 at 4:02 pm
I feel like I just lost all my friends.
August 1st, 2007 at 5:22 pm
Well, I have to get my say in as well. I first discovered Caption This! when I got into my MST3K phase (ie looked up the show I remembered enjoying as a kid on TiVo and rabidly watching reruns on scifi - this was after the show ended but before they stopped showing it.) Obviously I became addicted and had to check online. I found Caption This! and had a lot of laughter filled sessions there (I used Another1One as my handle back then).
Then that was shut down and I frantically searched high and low for my fix. Lo and behold - I found IS and life was good.
Now I haven’t used the site as often as I could have. I love capping, but I only came by off and on. (I regret that, given how much fun I have when I get capping - it’s one of my favorite online pastimes on good days.) And I loved every improvement you made to the system - it kept getting better.
And of course I must mention the pride I felt when I designed the menu for the site and my design was used. Ok, so I was the only person who submitted an entry, but still. It was just a whim, noone had submitted, and I had several ideas on how to make a good menu for the site. (Also I’d just finished the Web Design minor at my college). It was just really neat coming to one of my favorite sites on the net and seeing something I had helped create at the top. :-)
Anyway, Thank you Gerson. Thank you for making us laugh at captions… again. This site will be sorely missed.
August 3rd, 2007 at 10:58 am
You push the button,
I’m bitter
August 24th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
Wow, talk about being late for the party.
*pops a limp balloon*
I haven’t been around much lately– looking for work’ll do that to you.
But man, it just hit me to come by today…. and find a miserable construction site picture. Ugggh.
Gers, you gave me a place for the past…. well, hell, I don’t know, 6, 7 years? to goof off at.
Damn you and your brilliance. It was always great to see familiar names pop up, captions with like-minded thinking, and being able to run with a joke that either someone or myself created a dozen caps before.
Now all I can do is go feed the pandas at the local zoo. They’re not nearly as funny, and they certainly don’t understand a good Steve Reeves Hercules movie.
Wait, there weren’t any good ones.
Bah.
Oh, that reminds me, in my new comic strip, I paid a little homage to our favorite crew and the state of theaters today a few weeks back. Check it out.
http://planetxthecomic.livejournal.com/1847.html
I put up a new strip every week too. *plug plug*
Okay, I’ll shut up now.
Until the next movie sign….