Monday, February 7: The Bee is Back!

The Williamsburg Spelling Bee
Pete's Candy Store, 709 Lorimer St., Brooklyn
(Lorimer St. between Frost and Richardson / L or G train to Lorimer)

***Signup at 7***, Bee at 7:30pm
Free

Since 2004, the real adult spelling bee that started a national movement -- still fun, friendly, and open to everyone. Signup begins 7pm -- first 18 people get to play. Three-strikes-you're-out policy means more play for everyone. Winners get free booze and qualify for a twice-annual Finals.

Pete's: 718-302-3770
www.petescandystore.com

Congratulations to Season Twelve Winner Carolyn D'Aquila

On December 6th, winners from the last six months of bees converged at the Season Finals!

David Henry Haan, Liz Thaler, Wilson Southerland, Maddy DeLeon, Jenny Brown, Carolyn D'Aquila, Amanda Holbrook, Rick, David Zheng, Ben Kusmin, Jennifer Lee, Lisette Vostko, Steve, Johann Chen, and Jonathan Lill proceeded to titillate all present with their orthographical prowess. Jonathan may have compromised his performance somewhere around the third drink. David H. and Liz may have exposed a bit of their romantic rivalry to us all. David Z. was a model of equanimity, as usual. Wilson and his friends laughed every time I said "gaiety" or -- this was Carolyn's word -- "cuirass." (Think about it).

A good time was had by all. An especially good time was had by Carolyn, who went home with $200 and a shiny trophy.

Thanks to Bananagrams for sending all of our finalists home with a Bananagrams book and an Appleletters game!



Winner Carolyn D'Aquila!



The crowd assembles....





Newman's Own sent us some alphabet cookies; they'll leave you, um, "Spellbound"!



Johann



Steve







Maddy and Ben (2nd place tie) and David (3rd place) with hosts Jen and bobbyblue.



The finalists we were able to round up after the bee....

More photos here.

November 22nd Spelling Bee

This week's bee qualified a record FIVE people for the Finals! Congratulations to Wilson Southerland (overall champ with 15 words!), Steve Melis, Jennifer Lee, David H., and Lisette Vostko!*

The Finals -- in which winners from the past six month season will vie to become grand champion -- will take place on December 6th.

*Due to an extremely well-attended and busy bee, our record-keeping was a bit less meticulous than usual, so I apologize for missing or misspelled (oh, the irony) surnames.

November 8th Winners

1st Place: Maddy DeLeon
2nd Place: Jenny Brown
3rd Place: Liz Thaler

It was (de facto) ladies' night at the bee on Monday. Maddy took 1st but declined to be photographed. All three winners proceed to the season Finals on December 6th!

November 22nd is the last regular season bee of 2010! Signup begins at 7. We recommend arriving promptly to make sure you get a spot.

Bee founder bobbyblue's new music video

Did you know that Williamsburg Spelling Bee founder bobbyblue is also a dance music superstar? Enjoy the new video.

Visual Thesaurus

Here's an interesting lexical resource:

The Visual Thesaurus is an interactive dictionary and thesaurus that creates word maps that branch to related words. Several lucky (well, talented) winners at our December 6th Finals will receive free memberships! Check out the Visual Thesaurus here.

The image at right -- that's a t-shirt available on SnorgTees.

October 25th Winners

1st Place: Carolyn D'Aquila
2nd Place: Ben Kusmin
3rd Place Tie: Heather Meyer and Johann Chen

All four winners qualify for the December 6th Finals!

Only two more chances to qualify. Come back on November 8th for the next bee.

From TheOnion: Are Standardized Tests Biased Against Students Who Don't Give a Shit?

In The Know: Are Tests Biased Against Students Who Don't Give A Shit?

October 11th Winners

1st: Amanda Emerson
2nd: Rick Holborow
3rd: Maddy DeLeon (not pictured)









Next bee is October 25th. All are welcome. Signup begins at 7.

September 27th Results

1st: Wilson Southerland
2nd: Amanda Emerson
Tie for 3rd: Jonathan Lill, Jonathan Landsman, Maddy DeLeon

All five (!) winners qualify for the Finals on December 6th.

We'd also like to point out that Amanda and Wilson were tied with 10 words each; Wilson won on a runoff.  So there was a very small gap there -- well done, both of you!

See you in two weeks!

Alot Better Than You at Spelling

If you haven't read Allie Brosh's post about people who wrote "alot," please do so now. It's kind of my favorite thing ever.

The Alot is Better Than You at Everything



You can also get (alot of) Alot merchandise here.

September 13 Winners

1st Place: Wilson Southerland
2nd Place: Jennifer Lee
3rd Place: Jonathan Lill

All three winners qualify for the December 6th finals!

Come back on September 27th for the next Williamsburg Spelling Bee.