Masquerade... man, I loved that book. Definitely belongs on my Curious Bookshelf.

The contest looks intriguing -- perhaps we could put our collective brains to it? For instance, who painted this?

I loved those Kit Williams books, too. The other one, by the way, didn't have a title. The challenge was to discover what the title was and then submit the most creative rendering of the title to Mr. Williams for the prize. I don't know what entry won, but I do recall the great satisfaction I got from discovering what I think was the title, "A Bee on the Romp."

Count me in on a joint solving effort if one gets underway.

Oh, and the image is from Caravaggio's Judith Beheading Holofernes, see here

Why am I not surprised that you two would be the first people to holla about loving those books? :-)

And I don't know from Caravaggio (except a story from a friend's art historian brother-in-law to the effect that Caravaggio ate a ton of asparagus once to get the proper color of green in his excrement for a painting), but that picture's way cool. His contemporaries must have been rather nonplussed, however.

There's actually a pretty strong play about Carvaggio that I saw a friend of mine perform years ago. There's also apparently a kooky, gay-themed Derek Jarman film project (Oh, Derek...). Here's a profile for those who are interested.

Didn't we know someone who did that big crossword-puzzle-fanatic treasure hunt in Manhattan? (There was a NY'er article several years ago that I know I discussed with.... Mike? Debbie? Scarecrow? Tin Man?) Perhaps that was someone the impossibly witty Evany knew.

In any event, go for it. You're already one iPod up. Why not push your luck?

For those interested...check out one of the comments in the source code of the page announcing the game, and follow up on it.

Also, note that the big image on the top of the page is titled capehorn.jpg. Anyone have any idea what it is an image of or who painted it?