Evil Mastermind Pulls Off Incredible 'Where's Waldo?' Prank By Digitally Removing Waldo From Book And Returning It To Store
Personal story time, folks!
As a child, my cousins and I would have speed-Waldo tournaments using the "Where's Waldo? series of books.
The winner would get a cold delicious can of Welch's grape soda. There were eight of us and I only ever won once, but let me tell you there was nothing more satisfying than finding that stripe-wearing sneak.
TikTok prankster @BlakeMessik is set to make sure at least one person is denied that satisfaction. We don't know what his beef with Waldo is, but it clearly exists.
Blake went to some serious lengths to pull a prank that's going to give someone, likely a child, a major frustration headache.
Blake's victim, probably.
So what did he do?
Blake bought a copy of The Great Waldo Search, took it home, digitally removed Waldo from every image in the book and then returned it to the shelf of the book store for some unwitting person to purchase.
He posted a short TikTok about the prank...
Lad learns Photoshop to edit a Where's Wally book... π Credit- https://t.co/MSLGCYhJZW To use this video, Pleaseβ¦ https://t.co/CS1biIVaahβ TheCONTENTbible (@TheCONTENTbible) 1581693061.0
We're not fans of putting the book back on the shelf.
That copy of The Great Waldo Search is likely going to end up in the hands of a child who is going to end up confused and frustrated thinking they're dumb for not finding Waldo anywhere. That child isn't going to know this is part of some internet prank done for likes.
Having said that, we'll admit that on some level this is downright genius. Evil genius.
If we had Blake's level of patience and skill, we would 100% do something like this and give the book to a friend...or enemy...or frenemy.
That video is only about 30 seconds long, which is common for TikToks, but we really want you all to think about just how much time and effort this must have taken. Blake had to purchase the book, take it home and find Waldo in every image.
That could have taken days in and of itself.
Once he found each Waldo, he had to then scan each image into his computer. Then he had to use Photoshop to digitally remove Waldo from each image.
If you've never done digital image manipulation you may not understand how time consuming that step is. You can't just delete Waldo, you have to then create patches for where he was standing.
Was Waldo in the corn? Well you're going to have to create more corn and match it seamlessly.
Once Blake was done removing and re-creating, he printed the pages out and glued them into the book. Again, you may not realize the time this would have taken.
This isn't a simple glue stick job. This required matching edges and texture of the book pages.
Blake is serious about this.
BlakeMessick / TikTok
It seems funny haha in a thirty second clip, but the more you think about it the more you begin to suspect Blake has quite the interesting backstory. You can kind of imagine him hunched in front of his computer screen in the dark cackling as he furiously deletes Waldos, his eyes shimmering in the reflected screenlight while he matches corn.
This is some seriously next-level evil mastermind stuff. This is the sort of thing you do for fun if you happen to live on a volcanic island shaped like a skull. This is like "Ooh, I just thought of the perfect Christmas gift for my henchmen" kind of evil.
Blake...who hurt you, Blake?
Chrissy Teigen Totally Trolled The College Admissions Scam With Some Hilariously Bad Photoshopping
Earlier this week, we all heard the news about the college admissions scam perpetrated by dozens of prominent actors and CEOs to get their kids into prestigious schools by bribing test proctors, cheating on school work and falsifying photos of the kids as athletes.
That last one seems so far out there, it's one of the most talked about aspects of the scam (outside of the involvement of Aunt Becky from Full House).
To that end, Chrissy Teigen has taken to Twitter to mock the situation.
does this look real? we are trying to get into harvard @jenatkinhair @mrmikerosenthal @johnlegend https://t.co/jpcNGq2mViβ christine teigen (@christine teigen) 1552513466.0
While her kids are a few years away from needing to worry about college, Teigen attempts to get herself, her husband, and their friends into Harvard. She shows the athletic prowess of the four in a series of totally unaltered photos.
The photos show the faces of Teigen, John Legend, Jena Atkin and Mike Rosenthal pasted onto the bodies of famous football (soccer) players.
They are varying levels of successful.
Honestly? I'd totally believe they're on the team.
I feel like mine could passβ christine teigen (@christine teigen) 1552513509.0
@chrissyteigen @jenatkinhair @mrmikerosenthal @johnlegend chrissy teigen. harvard class of 2023β Emma Stone is gonna be on SNL (@Emma Stone is gonna be on SNL) 1552513715.0
@chrissyteigen @MJohnsonFTW @jenatkinhair @mrmikerosenthal @johnlegend Seems legit https://t.co/GKXL5jk6Jxβ Amanda Navarro π· (@Amanda Navarro π·) 1552539977.0
@chrissyteigen @jenatkinhair @mrmikerosenthal @johnlegend https://t.co/AUpZ01ypEcβ Krystina Arielle π¦ (@Krystina Arielle π¦) 1552551182.0
The indictments in the college admissions scam allege that for the past several years, Rick Singer had an entire network of test proctors, coaches, athletic administrators and, of course, parents whose bribery and fraud allowed them to secure admissions for students to high ranking schools such as Yale, Georgetown and Stanford.
While actors Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin, the latter of whom played Aunt Becky in Full House, are the most famous of the parents charged, the list includes Gordon Caplan, chairman of a law firm; Robert Flaxman, the CEO of Crown Realty; and Mossimo Giannulli, Loughlin's husband and the founder of Mossimo Fashion company.
While there's always been hushed talk and jokes about the country's elite using their wealth and status to secure their kids entrance to these schools, no one expected law enforcement to actually do something about it, let alone find such a blatant scam as posed photos for athletic admissions.
It's great that Teigen can help lighten the mood.
@chrissyteigen @jenatkinhair @mrmikerosenthal @johnlegend You are a national treasure πβ Robin Currie (@Robin Currie) 1552514676.0
@RockThisMolly @chrissyteigen @jenatkinhair @mrmikerosenthal @johnlegend Be strong. Youβll recover. πβ Roll the Dice (@Roll the Dice) 1552626701.0
@chrissyteigen @jenatkinhair @mrmikerosenthal @johnlegend This. This is why I follow you.β Jen Reece (@Jen Reece) 1552609610.0
@raychel____ @chrissyteigen @jenatkinhair @mrmikerosenthal @johnlegend Art.β Art Or Not Art (@Art Or Not Art) 1552522527.0
Still, the FBI has stated that while some of the kids knew about the scam and willingly participated, others were sheltered and had no idea. They had to find out they didn't get into these schools on their own merit when this story broke.
The crimes of these parents have also proven that the admissions process for colleges is fundamentally broken, in a day and age when college has become a near necessity to get ahead, while also becoming the most expensive purchase a child has to decide on.
While it's great to be able to have a laugh, we have to remember the sadness at the heart of the humor.
@chrissyteigen @jenatkinhair @mrmikerosenthal @johnlegend The sad thing is #terrible #influencer role models like tβ¦ https://t.co/AbM2VTvQnYβ Aaron Daniel Chavez (@Aaron Daniel Chavez) 1552609529.0
@chrissyteigen @jenatkinhair @mrmikerosenthal @johnlegend Sad my daughter spend endless nights working her ASS offβ¦ https://t.co/FZQ801PfyDβ sarah (@sarah) 1552610211.0
@chrissyteigen @jenatkinhair @mrmikerosenthal @johnlegend Letβs remember this involves children that are going to sβ¦ https://t.co/4iMTcgThTHβ candace (@candace) 1552602473.0
As the investigation continues and more fallout from the scam plays out, there's going to be a lot of blame going around and a lot of tense emotions over these actions.
At the very least some great jokes can keep us from getting too grim.