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Winner of the May 2016 Palindrome contest
Curtis Williams: Inventor, entrepreneur, and professional actor
The winning palindrome (a dialog):
“Disable preplan?… I, Mon Ami?”
“Ask!”
“Calm…Sit, fella.”
“No! I tag. I vandalized Dezi, lad.”
“Navigational leftism lacks aim…a nominal perp: Elba’s id.”
The requirement: A palindrome using “navigate” or “navigation” (and Elba, of course).
Book choice: Error and Inference (D. Mayo & A. Spanos, Cambridge University Press, 2010)
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Bio: Curtis Mark Williams is the co-founder of WavHello and the inventor of Bellybuds, who also counts himself as an occasional professional actor who has performed on Broadway [1] and in several television shows and films.
He currently resides in Los Angeles with his lovely wife, two daughters, his dog, Newton, and his framed New Yorker Caption Contest winning cartoon. [He has been a finalist twice and the one he won is contest #329, by Joe Dator (inspired by his theatrical background. :)]
Statement: I’ve always loved wordplay and puns especially. I recently happened across some of Demetri Martin’s poetry and was fascinated by his long palindromes. I was curious how he could possibly write something like that. So I decided to sit down and give it a try and I was hooked instantly. I love the problem-solving process of constrained writing. And I love this blog for giving me a reason to do it!
Remark from Prof. Mayo: What a terrific palindrome!* “Navigational leftism lacks aim”–so true! It’s head and shoulders above my efforts using “navigation”.[2] I’m incredibly impressed, as well, by anyone who wins the New Yorker cartoon contest (I asked him to include it here.) I’ve tried many times and never even made it to finalist. I happen to remember voting in favor of this one (given my tap dancing interest). Congratulations Curtis! I hope you will send us a submission again.
[1]He was in the Broadway show, Reckless (starring Mary Louise Parker) back in 2004 at the Manhattan Theatre Club in NYC. The role he is most proud of (which wasn’t Broadway) was originating the role of Denis McCleary in Richard Greenberg’s The Violet Hour at South Coast Repertory in SoCal. (His professional name is Curtis Mark Williams)
[2] Here was one:
Able no geek, a fan, Amy, entraps. Navigate man’s name-tag. Ivan’s part Neyman, a fake Egon? Elba
*The editors inadvertently put up an earlier version lacking Elba at first.
Error Statistics Philosophy 