Dear Blank Please Blank
*i missed posting this article here which was published last Feb!*
Deisha Tamar
Feb 27, 2011
The Jakarta Post
Have you ever felt annoyed by someone, a stranger, your boss or your family where you wish you could tell of your problem with them to their face but you just didn’t have the guts? Well, perhaps now you can channel that annoyance through this website.
Dear Blank Please Blank — no, it is not a typo or a name of some indie band — it is an über website that truly makes my day every time I visit it. It all started when a friend tweeted, “Dear Facebook, Congratulations on becoming a verb. Welcome to the club. Sincerely, Google #dearblankplease”.
I became curious and tried to find out where those witty tweets came from and eventually it led towww.twitter.com. dearblankpleaseblank before I was led to www.dearblankpleaseblank.com.
The website was created by creative duo Jared Wunsch and Hans Jhonson based in Seattle, Washington, US. Why did they create such a website? They stated, “We had this idea for a website, mostly because Hans had a bad experience. So we built it, and now you’re here... Welcome.”
“Dear blank please blank was built by us, hand coded line by line, pixel by pixel. As a rule of thumb, If you can’t see it, Jared built it, if you can see it, Hans built it, if it sparkles, Edward built it,” referring to Edward Cullen, the vampire from Twilight movie, whose skin sparkles under the sunlight.
And yes, every bit of the website is filled with witty words or comments that will definitely hit your funny bone or at least makes you grin a little.
So, what is Dear Blank Please Blank?
Well, it is a website where you can pour out everything on your mind through submitting a “letter” following the “Dear ... Please ... Sincerely...” format. You can address the submission to anyone, from your brother, parents, your boss, president, cartoon characters or simply random objects.
For example, a submission taken from the website said, “Dear Tom, Kill Jerry, you’re embarrassing the rest of us. Sincerely, cats of the world” or “Dear colleges, please don’t send me giant packages of mail unless they contain my acceptance letter. I really don’t like having heart attacks every time I open one of your official looking envelopes to find yet another pamphlet about how awesome your school is. I know it’s awesome, that’s why I applied. Sincerely, stressed out senior” or here’s another one copying Rihanna’s song lyric, “Dear rug, I love the way you lie. Sincerely, floor”.
More of those submissions are available on the website, from the really comical one to the rather offensive ones. The letters are divided into six categories: How Dare They, You’re A Douche, Hilarious, I Like This, Umm, WTF?! and Random.
How Dare They consist of submissions that will create an unlikely reaction of “how could you?!” after you read it. Usually addressed to a person who has done terrible or bad things, for example, “Dear mother, please realize it wasn’t a phase, and it still hurts that you think it is. Sincerely, Your gay son”.
You’re A Douche consists of submissions that are rather annoying and offensive, and well, not that amusing to be read. An example of this would be the one reading, “Dear grandmother, please stop muttering to yourself and forgetting things. If you keep this up, I’m putting you in an old folks home”.
If you’re looking for a motivational and a more considerate submission, you should check out I Like This, one of my favorite submissions: “Dear Women, please stop thinking you have to be a size 0 to be beautiful. Those magazines got it all wrong, no one ever told them that beauty is also on the inside. Be confident and happy with yourself. Some guy out there is going to fall in love with everything about you. Sincerely, a real man”.
However, Hilarious and Random has submissions that will definitely make you laugh out loud, like this one perhaps,
“Dear Boyfriend, I can make your girlfriend scream louder than you can. Sincerely, Spiders”.
Submitting your very own “Dear Blank Please Blank” is easy. When you open the website, find a yellow tab reading “Submit your own”, where you can write your addressee, the content of the letter and the addresser.
You can also choose to be notified when your submission is published. If you don’t feel like writing something, you can moderate the submissions to help Jared and Hans decide if those submissions are appropriate or hilarious enough to be published on the website.
I personally think that this website is a good way to channel all of those emotions in a fun and different way, perhaps it is subtle to compare it to a very short and effective diary. You may use an alias or initial names for the addressee and for yourself, and no one will find out about it.
So why not give it a try?
