Lerner Hall is Columbia University's student center, opening in 1999. Its ramped interior, visible through the glass facade, also resembles the girder level of Donkey Kong. You see where this is headed.
Some students want to reenact, in live action, Donkey Kong in this building. They reckon they need $1,000, to cover the costs of materials ($500 in plastic barrels, $170 for a Donkey Kong costume, plus whatever for medical bills, lawyer's fees and bail), and they're soliciting donations on KickStarter.com under "Project Miyamoto." A hundred bucks gets your advertisement on the barrels to be rolled; $60 gets a sponsor mention at the beginning of a video of this exploit, $40 gets you in the credits. Larger donations get more exposure, of course.
"If we pull this off, it will be the most epic prank in the history of the school," say the organizers. Columbia's the fifth-oldest university in the United States. That's a long history of pranks. They're taking donations through Oct. 2.
It should be noted that Lerner faces Journalism to the north, where Stephen Totilo and I earned our masters degrees in 1999 and 2000, respectively. For this reason I have donated $40 to the cause, and I challenge Stephen to match or exceed that gift.
Project Miyamoto [Kickstarter.com]