So the Your Wild Things Contest ended earlier today, and all told we had 158 approved entires from both extremely talented artist to crayon doodles from three-year-olds (we had a few more but they were, um, of the blue variety and since this is a family-friendly site we could not post them–sorry!). We loved most of them, and it was very tough to narrow down the winners. But we did, and without further ado we would like to announce them. Drumroll please… (this is when you’re supposed to click “…Read more”)

FIRST PLACE – KARIN RUTKIN

SECOND PLACE – MICHELLE RITCHIE

THIRD PLACE – WOTTO

20 RUNNERS-UP

Leanne Biank

Royce Hare

Yanick Blanchet

Ian Eckert

Kristall

Loki Eliot

Fish Mcgill

Eli Minava

David ‘Mchank’ Mchenry

Stephanie Lemieux

Phoebe Sullivan

Chris Jacque

Norton Walesa

Seb Mesnard

Emmanuelle Maher

Joshua Agerstand

Steven Macleod

Adam Marshall

Marcus Parcus

Peteris Brosovs

Thanks to everyone who entered, and congratulations to all of our winners. You’ll be hearing from us early next week about the prize packages. Now, go see WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE!

It’s 12 PM EST on Friday, October 16. That means the Your Wild Things contest is over. Finito. The end. Done. Thanks to the almost 200 artists who submitted their work (which you can check out here), and please understand that we cannot accept any more entries. Check back in at 2 PM EST to see who the big winners are.

Manga artist Shigeru Mizuki is gearing up to rerelease what looks to be the ultimate illustrated guide to monster anatomy (at least we think it’s a rerelease–we don’t speak Japanese). It’s called Yōkai Daizukai and features some of the most imaginative ink autopsies of imaginary creatures we’ve ever seen (OK, pretty much the only ones we’ve ever seen). Pink Tentacle has a nice gallery of selections from the book with descriptions.

OK guys. You’ve got almost exactly a day left before we end our wildly successful “Your Wild Things” contest, so you better get cracking if you hope to make tomorrow’s deadline of noon EST and win one of the glorious prize packages. So far we have an astounding 124 entries, and it doesn’t look like there’s an end in sight. We’ve already started to narrow down our favorites, and we will announce the winners no later than 2 PM EST tomorrow. If you have no idea what we’re talking about, click here to get the lowdown and check out all of the fabulous entries. See you tomorrow!

Talk about a wild rumpus. Since announcing our little “draw your own Wild Things” contest last week, 56 people have submitted their artwork. You can see the entries here (scroll down to the bottom of the page). While not all are on par with something you’d see at the Louvre, many talented people have submitted top-notch imagery of furry beasts and/or a boy in a wolf costume. If you’re still on the fence about entering, we will be accepting entries until 12 PM EST on October 16 (which just happens to be the movie’s release date). So get a move on if you want a shot of winning one of our glorious prize packages. Click here to be whisked away to the entry page.

The onslaught of WTWTA special events and exhibitions looks to be unstoppable as we near the movie’s release date; however, you’d be hard pressed to find a bigger and better one than what will be going down on October 12 at 6 PM in the SoHo Apple Store. Lucky New Yorkers will be treated to an in-person interview with Spike Jonze conducted by Pop Candy’s Whitney Matheson. Attendees will even be able to ask their own questions, and Whitney’s accepting questions via Twitter if you can’t make it. Go here for the full magilla.

Sorry guys, but the bombardment of news last week caused us to totally drop the ball on two WTWTA-themed exhibitions in NYC. The good news is that both will be running through November. The Sendak in SoHo opened last week at the Animazing Gallery and features over 200 illustrations, etchings, and other artwork by Maurice Sendak (some are even for sale if you’ve got deep coffers). As if that wasn’t enough Sendak for New Yorkers (it never is), the Morgan Library & Museum is displaying original drawings and manuscript pages from WTWTA to celebrate the release of the film. The materials are on loan from the Rosenbach Museum, which we talked about last week. If you live in New York there’s really no excuse not to forgo either of these once-in-a-lifetime exhibitions.

Just in case you are an obsessive completist (or you just enjoy quality books and video games), we wanted to take a moment to remind you of two WTWTA-related goods that will be available for purchase very soon. First off, the fur-covered special edition of Dave Eggers’s The Wild Things novel will be shipping next week according to the McSweeney’s website. You can pre-order it here and read an excerpt from the New Yorker here. On the opposite side of the technological spectrum is the WTWTA video game, which will be released on Wii, PS3, X-box 360, and Nintendo DS on October 13. Head to the official site to catch the trailer and a bunch of other doodads that will help hold you over until the film is released later this month.

While not exactly a monster, the recently unearthed Ardipithecus ramidus is the oldest humanoid(ish) species known to, well, man. The artist renditions make it look like something from Planet of the Apes, but the most notable feature of the specimen is that it’s older than “Lucy,” the previous record holder for humanity’s earliest ancestor. Discovered in Ethiopia’s Afar desert, the 110-pound female has been nicknamed “Ardi” and scientists have confirmed that she has completely disproved the concept of a “missing link” that would theoretically serve as the roots of the gnarly family tree that is human evolution. Get the rest of the details over at National Geographic’s website, and be sure to check out their illustrated guide to Ardi’s anatomy so you can laugh at her abnormally disproportional feet and hands.