CONTEST | MEXICO DAY OF THE DEAD | DEADLINE MARCH 31

The Academy Awards were so unimaginative and repressed this year that I swore off anyone and everything having to do with the motion picture industry for at least one week. But this contest, with its prize of one week in Mexico, looked fun enough for me to do an about-face. The contest is part of the promotion for the film The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, starring Tommy Lee Jones and Darryl Hannah. I happened to see a clip on the Late Late Show a month or two ago. The film looks like it might actually have potential.

http://www.cinearts.com/

The Prize: Two roundtrip tickets to Mexico, eight days/seven nights in Mexico, where is not clear. Who cares. It’s Mexico.

The Fine Print: Even though this contest doesn’t indicate the location in Mexico or the accommodations, the sponsors give a high enough AVR (approximate retail value) -- $7,600 -- to suggest that the lucky winner won’t be roughing it.

More Fine Print: Most travel contests are not open-ended as to dates of travel. This one takes the cake: “The Grand Prize winner must be able to travel during the dates of 10/30/06-11/7/06 or the prize will be forfeited in its entirety and an alternate winner shall be selected.” That’s right, it’s that week or adios, vacaciones en México. Okay, so it’s for the Day of the Dead, and the movie is about some guy who apparently has three funerals. Pretty clever. But what if the lucky winner can’t get away that week? What if, say, there’s a death in the family?

Even More Fine Print: You better chose your travel companion wisely. The rules stipulate the following: “Winner and his or her travel companion must travel on the identical itinerary.” So, if the two of you don’t get along, one of you can't run off to some hot spot like Acapulco to chill out. Or if one of you is afraid of heights, do you both have to climb to the top of the ruins? (As if the sponsors would find out. This language probably has something to do with liability paranoia.)

Another wrinkle: The contest rules state: “Void in Florida, New York, Rhode Island, Puerto Rico, all U.S. territories and possessions, oversees military installations and where prohibited by law.” I guess that means none of my New York friends can enter. Boo hoo.

The Rub: Signup is required, to Sony Pictures and co-sponsor CineArts, too. Who knows what unimaginative and repressed promotional materials will land in my email as a result of my promiscuous contest-entering.