13 Unusual People to Email or Snail Mail ... Who Might Actually Respond

13 UNUSUAL PEOPLE TO EMAIL OR SNAIL MAIL Time to air out that fandom closet. There must be someone – even if it's just your future self – who you'd love to send or receive a letter or email from, right? Certainly you've thought, maybe even several times, that you would write to a celebrity or the Queen of England, for example... but only if they'd respond! Well, thankfully, we've got some hot tips here about where and more importantly who to write to in order to get a unique, unusual, and pleasantly surprising response: .HO MIGHT ACTURLLY RESPOND! SANTA CLAUS A North Pole Holiday Postmark W hat youngster doesn't caricaturist Thomas Nast. This address isn't the only way to contact him – many websites offer to send telegrams from Santa Claus or respond to want a letter from jolly old Saint Nick? Writing letters to Santa Claus is a perhaps Postmaster 4141 Postmark Drive centuries-old tradition. He was first depicted reading letters from children in 1889 by emails or forms filled out by Anchorage, AK 99530-9998 children and submitted online. There are many ways that children all over the world contact Santa Claus. In Canada, children use the special postal code HOH OHO when sending letters to Santa, while in Mexico and Latin America, children tie their letters to helium-filled balloons and send them drifting into the sky. In Japan, children sometimes send origami figures with their letters to Santa. But if you're living in the United States, you'll have to write to Anchorage, Alaska. Once a child's letter arrives, it will be removed from its envelope and read by the big man himself. The envelope will then be sent back with a special North Pole postmark. Maybe you had to do this YOUR FUTURE SELF one at a summer camp or SThe easiest way to do this is via email. Websites like www.whensend.com and during your first year of college, and maybe you didn't think it was that hot of an idea L SENT www.futureme.org offer to let you write a message, insert an email address, and put a date on when it should be sent. back then... but that was when you were being forced to do it. Many people find that writing a letter or an email to yourself can be illuminating. You can use it as a way to measure Some local post offices will hold letters until a “to be sent" date. If you want a physical letter to be sent to your future self, you could also entrust it to a friend or family member – as long as progress toward the goals you set in life, as a wake-up call for your future self, or as an inspiring way to kick yourself in the pants to keep moving forward. you're sure they won't read it first! OPRAH a [email protected] Loved by millions, Oprah is an icon for women and a champion of the African-American community. She's well-known for her generosity and affability... so who wouldn't want to get an email from her? On the last episode of her talk show in 2011, Oprah announced her email address Immediately after her last show, Oprah's email account began sending back generic responses that went, "Got your email. Thank you for watching the finale. I could feel your and said that she would try to beating hearts, along with mine, through the TV screen. I'm off to take a little rest, and then l'll get busy working on OWN. Take care of yourself. I'll write soon, Oprah." It's been four years since then, though – so who's to say she won't answer as many messages as possible. It might be a long shot, given how many emails she surely receives, but why respond a little differently this time? not give it a try? PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA On December 30, 2014, President Obama made a phone call to a couple in Hawaii over a unique snafu. The couple had been forced by staffers to relocate their wedding, hp://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments 8 (202) 456-111 for comments A The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500 scheduled to take place at the 16th hole of a golf course, so that President Obama could play golf on it instead. The couple had actually invited the president to their wedding months in advance, something that anyone can do by sending an invitation to the White House, but he had politely declined. American presidents have, sometimes famously, read and responded to mail from the American people. It's such a time-honored tradition that They were surprised when he called after accidentally disrupting their the White House lists three – count 'em three – ways for wedding, saying that he hadn't been you to contact them if you made aware of it until after the fact. ever feel the need. So pick up The couple was thrilled to hear from the phone or take up the pen him and even held a candid and send President Obama conversation. your thoughts. THE POPE A His Holiness, Pope Francis Apostolic Palace 00120 Vatican City Beppe Severgnini, a writer for the Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera, advises that if His Holiness does make a personal call, you should listen genuinely, inquire about the health of previous Pope Benedict XVI because "it'll make him happy," and avoid Vatican policy discussions or sensitive topics. Pope Francis is one of the most personable pontiffs in recent memory and a media darling. What's more is that he has been known to respond to letters and phone calls personally – sometimes even making visits to those who contact him. STRONG BAD [email protected] Strong Bad, like the pope, is something of a media darling and online celebrity. all over the globe on topics like, "Can you write my English paper for me?" or Beginning in August 2001 "What would you be like if and running all the way to you were an anime?" and the present, Strong Bad has the ever-popular “How do been answering questions you type with boxing gloves and comments from writers on?" A response from Strong Bad is always public, and while it might be a long shot, it isn't impossible. It's especially possible because regular emails have been promised from Strong Bad after the recent update of his Twitter account around Halloween 2014! TOM HANKS he address and phone popular as Tom Hanks, known number for actor Tom Hanks for his performances in Forrest OPlaytone Productions P.O. Box 7340 given here is for his production Gump and Saving Private Ryan company, so while fan mail might be appreciated, (though there are dozens more!), it's hard to respond to Santa Monica, CA 90406 8(310) 394-5700 unsolicited phone calls are every piece of fan mail... probably not. For a man as .But that didn't stop him from responding in a typically Tom Hanks-ian sort of way to a typewritten letter in July 2012. The letter was sent by comedian and founder of Nerdist Chris Hardwick, who wanted Hanks to appear for an interview on his podcast. To sweeten the deal, he sent an actual typewriter to Hanks, well-known for his love of vintage typewriters. To Hardwick's surprise, Tom Hanks wrote back and even appeared on the podcast! FROM BEYOND THE GRAVE ots of people joke about it: "When I'm dead, Try websites like www.deadmansswitch.net or www.ifidie.org. delete my browser history and throw my computer into the sea." As our online footprints become larger and larger, it's becoming more of a serious concern about what will happen to the data we leave behind in death. Who will close our email accounts, our Tumblr pages, or our Facebook profiles? Who will purge our computers or archive any projects that we leave behind in digital limbo? These are all important things to think about. Some people call the solution to these problems a “Dead Man's Switch." A Dead Man's Switch allows you to create and address emails that will be held by a program or organization and not sent until after your death. Some switches will send you periodic emails to check that you are still alive and then activate after a certain time has passed without a Data after death is a topic of great interest to some researchers, who believe that they might even be able to the notes within them without your permission, response. Other switches allow relatives to access construct virtual personalities to allow you to "live" beyond death online. By collecting your data and crawling it to identify your quirks and personality traits, but only if you don't respond to their request within a certain time frame. Many switches are programs of the future might be able to conquer death, in a way. free to create; other organizations might ask for small fees for more complex services, similar to a digital will. DOCTOR WHO a http://askdoctorwho.tumblr.com ick a Doctor, any Doctor, and send them a short note! This unique Tumblr page promises to respond in the voice of any Doctor you wish to speak to. With some breaks, the TV show Doctor Who has been It posts quite regularly, though most of shown on the BBC since 1963. There are 12 Doctors – the responses are short and to the point. reincarnations of the character, played by different actors There's also the option to send a "letter," and with unique personality quirks – and all of them can be reached via this Tumblr page. Other characters might be reached in a similar way. This page, for instance, was or basically a longer message, with the promise of a longer response. Furthermore, you can submit pictures or inspired by a blog offering contact with the characters of the video game series Ace Attorney! fan projects that might be posted and responded to. QUEEN ELIZABETH II The queen's website suggests that you open your | Her Majesty The Queen Buckingham Palace London SWIA 1AA letter with "Madam" and close by saying, “I have the honour to be, Madam, Your Majesty's humble and obedient servant." But they Ifyou want to send a letter to the crème de la crème, then you can't also say that “this traditional approach is by get much more royal than the queen herself. It probably helps to be a British or Canadian citizen if you're no means obligatory. You should feel free to write in whatever style you feel looking for a response, but her website doesn't specify that she comfortable." The monarchy has come far in won't respond to her American all of these centuries! cousins, so to speak. AN AMERICAN SOLDIER STry websites like www.soldiersangels.org or www.adoptaussoldier.org to make a connection with a soldier. They might not be "celebrities," but easier is to send them some love. they're certainly larger-than-life heroes. American soldiers are all over the globe, There are lots of programs designed to help soldiers receive letters from doing their duty to keep the country safe. strangers that can give them a necessary shot of normality. It's a difficult life, but one way to make it JOHN CLEESE R Anonymous Content 3532 Hayden Ave. Culver City, CA 90232 Known for his work with British sketch comedy group the Holy Grail , John Cleese is a famously funny man. He's also known to be quite genial Monty Python as well as for movies like A Fish Called and self-conscious about his Wanda and Monty Python and fame. Cleese once put his dry wit to work in response to a 14-year-old fan's letter by replying, "I am afraid l'm much too important to write notes to people like you. Please remember that I am very very very very very very important. enclose a photograph to remind you of my importa nce." JOHNNY DEPP A Johnny Depp United Talent Agency 9336 Civic Center Drive Beverly Hills, CA 90210-3604 Johnny Depp is known for his quirky roles in movies like Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Edward Scissorhands , and Ed Wood. He's also well-known for his frequent partnerships with film director Tim Burton. Sources: www.chnm.gmu.edu www.futureme.org www.whensend.com In 2010, Depp responded to the handwritten request of Greenwich www.npr.org www.chicagonow.com www.whitehouse.gov schoolchildren, who wrote Captain Jack Sparrow (his character in the Pirates of the Caribbean series) that "we are a bunch of budding young pirates and we were having a bit of trouble mutiny-ing against the teachers, and we'd love www.cnn.com www.dailymail.co uk anlymankcokan www.vatican.usembassy.gov if you could come and help." Depp went to their school in costume and in character, advising them that the time for mutiny was not right. He then told the children that they should wait and be good to their teachers until then. www.hrwiki.org www.mashable.com www. to.royal.gov.uk www.askdoctorwho.tumblr.com ifidie org/learn www.i www.deadmansswitch.net www.soldiersangels.org www.adoptaussoldier.org www.fanmail.biz DExperian www.uproxx.com www.fanmail.biz Data Quality www.dailymail.co.uk 00000