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Laurel and Hardy were a British-American comedy team during the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). Starting their career as a duo in the silent film era, they later successfully transitioned to "talkies". From the late 1920s to the mid-1950s, they were internationally famous for their slapstick comedy, with Laurel playing the clumsy, childlike friend to Hardy's pompous bully. Their signature theme song, known as "The Cuckoo Song", "Ku-Ku", or "The Dance of the Cuckoos" (by Hollywood composer T. Marvin Hatley) was heard over their films' opening credits, and became as emblematic of them as their bowler hats.
Prior to emerging as a team, both had well-established film careers. Laurel had acted in over 50 films, and worked as a writer and director, while Hardy was in more than 250 productions. Both had appeared in The Lucky Dog (1921), but were not teamed at the time. They first appeared together in a short film in 1926, when they signed separate contracts with the Hal Roach film studio. They officially became a team in 1927 when they appeared in the silent short Putting Pants on Philip. They remained with Roach until 1940, and then appeared in eight B movie comedies for 20th Century Fox and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer from 1941 to 1945. After finishing their film commitments at the end of 1944, they concentrated on performing stage shows, and embarked on a music hall tour of England, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. They made their last film in 1950, a French–Italian co-production called Atoll K.
They appeared as a team in 107 films, starring in 32 short silent films, 40 short sound films, and 23 full-length feature films. They also made 12 guest or cameo appearances, including in the Galaxy of Stars promotional film of 1936. On December 1, 1954, they made their sole American television appearance, when they were surprised and interviewed by Ralph Edwards on his live NBC-TV program This Is Your Life. Since the 1930s, their works have been released in numerous theatrical reissues, television revivals, 8-mm and 16-mm home movies, feature-film compilations, and home videos. In 2005, they were voted the seventh-greatest comedy act of all time by a UK poll of professional comedians. The official Laurel and Hardy appreciation society is The Sons of the Desert, after a fictional fraternal society in the film of the same name.
History as Laurel and Hardy
Hal Roach
Hal Roach recounted how Laurel and Hardy became a team: Hardy was already working for Roach (and others) when Roach hired Laurel, whom he had seen in vaudeville. Laurel had very light blue eyes, and Roach discovered that, due to the technology of film at that time, Laurel's eyes wouldn't photograph properly—blue photographed as white. This problem is apparent in their first silent film together, The Lucky Dog, where an attempt was made to compensate for the problem by applying heavy makeup to Laurel's eyes. For about a year, Roach had Laurel work at the studio as a writer. Then panchromatic film was developed; they tested Laurel, and found the problem was solved. Laurel and Hardy were then put together in a film, and they seemed to complement each other. Comedy teams were usually composed of a straight man and a funny man, but these two were both comedians; however, each knew how to play the straight man when the script required it. Roach said, "You could always cut to a close-up of either one, and their reaction was good for another laugh."
Style of comedy and characterizations
The humor of Laurel and Hardy was highly visual, with slapstick used for emphasis. They often had physical arguments (in character) which were quite complex and involved a cartoonish style of violence. Their ineptitude and misfortune precluded them from making any real progress, even in the simplest endeavors. Much of their comedy involves "milking" a joke, where a simple idea provides a basis for multiple, ongoing gags without following a defined narrative.
Stan Laurel was of average height and weight, but appeared comparatively small and slight next to Oliver Hardy, who was 6 ft 1 in (185 cm) and weighed about 280 lb (127 kg; 20 st 0 lb) in his prime. Details of their hair and clothing were used to enhance this natural contrast. Laurel kept his hair short on the sides and back, growing it long on top to create a natural "fright wig". Typically, at times of shock, he simultaneously screwed up his face to appear as if crying while pulling up his hair. In contrast, Hardy's thinning hair was pasted on his forehead in spit curls and he sported a toothbrush moustache. To achieve a flat-footed walk, Laurel removed the heels from his shoes. Both wore bowler hats, with Laurel's being narrower than Hardy's, and with a flattened brim. The characters' normal attire called for wing collar shirts, with Hardy wearing a necktie which he would twiddle when he was particularly self-conscious; and Laurel, a bow tie. Hardy's sports jacket was a little small and done up with one straining button, whereas Laurel's double-breasted jacket was loose-fitting.
A popular routine was a "tit for tat" fight with an adversary. It could be with their wives—often played by Mae Busch, Anita Garvin, or Daphne Pollard—or with a neighbor, often played by Charlie Hall or James Finlayson. Laurel and Hardy would accidentally damage someone's property, and the injured party would retaliate by ruining something belonging to Laurel or Hardy. After calmly surveying the damage, one or the other of the "offended" parties found something else to vandalize, and the conflict escalated until both sides were simultaneously destroying items in front of each other. An early example of the routine occurs in their classic short Big Business (1929), which was added to the National Film Registry in 1992. Another short film which revolves around such an altercation was titled Tit for Tat (1935).
One of their best-remembered dialogue devices was the "Tell me that again" routine. Laurel would tell Hardy a genuinely smart idea he came up with, and Hardy would reply, "Tell me that again." Laurel would then try to repeat the idea, but, having instantly forgotten it, babble utter nonsense. Hardy, who had difficulty understanding Laurel's idea when expressed clearly, would then understand the jumbled version perfectly. While much of their comedy remained visual, humorous dialogue often occurred in Laurel and Hardy's talking films as well. Examples include:
"You can lead a horse to water, but a pencil must be led." (Laurel, Brats)
"I was dreaming I was awake, but I woke up and found meself asleep." (Laurel, Oliver the Eighth)
"A lot of weather we've been having lately." (Hardy, Way Out West)
In some cases, their comedy bordered on the surreal, in a style Laurel called "white magic". For example, in the 1937 film Way Out West, Laurel flicks his thumb upward as if working a lighter. His thumb ignites and he matter-of-factly lights Hardy's pipe. Amazed at seeing this, Hardy unsuccessfully attempts to duplicate it throughout the film. Much later he finally succeeds, only to be terrified when his thumb catches fire. Laurel expands the joke in the 1938 film Block-Heads by pouring tobacco into his clenched fist and smoking it as though it were a pipe, again to Hardy's bemusement. This time, the joke ends when a match Laurel was using relights itself, Hardy throws it into the fireplace, and it explodes with a loud bang.
Rather than showing Hardy suffering the pain of misfortunes, such as falling down stairs or being beaten by a thug, banging and crashing sound effects were often used so the audience could visualize the mayhem. The 1927 film Sailors, Beware! was a significant one for Hardy because two of his enduring trademarks were developed. The first was his "tie twiddle" to demonstrate embarrassment. Hardy, while acting, had received a pail of water in the face. He said, "I had been expecting it, but I didn't expect it at that particular moment. It threw me mentally and I couldn't think what to do next, so I waved the tie in a kind of tiddly-widdly fashion to show embarrassment while trying to look friendly." His second trademark was the "camera look", where he breaks the fourth wall and, in frustration, stares directly at the audience. Hardy said: "I had to become exasperated, so I just stared right into the camera and registered my disgust." Offscreen, Laurel and Hardy were quite the opposite of their movie characters: Laurel was the industrious "idea man", while Hardy was more easygoing.
Catchphrases
Laurel and Hardy's best-known catchphrase is, "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!" It was earlier used by W. S. Gilbert in both The Mikado (1885) and The Grand Duke (1896). It was first used by Hardy in The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case in 1930. In popular culture, the catchphrase is often misquoted as "Well, here's another fine mess you've gotten me into", which was never spoken by Hardy—a misunderstanding that stems from the title of their film Another Fine Mess. When Hardy said the phrase, Laurel's frequent, iconic response was to start to cry, pull his hair up, exclaim "Well, I couldn't help it...", then whimper and speak gibberish.
Some variations on the phrase occurred. For example, in Chickens Come Home, Ollie impatiently says to Stan, "Well...", and Stan continues for him: "Here's another nice mess I've gotten you into." The films Thicker than Water and The Fixer Uppers use the phrase "Well, here's another nice kettle of fish you've pickled me in!" In Saps at Sea, the phrase becomes "Well, here's another nice bucket of suds you've gotten me into!" The catchphrase, in its original form, was used as the last line of dialogue in the duo's last film, Atoll K (1951).
In moments of particular distress or frustration, Hardy often exclaims, "Why don't you do something to help me?", as Laurel stands helplessly by.
"OH!" (or drawn out as "Ohhhhh-OH!") was another catchphrase used by Hardy. He uses the expression in the duo's first sound film, Unaccustomed As We Are (1929) when his character's wife smashes a record over his head.
Mustachioed Scottish actor James Finlayson, who appeared in 33 Laurel and Hardy films, used a variation: "D'oh!" The phrase, expressing surprise, impatience, or incredulity, inspired the trademark "D'oh!" of character Homer Simpson (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) in the long-running animated comedy The Simpsons.
Films
Laurel's and Hardy's first film pairing, although as separate performers, was in the silent The Lucky Dog. Its production details have not survived, but film historian Bo Berglund has placed it between September 1920 and January 1921. According to interviews they gave in the 1930s, the pair's acquaintance at the time was casual, and both had forgotten their initial film entirely. The plot sees Laurel's character befriended by a stray dog which, after some lucky escapes, saves him from being blown up by dynamite. Hardy's character is a mugger attempting to rob Laurel. They later signed separate contracts with the Hal Roach Studios, and next appeared in the 1926 film 45 Minutes From Hollywood.
Hal Roach is considered the most important person in the development of Laurel's and Hardy's film careers. He brought them together, and they worked for Roach for almost 20 years. Director Charley Rogers, who worked closely with the three men for many years, said, "It could not have happened if Laurel, Hardy, and Roach had not met at the right place and the right time." Their first "official" film together was Putting Pants on Philip, released December 3, 1927. The plot involves Laurel as Philip, a young Scotsman who arrives in the United States in full kilted splendor, and suffers mishaps involving the kilts. His uncle, played by Hardy, tries to put trousers on him. Also in 1927, the pair starred in The Battle of the Century, a classic pie-throwing short involving over 3,000 real pies; only a fragment of the film was known to exist until the first half resurfaced in the 1970s; a more complete print was discovered in 2015 by historian Jon Mirsalis.
Laurel said to the duo's biographer John McCabe: "Of all the questions we're asked, the most frequent is, how did we come together? I always explain that we came together naturally." Laurel and Hardy were joined by accident and grew by indirection. In 1926, both were part of the Roach Comedy All Stars, a stock company of actors who took part in a series of films. Laurel's and Hardy's parts gradually grew larger, while those of their fellow stars diminished, because Laurel and Hardy had superior pantomime skills. Their teaming was suggested by Leo McCarey, their supervising director from 1927 and 1930. During that period, McCarey and Laurel jointly devised the team's format. McCarey also influenced the slowing of their comedy action from the silent era's typically frantic pace to a more natural one. The formula worked so well that Laurel and Hardy played the same characters for the next 30 years.
Although Roach employed writers and directors such as H. M. Walker, Leo McCarey, James Parrott, and James W. Horne on the Laurel and Hardy films, Laurel, who had a considerable background in comedy writing, often rewrote entire sequences and scripts. He also encouraged the cast and crew to improvise, then meticulously reviewed the footage during editing. By 1929, he was the pair's head writer, and it was reported that the writing sessions were gleefully chaotic. Stan had three or four writers who competed with him in a perpetual game of 'Can You Top This?' Hardy was quite happy to leave the writing to his partner. He said, "After all, just doing the gags was hard enough work, especially if you have taken as many falls and been dumped in as many mudholes as I have. I think I earned my money." Laurel eventually became so involved in their films' productions, many film historians and aficionados consider him an uncredited director. He ran the Laurel and Hardy set, no matter who was in the director's chair, but never asserted his authority. Roach remarked: "Laurel bossed the production. With any director, if Laurel said 'I don't like this idea,' the director didn't say 'Well, you're going to do it anyway.' That was understood." As Laurel made so many suggestions, there was not much left for the credited director to do.
Their 1929 silent Big Business is by far the most critically acclaimed. Laurel and Hardy are Christmas tree salesmen who are drawn into a classic tit-for-tat battle, with a character played by James Finlayson, that eventually destroys his house and their car. Big Business was added to the United States National Film Registry as a national treasure in 1992.
Sound films
In 1929 the silent era of film was coming to an end. Many silent-film actors failed to make the transition to "talkies"—some, because they felt sound was irrelevant to their craft of conveying stories with body language; and others, because their spoken voices were considered inadequate for the new medium. However, the addition of spoken dialogue only enhanced Laurel's and Hardy's performances; both had extensive theatrical experience, and could use their voices to great comic effect. Their films also continued to feature much visual comedy. In these ways, they made a seamless transition to their first sound film, Unaccustomed As We Are (1929) (whose title was a play on the familiar phrase, "Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking"). In the opening dialogue, Laurel and Hardy began by spoofing the slow and self-conscious speech of the early talking actors which became a routine they would use regularly.
The Music Box (1932), with the pair delivering a piano up a long flight of steps, won an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Subject. The Music Box remains one of the duo's most widely known films.
Laurel and Hardy were favorites around the world, and Hal Roach catered to international audiences by filming many of their early talkies in other languages. They spoke their dialogue phonetically, in Spanish, Italian, French, or German. The plots remained similar to the English versions, although the supporting actors were often changed to those who were fluent in the native language. Pardon Us (1931) was reshot in all four foreign languages. Blotto, Hog Wild and Be Big! were remade in French and Spanish versions. Night Owls was remade in both Spanish and Italian, and Below Zero and Chickens Come Home in Spanish.
Feature films
Just as Laurel and Hardy's teaming was accidental, so was their entry into the field of feature films. In the words of biographer John McCabe, "Roach planned to use the MGM set [built for The Big House] for a simple prison-break two-reeler but MGM suddenly added a proviso: Laurel and Hardy would have to do a picture for them in exchange. Roach would not agree so he built his own prison set, a very expensive item for a two-reeler. So expensive was it indeed that he added four more reels to bring it into the feature category and, it was hoped, the bigger market." The experiment was successful, and the team continued to make features along with their established short subjects until 1935, when they converted to features exclusively.
Sons of the Desert (1933) is often cited as Laurel and Hardy's best feature-length film. The situation-comedy script by actor-playwright Frank Craven and screenwriter Byron Morgan is stronger than usual for a Laurel & Hardy comedy. Stan and Ollie are henpecked husbands who want to attend a convention held by the Sons of the Desert fraternal lodge. They tell their wives that Ollie requires an ocean voyage to Honolulu for his health, and they sneak off to the convention. They are unaware that the Honolulu-bound ship they were supposedly aboard is sinking, and the wives confront their errant husbands when they get home.
Babes in Toyland (1934) remains a perennial on American television during the Christmas season. When interviewed, Hal Roach spoke scathingly about the film and Laurel's behavior. Roach himself had written a treatment detailing the characters and storyline, only to find that Laurel considered Roach's effort totally unsuitable. Roach, affronted, tried to argue in favor of his treatment, but Laurel was adamant. Roach angrily gave up and allowed Laurel to make the film his way. The rift damaged Roach-Laurel relations to the point that Roach said that after Toyland, he didn't want to produce for Laurel and Hardy. Although their association continued for another six years, Roach no longer took an active hand in Laurel and Hardy films.
Way Out West (1937) was a personal favorite of both Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. A satire of the Gene Autry musical westerns sweeping America at the time, the film combines Laurel and Hardy's slapstick routines with songs and dances performed by the stars.
It appeared that the team would split permanently in 1938. Hal Roach had become dissatisfied with his distribution arrangement with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and had begun releasing his films through United Artists. He still owed MGM one last feature, and made the Laurel and Hardy comedy Block-Heads, with the announcement that this would be Laurel and Hardy's farewell film. Stan Laurel's contract with Roach then expired, and Roach did not renew it. Oliver Hardy's contract was still in force, however, and Roach starred Hardy solo in the antebellum comedy Zenobia (1939), with Harry Langdon as Hardy's comic foil. This fueled rumors that Laurel and Hardy had split on bad terms.
After Zenobia, Laurel rejoined Hardy and the team signed with independent producer Boris Morros for the comedy feature The Flying Deuces (1939). Meanwhile, Hal Roach wanted to demonstrate his new idea of making four-reel, 40-minute featurettes—twice the length of standard two-reel, 20-minute comedies—which Roach felt could fit more conveniently into double-feature programs. He referred to these extended films as "streamliners". To test his theory, Roach rehired Laurel and Hardy. The resulting films, A Chump at Oxford and Saps at Sea (both 1940), were prepared as featurettes. United Artists overruled Roach and insisted that they be released as full-length features.
Hoping for greater artistic freedom, Laurel and Hardy split with Roach, and signed with 20th Century-Fox in 1941 and MGM in 1942. However, their working conditions were now completely different: they were simply hired actors, relegated to both studios’ B-film units, and not initially allowed to contribute to the scripts or improvise, as they had always done. When their films proved popular, the studios allowed them more input, and they starred in eight features until the end of 1944. These films, while far from their best work, were still very successful. Budgeted between $300,000 and $450,000 each, they earned millions at the box office for Fox and MGM. The Fox films were so profitable that the studio kept making Laurel and Hardy comedies after it discontinued its other "B" series films.
The busy team decided to take a rest during 1946, but 1947 saw their first European tour in 15 years. A film based in the charters of "Robin Hood" was planned during the tour, but not realized. In 1947, Laurel and Hardy famously attended the reopening of the Dungeness loop of the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway, where they performed improvised routines with a steam locomotive for the benefit of local crowds and dignitaries.
In 1948, on the team's return to America, Laurel was sidelined by illness and temporarily unable to work. He encouraged Hardy to take movie roles on his own. Hardy's friend John Wayne hired him to co-star in The Fighting Kentuckian for Republic Pictures, and Bing Crosby got him a small part in Frank Capra's Riding High.
In 1950–51, Laurel and Hardy made their final feature-length film together, Atoll K. A French-Italian co-production directed by Léo Joannon, it was plagued by problems with language barriers, production issues, and both actors' serious health issues. When Laurel received the script's final draft, he felt its heavy political content overshadowed the comedy. He quickly rewrote it, with screen comic Monte Collins contributing visual gags, and hired old friend Alfred Goulding to direct the Laurel and Hardy scenes. During filming, Hardy developed an irregular heartbeat, while Laurel experienced painful prostate complications that caused his weight to drop to 114 pounds. Critics were disappointed with the storyline, English dubbing, and Laurel's sickly physical appearance. The film was not commercially successful on its first release, and brought an end to Laurel and Hardy's film careers. Atoll K did finally turn a profit when it was rereleased in other countries. In 1954, an American distributor removed 18 minutes of footage and released it as Utopia; widely released on film and video, it is the film's best-known version.
After Atoll K wrapped in April 1951, Laurel and Hardy returned to America and used the remainder of the year to rest. Stan appeared, in character, in a silent TV newsreel, Swim Meet, judging a local California swimming contest.
Most Laurel and Hardy films have survived and are still in circulation. Only three of their 107 films are considered lost and have not been seen in complete form since the 1930s. The silent film Hats Off from 1927 has vanished completely. The first half of Now I'll Tell One (1927) is lost, and the second half has yet to be released on video. The Battle of the Century (1927), after years of obscurity, is now almost complete but a few minutes are missing. In the 1930 operatic Technicolor musical The Rogue Song, Laurel and Hardy appeared as comedy relief in 10 sequences; only one exists. The complete soundtrack has survived.
Radio
Laurel and Hardy made at least two audition recordings for radio, a half-hour NBC series, based on the skit, Driver’s License, and a 1944 NBC pilot for "The Laurel and Hardy Show," casting Stan and Ollie in different occupations each episode. The surviving audition record, "Mr. Slater's Poultry Market," has Stan and Ollie as meat-market butchers mistaken for vicious gangsters. A third attempt was commissioned by BBC Radio in 1953: "Laurel and Hardy Go to the Moon," a series of science-fiction comedies. A sample script was written by Tony Hawes and Denis Gifford, and the comedians staged a read-through, which was not recorded. The team was forced to withdraw due to Hardy's declining health, and the project was abandoned.
Final years
Following the making of Atoll K, Laurel and Hardy took some months off to deal with health issues. On their return to the European stage in 1952, they undertook a well-received series of public appearances, performing a short Laurel-written sketch, "A Spot of Trouble". The following year, Laurel wrote a routine entitled "Birds of a Feather". On September 9, 1953, their boat arrived in Cobh in Ireland. Laurel recounted their reception:
The love and affection we found that day at Cobh was simply unbelievable. There were hundreds of boats blowing whistles and mobs and mobs of people screaming on the docks. We just couldn't understand what it was all about. And then something happened that I can never forget. All the church bells in Cobh started to ring out our theme song "Dance of the Cuckoos" and Babe (Oliver Hardy) looked at me and we cried. I'll never forget that day. Never.
On May 17, 1954, Laurel and Hardy made their last live stage performance in Plymouth, UK at the Palace Theatre. On December 1, 1954, they made their only American television appearance when they were surprised and interviewed by Ralph Edwards on his live NBC-TV program This Is Your Life. Lured to the Knickerbocker Hotel under the pretense of a business meeting with producer Bernard Delfont, the doors opened to their suite, #205, flooding the room with light and Edwards' voice. The telecast was preserved on a kinescope and later released on home video. Partly due to the broadcast's positive response, the team began renegotiating with Hal Roach Jr. for a series of color NBC Television specials, to be called Laurel and Hardy's Fabulous Fables. However, the plans had to be shelved as the aging comedians continued to suffer from declining health. In 1955, America's magazine TV Guide ran a color spread on the team with current photos. That year, they made their final public appearance together while taking part in This Is Music Hall, a BBC Television program about the Grand Order of Water Rats, a British variety organization. Laurel and Hardy provided a filmed insert where they reminisced about their friends in British variety. They made their final appearance on camera in 1956 in a private home movie, shot by a family friend at the Reseda, California home of Stan Laurel's daughter, Lois. The three-minute film has no audio.
In 1956, while following his doctor's orders to improve his health due to a heart condition, Hardy lost over 100 pounds (45 kg; 7.1 st), but nonetheless suffered several strokes causing reduced mobility and speech. Despite his long and successful career, Hardy's home was sold to help cover his medical expenses. He died of a stroke on August 7, 1957, and longtime friend Bob Chatterton said Hardy weighed just 138 pounds (63 kg; 9.9 st) at the time of his death. Hardy was laid to rest at Pierce Brothers' Valhalla Memorial Park, North Hollywood. Following Hardy's death, scenes from Laurel and Hardy's early films were seen once again in theaters, featured in Robert Youngson's silent-film compilation The Golden Age of Comedy.
For the remaining eight years of his life, Stan Laurel refused to perform, and declined Stanley Kramer's offer of a cameo in his landmark 1963 film It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. In 1960, Laurel was given a special Academy Award for his contributions to film comedy, but was unable to attend the ceremony due to poor health. Actor Danny Kaye accepted the award on his behalf. Despite not appearing on screen after Hardy's death, Laurel did contribute gags to several comedy filmmakers. His favorite TV comedy was Leonard B. Stern's I'm Dickens, He's Fenster, co-starring John Astin and Marty Ingels as carpenters. Laurel enjoyed the Astin-Ingels chemistry and sent two-man gags to Stern.
During this period, most of his communication was in the form of written correspondence, and he insisted on personally answering every fan letter. Late in life, he welcomed visitors from the new generation of comedians and celebrities, including Dick Cavett, Jerry Lewis, Peter Sellers, Marcel Marceau, Johnny Carson, and Dick Van Dyke. Jerry Lewis offered Laurel a job as consultant, but he chose to help only on Lewis's 1960 feature The Bellboy.[citation needed]
Dick Van Dyke was a longtime fan, and based his comedy and dancing styles on Laurel's. When he discovered Laurel's home number in the phone book and called him, Laurel invited him over for the afternoon. Van Dyke hosted a television tribute to Stan Laurel the year he died.
Laurel lived to see the duo's work rediscovered through television and classic film revivals. He died on February 23, 1965, in Santa Monica and is buried at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles, California.
Supporting cast members
Laurel and Hardy's films included a supporting cast of comic actors, some of whom appeared regularly:
Harry Bernard (former vaudeville partner of Charley Chase) played supporting roles as a waiter, bartender, or policeman.
Mae Busch often played the formidable Mrs. Hardy and other characters, particularly sultry femmes fatales.
Charley Chase, the Hal Roach film star and brother of James Parrott, a writer/director of several Laurel and Hardy films, made four appearances.
Dorothy Coburn appeared in nearly a dozen early silent shorts.
Baldwin Cooke (former vaudeville partner of Stan Laurel) played supporting roles as a waiter, colleague, or neighbor.
Richard Cramer appeared as a scowling, menacing villain or opponent.
Peter Cushing, well before becoming a star in Hammer Horror films, played one of the students in A Chump at Oxford.
Bobby Dunn appeared as a cross-eyed bartender and telegram messenger, as well as the genial shoplifter in Tit for Tat.
Eddie Dunn made several appearances, notably as the belligerent taxi driver in Me and My Pal.
James Finlayson, a balding, mustachioed Scotsman known for displays of indignation and squinting, pop-eyed "double takes," made 33 appearances and is perhaps their most celebrated foil.
Anita Garvin appeared in a number of Laurel and Hardy films, often cast as Mrs. Laurel.
Billy Gilbert made many appearances, most notably as bombastic, blustery characters such as those in The Music Box (1932) and Block-Heads.
Charlie Hall, who usually played angry, diminutive adversaries, appeared nearly 50 times.
Jean Harlow had a small role in the silent short Double Whoopee (1929) and two other films in the early part of her career.
Arthur Housman made several appearances as a comic drunk.
Isabelle Keith was the only actress to appear as wife to both Laurel and Hardy (in Perfect Day and Be Big!, respectively).
Edgar Kennedy, master of the "slow burn," often appeared as a cop, a hostile neighbor, or a relative.
Walter Long played grizzled, unshaven, physically threatening villains.
Sam Lufkin appeared several times, usually as a husky authority figure.
Charles Middleton made a handful of appearances, usually as a sourpuss adversary.
James C. Morton appeared as a bartender or exasperated policeman.
Vivien Oakland appeared in several early silent films, and later talkies including Scram! and Way Out West.
Blanche Payson, a former policewoman, was featured in several sound shorts, including Oliver's formidable wife in Helpmates.
Daphne Pollard was featured as Oliver's diminutive but daunting wife.
Viola Richard appeared in several early silent films, most notably as the beautiful cave girl in Flying Elephants (1928).
Charley Rogers, an English actor and gag writer, appeared several times.
Tiny Sandford was a tall, burly, physically imposing character actor who played authority figures, usually policemen.
Thelma Todd appeared several times before her own career as a comic leading lady.
Ben Turpin, the cross-eyed Mack Sennett comedy star, made two memorable appearances.
Ellinor Vanderveer made many appearances as a dowager, high society matron, or posh party guest.
Music
The duo's famous signature tune, known variously as "The Cuckoo Song", "Ku-Ku" or "The Dance of the Cuckoos", was composed by Roach musical director Marvin Hatley as the on-the-hour chime for KFVD, the Roach studio's radio station. Laurel heard the tune on the station and asked Hatley if they could use it as the Laurel and Hardy theme song. The original theme, recorded by two clarinets in 1930, was recorded again with a full orchestra in 1935. Leroy Shield composed the majority of the music used in the Laurel and Hardy short sound films. A compilation of songs from their films, titled Trail of the Lonesome Pine, was released in 1975. The title track was released as a single in the UK and reached #2 in the charts.
Influence and legacy
Laurel and Hardy's influence over a very broad range of comedy and other genres has been considerable. Lou Costello of the famed duo of Abbott and Costello, stated "They were the funniest comedy team in the world." Most critics and film scholars throughout the years have agreed with this assessment; writers, artists, and performers as diverse as Samuel Beckett, Jerry Lewis, Peter Sellers, Marcel Marceau Steve Martin, John Cleese, Harold Pinter, Alec Guinness, J. D. Salinger, René Magritte and Kurt Vonnegut among many others, have acknowledged an artistic debt. Starting in the 1960s, the exposure on television of (especially) their short films has ensured a continued influence on generations of comedians and fans.
Posthumous revivals and popular culture
Since the 1930s, the works of Laurel and Hardy have been released again in numerous theatrical reissues, television revivals (broadcast, especially public television and cable), 16 mm and 8 mm home movies, feature-film compilations and home video. After Stan Laurel's death in 1965, there were two major motion-picture tributes: Laurel and Hardy's Laughing '20s was Robert Youngson's compilation of the team's silent-film highlights, and The Great Race was a large-scale salute to slapstick that director Blake Edwards dedicated to "Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy". For many years the duo were impersonated by Jim MacGeorge (as Laurel) and Chuck McCann (as Hardy) in children's TV shows and television commercials for various products.
Numerous colorized versions of Laurel and Hardy features and shorts have been reproduced by several studios. The process was introduced in 1983 by Colorization, Inc. in partnership with Hal Roach Studios, then a Canadian concern licensing its name and films from Hal Roach. Early efforts were the famous Laurel & Hardy films Helpmates, Way Out West, and The Music Box, which were released to television and issued on VHS videocassettes. Most of the Laurel & Hardy sound shorts were ultimately colorized for distribution in Europe; The pixel-based color process and the conversion from the American NTSC system to the European PAL system often affected the sharpness of the image, so since 2011 video distributors have issued the original, more accurately rendered black-and-white editions.
There are three Laurel and Hardy museums. One is in Laurel's birthplace of Ulverston, England and another is in Hardy's birthplace of Harlem, Georgia, United States. The third is located in Solingen, Germany. Maurice Sendak showed three identical Oliver Hardy figures as bakers preparing cakes for the morning in his award-winning 1970 children's book In the Night Kitchen. This is treated as a clear example of "interpretative illustration" wherein the comedians' inclusion harked back to the author's childhood. The Beatles used cut-outs of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in the cutout celebrity crowd for the cover of their 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. A 2005 poll by fellow comedians and comedy insiders of the top 50 comedians for The Comedian's Comedian, a TV documentary broadcast on UK's Channel 4, voted the duo the seventh-greatest comedy act ever, making them the top double act on the list.
Merchandiser Larry Harmon claimed ownership of Laurel's and Hardy's likenesses and has issued Laurel and Hardy toys and coloring books. He also co-produced a series of Laurel and Hardy cartoons in 1966 with Hanna-Barbera Productions. His animated versions of Laurel and Hardy guest-starred in a 1972 episode of Hanna-Barbera's The New Scooby-Doo Movies. In 1999, Harmon produced a direct-to-video feature live-action comedy entitled The All New Adventures of Laurel & Hardy in For Love or Mummy. Actors Bronson Pinchot and Gailard Sartain were cast playing the lookalike nephews of Laurel and Hardy named Stanley Thinneus Laurel and Oliver Fatteus Hardy.
Currently, the North American rights to a majority of the Laurel & Hardy library are owned by Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment, successor-in-interest to the companies that previously held such rights (Cabin Fever, RHI, Hallmark, and Sonar), while the CCA owns international rights, and Larry Harmon's estate owns the likenesses and trademarks to Laurel & Hardy.
The Indian comedy duo Ghory and Dixit was known as the Indian Laurel and Hardy. In 2011 the German/French TV station Arte released in co-production with the German TV station ZDF the 90-minute documentary Laurel & Hardy: Their Lives and Magic. The film, titled in the original German Laurel and Hardy: Die komische Liebesgeschichte von "Dick & Doof", was written and directed by German film-maker Andreas Baum. It includes many movie clips, rare and unpublished photographs, interviews with family, fans, friends, showbiz pals and newly recovered footage. Laurel's daughter Lois Laurel Hawes said of the film: "The best documentary about Laurel and Hardy I have ever seen!". It has also been released as a Director's Cut with a length of 105 minutes, plus 70 minutes of bonus materials on DVD.
Appreciation society
Main article: The Sons of the Desert
The official Laurel and Hardy appreciation society is known as The Sons of the Desert, after a fraternal society in their film of the same name (1933). It was established in New York City in 1965 by Laurel and Hardy biographer John McCabe, with Orson Bean, Al Kilgore, Chuck McCann, and John Municino as founding members, with the sanction of Stan Laurel. Since the group's inception, well over 150 chapters of the organization have formed across North America, Europe, and Australia. An Emmy-winning film documentary about the group, Revenge of the Sons of the Desert, has been released on DVD as part of The Laurel and Hardy Collection, Vol. 1.
Around the world
Laurel and Hardy are popular around the world but are known under different names in various countries and languages.
CountryNickname
Poland"Flip i Flap" (Flip and Flap)
Germany"Dick und Doof" (Fat and Dumb)
Brazil"O Gordo e o Magro" (The Fat One and the Skinny One)
Sweden"Helan och Halvan" (The Whole and the Half)
Norway"Helan og Halvan" (The Whole and the Half)
Spanish-speaking countries"El Gordo y el Flaco" (The Fat One and the Skinny One)
Italy"Stanlio e Ollio" also as "Cric e Croc" up to the 1970s
Hungary"Stan és Pan" (Stan and Pan)
Romania"Stan și Bran" (Stan and Bran)
The Netherlands, Flemish Belgium"Laurel en Hardy", "Stan en Ollie", "De Dikke en de Dunne" (The Fat [One] and the Skinny [One])
Denmark"Gøg og Gokke" (Roughly translates to Wacky and Pompous)
Portugal"O Bucha e o Estica" (The Fat One and the Skinny One)
Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia, North Macedonia, Montenegro"Stanlio i Olio" (Cyrillic: Станлио и Олио)
Slovenia"Stan in Olio"
Greece"Hondros kai Lignos" (Χοντρός και Λιγνός) (Fat and Skinny)
India (Marathi)"जाड्या आणि रड्या" (Fatso and the Crybaby)
India (Punjabi)"Moota Paatla" (Laurel and Hardy) (Fat and Skinny)
India (Telugu)"Lamboo Jamboo" (లంబూ జంబూ) (Laurel and Hardy) (Fat and Skinny)
FinlandOhukainen ja Paksukainen (Thin one and Thick one)
Iceland"Steini og Olli"
Israel"השמן והרזה" (ha-Shamen ve ha-Raze, The Fat and the Skinny)
Vietnam (South)"Mập – Ốm" (The Fat and the Skinny)
Korea (South)"뚱뚱이와 홀쭉이" (The Fat and the Skinny)
Malta"L-Oħxon u l-Irqiq" ("The Fat and the Thin One")
Thailand"อ้วนผอมจอมยุ่ง" ("The Clumsy Fat and Thin")
Biopic
A biographical film titled Stan & Ollie directed by Jon S. Baird and starring Steve Coogan as Stan and John C. Reilly as Oliver was released in 2018 and chronicled the duo's 1953 tour of Great Britain and Ireland. The film received positive reviews from critics, garnering a 94% "Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes. For their performances, Reilly and Coogan were nominated for a Golden Globe and a BAFTA award respectively.
"You better run for your life if you can, little girl
Hide your head in the sand little girl
Catch you with another man
That's the end, little girl..."*
During the Jazz Age:
Hollywood's 'It' Girl, Clara Bow, sometimes had to make a quick getaway from her wild nights on the town. So many boyfriends, so many (illegal) drinks at shady nightspots--those things could create bad publicity. The public wanted to think of Clara as a daring flapper but not as fun-crazed and boy-crazy trollop.
Thus, Clara learned to stay ahead of troublesome publicity by doing such things as climbing out of a back window when an out of control party or a crackdown on a speakeasy brought the police--followed quickly pesky photographers--to break up the boisterous hi-jinks.
"I know when I need to scram," said Clara, here seen climbing from a window, "and I know how to do it--quick!"
*"Run for Your Life" by The Beatles, primarily written by John Lennon (credited to Lennon-McCartney)
Nanette "DEATH METAL Of course, Now SCRAM"
Me "Geesh you certainly are bitchy lately"
Nanette "well how would you be if you got sent over in a box in the dark 8000 Miles away?"
Me "Yea yea ok good point"
"So wait, you're telling me that the two months you were gone, you were off saving Spider-Men from across parallel earths, including Agent Spider, who just so happens to be me? I mean not me, but the me of the other earth.. It's confusing just to even think about.."
"I know it sounds kind of crazy Harry, but it's the truth!" I blurt out, before taking a sip of my strawberry milkshake.
"Guess I shouldn't be so surprised. Craziness kind of goes with being a superhero. Still, it's unfortunate that you had to watch multiple versions of yourself die." He says, before taking a bite of his bacon. Having the breakfast menu, open 24/7. That person deserves an award. Milkshakes, and pancakes, a beautiful combination.
"Yeah. I'm definitely glad it's over.. On another note, what's been going on with you?"
"Mostly the same old. Helping where I can with my father's company, but I'm no business tycoon, so I don't know all the technicalities. Football season's started at school, but all hopes of getting on the team are gone." He muses.
"Sorry man, I know how much you wanted it.." I apologize, turning my head to look outside the window.
"Don't have to keep blaming yourself over it Pete. What's done is done. Besides-" He gets interrupted by the sound of a phone notification, to which he pulls out his phone. The biggest smile grows on his face. I lean over, trying to get a glance at his phone, but he turns it off before I can see anything.
"So what's that all about Harry? It's like you won the lottery or something. But since you're already a billionaire, that isn't it. Are you holding out on me?" I ask, prodding him for answers.
"What?? Nah, no way Pete." Harry laughs, before spilling the beans. "Alright, alright. Her names Elaine. Met her when I was still in the hospital. She's really helped me through everything. Since then, it's kind of developed into something more." He says sheepishly, his face clearly reddening at the mention of her name.
"That's great Harry! I'm happy for you."
"Thanks Pete. It's a nice change of pace, as she likes me for me. She isn't just with me for my money, like every other girl has been." He says with a note of relief in his voice. I finish off my pancake before responding.
"Sounds like a great girl!"
"She is! Who knows, maybe we could go on a double date sometime!"
"That's assuming I can get a girlfriend.. With my luck, that's not happening anytime soon. Me being gone blew things with Lana."
"I wouldn't go that far. Yeah, she's a little mad, but she just missed having you in her life. The way she talked about you, it's clear as day she still cares about you Pete. Like I said before, she'll come around.
"Yeah, maybe..." I mutter, just before I finish off my strawberry milkshake.
"Ah crap, I should probably head home.. It's getting late, and unfortunately, I've still got some things I need to do. It's good to have you back Peter. See ya later."
"Oh, don't let me keep you then. Well, it was nice catching up with you. See ya Monday, then?"
"Definitely." He says with a wave, before wheeling himself over to the cash register to pay, before leaving the diner. I take a few minutes to finish what's on my plate, before paying, and leaving. Almost didn't have enough there.. I really need to get a job. Unfortunately, being a superhero doesn't pay the bills, unless you're a rich billionaire like Iron Man, then it does. Maybe that freelance position at the Daily Bugle is still open? It's a little late, but I guess I could go see if J Jonah's still there. Since I don't have my webshooters with me, I'll have to take the subway. Luckily, it isn't too badly crowded. After about fifteen minutes of travelling, the subway comes to a stop, and the doors open. As I get closer to the Daily Bugle, I notice two people talking outside. One dressed in a leather jacket, with blonde hair. The other, is none other than J Jonah himself. I look around for a good vantage point, with some decent cover. I find a nearby storefront that should work out alright.
JJ: "This better be good Brock."
'Brock': "Oh it is, JJ. The Spider-Menace is back! And I've got the proof." He says, handing the file over. Can't really see the pictures from this angle, but I'm assuming their somehow from my fight with the Sinister Six. I don't recall seeing this guy nearby.
JJ: "It was only a matter of time before that wall-crawling menace showed his face once again. Conspiring with this 'Sinister Six'! Oh, that's good. We're just lucky New York's finest officers showed up in time to stop him. Alright Brock, here's the deal. Keep bringing me pictures of Spider-Man worthy of the front page, and you'll be paid accordingly. "
'Brock': "Yeah, sure thing.."
JJ: "Now scram." With that, Brock leaves, and Jameson makes a phone call, with a taxi coming minutes later to pick him up. Guess the freelance gig is off the table.. Definitely not what I wanted to hear..
This close-up of the right side of the control panel in the reactor control room shows the controls for the manual operation of the shim rods. Each rod has its own speed dial, meter, indicator lights, control buttons, and scram button. The buttons within the square on the left-hand side controlled the regulating rod that could activate a junior "scram" (a partial scram using only one regulating rod). It was designated within the box so that operators could quickly locate the rod's control buttons in case of emergency. The full scram buttons, which dropped all the control rods simultaneously, were set apart at the bottom of the console.
Credit: NASA
Image Number: C-2001-01229
Date:
Thursdays are now "screen-free" days in our house... nobody is allowed to use a computer, watch the television, or play with their cell-phones.
Needless to say... this new rule isn't very popular with the kids. Like most kids these days... they usually spend their afternoons in their rooms playing computer games... and their evenings watching TV. To be honest... I'd also be quite lost without my "screens"... I spend the whole day at work behind a screen... and then, most days... I spend the rest of the afternoon behind another screen... reading the news, browsing Flickr and/or processing photos. Not much physical activity there... I can actually feel my muscles wasting away!
Just as the kids were starting to get bored last Thursday... I suggested that we put on our swimming costumes and go down to the beach for a swim. That suggestion went down very well... in a flash they were both ready to go... boogie-board and all! Despite the warm weather... the beach was surprisingly empty... just a few kids in the water... their parents relaxing on blankets with wine and snacks. Enzo grabbed his board and ran straight into the water... Estelle grabbed her book and got stuck into that... and I grabbed my camera and ambled around looking for promising compositions. Nobody was bored anymore.
But then it suddenly dawned on me... I was breaking my own rule! I was using a "screen"... the bright, clear LCD screen on my camera! Damn... that was inconvenient... did this mean that I should be taking photos without looking at the results!? Forget it... that's just being plain silly... the main reason for the screen-free days is to get everyone doing something physically active. So as long as I'm walking about... surely I'm allowed to occasionally take a quick glance at my screen?
After cooling down in the water... we all moved a couple of hundred meters down the beach to some rocks with pools... and more promising compositions. Estelle preferred to stay in the car with her book... while Enzo and I headed out onto the rocks. He was looking for crabs and sea anenomies (which are quite plentiful in the rock-pools here)... and I was looking for reflections and balanced compositions. As soon as I noticed the photographic potential of these small pools... he noticed a big white anenome in the pool on the right... waving it's tentacles as if to say hello. I hunched over with my camera to find the best composition... and Enzo hunched over to pluck some small snails off the rocks.... to feed the anenome. We were both playing with the same rock pool... something had to give. He didn't really mind me... but he was really getting in my way.
Just then some other small boys came over to see what Enzo was doing... and they immediately joined in the fun... feeding the weird white, tentacled, sea-creature. Feeling outnumbered... I gave up and walked over to play with some other rock pools nearby... but nothing really grabbed my eyes there.
Then... just as the sun started setting and the clouds started looking fantastic... I walked back to the sea-creature pools and said... okay kids... now SCRAM... you've had your fun... it's my turn to play here! Fortunately they soon discovered a huge crab in another rock-pool... leaving me in peace to compose and shoot the two images that make up this Vertorama.
Nikon D300, Sigma 10-20mm at 11mm, aperture of f11, with a 1/30th second exposure.
Click here to check out my Vertorama tutorial.
This shot takes a bit of explanation. When planning this trip we marked several shots, including this one, on our list to capture with no clue as to where they were taken. It seemed no photographer correctly identified the location or wanted to share where it was taken. What's the big deal with keeping the location a secret?
This sparked the opposite reaction in our group. We felt like it was now our duty to "out" all these super secret locations and send these photographers scrambling to find new hidden locations for their portfolios.
Speaking of scrambling; while planning a route to this location, we learned a few new terms. "Head up the chute" and "scree scram" said the friendly Lederhosen wearing staff member in the hotel lobby. "You'll find it easy." It was quite an unexpected response.
When the time finally came to "scree scram", we started in the dark, pre-dawn light with only had a vague direction to head. About halfway up the hill the wind started to pick up making it difficult to stand or make headway in the scree. While constantly scanning for bears, our flashlights spotted some dead trees on the ridge line. By the time we got there the outline of the mountains and clouds was visible in the blue hour light. Things were looking good for an epic sunrise.
Next, we had the challenge of setting up on the cold, wind blown hillside with only loose rock for a foothold. The wind was so strong, my first shots were blurred by the shaking. After getting settled, I managed to lock down enough to get this shot. No one was injured and nothing was lost on this photography mission. However, the potential for disaster to equipment and person was highlighted with every step we took.
Now for the location directions. Head out from the Many Glacier Hotel and turn right (east) onto the road towards Lake Sherbourne. Just after turning the corner from the Hotel driveway, the "chute" or hill is on your left. Scramble up the scree then head towards sunrise until you spot a dead tree on the ridge that you like. You can confirm your location by looking for the Swiftcurrent river falls directly on your right and a little behind. This location is known to have bears. Be prepared to see and/or deal with that situation if it arises. Luckily enough we had no bear encounters while on the hill.
The forbidden fruit that Eve gave to Adam in the Garden of Eden was a lemon rather than an apple, according to the joking message on this postcard from 1908. To understand the humor, you need to know that handing someone a lemon in 1908 was a way to say "scram," "beat it," or in the slang of the day, "skidoo" or "23 skidoo." So how did lemons come to be associated with "23 skidoo"? For the story, see Skidoo 23 Is Now 37.
The other side of the postcard is an advertisement for the Banks Brothers department store in Middletown, Pennsylvania, and the "immense variety" of postcards that it offered at the store and at a stand at the Middletown Fair in 1908. See Send Post Cards to Your Friends.
Adam & Eve
This [an apple], my boy, is what they say she gave the old man but on the level she really handed him a [lemon].
It's remarkable how seagulls tolerate proximity to humans. People and seagulls have always shared the sands on ocean side of the beach approach here. The gulls are so relaxed that they often settle right down on the sand by the roadside to nap in the sun. Light sleepers, gulls can sense footfalls and will scram the moment someone gets too close.
Ocean Park, Washington.
Walking edgy neighborhoods looking for subjects to photograph, I do occasionally encounter people, but most are not too interested in talking besides "Why are you taking pictures of [that sign/a pile of trash/graffiti]?" But Kelly was different.
Kelly compulsively talks through an ever-shifting stream of conciousness symptomatic of schizophrenia. Before throwing this undershirt on, she had been walking barefoot on 16th Street covered in only a bikini top and another shirt stretched around her waist just enough to cover her frontal area, but still leaving half of her ass showing. A lady at Muhammad Enterprises was decent enough to cover her a bit better with a piece of fabric, but it was ill-fitting and tenuously attached. By the time we crossed paths, Kelly had been gleefully dismissed by the woman who had already had enough of her.
When she saw me, Kelly thought she recognized me and felt that it was somehow our fate that we would meet. She cast me in the role of her new landlord who would tell the people blocking the door to her room that she had authorization to enter. She then told me that I needed to walk with her and listen as she explained the situation.
I was apprehensive, but then I noticed a car pass by slowly with leering eyes checking her out, and then speeding up and turning right. Not yet sold on joining her for a walk, I stood and listened, but the car came back and slowed again. I glanced back at them disapprovingly and they scrammed quickly.
I asked Kelly if she had more clothes, and in a roundabout way, she said a friend of hers she had just met yesterday said he would do her laundry at the laundromat just around the corner, but she had just come from there and didn't see him.
She also was hungry and said she needed to go to the mission to eat, as she does daily, but she said they would not let her come in dressed like that. So, I asked if she knew any place where she could get some clothes, and she said she did. We began walking in that direction.
As we walked, the car passed by again, and the two young men--gaunt and gawky wannabe thugs--parked up the street and got out of the car and waited on the sidewalk for us to pass by. We changed course, and I had to physically direct her and explain why. It's as if she couldn't perceive the threat. But everywhere we went, it seemed, she was drawing the attention of leering eyes of groady men or the disdainful eyes of gentrifiers loading fancy furniture into their victorian fixer-uppers.
We wound up at a strange store on 12th Street called R&B Fashions which is also a smoke shop which always seems to have plenty of loiterers hanging out. I'd noticed it before with leggy big-booty half-mannequins wearing colorful Spanx and other slutty pants. She said she would be able to take any clothes she wants there for free in exchange for the owner letting her do some "modeling work" for him. But he was in no mood to see her, and his wife was especially in no mood for her.
There are six apartments behind the store and a boarding house (something of a halfway house) next door, and she had said that sometimes she can shower and stay in those places, too, but she had no clothes there either.
So we left and continued walking north toward the mission. But now her best plan was for me to go there with her and guard her backside from view. She had mentioned getting Del Taco "with my homegirl" the other day, so I asked her if she might want to go there. She got excited at the possibility, and we walked back in a circle to where I started to get in my car and go.
Then I realized she really stunk, but it was just ordinary B.O. like the kind I remember wafting around crusty punk shows I'd seen at 924 Gilman in Berkeley when I was younger.
Her more paranoid ranting broke as she took over my car stereo and flipped stations until she'd found a song she liked. She sang along to several songs, and very adeptly. She had a pretty fantastic singing voice including a natural vibrato, and she could get deep and ramble through blue notes soulfully in the modern R&B style. I've always disliked how modern singers overdo it with that, but as long as she seemed happy, I was glad to hear her warble through urban/top 40 hits. Some Coldplay came across the channel, and she quickly changed it while claiming to have met Coldplay (and referring to Coldplay as "he" and "him" as if it were the name of a solo artist). He went camping with her and her friends, and he stole all their soda. She loves soda because she doesn't drink alcohol. We passed a man walking a dog and a family pushing a baby in a stroller, and she wove dogs and babies into her story and then seemed to admit having two children taken from her.
Slowly, pieces of her story were coming together through the shards of memory and constant flow of actual things and events happening around us. What I had gathered is that she had been assaulted earlier that day--probably sexually, but definitely physically--resulting in bruises all over her legs and her lack of clothing.
At the Del Taco drive-through I ordered her a #2 combo with a cherry Coke. She just noticed the new churro promotion and giddily gushed about her love for churros. So, I added two churros.
She said she had once worked the drive-thru at a Del Taco. There was also some talk of attending a college somewhere. I think she may have slept outdoors recently in Roseville, but a woman there just drove her to downtown Sacramento and dropped her off.
I returned to near where I had met her in the parking lot of the strip mall that included the laundromat where her friend would be doing her laundry.
This is where I took this picture. She's looking over her shoulder hoping to see her friend who was supposed to do her laundry for her. It didn't cross my mind to take a photo of her, but she had offered to pay me for the Del Taco with a certain type of intimate favor (and I'm sure you can figure out what I mean). I tried to decline politely, but she seemed more intent in her second offer, so I declined again with a bit of added moral reprehension. I improvised the photo opportunity as a way to say "Just give me something to remember you by, and I'll be happy."
As a follower of the gut-wrenching documentary work of Chris Arnade in the Hunts Point area of the Bronx, I've seen him charged with many accusations of exploiting his subjects (he photographs addicts who live on the street or barely one step above the street). I do admit I felt a bit of guilt as I took these photos, but I'm afraid that Kelly truly sees making herself a target for exploitation as a necessity for food, shelter, laundry favors, and even a bag of fast food. I know my intention was to help, and in the end, a photo doesn't really compare to the indignity she must endure, especially if I can try to capture her dignity.
Next, we walked into the laundromat but found no sign of her friend or her clothes. We walked around the alleyway behind the strip mall to the apartment building where she said she lived. It sounded like it operated somewhat like a halfway house. She warned me that no one wanted her to return there and that's why I had to pretend to be her landlord. I was glad to hear her say "pretend" because I had been believing that she truly had begun to think of me as her landlord. As we turned the corner of the building and entered the parking area, a woman was guarding the door, seemingly ready for her. "NO NO NO NO NO! YOU ARE NOT COMING IN HERE! GO!", said the woman, a middle-aged Latina with the gnarliest, scariest face tattoos I've ever seen in real life. Her neck had bold gothic letters spelling FUCK YOU, and her face had huge crosses and skulls on her neck, chin, and forehead, plus several tears. It was quite a trip to see someone looking like this sound so moralistic as she further explained the grounds for denying her entry: "If you cannot cover up decently, you do not belong near my children, or anyone's children. Do you understand?"
So, we walked back around the corner to check the laundromat again. I seriously gave some thought to just waving a $20 bill in the air and asking anyone to trade me any shorts or pants for it, but I checked my wallet and realized that I was out of cash.
By this time, I was way overdue to return home to my wife and talk about dinner. But I felt Kelly was in no way able to take care of herself if I left. Her behavior was still erratic. She was obviously vulnerable enough to offer herself to me for a small favor of a $7 bag of Del Taco. She was still barely clothed, and after a week that felt like summer came early, this evening felt a bit chilly. I saw no way she would be safe tonight. I left her with a promise to go home and get her some clothes, but I drove a couple blocks away and called 9-1-1. I hope she is being cared for tonight.
In the next photo, she gave me a smile.
It's been almost three years since I put on the Robin suit. It's had its up's and down's.
Bruce has trained me hard. I've successfully beat him multiple times while we spare.
Nights have gotten longer as I've grown older. Normally we'd only be out until midnight, but now he let's me stay out with him until three or four in the morning. You'd be surprise to see what can happen at those hours of the day. Muggers, theft, murders, drug deals, you name it, it probably would happen.
Bruce has been really strict on me lately though. With long nights comes groggy mornings. I've fallen behind in projects or reports because he keeps me up late and wants me home right after school.
"I'll be the perfect fighter," He says. Not if I can't stand sometimes while we spar.
Now, I'm getting sick of his strict rules. I've contemplated quitting multiple times.
Right now it doesn't matter. We're staking out a bank. To Bruce's investigation, this is the next bank that a group of thieves will rob.
"There they are."
A car comes to a screeching halt in front of the bank and three people jump out of the car.
"Let's go."
We glide down the ground and land right behind the thieves attempting to break into the bank.
Bruce stays quiet and chokes out one of them silently.
I slip on the sidewalk curb and the other two thugs turn around.
"Ah crap. Scram man!"
The thugs start running and Bruce throws a batarang at one. He gets hit in the head. Bruce quickly jumps on him and hits his head, knocking him out.
I start running at the other one. He's quick, but I'm quicker. He pulls a gun out of his jacket and aims at me. He shoots multiple stray shots that I dodge. One goes into a nearby apartment building. Hopefully the walls are thick enough to stop that bullet.
I take out a wing ding and throw it at the thug. It hits him in the head and I pull out my bo staff. I smack him across the head and he goes out cold.
Bruce cuffs them and we take them to the GCPD building.
On the ride back home Bruce says nothing. Most likely listening to the police scanner he has in his cowl. I can barely hear it buzzing news.
"What are they saying."
Bruce doesn't answer.
We arrive at the cave and I jump out and pull my mask off.
"Why are we back so early?"
"Grab your staff, we need to train."
"No Bruce. Answer me! What happen?"
"That thug shot a bullet into a apartment complex. The bullet hit a man and killed him."
"..."
"I could have stopped them all if it wasn't for your mistake."
"Look Bruce, I'm not perfect. I messed up."
"You messed up and it cost a man's life."
"I'll try harder to not mess up next time."
"You'll be lucky if there is a next time."
Alfred comes down the stairs but stays quiet in the shadows.
"You know what, Bruce. I quit! I'm done!"
"Don't walk out on me!"
"I'm taking my things and leaving. Alfred can you please call a cab?"
"Master Bruce?"
Bruce doesn't answer.
"Right away, Master Grayson."
"Heeeyyyyy, Myra! What's shakin'?"
"Eitan, you dolt! We're studying for our AP tests! Out, out, ouutttttt!"
"No reason to be treatin' me like that! Uncool! Especially after I helped you get that A in your Calc. test!"
"I don't have time for this, Eitan! If I get a freakin 2 on my AP Chem test tomorrow, you are sooooooo going to get it! Scram!"
"Yeesh, you're a mess when you're stressed...it's kind of cute."
-----
So I've got AP testing this next couple of weeks, with AP Chem front-and-center tomorrow! :D I should be studying but I figure it's best to relax than cram and stress myself out even more...I'll get what I get. Frankly, I care more about APUSH (Friday) and APENG (next Wednesday). Thus, I won't be as active here for awhile. Wish me luck!
62cm, Mark Nobilette built, Semi custom-ish, Rivendell Legolas. Wheels built by Rich "Hands on Wheels," A23 Rim With new/old DT Hugi hubs. modified FRM Brakes. Dura-Ace "Shimano" seat post. Marks Bar, Scram levers, 105 stuff, sugino crank, DIY bell mount.
That is the intimidating look given by the Red Vented Bulbul.
When both the eyes and the beak is pointed at you it means, "scram, move back or I am going to attack you"
To know more about them :
Western Gulls, Larus occidentalis. There's a story in these three adjacent pictures. When I first started looking at this rock, the chicks were hidden on the far side. What caught my attention was the squabble between the two adult gulls. I believe the squabble was the gull parent telling the other gull it was too close to its chicks and to scram.
She had a fast jetbike
On the Mars turnpike
She was the only woman I ever felt alike
She had GHL eyes
Telling me no lies
Knockin' me out with those Centaurian thighs
With my suit in repair
I was fighting for air
She told me to scram but I was already there
'Cause the crew was packing
The moon was quaking
My back was aching
I wasn't braking and you -
You sent me aaaall niiiight loooong
Working overtime
On the delivery line
She was one of a kind, she's just mine all mine
Wanted no delay
Just another relay
Sign the package gone and came back for pay
I was working logistics
making daring ballistics
to get the best total timing statistics
'Cause the crew was packing
The moon was quaking
My back was aching
I wasn't braking and you -
You sent me aaaall niiiight loooong
(to AC/DC's "you shook me all night long")
The Scram is a more 'on road' type bike, unlike my Himmy which is a more 'off road' type bike. Both will do both but I wanted to see/feel how the Scram would cope with some gentle but damp off roading!
Had both sunshine and a couple of showers on my 180(s)miles out on the hired RE Scram the other day..
forestryandland.gov.scot/visit/forest-parks/queen-elizabe...
Pssst...wake up....its March first!
Is it Spring yet?
Ummm, no but I am ushering in the new month....
Scram. Not getting up until I see grass and leaves.
I went back this morning to have another crack at the Northern Shoveler Drake. It was extremely cold but I had a wonderful opportunity to spend over 2 hour with this handsome little duck. It was tough to isolate him from the large group of Mallards but I managed quite a few shots that I'm happy with.
In this shot he had just woken up and was actually yawning. You can see that he was also coated with snow and ice.
When I saw it on my computer screen I was very pleased.
Cropped for composition to about 50% of full frame and to minimise the impact of the mallards.
The fledgling bluebird seems to be trying to say something to this female cardinal. I suspect it goes something like this: "These seeds are mine. Scram!" ... or maybe ... You're not my mommie but would you please feed me?"
Competition for a mate seemed to be in full swing at the Marsh.
After both swimming around the female for a while, it was time for one of them to go.
"Clancy, where are you? It's getting dark, time to come in!
...Clancy...is that you?"
Goood eeevening. Count Clancy, at your service, aah aah aah aah.
"Dude, awesome cape! Uhhh...is that a coffin?"
Scram, Dad, or I'll make you a minion.
"You'll never get rid of me for less than two minion."
Be gone, fool, your mortal soul is in grave peril!
"All right, that's it, in the house."
But Dad, I haven't bitten anyone yet.
"Clancy, are you sure you can handle the eternal responsibilities of being a vampire? You'd have to seriously answer for tracking any blood through the house. And anyway, you're not allowed out after dark. And you can forget about hamburger or chicken or snacks-"
Wait, no hamburger or chicken or snacks?
"Only blood for you, CC."
Dad, my stomach feels funny. You know what would help?
"A piece of rawhide dipped in ketchup?"
Aah aah aah aah.
"Stop that."
I meant a hug.
"Oh. How sweet...okay, Clancy, let go of my neck."
Sorry. Old habits die hard.
________________________________________________
Mer Bleue Bog, Ottawa, Ontario
314. Clancy, 4yrs 48wks
EXPLORE Clancy: www.flickr.com/photos/130722340@N04/albums/72157656171825332
Clancy's YEARBOOK 5: www.flickr.com/photos/130722340@N04/albums/72157675110790161
MONOCHROME Clancy: www.flickr.com/photos/130722340@N04/albums/72157655760302498
**Berlin: City of Smoke by Jason Lutes**
Zoe Foodiboo: Web, wanna tell us what the book was about?
bibiche Chant: hallo dear
Zoe Foodiboo: Hi Bibi
Zoe Foodiboo: Hi Lauren
Zoe Foodiboo: wb Augusta
webspelunker Ghostraven: Sure!
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Hello Bibi!
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): WB Augusta :))
Lauren Keiyrti: Helo, Zoe :)
Bror Jacob Boberg (bejiblueman Resident): Hello Augusta
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): Hallo wieder alle
bibiche Chant: hallo!!
webspelunker Ghostraven: Today, we're doing Book II of Berlin: City of smoke
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): /me nods
Maddie (MaddieGraceGearz Resident): Will this be in voice or text?
webspelunker Ghostraven: A graphic novel set in Berlin after the blutmai riots...
Zoe Foodiboo: text
Maddie (MaddieGraceGearz Resident): Thank you
webspelunker Ghostraven: Has everyone either read or know of the book?
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): in 1929
Zoe Foodiboo: I reread it this morning.
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): i read it
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): yes
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): yes
webspelunker Ghostraven: Excellent!
Panny (Panny Bakerly): I read it a while ago.
Bror Jacob Boberg (bejiblueman Resident): I've heard about it, but haven't had the possibilty to read it yet
Emily Theriac (THX1138 Theriac): i have read the first book just started the second;)
Zoe Foodiboo: Perfect timing - it covered the year after Blutmai
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): /me nods
Maddie (MaddieGraceGearz Resident): I have them both on order but they haven't arrived yet.
webspelunker Ghostraven: I found the stark B&W pictures and the light use of text very powerful..
Emily Theriac (THX1138 Theriac): yes i agree web
webspelunker Ghostraven: You'll enjoy them Maddie!
Zoe Foodiboo: ((we can have another discussion in a few weeks once you've read them Emily & Maddie))
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): I agree Web
webspelunker Ghostraven: We can!
Zoe Foodiboo: You really see what life was like for real people in Berlin.
Emily Theriac (THX1138 Theriac): ((okies ty Zoe))
Patrice Cournoyer: hello all!
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): I felt it was slower paced than the first
Maddie (MaddieGraceGearz Resident): Thank you
Zoe Foodiboo: So many people struggling. No food at all.
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): Guten Abend!
webspelunker Ghostraven: I find with graphic novels I spend more time with the scene than the story...
Zoe Foodiboo: Hi Patty
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): I never thought I would enjoy a graphic novel to be honest
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): yes it would have been a huge inspiration to me when building berlin if I had read it before I build the sim :)
Panny (Panny Bakerly): This is the first graphic novel for me.
webspelunker Ghostraven: I do regret Book III has not been written yet...
Zoe Foodiboo: I could see our Berlin sim in the pictures of the book though. Both reflect the time quite accurately, yeah?
webspelunker Ghostraven: I was reminded of 1920's Berlin as I read it...
Patrice Cournoyer: I am hoping for Book III but I think its taking him a long time
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): the book made me feel really stupid because I kept thinking; "Oh yes I experienced that as well" because ive seen it in sl
webspelunker Ghostraven: Maybe Lutes visited first!
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): yes they did Zoe
Emily Theriac (THX1138 Theriac): so there will be a book 3?
webspelunker Ghostraven: No one knows.
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): I hope so
Zoe Foodiboo: I would be surprised if he hadn't.
Emily Theriac (THX1138 Theriac): /me nods
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): ha i did see some people in the book who reminded me of SL'ers
webspelunker Ghostraven: I've checked the author's website, he's doing other projects.
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): it could be City of Steel
Zoe Foodiboo: Marthe, the woman from the wealthy family kinda reminded me of Augusta
webspelunker Ghostraven: Well, SL is a form of a graphic novel...
webspelunker Ghostraven: Oh,?
bibiche Chant: me/waves to patrice
Patrice Cournoyer: hiya Bibi
webspelunker Ghostraven: Augusta what do you have to say for yourself?
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): /me smiles
bibiche Chant: /me waves to patrice
Panny (Panny Bakerly): Augusta is a bit more fancier than Marthe
Zoe Foodiboo: Someone from a wealthy family who moved to Berlin and is discovering all the city has to offer.
Maddie (MaddieGraceGearz Resident): /me smiles to the lady next to her
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): looks at Augusta in a whole new way
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): That would be Augusta....
webspelunker Ghostraven: Does anyone else see themselves in the book?
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): It was quite interesting. Book I is focused on lower class life. II is showing more upper class life in Berlin.
Zoe Foodiboo: Well, not the s-e-x part....just the experience of being in a metropolis and having a shift in perspective.
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): ohyes, of course!
Zoe Foodiboo: /me grins
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): I thought it had two distinct classes
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): (( I didn't get that far this time! ))
Patrice Cournoyer: I like the woman who ends up with the Jazz man
webspelunker Ghostraven: I thought so too, Sara.
Zoe Foodiboo: Two distinct classes?
Zoe Foodiboo: Not more?
Emily Theriac (THX1138 Theriac): ohh i have some reading to catch up on!
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): there were the workers....downtrodden ...hungry
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): Oh is he like Herr Boberg?
Zoe Foodiboo: /me nods
Panny (Panny Bakerly): The one that left in the end, Patrice?
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): and the socialites
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): clubbing...petting parties
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): drugs
webspelunker Ghostraven: The artist caught that very well I thought..
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): S-E-X
Zoe Foodiboo: petting parties!
Bror Jacob Boberg (bejiblueman Resident): (( i'm ordering both stones and smoke now, i have to read them :) ))
Emily Theriac (THX1138 Theriac): hehe zoe
Zoe Foodiboo: /me leans and covers the little girl's ears
webspelunker Ghostraven: The petty acts of cruelty...
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): I heard Frau Jo was hosting one of those next month
webspelunker Ghostraven: The police with the small boy...
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): (( you will enjoy them! ))
Zoe Foodiboo: lol
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): oi
Panny (Panny Bakerly): /me giggles
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): but it could be rumor
Zoe Foodiboo: watch out, you're within slapping range
Panny (Panny Bakerly): Maybe it's her twin
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): yikes...I forgot !
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): when I organise a petting party, I mean the kind of petting that gets you ended up in the hospital with a black eye
Zoe Foodiboo: It was heartbreaking, what happened to Gundrun's daughter
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): laughs
Zoe Foodiboo: what was her name again?
Zoe Foodiboo: Sylvia?
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): it was
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Sylvia
Emily Theriac (THX1138 Theriac): gosh im still getting over what happened to gundrun:(
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): but I kind of thought it would be that way all along
Zoe Foodiboo: you could see what an orphan's life is truly like
webspelunker Ghostraven: Did anyone feel the inevitability of the story?
webspelunker Ghostraven: Especially with the centennial of the start of WWI this week?
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): why yes Web...I did :)
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): Today actually...
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Yes
Emily Theriac (THX1138 Theriac): yep me to web;)
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): but I was surprised at how Marthe fell for Anna
webspelunker Ghostraven: Even though I know how it ends...
Zoe Foodiboo: Yes, you could really see the impact of the Great War
webspelunker Ghostraven: I kept saying "Get out, get out!"
webspelunker Ghostraven: Why Sara?
webspelunker Ghostraven: Given the times and the turmoil?
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): because there was no interest until the party
Zoe Foodiboo: And I could understand why that older couple decided to vote for the National Socialists
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): and I had hoped that Marthe had more to go on than great sex
Zoe Foodiboo: Sara!
Zoe Foodiboo: s-e-x!
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): reaching back towards the familiar, Zoe?
Patrice Cournoyer: did you read the first book Sara?
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): ooops!
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): S-E-X
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): yes Patrice
Panny (Panny Bakerly): /me giggles
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): Marthe had a relationship yes
Zoe Foodiboo: Yes, Augusta. Longing for stability, order.
Zoe Foodiboo: Familiarity.
Patrice Cournoyer: I thought the attraction was there then
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): did oyu?
webspelunker Ghostraven: Did the characters seem real?
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): I didn't see it...but maybe
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): i dont just pretend to be old fashioned and a prude, I am one, so I also understood how the more conservative people were very uncomfortable with the wild side of the weimar republic
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): yes the characters all felt real to me
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): and isn't that what makes a good book?..when you feel the characters?
Bror Jacob Boberg (bejiblueman Resident): it is
Bror Jacob Boberg (bejiblueman Resident): when you feel you are part of the story
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): /me nods
webspelunker Ghostraven: Yes, Frau Jo, I too see that but looking back from today, I see how that was a mistake, a big one!
Zoe Foodiboo: I'm not old fashioned but the gap between the socialites and the rest of characters was appalling.
webspelunker Ghostraven: But that's reality..
webspelunker Ghostraven: That's why we have the KPD!
webspelunker Ghostraven: And Marx!
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): yeah its kind of discusting to see the ddecadence and fun while people starve
Zoe Foodiboo: they were a bunch of thugs
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): yes
Zoe Foodiboo: and disorganized
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): and I think that was the larger story
webspelunker Ghostraven: Sara's right...
Panny (Panny Bakerly): I thought it was kind of neat that the band members got theirs.
Panny (Panny Bakerly): A little justice
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): how things liek that set Germany up for it's politics
webspelunker Ghostraven: Uncle Joe and the Comintern had a lot to answer for.
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): neither extreme worked
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): (Perhaps worth pointing out that we're heading in the wrong direction these days, with the wealth gap between the top and the bottom the largest it's been since, I believe, the late 1920s.)
webspelunker Ghostraven: Agreed.
Zoe Foodiboo: /me nods
webspelunker Ghostraven: Bingo Eloise!
Bror Jacob Boberg (bejiblueman Resident): and we never learn from history or from our previous mistakes
Bror Jacob Boberg (bejiblueman Resident): that is what makes us humans
webspelunker Ghostraven: The victims learn!
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): the problem is always that people are frustrated, unhappy and sometimes a party offers them a easy fix that ALWAYS turns out to be the opposite of easy
Panny (Panny Bakerly): we repeat history
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): the problem is that people think history is irrelevant to their lives
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): that is why you should never vote for a party that just protests
Zoe Foodiboo: never an easy fix
webspelunker Ghostraven: AvN's right (as usual)
Zoe Foodiboo: Yes, Augusta
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): unless I one day start a party, then you should vote for my easy fix
Zoe Foodiboo: I think social media in some ways makes people think even less about history, etc.
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Yes, that's true, Jo.
Panny (Panny Bakerly): Yes Zoe
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): people share pictures an stories without even checking if they are true
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): they do
Panny (Panny Bakerly): They don't know how to check, Jo.
webspelunker Ghostraven: Do they even care!
Zoe Foodiboo: Everyone is so focused on themselves, it breaks down community. Not in our case, of course.
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): in the UK some far right party posts pictures of sad puppies who have been abandoned and everyone shares them not realising they are spreading the right wing politics as well
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): and everyone is outraged over false stories while the big true ones pass by unseen
Zoe Foodiboo: /me true
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): I agree, Zoe, and to think even less about what the advertisers see as having little or no value--that is, those without money to spend.
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): agreed...so it was easy for me to see how the rhetoric in the book took shape
Zoe Foodiboo: yes, Sara
webspelunker Ghostraven: The attention span is shortening...
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): and also.....the characters were recognizable.....but harder for me to keep names to
webspelunker Ghostraven: whispers: The masses want instant gratification!
Panny (Panny Bakerly): There isn't any, Web
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Yes, actually, me, too, Sara :)
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): is online.
Panny (Panny Bakerly): People are too busy playing with their mobile devices
webspelunker Ghostraven: Are they Everyman?
Zoe Foodiboo: The characters in the book made me want to create an alt....there were so many different storylines in the book.
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): people today are more educated but also more individualistic and less idealistic
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): yes the people are so interesting
Zoe Foodiboo: That's very true, Frau Jo.
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): (Very well put, Frau Jo.)
Panny (Panny Bakerly): I don't know if I completely agree with that, Jo
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): well people want what tehy want...and want it now
webspelunker Ghostraven: Yes, Jo, ideals are dead for this time.
Zoe Foodiboo: like all the homeless, and struggling workers....I'd like to see more of those types in our Berlin.
webspelunker Ghostraven: Instant gratification, Sara!
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): nothing personal but I like those kinds of people more than the pretty ladies and dashing gentlemen we mostly see in SL
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Yes, agree, Zoe.
webspelunker Ghostraven: Hey, what about me?
Zoe Foodiboo: you're too pretty Web
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Those books showed me what I wanted to know.
Zoe Foodiboo: :P
webspelunker Ghostraven: I'm homeless and unemployed!
Zoe Foodiboo: You don't look homeless
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): you are the fairest of all Web lol
Zoe Foodiboo: and you're not unemployed, you work at the library!
Zoe Foodiboo: Hi Sasa!
webspelunker Ghostraven: I always work at my appearance!
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): :))
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): I am the one with no job
webspelunker Ghostraven: Marx had to pawn his clothes!
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): Hello folks
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): hallo Sasa !
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): hallo noch wieder
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Hello Sasa
Bror Jacob Boberg (bejiblueman Resident): Hi Sasa
Zoe Foodiboo: Never mind the fact that I pay you in schnapps
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): Guten Abend!
bibiche Chant: i haven't any job me too
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): Hallo, Sasa. :)
webspelunker Ghostraven: But, I'm a revolutionary!
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): /me gasps!
Zoe Foodiboo: you're something all right
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): perhaps we start an employment agency Bibi
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): is it a KPD meeting?
webspelunker Ghostraven: (And I do it well enough that I drive Jo crazy!)
Zoe Foodiboo: bookclub, doll.
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): no, it is not Sasa
Zoe Foodiboo: have a drink on the library
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): doesn't sound like that
webspelunker Ghostraven: Back to the book!
webspelunker Ghostraven: whispers: I live in the library!
Zoe Foodiboo: Yes Web? You have a question?
webspelunker Ghostraven: ;)
webspelunker Ghostraven: Was anyone surprised by the book?
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): no.....but perhaps it's because I do know the history of the time?
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): if I had read it not knowing it might have been shocking
Zoe Foodiboo: I think the drawings made the poverty seem more vivid to me
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): I'm still surprised that I enjoyed these as graphic novels
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Yes, me, too, Zoe.
webspelunker Ghostraven: I agree with Zoe...
Emily Theriac (THX1138 Theriac): yes that was the same for me Zoe
webspelunker Ghostraven: Sara, that's why we're all here!
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): agreed
Zoe Foodiboo: I was surprised at how much the drawings look like our sim.
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): i grew up with graphic novels and comic, so I didnt mind
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): me too, Zoe
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): but yes, it all felt very familiar
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): maybe the artist is an alt
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): I wanted to direct where Silvia would run too
Zoe Foodiboo: that's what I think Sasa
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): if the writer had said he has been to our sim, i would not be surprised
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): go left !
Maddie (MaddieGraceGearz Resident): So you think the author really told a true story in both books?
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): am I in them? ;)
Zoe Foodiboo: Poor Silvia....I hope she finds her way to a better life. But probably not, huh?
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Hahaha, we talked about it in the previous book club, Joe.
Zoe Foodiboo: There are prossies!
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): I don't know if it was a "true" story...but historically accurate, yes
Zoe Foodiboo: And a Pola!
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): Pola !
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): yes !
Zoe Foodiboo: and an American jazz band. We should get a jazz band.
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): I was cheering for her!
webspelunker Ghostraven: i think it was authentic...
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): Good, then i need to get hold of it
Patrice Cournoyer: I am sorry I must leave you
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): bye Patrice
Zoe Foodiboo: there's lots of nudity, sasa
webspelunker Ghostraven: Thanks for coming!
Zoe Foodiboo: and s-e-x
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): bye Patrice :)
Patrice Cournoyer: thanks for the book club Zoe.. I got a couple of snaps
bibiche Chant: bye
Emily Theriac (THX1138 Theriac): bye patrrice
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): I think we work on authenticity here, and the author did as well
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): even better
Zoe Foodiboo: bye Patty!
Patrice Cournoyer: ((for FB))
Maddie (MaddieGraceGearz Resident): Bye Ms Patrice
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): i am thinking about getting a negro jazz band
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): hallo Nemo
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): tschau Patrice!
Zoe Foodiboo: Hallo Nemo!
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): Take care, Patrice. :)
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): Guten Abend!
Zoe Foodiboo: I think that would be great Frau Jo
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): Auf wiedersehen!
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Gute Nacht Patrice
Nemo Nimbus: Goedenavond
webspelunker Ghostraven: I found the nudity and s-e-x tame.
Nemo Nimbus: Gute Nacht
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): why are you spelling it out?
webspelunker Ghostraven: whispers: Zoe has us doing it!
Zoe Foodiboo: /me points to the kid
Nemo Nimbus: Still a g rated sim
Emily Theriac (THX1138 Theriac): /me giggles
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): /me shrugs her shoulders
Nemo Nimbus: Take care
webspelunker Ghostraven: Be well!
Zoe Foodiboo: Bye Nemo
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): *waves*
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): Bye, Nemo. :)
Penny (Penny Luckstone): /me smiles back to the lady pointing at her
webspelunker Ghostraven: What was the most important part of this story to you as readers?
Zoe Foodiboo: /me smiles and pats Penny's head
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): that kid is so small, it doesn't understand what we talk about anyway
Zoe Foodiboo: she
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): They understand Sasa
Zoe Foodiboo: /me grins at Sasa
Penny (Penny Luckstone): "it?"...... gnarls her new teeth
Emily Theriac (THX1138 Theriac): /me laughs
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): the darkness of the tiem was already seeping into the happier ones
webspelunker Ghostraven: Cool it everyone...
webspelunker Ghostraven: Stay on topic!
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): into the socialites
Bror Jacob Boberg (bejiblueman Resident): one day you'll understand children, sasa
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): there is always this dark cloud over the story, because we know whats coming
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): no one was escaping it
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): nods
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): For me, the entire feeling of the time was bit more important than the story itself.
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): yes...but I found it interesting how it was slowly creeping in
webspelunker Ghostraven: The author does capture the feeling..
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): yes Gustav !
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): that's it !
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): i think people then may have felt it too even without knowing what would come
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): I felt bad for the orphan
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): i know I feel it in our sim sometimes
Bror Jacob Boberg (bejiblueman Resident): is that because we are so fascinated about the era?
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): the socialite too
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): makes me even angrier at the nazis, not just what they did, but also what they ended when they came to power
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): it was something that one person could not overcome
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): because...I think in the story...you could feel how they knew it was all coming down
Zoe Foodiboo: That was an interesting relationship, the orphan and the Jewish homeless guy - forgot his name too.
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Everyone is living their lives in the book. But we know where and how they'll end up with. That's really hard for me to see....
Panny (Panny Bakerly): I've got to go. Toodles.
webspelunker Ghostraven: How many have these feelings when inworld at Berlin?
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): Tschau Panny
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): (Bye, Panny.) :)
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): bye Panny
Emily Theriac (THX1138 Theriac): bye panny
webspelunker Ghostraven: TC Panny!
Zoe Foodiboo: what feelings?
Zoe Foodiboo: in our Berlin?
webspelunker Ghostraven: Yes!
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): darkness and foreboding?
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): I feel that.
webspelunker Ghostraven: Do you feel history looking over your shoulder?
webspelunker Ghostraven: Double yes!
Zoe Foodiboo: I guess this book made me think about how we can balance our partying with darker stuff
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Yes.
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): It's inevitable for me to feel that.
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): I feel directed by history when I'm in the sim
webspelunker Ghostraven: We don't do much dark here do we Jo?
Bror Jacob Boberg (bejiblueman Resident): i feel it in RL and SL
Zoe Foodiboo: I mean, I love our partying obviously.....but it made me wonder how we can rp other stuff
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): its up to the people
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): i have added more and more dark stories to the newspapers when i have the time
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Hahaha, Herr Boberg, yes, actually both in RL and SL.
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): im also going to add a permanent crime scene
Zoe Foodiboo: I like that Bruno lost his fortune
Zoe Foodiboo: that feels real
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): you do??
webspelunker Ghostraven: We have wounded vets lying in the streets?
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): you evil person!
Zoe Foodiboo: I mean, I'm not happy about it!
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): yes such a crybaby
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): I do too lol
Zoe Foodiboo: oh you know what I mean, you nuts.
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): /me giggles
Zoe Foodiboo: It's a good rp storyline is all
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): it is
Zoe Foodiboo: /me shakes her head
webspelunker Ghostraven: There are street walkers...
Zoe Foodiboo: I'd like to see more of that kind of thing.
webspelunker Ghostraven: Fallen nobility...
webspelunker Ghostraven: Yes!
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): I haven't fallen anywhere.
Zoe Foodiboo: petty crime
webspelunker Ghostraven: The dark side!
Zoe Foodiboo: fighting
webspelunker Ghostraven: Sensitive, aren't we?
Zoe Foodiboo: loss of work, loss of income
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): also when i rebuild the brothel I will make it look a little darker and that whole area
bibiche Chant: goodnight all! it was very interesting
webspelunker Ghostraven: whispers: organized crime!
Zoe Foodiboo: bye bibi!
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): night Bibi
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): Tschau Bibi!
webspelunker Ghostraven: TY for coming!
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): Night, bibi. :)
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Goodnight, Bibi!
bibiche Chant: see you!
Zoe Foodiboo: See, I think with organized crime, people tend to want to be glamourous about it.
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): The organized crime got out of control
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): the criminals we have are very keen, but not organized
Zoe Foodiboo: watching too many mob movies or something
webspelunker Ghostraven: There's a very important business aspect to it!
webspelunker Ghostraven: Al Capone's a good businessman!
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): we're Berlin, not Chicago
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): yes, it was an interesting experiment, but it didn't really fit Berlin
Zoe Foodiboo: Yes! That's what I mean, Augusta :)
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): i want the criminals we saw in 'M'
Zoe Foodiboo: /me nods
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): the beggars, thieves, thugs
Bror Jacob Boberg (bejiblueman Resident): child murderers?
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): yes
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): we need Mo Galewarden back
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): dirty, evil, but cool
webspelunker Ghostraven: But what about Mr. Big?
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Mr. Big?
Zoe Foodiboo: well, proper villians. Not models in suits.
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Ah, yes, sorry.
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): but we want to get more kids to Berlin -- that will scare them off
webspelunker Ghostraven: The criminal element organizes to fight back!
Zoe Foodiboo: Like Mo. Or Happy. Or Kungler.
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): /me decides after all this scary talk to build a higher gate around her house!
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): ive tried to get crime started in berlin several times but somehow it never quite worked
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): not really Augusta
webspelunker Ghostraven: Let's talk Jo...
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): its a bit the same with the kids
Zoe Foodiboo: Crime will scare off the kids?
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): they show up but then we need to keep them coming back
webspelunker Ghostraven: whispers: Being a failed revolutionary is getting tiring!
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): ther eis no way to break a window in Berlin
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): if you kill children?
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): I am going to work on 'stealable' stuff btw
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): ther eis no one to rob when I'm there
Zoe Foodiboo: oh! no, I don't want to start murdering children.
webspelunker Ghostraven: Break windows?
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): Oh I had my window on Bruderstrasse broken once
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): but we need anothter kind of crime
webspelunker Ghostraven: I'm talking rackets, extortion, kidnapping...
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): (I'd be happy to help with any roleplay, Frau Jo, I'd even--gasps!--create an alt for crime, if it would be helpful.) :)
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): how about muggings?
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): yes !
Maddie (MaddieGraceGearz Resident): Stealing food is good..... I'm always hungry.
Zoe Foodiboo: muggings would be great! I was mugged once.
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): exactly Jo
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): might be a nice way to make a few lindens
Zoe Foodiboo: by Kungler.
Bror Jacob Boberg (bejiblueman Resident): how do you mug without windows?
Zoe Foodiboo: walking on the street
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): I know a girl who tried to steal a chicken in Berlin
Bror Jacob Boberg (bejiblueman Resident): sorry without WEAPONS
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): or just street fights
Bror Jacob Boberg (bejiblueman Resident): not windows
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): but couldn't get it out of the window
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): you can use a knife
Zoe Foodiboo: actually, I was sitting in the park with Myf and Kungler held us up
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): or a truncheon!
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): brute force Herr Boberg
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): I got the same club the police has
webspelunker Ghostraven: You folks have no idea what crime is all about!
Bror Jacob Boberg (bejiblueman Resident): i don't look fierce enough for that
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): no, you are far too nice
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): buy a scar ;)
webspelunker Ghostraven: Groan...
Zoe Foodiboo: Lots of crimes motivated by hunger, Web.
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): that's why we need Mo back
Zoe Foodiboo: Mo!
webspelunker Ghostraven: Yes, but I'm talking at another level!
Zoe Foodiboo: what level?
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): he is more horny than hungry
Zoe Foodiboo: lol
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): there is also a gambling den in berlin
Zoe Foodiboo: true
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): in the nussbaum backroom
Zoe Foodiboo: but that's part of his schtick
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): sorrry i mean h-o-r-n-y
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): we could gather there do some.... betting ;)
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): laughs
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Yes, I saw that.
Zoe Foodiboo: /me laughs
webspelunker Ghostraven: I mean multinational, millions of dollars!
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): he did go crazy with that gun and the absinthe the one time
Zoe Foodiboo: Sasa, you're the best.
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): i know
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): (LOL) :)
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): but thanks for noticing
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): /me giggles
Zoe Foodiboo: No, I'd leave that to Chicago, Web.
Bror Jacob Boberg (bejiblueman Resident): so modest
webspelunker Ghostraven: Book,people, book people!
Zoe Foodiboo: huh?
Emily Theriac (THX1138 Theriac): hehe web
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): we ARE talking about the book!
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): i think people think too big when they want to reenact crime
Zoe Foodiboo: oh, the book
webspelunker Ghostraven: What we're here for Zoe!
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): we dont need shootouts and bank robberies
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): throws her book at Web
webspelunker Ghostraven: What?
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): but mugging, pick pockets, beggars, people fighting in the streets
Zoe Foodiboo: I want crimes like in the book. You're so hungry you mug someone or steal from Morgy or something.
webspelunker Ghostraven: /me ducks
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): pfffffft
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): you want more Elvinas?
webspelunker Ghostraven: That's no way to treat a book!
webspelunker Ghostraven: Zoe, fine her!
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Yes, we want more Elvinas :)
Emily Theriac (THX1138 Theriac): she was here last night!
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): no, watching out for Elvina is more than enough work for me
Zoe Foodiboo: people who wouldn't ordinarily steal but because of the times and they're so hungry, they're driven to commit crimes. petty ones.
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): exactly Zoe
webspelunker Ghostraven: That's not crime according to Marx..
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): /me nods
Emily Theriac (THX1138 Theriac): she chated with me and mo for abit and tried to steal some liqquor
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): and the book ( see Web) does bring that out
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): who asked Marx?!
Zoe Foodiboo: I don't think we need glamourous mob stuff
Zoe Foodiboo: that's for Chicago
webspelunker Ghostraven: merely redistribution of stolen goods!
Zoe Foodiboo: those meanies
webspelunker Ghostraven: Hey, watch what you say about those guys!
Zoe Foodiboo: Marx? Oh I thought she said Max.
webspelunker Ghostraven: They defined a generation!
Bror Jacob Boberg (bejiblueman Resident): also more "normal" people with more or less hidden problems in life
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): Yeah, tell me about it. Cicero will never be the same.
webspelunker Ghostraven: I said Marx as in Karl Marx!
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): i like that most of berlin is already more about normal day to day stuff
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): (Why isn't that crime to Marx? One poor person impinging upon the liberties of another impoverished person would be a crime, wouldn't it?)
Bror Jacob Boberg (bejiblueman Resident): those are the ones that make those small crimes because they feel that they have to
Zoe Foodiboo: bah, our Max is much more interesting.
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Hmmmm, hidden problems?
webspelunker Ghostraven: Thank heavens for AvN!
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): Oh no
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Ah I see.
webspelunker Ghostraven: 10 minute warning!
Bror Jacob Boberg (bejiblueman Resident): or maybe "issues" is a more suitable word than "problems"
Zoe Foodiboo: Speaking of Max, it's almost time for El D. Any last thoughts before we go get drunk and stare at boobies?
webspelunker Ghostraven: Who'd like to speak who hasn't yet?
Emily Theriac (THX1138 Theriac): hehe Zoe
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): /me nods to Herr Boberg
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): oh eldo
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): forgot about that!
Zoe Foodiboo: er, b-o-o-b-i-e-s
Sasa Steigerwald (SasaSteigerwald Resident): i must be getting ill
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): Zoe! Spell that!
Emily Theriac (THX1138 Theriac): i have to go for abit bye every one:)
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): folks, I have to go, shout pervert at sonatta before the eldo opens
webspelunker Ghostraven: by Emily!
Frau Jo Yardley (Jo Yardley): thanks for organising this!
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): bye Emily
Zoe Foodiboo: Thanks for coming everyone!
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): Bye, Sasa and everyone departing, I should run, too, but only to see everyone very shortly!
webspelunker Ghostraven: Thanks all!
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): ye sI have to go too
Zoe Foodiboo: Well, I'm glad I made it. This was fun.
webspelunker Ghostraven: It was!
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): I enjoy these discussions!
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): This rocks, Zoe, thank you. :)
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Yes, this was.
webspelunker Ghostraven: A good crowd!
Penny (Penny Luckstone): Herr Web, now you show Penny da piktures?
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Thank you very much.
Eloise (EloiseSchiltzen Resident): /me smiles and waves to everyone!
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): thank you all so much
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): it was great to talk with you
Zoe Foodiboo: Penny, you have given us a good idea.
webspelunker Ghostraven: Scram kid, yer bothering me!
Zoe Foodiboo: Maybe we should have a storytime for the kids at the library. Augusta used to do something similar at school.
Zoe Foodiboo: Web!
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): Web, be nice to the little sones!
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): *ones
webspelunker Ghostraven: What?
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): picks her book up and throws it twice as hard at Web
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): it's a kid !
Zoe Foodiboo: /me throws peanuts at Web
Penny (Penny Luckstone): /me hides by da nice lady here
webspelunker Ghostraven: I don't do them well!
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Gosh, I mixed up with Penny and Panny
Bror Jacob Boberg (bejiblueman Resident): some age difference
Zoe Foodiboo: /me grins at Gustav
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): I will start the story again when school starts in the fall
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): see you all later
Maddie (MaddieGraceGearz Resident): This was really great! Thank you.
Saraphen Calliope (Saraphen Resident): waves
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): Max und Moritz -- if we can get new kids
Zoe Foodiboo: I hope to see you two in Berlin, Maddie and Penny
webspelunker Ghostraven: any last words!
Maddie (MaddieGraceGearz Resident): Is there a list of the books you've already read?
Zoe Foodiboo: We have school on Sundays at noon SLT
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): Yes, very nice to meet you!
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): well, it will start again in the fall
Zoe Foodiboo: On Goodreads, Maddie.
Zoe Foodiboo: Let me get you a link
Maddie (MaddieGraceGearz Resident): Thank you
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): we've read some great books!
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): I think we should do Artificial Silk Girl again
Zoe Foodiboo: We sure have!
Zoe Foodiboo: Let me get you a link to Augusta's blogpost about the bookclub.
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): /me smiles
Gustav von Rosenheim (gustav2005 Resident): Well, I'm going to Eldo. See you around there. Thanks for organizing the book club. It was really fun :)
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): /me hands Penny an animal cracker
Bror Jacob Boberg (bejiblueman Resident): thank you friends, this was very interesting, and i look forward to read the books
Penny (Penny Luckstone): Tank you Ma'am.
Zoe Foodiboo: www.goodreads.com/group/show/66935-1920s-berlin-buchgemei...
Augusta Carolina Maria v.Nassau (gardengirl Resident): you are welcome, Liebchen!
Snez (by Scram) / Scram (by Snez) / Tiger / Benzo.
Joined by an interstater - my old mate Benzo - and an overseaser today: Parisian Snez.
SCENE ONE, Apokolips
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Darkseid sits on his thrown, Dessad by his side.
Dessad: The end of earth is near, master.
Darkseid: I can see. Does anyone know of our plan to destroy it?
Dessad: Two.
Darkseid: Where are they?
Dessad: Both of them are somewhere called "Gotham City".
Darkseid: Hm... Send 15 of our missiles at Gotham. That will destroy them.
Dessad: Right away, master.
SCENE TWO, A Field in Gotham
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Batman and Hal walk through the field...
Batman: I don't understand, how could he be alive?
Hal: Turns out we didn't kill him. He was strong enough to stop the phantom zone from being destroyed.
Batman: Damn it...
Hal: I found out when he came to Oa. He killed thousands of Green Lanterns, including my husband. He also put some kind of mind control on us, making us all call him "god".
Batman: So what do we do about it?
Hal: I think we have to get the league back together.
Batman: Okay, but even if we do, how will we find Darkseid?
A giant missile hits the ground 5 meters away from them, causing a red shock wave. They both look over at it...
Green Lantern: I think we just found him.
SCENE THREE, Mud Pack Base
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
So, The Mud Pack is a group of criminals, that all went by the name "Clayface". You know three of them, Basil Karlo, Matt Hagen, and the first, Saundra Fuller. But the fourth and final, was Preston Payne. Preston was the scientist that turned Matt Hagen into Clayface. Turns out, he got addicted to the stuff that turned Matt Hagen into Clayface, and also became Clayface. So anyways, the members at around at a table.
Preston Payne: Is life alright for you, fellow Clays?
Basil Karlo: Could say that, 'suppose. Wish I wasn't a "clay".
Matt Hagen: Same here. Though life wasn't great before that, but this isn't better.
Saundra Fuller: Tell me about it.
Matt Hagen: ...I just did.
Suddenly, the door slams open. Cheeta, a member of The Legion of Doom, came in!
Cheeta: I've been sent to bring you to the Legion!
Basil Karlo: No way Jose! We're our own group!
Matt Hagan: Clay's stick together!
Preston Payne: Once a mud, always a mud!
Saundra Fuller: Yeah, so scram!
Suddenly, all the Clayface's mold into one, run away, and split up again.
SCENE FOUR, Convenient Store
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Garfield Lynns wanders through a convenient store, grabs a CD of "The Now Now", a pack of cigarettes, and puts them on the counter.
Cashier: Ah, I love Gorillaz!
Gar: Yeah? What song's your favorite?
Cashier: Kids with Guns, you?
Gar: Since it came out, really liked Fireflies.
Gar pulls out a pocket flamethrower...
Gar: Pretty fitting, eh?
He kills the cashier, and takes his stuff. He suits up outside, and flies off.
SCENE FIVE, Streets of Gotham
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Saundra Fuller continues to hide from Cheeta. She limps through the streets, before sitting in a corner. Meanwhile, Gar flies overhead.
Gar: Nice night...
Gar looks down, and notices Fuller. He thinks it's a homeless woman...
Gar: Huh, guess I'll help her. I do respect the homeless.
He lands in front of her...
Gar: What happened to you? Wait, are you one of those "Clayfaces"?
Saundra Fuller: Who are you?
Gar: *gasp*... That voice.
Saundra Fuller: I don't know you...
Gar: A-...Amy?
Saundra Fuller: My name's Saundra...
Gar: Is that you-
He's suddenly interrupted by a missile, hitting him directly!!! The shock wave surprisingly blasts the clay exterior off of Saundra...
Saundra Fuller/Amy: Gar!!!
Gar is lying on the ground, wheezing, covered in blood and bruises... Amy runs to him...
Gar: *cough*...
Amy: Gar?
Gar: If you see me floating... *cough*... Too many times...
He brings his hand up to her face as her tears fall onto him...
Gar: My face will be painted... In these white brick lines...
Amy: Gar? Speak to me, Gar?!?
Gar: Cause all my fear's invading...All the crazies put on buses and... sent up here to find you... Living... on the limits...
Amy: Gar?!?! Please, talk to me!!!
Gar: ...I'll fly back to you... I promise...
Gar stopped breathing, as Amy held him in the street...
~Scarecrow