Hola, Sneakers! Welcome to Episode 409. It’s been officially established: it’s real fine!
This week on the show: let’s go to the beach, boys; let’s get physical; let’s keep it together; let’s rock; let’s let it be; let’s roll; let’s move on; let’s teach; let’s do it; let’s drop this let’s motif; TV actor directors; Ishtar power; Shampoo’ed; “interesting”; grisly; no universes; heartbeat it’s a love beat; forced greatness; hot ones; it’s the shock that’ll kill you; strange TV remakes; the tech of Planet of the Apes; Planet of the Apes horrorscape vs. Mad Max horrorscape; problematic doctors; Taxi Dalek; the freewheelin’ freelance life; where’s the money; must be nice; money matters; giving it away; reunion news; pubestache doubledown; designated drivers’ etiquette; I’m sure it’s fine; job reunion; high school hierarchy; against reminiscing; unknown renown; can’t explain; community announcements; and, finally, unsponsored.
Thanks for listening.
Question of the Week: Have you ever had to chase money down or had money unfairly taken from you?
Sub-question: Tell us your reunion experiences – both good and bad.
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I went to my 20th high school reunion when I heard it was just a casual summer meet-up on the patio of a sports bar. No tickets to buy, no dinner, no dancing. My twin brother was also in my grad class but he had moved to another province. So I took a video camera with me and went around asking people to say hi to my brother and to say their name and what they were up to. Having the goal of making a video made it way easier for me to strike up a conversation. Plus I was able to avoid the awkwardness of not remembering people’s names.
I was a freelance designer for many years and yes, it sucks having to badger clients for money. Like anything else though, there are poor clients and there are great clients who are a joy to work for. I worked for one guy who owned two very successful hockey rinks, he always paid me right on the spot when I delivered the art to him and he paid very well. He had worked for a crooked pharmaceutical company in New Jersey and moved his entire family to Dallas when the Minnesota North Stars hockey team was relocated to Dallas as the Dallas Stars. Dallas went through a hockey frenzy at the time and this guy rode the wave just at the right time and opened both an inline hockey facility as well as an ice hockey facility. I did all his art, logos and branding at the time and had a blast working for someone who deserved the success he was due. It was a great experience working for his family, he did so well that his two sons became agents for a few of the professional hockey players in Dallas.
David’s high school reunion story couldn’t have hit any closer to home, my 35th high school reunion was just last month and it spanned two nights. It was actually a combined 1983 and 1984 class reunion and I quietly passed on the whole damn thing. Having been organized through Facebook, I could see exactly who was going and even though they’re a nice group, I really didn’t have much in common with THAT group. It was the same crowd that was at the 30th reunion, which I went to a because a few of my friends asked me to go…but not this time. I was known as the class artist in high school, which made me popular by demand if you wanted something drawn or designed. Translate that into what I do today and like Ian was saying about having to explain what you do becomes so abstract that it’s not even worth the effort, especially to a group that won’t even get it. So I passed with that in mind simply because these guys remember me as “Eddie the artist who’s a good drawer.” The whole event cost $75 a person, was outdoors on the roof of a restaurant in 100 degree heat with an AC/DC tribute band which in and of itself is a fucking deal breaker anyway. Maybe the 40th…
Something I remember about the Rod Serling Planet of the Apes was that the species of Apes had much to do with the designated class system in their community. The chimpanzees were the scientists and physicians due to the fact that they were smartest. The orangutans were the civil leaders and politicians because they had the ability to lead others. And the gorillas were the military and protectors of the ape population because of their size and strength. I have no idea how these three systems evolved into this for each species of ape, maybe it was just a clever allegory for the film’s story and nothing more. I still remember a scene though where the gorillas are smoking cigars, laughing and taking photos of one another with their captured humans (like fishermen) using an old-timey camera on a tripod. Did these apes really have the capabilities to create and develop photos in a darkroom? I guess I’m not supposed to think about that…but I still love all the original Ape movies…
My ten years high school reunion was a weird experience. Before I started grade eleven, my family moved from a small town up north to a small city on Vancouver Island. In grade ten there were about twenty-five people in my class; in grade eleven, there were about a hundred; for my grade twelve, they combined the upper years of two schools into a brand new high school, and now there were 300 people. I didn’t really know how to meet new people, and I felt isolated and out of place. It was a rough time in my life.
Anyway, I went to the reunion. It was fine. At one point some guy tried to bring up something embarrassing from high school, but I didn’t remember what he was talking about, and I didn’t particularly care, either. I said hi and caught up with people. Around midnight I realized I’d spoken with everyone I wanted to talk to, and if I stuck around I’d probably just get drunk, so I took off.
Uh, money! I have no good money stories. But pulling questions from previous weeks:
Something I enjoyed as a child that I was much too young for would probably be programming. We had a computer when I was a kid, and I learned how to programme in BASIC (the programming language) when I was eight or nine. Nothing particularly sophisticated, just attempts at making text adventure games. In grade five (I think) the teacher started teaching us algebra in math class, and it was just like variables in BASIC, and everything made perfect sense to me.
I dressed as “an Arab” for Hallowe’en one year, by putting on a kufiya I’d bought in Tunisia. Even at the time I knew it wasn’t a great idea, but I didn’t understand exactly why. At least I didn’t make any dumb terrorism jokes. In retrospect, I should’ve said I was Lawrence of Arabia.
I call those long-legged insects daddy long legs.
Cheers!