Stupid Luck and Happenstance, Thread II
- Thread starter Peabody-Martini
- Start date
People are dumb...
Mind you, I had the book of Watership Down read to me when I was about 8, don't think it did me any harm... I loved that story.
And...
This. So this. To quote ZP:
Ben 'Yahtzee' Croshaw said:
Mind you, the same could be said for a lot of stuff, especially pre-Seduction-of-the-Innocent comics. Superman threw people for miles and attacked sweatshop owners, Batman shot people, Wonder Woman engaged in lesbian bondage... And lest we forget, a lot of 'kids' novels etc. had some seriously dark and violent moments in them... Plus some live-action movies that were held to be suitable for all ages...
I remember noting how dark old cartoons and 'suitable' movies could be to my granddad, he agreed and joked that that was what he and his friends had liked about them
Part 104, Chapter 1674
Chapter One Thousand Six Hundred Seventy-Four
29th January 1965
Mitte, Berlin
After months spent on the campaign trail with Rockefeller, and with the compilation of articles he had written about to be published, Hunter had needed a pallet cleanser. If he was being honest, going to Paris had been an impulsive act for admittedly stupid reasons. He had heard that women went topless on the beaches in France. It hadn’t been until he had gotten there that he had realized that it was the dead of winter and he might as well have stayed in New York or Washington D.C. when it had been snowing the first afternoon he had been there. After a few days, he had gotten bored and had tried to figure out where the action was. They were coming up on a year since the German Princess had gotten her skull cracked in a series of events that people were still trying to figure out. The whole thing was tied to a fortune that had supposedly been stolen from the German royal family as well. He remembered the Princess, how she had thrown him out of her hotel suite the instant she had figured out he had misrepresented himself.
Hunter’s Editor had wondered how he had managed to get an interview with Princess Kristina. She was notoriously reclusive and prickly if approached. It was especially strange to hear from various newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic that the morgue files that they had on her were largely useless. In nearly every photograph they had on her she was wearing surgical scrubs or the same suit of drab, unfashionable clothes. It was obvious to him that it was an orchestrated strategy on Kristina’s part to keep herself out of the public eye. That and what had happened when he had first approached her in Jena only served to make her more interesting from his perspective.
It was getting close enough to talk to her that had proven the challenge. These days she never went out in public without Agents from the BII, German equivalent of FBI, right at hand and as Hunter learned, she had a gun as well. There had been a few journalists who had tried approaching her directly and that had ended badly for them.
Strangely, it had been through Kristina’s father that he had gotten the interview with her. Hunter had found a throwaway article from a couple years earlier about Kaiser Louis touring the Volkswagen assembly plant in Wolfsburg, then a different article about him on a similar tour at a design center in Stuttgart. There were additional articles about his interest in Formula One racing and his sponsorship of the Beijing to Berlin Rally Race. So, it was fairly easy to figure out what Louis was really into in his spare time. The German Kaiser was a car guy and regardless of language, Hunter knew how to talk to someone like that.
It had taken weeks, but Hunter had arranged to speak with the Kaiser as background for an article that had run in Car & Driver about the current model year of Mercedes Benz. It had turned out that Louis had a lot of opinions in that regard and because cars were not seen as political, he was free to talk about the subject to his heart’s content. The conversation had eventually turned to Louis’ plans to lease the aging palaces to the State so that the headaches associated with them would be someone else’s problem. Then his infant granddaughter Mirai Louise and one of his sons who was in Antarctica. Finally, he mentioned that he had read the Playboy article that Hunter had written about Kristina and liked how it had been fairly evenhanded.
That had been first in a series of conversations until Hunter had gotten Louis to suggest that he talk to Nancy Jensen about doing another article on Kristina. That had been a bucket of ice water over Hunter’s head. He had grown all too familiar with the House of Hohenzollern’s American born gatekeeper. Not only was she immune to his charms, she was married to one General Dietrich “Tilo” Schultz of the High Seas Fleet’s Marine Infantry. In Germany that meant that if he bothered her too much then there would be several extremely rough men knocking on the door of his hotel room and they wouldn’t be the type to care about there being a law against them kicking the shit out him.
What had followed was several days of back and forth with Nancy Jensen getting and having permission to approach Kristina in Jena where she was attending Medical School. Finding her watching her dog run around a field had been a nice touch. The off-topic talk about Disney and how she related to it, not so much. There had been one major sticking point. It seemed that Princess Kristina wanted assurances regarding just what publications an article about her would run in. The last one being in Playboy had not been to her liking. Her objections revolved around respectability and what she saw as exploitation. It had been during those negotiations that Kristina had let slip her own political views. While hardly surprising when considering who she was doing with her life, it definitely blew out of the water the perception that many Americans had about royalty.
Now a week later, waiting for her to show up for the interview in the hotel bar that she had agreed to do was a reminder of just whose country this was. When she finally did show up, Hunter saw that she had Nancy Jensen and Marcella von Holz as well as the dog with her this time. He realized then that this was not going to be an easy interview.
29th January 1965
Mitte, Berlin
After months spent on the campaign trail with Rockefeller, and with the compilation of articles he had written about to be published, Hunter had needed a pallet cleanser. If he was being honest, going to Paris had been an impulsive act for admittedly stupid reasons. He had heard that women went topless on the beaches in France. It hadn’t been until he had gotten there that he had realized that it was the dead of winter and he might as well have stayed in New York or Washington D.C. when it had been snowing the first afternoon he had been there. After a few days, he had gotten bored and had tried to figure out where the action was. They were coming up on a year since the German Princess had gotten her skull cracked in a series of events that people were still trying to figure out. The whole thing was tied to a fortune that had supposedly been stolen from the German royal family as well. He remembered the Princess, how she had thrown him out of her hotel suite the instant she had figured out he had misrepresented himself.
Hunter’s Editor had wondered how he had managed to get an interview with Princess Kristina. She was notoriously reclusive and prickly if approached. It was especially strange to hear from various newspapers on both sides of the Atlantic that the morgue files that they had on her were largely useless. In nearly every photograph they had on her she was wearing surgical scrubs or the same suit of drab, unfashionable clothes. It was obvious to him that it was an orchestrated strategy on Kristina’s part to keep herself out of the public eye. That and what had happened when he had first approached her in Jena only served to make her more interesting from his perspective.
It was getting close enough to talk to her that had proven the challenge. These days she never went out in public without Agents from the BII, German equivalent of FBI, right at hand and as Hunter learned, she had a gun as well. There had been a few journalists who had tried approaching her directly and that had ended badly for them.
Strangely, it had been through Kristina’s father that he had gotten the interview with her. Hunter had found a throwaway article from a couple years earlier about Kaiser Louis touring the Volkswagen assembly plant in Wolfsburg, then a different article about him on a similar tour at a design center in Stuttgart. There were additional articles about his interest in Formula One racing and his sponsorship of the Beijing to Berlin Rally Race. So, it was fairly easy to figure out what Louis was really into in his spare time. The German Kaiser was a car guy and regardless of language, Hunter knew how to talk to someone like that.
It had taken weeks, but Hunter had arranged to speak with the Kaiser as background for an article that had run in Car & Driver about the current model year of Mercedes Benz. It had turned out that Louis had a lot of opinions in that regard and because cars were not seen as political, he was free to talk about the subject to his heart’s content. The conversation had eventually turned to Louis’ plans to lease the aging palaces to the State so that the headaches associated with them would be someone else’s problem. Then his infant granddaughter Mirai Louise and one of his sons who was in Antarctica. Finally, he mentioned that he had read the Playboy article that Hunter had written about Kristina and liked how it had been fairly evenhanded.
That had been first in a series of conversations until Hunter had gotten Louis to suggest that he talk to Nancy Jensen about doing another article on Kristina. That had been a bucket of ice water over Hunter’s head. He had grown all too familiar with the House of Hohenzollern’s American born gatekeeper. Not only was she immune to his charms, she was married to one General Dietrich “Tilo” Schultz of the High Seas Fleet’s Marine Infantry. In Germany that meant that if he bothered her too much then there would be several extremely rough men knocking on the door of his hotel room and they wouldn’t be the type to care about there being a law against them kicking the shit out him.
What had followed was several days of back and forth with Nancy Jensen getting and having permission to approach Kristina in Jena where she was attending Medical School. Finding her watching her dog run around a field had been a nice touch. The off-topic talk about Disney and how she related to it, not so much. There had been one major sticking point. It seemed that Princess Kristina wanted assurances regarding just what publications an article about her would run in. The last one being in Playboy had not been to her liking. Her objections revolved around respectability and what she saw as exploitation. It had been during those negotiations that Kristina had let slip her own political views. While hardly surprising when considering who she was doing with her life, it definitely blew out of the water the perception that many Americans had about royalty.
Now a week later, waiting for her to show up for the interview in the hotel bar that she had agreed to do was a reminder of just whose country this was. When she finally did show up, Hunter saw that she had Nancy Jensen and Marcella von Holz as well as the dog with her this time. He realized then that this was not going to be an easy interview.
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It could be worse, Kat could be the one to drive Kiki and Zella there and Tilo and Reir might escort Nancy there.
Reading Watership Down to kids is fine as the vocal tone used while reading can easily be adjusted to soothe nerves, especially when combined with a child's natural tendency not to speak up when scared. The movie version, however, is primarily visual with an audio & soundtrack design to augment the mood. For kids who had not even heard of the book, the shock of this resulted in a lot of screaming and crying, especially among the younger kids. For the older kids (I was 9) it wasn't too scary, but it wasn't an enjoyable experience due to the aforementioned screaming & crying from the little ones. We did however wonder just what the adults were thinking, since we knew damn well that if this had been a live-action movie with a similar level of violence, not a single damn one of us would have been allowed anywhere near it.
Not one of the teachers or cinema staff had even had a second thought about taking the entire school to the screening, because "it was a cartoon, kids love cartoons". And while the parents were not impressed with the resulting mess, none of them had given it a second thought about giving permission either for the same reason.
Not one of the teachers or cinema staff had even had a second thought about taking the entire school to the screening, because "it was a cartoon, kids love cartoons". And while the parents were not impressed with the resulting mess, none of them had given it a second thought about giving permission either for the same reason.
Hunter S. Thompson, journalist extraordinaire (ballsy, smart & possibly batshit insane), manages to get an interview that many have tried & failed to get, only to realise that his quarry is at least as smart as he is and that the pound of flesh required as payment may come from a particularly sensitive spot. Welcome to the big leagues, sport.
Kiki is smart to have Nancy there with her at the interview as there should be always someone from the press office when a formal interview happens, that way if an inappropriate question is asked the press officer can stop the interviewee from answering.
Zella is going to be the price of the interview, either Zella gets to film the interview itself or some kind of joint project with Mr. Thompson.
With Rauchbier the Whippit becoming a minor celebrity in his own right I can see a couple of small breweries putting a picture of Rauchbier or another dog that looks like him on their bottles of rauchbier to capitalize on Kiki's popularity.
Zella is going to be the price of the interview, either Zella gets to film the interview itself or some kind of joint project with Mr. Thompson.
With Rauchbier the Whippit becoming a minor celebrity in his own right I can see a couple of small breweries putting a picture of Rauchbier or another dog that looks like him on their bottles of rauchbier to capitalize on Kiki's popularity.
Gonzo Documentaries are now a thing.
"On the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson today, we have probably the most controversial documentary makers in the world today, the makers of the award winning, feature length, no holds barred documentary, 'Kiki'.
Please welcome on; Hunter S Thompson and Marcella Von Holtz"!
Thompson seems remarkably coherent. Guess this proves we're in an alternate timeline.
Or it could be that his drunken, drugged out persona didn't fully gel until the early 70s when he was writing for Rolling Stone and even then it was for public consumption.
A number was missed it seems. Not sure what to do about it at this point.
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Chapter 1635 included the publication of the unprocessed and uncensored biography of Katherina von Mischner or was it the first contact with extraterrestrial life ...
... on the other hand, both events never took place,... officially at least.