Just The Facts, Please
Research for The Walrus takes too long. You're probably thinking I make up all this stuff, but I don't. Even though I was there, it's still a historical novel, and I have no idea what program came on after Beverly Hillbillies, what pre-hippie girls thought were hot styles in the spring of 1965, or how much hashish could fit in a carved-out book. I have to look it up.When Paulie takes apart that old radio he'd better sound like he recognizes the gear inside and knows what it does, so I have to learn enough about old radios to snow you, gentle reader.
Research. Why bother? This is a story about three friends, not a documentary about the Sixties. But it has a few fantasy elements mixed in too, so I want the rest of the story to feel pretty realistic. Besides, it's interesting and I think it gives a story more flavor.
So I just signed up for a course offered by my local community college called 'Research For Writers'. I want learn some tricks to find this trivia faster. It's an on-line course. I will never see the instructor or my fellow students. But it's still pretty good. I'm learning already.
For instance, I found out that facts change. Funny, but I always figured a fact is a fact is a fact. If it can change then it isn't really a fact. The composition of a water molecule is two atoms of hydrogen and one atom of oxygen. That's a fact. Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941. Nothing can ever change it because that's a fact.
But on the pre-course quiz - I got that answer wrong. The teacher says facts change. What is with this lady? Then I woke up thinking about it and I could see she was right.
I started making a list of facts that used to be true but are no longer:
You can get arrested in this country for drinking whiskey.
The Beatles are the number one pop group in the world.
Yugoslavia is a country in Europe.
Meet my girl friend, Martha Gobblesteen.
You get the picture. They all used to be true, except for the part about Martha. Interesting, huh? Or maybe you already knew that.
Labels: A Panoply of Pondering
posted by Christopher Newton at 8:17 AM
8 Comments:
You know, I am always quite impatient for the next installment. But I really appreciate you taking the time to get the facts right. There's some books I've read where they most certainly do not, and that annoys me. Maybe it doesn't matter so much when it's a tiny trivial thing, but I really prefer people to get the truth whenever possible. Worst of all is if the author purposely sets out to to sneakily re-write history and see how many people he/she can get to believe him (think Da Vinci Code). Ick. Keep it up, Olde Pigg.
Having spent the last hour reviewing mostly incoherent writing by my online students I wish I had someone as wise and eloquent as the pig in one of my online classes. I hope your teacher appreciates the blessing!
pvyI have discovered an additional piece of fact that goes with the "Beverly Hillbillies", though it is a non-sequitur of sorts.
Did you know you can sing the song "Amazing Grace" to the melody of the "Gilligan's Island" theme song? Amazing? Astounding? Assinine? You bet.
The thread here is that, had the intrepid hippies been skulking through said Page Street house on Saturday night, after "Jackie Gleason", It would have been "Gilligan's Island" on TV, had the noisy neighbors been watching CBS. "Hillbillies" suggests that the caper took place on a Thursday, an important fact if, say, the hipsters were Jewish and needed to think about how their actions would affect their Sabbath observance of the following night.
The ramifications are parylizing, aren't they?
Speaking of singing songs to other tunes...there is a very odd made up song called "Leprosy" sung to the Beatles tune "Yesterday" which you can hear HERE
Ok - pop quiz! What do you call two words that sound alike but have totally different meanings (Hear/here).
(Just had to throw that one in there to keep student pig on his toes. Keep us posted with how the class is going, ok?)
First of all, hey, it's great to see you back, Belle. We missed you. Especially when you say such nice things. As for your pop quiz - that's a homonym. Believe it or not, I learned the term from the sisters at St. Thomas The Apostle school when I was in the sixth grade. And they didn't even have to smack me with a ruler. When people start bashing their Catholic school educations, I always feel compelled to defend the sisters. Mine were always nice to me and I learned a lot from them.
Kirst, thanks for the warning about rewriting history. Now I'll have to change my whole plot!
Leo, actually I'm terrible about television trivia, even though I grew up surrounded with it. I'm embarrassed to say I don't even know how the theme from Gilligan's Island goes. It's a secret I've carried all my life, but now it's out and I feel so free!
I believe Petticoat Junction was on after the Hilbillies.
There is so much of my early life I don't remember at all, but all sorts of things come tumbling back in my mind when I hear old TV theme songs...from Petticoat Junction to That Girl to Mod Squad.
Although my favorite was Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom with Marlin Perkins.
I think what I like best about the Walrus tales are the little bits and pieces of physical details or social history that spark my own memories in much the same way...
Such as: "Today, of course, burning marijuana smells like wonderful incense but in those far-off days smoking pot smelled like somebody was out back burning weeds." (Bringing in a Couple of Keys, part 6) I haven't been around pot for 26 yrs but this reminded me INTIMATELY of the scent of the stuff, and that of course opened other doors in my brain...
or "She just thought it would be interesting to sneak around in an old dark house where she wasn't supposed to be." (Sylvie in the Darkenss, Pt. 17) Yep - been there, done that!
Or my personal favorite: "It's painted dark red, dim, hung with a big American flag on one wall and red and blue madras bedspreads on the other walls." (Before the Storm Hit, Pt 3.) My room was painted deep Indigo, but the other details are the same...
So you just go right on doing your research Mr. Pig. It may slow down the process, but it's definitely worth the wait!
Not too many people know that that style of hippie room decor was actually invented by Sylvie Potemkin at the Syndicate of Eternal Friendship's commune on Page Street in the autumn and winter of 1964.
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