A housewife takes a lover during the day, while her husband is at work. Not aware that 9 year old son was hiding in the closet. Her husband came home unexpectedly, so she hid her lover in the closet. The boy now has company.
Boy: ‟Dark in here.” Man: ‟Yes it is.” Boy: ‟I have a baseball.” Man: ‟That’s nice.” Boy: ‟Want to buy it?” Man: ‟No, thanks.” Boy: ‟That’s my dad outside.” Man: ‟How much did you say the baseball was again?” Boy: ‟$250.”
In the next few weeks, it happens again that the boy and the mom’s lover are in the closet together.
Boy: ‟Dark in here.” Man: ‟Yes, it is..” Boy: ‟I have a baseball glove.” Man: ‟That’s nice.” Boy: ‟Want to buy it?” Man: ‟No, thanks.” Boy: ‟I think I just remembered something I needed to tell my dad.” Man: ‟How much did you say the glove was again?” Boy: ‟$750.” Man: ‟Fine.”
A few days later, the father says to the boy, ‟Grab your glove. Let’s go outside and toss the baseball!” The boy says, ‟I can’t. I sold them.” The father asks, ‟How much did you sell them for?” The son says, ‟$1,000.” The father says, ‟It’s terrible to over-charge your friends like that. That is way more than those two things cost. I’m going to take you to church and make you confess.”
They go to church and the father alerts the priest and makes the little boy sit in the confession booth and closes the door.
The boy says, ‟Dark in here.” The priest says, ‟Do not start that shit again.”
it’s not just about replacing big authors, it’s about replacing ghost writers completely. which will make publishing and writing for a living even more inaccessible. it’s bad all the way down.
you can’t oppression olympics your way out of how your trauma affected you.
“other people had it worse” bitch! I don’t care! just from looking at you it’s plain and obvious that you’ve had a time of it! a person can drown in six inches of water, it doesn’t matter if someone else is drowning in ten feet! you’re both still fucking drowning! show yourself a little bit of compassion before I come over there and do it for you. this is a threat
It’s an underdog story about classism in which the folk hero (Johnny) is confronted by a powerful man (the Devil) who tries to exploit the hero’s perceived ignorance and inferiority by offering a great reward with impossible odds. Although Johnny warns him that looks can be deceiving, and that he’s going to regret the dare because Johnny is the “best there’s ever been”, the devil is blinded by his greed and arrogance.
The devil creates an awful cacophony of technically excellent fiddle playing that would be impossible for Johnny to replicate. It’s a trick.
But Johnny just grins at him and starts to play “simple” classic country fiddling songs - Fire On The Mountain, House Of The Rising Sun, and Daddy Cut Her Bill Off. He doesn’t rise to beat the Devil - he simply creates his own music from his home, in the style that he knows, and his love of it and the familiarity of the music make his “backwoods” fiddling more perfect than the Devil could ever achieve.
It is thus the devil’s pride, not Johnny’s, that allows Johnny to Bugs Bunny his way into a golden fiddle.
(In that sense, I do agree that it is the most American song: in a land of prejudice and inequities, great power lies - dormant but ever-present - in those we underestimate and attempt to exploit.)
Also people initially react to the devil’s part like “holy shit that’s badass” because he’s got electric guitar and bass and a whole backing band to make him sound good. Of course he sounds amazing. But if you drill down to the actual fiddling – and this is straight from Charlie Daniels – it’s not as technically difficult as what Johnny does. It’s fast? But it’s mostly just going up and down scales.
Here’s a good performance – the devil’s part starts around 2:00. Check out how long Daniels just stands there holding his fiddle while the guitar and piano carry the weight. I love that piano bassline but fiddling it ain’t.
It’s still an American narrative: if you can afford to hire a bunch of more talented people, you, too, can look like a genius. Doesn’t make you one.
i honestly love the trend to dress up in silly little outfits for events like going to a movie or a concert. like yes besties go all out on that eras tour outfit. dress up in pink from head to toe for the barbie movie. love to see it
When I was a kid I was talking to my psychiatrist with my dad and I mentioned some stuff and he went “let me get an ADHD questionnaire” and Dad was like “I mean, that’s all normal stuff for me” and he went “okay, let me get two ADHD questionnaires”.
