A Different Viewpoint
by Mr. A
©2000 by Mark E. Abert and Matthew Atanian
Boy Scouts ½ created by Matthew Atanian
by Mr. A
©2000 by Mark E. Abert and Matthew Atanian
Boy Scouts ½ created by Matthew Atanian
It was a dark and stormy night... No, actually it wasn’t. It was a clean, clear, comfortable evening that found the group of Scouts settling in around the
campfire after a busy day of activities at their camp. The fire grew brighter and brighter, mostly due to the efforts of Derek Provost. He continually added wood to the fire, proud of the fact that it was burning so brightly. However, he would never admit that he couldn’t get a fire going to save his soul, and that he required the assistance of one of the Troop’s younger Scouts to get it started.
“Hey Derek, could you ease up on feeding that fire?” said Mark Abert, Assistant Scoutmaster of Troop 180. “It’s beginning to become a pillar of fire of
biblical proportions, and I’m concerned about the trees!”
“Okay, Mr. A,” Derek said reluctantly. He backed off from the fire, but still kept continually eyeing the woodpile.
As the heat began to subside, the Scouts of Troop 180 gradually moved in closer, and the traditional camaraderie of a campfire began to take form.
“Does anyone want to do skits?” asked Matt Fowler, who was one of the older boys in the Troop who really enjoyed the entire Scouting experience.
“No way, that’s ghetto!” exclaimed Pete Greeves.
“Yeah, that’s ghetto!” agreed Jim Broder.
Pete and Jim, two of the Troop’s primary whiners, had this odd habit of making up their own slang terms. Most of the Troop had learned to just ignore them when they did this.
Most of the three patrols that were present seemed to be content to just relax and enjoy the fire, sitting in small groups and chatting. Despite Fowler’s good intentioned efforts, no one really seemed to want to do any of the traditional campfire activities at that time.
Scoutmaster Lenny Nadeau, affectionately known as “Gitchisaka” due to his Native American heritage, then suggested a late night nature hike. “We could look for the rare luminous Yoza mushroom, which I heard has been spotted growing in this very area!”
At this suggestion, the entire Magpie Patrol immediately volunteered to go with him. Gitchisaka immediately smiled, but inwardly groaned. The Magpies were infamous for being very noisy. Their high-pitched cackling had robbed the adult leaders of many hours of sleep on campouts.
“We’ll never get even close to any sort of animal life,” he mused. “Good thing mushrooms don’t move very quickly.”
Slacker Lavoie, another Assistant Scoutmaster, volunteered to accompany Lenny and the boys on their hike, and off they went, leaving Mr. Abert in charge. Matt Abert, his son who was also an Assistant Scoutmaster, contentedly sat with his can of spray cheese and a package of crackers doing his thing: some cheese on a cracker, some cheese in the mouth, some cheese on a cracker, some cheese in the mouth, etc. Across from them sat Pete and Jim, arguing as usual over who knows what. Matt Fowler and Brian Abert busied themselves at the edge of the campfire’s light, working on some sort of pioneering project. Derek moved over to where the Aberts were seated.
“So what’s new Mr. A?” said Derek. “I’ve heard the you’ve been seeing a bit of Matt Atanian and the guys.
“Yes, that’s true,” said Mr. Abert. “Their troop has asked me for some assistance in setting up a shooting sports campout. I think I’ll have to accompany them that weekend. It should be fun!”
“You know, every time I meet up with those guys strange things begin to happen.,” muttered Derek.
“Well, Little Buddy,” said Mr. Abert, “What do you expect with a leader like Matt Atanian? Things have gotten rather unusual since they’ve gotten into that Japanese Anime thing. I think I liked it better when they were into Star Trek and Star Wars. At least that I understood. Oh well, each to his own.”
“Hey Anime isn’t really all that bad” said Matt Abert between mouthfuls of spray cheese. “It’s actually rather good once you get used to it.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen some of it too, and I kind of liked it.” said Derek.
“Well, it can cause some strange things to happen!” said Mr. Abert, and in a hushed voice he added, “And I can tell you why!”
At this, Pete and Jimmy stopped their bickering, and Brian and Matt Fowler abandoned their project (which wasn’t working out anyhow), and came and joined the group. They could tell that they were going to hear something different.
Mr. Abert settled into his “wise old mentor” mode and began to tell the following tale.
Last summer, Troop 192 sent a small group of their Scouts on a field trip to Japan. It was there that our friends first became acquainted with Japanese cartoons, with Voltron being one of their favourites. While they were touring Japan, they found this little old Antique shop that was run by this little old Japanese man. He was all dressed in black, and smoked a long stemmed pipe. The shop was filled with all sorts of unusual items. Bill Hughes was fascinated by the collection of swords and almost purchased one. Mike Quadrozzi seemed particularly interested in some of the ancient scrolls that he found. Matt Atanian and Aaron Abedelmaseh scrutinized the racks of ancient Japanese clothing looking for who knows what. Bill Gelinas discovered a cage that contained a small furry creature with big ears that kept singing in a very high-pitched voice, much like what Howie Mandel does.
Alas, the lads’ funds were severely limited, and they could not make any of the purchases they desired. Seemingly moved by pity, the old shopkeeper offered the boys one of the scrolls that Mike was looking at “at a fraction of its value.” Not wanting to leave empty handed, they agreed, and left the shop with a rolled-up dusty old parchment.
“Dad, this story sounds somewhat familiar,” broke in Brian, “Have you told this one before?”
“No, I haven’t, now please don’t interrupt me,” said Mr. Abert.
“That’s ghetto!” exclaimed Pete.
“Yeah, that’s ghetto!” agreed Jim.
Ignoring Pete and Jim, Mr. Abert continued.
When the guys returned to their campsite, the rest of their group was already sound asleep.
“Hey, this is our chance to check out that scroll,” said Matt. He carefully began to unroll the ancient sheet of parchment, using the light of the full moon to illuminate it.
“I can understand what this says!” exclaimed Mike. He read it aloud, speaking a whole bunch of Japanese words.
“Just what were the words?” asked Matt Fowler.
“I don’t really know,” admitted Mr. Abert, and he continued.
Upon pronouncement of the final word, there was a flash of light! When the guys looked at each other, they could not believe their eyes! They were all changed into something else! Aaron had become a pigeon, Hughes had turned into a cocker spaniel, and Bill Gelinas was now a common alley cat. Mike had turned into a chipmunk, and Matt... well Matt had undergone the strangest transformation of the lot. He had turned into a tall blond supermodel!
“Oooh!!” Derek had suddenly become very interested. (Troop 180 had nicknamed him “the Walking Hormone” for a variety of reasons. He was reacting in character.) “Tell me more! What did she look like? Did she have...?”
“Shut up, Derek!” said Matt Abert. “Remember, this is still Atanian that we’re talking about!”
“I don’t care!” moaned Derek. “Its just the thought...”
“Hey Fowler!” said Matt Abert. “Can you get a bucket of cold water that we can use on Derek? I think he is overheating again.”
“No!” said Derek. “I promise. I’ll be good! Please, Mr. Abert, go on with your story.”
“Ghetto!” said Pete and Jim simultaneously.
The five transformed Scouts just looked at each other, not knowing what to do. Since Matt seemed to be the only one left with the ability of speech, it seemed natural that the decision on what to do fall on his shoulders.
“Umm... well guys,” Matt said in a breathy voice, “I think that, maybe, we should all go to bed...”
“YES!!” shouted Derek.
“Shut up, Derek!” said everyone else.
“And maybe all this will, like, go away by morning”
The other four, though clearly in full possession of their human intelligence, but lacking in the ability of speech, cooed, woofed, meowed, and chittered their agreement. Matt opened the tents for them all, and they got in and did their best to settle for the night. Matt got into his own tent (for clearly he couldn’t share a tent with the boys...)
“I wouldn’t mind...” said Derek. “Shut up Derek!” said everyone else.
Sure enough, by morning all five were back to normal! They immediately dressed, and gathered outside their tents. Fortunately, the rest of their group had not yet risen. They moved away from the site so they wouldn’t be heard.
“Wow! Was that a dream, or am I going crazy?” exclaimed Hughes.
“Sad to say, I don’t think it was a dream.” Said Mike as he spit out an acorn shell.
“So, what are we going to do? What has happened to us?” asked Bill Gelinas.
“As I see it,” said Aaron, “we seem to have come under some sort of curse, probably from that little old man in that shop. I suggest that we go back there and ask a few questions!”
The others quickly agreed, and after cleaning up their tents (some had a bigger task of this than others), they joined the rest of their travel group for breakfast. After their meal, they left for the town, and headed for the little old Antique shop. But when they arrived, they found no sign of the shop. In its place was an overgrown empty lot!
“Uggh! That’s really ghetto!” said Pete.
“The ghettoiest!” added Jim.
“But, but, but...” stammered Matt.
“I guess this means that we’ll have to figure our own way out of this mess.” said Mike as he spit out another acorn shell. “I guess we should go back to camp.”
The rest agreed, and off they went.
Luck was with them for a second time, for when they returned to their site; the others had already left for their day’s activities.
“Let’s try to reason this out: why did we all change?” stated Aaron.
“It’s obviously due to some sort of magic that was locked in that scroll,” said Mike. “When I read it, the magic was unleashed.”
“There’s got to be more to it than that,”added Hughes. “This all sounds very familiar. Didn’t we see an anime just a few days ago that had characters changing? What was its name?”
“Transformers," said Matt, who had been quietly pensive up to that moment. “I was thinking about that when Mike read the scroll last night.”
“Yeah, so was I!” exclaimed Bill Gelinas.
“Me too!” said Aaron.
“This is spooky, guys!” said Mike. “I was thinking about Transformers just as I was looking at the scroll. And I don’t know a word of Japanese, other than kung-fu, jiu-jitsu, and sushi!”
“Guys,” moaned Hughes. “That cartoon was on my mind too! We’re cursed! We’re cursed! What will the rest of the guys at Troop 192 say...”
“Troop 192? I remember them! I had to deliver a package to them at a Christmas party. Man, what a ruckus that package caused. It seemed to be some sort of video game or something. I remember seeing you at that party, Mark.” The speaker was Steve Bilodeau, the newest Assistant Scoutmaster of Troop180. He was arriving late to the campout, as his duties at UPS had kept him overtime. He was still in his UPS uniform.
“Oh, hi Steve!” said Mr. Abert. “Hi Mr. B,” said the Scouts. Matt Abert had a mouthful of spray cheese, and mercifully said nothing.
“Your son and the rest of the Magpies are off on a hike with Gitchisaka and Slacker.” Said Mr. A “They should be back soon. Your tent is that one over there. You might as well settle in.”
“I think I will,” said Steve. “I’m beat!”
As Steve headed toward his tent, a loud, high-pitched cackling suddenly erupted from the woods. The Magpies had returned! Several of them held glowing mushrooms in their sweaty little hands. Gitchisaka and Slacker looked rather worn.
“These guys are killing me!” exclaimed Slacker.
Gitchisaka just smiled and quietly said, “Let’s all do our best to try and get these Scouts down for the night. Maybe, if we’re lucky, the rest of us can get a few hours of sleep.”
At the words of their wise old Scoutmaster, the leadership of Troop 180 went to work. Eventually, the Magpies, the Stags, and the Panthers were all in their tents, although many were still chattering. Only a few were still up, quietly talking by the now dying campfire.
“Mr. A,” said Derek, “are you going to be able to finish your story?”
“Well Little Buddy, I was almost done anyway,” said Mr. Abert. “Every full moon, the five of them each changed into their other form, and they had a great many unusual adventures when they returned to America. You can see what I meant when I said that anime can cause some rather strange things to happen.”
“Yeah,” continued Derek, “but your story is just a bunch of bullcrap! Nothing like that can ever happen!”
“I know, Derek, I know” said Mr. Abert.
At this point, Gitchisaka joined the two. “I think you ought to consider turning in. We’ve got a lot to do tomorrow.” He rummaged through his pack, and brought out a metallic cylindrical object. “I found this on the hike. What do you make of this?” He held the object out to the light, which revealed it to be an battered but unopened can. Its label read: Kiwi-Mocha Fruit Juice.
Derek’s screams even silenced the Magpies.
campfire after a busy day of activities at their camp. The fire grew brighter and brighter, mostly due to the efforts of Derek Provost. He continually added wood to the fire, proud of the fact that it was burning so brightly. However, he would never admit that he couldn’t get a fire going to save his soul, and that he required the assistance of one of the Troop’s younger Scouts to get it started.
“Hey Derek, could you ease up on feeding that fire?” said Mark Abert, Assistant Scoutmaster of Troop 180. “It’s beginning to become a pillar of fire of
biblical proportions, and I’m concerned about the trees!”
“Okay, Mr. A,” Derek said reluctantly. He backed off from the fire, but still kept continually eyeing the woodpile.
As the heat began to subside, the Scouts of Troop 180 gradually moved in closer, and the traditional camaraderie of a campfire began to take form.
“Does anyone want to do skits?” asked Matt Fowler, who was one of the older boys in the Troop who really enjoyed the entire Scouting experience.
“No way, that’s ghetto!” exclaimed Pete Greeves.
“Yeah, that’s ghetto!” agreed Jim Broder.
Pete and Jim, two of the Troop’s primary whiners, had this odd habit of making up their own slang terms. Most of the Troop had learned to just ignore them when they did this.
Most of the three patrols that were present seemed to be content to just relax and enjoy the fire, sitting in small groups and chatting. Despite Fowler’s good intentioned efforts, no one really seemed to want to do any of the traditional campfire activities at that time.
Scoutmaster Lenny Nadeau, affectionately known as “Gitchisaka” due to his Native American heritage, then suggested a late night nature hike. “We could look for the rare luminous Yoza mushroom, which I heard has been spotted growing in this very area!”
At this suggestion, the entire Magpie Patrol immediately volunteered to go with him. Gitchisaka immediately smiled, but inwardly groaned. The Magpies were infamous for being very noisy. Their high-pitched cackling had robbed the adult leaders of many hours of sleep on campouts.
“We’ll never get even close to any sort of animal life,” he mused. “Good thing mushrooms don’t move very quickly.”
Slacker Lavoie, another Assistant Scoutmaster, volunteered to accompany Lenny and the boys on their hike, and off they went, leaving Mr. Abert in charge. Matt Abert, his son who was also an Assistant Scoutmaster, contentedly sat with his can of spray cheese and a package of crackers doing his thing: some cheese on a cracker, some cheese in the mouth, some cheese on a cracker, some cheese in the mouth, etc. Across from them sat Pete and Jim, arguing as usual over who knows what. Matt Fowler and Brian Abert busied themselves at the edge of the campfire’s light, working on some sort of pioneering project. Derek moved over to where the Aberts were seated.
“So what’s new Mr. A?” said Derek. “I’ve heard the you’ve been seeing a bit of Matt Atanian and the guys.
“Yes, that’s true,” said Mr. Abert. “Their troop has asked me for some assistance in setting up a shooting sports campout. I think I’ll have to accompany them that weekend. It should be fun!”
“You know, every time I meet up with those guys strange things begin to happen.,” muttered Derek.
“Well, Little Buddy,” said Mr. Abert, “What do you expect with a leader like Matt Atanian? Things have gotten rather unusual since they’ve gotten into that Japanese Anime thing. I think I liked it better when they were into Star Trek and Star Wars. At least that I understood. Oh well, each to his own.”
“Hey Anime isn’t really all that bad” said Matt Abert between mouthfuls of spray cheese. “It’s actually rather good once you get used to it.”
“Yeah, I’ve seen some of it too, and I kind of liked it.” said Derek.
“Well, it can cause some strange things to happen!” said Mr. Abert, and in a hushed voice he added, “And I can tell you why!”
At this, Pete and Jimmy stopped their bickering, and Brian and Matt Fowler abandoned their project (which wasn’t working out anyhow), and came and joined the group. They could tell that they were going to hear something different.
Mr. Abert settled into his “wise old mentor” mode and began to tell the following tale.
Last summer, Troop 192 sent a small group of their Scouts on a field trip to Japan. It was there that our friends first became acquainted with Japanese cartoons, with Voltron being one of their favourites. While they were touring Japan, they found this little old Antique shop that was run by this little old Japanese man. He was all dressed in black, and smoked a long stemmed pipe. The shop was filled with all sorts of unusual items. Bill Hughes was fascinated by the collection of swords and almost purchased one. Mike Quadrozzi seemed particularly interested in some of the ancient scrolls that he found. Matt Atanian and Aaron Abedelmaseh scrutinized the racks of ancient Japanese clothing looking for who knows what. Bill Gelinas discovered a cage that contained a small furry creature with big ears that kept singing in a very high-pitched voice, much like what Howie Mandel does.
Alas, the lads’ funds were severely limited, and they could not make any of the purchases they desired. Seemingly moved by pity, the old shopkeeper offered the boys one of the scrolls that Mike was looking at “at a fraction of its value.” Not wanting to leave empty handed, they agreed, and left the shop with a rolled-up dusty old parchment.
“Dad, this story sounds somewhat familiar,” broke in Brian, “Have you told this one before?”
“No, I haven’t, now please don’t interrupt me,” said Mr. Abert.
“That’s ghetto!” exclaimed Pete.
“Yeah, that’s ghetto!” agreed Jim.
Ignoring Pete and Jim, Mr. Abert continued.
When the guys returned to their campsite, the rest of their group was already sound asleep.
“Hey, this is our chance to check out that scroll,” said Matt. He carefully began to unroll the ancient sheet of parchment, using the light of the full moon to illuminate it.
“I can understand what this says!” exclaimed Mike. He read it aloud, speaking a whole bunch of Japanese words.
“Just what were the words?” asked Matt Fowler.
“I don’t really know,” admitted Mr. Abert, and he continued.
Upon pronouncement of the final word, there was a flash of light! When the guys looked at each other, they could not believe their eyes! They were all changed into something else! Aaron had become a pigeon, Hughes had turned into a cocker spaniel, and Bill Gelinas was now a common alley cat. Mike had turned into a chipmunk, and Matt... well Matt had undergone the strangest transformation of the lot. He had turned into a tall blond supermodel!
“Oooh!!” Derek had suddenly become very interested. (Troop 180 had nicknamed him “the Walking Hormone” for a variety of reasons. He was reacting in character.) “Tell me more! What did she look like? Did she have...?”
“Shut up, Derek!” said Matt Abert. “Remember, this is still Atanian that we’re talking about!”
“I don’t care!” moaned Derek. “Its just the thought...”
“Hey Fowler!” said Matt Abert. “Can you get a bucket of cold water that we can use on Derek? I think he is overheating again.”
“No!” said Derek. “I promise. I’ll be good! Please, Mr. Abert, go on with your story.”
“Ghetto!” said Pete and Jim simultaneously.
The five transformed Scouts just looked at each other, not knowing what to do. Since Matt seemed to be the only one left with the ability of speech, it seemed natural that the decision on what to do fall on his shoulders.
“Umm... well guys,” Matt said in a breathy voice, “I think that, maybe, we should all go to bed...”
“YES!!” shouted Derek.
“Shut up, Derek!” said everyone else.
“And maybe all this will, like, go away by morning”
The other four, though clearly in full possession of their human intelligence, but lacking in the ability of speech, cooed, woofed, meowed, and chittered their agreement. Matt opened the tents for them all, and they got in and did their best to settle for the night. Matt got into his own tent (for clearly he couldn’t share a tent with the boys...)
“I wouldn’t mind...” said Derek. “Shut up Derek!” said everyone else.
Sure enough, by morning all five were back to normal! They immediately dressed, and gathered outside their tents. Fortunately, the rest of their group had not yet risen. They moved away from the site so they wouldn’t be heard.
“Wow! Was that a dream, or am I going crazy?” exclaimed Hughes.
“Sad to say, I don’t think it was a dream.” Said Mike as he spit out an acorn shell.
“So, what are we going to do? What has happened to us?” asked Bill Gelinas.
“As I see it,” said Aaron, “we seem to have come under some sort of curse, probably from that little old man in that shop. I suggest that we go back there and ask a few questions!”
The others quickly agreed, and after cleaning up their tents (some had a bigger task of this than others), they joined the rest of their travel group for breakfast. After their meal, they left for the town, and headed for the little old Antique shop. But when they arrived, they found no sign of the shop. In its place was an overgrown empty lot!
“Uggh! That’s really ghetto!” said Pete.
“The ghettoiest!” added Jim.
“But, but, but...” stammered Matt.
“I guess this means that we’ll have to figure our own way out of this mess.” said Mike as he spit out another acorn shell. “I guess we should go back to camp.”
The rest agreed, and off they went.
Luck was with them for a second time, for when they returned to their site; the others had already left for their day’s activities.
“Let’s try to reason this out: why did we all change?” stated Aaron.
“It’s obviously due to some sort of magic that was locked in that scroll,” said Mike. “When I read it, the magic was unleashed.”
“There’s got to be more to it than that,”added Hughes. “This all sounds very familiar. Didn’t we see an anime just a few days ago that had characters changing? What was its name?”
“Transformers," said Matt, who had been quietly pensive up to that moment. “I was thinking about that when Mike read the scroll last night.”
“Yeah, so was I!” exclaimed Bill Gelinas.
“Me too!” said Aaron.
“This is spooky, guys!” said Mike. “I was thinking about Transformers just as I was looking at the scroll. And I don’t know a word of Japanese, other than kung-fu, jiu-jitsu, and sushi!”
“Guys,” moaned Hughes. “That cartoon was on my mind too! We’re cursed! We’re cursed! What will the rest of the guys at Troop 192 say...”
“Troop 192? I remember them! I had to deliver a package to them at a Christmas party. Man, what a ruckus that package caused. It seemed to be some sort of video game or something. I remember seeing you at that party, Mark.” The speaker was Steve Bilodeau, the newest Assistant Scoutmaster of Troop180. He was arriving late to the campout, as his duties at UPS had kept him overtime. He was still in his UPS uniform.
“Oh, hi Steve!” said Mr. Abert. “Hi Mr. B,” said the Scouts. Matt Abert had a mouthful of spray cheese, and mercifully said nothing.
“Your son and the rest of the Magpies are off on a hike with Gitchisaka and Slacker.” Said Mr. A “They should be back soon. Your tent is that one over there. You might as well settle in.”
“I think I will,” said Steve. “I’m beat!”
As Steve headed toward his tent, a loud, high-pitched cackling suddenly erupted from the woods. The Magpies had returned! Several of them held glowing mushrooms in their sweaty little hands. Gitchisaka and Slacker looked rather worn.
“These guys are killing me!” exclaimed Slacker.
Gitchisaka just smiled and quietly said, “Let’s all do our best to try and get these Scouts down for the night. Maybe, if we’re lucky, the rest of us can get a few hours of sleep.”
At the words of their wise old Scoutmaster, the leadership of Troop 180 went to work. Eventually, the Magpies, the Stags, and the Panthers were all in their tents, although many were still chattering. Only a few were still up, quietly talking by the now dying campfire.
“Mr. A,” said Derek, “are you going to be able to finish your story?”
“Well Little Buddy, I was almost done anyway,” said Mr. Abert. “Every full moon, the five of them each changed into their other form, and they had a great many unusual adventures when they returned to America. You can see what I meant when I said that anime can cause some rather strange things to happen.”
“Yeah,” continued Derek, “but your story is just a bunch of bullcrap! Nothing like that can ever happen!”
“I know, Derek, I know” said Mr. Abert.
At this point, Gitchisaka joined the two. “I think you ought to consider turning in. We’ve got a lot to do tomorrow.” He rummaged through his pack, and brought out a metallic cylindrical object. “I found this on the hike. What do you make of this?” He held the object out to the light, which revealed it to be an battered but unopened can. Its label read: Kiwi-Mocha Fruit Juice.
Derek’s screams even silenced the Magpies.
Author's Notes
This is the result of a conversation between Matt Atanian and myself, which ended with an open invitation from Matt to me to try my hand at writing a story. Several months passed, and several ideas came and went (not to mention the usual excuses of schoolwork, Scouting activities, and family obligations) and Matt finally threw down the gauntlet, so to speak, on a recent Message Board post. Well, since I did have some free time this week, it would be a good time to actually clear my head of some of the ideas that were swimming around in it. And so I did it. This story is not quite the one that Matt and I discussed several months ago. I hope that it is good enough to make it.
Most of the characters herein are based on real people. The “story within the story” is loosely based on the first installment of the Boy Scouts ½ Series, by Matt Atanian. The old man in the Antique shop was borrowed from the movie “Gremlins”. I guess Matt will handle the rest of the disclaimer thing.
Most of the characters herein are based on real people. The “story within the story” is loosely based on the first installment of the Boy Scouts ½ Series, by Matt Atanian. The old man in the Antique shop was borrowed from the movie “Gremlins”. I guess Matt will handle the rest of the disclaimer thing.
Matt's Notes and Disclaimers
This is the result of a conversation between Mark Abert and myself, which… oh, he already covered this bit, did he? Well, never mind, then.
Excellent story, all around. It’s amusing to think that, even though Matt, Mike, Aaron, and the Bills do try to keep their curses a secret, enough of the
truth may have leaked out to cause Mr. Abert to tell this story to his Troop that he believes to be fiction but is disturbingly close to the truth.
And yes, apparently there really is a leader in Troop 180 who is a UPS delivery guy... He just keeps popping up everywhere, doesn't he? My god, he's almost like a human equivalent of a certain beverage!
It’s funny that he should mention Transformers… Shortly before I read this, I had just finished watching a movie I had bought previously that evening… something I had almost bought many times, but kept telling myself not to be silly… I finely gave in, bought it, and had just watched it, reliving childhood memories as I did so… It was Transformers: The Movie.
In the most technical sense of the word, Transformers is not anime, however. (That is, in the most technical sense of the domestic meaning of the word. In Japan, anything animated is anime, weather it be Ranma ½, The Simpsons, or the latest Disney flic…) However, this misconception is not at all a mistake in the story. After all, if Mark Abert the author would be under this misconception, then so should Mark Abert the character.
Transformers did have some ties to anime, however… A lot of the Transformers were based off of pre-existing Japanese toys that Hasbro got the domestic license to, and just chucked them all into Transformers. Thus, Transfomers could be said to be a rather entertaining marketing ploy to sell these toys. One of them, the Transformer Autobot named Jetfire, was in fact a Macross Valkyrie, which is the reason that the domestic Robotech toy line never had a transforming Veratech Fighter.
Also, although it originated in the U.S., Transformers did become hugely popular in Japan. (The voice of Starscream in the Japanese dub of Transformers was done by the same actor who played Kuno in Ranma ½.) So popular in fact that even after it had lost popularity here, additional seasons of Transformers were produced strictly for the Japanese.
Wow… that was a huge tangent about one tiny little point in the story, wasn’t it? Well, enough on that…
Very good story, wasn’t it? In fact, much as this one was the result of an open invitation, I have already issued a further invitation to Mark (and Matt Abert, if he is so inclined) to do more on the exploits of 180 if they wish…
Now that I think of it, I don’t know what the Aberts may have in mind, but I think that Mark, Matt, Provost, and some other key 180 folk hosting this Shooting Sports campout for 192 has some interesting story potential… Hey, Abert Folk! What do you think? (Guess we’ll find out if or when they write it!)
To close off this edition of Matt’s Notes, I recently came into possession of a wonderful book called, The Deeper Meaning of Liff: A Dictionary of Things That There Aren’t Any Words For Yet. I was amused to see two of the words it defined, and thought that they might be pertinent to this story.
Abert (vb.): To change a baby’s name at the last possible moment.
Ludlow (n): A wad of newspaper, folded table-napkin or lump of cardboard put under a wobbly table or chair to make it stand up straight. It is perhaps not widely known that air-ace Sir Douglas Bader used to get about on an enormous pair of ludlows before he had his artificial legs fitted.
Excellent story, all around. It’s amusing to think that, even though Matt, Mike, Aaron, and the Bills do try to keep their curses a secret, enough of the
truth may have leaked out to cause Mr. Abert to tell this story to his Troop that he believes to be fiction but is disturbingly close to the truth.
And yes, apparently there really is a leader in Troop 180 who is a UPS delivery guy... He just keeps popping up everywhere, doesn't he? My god, he's almost like a human equivalent of a certain beverage!
It’s funny that he should mention Transformers… Shortly before I read this, I had just finished watching a movie I had bought previously that evening… something I had almost bought many times, but kept telling myself not to be silly… I finely gave in, bought it, and had just watched it, reliving childhood memories as I did so… It was Transformers: The Movie.
In the most technical sense of the word, Transformers is not anime, however. (That is, in the most technical sense of the domestic meaning of the word. In Japan, anything animated is anime, weather it be Ranma ½, The Simpsons, or the latest Disney flic…) However, this misconception is not at all a mistake in the story. After all, if Mark Abert the author would be under this misconception, then so should Mark Abert the character.
Transformers did have some ties to anime, however… A lot of the Transformers were based off of pre-existing Japanese toys that Hasbro got the domestic license to, and just chucked them all into Transformers. Thus, Transfomers could be said to be a rather entertaining marketing ploy to sell these toys. One of them, the Transformer Autobot named Jetfire, was in fact a Macross Valkyrie, which is the reason that the domestic Robotech toy line never had a transforming Veratech Fighter.
Also, although it originated in the U.S., Transformers did become hugely popular in Japan. (The voice of Starscream in the Japanese dub of Transformers was done by the same actor who played Kuno in Ranma ½.) So popular in fact that even after it had lost popularity here, additional seasons of Transformers were produced strictly for the Japanese.
Wow… that was a huge tangent about one tiny little point in the story, wasn’t it? Well, enough on that…
Very good story, wasn’t it? In fact, much as this one was the result of an open invitation, I have already issued a further invitation to Mark (and Matt Abert, if he is so inclined) to do more on the exploits of 180 if they wish…
Now that I think of it, I don’t know what the Aberts may have in mind, but I think that Mark, Matt, Provost, and some other key 180 folk hosting this Shooting Sports campout for 192 has some interesting story potential… Hey, Abert Folk! What do you think? (Guess we’ll find out if or when they write it!)
To close off this edition of Matt’s Notes, I recently came into possession of a wonderful book called, The Deeper Meaning of Liff: A Dictionary of Things That There Aren’t Any Words For Yet. I was amused to see two of the words it defined, and thought that they might be pertinent to this story.
Abert (vb.): To change a baby’s name at the last possible moment.
Ludlow (n): A wad of newspaper, folded table-napkin or lump of cardboard put under a wobbly table or chair to make it stand up straight. It is perhaps not widely known that air-ace Sir Douglas Bader used to get about on an enormous pair of ludlows before he had his artificial legs fitted.