Anniversary-ish-ness

Wonder of wonders, the Social Dummy Project has nearly come full circle. No, not as in the end. As in, a wonderfully began circle has nearly been connected to make a wonderfully unending whole. What marks this astounding and exciting thing is County Fair, the day Amanda, Catlin, and Katherine brought their 3 dummies to the fair and rampaged for 3 days. Next week marks another County Fair, and this reminded me I never actually posted the spectacular news. We got in the paper. Sure, it’s just a small town paper that lacks spell-check, but it was still crazy exciting for us. There were even people who hung out and interacted with our limp friends without us being around, which we thought was an added plus.

Let’s just say I’m feeling nostalgic, and wish we could re-live that 3 day weekend once more. Sadly, one of our number is now living far, far, away (this suddenly makes me wish she lived in the Far, Far Away that we know about from Shrek, because it would be awesome) and she won’t be able to hang out.

But that doesn’t mean we won’t have fun this year, and we are definitely going. Whether the dummies come along or not has yet to be decided, but I’m up for a round 2. Wonder if the people in Afton are as well?

Btw, two legitimate posts in two days. New. Record.

P.S. My computer is being a pain and not loading the photo I want, so that will be loaded tomo…. later today 😀

4th of July

On the 4th of July – well, if we are being technical it was the night of the 3rd, but there were fireworks, and that’s all that matters – Catlin and I took John to Lake of Three Fires for the Bedford, IA Fireworks. Sadly, we could not take Sally or Bob with us because the two were in my garage when someone locked it, and I do not have a key. I have to say, it felt a bit odd carrying around only one dummy. Although, I suppose it’s just plain odd to carry around dummies in the first place, but who’s judging which is weirder?

Anyway, a couple of Catlin’s old friends were around, so the three of us decided to walk down by the lake to say ‘howdy’. John, probably feeling stressed out since he was the only synthetic dummy around (or it was his encounter with the police officer) calmed down with a cigarette Catlin’s friend was kind enough to share.

Later, we wondered what the hell had been in that cigarette. John started climbing trees, which freaked some small children out. We soon left that area to a few catcalls and clever remarks by the kids, such as “Bye, dummy! Haha, did you hear that, dummy? You’re a dummy!” Ah, how clever indeed.

After wondering around for a bit longer, we decided to sit down and enjoy the show, especially since it seemed John could go no farther. We left him on the stairs leading away from the lake, and sat down several feet away. The fireworks weren’t too bad, but the real show began when everyone started to leave.

Since pictures are lacking here (my camera really sucks) I will do my best to describe our favorite moments.

They came in droves, the people, laughing and talking, yet eager to leave the shore of the lake and the mosquitoes that still buzzed around. Catlin and I watched silently and covertly, just shy of the dim glow cast by the lights which lined the cement stairs to our right. We glanced at each other, exchanging sly and excited smiles as we waited expectantly for someone to notice our blue friend. We were not disappointed.

“OH MY GOD!” Came a shrill screech from a slim brunette who looked to be around our own age. She had just noticed John, and quickly jumped away from him. “What? Haha, holy crap, that scared the hell out of me!”

Catlin and I laughed silently, and a group of people a little way down the hill laughed loudly at the girl. “We saw some girls drop him there earlier. Funny, huh?”

“Haha, wow. Yeah, oh my god, I thought it was real!”

She left, and more people came. Some people never noticed him, while others stopped a flight of steps down, and made a point to walk into the grass in order to give the prone figure a wide berth. Others approached cautiously, to bend over and stare for a moment before moving on, while a few prodded him with their toes or gave him a hardy kick to see if he would move.

After passing John, a college age girl turned to look back at
him, her expression concerned. She asked her boyfriend, “Think he’s ok?”

The boyfriend, a few strides behind, laughed, “Well, I walked over him, so I don’t think he’s real.”

Catlin and I looked at each other with wide eyes “Walk over him to see if he’s real?” I asked her. She shook her head, as surprised as me.

The crowds were gone now, and only a few clumps of people were leaving between wide spaces of stillness. Catlin and I were chatting and catching up as we hadn’t seen each other since October. As such, we barely noticed the small family that walked by – that is, until a small boy turned around and ran toward John.

“Woa. Amanda, look.” Following Catlin’s direction, I looked toward John, who was currently getting the hell beat out of him by the little boy. First he kicked him. Then he started to drag him away, but since John was too heavy, the boy grabbed his arm and started making John hit himself. It only lasted a few moments before the mother called. “Ok, I’m done!” the boy yelled back, as he gave poor John one last wallup. Running to catch up with his family the boy called excitedly “DAD! I BEAT SOMEONE UP!”

Catlin and I burst out laughing. I don’t know about Catlin, but that really makes me want to have kids . . . not . . . but we did agree we had learned one thing, never pass out in Bedford on the 4th of July. People will beat you to see if you are real or alive.

Oh Dear . . . It happened again!

Wow. . . talk about suspense, right? . . .or not . . . ? Anyway, again, it has been an age and a half since this site has been updated, and for that I apologize. I am claiming finals of my 5th consecutive year of college, as well as a career choice dilemma (aka I’m wondering why I chose graphic design as my major) as an excuse. It’s a sad excuse, but I will die before I chock it up to pure laziness.

Anyway, to continue the story and to make it short (since I must recognize my inability to continue a long story) Sally was missing for a couple of days, though she somehow had access to the internet and made numerous posts on Facebook, not realizing very few people cared. Poor thing, I don’t think her boyfriend minded all that much that she was missing.

Finally, I got a tip from a friend about a music student who might have taken her and locked her away in his dorm (I don’t even want to think of what might have transpired!) so I called campus police. I felt bad about calling the police, since I originally made her to leave behind in a random place . . . but I was upset not to get updates on her situation.

~Note to self, put link to FB and wordpress ON the Dummies ~

So she was found, and the campus police still laugh about the Dummy Kidnapping to this very day. Thankfully, the kid who stole her got away with a slap on the wrist. He was apparently planning to use her for a prank, and return her by the end of the semester . . . at least, that’s what I understand.

I’m sorry there are no pictures this round. I lost the memory chip that had them somewhere in Shiloh, TN last month when I was taking photos during a Civil War reenactment.

Starting in June, expect some more adventures from the Dummies. Me and Catlin have big plans, so keep up to date!

In the Aftermath

If any of you have followed Sally Lu Frebush’s Facebook page, you might already know this, but I felt like sharing it on here anyway, because I can.

There was an incident this past month. A rather traumatizing, life changing, depressing, suspenseful, and crazy happening that resulted in A. me not being able to stay in my studio after 12am because of inanimate objects moving, and B. Well . . . I’ll be coy (again, because I can) and draw B out a little bit. Who really want’s the story all at once? Why not make this more than one post. You can find out the short and sweet of it on Sally’s Facebook, but I know you want the WHOLE story. Don’t you?

It started so simple, and so innocently at the beginning of the spring semester by some unknown ceramic students. I had placed Sally on top of some drawers in my studio (after an unsuccessful attempt at using her to scare one of the ceramic teachers and my sculpture professor) thinking I would just leave her there as inspiration for the on-coming semester . Then, one month in, during a critique of my most recent project, I saw it. She was CHANGED. Not only had she stolen one of my desk lights, but she had grown hair as well! Almost giddy, I thought, YES! Let the prank wars BEGIN!

Wicked

Just realized we can like our own posts and follow ourselves! SWEET!

Because We Like That

Hey all! Greatest news this week . . . Catlin is NOT dead! She is alive, and currently working on a promotional video for TSDP to boot. It can’t get better than that. Wait, YES IT CAN! It’s just the best thing to date.

In other news, Catlin also updated our photo’s on Facebook. Here’s a teaser, and if you want to see more, check out John Smovae or Bob Rizger’s Facebook profiles. This batch of photos was taken over Christmas Break and features our adventures in the Maryville, Mo Hy-Vee, Wall-Mart, and the local martial arts academy. We met some awesome people at Hy-Vee who were more than happy to get in on the action. One lady even hopped in the cart with John and Bob, despite claiming embarrassment! THAT is what we like! Let loose and have fun!!! Wall-Mart was a COMPLETELY different atmosphere. We got weird sideways glances and one or two crude comments, but we still had an adventure in the kids section and with the bikes. Oh yeah, John and Bob even got into it with some martial artists!!!!

Outside Hy-Vee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inside Hy-Vee

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the Wall-Mart

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After a Long Hiatus… ?

Well . . . it seems Catlin is MIA in Georgia . . . and I don’t believe we will hear from her or her photographs until this summer, if we are lucky. I’ve honestly given up waiting on them, and will continue on until I get those photos (though I think that will be a small merical if it happens). No offence to Catlin, of course. She’s working hard in Georgia!!!

The good news is, I found some photos of the creation of Sally Lu Frebush, and will post them now!

She took approximately 12-15 hours to complete from start to finish. Her understructure (which I don’t have photos of, is made with plywood slats I jointed with bolts. I then covered her in re-purposed cardboard and extra newsprint from the local newspaper, and wrapped her up like a mummy with old sheets.

We are Sorry!!!

For everyone who was kind enough to pose with Bob and John, and who have visited this site to see their pictures, we are very sorry not to have them up yet! Catlin is in the middle of transferring colleges, and moving to GA so is strapped for time. Since she has all the pictures, I haven’t been able to post them. Hopefully she will have time to send them soon, or maybe make a post 😉

Rest assured, they WILL be posted!

Through rain and wind and weather…

Sidney Rodeo August, 6th  

So, Amanda and I were feeling our western oats and decided to take on another adventure. This time we took John, and Bob for a “guy’s night” out to the Rodeo in Sidney Iowa, which is a moderately sized annual rodeo in South West Iowa.

Before the Rodeo several vendors held stands outside the arena, and so to pass time Amanda and I amused ourselves by opting Bob and John to test out some of the great western gear for sale, the vendors didn’t seem to mind.

As always, our dummies earned us confused stares and questions from the passing crowd. One man even stopped and mentioned that he recognized Bob from the Hopkins Picnic, which was a very exciting moment for Amanda and me. The man who had pointed out Bob made me question: how many more will begin to recognize our dummy crew? And, how far can we actually go with this?

We also took Bob and John to a small park to pass time and posed them on the playground equipment, both frightening and amusing the children who couldn’t decide whether our dummies were people or dolls. It’s interesting to gauge reactions from people to our dummies, in fact, several people have informed me that at a glance they think the dummies ARE people but the blue dummy, John, causes them to do a double take. Amanda’s peach colored dummies have misled people to think that John was a real person having a heat stroke, until closer observation to find that it was in fact a dummy. The outrageous color scheme idea came from our former sculpture instructor Steve Banks, which turned out to be (as much as we hate giving him credit!!) a great idea.

When the rodeo finally began the people sitting around us in the stadium asked several questions about John and Bob and asked to pose in pictures with the dummies for the blog. Many people were using their camera phones to get pictures of our dummies, so hopefully our project will start buzzing around the web leading people back to our blog or facebook accounts.

Unfortunately, neither Amanda nor I had checked the weather forecast and as we were in the midst of enjoying the rodeo a storm brewed over head and cut the show short. Lightning, thunder, and pouring rain kept us locked in the stadium until the weather finally subsided. The dummies actually came in handy for a windbreak against the draft coming from behind us during the storm.

Despite the fact that the rodeo had been cut short due to the swamp that used to be the arena, the dance was still on for the night so Amanda and I took John and Bob down to share a dance in the muck. The music was performed by a live group doing classic rock covers who thought we were joking when we asked to take a photo with the dummies at an intermission.

The night ended in mud, mud, and more mud, when Amanda and I decided to spontaneously have a brawl in the mud momentarily forgetting about the dummies. Completely covered from head to toe in mud we took our last pictures with our dummies and a drunken old man who tried to steal a kiss from Amanda, who suddenly declared “I don’t think my HUSBAND would like that!” The man taking the picture explained that the photo was going up in the local pub and that the elderly man we were posing with supposedly owned a printing press in Columbia to which the photos would be sent. Whether or not our pictures were actually sent to Columbia, it’s fun to think that maybe word of our dummies is spreading in places we had never imagined – or, maybe the men would wake up with headaches in the morning and have absolutely no recollection of Bob and John…

Keep reading for updates on more adventures with Sally, Bob, and John!

Union County Fair 1st Day 7/26/11

Hey everyone! Been soooo busy this past few weeks with everything, but we did have a oportunity to go to the Union County Fair and Rodeo with our dummy friends and sidekick Katherine.

It was a very interesting two days. From the getgo, Katherine developed a “thing” for Bob, and actually kidnapped him as her date for the fair. Sally wasn’t all that thrilled, but couldn’t do too much about it. Katherine even went so far as to carry Bob all around the fairgrounds, and pose with him!

As revenge, Sally started hanging on John… I don’t know if Bob noticed. But poor John… even with Sally claiming him as her date, he got manhandled rather horribly by Catlin!

Enough of the drama, right? Ok. On our part, we took our three rather limp friends with us when we entered the open art show at the fair, and set them down in some chairs to watch the judging with us. We later moved them to a table because they weren’t paying attention, and because other people who showed more interest, kept showing up! When they were apart from us, they definitely got some attention (and I’m sure they disliked some of it!) In fact, all the dummies got manhandled and hit in the privates by a little girl who randomly walked by…. none of us are sure what we should think about that, even now.

We got a few questions from people, but we ended up leaving the dummies by themselves after the judging, and didn’t come back for them until it was time for the rodeo that night (I just found out yesterday that people had actually posed for pictures with them when we were gone).

While we were all standing in line for the rodeo Katherine and Catlin got a few comments on their dates for the evening. Then, a few moments later, a lady and man with big cameras and notepads walk up and started to interview us about what we were doing. It turned out they were from the Afton Star, a small newspaper that runs in the town the fair was held at. Our interviewer seemed pretty excited about the whole thing, so hopefully we will have our picture in the paper soon!

After we got into the rodeo, we had fun noting the reactions people had to our friends. Comments of “He looks like he’s had it for the night already” and “Haha! Look at that!” were common, although many others simply looked on with bemused expressions, or were completely unresponsive.

Perhaps my favorite reaction of the night was one Catlin related to me. Katherine and I had left to get drinks at the concession stand, and while we were gone, a man noticed the dummies and stopped to stare with a very confused expression. And he stood there. And stared. And stood there and stared a while longer, for at least a couple of minutes. Then suddenly he twitched, looked embarrassed, and quickly walked off!

After the rodeo, we set the three on the benches together while we watched the slack, but they all fell backward. They apparently drank too much when we weren’t looking, at least, that’s what most everyone who walked by said. I guess we should have kept a better eye on them.