40 years ago, in the hills outside my wife's home village, I came upon a bunch of Germans LARPing a fur traders rendezvous. Ahead of their time, I guess.
They had a flag -- for the state of Missouri.
I sent that to a Polish-American friend of mine in Arrakis who works for the film institute there. She grew up in Ohio but spent a lot of time in Poland (her dad's Polish) and speaks it fluently. She's been in touch with them and I'd planning on shooting a documentary about them.
3: That's good. It seemed like as much work as goes into building sets for a movie, there ought to be some kind of movie made out of it.
Maybe she should try to find actual Ohioans that want to go to Poland to play with them. And then she could send some Poles to rural Ohio.
Is there any difference between LARPing and playing the role assigned you by life?
I don't know, because I've never LARPed.
Jobs are sometimes easier if you view them as Larping.
I'd like to LARP the local who responded to this by offering to send the legendary red cups, winning response.
8: https://www.amazon.com/Red-Solo-Cups/s?k=Red+Solo+Cups
Is that what we're talking about?
Fair enough if you were born elsewhere.
12: Born in DC, lived in DC, Michigan, and Maryland, and went to college in Michigan, and briefly to graduate school in Illinois. Moved to Ohio over 30 years ago, but it's mostly been a long nap.
13: I have vague memories of drinking from red cups at various times, but I had no idea that they were legendary.
The folkways of this place have led to tribal affiliation by convenience store chain. Wait until the Poles find out about UDF, Sheetz, and Wawa; and then the passions they inspire.
Also, sharpest euro-US divisions are over a few foods-- the real test is whether they'll eat JIF and drink root beer.
I can't speak for the LARPers, but the red cups always mystified me watching US movies/TV. Plastic cups are pretty universally white or clear over here.
Red Solo Cups show up in song lyrics as a cheap touchstone for large house/frat parties, I think.
Do we walk in legends or on the green earth in the daylight?
I have drank much cheap beer out of red solo cups, but clear solo cups were about as common.
16: I think a few things made them popular - size, holds 18oz up to the brim; sturdiness; opacity so what you're drinking is more private; and the red color is festive. Then another big chunk is probably first-mover advantage, where they were popular because they became associated with parties with TV reinforcing it, plus the image of beer pong. But there's still plenty of partying with cheaper cups, often clear plastic; it's just not remarked upon or televised.
I never knew anyone who didn't use the free cups you get with the keg. Those were often clear.
I guess I never was at a house party in Ohio, being 21 when I moved there.
Being 21 precludes house parties?
Actually, I was 22. It's not that I couldn't go to house parties, but I always thought of them, the ones big enough for kegs, as for people too young to get into a bar.
The folk cups are less common in the bars.
I first heard about the red solo cup thing about a decade or so ago , when we had someone from the Netherlands stay with us for a couple of weeks. The one souvenir she had to bring back with her was a pack of red solo cups. We took her to the grocery store to get them, and she couldn't believe they were "just there," like "on a normal shelf." (As opposed to in the American costume section of a LARPing specialty store I guess?) She also lost her mind when she had her first horchata, but that was easier to understand.
That reminds me of when the exchange student from our class came back for a visit when we were all done with college. Someone remarked that her sister was getting married and the exchange student asked when the baby was due.
youtube videos of foreigners trying root beer for the first time are great
Things that look wrong to me that weren't remarked upon: not enough large food containers (2 liters of cola, bags of potato chips, etc.) and the place seems walkable. Even in trailer parks in Ohio you see a lot of giant pickup tanks in the background (obviously $70k vehicles are not something you can buy for a weekend of LARPING)
I guess I won't say what I paid for my destrier.
27: I've never tried horchata. Should I add that to my bucket list?
You don't need to add it to a list! Just go to a taqueria right now and get one, it'll be like three dollars. You'll love it.
I didn't do the link right. Just search for "quark root beer" on Youtube.
Don't judge me for living in Texas: we're looking at the daily schedule for the kids' YMCA sleepaway camp next week. We've done a different YMCA camp before, but that one closed down.
At the 3 pm and 4 pm blocks, it appears that the camp is split into two groups. At 3 pm, Group A goes swimming, Group B does an indoor activity, and then at 4 pm, the groups switch.
At the old camp, these groups were called Bears and Wolves. It appears that at the new camp, they're called Cowboys and Natives. wtffffffffffffffff.
Here is my optimistic take: at the old camp, in the past year or so they re-named all their cabins from Native American tribes to non-tribal names. My hope is that that occurred nationwide, and they just forgot to update the parent handbook (which does admittedly have other anachronisms in it, such as telling us about the new Delta variant of Covid.) But we shall see.
37.3: What is this woke nonsense? "Cowboys and Natives"???
That's hilarious. Soooooo close! It's 2022, everyone knows you're supposed to say "Cowboys and Indigenous People."
I cannot even with 37.
My first impression, from the FB pictures, is that they did a pretty good job of capturing the ambience of small towns that are most notable for their association with a hippie college or proximity to things of interest to artists and weirdos. Y'know, it's that class and cultural fuzziness -- the freaks are a bit more staid than freaks in the big cities, and the hillbillies are more erudite than their brethren elsewhere. Kinda place where every house has at least Foxfire 1 through 3. Also, that kind of town usually has a disproportionate number of people who like to comport themselves as "characters", so of course the LARPers fit right into that type of look.
I didn't read all their palaver, were they directly influenced by a particular town? I wonder how many of them have visited the US, and what percentage of them have been to an actual small town.
You should try a JCC, like normal people.
The only problem is you can't take a Slim Jim into the pool.
Of course, we lost the great Macho Man Randy Savage eleven years ago, but surely a cursory search of the internet ought to be able to turn up a few ex-professional wrestlers who could be inveigled to participate with a coach-class ticket and a promise of all the Żywiec they could drink.
I dreamed I saw the Macho Man
Alive as you or me
Says I, "Randy, you're ten years dead"
"I never died," says he
"I never died," says he
That's still not going to make a JCC decide a Slim Jim is kosher.
I guess I shouldn't assume without trying.
None of that looks like Cleveland to me. Certainly not University Circle.
This thread reminds me that Ohio's antidiscrimination statement includes "Appalachian" as a protected class.
I can honestly see the need for that.
As long as I can still legally avoid Toledo.
15: My kids are clearly half-American. Jif yes, root beer no.
We used to eat the fancy stuff made with nature and no sugar. It turns out sugar really helps the flavor.
This brought to mind the mockumentary TV show Welcome to Flatch by Paul Feig (Freaks and Geeks creator) set in a small Ohio town. My wife and I have watched about a half of the first season (2nd season due out in September) and have found it to be a it mixed. It's really quite stupid (on purpose) but sort of endearing in its way if you like that kind of thing. Apparently based on a British series The Country.
Says the man cogitating on whether to attend his 50th HS reunion in Dacron, Ohio this September.
Do I want to see the MAGAized versions of some former HS friends?
Has the "running of the interns" happened yet, or is it no longer and in-person thing?
Ian Millhiser as usual is spot on*.
*FYI this is an anticipatory tweet, nothing out yet.
Those two belong in the Fly thread.