Friday, March 4, 2011

Blog #5 - Bouncing to the mooooooonnnnnn...

Gilbert's carnival arrives in town. It sets-up in the vacant lot between the animal shelter and the old cinema. The falafal cart gets usurped. The concession booth replaces it. The booth has stale popcorn and the smell pervades the neighborhood. There is dingy cotton candy tacked to the side of the concession stand.

Rides:
>a bouncy house
>the Ferris wheel does not really function well. It stops everytime around. Three of the chairs are crooked.
>there is a "ball pit" - there are things that move around the bottom of it.
>a walk-through "fun house" has a bunch of mirrors in it
>trailer that is a "freak show"
>cages of animals - goats, pigs - that race with one another every hour
>games with dangerous weapons, water guns, puck-a-duck, etc.
>random people walk through eating swords, breathing fire and ranting
>the prizes at all the gaming booths are weird
>bumper car ride keeps randomly quitting on certain cars. The cars stop, then go, then randomly stop for a few minutes at a time.
>the organ grinder has a monkey who is a pick-pocket
>The day is ridiculously bright, beautiful and warm.
>the exits keep moving and everyone is confused about how to leave
>there is a cacophony of soundtracks and the monotone of the MC droning on and on.
>a bus full of children from the pre-K school arrive, get off, but the bus breaks down and stalls in the middle of Sam Street.
>clowns that seem a little off and a bit scary go around on unicycles. Then they wander around town and are spotted in the strip club, in the diner, the soup kitchen, buying Vietnamese food and sleeping in the abandoned box cars and other random places.
>At dusk, the power goes out on the whole block, but the carnival still has power and lights. The power stays out all night and on all night in the carnival.
>It's full moon and rises to its apex at 11 PM. It's the beginning of spring. It's still a bit chilly, but the snow is gone.
>Food trailer has fried food of some kind and on the counter, there are two big jars, one of pickled eggs and the other is pickled pigs feet. There is a small shed around back of the trailer that is selling bootleg liquor.
>Tilt-a-whirl is near the back of the carnival
>"rock and roll rattle" ride is the one that looks kind of like a roller coaster but it just goes in a small wavy circle and pushes everyone against the inside edge and then it reverses.
>There are three ticket booths that smell of stale cigarettes and use recycled tickets.
>There is a balloon man, who is mean, and doesn't ever make what people request and makes snakes.
>the photo booth takes pictures, but only one person's face appears on the print.
>Carousel that goes backwards
>kissing booth with a toothless man and a woman with really, really big textured fat lips and a mole to the right between her lip and nose.
>Charlie Sheen has gotten lost and wanders into the carnival grounds.



Characters:
Babushka Svetlina
Mr. John Gappon
Lucky the Dog
Pastor Dan
Shaunicia
Loli Gracicia Colga

No comments:

Post a Comment