Archives for the month of: June, 2016
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Management retreat

June 19, 2016 //
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The first week of the competition had taken it’s toll. Devil desperately needed a sleep-in on his day off. He is a little disappointed about the calibre of the contestants this time. In the last Super Dede Competition the contestants were much more willing to talk about themselves. This bunch here seems to be quite withdrawn. Devil had to find out the hard way, that the job of MC is much more demanding, when the contestants are not forthcoming. So yesterday he put his sleeping mask on and stayed in bed all day, not caring what else happened in the world.

Mouse on the other hand wants to make the competition a success. Instead of taking it easy on her day off, she spent all day yesterday to organise a retreat for the management team. It was rather short notice, but Mouse thought the three should learn from the first week and apply their findings to the second week. She was overjoyed, when she managed to secure the external consultant Millie. Millie was hanging around a dysfunctional workplace for a long time and had observed the most outrages things there. She was bound to offer invaluable and unbiased advice from the outside.

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They met in the dining room. “Look a the contestants” said Devil to fill the cow in “There is a clown hiding behind his mask, a gender-fluid little dog, a sick old codger, a too gentle devil and an undervalued servant.” Millie listend, swaying her head a little and said “What’s wrong with that? That should make for a very interesting competition.”  Then she focussed on Devil and said after looking straight into his eyes for a tad too long. “Can I have a look at your neck, is it by any chance red?”

 

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, Competition, contest, dada, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Relationships, workshop

Make it quick

June 17, 2016 //
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Today was Chambermaid’s turn. She entered the competition with the most votes and Devil was confident this would be a good day. Chambermaid had repeatedly assured him she wanted to make the talent show work for her as she is sick of tidying up after others. She is actually not that stupid, I think she even has a degree in something.

Chambermaid always looks pretty and she had even put some nice jewellery on to make her extra beautiful. “You look very nice” said Devil to get started. “Phew,” said Chambermaid. “I so want to be in this competition but today is not a good day for me.” Then she told the audience that the Dedes are having a party tonight and of course they want the house spick and span. Who has to tidy up? Chambermaid of course! She had to start early this morning, then had to rush to spruce herself up and run on stage. When she is done here, she will grab a bite to eat and continue with the cleaning. “You know”, she said, “I would love to explore my creativity, but when you work for two dollars fifty an hour, you have to work long hours to get the food on the table. There is not much time left be creative. I am buggered at the end of the day.”

Then she excused herself so she could continue with her duties.

 

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, Competition, dada, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life

Devil, devil

June 16, 2016 //
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It seems to be the day of the devils. At first light, lil’Devil, the the Super Dede Competition cheerleader, was dancing around the house like there is no tomorrow. We were all wondering if the competition had finished early or what. Turns out it was the regram contest that had finished. Last week in the post working hard on it the management team decided to make lil’Devil the cheerleader for the Super Dede Competition. While he was chuffed about the honor he soon found out that he would have to leave home if someone reposted the picture. For a week he was holding his breath, a hard thing to do for any devil. His job performance wasn’t that great either. You can barely see him in the pictures of the competition holding up the signs with the names of the contestants. Anyway, the offer is off the table now and no one took it up. That means the lil’Devil can stay with us. And while he will be a bit upset with the management team for some time, he will survive and happily do his job for the rest of the competition.

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Today’s contestant is also a devil, Milky Bar Devil. He skulked on stage and didn’t know what to say.  In the end the MC prompted him. “You said in your statement that you want to be in the competition to learn about how to become ruthless. Isn’t that a strange thing to say?” Milky Bar Devil looked surprised. “You of all Dedes should know what is expected of a devil, but it simply doesn’t come naturally to me.” Then he told the audience that he is studying hard and reads all the books. But when he applies all the devilish things he learned in theory, everybody just laughs at him. “I am such a useless devil! I will never fulfill the expectations of my parents. I will never be a success in their eyes.”

“Mhm” said Devil, “not sure if this competition is the right therapy for you.”

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, contest, dada, Hand Puppets, Life, recipes, Social Network

Granddad is sick

June 15, 2016 //
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I couldn’t sleep last night because it was Granddad Max’s turn today. I was so excited that the old guy had a chance to talk. It is a bit personal as I have the feeling that the world is indeed ageist. So, I had pinned so much hope on the old fellow. And then he called in sick! What a let down. I do have to understand, he didn’t want to come on stage and share his virus around. He issued a statement about his life lessons though and sent it to Devil to read out aloud: “The young ones will be old in due time & there are more shades of love than hate.” After he had read it, Devil looked around and asked, “Does this make sense or is the fever speaking here?” Our Instagram friend wizened_gnome  swiftly send us a translation of what Granddad said. “Hate is uncompromising, while love acknowledges imperfection.” So, true.

We wish Granddad Max a speedy recovery and he was right to stay in bed.

With the cancellation of Granddad’s appearance Mouse had a bit of time on hand and she used it to find out more about Lapdog. Mouse never really engaged with the little dog as she thought it is just a pretty little thing that hasn’t much grey matter between her two oversized ears. To learn more she looked on the character page yesterday only to find there is no description for Lapdog either. (Apologies: the puppets without descriptions were originally made for an exhibition and to sell. Once I develop their story I have trouble letting them go. But since I am not selling at this stage, I might as well tell their story).

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So Mouse spoke to Lapdog at the stage door. Her main concern was what personal pronoun she should use when she refers to Lapdog. The little dog laughed and said, “When you talk to me, you use you. Like you would with any other person. If I am not around, you can say he, she or it. I don’t mind as I don’t hear it. You even could say the bitch, that would be right too, as I am Lapdog.” The dog is certainly not short of confidence. Good on it.

 

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, contest, dada, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Relationships, Social Network

Sorry, lady

June 14, 2016 //
0

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This week the contestants have to talk about themselves and Snippedy had a rather bad start. When Mouse took the rubbish out she found the clown lolling about with a bottle of schnapps behind the theatre . “You know,” Mouse said to console him, “it’s okay, not everyone wants to talk about themselves.” But Snippedy felt sorry for himself. “Yes they all do” he said recalcitrantly. “I am the only one who can’t. I stuffed up big time” and he took another gulp from the bottle.

“Well” said Mouse resolutely “this is certainly not the solution!” She grabbed the bottle and chucked it into the bin together with her other rubbish and left a gobsmacked Snippedy standing there.

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Meanwhile, in the theatre Devil had to figure out who is next. There were two contestants with equal numbers: Lapdog and Granddad Max. Devil didn’t put much thought in it. “Okay, ladies first” he said and made a gesture towards Lapdog. Lapdog looked around first and then came up to the stage. “I guess you mean me” she said to Devil. “If you want me to go first, I would have appreciated it if you’d said beauty before age or something.”

Devil looked at her in astonishment. “Aren’t you a lady?” he asked.

“No I am not,” she said quite bruskly.  “Just because I’m pretty doesn’t mean I’m female.” Devil didn’t know what to say and looked her up and down. “Well” he said quietly and hoped the contestant wouldn’t hear it “we Dedes are heads only, so I can’t look into your pants.”

Lapdog has obviously had this discussion before. “We Dedes still have a gender and I consider myself gender fluid.”

“What is that supposed to mean? God only made two genders” said Devil at a loss. Lapdog laughed out loud. “That is too much to discuss here in a talent show” she said. “All I can say is that in my profession it is very beneficial to be able to emphasise with both genders equally. And I can.”

“Okay we’ll leave it then” said Devil, happy to conclude the subject. After all the Dedes embrace diversity. “Can you tell us something about yourself then?”

“I thought I just did!”

 

 

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, contest, dada, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Relationships, Social Network

Here we go

June 13, 2016 //
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Due to the complaint fromTop Dog the opening of the Super Dede Competition was a little subdued last night. The Competition is supposed to be plain old good fun. There is no ulterior motive, except, maybe, that everything will be turned into a dede book later. The management team asked the artist what they should do in regards to the complaint. No readers seemed to be concerned. Ah well, they don’t have to live with Top Dog :).  Together they nutted out an official statement that Devil read out at the opening: “We, the community of the Dedepuppets, are extremely happy that our friends did not vote for a narcissistic self-promoter. The complaint is rejected.”

Then Devil called Snippedy, the clown, on stage. He  had the lowest number of votes so he is first up to perform.

Snippedy couldn’t wait to go on. After all, in the last competition a few years back he didn’t get any votes at all. What a success it is for him to be here. And he is a performer anyway. Before Devil could say anything Snippedy turned to the crowd, lifted his arms and called: “Thank you, thank you, thank you for your confidence. I won’t disappoint you!” Then he turned to Devil with exicited anticipation to see what happens next.

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Devil explained that in the first round the five contestants have to say something about themselves. You really could see Snippedy’s face drop. “About myself?’ he asked with disbelief. “But I am a clown, I wear a mask, I don’t talk about myself!”

“Sorry mate, that is the rule!” said Devil. “You have to do it!”

Snippedy stared at the floor. “I tell jokes” he said. “I make people laugh. That’s pretty much it. Nothing more.” That was it. He wasn’t going to say anymore. Then after a while he had an idea. “I can tell you a joke about the clown!” he said brightly.

Devil sighed. “Phew. Okay then, tell us a joke.”

Snippedy’s eyes lit up and his voice regained confidence. “Why didn’t the clown cross the road?” He looked into the audience and enjoyed the silence for a brief moment. Then he answered “because he wasn’t a chicken! ha, ha, ha!” Nobody responded. “C’mon” he said, “that was funny. Laugh, guys laugh!”

“Okay, give a big hand for our first contestant” said Devil and nudged Snippedy in the side. The clown loafed off and I think we could all see a tear glisten in his eye.

 

 

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Categories Absurd, Art, Books, Comedy, Competition, contest, dada, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Promotion

Ta da… The contestants

June 12, 2016 //
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So, we have our five contestants. The comments did make a difference and it is interesting that on each social media a different puppet led. On facebook only one contestant got likes, and that was Loudmouth. Mhm. I wonder what this tells us! The blog readers definitly favoured Snotty Nosed Prince. Unfortunatley the sheer numbers of Instagram likes put him in last place together with Top Dog. (You can see the exact results on the Super Dede 16 page on this blog).

With these two Dedes not making the finals, all the puppets that would have made for a controversial competition are out. Top Dog of course didn’t take the result lying down. He put in a complaint. His beef was that he was the last contestant to be introduced to the Instagram readers and by the end of the week they obviously got tired of voting. The Dedes that were introduced earlier definitely got more likes. And to make matters worse, one of our readers fossikandforage said Top Dog should get a Hitler wig. I think she was referring to what he said. Now, that was a bit harsh. Top Dog would have liked the management team to delete this comment, but we won’t have censorship. To make matters worse the dedepuppets, whoever is hiding behind this name,  answered that there is indeed a likeliness.

Ah well, I put it to you, do you think he has a leg to stand on?

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, Competition, contest, dada, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life

Day of rest

June 11, 2016 //
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During the competition Saturday will be the day of rest. So Devil is soaking in the bath tub today. Not entirely voluntarily though. Mouse made him have one because he has a terrible sulphur smell about him, and you know that is a horrible rotten egg smell. From next Monday on he will be the MC for the Super Dede Competition and in this capacity he has to get close to the other Dedes. I think they will be all grateful to Mouse. Mouse herself doesn’t have a day of rest. On Instagram she made a little film, reminding everyone that commenting on your favourite contestant will give them a better chance. It is really interesting how these different media work.  She really wanted to try if a video makes a difference and it was the first one she took with the smart phone.

With the competition next week everything will change slightly. While the Instagram followers voted for the contestants, the blog reader will get the full story each day. The Instagram readers will only get the news clips. Before the votes closed we already got our first complaint. One of the contestants accused the organisation team of negligence. But he will withdraw his complaint if he makes it into the finals. So you have to wait until tomorrow to find out what happend.

 

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, contest, dada, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Promotion, Relationships

Rule change

June 10, 2016 //
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Finally, all the contestants have been introduced to the Instagram readers. As soon as the last two went up this morning, Detail presented the preliminary results to the management team. Mouse didn’t like what she saw. With everything added up, Granddad Max clearly leads with 67 points, second is Lapdog with 65, followed by three puppets with 60 points each. So here we would have our five contestants. However, Mouse was unhappy that Alley Cat, with only one point less, would have to go home. No, that was a little bit too close for Mouse’s liking, so she suggested a rule change. Ah well, we are in Dedeland. (I guess Mouse was a bit fearful about telling a cat she has to go home!). She came up with a new idea instead. All Likes count as one vote and every comment made about a contestant will count as 5 (five). Mouse expects that this will spread the numbers dramatically and she has no problem sending Alley Cat home, should she have 15 points less than the next one. Not even a cat could argue with that.

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Mouse quickly drew up a placard and is now parading up and down in front of the stage to get people to comment. Meanwhile, preparations for Sunday are in full swing. Detail will count out all the likes and comments on Sunday morning and then the finalists will be announced with a little do at the theatre later in the day.

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, Competition, contest, dada, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Promotion, Social Network

Midnight oil

June 9, 2016 //
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Devil had to burn the midnight oil yesterday. When he first saw the list of applicants he picked the five, maybe six Dedes, he thought would make it through the preliminaries. As MC for the competition he has to do some background research on all the contestants. Never in a million years would he have thought that the old man Granddad Max would make it into the competition. But this guy is still holding on to the lead. So now Devil has to catch up on research. Unfortunately, because Granddad Max is so old he has the longest history and this means much more work for Devil.

There are still two contestants yet to be introduced to the Instagram readers tomorrow. As already mentioned, Granddad Max is leading the table at the moment with a total of 65 votes, followed by Lapdog, who has no votes on the blog, but 60 on Instagram. Snippedy the clown and Chambermaid also have 60. Looking at it from a different angle, so far it looks like we will have experience, fun and beauty in the competition. I must say it bodes for a very good contest.

Ah well, it could all change by tomorrow. So if you haven’t voted yet, choose Super Dede 16 from the menu, look at the contestants and vote in the poll at the bottom. And don’t worry, I cannot trace who voted and you won’t get any unsolicited emails if you vote. It is all plain Dede dada fun.

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, Competition, contest, craft, dada, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Promotion, Social Network
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