“I am very disappointed in you,” said Devil, who somehow managed to make his way back onto the scene. Like most of the Dedes he had been packed away.
“But why?” asked Foxy Lady and pulled the picture of the dashing fox closer to her heart.
“I would have expected a girl of your intelligence to stand up and fight for her believes! Not run away and follow a mirage into some romantic dreamland.”
Yesterday was Truth Tuesday again and Mouse started packing her bags. Truth is, the Dedes are on the move. They will be moving from the big smoke to the countryside. This is a major undertaking. The Dedes came into existence because of changes to the current abode and now they are partially responsible for leaving it behind. It is simply because I want to have a bigger studio space. More space for more puppets and more puppet making workshops. So please, if their reporting gets a bit erratic over the next two months be lenient and don’t give up on them.
Today Top Dog snaked up to Devil. It looks like his popularity is waning and he tries to drum up more followers. He said: “I could do very well with a devil like you on my team!” But Devil doesn’t want to have a bar of it “No way” was the short and definitive reply.
“Not even if I gave you my soul?” Top Dog believes that this is an offer no real devil can refuse. “What soul? You don’t have a soul!”
Devil was deeply insulted by Top Dog’s offer. “What does he think? Does he really believe I am as mean-spirited as him?” he asked Pinkpok, the wise owl.
“Of course no-one thinks of themselves as being nasty, not even Top Dog, ” the owl replied “I know, you are well-meaning, but you often tick the Dedes off because you blatantly call a spade a spade. Sometimes it would help to present the spade nicely wrapped.”
Today is a big day for the new Dede @moss.creek and I have developed together. Moss.Creek, whose real name is Sheila, had won a referral competition. Her prize was that an image of her was turned into a puppet. In the little film, the puppet was preparing to meet the rest of the crew for the first time with her skin on. As you certainly all know, it is not easy to be the new kid on the block. Nervously, she has been practising her maiden speech all morning. The text was written by Sheila and it was the foundation from which the puppet was developed. It was a novelty for me to create a puppet in a long distance collaboration. However, Tony from xraypics, will certainly recognise the approach to the new puppet’s maiden speech. I used a tts program, as I personally have a very strong German accent, that would have set the wrong tone for the puppet :). I first used a tts with the puppets when we did a Dada Jill and Jack film, for which Tony kindly provided the text.
When Pinkpok (as the puppet was christened by Sheila) finally met all the other Dedes, she had forgotten the words she practised so conscientiously and she had to wing it. This is what she said in the end: “Darkness and the discomforts of reality will always be the most important things to face. Within this darkness we will find the true nature of how things are and find the strength to let our light shine forth.” What wise words. Ah well she is an owl. Thanks @moss.creek for the great words of wisdom. It was really fun to create Pinkpok by email! Personally I think she is rather cute, but very difficult to photograph. We hardly know her, but we already love her. Pity that she will have to leave soon. I offered Sheila jokingly she could have Top Dog and I would keep Pinkpok. But no, her response was Top Tog could go into a dog pound. She has big plans for Pinkpok and even is working on a dress for her already. And she promised, we will get letters from time to time.
Today is Truth Tuesday again. As we didn’t get new questions, I am showing you a snapshot of my puppet play area. I work with natural light in the morning. That is why on some days the pictures are duller than on others. The sun simply doesn’t work on command, at least not mine. On stage there are two Dedes currently in progress. One is an owl that is earmarked for @moss.creek (the winner of the last contest) and a unicorn. Do you have any suggestions for other characters the Dedes need?
Yesterday Mouse asked for inspirational quotes to keep her going in the face of adversity. We got a few and the Dedes are presenting some of them over the next week. Here Punch Drunk makes a start and shows what @nevermindsmallthings commented. Well, it’s not the right thing to say to Mouse right now, and mhm, to be honest it is a little depressing rather than inspirational, but it is very Dede! Punch Drunk just loved it so much and since we hardly ever see him, he was allowed to go first. We don’t want him to wander off to Top Dog’s camp too.
Feel free to send us your quote.
The Dedes started a new feature called Truth Tuesday. And today is the first one. They had the idea, as they occasionally get questions that are not related to the storyline. If we get questions, they will be answered on Tuesdays from now on. We are quite happy to do a shoutout for the person who asks. If you don’t want to be mentioned, please note this in your comment. Of course the questions should be in the Dede spirit and we reserve the right not to answer. With that sorted, we actually got a question last Sunday. A follower from Turkey asked “How many persons are you?”
Well, I am one person and there are sixty-five Dedes at the last count. As far as I am aware, I am reasonably sane and do not have multiple personalities. 😉
Meanwhile, Norman T Newbie isn’t particularly interested in what the readers ask, he wanted to know, why is everyone so upset about Top Dog. He seriously believes that it would be fantastic, if he came into power and explained: “For us it would definitely mean a brighter future. Usually puppets have a resurgence, when freedom of speech is curtailed!”
Scardy Pants who was within earshot said “I’d rather not test that one out.”
Even though you could not tell from her reaction, Cash Cow was deeply offended by L’Artiste. She went straight to see Devil’s Advocate to complain about the artist and figure out if she could sue him.
“I fear for my life,” she said, “how can I stop him? Or at least get some money off him?”
Devil’s Advocate, being who he is, did not entirely agree with her and defended L’Artiste in absentia. “He is an artist and of course he meant what he said symbolically! He just wanted to shock to get noticed. Suing him is futile, he doesn’t have a penny.”
Cash Cow had the feeling her concerns were not taken seriously.
“Ah well” she said throwing her arms in the air, “I have rights too. I will go and see if Top Dog can help!”
Devil’s Advocate was aghast. “Now we drove her into the arms of this evil puppet!” He was at a total loss how the relationship between two loveable Dedes could deteriorate so quickly. He understands both, but what can he do?
Monkey, who doesn’t particularly like the cool-headed, long-haul approach of Court Jester, thought he would ask Magician if he could do a bit of magic. That would be a quick fix, wouldn’t it? In the good old days, when everything ran smoothly, Magician was always boasting about his achievements. He could do this, that and the other thing, and much better than everyone else. But today he was in a hurry.
“No time at the moment” called Magician out to Monkey and ran the other way. “I have to hunt the Pokemons.”
“No, no, you can’t do this to us,” said Monkey and quickly stepped into Magician’s path. “You have to help us stop Top Dog,” he begged. But Magician broke down and cried. “I simply can’t face the truth,” he sobbed, covering his face to hide his embarrassment. “I can’t do it! There is no magic! It’s all an illusion.”
Monkey was bitterly disappointed “and what about the Pokemons?”
Court Jester couldn’t watch it any longer. He finally came out and asked: “Are all you Dedes insane?” He is used to holding long speeches in front of the King and he continued to explain what he meant: “Yeah, anger is a form of helplessness, but calling for the strong man? Look what happened in the real world ninety years ago, Mussolini, Stalin, Hitler, Franco! The last witnesses are still alive and you want to repeat this history? Why should it work this time? Because we have better weapons? I am not saying ‘don’t vote for Top Dog.’ All I am asking you to do is – Think about the consequences! And he certainly doesn’t get my vote!”
One of our instagram readers moss.creek was quick to respond: “I read once that in a number of Shakspearen plays with similar stories; the difference between whether it turned into a tragedy or comedy was if the characters listened to their jester’s advice. I hope we come out laughing in our own play!”
Well, the Dedes also would love to continue laughing.
Court Jester prepared a little questionnaire for all Dedes and asked them to fill it out by tomorrow. In the meantime he also asks our readers, “do you think any of the Dedes are weird?”
“You are so right,” said Nosy Neighbour to Mr Vague, who was totally taken aback by Mouses response yesterday. Mr Vague is very intimidated by Rob who is simply hanging around. “We don’t want to be confronted with these jobless ones. You and I are good citizens. You sit on the fence and I watch from behind the curtain. We don’t harm anyone!”
Mr Vague felt understood and said, “yeah, when Top Dog is in power all these do-no-good Dedes have to go. Then we won’t have to look at them anymore.”
“Actually,” said Ms Sm, who lives opposite Nosy Neighbour, “I feel very intimidated because you watch my every move from behind your curtains.” She thought she could be open because – remember – only recently Nosy Neighbour had been prepared to pose with her for the “Embrace Diversity” project.
Now he had a different tack. “In the privacy of my home I have the right to do whatever I want,” he said.
“So do I,” replied Ms Sm.
“But I have to watch you so you don’t do any evil” Nosy Neighbour said now.
“For all I know, you could be evil,” countered Ms Sm.
“Don’t be absurd!”
First things first, the new puppet has a name: Norman T Newbie III. Sounds like old money, doesn’t it?
Thank you so much to our instagram followers @trulyrealro and @angelcorpuschristi and blog reader Jessie.
The Dedes are a bit wary of the new one after his gaffe with the gun, but they try to stay open minded and will watch him for a while.
Well, while they were watching, Top Dog jumped into action and slidled up to the youngster.
“I could use a young lad just like you” he said to Norman T Newbie III and put his arm around his shoulder, “You could be in charge of security at my rallies.”
The young one was flattered but didn’t want to look too keen. “I am not completely finished yet” he said half-heartedly. “Don’t worry, I’ll look after you. I know what you need and I will give you exactly that” replied Top Dog and offered his hand to seal the deal before Norman T Newbie III could think of another excuse.
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