Today Lapdog skipped on stage and announced “I don’t know exactly what I’m doing, but I seem to have a special skill. Maybe you can tell me.” Without further hesitation and a cajoling smile she hopped on Devil’s lap. “It’s working very well for me. I get toys, I get the most expensive dinners and have the most comfy bed. I have everything I need and more!” Then she put her paw on Devil’s cheek. It obviously made him a little ill at ease and he didn’t know where to look. If he recalled correctly, in the rulebook it said he shouldn’t fraternise with the contestants. But Lapdog just ignored Devil’s unease and continued chatting away. “All I need to do is sit still and let people put their hands all over me. And if they don’t want to at first, I just wiggle my tail a little and they’ll come right!” Devil, too, relaxed a little and even patted her on the head. “You seem to be quite good at it. Yes, it is definitely a skill!”
Snippedy bounced on stage and explained to Devil that he has plenty of skills and it was difficult to decide what to show. He could juggle all sorts of things, much more than Chambermaid, obviously. He could also laugh out loud, not a skill many have. Unfortunately none of his capablilities seem to make a huge impact on the world. Therefore, he has recently started standing on his head. He had hardly spoken the words when he turned up side down. “You should try it one day” he recommended to the audience. “You get a totally different perspective!”
Milky Bar Devil is a caring sort of guy. He loves to work in the kitchen, cooking, baking, and of course making a mess. So for his skill performance he baked his famous hamburger buns and brought them to the stage. They are so easy to make and take all of 40 mins from start to finish. He has done them so many times and they always have been popular. Devil, the MC, was not impressed: “That is such an old hat” he said sneeringly “We all know you were the poster boy of the Artist’s Survival Cookbook*.” Milky Bar Devil was surprised “No one told me it needs to be a new skill!”
Ah well, the others ate the buns and didn’t complain.
*The Dedepuppet cookbook with recipes from flour and water is available from Amazon.com
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).
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.
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.
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?”
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.
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.
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.
Mouse was very keen this morning to find out how the first day went. She doesn’t like to look at the blog on her mobile phone, so she jumped on the laptop before breakfast…. and the silly computer did it’s silly updates. She got so frustrated that she nearly chucked it in. She wrote a post for Instagram, telling the readers that there is no update and just as she was about to hit the publish button, the computer made its welcome noise. Grrr.
So, she deleted her angry post and hopped back onto the computer to check out what happened on the blog. Nothing much. Grrrr again.
“Clearly our mistake, ” said Devil “we have let the blog slide too much.”
“That is history. We try to make amends here, aren’t we” said Mouse and analysed what she saw. On the blog all contestants were introduced at once and Snotty Nosed Prince has clearly taken the lead. There are six Dedes with the same amount of votes (1! isn’t that sad) and two who have no votes whatsoever, Lapdog and Loudmouth. “I know how that feels” said Snippedy, the clown, secretly smirking away as he knew this time he will be safe, at least he has some votes. In the last competition he didn’t get past the preliminaries. He had nothing, zilch!
On Instagram only two contestants were introduced yesterday: Chambermaid and Snippedy. Both showed equal amounts of likes this morning, 57 to be precise. So with their one vote from the blog each, they are currently sharing the lead. But the two Dedes that were introduced this morning are catching up fast.
If you haven’t voted yet, Mouse has set-up a special page here on the blog (available from the menu) where you can read about all the contestants and vote. The Dedes do appreciate your support!
This week is a preliminary round and you are asked to vote for your favourite puppet or puppets, those you would like to be contestants in the Super Dede Competition. Of course, not all Dedes are in favour of the competition and Detail has done a great job of rustling up these 10 brave Dedes to choose from. The five with the highest score will go on to compete. The others will be sent home. To help you with your decision the ten puppets were asked to briefly state why they are here.
It will be a bit tricky establishing the winner of the preliminary round, as the competition runs on Instagram, Facebook and this blog. Mouse will simply add the Instagram and Facebook likes to the poll result on the blog. We have until next Saturday to establish who will become contestants.
You can vote for more than one puppet and please, please, please tell all your friends to vote too :)
The Dedes work impromptu and they appreciate any comments and suggestions. We are all very excited about what is going to happen in the next four weeks. All comments will go into the draw for a signed copy of the first Dede puppet book Hermit’s Web or the few friends I need, I handcraft myself.
Now give a big hand for the applicants!
(In alphabetical order)
Alley Cat
“I am here because it wasn’t cool enough for Cool Cat, but we felines need a representative in the cast.”
Chambermaid
“I want to be in the competition because I am sick of tidying up after all the other Dedes.”
Granddad Max
“I am old but I am not dead. We seniors have something to say.”
Milky Bar Devil
“I am a devil in training and I want to learn how to become ruthless.”
Lapdog
“I am here because I’m soooo prettaay.”
Loudmouth
“Honestly, I am the only Dede who can sing. This is a singing contest, isn’t it?”
Snippedy
“I didn’t make it last time, so I’m trying again.”
Snotty Nosed Prince
“The king said I should experience what the commoners enjoy.”
Sunny
“I want to be an artist and the prize money might set me up.”
Top Dog
“I will win. I am a joker, I simply trump them all.”
Phew, Detail has managed to find 10 brave Dedes to put their heart on the line for the new Super Dede Competition. I don’t know how, but she has. For the moment she is still holding the list close to her chest. It will be revealed in the week starting tomorrow.
I have to commend the three puppets on the management team. They work excellently together. Mouse is the hard worker, Detail makes sure, nothing is overlooked and Devil is the pretty public face. So, tell me what can go wrong?
However, there are still a few organisational issues to clarify and discuss. First of all, what is in it for our readers who comment or make suggestions? The management team decided that every single comment and suggestion will go into the draw for a signed copy of the first Dede puppet book Hermit’s Web or the few friends I need, I handcraft myself. This is the story of how it all began. The puppets haven’t said exactly how many copies they will make available. If there is good participation they will up the ante and make more prizes available. They will keep you posted. Also, should you win and you already have the book, we find another Dede prize for you :).
So far, the Dedes have posted only one image a day on Instagram, for the competition this will most certainly change. To be honest, the Dedes totally dislike when you get bombarded with images from one single person, but to get all the information out they will definitely need more space. The headquarters for the competition is located on the blog. Here you will always find more info than on Instagram or Facebook.
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