Terrible Situations

 

Jimmy finally made it to the bomb after fighting dozens of henchmen. He was ready to save the day. He then said to himself. “Crud.  Which wire do I cut?”

 

I’m ready to get my drivers license said the student driver. “Wait, I thought I was the student, I don’t have my license either” said the teacher.

“Tony Bridgewater has to make this free throw to win the national championship” the announcer boomed, “Too bad he is a freshman and hasn’t played a minute all season”

“Whoa wait a second,” said the newest angel, “I am not supposed to be a guardian angel, I was promised to be the angel of death”

Model needed for tattoo practice.  Models will be compensated for their time

In my short stories I wanted to put the reader in situations where they would not want to be.  There are so many instances in everyone’s life when they encounter ‘opportunities’ that will harm them more than help them.  When those moments do happen we should be able to look at them and laugh at ourselves.  Sometimes art takes itself too seriously.  While there is a time and place for serious pieces I also believe that art should make people smile.  If art is able to evoke strong emotions of sadness, anger, and fear art should also be able to make people laugh, smile, and enjoy life. 

            One piece in class that really influenced me was the video ‘Laughing’ from our class blog.  The entire video just had people of all ages laughing.  After watching that video I realized I hadn’t laughed that hard in a long time.  I wanted to be able to create something that might be able to do the same thing.  I don’t think that these short stories will make people laugh uncontrollably, but I hope it puts a smile on a few people’s faces.

            Another piece that influenced me was the “Holiday Inn Express” commercials.  In this set of commercials people are doing amazingly difficult things and when someone asks them of their qualifications they don’t have any other than staying at a Holiday Inn Express.  In the ads there is very little dialog and a lot of the setting is implied, but it is relatable to the audience.  I wanted that same feel of the reader being able to create his or her own setting.

            This idea started when I thought how tattoo artist first start their career and how no one would want to be a tattoo artist’s first customer.  I started thinking about how I would find my first customer if I was a tattoo artist.  The idea of a Craig’s List ad was one of the first things that came to mind because Craig’s List can have some of the most ridiculous ads a person has ever seen.  Another piece of art that affected me was the film “Safety Not Guaranteed” which is about an ad of someone who was looking for a time traveling partner and it is a serious ad.  People place ads in classifieds all the time and anyone of them can be answered as long as there is one person who sees it who thinks it is a good idea.