classic freakshow
Oh the classic freak show! The freak show takes you into another world, it is where you watch the most mind blowing tricks. Humans go far beyond what we think is humanly possible with their bodies. And how cool is it to watch a man swallow a sword all the way down to his stomach or some woman swallow it all the way down to her hip bone! To watch is one thing, but could you follow the phrase, “monkey see, monkey do”?
The piece Children of the Sword by Bill Meagher is a profile of John “Red” Stuart who followed through. This is one of the coolest articles I have read in a long time. It took me back to being a little kid and being entranced by Ripley’s Believe It or Not. This profile is very much a visual one, it is a story that catches your eye and makes you wonder what that picture has to do with.
The City Paper though needs to do a better job with their online form of their paper. Because this is such a visual piece I want to see more. How cool would have been an online video of one of the performers doing their tricks? Or what about a side show of different pictures? Or even better could be a video of Stuart walking us through how he swallows a sword. This piece makes you ask questions like how did he do that, why don’t you show me. The internet is a great tool and I feel like the City Paper isn’t using that tool properly.
The KISS ad has to go, I can’t handle it anymore! I know last week in class we talked about online advertising and how it just does not work and I must say I fully agree if anything it takes me away from reading.
The thing about this story that I was most taken with besides just how freaking cool sword swallowing is how it is a story about community. We talk so much about finding the inner story and I think this is the perfect example of that. So you want to talk about communities and what brings people together, so you go out and find the most unusual community you can. Who does not want to read about circus freaks that are made into legends when we are younger.
Now tell me that this isn’t cool…………
