Comments on: Home of the picnic for detectives

Home of the picnic for detectives

gamera — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 13:29:31 -0800

How to build your very own balsawood crow, the poetry of Dennis Beerpint, Little Severin the Mystic Badger, plus lobster diagrams and of course the Binnacle of the Week await you at Hooting Yard. Celebrated in song and story, Hooting Yard (also a radio show and podcast) is the home of Frank Key, author of such works as Sydney the Bat is Awarded the Order of Lenin and A Complete and Utter History of Norwich.

By: From Bklyn

From Bklyn — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 13:48:08 -0800

This is very good news. I think maybe it's just what I've been looking for.

By: Divine_Wino

Divine_Wino — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 13:53:10 -0800

That's how I feel. I'm not entirely sure what it is that I've found, but I've found it and I've got that old tingling feeling way down in the root of me. Plus binnacles are plenty fuckin' sweet. I'm saving up for one with a couple of brass cup-holders and a scrimshawed grabbin' handle.

By: mygothlaundry

mygothlaundry — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 13:54:31 -0800

This is brilliant, thanks! It just made my afternoon far more bearable.

By: The Light Fantastic

The Light Fantastic — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 14:04:53 -0800

"If you are a mendicant, and cannot countenance frittering your paltry beggings on something as inessential as balsa wood, you may have to resort to theft." Ah, joy! Thank you so much!

By: weapons-grade pandemonium

weapons-grade pandemonium — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 14:17:51 -0800

I've decided to make the crow, and have fired off letters to Yoko Ono and Art Garfunkel. I can hardly wait for their replies. Thanks, gamera.

By: gamera

gamera — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 14:26:39 -0800

I should add that I first encountered Mr. Key as a narrator of this fine science fiction podcast.

By: quin

quin — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 14:41:32 -0800

That was an entertaining read, but am I the only one who was a little disappointed that it didn't actually tell you how to build a balsa-wood crow? At least not in a fashion that you could have an end product that you could show to your wife and say "Look honey, I made this thing instead of cleaning the house! Tell me that you love me!" So yeah, it was fun but ultimately it didn't give me the thing I need; a lightweight wooden bird. Or an excuse to not do housework.

By: Hogshead

Hogshead — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 15:32:40 -0800

Wow, I used to buy a lot of Frank's stuff back when he was still half of Malice Aforethought Press (motto: "Buy our books, you bastards" or alternatively "Not so much a small press, more an overheated photocopier") including Forty Visits to the Worm Farm, and the stories of Derek the Dust Particle. His partner in toner, Maxim Decharne (author of Beat Your Relatives to a Bloody Pulp) I later worked with at Bizarre magazine. Fun days.

By: MrFongGoesToLunch

MrFongGoesToLunch — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 15:34:40 -0800

After roaming the streets today at lunch I found myself in the direct vicinity of balsa wood AND adhesives. I wish this link had been posted before that time. Now I've got nothing to show for myself, as usual.

By: peacay

peacay — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 02:08:21 -0800

Worthy post and thanks for the further info Hogshead. I found the extraordinary Hootingyard a while ago via plep, a Mefite who is also extraordinary but in a much less psylocybinesque way.