Cropduster

So Ryan has been trying to persuade me to watch The Little Shop of Horrors for quite a while now. I've been reluctant to watch a musical regarding a flesh-eating plant, but yesterday there just was nothing to do and it seemed as if the whole block invaded our flat to watch Bruce Almighty, so I thought I'd give it a try.

I happened to watch a scene in advance when he was flipping through the extras, and it was Steve Martin (looking very young... no white hair for a change!) doing some really odd stuff, so I thought it'd be a good laugh. So well, we ready his room and stuff, and then we start to watch it. Towards the end of the beginning credits the director comes up: Frank Oz. "It's directed by fucking Yoda!" I cry out. He seems confused, so after my initial panic attack I clarify for him "Frank Oz, he's Yoda..." and then he realises it. It was a pretty good film (musical, whatever you want to call it), but what else could you expect when Yoda is directing it? Can't you just see it? "No no... hmmm... terrible that scene it was, redo it we must!" and then after a few bad takes he'd start to get pissed until the point where he goes "Not do this I should, but deserve it you do!" and he uses the force to strangle the actor to death. Ah, good old Yoda.

A few days ago I was having my usual lunch with James at the Union. There was this stand that said "the arms trade has got to stop" and a bunch of other stuff, including a picture of a small boy (as you'd expect). James tells me that one of the girls working there is in his French class, and that she used to have long blonde hair but she decided to dye it ginger... but then she didn't like it and she had dyed it like 4 times and it had stayed ginger. She was ginger for life now! Anyway, we knew they were going to come to our table to ask for something eventually, and James mentioned it would be funny if I said that back home my dad's business was to manufacture arms. It would be pretty funny, I guess.

So, as expected, she approaches the table and tells us that she would really appreciate it if we took a picture with a sign that said "stop the arms trade" and whatever. "My dad manufactures weapons in Venezuela. In fact, that's the reason why I'm studying here: those arms are funding my education. I wouldn't be able to take a picture against arms trade because they've only been beneficial for me" I say. She's shocked to death, but she doesn't want to show it. After a few seconds of silence, she says "oh, well, that's interesting... uhm... well, if you change your mind.. I mean, have a... erm... yeah, we'll be over there" and she rushed off. I wonder what she told her coleagues. It was well fun to watch her reaction, and James did his best to not laugh. However, after she was gone he burst in laughter and told me he didn't believe I had actually said that.

Then, when leaving, he says he's going to take the picture, just because he knows the girl and whatever. So I decide to tag along. She sees me there and she seems a bit uneasy, but doesn't say anything. The other girl asks me if I'm going to take the picture, and James tries to talk me into it briefly. Since I don't have anything against being against arms (get it?) I tell him to fill out my details. So in the end I take the picture, much to her amazement. I wonder what she must've thought of me. Just as we're about to leave, I let her in on a small secret "my dad's really not a weapon's manufacturer" I tell her. I was going to leave her in the dark, but I figured that then she'd think bad of Venezuela (not that she doesn't already, but just making sure) so I thought clearning things up would be appropriate.