#We had such a laff that we all picked an annual day to look back on it and remember The Good Times

[bonefall]

I just read your response about how the Erin's didn't realise the colonialism themes of DOTC and now I'm wondering if it's because they're British - a big fucking colonialist country

I am also British and I have seen first hand how watered down the empire's negative consequences are in schools. I still remember being told, "the only ones that weren't having a great time were the slaves." when in reality no-one but the British was having a good time

It's unthinkable that the fact they are White British Authors of a Certain Age didn't contribute to it. Like... that's just how culture works, even if it somehow wasn't at all related to their formal education. It influences how you think.

(Also as an aside, even most of The British didn't like the whole empire thing. 3/4ths of Britain isn't England. 2024 is still young, come on guys, be hilarious)

I can't ENTIRELY pin this one on you guys though, the writers are English but their biggest audience is American. And the Americans also predictably failed to catch the themes. ALSO a big colonialist country.

(I happened to get a really good education though, especially for a public school. I don't know if My Fellow Americans even learned about the Whiskey Rebellion or the Banana Wars)

It's also hard to explain it, but the Erins also have a very British way of writing fat people. There's overlap between them, but Brit and American fatphobia has two 'trends.'

American fatphobia tends to frame weight as being funny, pathetic, and a sign of a lack of discipline. English fatphobia tends use it to make a villainous or annoying character appear even more vile, greedy, and unhygienic. American media has also had a stronger trend of body positivity lately, whereas I'm having a hard time even thinking of overweight English characters who are not mocked for their size.

These are just the two things I've noticed though. I'm sure there's more noteworthy trends about WC that's influenced by its authors coming from where they do.

#Sometimes hearing about another country's propaganda is so vile you have to laugh #Yeah we were all havin a laff under the British Empire #We had such a laff that we all picked an annual day to look back on it and remember The Good Times #The Americans loved the king so much we turned the Boston harbor into a big teapot to celebrate him 🫖 #Bone babble #Fatphobia #Colonialism #Racism

[sohannabarberaesque]

We now return you to Catalina Island for more of the Hanna-Barbera Character Convocation coincident with the Avalon Harbour Underwater Cleanup ...

Saturday morning: What more of a brilliant and blessed sunrise could you ask for, especially considering that The Magic Isle doesn't have the hazy smog of the mainland ... but let's begin this day before sunrise, just before sunrise even, which Avalonians and visitors alike can actually watch over the Pacific. Beginning with quite the buffet-style breakfast for all involved (and believe you me, the Cahuenga Pass Funtastic Divers could use plenty of nourishment heading into the dive this morning), featuring omlettes to order, malted waffle station, scrambled eggs, bacon, SPAM, hash browns--and, for good measure, the Cattanooga Cats' Famous Grits Bar, with plenty of stir-ins and toppers galore such as ham bits, red eye gravy, shredded cheese, butter, salt-free seasoning even ... and for many, the novelty of grits in classic Southern style is attraction enough. Not to mention straight coffee, coffee with chicory, breakfast blend tea (from the Gatlinburg coffee roastery of said Cattanooga Cats, mind you)....

At any rate, Oh So Chuckleberry "himself" issued some final reminders to the diver participants to get in a last-minute air tank refill and/or equipment check at the dive shop on the Green Pleasure Pier, and that the 9 o'clock safety briefing for divers IS MANDATORY AND BINDING.

One highlight of the buffet was doubtless when Yogi Bear put in a call to Snagglepuss on the latter's mobile from Jellystone, adding that the hibernation was getting wound down for the most part and extending the best wishes and salutations of the occasion ("I can't believe that some of my friends are in such a magic isle as Catalina is, and for a good cause, to boot!"--Yogi Bear) ... and Loopy DeLoop was calling from a remote part of his hobby sugarbush in Quebec's Estrie region, checking the hosing feeding the sugaring house from the bush itself and adding another couple of sugar maples to the network (as it were) and adding that the maple sap run was a bit on the slow side at the moment, but with milder weather expected, things were bound to improve in time for the annual production of his artisanal soft maple sugar loaves.

Saturday morning again, just before 9: With registrations checked out, the Cahuenga Pass Funtastic Divers head out to the beach for the safety briefing. Even the likes of Captain Caveman, who, as luck would have it, would be something of an unlikely mascot to the divers by virtue of his freediving approach (and his handlers, the Teen Angels, producing some GoPro footage of the whole). At any rate, the area being covered is the area of Avalon Bay between Casino Point and the Green Pleasure Pier and out 50 feet from shore, with a maximum depth for all divers of 50 feet.

9:30 ... the air horn sounds as signals all participants into the water. Mouthpieces fitted in ... regulators checked ... air lines working ... and just breaking free of the shallows, the diving begins in serious earnest for good. As in combing through the sand bottom of Avalon Harbour, making certain they don't get caught in the wrong sort of places (e.g., anchorage points or even the underwater telephone cable from the mainland) in their search for the garbage left in the past year by boaters as dropped anchor in Avalon Bay. Garbage--and then some: Mobile phones, tablet PC's, wallets, bottles of liquor with stuff still in them (instructions being not to open the bottles underwater, just put them in the garbage bag), clothing haplessly thrown overboard--I assume you get the idea of what to expect. Admittedly, the pickings the divers can expect tend to vary from year to year, depending on the storms, tides and weather generally.

Meanwhile, on shore, the Non-Diving Participants (Snagglepuss and Huck among them) engage in much conversation over coffee and rolls, particularly among spectators and fellow Funtastics. As well as imagining what sort of debris booty will be reclaimed from Avalon Bay's bottom by 11 o'clock, when divers will be asked to exit the water and dump their hauls on the Wrigley Plaza Stage to reveal all. Not to mention Mildew Wolf and Snagglepuss using the occasion to recall the "good old days" back hosting Laff-a-Lympics and imagining some of the potential therefrom creeping into the Convocations' spirit, especially at Steamboat Springs' Winter Carnival.

11 o'clock: The last of the divers are leaving Avalon Bay ... and of all the finds to be had from Avalon Bay's depths nearshore, Peter Potamus and Lippy the Lion are hauling to shore the denuded remains of a bedframe's springs, with slight signs of sea water corrosion. (Which had even fellow divers wondering how exactly the bedframe got tossed into Avalon Bay, to begin with. Or, for that matter, who tossed same into the water.) At any rate, other finds of the Cahuenga Pass Funtastic Divers during the cleanup were:

Bottles of whisky (notably Tennessee and Canadian such), slibovitz (a Slovenian plum brandy), sloe gin, sake and brandy, still in their bottles

Alligator-skin handbag of the tackiest sort, and with much in the way of papers still inside

Gold coins, notably several Kruggerands tossed overboard in the salad days of apartheid's depravities as a show of protest; two half-ounce Mexican Centenarios and an American Eagle were also uncovered

Gift cards as probably had much of their value used up, to begin with

RFID-blocker wallets (still having credit and debit cards intact, and a few with cash)

Transistor shortwave radios, one a Zenith Trans-Oceanic of Jonny Quest vintage

An unopened package of AA batteries as looked rather cheap

But it was the bedframe that took the proverbial laurels for Largest Haul, prompting Peter Potamus to remark that it was just crazy to picture an old bed frame in the harbour, and wonder how best to haul same up, signalling for the closest diver (Lippy the Lion, it turned out) to help surface the same. And during the presentation, Square Bear could be overheard remarking what it would have been like to have found a treasure chest of the Yogi's Treasure Hunt sort during the cleanup.

But at any rate, the Cahuenga Pass Funtastic Divers were especially recognised for not so much their attendance as for "adding some colour and variety to the proceedings", with the organisers, Snagglepuss and Huckleberry Hound, receiving Citations of Recognition. Asked for remarks, Huckleberry Hound saith--

I have to admit that, for the last couple of years, we've been finding a few interesting events around the country by which we could have, you know, these little ol' gatherings of fellow characters ... hoping as much for sharing old friendships and stoking renewed interest in our kind from newer generations who probably may not otherwise be acquainted with our sort. And the response we've seen--in Truth or Consequences, Minneapolis, Steamboat Springs, Wisconsin Dells and now here on Catalina--just makes this little ol' hound dog feel somewhat warm inside.

Which was enough to seriously bring out the applause from locals and visitors gathered. And plenty of interesting variety for the early-evening TV news bulletins from back on “the mainland.”

#fanfic friday #hanna barbera #convocation #avalon harbor cleanup #underwater cleanup #huckleberry hound #snagglepuss #breakfast buffet #debriefing #unlikely garbage hauls #catalina island #bedframe