Saturday, March 6, 2010

We have been having

an ongoing debate on the word "working"

Husband and I for years have had an ongoing battle about using the terminology in regards to "the prop was/is working".

For the continuation of our long and happy (and less blood loss) life together we have decided to disagree.

That does not stop the frog queen from trying to make her point.....nor has he budged on his. We have been running in place for a long time boys and girls.

Anyway - I am going to do my best to present both sides fairly. Cross fingers.

"Prop working" - Husband definition

Partly working = working

Example - Coachman. If the lights fade up, his eyes start to glow, the sound cues, and the head is moving, the prop runs and cycles back through and starts again.....but the jaw and/or head is not moving. That is a "working" prop.

Well, yes, if you put it that way, I guess it is more "working" than "not working"

"Prop working" - frog queen definition

partly working = not working

Same example - Coachman. If the lights fade up, his eyes start to glow, the sound cues, and the head is moving, the prop runs and cycles back through and starts again.....but the jaw and/or head is not moving. That is a "not working" prop.

I guess I am more of a glass half empty type frog queen :)



See where the problem is? (Besides me being crazy :D )

To be fair - the Coachman worked most of this year....except of course, on the night that it was being filmed. :D So we do not have footage of that either :)

This year, the reliably "working/not working" prop in question was the preacher ghost. The new video was spectacular (I don't think anyone called him a civil war ghost, like they used to) and the audio worked....and the footsteps did light up for the most part, just not with the sound cues....so you would see lighted footsteps but no sound, or sound and no footsteps. Not the effect I was hoping for.

We blame a lot of it on rain...rain and electronics are never a good mix. And no, I do not want husband or any of the crew out there working on the electronics in the rain (sometimes bringing the prop in to work on is not an option - as with the preacher where it is connected to lighting and a projector and wires on the prop board.) nothing is that important. So I live with it, unhappy (and I make sure everyone knows this) but, as husband likes to remind me "there are many other props that ARE working. Get over it, this is a free yard display!!!"

After 11 years of working on this years we are no closer to solving this problem.....I guess I need to find a good way to define a "partially working" prop.

10 comments:

  1. Ouch. That one made me laugh so hard my tummy hurts. You have just described my household in one post. Mars vs. Venus, right?!? :D

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  2. When I "was" married that would have described how differently we look at things.
    I agree with you on the not working, but I would tend to get a glass half empty description. I would tell him the prop is wonky and kinda working or tell him it looks kinda crappy the way it is 'working'.
    I admit that when things aren't working the way they are suppose to I very...unsettled about it.

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  3. My opinion, if its partaly working, it's still concidered "working" as long as it does something, it's working...kinda!

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  4. I agree with you, wholly.
    Unless a prop is doing everything it was built to do, it is not working.
    If all the mechanics, lights and sound are fine but it doesn't have the scare or impact I intended, it is not working.
    A working prop does all it was made to do AND has the effect it was intended to have, or it isn't a working prop. Simple.
    Don't know how anyone can see it differently, but then I'm a total nutcase (now bouncing out of the blog making Daffy Duck 'Woo Hoo!' sounds).

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  5. LOL I agree with you 100%! In our house, it is the strings of lights. A whole section will go out and I'm having a fit. He looks at it that since the rest of them are still on, that great big black hole doesn't exist.

    If it is only partially working, then it isn't working to it's full potential for what it CAN and is SUPPOSED to do.

    Granted, no one should try and work on electronics when it is raining, or is still wet, but at the first safe opportunity, it is time to fix that prop! :-)

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  6. I'm going to sign you two up for that new show "The Marriage Ref". I just saw a preview for that on TV and your post made me think of that.

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  7. Hmmmm . . . tough call. I consider something as "working perfectly" when it is doing all that it should do. From there, I have numerous levels or sub-categories: "almost perfect", "working well", "sort of working", etc. You get the idea. Depending upon the circumstances, all of these may or may not be acceptable.

    I feel your pain regarding incessant rain. In this instance, if it does anything at all, I'd be tempted to leave it and call it a success. :)

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  8. Perfectionism will make your head explode.

    I, too, have that problem, but only with myself. I will tear things apart repeatedly until they are just right, and wonder why I am so far behind in getting anything done.

    Hear that pop? That was my head exploding.

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  9. My suggestion, drop the word "working" all together...Then break it down to functionality: "Full" "Semi" & "Non"...

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  10. "working" isn't too bad. But "Broken" is definately the wrong word in most cases.

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