Avid, or just jealous? (Project Balatro #1)

Originally published at "PRT Is A Joke" IS A JOKE v.1
Words written with wildcards (***, !!!, etc.) was the way we originally wrote Ken Avidor, Ken, and Avidor.

We are proud to present, in all its glory, the first piece in the puzzle that is *** ******, anti-PRT activist unextraordinaire. It is an apt place at which to begin our group-written biography of ***, as it attempts to reconstruct the seminal event he often cites as the reason for his crusade.

But first a few words of wisdom from a big-time author:

Since 1934, any number of films have used some version of this disclaimer: "The events and characters depicted in this photoplay are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental."...

Clearly, the "coincidence" and "fictitious" disclaimers are inadequate summaries of the truth status of many films to which they are appended. Nor do they fully protect against a defamation suit, as the makers of the World War II movie They Were Expendable were to learn when sued by Commander Robert Kelly in 1948, and as the makers of The Bell Jar learned when sued earlier this year.

But the other guise in which historical films often present themselves is not wholly satisfactory either. Here no one can be held liable... Words roll across the early frames, attributed to no one, setting the stage with an available historical past. Sometimes the claim to veracity is explicit. Truffaut's finely wrought Story of Adele H., drawn from the journal of Victor Hugo's daughter, opens: "The story (histoire) of Adele is true; it is about events that really happened and people who really existed. "Near the beginning of Roland Joffe's The Mission, we read, "The historical events represented in this story are true and happened in Paraguay and Argentina in 1758 and 1759." And not long after the opening images of The Return of Martin Guerre, an unknown voice tells the audience, "This is not a tale of adventure or imaginary fable, but a pure, true story (pas un conk aventureux ou invention fabuleuse, mais une pure et vraie histoire)." True history simply exists out there, and is as available to be drawn upon as legend.

-Umberto Eco
The Yale Review, 86 (1986-87): 457-82

And now, on with the show. This piece of intel was received on super-dooper double-secret background from "R," we hope you find it instructive, as well as enlightening:



Few know the real story behind ******'s anti-PRT obsession. He claims an angry PRTer disrupted a work-shop put on by him and his wife and decided then and there to confound PRT at every turn. The truth is more interesting:

He was putting on his work-shop on transit alternatives when one J.E. Anderson spoke up to offer the alternative of PRT. He eruditely and compellingly laid out the case for PRT. He dazzled one and all with his technical expertise.

****** was smitten by the good doctor's charm and intellect. After Anderson finished, ****** offered to leave his wife and elope with Anderson on a torrid love affair. Anderson was flattered but replied that he could only have one true love, PRT.

******was enraged, he then and there decided that if he could not have Anderson, no one would, including PRT. So began his life-long vendetta against PRT.

Hell hath no fury like an ****** scorned.

The truth is out there. Follow the guideway.

Keep sending those stories! Remember when using the email link at right to replace the "AT" in the address with a "@"--an anti-spam precaution.

Erratum: 3167 visits


gPRT