Happy Birthday
May. 20th, 2009 12:52 am![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
Before we get this show on the road, there are some important things that need to be said about this final date of the Joker’s.
· Ned Kelly is a movie that starred Heath Ledger in the title role. I haven’t seen it, but I wanted a major nod to Mr. Ledger in this story, since this was the last one in the Date Series.
· Another major inspiration for this story was Stealers Wheel’s song “Stuck in the Middle with You.” Here are the full lyrics, for anyone interested.
Well I don't know why I came here tonight,
I got the feeling that something ain't right,
I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair,
And I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs,
Clowns to the left of me,
Jokers to the right, here I am,
Stuck in the middle with you.
Yes I'm stuck in the middle with you,
And I'm wondering what it is I should do,
It's so hard to keep this smile from my face,
Losing control, yeah, I'm all over the place,
Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right,
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you.
Well you started out with nothing,
And you're proud that you're a self made man,
And your friends, they all come crawlin,
Slap you on the back and say,
Please.... Please.....
Trying to make some sense of it all,
But I can see that it makes no sense at all,
Is it cool to go to sleep on the floor,
'Cause I don't think that I can take anymore
Clowns to the left of me, Jokers to the right,
Here I am, stuck in the middle with you.
Well you started out with nothing,
And you're proud that you're a self made man,
And your friends, they all come crawlin,
Slap you on the back and say,
Please.... Please.....
Well I don't know why I came here tonight,
I got the feeling that something ain't right,
I'm so scared in case I fall off my chair,
And I'm wondering how I'll get down the stairs,
Clowns to the left of me,
Jokers to the right, here I am,
Stuck in the middle with you,
Yes I'm stuck in the middle with you,
Stuck in the middle with you.
Hopefully, my use of the song will help scrub the brains of several psychically-damaged Reservoir Dogs viewers, but probably not, since the movie is referenced as well. Ha! Either way, I wouldn’t mind having a clown to the left of me (never thought I’d say that) and Joker to the right. Just trying to be honest. Honesty is, after all, the best policy.
· The song to which Annie serenades the Joker and Roxy is “Mandocello” by Cheap Trick. It was also covered by Concrete Blonde which, over the course of the Date Series, has become the top contender in scoring my personal Joker. Don’t ask me why, as I’m as perplexed by this as anyone else may be. At any rate, if you haven’t heard Concrete Blonde, you really need to. Johnette Napolitano, the soul of the band, is a total genius. Her music and lyrics are nothing short of miraculous, inspirational, and magickal.
· The end of this story is not mine at all, save for a little artistic license on my part. It’s not so easy to flesh out a script, which is what this was, and turn it into prose, so I hope my attempt measures up, at least in part, to the brilliance of the original script. In my own little Joker world, I’d like to think that the friend to whom Mister J infers might be smuggling out the sessions in “Arkham Bound” is actually Annie, perhaps with the help of Roxy. All that said, the end of the story belongs to Mister J and the whole Joker Blogs crew, and is the beginning of The Joker Blogs, entitled “Therapy Begins.” Without them, I don’t think I would have continued to write the Joker for as long as I have. Certainly ‘The Banker’s Date,’ although very much inspired by PaisleyDaze, wouldn’t have been written, nor would have ‘The Singer’s Date.’ The part where J notes that Kelly is a girl’s name is also Blogs-inspired. The mention of Steve is also from the Blogs. Again, I can’t stress enough that you people who haven’t seen these Blogs really really really need to. Here’s the URL: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheJokerBlogs. Now skadoodle (I took that from there, too, but you’ll have to watch them all to see from which Blog I got it. Now you have to watch them. All. Neener.).
· The Final Date is dedicated to Kanike (rancid_rainbow),
gratefuldread (Harley Queen),
paisleydaze,
miintikwa,
booraven22, Gerry Rafferty (glad you’re alive!), Johnette Napolitano, the Joker Blogs Dude (I’m calling you Norvus Cobblepot until you, at last, reveal yourself to the Jedi, and the Sith) and, of course, Heath Ledger. Without Heath, none of this would even exist. May your time in the Summerlands be graced with joy, peace, and blessed sleep, until you decide to return to awe and inspire us all over again.