Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Jester Minute

What Are You Clowns Laughing At?

Photograph copyright: DAVID McMAHON


One of the prizes at this fairground stall was a big blue teddy bear – and I tried very hard to include it in this frame. Why? Because I could have used the headline ``Grin And Bear It’’. But the bear was too far out of the frame – and since I never ``set up’’ shots, I didn’t ask the stall holder to move the bear closer in. The light wasn’t great, so I just went for the three clowns instead. Anyone who has played the clown game in Australia knows how it goes – you have to drop a series of table tennis balls into a clown’s mouth (while the head rotates through 150 degrees) to try and reach a series of numbered slots in order to win corresponding prizes. No, I’ve never been good at numbers.

13 comments:

Luke Dockery said...

David,

I wanted to thank you again for the help you offered me earlier. With your help and quite a bit of work tweaking my html template, I am close to finished, and have managed to change the look of my blog quite a bit.

Thanks again.

http://lukedockery.blogspot.com

B.T.Bear (esq.) said...

A BIG BLUE TEDDY BEAR???????????????????????

david mcmahon said...

G'day Luke,

Nice to hear from you again. Not everyone comes back to say thank you - but I don't expect them to, either.

I offer the help just because, well, just because that's the thing to do. And because I expect that those I help will in turn help others who need assistance.

Really appreciate your comment. Glad my advice was useful. Will check out the changes in your site shortly.

Good luck, mate. Stay in touch if there's anything I can do to help.

Cheers

David

david mcmahon said...

Hi BTBear,

I had the stopwatch on you - because I knew you'd react swiftly.

You were out of the blocks like Linford Christie!

Cheers

David

Bart said...

Can't sleep, clown will eat me...

Cuckoo said...

Though I stayed in Sydney for around 10 months, never knew about this game.

Thanks for sharing.

Anonymous said...

I played this game and did quite well in it. Its amazing how when you are good at something so believe that you will always be good (even without practice) at it cause after 7 years when I played it again (something similar) at the Oktoberfest in Munich last year the tennis ball was all over the place. In fact on one of the throws the ball missed the target completely, hit the back wall and came back and hit me on my head. Made a few people laugh... Siddharth

david mcmahon said...

Hi Bart,

Imagine if we lived in a monarchy - there'd be clown princes everywhere!

Aaaaargh!

David

david mcmahon said...

Hi Cuckoo,

Siddharth spends two years in Oz and I find out ten days ago. You spend time in Sydney and I only find out today ....

What's with you people and keeping all your secrets from me?!!!

Did you enjoy Sydney? It's a great city. Look forward to some of your Sydney stories ....

Cheers

David

david mcmahon said...

Hi Siddharth,

You are so right in that observation about human nature. We always believe we retain mystical powers!

I also find it really amusing that the Oktoberfest starts in September. Must get there one day - I would be the only non-beer drinking photographer!

I hope Reem was not among the people who laughed at you!

Cheers

David

david mcmahon said...

Hi Savannah,

Thank you for your encouragement. I must admit I have a bit of fun with the titles!

Hope to see you here again soon.

Cheers

David

Anonymous said...

She was not there at that time. She was back in India by then (I planned it to perfection.. ha ha). But trust me had she been there, her laughter would have drowned everyone else's. You have to get to Oktoberfest, its one the greatest gathering I have seen ever. In fact I need to take Reem there once as well so maybe we can plan it together and go in a nice big Indo - Aussie group.

Anonymous said...

The above message was from me.. Siddharth