The general decline in standards today

[jamespowers]

Doesn't surprise me. Heck, people used to walk off with these Bob's Big Boy statues which weigh about 300 lbs.

I could use one of those in the yard.

 

[Panadora]

[video=youtube;GICH_jJ0TBM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GICH_jJ0TBM[/video]

 

[Harp]

STRAND APPEALS FOR RETURN OF STOLEN “OSCAR.”

But for a grown adult to sashay out the door with a four-foot-tall lobby decoration tucked under their coat is aiming pretty low.”

Smacks of a Bowdoin liberal abduction.
fftopic: Viewed The Strand's website. Very impressive.:eusa_clap I would enjoy seeing Iolanta with Anna Netrebko.

 

[jamespowers]

Smacks of a Bowdoin liberal abduction.
fftopic: Viewed The Strand's website. Very impressive.:eusa_clap I would enjoy seeing Iolanta with Anna Netrebko.

Here you go:
http://youtu.be/A0OBhzoJUrc

 

[Harp]

Here you go:
http://youtu.be/A0OBhzoJUrc

Thanks, but I was referring to Anna's recent Met performance which displays her more mature interpretation.:coffee:

 

[SGTROCK]

Sorry this happened, really surprising in Maine which has the near lowest crime rate of anywhere. Well every time the thief looks at it they will be reminded they are a thief.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Doesn't surprise me. Heck, people used to walk off with these Bob's Big Boy statues which weigh about 300 lbs.

Standing joke in our house whenever we see one of these is me begging my wife to allow me a snapshot of her rubbing Big Boy's belly for good luck. She never agrees to do that: go figure.

 

[Stearmen]

Let's hope that Oscar makes his way home, and it was just a prank like the "Roaming Gnome!"

 

[Edward]

STRAND APPEALS FOR RETURN OF STOLEN “OSCAR.”

“Birdman” ran off with the Oscars at the 2015 Academy Awards, but so did a patron attending the annual big-screen Award Night party at Rockland’s Strand Theatre, and House Manager Liz McLeod is appealing to the public for help in returning the missing “Oscar.” The four-foot-tall figure, made of shaped insulation foam and covered with a paper skin, is one of a matched pair which has been displayed in the Strand lobby during Oscar season for the past ten years. “The figures were custom made for us by the Saltwater Film Society back in 2006, for an event called ‘Red Carpet Robberies,” McLeod said, “but we honestly never expected one of them to literally be robbed right off the Red Carpet.” The two figures were in place in the Strand lobby Sunday night, as nearly a hundred glamorous guests paraded past on their way to watch the awards ceremony, but when the theatre closed for the evening, according to McLeod, one of the figures was missing.

“Oscar didn’t walk out the door under his own power,” she says, “and we hate to think any of our patrons would be low enough to actually steal him. If someone wanted to borrow the figure for their own photo shoot or whatever, I’d have been perfectly happy to loan him out. But for a grown adult to sashay out the door with a four-foot-tall lobby decoration tucked under their coat is aiming pretty low.”

This isn’t the first time a Strand patron has decided to take a piece of the theatre home with them. Several years ago an ornamental brass ball was stolen from the Strand lobby following a live concert, and was never returned. A reproduction had to be manufactured, at considerable expense, to replace it. “We won’t be making a new Oscar figure to replace this one,” McLeod said, “so we’re asking whoever stole it to please return it, no questions asked. It has no monetary value, but it’s a part of the Strand’s history.”

It's amazing how many people just don't think that somebody put time and effort into creating something like that, or it just doesn't occur to them that it isn't a cheap, disposable piece for them to do with as they will. I've seen it myself - fortunatley never anything quite as significant as that, but in all my years doing various bits with Rocky Horror in cinemas, it was amazing how often people thought props and costume bits that somebody had spent hours or weeks on, in some cases, were semi-disposable things that they could just lift and take away... Hope Oscar finds his way home.

 

[dh66]

I hate to hear about this, Lizzie. Never underestimate the things a drunk person will do, I suppose.

 

[LizzieMaine]

I spent most of yesterday reviewing security tapes, but didn't spot the thief. We got the story into the local papers, and onto the theatre's Facebook page. But if public shaming doesn't work, I had a talk with our UPS man -- who promised to keep an eye out, and have his colleagues keep an eye out, as they make their rounds in the area. I'll probably file a police report today, not that I expect they'll actually do anything with it.

Crime here is more than meets the statistical eye. Violent crime is extremely low compared to metro areas, but property crime is well above the state average, nearly all of it fueled by drugs and liquor. And much of that crime goes unreported because we don't feel the local police will even bother with it if we do report it. My car gets broken into a couple times a year by addicts roaming the neighborhood looking for drugs -- it's just something we learn to take for granted. But stealing a giant novelty Oscar, well, that's beyond the pale.

 

[1mach1]

Sorry to hear about that Liz. I hope he returns.

 

[ChiTownScion]

I spent most of yesterday reviewing security tapes, but didn't spot the thief. ..... But stealing a giant novelty Oscar, well, that's beyond the pale.

I'm going to guess, and maybe even hope a little , that this whole caper was committed on impulse. I'd hate to think that there is anyone out there so seriously lacking in anything resembling "a life" that premeditation had any part in all of this.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Well, I've just gotten in to work, and the victim has been returned overnight - he was found by the janitor on the sidewalk shrouded in a garbage bag. He's cracked in two at his waist, as though his kidnaper tried to fold him in half, which is some great feat considering he's four inches thick. But with a little glue and a little archival mending tape he should be good for display next year. However, just to be safe I'm going to chain both their bases to cinder blocks when we put them out.

Evidently the power of the press is still substantial around here -- there's calls on my answering machine from TV stations wanting to cover the affair -- so it's either a slow news cycle around here or people are desperate for anything to distract their attention from the weather.

 

[HudsonHawk]

Like any good big-haired Texas gal, my wife has this fascination with "yard art"...particularly the wood cutouts celebrating various holidays and themes. A few years ago, one of her prized pieces, a Minnie Mouse dressed up in pilgrim garb, was stolen around Thanksgiving. This was the year after the lighted reindeer were re-arranged into various compromising positions that would make Hugh Hefner blush. She went absolutely ape, and swore off outdoor holiday decorating for years. She's finally replaced Minnie, but now very conspicuously chains all the pieces to a tree in the yard. She wanted to electrify them, but I had to explain to her that it was illegal.

 

[dh66]

Like any good big-haired Texas gal, my wife has this fascination with "yard art"...particularly the wood cutouts celebrating various holidays and themes. A few years ago, one of her prized pieces, a Minnie Mouse dressed up in pilgrim garb, was stolen around Thanksgiving. This was the year after the lighted reindeer were re-arranged into various compromising positions that would make Hugh Hefner blush. She went absolutely ape, and swore off outdoor holiday decorating for years. She's finally replaced Minnie, but now very conspicuously chains all the pieces to a tree in the yard. She wanted to electrify them, but I had to explain to her that it was illegal.

I'm thankful I wasn't taking a sip of coffee when I read about your reindeer. Milk coming out your nose is gross and unpleasant enough - imagine scalding hot coffee.
Sorry to hear about your trouble with vandals, but like I said - never underestimate the power of alcohol. I can't think of much else to explain why someone would snatch Minnie Mouse dressed as a pilgrim. (Well...I can, but my mind shudders to go there.)

 

[dh66]

Lizzie I'm glad Oscar showed up in (almost) one piece.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Like any good big-haired Texas gal, my wife has this fascination with "yard art"...particularly the wood cutouts celebrating various holidays and themes. A few years ago, one of her prized pieces, a Minnie Mouse dressed up in pilgrim garb, was stolen around Thanksgiving. This was the year after the lighted reindeer were re-arranged into various compromising positions that would make Hugh Hefner blush. She went absolutely ape, and swore off outdoor holiday decorating for years. She's finally replaced Minnie, but now very conspicuously chains all the pieces to a tree in the yard. She wanted to electrify them, but I had to explain to her that it was illegal.

I was going to do that when the brass ball was stolen in the lobby. I thought a doorbell transformer appropriately wired thru a relay might deliver an appropriate yet non-fatal jolt if the replacement ball was ever tampered with, but in the end I just doused the bolt threads with Loctite.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I was going to do that when the brass ball was stolen in the lobby. I thought a doorbell transformer appropriately wired thru a relay might deliver an appropriate yet non-fatal jolt if the replacement ball was ever tampered with, but in the end I just doused the bolt threads with Loctite.

I have an electric horse fence at the ranch because my neighbor can't seem to keep a fence and horses are really stupid (my neighbor ain't the sharpest crayon in the box either). It'll sure send the bees buzzing up your arm, but it'd be hard to explain to law enforcement why it was needed on the Christmas decorations.

 

[HudsonHawk]

I'm thankful I wasn't taking a sip of coffee when I read about your reindeer. Milk coming out your nose is gross and unpleasant enough - imagine scalding hot coffee.
Sorry to hear about your trouble with vandals, but like I said - never underestimate the power of alcohol. I can't think of much else to explain why someone would snatch Minnie Mouse dressed as a pilgrim. (Well...I can, but my mind shudders to go there.)

I always laugh when I hear about someone doing someting really dumb, and then hear the final "police think alcohol may have been involved." Whodathunkit.

On a side note, the most recent holiday "vandals" have simply decided to litter my yard with colorful plastic eggs every Easter. They've done it for 7 or 8 years now. It's pretty harmless, other than me having to go pick them up. Only now I have like a million plastic eggs.