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Robert Shields Re-enactment
July 25, 1993. 7 am: I cleaned out the tub and scraped my feet with my fingernails to remove layers of dead skin. 7.05 am: Passed a large, firm stool, and a pint of urine. Used five sheets of paper. | |
Robert Shields kept a diary. Between 1972 and 1997 he managed to produce approximately thirty-seven and a half million words, describing his life in five minute blocks, recording all the minutiae of an increasingly sedentary lifestyle. He clacked away on his typewriter recording his bank balance, his
dreams, his ablutative routine, his prayers, what he watched on TV and, yes, his bowel movements. His diary has never been read.
This re-enactment will be as detailed and as thoroughgoing as the man himself. All that is needed is a single actor or artist to agree to play the part of Robert Shields, carrying on his life, following the detailed instructions set out in the diary, until the diary's end. A replica of Shields's house will be provided, along with professional, paid actors to play the parts of the various people he interacted with. Dieticians will be on hand to ensure that the actor's stools and water accord as closely as possible to those expelled by the late diarist.
The actor shall keep a diary.
Robert Shields at wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia...t_Shields_(diarist)
[calum, Dec 28 2007]
gif image of page of diary
http://www.soundpor...ry/diary_entry6.gif
[calum, Dec 28 2007]
The brains behind writer's block.
http://www.hno.harv.../01-creativity.html
Robert Louis Stevenson reportedly penned "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde," a 6,000-word book in six days, with the help of cocaine. [sometimes, *the muse* takes on a groovy form.] [pyggy potamus, Dec 28 2007]
Elvis impersonators
http://en.wikipedia.../Elvis_impersonator
Behind you ... behind you ... [8th of 7, Dec 28 2007]
[link]
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Of course, it may be hard to find actors to play the part of Shields's companions for a the full period, so it may be necessary to make certain Darrin Stephens style changes to the cast. The changes may or may not be noted in the diary. |
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I don't know why people thought he suffered from hypergraphia - unless its a form of OCD. |
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Ten iterations later, the result is compared to the original in a feature-length documentary entitled "Chinese Whispers". |
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//Will you be doing a sequel? //
Actually, yes, that was part of my original draft: repetition, over a period of centuries, of the act, each life re-enacting the previous one, a slightly distorted copy of the one before, the programme continuing until it is distilled (or at least fractured) into a new Testament or, at the very least, a new Rule for the lives for Shieldsian Friars. |
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Now that I think about it, the process of re-living could be done "in the round" so that the second re-enactor commences his tenure years, months, perhaps even minutes, behind the first, a life lived a thousand times in 50 years. |
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.... but by 2019, one-third of the world's population will be Elvis impersonators...... <link> |
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I read this twice and checked the links. Wish I had more than one bun to give. |
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//The actor shall keep a diary// - for the
follow up film "the making of The Life of
Robert Shields"..... for which another actor
shall be hired who will also will be
required to keep a diary - yikes + |
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7th July, 8:50pm. Forty-pounder. Ran out of paper.
(inexplicable gap in diary)
12th October, 7:00am. Got up. Strong North-Easterly wind, seven-tenths cloud cover. |
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// will also will be required to keep a diary // |
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... and hence, by 2018, the world's entire population will be Robert Shields impersonators ...... |
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