Filed under: CHARITY INFORMATION !, OTHER ! | Tags: eurovision, little john, our song, robinhood.org
Since I have a brain like a sieve and was actually out Eurovision night, first of all… WOO! Little John and Robin Hood’s song won; I swear – I wouldn’t tell him this but Norway’s entry could pretty much have been written for us. Collectively. And seriously, who voted ten points for the UK? Patriotic I may be, in a way, but I’m convinced some of those voters were deaf.
Also… Britain needs this. http://www.robinhood.org/homeresponds.aspx
Little John’s coming round tonight: yes!
- Unable to stop smiling, Robin Hood
Filed under: ALL IN THE PAST !, CHARITY INFORMATION !, HOT OFF THE PRESS !, OTHER ! | Tags: 17 again, charity, coffee, little john, love, make poverty history, movie, plan, robin hood
Okay, so I promised I’d keep this baby updated once a day? I lied. I was studying – even Robin Hood has to study if she wants to keep her day job. You’d think I’d know the difference between polar and non-polar by now but I majored in history not chemistry. So, here we go, little update in the form of two things: a proposition for you all, and a movie review. I’ll start with the review ’cause it’s easier to say, if a little out of character for me to have gone to see a film like this in the first place.
There’s this film out now with Zac Efron (who, ussually, I would precede with the words ‘Oh God why’) and Matthew Perry (whose name I add ‘yummy’ to, even if I am a woman in my twenties or maybe in spite of…) called 17 Again. It’s sort of a one-way Freaky Friday, but that it’s a guy who falls over a bridge – bear with me on this – into a whirpool and gets home to find he’s reverted to his seventeen year old self, the point in his life where he felt he frankly screwed everything up. You know, dropping the chance of a basketball scholarship ’cause he got his girlfriend pregnant – well, seventeen years on he wished he hadn’t, and it actually turned out to be better than it sounded! Piqueing my interest, of course, when his best friend, thinking the kid is an intruder, attacks him with an orc’s ax, a sword, and then a red light saber. Topped up with two cups of coffee I was killing myself laughing by the end of the film, which I just got back from. My rating – 89%. Would’ve been in the 90s% range if there’d been more geeky stuff. Those parts reminded me of my own past, eh Little John? Light saber fights sound familiar? And it also reminded me of a part of turning seventeen I would want to relive. Unfortunately there is a man out there who I know knows he can steal my heart and break it into a hundred pieces, even my rock of a heart. Of course, my prom date blackmailed me into said prom and sweet-talked me into a dress (which I wore jeans and Doc Martin’s underneath, granted) but what we had back then, well, part of me wouldn’t mind it back, but Robin Hood…. maybe gets in the way. The Merry Men for one wouldn’t be chuffed.
Now, before we get onto the seriousness, you might have noticed that I had two very large cups of coffee, which I gave up for Lent and ever since have been drinking in the daily bucketloads, often in absence of food. One cup, caramel thing with extra caffeine, came from The Coffee Bean, and the White Chocolate Mocha I’m finishing off now came from Starbucks. I’m no coffee, conneiseur, so I’d love to hear what you think was best, hence the following poll. Plus… I’d love some more comments. ^^; Shameless plug much?
Now…. Robin Hood again, eh? I had a proposition I wanted to put to the world, which is mostly why I want comments today. Actually, it’s maybe good that I didn’t post it yesterday, ’cause I didn’t have it finalised until… ooh, five minutes ago. I have sort of got exams in May, but after that I’m a Freebird – please, no Lynard Skynard people, it’s already going ’round my head. What I’m going to do my best to organise here is a world-collaboration for making poverty history. It’s something I’m going to do regardless of whether it sparks interest on this blog, but if I get enough interest here I’ll post up details and a date and see how much we can raise. The idea is you dress up as Robin Hood, and don’t steal, but go out like that, with a collecting bucket, rustle up as much small change as you can – maybe do a small show in your local park, or if you’re in school, get your class to perform in the yard after class or something. Even if it’s just a matter of walking through the streets loudly talking “like ye merry men of olde in ye merry forest of Sherwood”. That’s what I’m rustling people up for. Bit of Men in Tights-ing. And there’s a handy way that you can send all of this to Make Poverty History, and they have lots of resources you can use to advertise too. So… Post if you’re interested, eh heh. Wow, me, shy? Shock!
- from Robin Hood with crossed fingers and an over-active imagination x
Filed under: HOT OFF THE PRESS ! | Tags: amnesty international, interview, little john, maid marion, sherwood diamond, thom wolfe
Robin: Alright! For lack of anything better to do, Little John’s Godfather is in town and I’ve roped him into an interview. And no, not literally. Might have been an idea, granted, but I had other ways to convince him to come. Ladies and Gentlemen, may I introduce, with alibi, Thom Wolfe; the man who indirectly started all of this off by teaching Little John’s sister to pick locks, and who much as I hate to say it saved my life when I was six. Give a wave, Thom, the world is watching. Or something like that.
Thom Wolfe: Oh…er… hello?
R: Time to get this show on the road. Thanks for being here today.
T: You told me you were dying. And needed to be saved.
R: Dying to see you.
T: Tricking me is not the way to re-establish a relationship.
R: You came. Didn’t think you would have come otherwise. What can I say? I’m Robin Hood.
T: And I am apparently Thom Wolfe. Inappropriate educator extraordinaire.
R: I thought it was pretty good, my furry little friend.
T: You would. You thought a ghost was going to eat you on Morecambe pier
R: Swiftly changing the subject! Now, I’m sure we’re all wondering… Why did you teach Maid Marion (Little John’s sister) to pick locks at such a young age anyway?
T: Well, I learnt it from a guy in the army and I couldn’t think of another way to keep her from trying to run outside in the rain.
R: Interesting. And it worked, I assume? Or at least, she managed to break into my locker. Which of course wasn’t booby-trapped.
T: With strict instructions that she was never to tell her mother where she learnt it and yet more instructions to bother you with it.
R: There you have it ladies and gentlemen, the start of a wonderful relationship! Or rather part two there of since I met him when I was small…Er.
T: You replaced my toothpaste with shaving cream and burnt a hole in my favourite jumper. Although as I’m a mature adult, I have to say that revenge is wrong. And I don’t even want to know how you got the hole in the jumper.
R: Now the jumper was an accident, I apologise for that. Little John gave me a lighter.
T: Good god, where did he get that? You couldn’t have been older than seven.
R: This is the point where I raise my eyebrow, remind you who you’re talking to, and carry on with the interview. Having taught Marion to pick locks, did you have any idea she would one day use it to help kick start the modern equivalent to Robin Hood?
T: Of course not. I’m not a psychic. It’s a good skill for any young lady to have.
R: Especially one working with noble kleptomaniacs.
T: At the time, you and F- Little John were just creepy kids.
R: And when you first saw us on the news, did you have any idea who we were?
T: I had my suspicions.
R: Which were? So that we know what not to do.
T: Honestly? It was a hunch.
R: Fair enough. What did you think when you had your ‘hunch’?
T: Well…that you kids were in way over your heads and you were going to get caught. Frankly, I’m surprised you haven’t been.
R: Justice is not dead. Luckily neither are we.
T: Justice isn’t dead, but the policing of vigilantism has become greater.
R: Good point.
T: I thought so.
R: And what do you think of our plan? Or, at least my plan. Can’t vouch for The Merry Men so much. And do you give to charity at all?
T: No, but I work for Amnesty international. Your plan is flimsy at best, downright dangerous at worst, but I commend you for attempting what most people just ignore.
R: I shall take that as a compliment. And really, I didn’t know that? … And by flimsy did you know we’ve managed to donate nearly one thousand pounds worth of change to the homeless?
T: Yes and no, I didn’t. But you must admit, your plan has flaws.
R: All good plans have flaws.
T: How long do you expect to save these people before somebody decides that you don’t have the right to anymore? It happened to the real Robin Hood and it may well happen to you.
R: Hmm. Well, when we’re not wanted I guess I’ll hand myself in. Can’t say the same for the others but Robin Hood, if I remember correctly, bit off more than he could chew.
T: Says the woman who intends to go after the diamond?
R: Now, that started off as personal! Long before I started wearing tights on the streets at night. And the plan was to donate it to the University Museum. Very Indiana Jones, granted, but I’ve got my research. I have a friend working in the history department of the university, on the diamond.
T: And what is to stop the real owner from claiming it as their own?
R: Difficult. Robin hid it in Sherwood Forest hundreds of years ago, no one’s found it yet or even proved it exists, per se. The only person who can claim it by this point is Queen and country.
T: Forgive me for being the sceptic, but might the lack of proof on its existence be the boon in your otherwise noble plan?
R: I guess you could say that, yes. But I may or may not have access to a map to the diamond. Aaaaaand that’s all we have time for, folks. Thom, anything you’d like to say before we round this up?
T: As I apparently can’t talk you out of this venture, no.
R: You’ve known me since I was 4, I’m stubborn. But you’re welcome to try your luck on Little John, if you’re really determined.
T: He’s worse than you. Good bye, Robin.
R: Till two weeks Sunday, Wolfe. And burn that newspaper clipping while you’re at it.
Filed under: CHARITY INFORMATION !, HOT OFF THE PRESS ! | Tags: bus, charity, easter, funny, guns n' roses, little john, london, sent in
This officially made my morning; a friend of mine who lives in London took one look at this and thought of me. Not that she knows what I do, but she does know I have a certain thing for Robin Hood past and present. I got the photograph in an email earlier, but I’ve been a little busy to post it. I really have to thank whoever got that put up, it’s legendary. They’ve got the right idea too, people generally don’t seem to get that there’s more than one of us: note the plural. I’ll be forwarding this to Little John later. If he’s talking to me – I was sort of responsible for getting a bucket of cold water thrown over us yesterday. Alright. Entirely responsible.
On another note, thanks for the shoulder help, Perspecillum, my shoulder’s feeling much better. Granted, still pretty sprained, wound up in the gym after all rather than being allowed to feel sorry for myself all day, but generally the mug of coffee and sitting still as long as possible paid off. I’ll be back out in costume again in no time, sorry NCPD. I can’t wait! Can’t stand sitting still, but at least I’ve been getting some charity work in too, here and on my about page. Those guys are doing some great work, Make Poverty History and World Hope. At the risk of sounding like a preacher, please do your part; with the right effort, we could eradicate the worst of poverty by 2015. All we need to raise, across the globe, is .5 billion pounds, that’s the price it cost to build EuroDisney. 20% of the world possesses 90% of the world’s wealth – sure you can’t spare a fiver?
That’s all for now. I’ve got to get stuff ready for work next week when the holidays end, much as I’d like to keep blogging. Which reminds me – Happy Easter. Some people might not think it, some might, but I do have a heart.
- listening to Guns N’ Roses, the Modern Robin Hood
Filed under: HOT OFF THE PRESS ! | Tags: akward, easter, family, little john, lunch
Or, if you did as a kid, change your phone number when you leave home. So, I got a call from my best friend and ex’s mother the other day, inviting me over for lunch – yesterday, actually. See, Little John and I haven’t spoken in about two years, not face to face anyway, not since the schism, and I never told him where my new apartment was when I moved in – for obvious reasons, so far as I’m concerned. So why his mother still has my number is beyond me… Probably because I spent more time in his house when I was growing up than my own and can’t be assed changing my number… She also has so far as I know no idea what we do in our ‘spare time’. But yeah, Little John’s mum invited me for lunch, a sort of pre-Easter thing, which is kind of nice since my parents seem to have forgotten they have a daughter which is fine by me. Free ham and I brought the rum I owed Little John, call it a peace gift.
Problem is, I’m a little fuzzy on what happened. I called him the night before, or rather the morning before – I think I woke him up before his team brought him the usual cup of coffee the size of his head. I can’t say he was too pleased to hear from me, but I don’t think him seeing me at home without any warning was going to go so well. Even still, Little John and I didn’t speak all through the meal, or the polite chat; why would we? I mean, the only times we’d been alone in the last two years were a matter, mostly, of Little John trying to beat me at my own game, and vice versa. I’ve been locked in closets, had a gun pointed at me, and sprained my ankle running from the cops because of him. Then again, I’ve returned the favour, and because of me he’s gotta a pretty damn big scar that I’m NOT going to go into detail about… Besides, if The Merry Men knew I saw him at all then he’d be getting a buggering – I’m not so popular with my old teammates, to say the least.
But cracking the rum open, well, take a wild guess. Let’s just say I brought one bottle, he brought one bottle, and his sister pulled a bottle of something strong out of nowhere, and the two of us drunk most of it all. I remember a very dramatic game of Uno and then very little, and I left his apartment at 4am this morning after being unable to find my trousers. So I borrowed a pair of his, which him being at least half a foot taller than me meant I looked pretty stupid. Thanks, Little John. ¬_¬; If you find my trousers, post them to my work please?
And that is why I’m thinking about changing my number, and my address. Just in case. So what do you think – difficult love/hate relationship or what? Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to make a bacon sandwich and pour a very tall glass of water.
- yours, a hung over Robin Hood
Alright, alright, introduction, as promised. Since the police are, effectively, on my tail, there’s not much I can say apart from the obvious, though. I live and work in Nottingham, and have been here all my life so I know the city pretty damn well. I’m in my twenties, as red-headed as the photographs and sightings make out, and have been fascinated by Robin Hood and the Sherwood Diamond since secondary school. When I’m not out as Robin Hood or at work, my hobbies include blogging, Indiana Jones, history, DC comics, rock music and running. I’m in a relationship, complicated though it may be, and plan to be the one to discover the resting place of Robin Hood’s infamous diamond!
For those of you who don’t know my story, I’ve long since had a fascination for Robin Hood; started when I was a kid, with my best friend and I going treasure-hunting in the forest, when we heard the story in school, the story about the diamond. Bloody amazing was the first thing I thought. And then ouch, because later that day I wound up cutting myself open on my coccyx when Little John – that’s what I’m going to call my best friend, from here – decided to find out if holding toast when you jumped out of a tree changed how gravity worked. Not his smartest plan… But I reckon I got my own back for that one, if quite a bit later. Anyway, more about that another day. Over the years, a love of not just the diamond but everything Robin Hood and his men stood for, somewhat amazingly given my character as a child, formed. Generally, one fascination grew to another, and through the Indiana Jones days and the Monsters Incorporated Scooby Doo van days, what was then called The Merry Men was formed, with the help of a mutual friend of ours. A little mock-up at first, granted, there wasn’t much could be done besides unorthodox lock-picking and whatever else it was the police marked us down for.
Of course, what happened next was the schism. One argument led to another, Little John and I didn’t exactly seem to share the same views on the gig anymore, I don’t know what happened really but what happened did happen, and we split up our small team; most of the Merry Men went with him as out notoriety grew, and I went solo. Yeah, there you have it boys in blue, you’re after two teams – might make your job a little more difficult huh? There’s a team rivalry built up, and this bastard secret organisation called The Paladins hungry for out throats – ever read a MARVEL comic? Funny how similar The Paladins are to the bad guys. Damnit, it’s still a miracle how we’ve avoided getting caught all this time but what can I say, we’re careful. Or, rather, Little John just thinks I’m high strung enough to for once in my life know when to quit when the going’s ahead. Whatever: we kept going. Want to know more? Read the papers. We make them often enough.
Robin Hood? We all know the man; y’know, the guy from Sherwood forest who robbed from the rich and gave to the poor, hoodwinking even Prince John’s tyranny to bring justice to the land. But the thing is, he died something like five hundred years ago, which frankly sucks. It’s the year 2009, and things are hardly as bad as they were but they’re not much better. The people of the United KinGdom are thousands of pounds in poverty, and for some unknown reason a vast majority of the homeless are concentrated in Nottingham City, England. Will you stand for this injustice? I, for one, will not. Robin Hood is not dead.
JUSTICE is not dead. Not while I’m around.
- from the Modern Robin Hood, with love
