Brian Coltrane

Oooo. Nice foreboding there. Grim and dour. Maybe it won't be happy for everybody. In fact, maybe it could be the last story for one of the characters involved. We'll have to find out. MaryAnne, I know you're lurking around in the back office somewhere. Do you have an ETA on the forums upgrade? Just in case things go sideways I think we should hold off until it's done, but since Alex has the backup it may not matter. Your opinion, cousin?

*grins* "Sounds good to me. I'll wait until you're comin' out of the building before I take off. Can't have too much of a head start, it wouldn't be sporting." *after MaryAnne retreats into the county building, strolls over to Alex* "You feel like riding shotgun? I halfta warn ya, Alex, MaryAnne and I are both outta practice and this could be a sloppy chase." (agreed, we should do another thread. Just to show some sense of decorum. Alex, wanna do the honors with your reply?)

*stops in tracks at the taunt. Sees MaryAnne about to turn Diablo into Hazzard's first mobile swimming pool* "GAAH!!" *runs towards the county building, heading for the water spigot where the hose is attached, and turns the handle quickly to shut off the water.* *of course, it's impossible to stand here and guard the spigot indefinately, since MaryAnne could come over and do something really unpleasant with the garden hose, water or not. But if she did, that would leave an opportunity to run back to Diablo and drive the car to safety* *confident of own logic, can't resist thumbing nose at cousin in friendly challenge* "Nyah!! Thhpbth!!"

Looks like this story has the potential for a very happy ending...heh heh...

Can you two quit long enuff to have an un-gentlemanly discussion? Chet, quit sniffin' the marker. Now that the three of us are back, and MaryAnne's kind of back, that's most of us. Anybody know what's going on with Doc, Val, or Daney?

Oh, don't worry MaryAnne, we'll ease back into thangs...I was just sayin' that --- *turns to answer MaryAnne, while still having the garden hose in hand going full blast, and unintentionally soaks her completely* --- that, uh....ooops! Alex, hold this!! *hands Alex the still-running garden hose and takes off running* Welcome baaaaack!!

See, this is what Chet brings to the table. He can ruin any occasion. I appreciate that about him. You, Alex...you used to be a decent enemy, but now...alas.

Fine, awright, I admit I'm happy to see Chet back. Without my friends, and my enemies, and all those who fall somewhere between...where would I be?

Alex! This is...uh...overkill. I was thinking about a car chase, not immediate destruction of county property. Though, I gotta hand it to ya for e-fficiency. I nevah thought about wreckin' the patrol car before the chase. *fetches a length of garden house from the county building, and turns on the water to hose down the patrol car* Let's think about this. MaryAnne's been gone awhile, maybe we should go easy on her until she's back in the groove.

Dude. Wrong show. Besides, somewhere deep down inside, you're happy Chet's around. Admit it.

GAAAAH!!! That's goin' a bit too far. Still, they go through these cars like crazy anyhow... then again, if her lunch is still in the glovebox, she's gonna be a mite upset.

Welcome back. We were just talking about how you're too lazy to chase anybody these days.

Gah! I think I'll leave the Hazzard economy to Boss Hogg. He's much more qualified at the local level. Besides, I really need a car chase. Or...somethin'!

Sounds like fun, but I don't think MaryAnne cares what we do anymore. Ya know the last time I tried to get in trouble, nobody noticed. Is there a worse insult?

It's all MaryAnne's fault.

300 pages! GAAAAAH!! Wow, the kind of time we had back then, eh? Ya know funny enough, I got ahold of Chet tonight, or vise versa, so maybe this thing aint' totally in the dust. Keep yer fingers crossed.

Val is not forgotten..... Speaking purely from the muse perspective: writing is passion. Yes, you should have the courage to bleed all over the page. Emotions are raw. Don't hold back. If you dare to follow your muse through darkness and light, you will be taken on unexpected, uncharted journeys through the human soul. I grieve that muse-wise, there has been a dormancy too long in my own writing. The irony? I now write for a living in real life, but it's all business crap. Just imagine, half of your brain prattling on about real estate statistics and interest rates and the other half is having a car chase and a shootout. But you only have time for one, and the one that pays the bills wins out. Val, I can tell you, you have not changed. Outer circumstances may change, but the depth of feeling, drama, love, passion, angst, hate, peace and violence...whatever your muse/characters carry within them, it's still there. Just as raw, and pure, and powerful since the day it was minted. Someday I'll prove it to you.

Alas, there are many unfinished stories. Over the years so many people have moved on and had major life changes that the old writing crowd is busted up. Been gone for a few months myself. Feel like a ghost here, haunting the place with my return. I'd love to see Buckshot completed, even if we have to do it offline. I wouldn't suggest getting into it now because there's a pending Forums upgrade. Wouldn't be a bad idea to create a backup copy of this one Alex, if you haven't already.

Thanks ya'll! Much appreciated! Hoss, I don't know how you come up with this clever stuff, but that's an awesome cake. Bonus points for the serving platter it's on, too! I've had a pretty good day. Been doing a lot of thinking though, and you know where that gets ya. Fortunately I found a remedy, and I'm having a glass of it as we speak. :whitewine: Okay, maybe two glasses. Cheers!! Thanks again, everybody!

Yes, you're right. Al was also in ...aaaargh, I can't think of the episode, but he plays one of Ma Parker's boys. Something about a race and she bets on Boss Hogg's side and then decides to fix the race to make sure he wins. You'll have to excuse me, I left my brains in my other hat.

I have no proof of what's going on with the Dukes being off the air from CMT. Only theories. Thus far CMT hasn't bothered taking down the "Dukes Ride Again" Facebook page, but they have removed ALL Dukes of Hazzard references from their main website, CMT.com. WB is supposedly NOT taking the flag off the General Lee...but I'm not sure that means any more GL's are being made after Jan 1 2013. At all. Ben isn't the only one that got a reply from a Tomy rep about the whole GL flag issue. I had gotten this, on Aug 29: ******************* Dear Brian: Thank you for your email. You are correct. Starting in 2013, the General Lee will not be made with the confederate flag on the roof. Hope this helps, Dan Consumer Service ****************** WB denied this, after Ben Jones heard it from his own die-cast rep and made a fuss, and the national media got involved. But WB doesn't like being backed into a corner. This is WHY HazzardNet treads damn carefully around Warner Bros. We wouldn't get away with saying the things Ben did. After the whole mess, it's very possible that Dukes fans are in for some politically correct backlash. In the form of the original Dukes not being on the air. Ever. Again. Ironically, the 2005 movie did a true job of being insulting with the rebel flag on the car, thanks to the "blackface" scene which wasn't funny and did nothing but add real insult to any perceived insult. Meanwhile, it's no secret that WB has commissioned a new Dukes of Hazzard-ish movie of some kind or another. I have no proof, no facts, no sources, but my guess is, it will be a "prequel" kind of story, sans General Lee, or at least sans rebel flag paint job. It neatly solves all of WB's politically correct concerns by creating a new Dukes era and new, politically correct marketing opportunities. To prevent confusion and unwanted comparison, it wouldn't surprise me if the original series, the 2005 movie, and "The Dukes of Hazzard: The Beginning" were swept under the rug for good. Along with the "old" General Lee as we know it. All this is theory and PURE SPECULATION on my part. Do not run with this and say "HazzardNet says" because this isn't coming from the site as official news or even as a rumor. (we always have some basis for anything we report, even if it's in speculative stages. We always have a source.) So, all this yammer above has not been approved by MeadowMufn or MaryAnne and is my personal theory only. And, the only reason I'm even sharing it, is because I'm hoping I'm completely wrong and that somebody, somewhere, has a 2013 GL diecast with the flag on it, and a CMT schedule showing the Dukes back on. Maybe this message could get them to wave it in my face. I'd be glad to see it.

Glad you didn't go the fake I.D. route. Hope you have a great time!

Congrats JPB! Keep writing! Hope you had a great B-day!

I'd say you're right, Tim! From what Ben was saying it sounds like WB had made the decision to remove the flag, even came close to admitting it to one of the news media, but then upon finding the depth of the hue and cry decided to leave the General Lee alone. I have no doubt that if Dukes fans had NOT reacted loudly, that WB would have gotten away with removing the flag. By the time we would have noticed it was missing from die casts, or that new diecasts weren't coming out at all, it would have been too late. A big SAL-UTE goes out to all Dukes fans who spoke up on this one. Together as a fandom, between our message boards, websites, facebook pages, tweets, emails and what have ya, we spoke with one voice. I also think that we have an onus to put our money where our mouth is...since money talks and WB listens to it. As long as fans are buying General Lee diecasts, model kits, and the DVD sets, WB will probably keep approving the products. If nobody was buying the stuff there wouldn't even be a debate about the flag being on the products...there just wouldn't be products. Few and far between are the TV shows with this kind of staying power. The fact that the Dukes can survive, in the face of the ongoing rebel flag controversy, is a powerful statement to the strength of the fan base. Now if only we could get CMT, or somebody, to put the show back on the air. One battle at a time, eh?

Good comments, ya'll. ( Hoss, you crack me up. Fortunately my life ain't as bad as Monty Python's Brian. ) It seems true that while the UK has become more socially progressive, here in the States we've been scrambling to make everything so equal and inoffensive, that individual expression has taken a big backwards step. Roger's example of the holidays being a case in point. While Christmas is still a Federal holiday, schools call it "winter break" or plain ol' "spring break" because you can't say Christmas and Easter. Well, if those observations offend anybody so much that they insist on going to work or school instead, fine. And it goes on and on...everything made so generic and inoffensive that nothing remains special to anybody. That's not promoting diversity, that's whitewashing. Anyhow! Thanks to Ben Jones, Warner Bros now has to acknowledge the issue. They can dodge it, but now that Ben has taken it to "TODAY" and there's a ripple in national media, WB will not be blind to the public reaction by the majority. TODAY has a poll question at the bottom of their article and it's overwhelmingly in favor of keeping the flag on the General. Please visit, read and vote! http://theclicker.today.com/_news/2012/08/30/13568283-report-confederate-flag-may-be-removed-from-dukes-of-hazzard-general-lee-toys?lite