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Don't forget to include a 'bail bondsman', some 55 gallon drums w/ rubbish burning, a three legged cat scrounging in a tipped over & very dented metal trash can, a 'fingernails' joint, and a church bus - painted a gawd awful shade of green. Also, how about a van being hastily unloaded into a non-descript warehouse while a worker is spray painting it right in the driveway, and another is switching out the license plates? We'll need a couple of well-dressed and starry-eyed bleeding heart college students handing out political leaflets. Some of the cars should have mismatched paint on a door or a hood, and get out the tiniest drill bit and 'knock out' the key hole in the trunks of a bunch of the cars to imply that they've been broken into. . . Photo-etched coat hangers would add a realistic touch for auto radio antennas, and drape an extension cord between two houses to depict the neighbor helping himself to someone else's power source. A well seasoned road kill would add to the scene. Add some plugged-up street drains clogged w/ trash and leaves, some twisted chain link, broken pickets - just a few (be subtle -remember? LOL) - on a 'once was white' fence, some boarded up windows and torn window screens, a screen door that is left open at an angle, and clumps of grass growing thru a poorly patched asphalt driveway. Tire tracks across the front 'lawn' of a house, and a pile of old car parts at the front door next to an old rusty washing machine and dingy old upholstered chair, would lend some flavor. Line up three or four old cars in a row in a driveway-each one older as the line progresses towards the rear of the house - to imply that they've lived there forever. And throw in a bunch of 'for rent' signs 'no tresspassing' signs, and some yellow police tape for flavor. And we must not forget to add some grafitti and tagging on some of the buildings (that's sure to reopen some old discussions - hope not) Almost forgot to add a panhandler or two. . . If the seedy part of town is in the South, you'll absolutely need to depict a 'pig-pickin' in someone's back yard with a pig roasting away in a home-made smoker fab'd out of a large metal drum and mounted on a trailer pulled by a shiny red pick-up truck w/ 'rebel flags' and depending on the era, 'George Wallace for President' stickers all over it. Include a large group of beer-bellied men and women (yes beer-bellied women) just milling around listening to country music from a garage band. Now think of the possibilities w/ 'smellavision and sound' - especially in a multi-national / typical ethnic neighborhood - all the foreign tongues, dogs barking continually, boom boxes, loud radios, woman screeming at their kids, their husband, and at the kid racing down the street that just hit their dog, neighbors and/or drug dealers arguing, the smell of curry, chili, barbeque, cabbage, back bacon, garlic and burnt tomato sauce, stale beer, road kills, piled-up garbage, auto exhaust, furnaces burning coal and oil, stagnant water, body odors, spray paint fumes, and the smell of sulfur - just because it is so bad. (recall chemistry class when a certain experiment stunk up the entire school?) On second thought, perhaps modeling the pristine British country-side is more appealing with manacured hedge rows, tidy lawns, little stone footbridges, a graceful swan in a crystal clear lake and well dressed townspeople paying their respects to a church pastor after a service. . .NOT BILL
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