He was in the navy. About to be shipped out to train in interrogating enemy combatants. Nice kid. Maybe 20. I kept in touch with him, after a fashion. He's on Diego Garcia now. Spends his days surfing and scuba diving, and his nights torturing muslims. Whatever we're doing, we're doing it abroad. The stuff we do here we do with full disclosure and paid volunteers. It's kind of remarkable what stupid shit people will do if you give them a little money. Robert Rodriguez documented this somewhat; his first film "Il Mariachi" was paid for entirely by money he earned subjecting himself to inpatient medical experimentation.
We were actually scheduled to go on the show and my parents found out. They were FURIOUS that their boy would even consider such a thing. They (thankfully) talked me out of it. But you are right "It's kind of remarkable what stupid shit people will do if you give them a little money". Thanks for jostling the memory.
I worked at a legendary bar in Seattle. The staff was thoroughly tribal. Incredible group of people - while most people formed relationships in college, mine were with a bunch of meth-addicted bartenders and musicians. Good people; most of them aren't even dead. Anyway. One of the pastimes this crew would had was to get on the Jerry Springer show. No less than eight of them had been on it. They traded tips. It was almost a rite of passage. And just like pro wrestling, everybody involved knew it was fake. As I recall, this account was written by rival bar staff. Amateurs. ;-) http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/jerry-rigged/Content?oid=...
Sometime you'll have to get around to telling the tale of the other two you took out.
some of them aren't even dead. -That shouldn't be as funny as it was.