bronia’s experiement at intro and a rough plot sketch for what follows
Just under the wire - and i’m late for work…..
I’m imagining lots of illustrations - pretty much every time i leave a gap there’d be one.
Also a photo album/diary insert from mori (or mani) from his time back in russia.
sorry about all the underlined text - it’s not intentional
will add more soon
Bronia
Hi I’m Matt. My friends call me Madcap Matt because every now and again I like to make wild and wacky inventions.
Like the time when I found a box of old umbrellas on the street…and decided we could use them to pick up alien signals from outer space.
Or the time I redesigned our garden shed as a multi-layered exercise gym for Victor, my pet rabbit.
For some reason, people sometimes get a bit perturbed by my inventions.
I can’t think why.
Here are some of my heroes:
Cornelius Jacobszoon Drebbel (A Dutchman who invented the first submarine in 1620.
William George Armstrong, (English, 1810-1900) –inventor of the hydraulic crane
Vitaly Mikhaylovich Abalakov, (Russia,1906-1986) inventor the gearless ice climbing anchor.
And of course
Mori Lakhovsky, my grandfather.
Mori was an inventor in Russia.
In 1952 he came to England to work on top secret inventions that are too highly classified to mention here. He lives by himself in his own house. The place is full of his inventions and he’s always collecting stuff that might come in handy one day.
Mori’s house is on my way home from school, and I pop in and visit him everyday.
He always shows me what he’s working on.
Below is a very rough summary of suggested plot for following plot, based on a mixyute of sam and bronia’s thoughts from previous discussions, and some extra stuff thrown in now:
● on this particular day Matt buys and ice cream on the way home from school. He then pays his usual visit to Mori. Mori shows Matt the Frozen Memory Machine he’s been working on. There is something missing though – Mori can’t quite put his finger on it, but he’s stuck…he’s worked out how to freeze memories, but what about how to release them so that other people can access them?
Through a series of trials and accidents involving Matt’s ICE CREAM, they solve the missing link in the invention together and - eureka! They become co-inventors of the greatest ever advancement in cryogenics – Frozen Memory Transmitting Technology. (think of a better name….)
● They start collecting memories in a low key fashion – from neighbours, friends….they discover some fascinating new things about people they thought they knew all about already.
(we see the memories unfold through a layered collage with flaps, diary entries, photos, narrated text. There could be a link to a cd rom with the book, for more audio recordings, visuals and interactive ‘freeze your own memory’ activities. )
● the project expands and soon Matt and Mori become memory archivists. It’s not enough to do it from home – they need to go out and seek memories from every corner of the country.
● SO, they kit out an ice cream van with a portable version of the frozen memory transmitter, and all the gear for vending frozen memories as well.
(the van is a small spac, so the have to archive all the memories they collect online??)
● The memory van goes on tour = Adventures (will come back to this, needs much more thought)
● Throughout the story so far, there’s been a sinister character lurking in the background. If you look back carefully at the illustrations, you’ll see his footprint, or a hankerchief he dropped…..his shadow at the window. This is Mani, Mori’s brother, also an inventor. Everyone thought he’d died back in Russia in the 1950’s when his laboratory exploded.
● whilst Matt and Mori are on tour in the van, Mani sneaks in to Mori’s house and steals the frozen memory formula from the original, static machine. He twists it and turns it bad….
● Knowing he can’t get away with a duplicate project, he sets up a hairdressing business as a façade and collects memories WITHOUT CONSENT from old ladies, using the old fashioned hair dryers as a device….(ref. back to sam’s bath narrative for details) He sets up a rival ice cream van company and takes all the business whilst Mori is out of town. Plus, people get addicted to his ice cream because he makes it too strong and people get hooked on the nostalgia. HE MUST BE STOPPED.
● Mori and Matt ride back in to town, unaware of what’s happened…. Until they discover a rival business. Gradually Mori learns of his brothers survival and their old rivalry surfaces.
● There’s a spectacular showdown between the two inventors, emplying several of their most complex inventions.
● But Matt gets all the old ladies on his and Mori’s side, and as a collective they defend the town from death by nostalgia.
To be continued……………and greatly revised.
3 years ago • Notes