Sidewalk Superheroes

There are a lot of articles and videos out there this week on the Blvd crackdown. I don’t even know what to say about this except it makes me livid. What’s wrong with simply requiring a permit? But no, the LAPD decided to just go and arrest people for standing on Hollywood Blvd in costume.

I know there are some characters who are pushy. I know that. But the regulars are very polite. It seems to me that the tourists are the ones that are not playing by the rules though. I’ve kept in touch with some characters, after Batgirl and I quit the Blvd, and it seemed to me like people were just not tipping anymore. We didn’t make much. Plenty of people decided to pose for photos and then not give us anything. Nothing we could do about it, but it sure doesn’t feel good giving a service and not being appreciated. You tip your waiter, don’t you? People need a little lesson in tipping. We’re not in France. Well, I am, but YOU aren’t! What is wrong with America…?

So, sorry tourists, you won’t be getting a warm welcome to Hollywood from any of your favourite superheroes anymore, unless you complain a lot to somebody high up. Oh, funny thing is… no one is taking responsibility for this decision, either. Nobody knows where the order came from….

Comics Alliance

NBC Not Even Batman Gets a Pass

Dress up – Go to jail

Can you tell how slow it was yesterday? It was so slow, I actually got the video together on the same day. Yesterday was weird. Nobody wanted to pay for a picture. We even had a whole tour group pass by and completely ignore us saying “We do pose for tips!” and just hold their cameras up and take photos of us as they walked by. It’s like we were statues, or maybe we were invisible and they just wanted a picture of the Hooters restaurant across the street. No acknowledgment at all that we were living, breathing, human beings. What’s with people?

It’s strange. I know we haven’t been out in a while, but we were out twice this week, and once last week, and there have been several characters we just have not seen since coming back. Bat M showed up out of costume today (with a noticeable Batman-mask-tan-line) to chat us up. I saw the older Marilyn leaving as I arrived in my car, counting her cash. We haven’t seen Sexy Cop or Tinkerbell in a long while. It’s mostly the guys out there, except for the girl in a mask that we’ve never talked to. The other day we DID meet a new Harley Quin. She seemed nice, but she was hanging out with King Kong and he’s not really speaking to us anymore for some odd reason.

You’re probably going to think we’re all super-wimps, but it gets cold out there! And fast! Most of the characters were following the sun as it sped across the sidewalk until we were all in one area in front of the Chinese theatre. None of our costumes seem to be very insulating. I even had 3 layers under mine (thin! You couldn’t really tell), plus ski socks, and sometimes glove liners too. I hope it warms up soon.

I’m too lazy to think of a clever title this morning. 😛 But here ya go, new video!

I don’t think Batgirl has seen this yet… 😉

Catwoman and Batgirl accepting their Oscar

Hello, there. Well, I’ve been quite busy lately, and finally have something to show for it. We have a brand new domain for the blog, and eventually instead of having it forward to WordPress, the blog will actually be ON the website. Just need to figure out how to do it. But anyway… welcome to www.SidewalkSuperheroes.com ! Also, I started a YouTube channel specifically for our videos, at http://www.YouTube.com/SidewalkSuperheroes. That way, if you subscribe to the video updates, you won’t end up getting my random audition videos or anything like that. Just Superheroes. Batgirl just re-uploaded the first video to that account, plus a new one! I know I’m a little behind with the videos, but I wanted to do it right, and not rush. Plus I have been encountering a bunch of computer/internet problems. So yes, this is the video of last Wednesday… enjoy. 😀

In other news, as you might have read, we are already planning our warm-weather costumes. I didn’t think we’d have to worry about it so soon but the temperature has been in the 80’s and black vinyl is NOT the most comfortable thing to be standing outside in! So I’ve decided that I’m going to be Wonder Woman. I had a short conversation with Superman about what I should be, and he pointed out that there weren’t many Wonder Women out, and that I would probably do well. So the costume is being put together, photos to follow soon… I know I still need to post my Catwoman photos, but I’m still waiting for them to be retouched. They look awesome as they are, but my friend John is amazing with Photoshop and does all sorts of cool things with the colours…. it’ll be worth the wait.

Well! I guess I could have posted this earlier in the day. But YouTube decided to just keep me hanging and not tell me that it actually uploaded, hours and hours and hours ago. Thank you, YouTube. Anyway! Batgirl and I made our first video on Monday. We’ve got more on the way, don’t worry. So enjoy your first dose of The Adventures of Catwoman and Batgirl! Photos to follow shortly….

Well, yeah, I know the answer to that. Anyway, what do I do when I’m missing L.A.? I browse YouTube. And look what I found! A little documentary dealing with the arrests of Elmo and the other guys last year. It’s in three parts. I like getting to know my co-workers better. It’s a strange way of doing your homework, rather than just by talking with people, but boy, I’m getting so caught up on all that’s gone on (and is still going on) on the boulevard. If you’re interested, here’s the first piece of the documentary.

Let’s see… oh, yes, what prompted this search? I was actually looking for recent videos. I was alerted by Captain Jack that Freddy was ganged up on by some people, who filmed it supposedly, to post online on Youtube for entertainment? Who knows for sure. But something did happen. And that’s just not cool. Ganging up on someone who’s in a mask and just trying to earn a living… and of course if we do anything, I guarantee that we’d be the ones thrust in the back of a cop car. But if I ever see that going on, someone is going to get whipped. That’ll probably scare them off. lol. Anyway… hm. That’s my update today. Merry Christmas!

Once it was decided that we would try our hand at the character job, we now had to decide how we should dress. Since we met through a mutual love of Audrey Hepburn, and we had just dressed as her (in two different eras) for Halloween, my partner in crime and I decided to try that. We figured that if Elvis and Marilyn Monroe did alright, then surely Holly Golightly and Eliza Doolittle would do fairly well.

We showed up in the early afternoon, and as soon as we stepped off the elevator at H&H, a man asked for a picture with us. Taking it as a good sign, we posed with him and he tipped us. And we hadn’t even really started yet! So we sauntered down to the Boulevard and suddenly froze, overwhelmed. What did we do? How did this really work? There had been surprisingly little information about all this on the Internet, and we hadn’t thought to come up here in advance and talk to any characters. As we crept closer to the stars on the sidewalk, a guy dressed as Darth Vader in tights came up to us and pushed back his helmet.
“Are you two new here?” he asked. We nodded. “Okay, welcome to the Boulevard,” he said, and shook our hands, introducing himself. He very nicely went over the rules; what line in the sidewalk delineated public from private property, and how we were only supposed to pose and photograph on the public side, and how we must do something to show that we were “off” when crossing onto private property, either by removing a mask or some other piece of the costume so we wouldn’t be approached. Grateful, we thanked him, and he moved off to take a break.

Clinging to each other, we slowly crept up the Walk towards the Chinese Theatre. In front of the Kodak Theatre there was a Jack Sparrow loudly heckling the tourists, shouting, “I need your money!” As we walked past, he called out to us.
“Excuse me, ladies.” (more…)