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Wednesday, July 23, 2014

"Go ahead, touch the Cornballer. You know best."

I love "Arrested Development", so I have to sneak a few references to the show into this dollhouse. (If you haven't seen it, "Arrested Development" is a brilliant, insanely detailed, wickedly funny sitcom about a wealthy Newport Beach family who lose everything when their patriarch, George Bluth Sr., gets arrested for defrauding shareholders.)

One of the show's many recurring jokes is the Cornballer, a fry-at-home hush-puppy device George invented in the 1970s...which was promptly banned because it caused severe burns (which didn't stop George from continuing to market the Cornballer in Mexico).

Of course, I had to make a Cornballer (out of basswood, illustration board, wood putty, aluminum paint, and a toothpick). It's definitely not a perfect copy - my attempts to copy the fryer basket weren't successful, so I omitted it and have decided that this particular device has been broken for years but the family living in this house still haven't gotten around to tossing it in the scrap metal recycling bin.


I also couldn't resist making a few more related items: "Boyfights" videos, a copy of "The Man Inside Me", a 45 of "Big Yellow Joint", and copies of the "Balboa Bay Window" (unfortunately, I have not yet been able to get a clear, full shot of the issue in which a 10-year-old Buster Bluth explains why he wants to marry his mother).


The imaginary people who live in this house are NOT members of the Bluth clan (you won't find Teamocil in the medicine cabinet, a dead dove in the freezer, or a stair car in the driveway), but since they live in the same geographic region, it's plausible for at least some of these items to be found in their house.

I also made one more accessory referencing the show that isn't pictured here. I'm going to unveil it later, after the interior is finished (it's not a scale model of the banana stand - I'm not that good yet).

4 comments:

  1. I'll touch everything except that cornballer, I dont want a severe burn!

    Hugs
    Marisa

    Ps everything looks great

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  2. Hello Anna,
    The cornballer is great. good job!
    Big hug,
    Giac

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  3. I haven't heard of the show, but the miniatures all look great! Apart from burning people, what does a Cornballer do? what is a cornball?

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  4. Thank you all!

    Andy - The Cornballer is a small deep-fat fryer used for making, well, deep-fried corn balls. Think falafel, but made with cornmeal instead of chickpeas.

    It's also a jokey meta reference to "cornball" humor:
    http://www.vulture.com/2013/05/arrested-development-jokes-blue-man-cornballer-mayonegg.html

    ReplyDelete