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Phlying Phish Foto

Taking Advantage of a Promotion at Hank's Expense
 
In my lifetime, I've managed to accomplish a lot of really cool stuff. However, few of those things provided the level of satisfaction that the end result of this particular Amazing Achievement was able to create. So please read on. I think it will be worth your while.
 
This past spring, downtown Memphis got a new restaurant called The Flying Fish. Located on 105 South Second Street, "The Fish", as it is known at my house, quickly became a family favorite due to its friendly help and fun atmosphere. (not it's lack of parking validation)
 

Part of that atmosphere can be attributed to the so called "Liar's Wall". Located on your right as you walk through the front door, the "liar's wall" is a place where restaurant patrons are encouraged to bring in a photo of themselves and a fish they have caught.

 
Judging from some of the early submissions, the "liar" part of this equation comes into play when people sharpie in the length and weight of the fish they supposedly caught on the photo. It's rather amusing and makes for good dinner conversation... especially if you know somebody who happens to be on the wall.
 
Wanting to get in on the ground floor with this one, I submitted a photo of Ava catching her first ever fish at Horseshoe Lake. And while purely factual in nature, it was a cute picture and therefore didn't in my estimation compromise the overall integrity of the wall.
 
That whole experience got me thinking. Back in what I commonly refer to as the golden age of rv.com, I used to be quite a prankster. Seldom did a month's span go by where I didn't at least attempt to make a fool out of somebody online. (exhibit A, B, C...) However, with the days of infinite free time come and gone (see avavining.com and elainevining.com for details on that), I really haven't pulled anything off lately. But the call of the Flying Fish's "Liar's Wall" changed all that.
 
Now let me start off by saying Hank is (and/or was) a good friend of mine. Recently married, I had the opportunity to snap the photo to your right on the way to Tunica for his bachelor party.
 

Long time Memphians may may remember the statue he is, uhh, "posing with" as the old Food Giant. Apparently some guy out there in Mississippi took ownership of the guy once the grocery store chain folded. Pretty cool. Anyway, ever since taking this photo I just knew that I'd have an opportunity to use it again one day. Today was going to be that day.

 
Using google image search and the ole "right click-save as" trick, I quickly assembled the following images. See if you can figure out where I'm going with this.
 
   
For those of you unable to follow along, that's a rainbow trout, the San Francisco Bay bridge, and Greg Louganis.
.
Believe it or not, the tricky one here was the Greg Louganis. Amazingly very few digital photos of him on the internet exist. (or at least they don't show up with the GIS filter turned to ON) I suppose this is due to the fact that the majority of his fame came during the '88 Olympic games when he slammed the back of his head onto the diving board. A time well before the mass use of digital photography and the internet.
 
Anyway, with the "information gathering stage" of this particular Amazing Achievement now complete, it was time to break out Photoshop and get to work.
 
Long time rv.com'ers may remember a day back when Photoshop Phriday was a weekly staple on this site. (once again, please see avavining.com and elainevining.com for details as to what happened with that) One of the most hit on sections of the site at that time, Photoshop Phriday was also a way of keeping my design skills up to date. Every week for close to three years running, I would try to come up with something new. So while I'm definitely not an expert, I can point and click my way through the program with relative ease. Below is what I came up with.
 
its Hank, in a pink shirt, with Greg, in San Francisco, with a rainbow trout. Ahhhh...
 
I N N U E N D O
O V E R L O A D
 
I truly felt like bronzing my mouse after completing this masterpiece. And believe it or not, the "hard part" of this particular photoshop was getting Hank to look bad. Since Greg was a bad scan job from early 90's and Hank was a 7.2 megapixel reproduction, it was hard to make the two look like they were part of the same photograph. After that, everything else was pretty easy.
 
But the mission was not yet complete. None of this really meant anything until we got ourselves screwed down to that "Liar's Wall". So I sent the the file to Wolf Camera and ordered myself an 8x10. A day later, and $14 dollars lighter after investing in a wood frame, I was ready to put on the finishing touches.
 
Now while the original brain storm involved Elton John, his piano and a pontoon boat, I just didn't think that I could get that one posted on the wall. So I decided to take the subtle route with Greg, Hank, SF and the rainbow trout. After all, this whole thing becomes significantly less funny if it never gets posted. But this particular "reality" I felt good about. Greg is under the radar enough to not get recognized by the Flying Fish's version of the MPAA. In fact, my real concern was having some guy saying "hey, there aren't any rainbow trout in San Francisco!"
 

None the less, I thought it was worth a shot and broke out the final touch.

 
A pink sharpie. That's right... apparently they manufacture them in pink now, so after a few practice runs I was ready to autograph.
Rainbow Trout
2lb. 4oz.
Hank & Greg
San Francisco '07
 
All that was left now was to wait. After dropping off the framed photo one Sunday after church, a full week went by and there was no sign of the photo on the wall. Worried that I was completely busted, staff member wmartin and I even went by one day for lunch to basically ask for my frame back. It was then that one of the managers on duty actually held up the photo and said they were waiting for a few more to come in before mounting any more on the wall. At that, I could almost taste success. All that was needed was a little more patience.
 
Like I said at the very beginning of this particular article, few things on this site have provided the level of satisfaction that the end result of this particular Amazing Achievement has created. On April 25th, 2007, the family and I headed out the "The Fish" for dinner just to see if our submission had made the wall.
 
After two previous failed family outing attempts, I was beginning to think that I was more likely to choke to death on a fish bone actually see my submission mounted. But today was different. The journey was over and in what I can openly say is my finest rv.com moment, the Hank & Greg photo made the wall.
 
Right as you walk in, it is located on the far right hand side by the fishing poles. Even Ava was excited for me on this one. So please go and take a look before Hank takes a flathead screwdriver to this one folks. It truly is a work of art. As an added incentive, I'll give anybody who has their picture made with it and extra 15 RVPR points. Just remember that you are not supposed to eat raw oysters during months that end with the letter R.
 
Thanks for sticking with the story all the way to the end. I hope it was worth your while.
 
rvining RVPR Rank Location Staff Page Has Photo - 4/26/2007 11:37:51 PM
At the risk of my best friends friendship, I release to you my latest Amazing Achievement. Enjoy.
robthompson RVPR Rank Location Staff Page Has Photo - 4/27/2007 12:38:24 PM
Top notch quality. You've raised the bar. Is that Stuart Harris behind Ava's arm?
rvining RVPR Rank Location Staff Page Has Photo - 4/27/2007 3:44:49 PM
no, but there are 2 other Stuart photos in the building. one is right next to Ava's on the far right side of the wall. good eye.
aj RVPR Rank Location Has Photo - 4/30/2007 3:06:41 PM
i completely forgot about photoshop friday. that takes me back. i like this amazing achievement
loh1974 Location Has Photo - 5/2/2007 4:11:50 PM
Did anyone notice the front page of the BUSINESS section????????
aj RVPR Rank Location Has Photo - 5/2/2007 6:26:36 PM
has anyone been watching the espn classic reruns of american gladiators? the cardboard people behind the three rows of real people still make me laugh
rvining RVPR Rank Location Staff Page Has Photo - 5/2/2007 7:45:10 PM
i don't know what's more amazing. that it took me two weeks of constant badgering to get hank to goto the flying fish OR the fact that he has yet to see this part of my site. either way, he WENT tonite and saw my work. now all i have to do is wait for any potential aftermath.
rvining RVPR Rank Location Staff Page Has Photo - 5/2/2007 7:56:38 PM
yes - the front page of the CA today had a special on the FF. here is the copy/paste goodness... http://www.commercialappeal.com/mca/business/article/0,1426,MCA_440_5515338,00.html Oh, and one more thing. despite the 'low' comment count on this Adventure, it has received over 140 different IP hits. guess people are scared of commenting on anything remotely controversial.
 

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