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Sharron Bassano's avatar

(Regarding that last train) Wait a minute. Hold it. Back up to that second stanza. Tell me more about the destruction of anything electronic and the gears of the digital world coming to a grinding halt. Because don't you wonder what would happen if no one had a phone? I'll be waiting for the next episode. Sharron at 🍁Leaves

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Mark Starlin's avatar

I will text you the answer. Oh, wait... My phone just stopped working. 😉

I know what would happen if no one had a cell phone. I lived that way for three decades. 🤣

In some ways it was better. No social media. No electronic tether. The world was smaller and local. It wasn't bad. 🙂

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Sharron Bassano's avatar

Still, it would be a great idea for a story , Mark - death of the cell phone and how young people would cope ... or not cope.

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Mark Starlin's avatar

The loss of phones would be a disaster now. As people have built their lives around them. Same for the internet. We have grown dependent on them. But life could exist without them. Even if the kids don’t think so. It would be a radical adjustment, though. 🤣

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Hanna's avatar

The Frisbee could float across I guess 🤔.

I'd like to be on the last train out, loved that one.

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂 The hulk one had me cracking up the whole time. My daughter's favorite superhero is the Hulk. How anyone could think the Monkees are better than the Beatles is beyond me lol...

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Mark Starlin's avatar

Believe it or not, that really was a thing back in the 60s. 🤣

Thanks Hanna. 🤓

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Jenise Cook's avatar

Ah, the Monkees and The Beatles “debate”...😂

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Mark Starlin's avatar

Memories... 😉

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V. C. Ackerman's avatar

Frisbees - Don’t worry kid. A mermaid will enjoy your frisbee.

The Last Train Out - I’ve always thought old timey steam locomotive trains looked cool. This reads like the beginning of an apocalyptic adventure story.

It Happened Again - “While I’m tearing the place apart, the Partridge Family moron yells, “Come on, get happy!”” This got a good chuckle out of me! Poor Bruce. Music fandoms are so intense!

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Mark Starlin's avatar

That's where all those frisbees disappear to!

Me also. Steam locomotives are very cool.

You can't reason with rabid fans! 🤣

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Dascha Paylor 🇨🇦🍁🐻‍❄'s avatar

Being a big MCU universe fan, I especially loved "It Happened Again" and, of course, saw the hulk out coming a mile away. Maybe it was on the last train out!

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Mark Starlin's avatar

Hulk smash train! 🤣

Nothing like uneducated opinions to bring out the Hulk in people. 🤣

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Dascha Paylor 🇨🇦🍁🐻‍❄'s avatar

Yup. It brings out my inner hulk. I tend to walk away, though, because I learned a long time ago there's no getting through to the willfully ignorant opinionated

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Mark Starlin's avatar

Agreed. It is waste of time debating a closed mind.

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Claire Chambers's avatar

Chills from the ash rain train poem. That last line! Then a total shift of tone into the hilarious, and completely unexpected inclusion of a Hulk Smash. Loving it, Mark!

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Mark Starlin's avatar

Thank you, Claire. I enjoy writing the occasional "serious" story, but I love writing humor. 🤓

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John K Adams's avatar

That would go without saying. But it's so much fun to say.

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Mark Starlin's avatar

Indeed!

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John K Adams's avatar

Opinionated music fans. Something needs to be done about them. They're everywhere!

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Mark Starlin's avatar

So true. And they are always wrong! 😉🤣

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Elle Griffin's avatar

Recently at a dinner party someone said that it only counts as art if the artist is a millionaire from it and I almost hulked right out of there 🤣 Art debates are so much more intense than real debates.

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Mark Starlin's avatar

Spoken like a wealthy non-artist. 😂 Of course, very few artist, were ever millionaires. Probably musicians more than most (when people still bought music.) Andy Warhol. And a few NFT artist who got lucky.

Anyway, I hope you didn’t turn too green. 😉 See you at Sears. 🤣

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Jack Herlocker's avatar

“Why does that frisbee keep getting bigger?”, I thought. Then it hit me. 😁

Kind of a dark turn on the steam train illustration! Are you a fan? I was as a kid, with a Lionel train set in the basement. The benefits of an over-large unfinished basement.

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Mark Starlin's avatar

Yes, I loved trains as a kid and always had a train set in the basement. I went through the gauges, Lionel, HO, then N scale.

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Justin Deming's avatar

Ha! I love that the Hulk asks his wife for a new suit from Sears. I always enjoy the different forms/genres you choose to write in.

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Mark Starlin's avatar

Thanks, Justin. Sears had the Big Man section. 🤣

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