Hobo beatdown!

[breakinglight11]

I have had a very disturbing experience.

In the Wii version of the Godfather game, one occasionally comes upon the odd impoverished transient, commonly known as the "hobo," on the streets of 1940s New York. I am fascinated by these creatures in their natural habitat, and make a point of addressing them when I encounter them. This usually results in my unintentionally giving them money, but that's okay, I am amused enough by their presence to not mind so much being separated from my cash.

But despite my being a friend to hobokind, they have turned against me. I went into an alleyway and came upon a gang of hobos loitering there. I was planning on seeing if they had anything useful to sell me, such as guns or dynamite, but instead, completely unprovoked, they turned on me and attacked me! I was the recipient of a hobo beatdown! One of them even had a lead pipe. :-( I was forced to slaughter all four of them with a few quick blasts of my trusty .38 Special, but I was very scarred by the experience. I thought I could commune with the hobos, but apparently they are vicious beasts that can turn on you at any moment.

Comments

[bleemoo.livejournal.com]

Have you read John Hodgman's The Areas of my Expertise? It is a hilariously funny book of TRUE FACTS(tm)! which John made up himself. I recommend the whole book, as it is awesome, but inspired by this entry I especially recommend the sections about hoboes. He has a detailed history of hoboes in this country and a list of 700 hobo names.

[breakinglight11.livejournal.com]

Sounds interesting! It's rare to find a real source of information on hobo history. Of course, since the beatdown, I'm not sure I'm feeling quite as well-disposed to hobokind as I used to be. ;-)

[bleemoo.livejournal.com]

It continues to be rare. I'm sorry if I wasn't clear, but John Hodgman's book is made up of TRUFAX!, all of which are completely made up by him.

You may know John Hodgman better as the PC in the Mac-PC ads.