Qwerpline Ep08 - Fourth Quarter

[Drendar]

And yes, I am getting wayyyyyy too deep on the Canon of a hybrid scripted/improv radio drama/podcast and should probably mst3k mantra the whole thing.

[AdmiralMemo]

I think the crew enjoys seeing this much seriousness put into their craft. I mean, their slogan is "Comedy: Serious Business" right? But at the same time, if they flub up with something, MST3K it.

[Master Gunner]

Gunterson's house IS in the middle of the freeway. Example: https://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/highway-build-around-house-in-china-2.jpg

Gunderson specifically refers to having a back yard and a driveway. (and says there is nothing behind his house except scenic desert) It was built in the middle of the road. But they said during db9 that it was inspired by Carl's spite house from "Up" but that seems inconsistent with the presented story (Carl's house preempted development while happy's house came after)

Happy Gunterson owned a plot of land in the desert. The city/county/whatever wanted to build a new freeway. The planned freeway would have run directly through Gunterson's plot of land, but Gunterson refused to sell, and then built a house there and moved in when the government attempted to expropriate the land and build the freeway anyways.

So, as pictured in the above example, the highway "splits" around his house (which would be a complete building rather than a half-demolished one), using it as a temporary median. Gunterson still considers the area of paved highway directly behind/adjacent to his house to be his "backyard", and perhaps even uses it as such (with traffic not merging back to a regular-width road until well after the house), despite officially being part of the freeway.

That clear anything up for you?

[Drendar]

Gunterson's house IS in the middle of the freeway. Example: https://twistedsifter.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/highway-build-around-house-in-china-2.jpg

Gunderson specifically refers to having a back yard and a driveway. (and says there is nothing behind his house except scenic desert) It was built in the middle of the road. But they said during db9 that it was inspired by Carl's spite house from "Up" but that seems inconsistent with the presented story (Carl's house preempted development while happy's house came after)

Happy Gunterson owned a plot of land in the desert. The city/county/whatever wanted to build a new freeway. The planned freeway would have run directly through Gunterson's plot of land, but Gunterson refused to sell, and then built a house there and moved in when the government attempted to expropriate the land and build the freeway anyways.

So, as pictured in the above example, the highway "splits" around his house (which would be a complete building rather than a half-demolished one), using it as a temporary median. Gunterson still considers the area of paved highway directly behind/adjacent to his house to be his "backyard", and perhaps even uses it as such (with traffic not merging back to a regular-width road until well after the house), despite officially being part of the freeway.

That clear anything up for you?

That still isn't consistent with the description in the actual radio show though. At all. I may bother transcribing the actual dialogue from the episode

[Master Gunner]

Ok, I listened to the segment again, and wrote down the stated facts of the house:

Click to Expand

Crosswalk across his backyard - from one end of the property line to the other.
Road in front of his house, nothing behind him but scenic desert and a white zebra crossing.
In the salt flat, "beyond" highway 3.
City workers tore up the lawn to lay down pavement for the zebra crossing.
Crosswalk connects two sections of dirt on each side of his property.
School zone in his driveway.
Gunderson's house is in the middle of the road.
Gunderson says he bought the house "fair and square" and it's his property.
Alex says that Gunderson put his house in the middle of a freeway out of spite.
House referred to as the "Highway 3 Spite House"
Gunderson payed for it in cash.
Graham refers to Gunderson specifically as buying the Spite house.

So here's the assumptions I'm drawing from this:
Happy Gunderson is not the original owner of the house and property. My guess is that when the city was expropriating land for the highway, the original owner of the property was not satisfied with the price he was offered, so Gunderson made him a better offer and moved in to turn the property into a spite house.

As to the geography - Gunderson avoided mentioning that he was the Highway 3 Spite House until directly challenged on it, so we should take his descriptions of the surrounding area with a grain of salt. However, here is my crudely drawn idea of what it looks like:

Click to Expand

I've decided to go with the highway swerving around his property now instead of splitting around it - so the road is just in front of his house, but his house is still in the middle of the highway. As Gunderson's backyard still falls into the area the city expropriated for the purposes of the highway, the city saw fit to pave an area and put in a crosswalk there (in addition to the school zone out front).

[Beej]

Ok, I listened to the segment again, and wrote down the stated facts of the house:

Click to Expand

Crosswalk across his backyard - from one end of the property line to the other.
Road in front of his house, nothing behind him but scenic desert and a white zebra crossing.
In the salt flat, "beyond" highway 3.
City workers tore up the lawn to lay down pavement for the zebra crossing.
Crosswalk connects two sections of dirt on each side of his property.
School zone in his driveway.
Gunderson's house is in the middle of the road.
Gunderson says he bought the house "fair and square" and it's his property.
Alex says that Gunderson put his house in the middle of a freeway out of spite.
House referred to as the "Highway 3 Spite House"
Gunderson payed for it in cash.
Graham refers to Gunderson specifically as buying the Spite house.

So here's the assumptions I'm drawing from this:
Happy Gunderson is not the original owner of the house and property.

Sounds right to me.

Also, a tenet of improv is that characters have to agree on anything they've endowed upon the story, so that you can keep building. If you don't accept the endowment, you can't build upon it and have to keep starting over.

So in this case, following the order of the facts stated, Alex mentions that Happy put his house in HWY 3, but Happy establishes that he bought the house (this is an inadvertant side-block of Alex's endowment) and Graham continues the line of Happy having bought the house after it was built.

That's not a major fuckup; that's what happens when you're doing take after take after take and lose the nuance of the through-line in the story. In my view, it doesn't destroy the story; it just makes that part a little difficult to follow until the facts are more firmly established.

My guess is that when the city was expropriating land for the highway, the original owner of the property was not satisfied with the price he was offered, so Gunderson made him a better offer and moved in to turn the property into a spite house.

Speculation, but again, sounds right to me. Given where the house is, it may not be the city buying the property, it could've been the county or any larger government entity. Given how weird this whole county is, it might not even be government.

As to the geography - Gunderson avoided mentioning that he was the Highway 3 Spite House until directly challenged on it, so we should take his descriptions of the surrounding area with a grain of salt. However, here is my crudely drawn idea of what it looks like:

Click to Expand

I've decided to go with the highway swerving around his property now instead of splitting around it - so the road is just in front of his house, but his house is still in the middle of the highway. As Gunderson's backyard still falls into the area the city expropriated for the purposes of the highway, the city saw fit to pave an area and put in a crosswalk there (in addition to the school zone out front).

I love this rationale and it plays pretty close to how I kept picturing things. But instead of "the city saw fit", you could also say "the Pipesmen saw fit". There's no way of knowing whether the city sent the Pipesmen or whether the Pipesmen do things on their own (I like to think the Pipesmen are acting on their own, but I don't control the story).

What's also great about that rough drawing is that is also illustrates a key fact: the highway could've been built to avoid the property in the first place. NO ONE IS OUT THERE.

Also, Ian is probably the most reliable source for why Happy Gunderson described things the way he did. If you want a more accurate description of what he was picturing, hit him up on Twitter.

[Beej]

Thank you So much for the official answers beej!

Nsburg ring road is supposed to be a road ringing Nsburg but only a 25 degree arc has been completed?

Can you quote me an episode? I can't remember if we said only 25-degrees have been made, or if there's 25 degrees left to finish the ring road. Also, we don't know where those 25 degrees are.

The shaughnessy hwy is a north south, highway 3 is east west?

I'm not entirely sure myself. They could also run at angles and curves (I always think of HWY 2/Deerfoot Trail in Calgary, AB when picturing a curved highway). If there's evidence in an episode, please feel free to mention it on the wiki.

Also is there ANY way the DOGEMAN from desert bus Qwerpline can get incorporated into the Canon broadcasts as the local cryptid?

I don't think we've forgotten about the DOGEMAN. If it's on the wiki, it may get referenced again.

[Beej]

Also, this is fun.
https://goo.gl/maps/5VX5mERw9XS2

The Yellowhead highway in Alberta splits beacuse of a graveyard built at those coordinates.