Re: A great big steaming pile of fewmets

From: Jeff Kyer <jakyer_at_...>
Date: Sun, 25 Jul 2004 13:48:22 -0400


> Well, I finally went & saw King Arthur, and was thoroughly underwhelmed by
> the historiocity and "True Story of Arthur-ness" of it. (I never bought into
> the Matthews & Malcor theory that Arther *was* a Sarmation - after 200
> years, I figure any Sarmatian blood was running pretty thin in the unit, and
> the story claims that Roman soldiers were still being sent to Britain after
> the Emperor Honorius told the British to "look to their own defenses". Huh?)
>
>

Yeah. That snapped my "suspenders of disbelief" pretty hard.

>
> Besides all the historical and mythical problems with the movie, it *really*
> was just another entry into the "Magnificent Seven" subgenre of movies:
> seven super-competent guys ride forth, rescue some innocent villagers and
> defeat a nasty army. Instead of Mexican peons we have "woads" (why can't we
> just call a Pict a Pict? The word dates to the third century, the movie
> supposedly takes place in the 5th...) enslaved by a nasty Roman, and instead
> of Banditos we have a Saxon Army a few hundred miles off from where they
> originally landed (Cerdic & Cynric landed in the *south* of Britain, Mr.
> Bruckheimer!)
>

Oh, and don't forget the Christians (and most Romans) are evil trope. Sigh. Like we don't hear that one every day. That and the unwarranted ubernationalism - it felt very out of place.

>
>
> RR
> It is by my order and for the good of the state that the bearer of this has
> done what he has done.
> - Richelieu

The best thing to come out of "King Arthur" was me digging out my old Mary Stewart books and re-reading them. That was (and is) good read. Between that and Eagle of the Ninth, I should be able to recover from the thinly veiled nationalism and wave of irritation King Arthur casused me.

I don't think I can bring myself to see I, Robot yet.

Jeff

--
Flight to Peru - £1000
Camping gear - £200
Native guide to take you into the mountains - £50
Radiation detector to find mysteriously radioactive old tomb - £150
Sledgehammer to break down stone door - £12.99
Awakening one of the Great Old Ones - priceless.

There are some things man was not meant to know. For everything else,
there's Mastercard.

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