SC - Re: Drat!

[Christine A Seelye-King]

- --- Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com> wrote:
> Huette von Ahrens wrote:
> > 
> > This is a very detailed, lush
> > film, which I have seen only once.
> 
> Spoken like a true SCAdian! The question is, will
> you eventually begin
> saying, "I only saw it six times,"?

Perhaps.  :-)  It will depend on how long it stays in
release and how widely it is released.  Where it is
currently, it is $8.50 per ticket, plus the theater
has no parking, so that's an added $3.00, plus the gas
for the 40+ mile round trip drive.  I am not sure I
could afford to go six times.  If it comes out more
locally to me, in a multiplex with afternoon discounts
and free parking, then that will be an easy given.  I
have "only" seen the 3 & 4 Musketeer movies [The
Richard Donner version with Richard Chamberlain,
Oliver Reed and Michael York] 12 times in the theater.
 But that was 22 years ago when I was young and
capable of sitting thru 2 or 3 movies in an afternoon
before my tush went numb.  I am a lot older now and it
doesn't take much anymore to numb my tush.  Sigh.  Oh,
for those glory days!

> I may sneak off to see it tomorrow; I spotted it
> playing not far from my
> usual haunts (okay, it's near the kid's school...
> not that I haunt kids'
> schools or anything... um...).
> 
> FWIW, I had understood that Vatel's actual job title
> was that of
> officier, essentially, a steward over the kitchens,
> the various storage
> cellars, the pantry, etc., more like an F&B manager
> or a hospitality
> director than a chef. I believe that in France the
> Vatel Medal is given
> to distinguished wine people; I forget whether
> they're sommeliers,
> connoisseurs, or what. 
> 
> As I mentioned in my post to the Cooks' List, Vatel
> is something of a
> hero of mine, but his story also makes an excellent
> cautionary tale for
> SCA cooks and autocrats, particularly when things go
> wrong and the blame
> begins flying about. It appears that in Ancien
> Regime France, as with a
> lot of the Known World, people really do want to
> have a good time, and a
> problem or mistake that can devastate the one who
> caused it may well go
> completely unnoticed by the revellers. Extreme
> sacrifice and other acts
> of expiation are probably, for many people, less
> memorable than a good party.

Actually the movie gives a somewhat different take on
Vatel's life and abilities.  It shows him being quite
creative in working thru the problems that seemed to
always pop up at the last minute.  This will be a good
inspiration for autocrats.  The reasons for his demise
are given a different twist, whether it is really a
plausible explanation, I don't know, because I really
don't know how his life story has been written in
other sources.  But I plan on doing some reading up on
this.

Huette


=====
Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves for they 
shall never cease to be amused.

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