Greetings,
It's getting colder, the days are getting shorter.... must be time for the annual shire Holiday Party! As in years past, Baroness Aileen and I would like to welcome the shire to Cat's Keep December 16th, 6pm, for an evening of festivities, frolicking, feasting, and whatever. The party is in garb, and will be the usual potluck and BYOB. We'll have a signup sheet at the meeting for food stuffs. Be advised that we have three large dogs that are *very* friendly...especially Awesome, the largest greyhound. He LOVES various beverages, so keep an eye on your drinks!
Before the party Scolairi is playing host to the "Inkin' in Lincoln" scribal event. I'm sure Dame Ellen would still welcome help in making sure the event runs smoothly.... please pitch in and make the scribes of the Midrealm feel welcome.
Officers: Make sure I have a copy of your domesday reports. I need to send copies in with my report in early January. Thank you.
Take care and play nice,
Rory
Hi everybody. Still working on a winter practice site, we'll keep you informed. By the time you get to read this, I will have sent in my quarterly report. I have the copy of the new marshal's test. All marshal's must take this test by the end of 2007. I'm planning to schedule a night or afternoon sometime in January where we can take the test and have discussion on it. It is open book. Please take a look at the new manual (also all the appendices, because they are also on the test.) I'll check with our Regional to find out where the appendices can be found. Currently, they are not with the main manual. That's it for now. Have a great holiday!
Catalin
Missing Officer Reports/Articles:
Pursuivant - Dugan - No article this month.
Knight’s Marshal – Aileen - No article this month.
Archery Marshal - Simon - No article this month.
Exchequer - Francesca - No article this month.
MoAS - Eithne - No article this month.
Ah, it is so very sad when you look forward to seeing a movie, especially one that you’ve known about for a couple of years, and very especially when it’s a treatment of an early period piece, and when it finally comes out it’s only in limited release and then goes straight to video. I mean, it doesn’t really bode well. Such a situation leads you to believe that maybe your high hopes and expectations were misplaced, and that you might be better off in terms of your mental health to stay up late at home watching reruns of I Love Lucy or catching a 2:00 a.m. showing of Smokey and the Bandit on the LNL (Late Night for No-Lives) cable TV network. Well, this one wasn’t quite that bad, but it most certainly did not live up to my early hopes for it. I mean, I’d been watching its progress for months. Filming; post-production; then a very long wait until it premiered at the Toronto Film Festival. Then nothing for another very long time, and all of a sudden it’s out in limited release and onto DVD. And it had so much potential! I mean, here’s a treatment of an Anglo-Saxon saga, a tale of heroes and monsters, blood and death and friendship. A chance to be all that The Thirteenth Warrior, which dealt with the same tale, wasn’t. Alas, it was not to be. But so it is that this month, Da’ud Bob reviews Beowulf & Grendel.
Starring Gerard Butler as the hero Beowulf, Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson as his opponent Grendel, Stellan Skarsgård as the Danish King Hrothgar, Sarah Polley as the outcast witch Selma, Eddie Marsa as Brendan the monk, Tony Curran as Hondscioh, Mark Lewis as the Geat (no, that’s no typo) King Hygelac, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Unferth, Gunnar Hansson as Grimur, this is, of course, as the imdb.com plot summary tells us, “a medieval adventure that tells the blood-soaked tale of a Norse warrior’s battle against the great and murderous troll, Grendel.” Well, yeah, sort of. “Building toward an inevitable and terrible battle, this is a tale where vengeance, loyalty and mercy powerfully intertwine.” It’s also a movie where there doesn’t seem to be a clear direction, where the action sometimes takes a back seat to the scenery, and a major character is added to the story to very little real purpose, except that we probably wouldn’t get to where the director wants us to go without her, because our erstwhile hero seems unable to learn on his own what he needs to take us there. There’s also a “clash of religions” under story, but I have no real idea why it’s there.
Good points: The scenery is fantastic (the movie was filmed in Iceland), and beautifully framed. The Sutton Hoo helm. The helms in general. The cloak pins. The swords. The longboat. Grendel’s deadfall trap. The soundtrack. Saddles without stirrups. The movie humanizes Grendel.
Bad points: Uncut, unsewn furs used as clothing. Saddles covered in furs. Unnecessary sex. Beowulf is Scottish? (Well, he’s got a strong Scottish accent, anyway.) Beowulf doesn’t cut off Grendel’s arm, as in the tale; Grendel cuts off his own arm to escape Beowulf. And what is Grendel supposed to be, anyway? He’s too tall to be a Neanderthal. They all call him a “troll”, but since he doesn’t seem to be “supernatural”, he doesn’t really fit the dictionary definition of a troll: “A supernatural creature of Scandinavian folklore, variously portrayed as a friendly or mischievous dwarf or as a giant, that lives in caves, in the hills, or under bridges.”
Zero breasts. Three gallons of blood. 27 dead bodies. Arrow fu. Sword fu. Fire fu. Fist fu. Heads roll. Waves roll. Gratuitous slo-motion fall from cliff. Grendel gratuitously hitting himself in the head with a rock. Gratuitous waterfall. Gratuitous dreams. Gratuitous bowling with skulls. Gratuitous heckling the bard. Gratuitous sea hag. Academy Award nomination to the cameraman, for capturing the landscapes of Iceland so very well. A 73 on the Vomit Meter. Two stars. Da’ud Bob says, “Check it out!”
Submitted by Catalin
Black Forest Cupcakes (low fat version)
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 can Black Cherry Fresca (this is a diet soda)
1 can cherry pie filling (sugar free if you are also watching sugar)
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place cupcake cups in a muffin pan. Mix cake mix and Fresca. Fill cups a little less than half full. Bake 20-25 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean). Let cool. Spoon cherry pie filling onto the top of the cupcake (hopefully only to the top of the cup.) May top with whipped cream or chocolate shavings, but these are good just as they are.
This is the on-line version of The Scolairi Notes. Scolairi Notes is the publication of the Shire of Baile na Scolairi, a branch of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. Scolairi Notes is available from Renee LeVeque, 711 E Taylor, Bloomington, IL 61701, at no cost. It is not a corporate publication of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc., and does not delineate SCA policies. Opinions expressed herein are not those of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. Webbed version created by Rory mac Feidhlimidh.