sorry for veggieangelism but really you can put pretty much any veg in the oven for 20 minutes at 400 covered in olive oil, salt, pepper, onion+garlic powder and have it be good
the saddest thing about life is that tattoos cost many money. oh and traveling? also costs many money. video games? many money. starting a new hobby? usually many money. concerts? so many money and also good luck even getting tickets. going out and getting a fancy beverage? you know the drill.
If this is to end in fire Then we should all burn together Watch the flames climb high Into the night Calling out father, oh, Stand by and we will Watch the flames burn auburn on the mountain side, high
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Ed Sheeran’s “I See Fire” completely wrecked my emotions and so now I have many Thorin feels and I don’t know what to do with them.
Merlin doesn’t really know the rules of court, he doesn’t know how it is proper to bow or to whom one may answer, Merlin the first few times -while he is learning- does more or less what he wants while Arthur looks at him and shudders as Merlin looks a Lord in the eye while talking to him and Arthur has to make Merlin lower his gaze by making him bow his head.
Merlin has no idea about court etiquette at all, but he is learning.
He is not quite sure what his duties actually are, but he is learning.
Merlin, despite his innumerable flaws, is a quick learner and thanks to his witty responses and goofy smile, he manages to get out of unpleasant situations without so much as a reprimand.
Arthur is almost admired if he has to be honest.
However, everything Merlin does not learn from the rest of the servants in the castle, Arthur teaches him.
When Merlin gets it wrong, when he serves a drink the wrong way (“But I’m filling a glass, how can that be wrong?” “If you let me finish talking, Merlin!”) or bows the wrong way to a lady or opens his mouth to answer a lord or knight in tone, Arthur is there to correct him.
And, as already mentioned, Merlin is a quick learner.
In a short time he learns how to behave, he learns with whom he can joke and with whom he must behave impeccably.
Perhaps Arthur should reflect on why he has not yet heard a deferential sire addressed to him.
That said, the point is that Merlin doesn’t know much about etiquette and customs and what exactly he should do as the prince’s manservant, and since Arthur is the prince he is the only one who can explain to him what he should do, right?
So it is that Merlin finds himself brushing Arthur’s hair and giving him a shave, both of which Arthur should do himself because no one can be trusted with a knife near the neck of the future king of Camelot, no one is worthy nor can be trusted with all that much, especially someone from another realm and known for so little.
Merlin is babbling about something as he passes the blade across Arthur’s neck, and his voice, despite being frantic because he is inflamed by what he is saying, manages to calm Arthur down like few other things in the world.
Arthur closes his eyes and trusts Merlin.
Merlin does not know this and Arthur will make sure that he never finds out.
This is why I dislike looking back on the past as if everything has been constantly improving to get us to where we are now
Our cement isn’t as strong as the Romans, our steel isn’t as strong as Damascus steel, we cannot replicate the beauty of a Stradivari violin, we’ve already lost some of the technology that flew Apollo and Gemini to space
And when I live out a suitcase I have to sift through a pile of stuff like a neanderthal
I hate to tell you this, but none of your examples are true.
Roman concrete lasts longer, but 1) we’ve already learned how to replicate AND IMPROVE it and the reason we don’t is 2) it’s not as strong as modern concrete. Modern alloys are stronger than Damascus steel. When blindfolded and asked to tell the difference between a Stradivarius and a modern violin, experts misidentified the modern violin as the Stradivarius a little over half the time. And while we have indeed lost some of the technology that first got us to the moon, that technology was cobbled together by hand and the fact it worked at all is nothing short of a marvel.
If you want to talk about how things aren’t always better in the present, consider:
—we’ve replaced thousands of forms of localized, “this will keep you cool in summer and warm in winter” architecture with standardized window-filled boxes that do neither of those things
—hundreds of varieties of very good apples have been lost or nearly lost because they were smaller/not as fast-growing/didn’t look as nice on the shelf as modern varietals
—basic life skills like cooking, sewing, and basic car maintenance are no longer taught in most schools
—ornamental ANYTHING has been widely eschewed in favor of “efficiency” and “resale value”
—while modern glass is stronger than medieval glass, we struggle to reproduce the vibrant colors of medieval glass because in a lot of places we don’t know what it was colored with
—fast fashion has given us more options Re: clothes, but it also means we’ve replaced natural, low-impact fibers like wool and linen with plastic, which is worse in basically every way
—the pyramids were built with such precision that in places where the outer capstones are still present, you can’t get a credit card between them. While we can theoretically do something like this in the modern day, it’s not considered worth the effort because it’s fucking HARD, and nobody has actually figured out how the Egyptians did it in the absence of automated tools
—art nouveau and Art Deco went out of fashion and I think those two tragedies speak for themselves
—we’re struggling to rebuild Notre Dame because over-harvesting of forests means we don’t have trees big enough to replace the roof beams
—we have very little idea what we lost in Africa due to colonialism and racism. We do know we lost entire literary traditions and we can only mourn and wonder about thousands of years’ worth of art
You can make the point on every front without relying on long-debunked legends.
ok but I note the one thing you didn’t debunk was the fact that that trunk was fucking cool
shame it’s probably really heavy and would need a cart to haul around or something
Well out of the blue I just remembered today the time I accidentally joined the cast of a production of The Princess Bride….in the middle of the production.
And you’re gonna just leave us there
I mean, if you guys wanna hear the story, it is a pretty fun one
Some years ago (6? 7 years ago, I think?) there was a pirate exhibit at the state museum. We had actual artifacts from the Queen Anne’s Revenge, creepy wax dummies, historical costumes etc, it was awesome.
I was really into Pirates of the Caribbean at the time, because I played the mmorpg with some high school friends of mine (and some of their parents sometimes, who also got addicted to it), so of course when they announced “Pirate Night at the Museum”, in which visitors were encouraged to dress up, I was over the moon. So I’m there with my friends, my parents, and my sisters, running around the exhibits after the museum is technically closed.
They replaced the creepy wax dummies with people in costume at this point, and it was pretty epic.
The highlight of the night would be a showing of The Princess Bride. The movie would play on the big screen while actors would be on a stage below, acting the whole thing out word for word and shot for shot as it happened. Any audience members who knew lines were encouraged to shout them out as they heard them.
Here’s the thing. My parents love that movie. Like you don’t understand they were quoting it to us in its entirety when we were still in highchairs. I could reenact the battle of wits scene before I ever actually watched it. So my family sits in the front row, behind the railing, quoting everything right along with the actors and film.
And then comes the part in the Pit of Despair with the Albino. And the cast didn’t have anyone on the stage with Wesley. I don’t know if the Albino couldn’t make it that night, or if they’d never cast him, but it was really weird to see Wesley just lying on the stage awkwardly while the Albino is supposed to be treating his injuries.
I started twitching. My mom and sister look at me and they’re like “do it.” And one of the ushers is like “you know the part? do it”
So I launch over the railing, run up onto the stage, and take over from there, doing my best impression of the character. Being that I was a 5′2″ blonde girl in a corset and puffy sleeves, Wesley had some trouble keeping a straight face.
Then they got to the scene with Humperdink telling the guard to clear out the Thieves’ Forest, and…they didn’t have the guard either. So my twin sister up in the audience is like “hang on, I got this” and then she launches over the railing to make sure Humperdink isn’t just sitting awkwardly talking to thin air.
This meant that yes, I got bopped on the noggin by Fezzik, and yes, my sister got to do the “Give us the key.” “What key?” “Fezzik, tear his arms off.” “Oh, you mean this key!”
They made up stay on stage and take a bow with the cast when it was over, it was hilarious. Then the next year, since they still had the exhibit, the museum called my sister and was like, “So….that was super fun last year. Do you and your sister want to be audience plants and do it again this year?”
The answer, naturally, was heck yes. Since we had new volunteers playing Count Rugen and Inigo this time, this also led to my sister actually choreographing their fight scene herself. Which was awesome.
My favorite part is that this is entirely in tone for Princess Bride.
