@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @@@@@@@ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
@ @@@@@ @@@@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ @
@ @ @ @@@@@ @ @ @ @ @@@@@ @@@@@ @@@
Mt. Holz Science Fiction Society
Club Notice - 12/08/00 -- Vol. 19, No. 23
Chair/Librarian: Mark Leeper, 732-817-5619, mleeper@avaya.com
Factotum: Evelyn Leeper, 732-332-6218, eleeper@lucent.com
Distinguished Heinlein Apologist: Rob Mitchell, robmitchell@avaya.com
HO Chair Emeritus: John Jetzt, jetzt@avaya.com
HO Librarian Emeritus: Nick Sauer, njs@lucent.com
Back issues at http://www.geocities.com/evelynleeper
All material copyright by author unless otherwise noted.
The Science Fiction Association of Bergen County meets on the
second Saturday of every month in Upper Saddle River; call
201-447-3652 for details. The Denver Area Science Fiction
Association meets 7:30 PM on the third Saturday of every month at
Southwest State Bank, 1380 S. Federal Blvd.
===================================================================
1. One of the dangers my friends suffer when they write to me is
they may catch me at just the moment that I am looking for
something to write for the weekly editorial. That is what Tim
Schroeder did when he wrote me about an editorial I wrote over the
summer on people who accept and reject unfamiliar experiences in
eating. Apparently when he was in Triers, Germany he went to a
restaurant that claimed to feature Roman food. Not the food of
modern-day Rome but the food of the Roman Empire. Supposedly this
is the food that Caesar ate. One of the thought games I play with
myself is to ask myself what would Julius Caesar think about
something commonplace now or how would I react to something
commonplace in his time. One question I have is would I react
better to Roman food than Caesar would react to our cuisine. Of
course there is no way to know for sure, but I have come to the
conclusion that Caesar might react better to our food than I would
react to his. Why do I think that he would like our food more than
I would his?
I have claimed that I never met a cuisine I did not like. So it
comes as a surprise to me that in this respect I might be a more
finicky eater than Great Caesar. I tend to eat just about anything
and while history does not record whether Caesar was hard to
please, it almost is certainly true that he had the power and
wealth to pamper himself.
So how do I reach this conclusion? Well first, I rather suspect
that hygiene standards would get in my way. One rather suspects
that even Caesar would eat only moderately better than the common
people and hygiene standards probably were less than appetizing for
the food the common people ate at that time. I think a modern
person would be revolted at what people ate in the last century,
ancient Roman standards would be even more revolting. One suspects
that the most powerful man in Rome might merit having only a few
maggots in his meat and probably would have all the flies brushed
off by the time the food was served to him. It would be enough to
disgust me, but it would seem to be more than good enough for
Caesar.
But why do I feel that spoiled and catered to Caesar would adapt so
well to our food. Let me be a little more specific. I think that
Caesar would adapt well to McDonalds Hamburgers and Pizza Hut
pizza. Why? I think that is how Pizza Hut pizza is designed. It
would not be on the Pizza Hut menu if most of the world did not
find it inoffensive. H. Salt Fish and Chips died because not
enough people found it inoffensive and that is popular in Britain.
There are not a lot of people in the world who instantly hate the
taste of a McDonalds Hamburger. People adapt really quickly to ice
cream. So we never will know for sure, but Julius Caesar would
probably love our junk food.
So how did Tim react to Roman food? He ate it. He said that it
was Mediterranean in taste. He did not find it that tasty, though
he did like a nut and berry salad and a honeyed tea drink. I hope
to get more to report. But the question I ask is is this authentic
Roman cuisine. A couple of years ago we toured the aircraft
carrier Yorktown in Charleston harbor. They sold a lunch there
that was supposed to be like the sailors had in WWII, or so they
claimed. I was a bit of a wiseguy and asked our guide, who had
served on the Yorktown, if that really was what the food was like.
Well, he told me, food has changed a lot in that time. People eat
a lot less fat these days. People would not want food like the
Yorktown served. A sailor in World War II probably put in a hard
day of work and could probably digest a meal of greasy meat and
greasy potatoes and probably even greasy vegetable better than we
do today. We are not fighting a war with the Japanese Imperial
Navy.
So the taste of WWII was a fraud, and that was only a matter of
fifty-five years difference in time. I am not sure I really
believe a restaurant cook is telling the truth when he claims they
are making food like it was better than 2000 years earlier.
Postscript: I found out what they claim in Triers that the Romans
ate. There was a salad of wild greens with grapes and pine nuts.
The main course was ham with a gravey that had berries and pine
nuts.
===================================================================
2. CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON (a film review in bullet list
form by Mark R. Leeper from the Toronto International Film
Festival):
Capsule: Ang Lee returns to Chinese themes and
creates a really great adventure film, filmed
in China. For once a Chinese film combines a
complex adventure story, excellent photography,
a beautiful score, and just about everything
else is top notch. Except for subtitles, it
seems aimed at the same sort of audience as THE
MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, and it stands up well to
comparison. It is no longer true that great
adventure films are all in English. Rating: +3
Chinese language
- Master Li Mu Bai is retiring from fighting, giving up the
great Jade sword to his teacher
- Really loves Master swordswoman Shu Lien
- At Teacher's monastery there is an enigmatic princess being
taken to be married
- Any more about plot would ruin twists
- Beautiful Peking fortress shot
- Obvious wire effects for flying. On wire don't move like
flying. Still done very gracefully and skillfully.
- Western view of human flying has body horizontal like bird,
e.g. Superman. Eastern version frequently has person
vertical like leaping from stepping stone to stepping stone
- Wide variety of topographies, desert, mountains poking through
dark clouds, large variety of scenery
- Plotting like Western Cowboy stories, good complex adventure
against natural background
- Not clear why guards cannot tell it is woman they are
fighting, audience can
- Interesting plot twists including love story
- Humor
- Adult look at superheroes
- First class production
- Directed by Ang Lee of SENSE AND SENSIBILITY, THE ICE STORM,
and RIDE WITH THE DEVIL
- Yo Yo Ma did cello solos
- Fighting sequences from guy who did THE MATRIX
- Guard Bo looks a lot like Chow Yun Fat. I did not find
confusing, but some did. Might have been a stunt double for
Chow at some time.
[-mrl]
Mark Leeper
HO 1K-644 732-817-5619
mleeper@avaya.com
Heaven, as conventionally conceived, is a place so inane,
so dull, so useless, so miserable, that no-body has ever
ventured to describe a whole day in heaven, though plenty
of people have described a day at the seaside. -- George Bernard Shaw