[email protected]

In a message dated 5/24/02 1:24:53 PM, rumpleteasermom@... writes:

<< I was under the impression that the moderators
were frowning upon the concept of pulling an old post out of context
like you did here. >>

Something from yesterday is not "old."

And it wasn't out of context. The pertinent line was offered, immediately
followed by the full paragraph.

The other day Holly said that although people will sometimes address her as
"young lady," nobody ever addresses anyone as "old woman," but I told her
they do in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Here is that passage, NOT out of
context, and the rest can be viewed at
http://www.stone-dead.asn.au/movies/holy-grail/scene-03.html
and various other internet sites.

ARTHUR:
Old woman!
DENNIS:
Man!
ARTHUR:
Man. Sorry. What knight lives in that castle over there?
DENNIS:
I'm thirty-seven.
ARTHUR:
I-- what?
DENNIS:
I'm thirty-seven. I'm not old.
ARTHUR:
Well, I can't just call you 'Man'.
DENNIS:
Well, you could say 'Dennis'.
ARTHUR:
Well, I didn't know you were called 'Dennis'.
DENNIS:
Well, you didn't bother to find out, did you?

That discussion led to my buying the new special edition DVD. It's a marvel.
Any of you with any interest in that should just buy it, do not pass go,
don't bother to rent it. It has HOURS of special features and extras. Days
of fun.

This afternoon I was sewing and listening to the voiceover commentary by John
Cleese, Eric Idle and Michael Palin. (There's another whole voiceover by
Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, who were the directors.) There are two
scenes in Japanese, with subtitles of the Japanese translated back into
English. There's more than I can tell here, on two disks, but anyway, I was
impressed by how intellectual the whole discussion was in some places.
Sometimes what seems unimportant or silly is really the weighty core of an
entire discussion or piece of art or whatever.

"Context" itself means with the surrounding information, either literal
(writing) or conversational, visual, social or emotional. It's like "in
situ," for archeologists.

It's an important concept for kids to understand, as unschoolers are learning
in context and not separate from life. Watching this Holy Grail DVD, it's
cool to see commentary in context (in the presence of the movie being played)
by people who are describing what happened in context (remembering back to
the time of the filming and discussing the political, financial, artistic and
social realities of the early 1970's).

-=-And it wasn't out of context. -=-

When I wrote that I was thinking of the "I'm NOT a witch" rhythm and delivery.

BEDEVERE:
How do you know she is a witch?
VILLAGER #2:
She looks like one.
CROWD:
Right! Yeah! Yeah!
BEDEVERE:
Bring her forward.
WITCH:
I'm not a witch. I'm not a witch.
BEDEVERE:
Uh, but you are dressed as one.
WITCH:
They dressed me up like this.


It's not about witches at all, but about logic. There are few better logic
lessons I've ever seen than absurdity, and combining absurdity with medieval
thinking is glory!

Sandra