To celebrate the end of the first section of reading for The Impossible Read, this weekend I watched three movies related to the King Arthur books that I have read so far. On Saturday, Eldest and I watched the sweet and charming The Sword in the Stone (Disney, 1963), an animated dramatization of portions of the first section of T. H. White’s The Once and Future King. I knew that Eldest hadn’t seen this movie, but until I watched it I didn’t realize that I had never seen it, either.
While it didn’t bring back any memories for me, it was a gentle delight. I did note the similarities between several of the film’s animals to animals in other Disney films — particularly to the wolves, snakes, and even the boy in the upcoming The Jungle Book (1967). The Sword in the Stone has been waiting patiently in line for its live remake, but it seems that the project is now on indefinite hold.
The next movie was the 1967 film adaptation of the musical “Camelot.” Again, this was a first-time viewing for me. I grew up with access to several vinyl Broadway cast albums and played them over and over during my preteen and teen years, but “Camelot” was not one of them. I didn’t even know any of the songs from it.
It was a three-hour movie with an intermission, and because it took its time in setting up the relationships between the three primary characters there wasn’t much time for anything else. Merlin/Merlyn and Archimedes get some flashbacks as Arthur asks for guidance, and King Pellinore shows up — probably to serve the purpose of giving Arthur someone else to talk to. Mordred suddenly appears at Camelot (with a three-sentence back story) and creates havoc and disarray. Arthur, with all the guidance he has received, still seems helpless as everyone’s fates play out.
The final feature was the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Now I know why each and every knight calls out “Camelot!” when the party views the castle through the trees: it’s just the way it happened in the movie.
I’ve seen this movie many times before, and it was fun to see it again. The DVD edition I have is subtitled “the ultimate definitive final special edition DVD” and contains a ridiculously long list of bonus features. I just played the movie, but I did notice some extra footage I hadn’t seen before, particularly in the adventure of Sir Galahad. I probably shouldn’t have started watching Monty Python at the tender age that I did, but it’s too late to do anything about it now.
Checkpoint: So far I have read 1,443 pages and watched almost 6 hours of movies related to the Impossible Read. Onward we go with A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, followed by a movie break, and then Lev Grossman’s The Bright Sword (as soon as I can get a copy).
In other news, on Saturday morning I was able to pick up my repaired saxophone, retrieve my unrepaired saxophone, and get two books of sheet music I had ordered. I’m concentrating now on getting the setup right so I don’t put too much strain on my hands, so I haven’t launched into actual practices yet.
Knitwise, the Victorian Duet Scarf KAL by Franklin Habit kicked off this weekend with the release of the pattern. I’m also hooked up on the official Discord channel for the KAL, which means that, after all these years, I have finally installed Discord. Knitters from around the world are posting photos of their work and/or their swatches (I didn’t swatch), asking questions, and contributing to a broad conversation ranging from this specific pattern and how the design will come together, to the gauges preferred by Victorian knitters and the reasons why.
I cast on using Franklin’s knitted cast-on method, for 45 stitches.
After knitting ten rows on Saturday, I forged ahead and knitted two more rows on Sunday while watching Camelot — then noticed an error I had made on Row 10 that forced me to un-knit rows 12, 11, and most of 10 before I could correct my mistake and go forward again.
The second photo shows 3-3/4 inches of knitting where there will eventually be 30. I can do ten rows of the pattern in a long sitting, but can I find a way to do that twice a day? On US3 needles?
Chocolate Sheep 