A post fit for a king (original) (raw)

I finished reading The Once and Future King yesterday. I'd actually read The Sword in the Stone as a stand-alone some years ago. There are at least two versions of Sword, and I had both an earlier one and the revised one that's also the first part of King, so I made an effort to read all of the episodes that were in one version and not the other (Madame Mim, Galapas, the different takes on Morgan's castle, the ants and geese, etc.). I think I liked the earlier one better. Anyway, I didn't bother re-reading Sword, but I did read the other three parts of King for the first time. I found it to be an interestingly philosophical and sometimes humorous (much more so in the earlier parts than the more tragic later ones) take on the Arthurian saga. One thing that particularly struck me is how White played with the anachronisms in earlier versions of the story, not just with Merlyn's ability to remember things from the future (and I must say I missed Merlyn in the later part of the book), but by claiming that Arthur's father Uther had ruled from 1066 to 1216, making him sort of a parallel-universe version of every English monarch from William I through John. Arthur and Uther are even specifically referred to as Norman kings. Some of the actual kings from this period are also mentioned, but usually as fictional or legendary. Another thing I noticed was how much effort White puts into trying to defend Guenever, who really does not come off as very likeable.

I've also gone back to trying to finish reading the entire Bible. I've now finished with the Histories, and I have to say the Chronicles were pretty difficult to get through. While the author(s) of the books of Samuel and Kings seemed to be primarily interested in stories, the Chronicler just kept spewing out a bunch of names, only being of much interest to modern readers when you get one along the lines of "Elhanan, son of Dodo" (who's also mentioned in 2 Kings). I must say I found the description of Solomon's wealth to be somewhat amusing. The guy apparently had 700 wives, and all of his utensils were made of solid gold. (Whether he also had any of the golden hemorrhoids mentioned a few books previously is never specified.) And speaking of Solomon, the whole story about the baby is pretty crazy by today's standards. I mean, could you imagine someone actually recommending that an official kill a baby, whether or not it's hers? Come on, even Ann Coulter at least pretends to care about babies. Or maybe that's only before they're born. I'm not sure.

TV Survey (courtesy of rockinlibrarian):

Bold the ones you've seen at least 3 episodes of...

24
30 Rock
7th Heaven - For a while, this was pretty regular ironic viewing for bethje and me.
Adam-12
Aeon Flux
ALF
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alias
American Idol/Pop Idol/Canadian Idol/Australian Idol/etc.
America's Next Top Model/Germany's Next Top Model
Angel
Arrested Development - One of the few shows of which I've seen every episode
Babylon 5
Babylon 5: Crusade
Battlestar Galactica (the old one)
Battlestar Galactica (the new one)
Baywatch
Beavis & Butthead
Beverly Hills 90210
Bewitched
Bionic Woman (old)
Bionic Woman (new)
Bonanza
Bones
Bosom Buddies
Boston Common
Boston Legal
Boston Public
Boy Meets World - Unfortunately
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Bug Juice
Chappelle's Show
Charles in Charge
Charlie's Angels
Charmed
Cheers
Chicago Hope
Cold Case
Columbo
Commander in Chief
Coupling
Cowboy Bebop
Criminal Minds
Crossing Jordan
CSI
CSI: Miami
CSI: NY
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Dancing with the Stars
Danny Phantom
Dark Angel
Dark Skies
Davinci's Inquest
Dawson's Creek
Dead Like Me
Deadliest Catch
Deadwood
Degrassi: The Next Generation - No, I'm not 3x1minus1. {g}
Designing Women
Desperate Housewives
Dharma & Greg
Different Strokes
Doctor Who (new)
Dragnet
Due South
Early Edition (series)
Earth 2
Ed - I think? Maybe it was actually only two. I don't remember for sure.
Emergency!
Entourage
ER
Even Stevens
Everwood
Everybody Loves Raymond
Facts of Life
Family Guy - I watch it regularly now, but there were a few earlier episodes I missed. Maybe someday I should actually sit down and watch the DVDs.
Family Ties
Farscape
Fawlty Towers
Felicity - My mom used to watch this, for some reason.
Firefly
Frasier
Freaks and Geeks
Friday Night Lights
Friends Futurama - Another one where I've seen every episode
Get Smart
Ghost Hunters
Gilligan's Island
Gilmore Girls
Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.
Green Wing
Grey's Anatomy
Growing Pains - Probably, anyway. Can't remember for sure, but it seems likely.
Gunsmoke
Hannah Montana
Happy Days
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys
Heroes
Hogan's Heroes
Home Improvement - Again, unfortunately
Homicide: Life on the Street
House
I Dream of Jeannie
I Love Lucy - As bizarre as it sounds, I'm not sure I've ever actually watched an entire episode.
Invader Zim
Invasion
Hell's Kitchen
JAG
Jackass
Jericho
Joan of Arcadia
Joey
John Doe
LA Law
Las Vegas
Laverne and Shirley
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit
Life on Mars - No, I'm not lozenger8. {g}
Little House on the Prairie
Lizzie McGuire - This is something that Beth used to put on just to be annoying. I don't think I've ever seen so much overacting in one show before. And could that cartoon version of Lizzie possibly be any MORE crappily animated?
Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman
Lost
Lost in Space
Love, American Style
M*A*S*H
MacGyver
Malcolm in the Middle Married With Children
Martial Law
Melrose Place
Miami Vice
Mission: Impossible
Monk
Moonlight
Moonlighting
My Life as a Dog
My So-Called Life
My Three Sons
My Two Dads
NCIS
Nip/Tuck
Northern Exposure
Numb3rs
One Tree Hill
Oz
Perry Mason
Picket Fences
Pokemon Power Rangers - How come they aren't listing every single series like they did for CSI and Star Trek? :P
Prison Break - Never seen it, but I've seen a lot of commercials for it, and I have to say the title confuses me. Did they actually make an entire series about people breaking out of prison? That seems like a premise that would grow old after two or three episodes.
Profiler
Project Runway
Psych
Quantum Leap
Queer As Folk (US)
Queer as Folk (British)
ReGenesis
Remington Steele
Reno 911! - I believe this is on our Netflix queue. For some reason, even though Beth liked The State, I've never known her to watch this.
Rescue Me
Road Rules
Rome
Roseanne
Roswell
Saved by the Bell
Scarecrow and Mrs. King
Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?
Scrubs
Seinfeld
Sex and the City
Six Feet Under
Slings and Arrows
Smallville
So Weird
South Park - I don't think I have seen three episodes of this, actually. How weird is that?
Spaced
Spongebob Squarepants
Sports Night
Star Trek Star Trek: The Next Generation Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Star Trek: Voyager
Star Trek: Enterprise
Stargate Atlantis
Stargate SG-1
Studio 60 On The Sunset Strip
Superman
Supernatural
Surface
Survivor
Taxi - I don't THINK I've seen three episodes, anyway. I could be wrong.
Teen Titans
That 70's Show That's So Raven
The 4400
The Addams Family
The Andy Griffith Show
The A-Team
The Avengers
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Brady Bunch The Colbert Report - I'm not sure why I don't watch this more often.
The Cosby Show The Daily Show
The Dead Zone
The Dick Van Dyke Show
The Flintstones The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air The Golden Girls
The Honeymooners
The Jeffersons
The Jetsons
The L Word
The Love Boat
The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Mighty Boosh
The Monkees The Munsters
The Mythbusters - Never seen it, although I suspect I might like it if I did, since I tend to enjoy anything that debunks popular fallacies. As Amy said, though, I don't think there's actually a "the" in the title.
The O.C.
The Office (UK) - It's on the Netflix queue.
The Office (US) - I've seen the entire first season, but that's only, like, six episodes.
The Pretender
The Real World
The Shield
The Simpsons - Again, I've seen every episode. Not all of the Tracy Ullman shorts, but I don't think that's really necessary.
The Six Million Dollar Man
The Sopranos
The Suite Life of Zack and Cody - From the little I've seen of this, it makes Lizzie McGuire look good. Remember when the Disney Channel actually showed stuff that wasn't crap? I don't, admittedly, since I didn't even have basic cable as a kid, let alone premium (which is what the channel was back then). That's what I've heard, though.
The Tudors
The Twilight Zone
The Waltons
The West Wing - I think so, anyway?
The Wonder Years The X-Files
Third Watch
Three's Company
Torchwood
Top Gear
Tru Calling
Twin Peaks - I'm actually wondering if I should put this on the Netflix queue. I mean, I liked Eraserhead.
Twitch City
Ugly Betty
Veronica Mars
Whose Line is it Anyway? (US)
Whose Line is it Anyway? (UK)
Will and Grace
Wonderfalls - I think I saw all of the episodes that they actually showed on TV. Beth has the DVD set, but she refuses to let either of us watch the rest of them.
Xena: Warrior Princess