I’m at work today, and I took a break to get up from my desk and walk to the cafeteria to grab a muffin and juice. Normally, I enter through the side entrace, situated at the end of the L-shaped dining area, which requires passing by all the tables before getting to the actual cafeteria area where you line up and purchase your food. The dining area is one of the larger rooms in the building, and is often “comandeered” for larger meetings between people, though signs will usually be posted and/or the doors will be closed.

This morning, however, was a little different. As soon as I turned through the side entrance doorway, I spotted all the tables on the right hand side of the dining area had been converted into one incredibly long table, and was completely surrounding by people sitting and having a meeting. At first, I had to step back and see if there was a notice on the door, but there was not. Seems kinda odd to hold a meeting there during peak coffee break hours.

But it kinda reminded me of all that stereotypical imagery of Medieval banquets involving long tables occupied by royalty and nobility. You know the kind.

Anyway, it got me thinking. Usually, when you see those banquets scenes portrayed, the people are often only seated along one side of the table(s), with the tables positioned in one long row, semi-circle, or an open-sided square configuration. Portrayals always seem to imply this is for a courtyard of sorts or for entertainers to perform jokes, stunts, or music (e.g. the first series of Blackadder).

My question is, after having looked through the Medieval cuisine article on Wikipedia, I’m a bit curious how often or infrequently (if it even ever happened at all). Obviously, I’m mainly just talking about the aristocracy and rolalty, not the layity.

How often did they have meals in such grandiose fashion, and did they always just sit on one side or was that an invention of screen and television, so you could see the actors.

The reason I ask is because I wonder if that one side of the table always gets worn down more than the other. And if so, do they rotate the position of the tables in between banquets to save on supplies?

I’m following Kentcer’s lead on this one. Back in elementary school, over several grades, two of my best friends and I thought we’d write a book about knights, castles, and dragons, as well as illustrate it ourselves. I think we started it in Grade 2. One of my friends moved to another school soon after, so it quickly became a two man job. Thankfully, it ended once we lost most of our imagination and started ripping off Robert Asprin.

It’s written in pencil, so it’s a little smudged and faint in some places, but it’s neat to see how our penmanship changed (or didn’t) over time. In a later grade, I even tried to correct some of the grammar (hence the blue ink).

Enjoy.

Update: There’s also a similar blue notebook packed away somewhere of comic strips I used to draw as a kid. One set was a spoof of the Justice League of America, but in a similar vein to Spider-Ham which I called the ALI, the Animal League International. The other set of strips was kind of a rip off of Ziggy called Crazy Charlie and His Dog Auto (I didn’t know how to spell Otto at the time).

Update: Sweet! I just remembered where I put them and found them. Apparently, we thought Dragonland was going to take off, because there’s a whole other Hillroy notebook here that was never used, but has “Dragonland: Book II” written on the cover. I also wrote a “Spy Guide Book” in another Hillroy notebook, and wrote my own issue of a newspaper with rubber stencils and an ink pad. Found my stickerbook, too. I have got to get these scanned!

Update: Note to self, so I can find them again later: They’re in with my old D&D stuff.

I had intended to start this post off as a list of all the stuff I wish would come out on DVD. Seeing as UHF, Kuffs, Remo Williams, Disorganized Crime, Midnight Run, and Dutch, have all finally been released (or re-released) over the years, that list has shrunk considerably. I started with the new top item on the list, Disney’s Gummi Bears, only to have discovered that it is now set to be released on November 14th of this year. Hallelujah and praise be to God, I’ll finally have my Gummies!

It ran for five seasons from 1985 to 1990, culminating in 94 episodes spanning 65 shows (source: Wikipedia), and was the best goddamn show on television at the time (source: me). You can read the synopsis at Wikipedia. Besides the Medieval setting with knights, castles, and trolls, what I liked most about this show was the theme song.

I have frickin’ tears in eyes, for chrissake. Tears. In my eyes. How sad is that!?

And that’s not all… A ska version by Suburban Legends:

New Gumbrea has various versions of the theme. Why does no one tell me these things?!

Cubbi.org has stills from the show.

I was going to finish this off by saying what was next on my list, but it looks like it’s available, too (sorta). Not a problem for a connaisseur like me.