In a concerted effort to establish our market dominance, such as it is, my office hired out a professional ad company in order to script and shoot a tv commercial. I was uneventfully enough hired on as technical advisor for the spot, a job which I did not relish. (I was assigned to make everything look as realistic as possible, which utterly did not happen.) I'm not sure if it's all of my reading on Marie Antoinette that is clouding my judgment or what, but never have I been around a group so reminiscent of what I imagine the court of Louis XVI at Versailles to resemble. Imagine 40 people each performing the most minute of tasks and guarding their tasks jealously, as they knew their rank depended upon it. The masters of the boom microphones and cables appeared to be at the top of the food chain; the mistresses of the sandbags who, I kid you not, were assigned to watch the sandbags that were being used as doorstops, were at the bottom. The crew endlessly moved furniture to and fro. I thought at first it was to accommodate all of the video equipment, but I think now they just needed extra space in order to fit all of the self-important egos in one room at the same time.
There was precious little space for my ego through it all. I retreated to a back corner when not needed and memorized verse by Charles Hamilton Sorley ("When you see millions of the mouthless dead / Across your dreams in pale battalions go...") after I just couldn't read up on 100 year bonds any more. All in all I felt thoroughly traumatized by the whole experience. There should never be that many assholes in one room at the same time.
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3 Come Hithers:
What do you imagine your role at the Court of Versailles would have been? I imagine the observer whose silence is fatally mistaken for piety and deference, or of course the seductress of the Queen. Or both (smile.) You do need to tell us all at some point about why Marie Antoinette appeals to you.
My role at Court? Probably would have been tossed out in a blind second for not powdering my hair enough...although maybe I would have liked power...heaven knows I use enough hair glue...
Who would you have been?
I would have been a loyal soldier -- I was born to be in service to Queen and Country -- thus would not have gotten anywhere near the Court, unless someone needed to be bumped off. (Although I would have refused to bump you off.)
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