This is Mormon sexism. And also, how mopologists get attention.

[I Have Questions]

There is literally no other person within the Interpreter organization that can manage to co-ordinate a dinner for invited guests other than the President’s wife? Wow! What an admission. If Peterson’s wife can’t attend, then the event cannot go ahead as planned…wow!

Yes. Apparently none of the nine members of the Interpreter Foundation’s board of directors, for example, can coordinate a dinner.

Thanks Tom. Looking at the cast of Ben Hur list of Interpreter personnel I noticed that Deborah Peterson has an assistant - Kent Flack. Why isn't Kent stepping in to the breach in this hour of need and calling in the order to Panda Express?

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

No one going to mention the genius-tier reference of Playtime by Dr. Scratch?

One of Tati’s great cinematic themes is how modern life turns simple human activities into complicated systems that people become unable to manage without the proper machinery in place. In the movie Playtime, a restaurant designed for elegance becomes a chaotic disaster, but the evening is ultimately saved by ordinary people simply enjoying each other’s company. I like to think that some people can’t seem manage themselves in this modern world and rely too much upon the labor of an assistant who knows how to work a phone.

Anyway. There’s a similar bit of unintended comedy in the idea that a dinner for guests, volunteers, and donors of a ‘successful academic organization’ is apparently a logistical catastrophe without the person who normally coordinates it. The contrast is amusing: an organization built around bringing people together (managed by the most luminarious BYU has to offer, obviously), yet the most basic act of hospitality becomes the thing that has to be abandoned. Like Tati’s world, the elaborate structure falls away and what remains is the mingling of people, which was probably the most important part all along, but the failure is at its heart comedy gold.

Well done, Dr. Scratch. Well done.

[Doctor Scratch]

Why thank you, Dr. Cam--I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one who's familiar with Tati's film. The Afore has said more than once that he's basically clueless about filmmaking, which is ironic given the amount of condescension and scorn he heaps on anyone who shows any sign of being deficient in knowledge. ("What?? You haven't read Richard Lloyd Anderson's book on the Witnesses? What a moron!")

In any case: yes, Playtime is remarkable. It's pretty high up on the BFI's list of "Greatest Films" with a lot of directors voting for it, which makes sense. The movie is a master-class on direction and mise en scene. The timing and choreography of many of those scenes is absolutely astonishing.

[Gadianton]

Using up Interpreter money would mean that that same money *wouldn't* get spent on the Executive Producer's motel rooms, travel, and chicken fried steaks.

I arrived at the same conclusion, I had a post outlining the three dark pillars of this psychology in the works yesterday and got sidetracked. The first pillar is in fact the sexism and it goes beyond just the proprietor. It's also the guests. From what we can infer about the typical donor, this crowd may feel quite uncomfortable meeting for a church-related event and not being served food by the women of the church.

The second pillar is exaggerating his uselessness at practical things. It's always been somebody else's job to serve him and do everything for him as a man of the leisure class. Has he really never in his life grilled hamburgers? It's August you know.

And then what you say here is definitely a suspicion. Money spent on the donors would be money not available for paid-for excursions that might involve him with fewer number of others to split the proceedings with.

[Gadianton]

But what about the atypical donor?

dinner for our invited guests (leadership, volunteers, and major donors)

Were Tom and Dr. Moore invited?

[Tom]

But what about the atypical donor?

dinner for our invited guests (leadership, volunteers, and major donors)

Were Tom and Dr. Moore invited?

I must confess that I’ve never been invited to an annual birthday party. All those volunteer hours spent documenting reprints, plagiarism, and typographical errors were never recognized.

[Gadianton]

I must confess that I’ve never been invited to an annual birthday party. All those volunteer hours spent documenting reprints, plagiarism, and typographical errors were never recognized.

It would have been a noble gesture for sure, and you rightly deserve a good meal at their expense for your labors.

Heck, they could have invited me also, I haven't done anything for them in the usual sense, but on account of my title as Dean and working in the same field it would have been the generous thing to do. I'd have even taken care of the dinner as well -- I'd cook chicken tacos and it would cost the Interpreter less than 100 bucks. I'd bring my own pan, hotplate, knives, cutting boards -- they'd just have to buy the basic ingredients and paper plates and napkins and find me an outlet. I'd even comp the spices that wouldn't scale well. They could have their meeting and I'd be happy cooking in the back the whole time and keeping the rounds coming.