Scott Meyer

How to Deal with Miscommunications

Added 2023-11-06 08:00:02 +0000 UTC

I want to be clear. In my opinion, Zardoz is not a good movie.

That doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it.

The first time I saw it, I listened in silence to Arthur Frayn’s weird preamble. I watched the floating stone head lecturing men in masks, gun belts, and speedos about how the penis is evil, then the vomiting piles of the hunting rifles on them. I saw Sean Connery with a Dr. Johnny Fever mustache and a pony tail shoot camera. As the opening credits ran over the stone head flying majestically through fog, with mournful music playing in the background, I laughed so hard my eyes hurt.

Looking back, I’m not sure why I found it so funny. The memory still amuses me, but it really hit my funny-bone like a ton of bricks at the time. I think part of it was that it was so inappropriate for me to find any of this funny. Also, I was laughing at the idea that this was what 1970’s science fiction movies were like before Star Wars.

So, anyway, I found a pattern for a paper craft Zardoz mask, and had to give it a shot. (Here are links to the article that led me to it, the pattern, and pictures of how it should look) The result will sit on my desk and serve as a stern reminder that I am not good at arts and crafts.

The finished product is shown here, with my left hand, for scale. (Note, the mask is full size. My left hand is huge. Don’t be too impressed. The rest of me is normal-sized.)