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What was Cespenar's Martha reference about?

Discussion in 'BG2: Throne of Bhaal (Classic)' started by SlickRCBD, Apr 14, 2011.

  1. SlickRCBD Gems: 29/31
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    I just visited Cespenar and got the following message:

    I keep looking, but I runnings out of recipes soon. Needs to find Martha, soon. She around Hell somewhere, I thinks.

    Which Martha was Cespenar refereing to? I thought it was a reference to Martha Steward, but she didn't start having her legal issues until 2004.

    Given that Throne of Bhaal was released before 2004, who was the Martha that they were talking about, and why would she be in Hell?
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/10736018@N05/5620041592/sizes/z/in/photostream/
     
    SlickRCBD, Apr 14, 2011
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  2. Daisuke Gems: 1/31
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    I think they were talking about Stewart, honestly. The context (i.e. recipes) would seem to support it. Remember that Cespernar is more than a little silly, its just that the joke takes on real world significance in that Martha Stewart did get caught doing something illegal a few years afterward.
     
    Daisuke, Apr 14, 2011
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    The cook at Candlekeep is named Martha. That's the only in game reference I have seen.
     
    Sparky The Barbarian, Apr 15, 2011
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  4. SlickRCBD Gems: 29/31
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    I thought it might be a reference to "Hell's Kitchen", but that show didn't start until 2004 either.
    Wikipedia doesn't have anything to place her near the neighborhood in New York with the same name either.

    In any case, it doesn't have to be an in-game reference, there are quite a few jokes that reference outside material. In SoA, there are numerous jokes that reference outside material. Check the "Strange Things" in Dan Simpson's F.A.Q. found either here or on Game F.A.Q.s.
    Some examples are portaits of the protagonists from the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon in the Adventurer's Mart, the bull and the squirrel outside the circus, and the "Umar Witch Project", which is probably a joke about "The Blair Witch Project", a then famous movie released a couple years before SoA.
     
    SlickRCBD, Apr 16, 2011
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