Man of Leisure

Another Triumph for Apple

'Rings' digital dailies circled globe via iPod

I noticed this when I was watching The Two Towers: Extended Edition DVD. The iPod as Ringbearer!

The King Has Returned: My Spoiler-Filled Comments

Okay, I am a dork. I spent almost 7 hours in the theatre yesterday, and over 11 additional hours standing in line to watch The Return of the King. I saw it twice, and I will begin this brief commentary by saying that I am extremely impressed with the detail that the crew put forth. I am interested in the screenplay choices that the writers made, and I would've done some things differently. I will talk a bit about those choices below. All of this is the suggestion of a Tolkien fan whose read Lord of the Rings three times (and the Silmarillion twice!). First, my verdict:

I give the film a solid Must-See, Grade A+, Five-Star rating.

And now, some comments: !Warning: spoilers!

I loved the prologue, where we see how Smeagol was corrupted into Gollum. It was very excellent to see Andy Serkis on screen, and to hear his voice as a simple hobbit, before he became the ring-obsessed creature of the overall plot. All of the Gollum scenes in this film are excellent: I loved the 100% digital scene where Gollum and Smeagol discuss the Shelob plan. It's stunning to watch knowing that the image is nothing but pixels!

I wish they had in this theatrical release the confrontation with Saruman. I know it will appear in the Extended Edition, but Christopher Lee deserved some screen time, given that he has been a major villain until now.

The scene with Pippin and the palantir was very effective. I assume that there will be more development of his palantir-lust in the Extended Edition?

Denethor is portrayed as evil, but I wish they had shown him as actually corrupted by Sauron via the palantir. Perhaps this makes it into the Extended Edition, but doesn't that change his motivation completely? He just appears to be power-hungry now, rather than driven by the ultimate sin of despair - and this is Tolkien's major theme.

The scene where the warning beacons are lit is stunningly beautiful. New Zealand must be the most perfect place on earth. I thought it was a great effect of showing the size of Middle Earth, and how much there was to lose if Sauron was not stopped.

I liked the Battle of the Pelennor Fields overall, but I would've lost the oliphaunts. Too digital-looking, and merely Orlando Bloom eye-candy for the ladies. Cut them, give the time to Saruman. I wish they'd shown more of the heads being catapulted over the walls, but that's just me.

Shelob: 100% effective, fear-inspiring filmmaking. She looked real! Aack!

The End Of All Things: nice effect of the Ring sitting on the lava, with the letters becoming illuminated. Awesome.

The ending(s) of the film: Why not the discussion on the mountainside between Sam and Frodo, in which Sam speculates about the story of "Nine-fingered Frodo and the Ring"? That was always my favorite part of the book.

I prefer the filmmakers' choice of showing Sam & Rosie's wedding to that of showing Aragorn/Arwen. Sam suffers far more than Aragorn in the course of the film, and he deserves a bigger screen payoff. How delightful!

I miss the Scouring of the Shire, but I think the film works fine without it. There are already three fade to black scenes, which I fear the audience may find tiresome. We fans can pine for it nonetheless.

The Grey Havens should be expanded in the Extended Edition to include Bilbo's farewell song. And where did Cirdan the Shipwright go from one shot to the next at the Havens?

I am a bit sad that it's over. For the last three years, I have enjoyed gathering my friends, queuing up, and sitting in anticipation of the "New Line Cinema" logo. This film pays off excellently. I love the score, the actors, the attention to detail. Thank you to all who worked to make this film a reality!

The Hill of Sight

Today I took Fr. Terry, a fellow Lord of the Rings fanatic, to a place here in Portland that is straight out of the book. The Rocky Butte Park sits atop a wooded hill, and gives a beautiful view of the entire region, from Mt. Hood in the East, Mt. St. Helens to the North, Forest Park to the West, and Mt. Jefferson to the South. It fits perfectly with the description of Amon Hen from LOTR:

"Eastward he looked into wide and uncharted lands, nameless plains, and forests unexplored. Northward he looked, and the Great River lay like a ribbon beneath him, and the Misty Mountains stood small and hard as broken teeth. Westward he looked and saw the broad pastures of Rohan; and Orthanc, the pinnacle of Isengard, like a black spike. Southward he looked, and below his very feet the Great River curled like a toppling wave and plunged over the falls of Rauros into a foaming pit; a glimmering rainbow played upon the fume. And Ethir Anduin he saw, the mighty delta of the River, and myriads of sea-birds whirling like a white dust in the sun, and beneath them a green and sliver sea, rippling in endless lines."

I had to order a new watch. My four-year-old Swatch .beat watch finally stopped beating. Even a trip to the Swatch store for assistance proved fruitless, it just doesn't seem to work anymore. They didn't charge me for the new battery, so I looked around a bit and tried on a few from their selection, but the watches they had at the store were too shiny, too bulky, or too expensive. When I got home, I searched around a bit on the web and found a coupon for Timex online. They were running a 20% off sale, so I selected a watch that features nationwide toll-free paging built-in, as well as has an auto-setting feature. Even with a year of paging service, the new watch only cost $24. I am certainly looking forward to getting the new watch and trying it out!

In the evening, I joined some of the good folks from campus Public Safety for to watch The Italian Job. I found the film a pleasant diversion, though it's hard to see it as much more than an extended advert for the Mini Cooper. And that Charlize Theron is one darn attractive woman!

The P-Safe crowd is a great group of folks. We had a serious discussion about religion, took a conversational foray into architecture, and got grilled by the only woman present about the very personal habits of guys. I notice, as I think back, that we really let her off the hook on the same issues. I wonder why that was? Anyhoo, it was a pleasant evening with the P-Safe folks.

Gollum And Smagol Debate "Two Towers" DVD

Tolkien fans ought not miss this article on the Chattanoogan. It's quite entertaining!

More TTT Politics

Continuing in the vein of LOTR reviews, A Towering Achievement is Steven F. Hayward's brief comment, from a political philosophy perspective, on The Two Towers. A highlighted link from the Goldberg File that I just mentioned.

TTT: Racist? Pro-War?

Jonah Goldberg's Goldberg File on National Review Online is an excellent continuation of the issues I recently mentioned, specifically the accusations that The Two Towers is pro-war propaganda.

Fifty-eight shopping days until the 1st Annual 29th Birthday.

Happy Birthday, Friends!

Today is the birthday of two dear friends: Ms. Julie Karlson and Professor J.R.R. Tolkien. I have organized a "long-awaited" dinner party tonight to celebrate the 111th birthday of the author of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. We're going to begin with a memorial Mass (after all, the Professor was Catholic), and follow with a lovely potluck dinner and a toast in honor of The Professor. Later tonight I shall join Ms. Karlson to share some time on her special day.

Last night, while dining with my friends Natalie and Jason, I was accused of being a nerd, because my name appears in the credits of LOTR: The Fellowship of The Ring. I admit it, I am a dweeb. But who wouldn't want to be associated with what cultural critics are calling "the movie epic of our generation"? I mean, I've read the books three times, followed the production of the movie with great interest, and collected all sorts of memorabilia from the film. It's a great story of hope in the face of despair, and it speaks to our age, especially in the face of current international relations. If I'm a nerd, at least I can apply what interests me to the wider world.

Happy New Year!

My resolution kicks in today: daily updates of the blog (weather and access permitting).

It's been a few months since I last wrote, because the semester turned out to be busier than I expected. Much has happened in the past two months: I was accepted to the MA program at the College of the Humanities and Sciences, LOTR: The Two Towers was released, and I fell in love.

I shall begin the MA program later this month, which promises to be a lot of work. Even though this is a distance-learning program, the workload looks like it is tough. Reading, when done well, is both tiring and exhilarating. This program is all about reading well, so I am excited.

The Two Towers. What to say about it? It's a movie about a just war. Eerily timely? Yes. Moving? Yes. A great film? Most certainly yes. Does it reflect the novel? In plot details, no. But in spirit and message, definitely yes. Peter Jackson has a vision of Tolkien which reflects the Professor's timeless message: some things are worth taking a stand for, and those things are hard to put into words. Samwise attempts to do so at the end, and his speech can appear cheesy, but it's true. Pippin delivers the same message by directing Treebeard to head south earlier in the film, and the same message is sent much more effectively, albeit more emotionally charged.

Tolkien may not have specifically written a "war novel", as the Jonathan Yardley article in the WaPo considers "war novel", but Tolkien's just-war message (or at least Peter Jackson's depiction thereof) is definitely an effective argument. Gandalf said it best in the first film:

All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us. There are other forces at work in this world Frodo, besides the will of evil.

I'm in love with Julie.