THE LORD OF THE RINGS (Page 3 of 13)

I have a life too, Gregory, but I can multi-task. I plan to be tuned in the whole day WHILE I'm water-skiing with a naked model on my back.

http://current.com/community/89987117_r … photos.htm

Hobbit & LOTR were my over-and-over-again bedtime stories growing up.

I actually wrote a pitch to, and followed up by phone with, the Saul Zaents company in 1992. I insisted that the motion capture technology and computer animation at the time were up to the task, and that each chapter should be released separately in serial form before feature films.  I proposed that this would have gotten butts in the seats in movie theaters in unpreceneded numbers.  Not saying I was right, but if you were wondering who originally got this ball rolling...you're welcome.  ;-)

I'll be in and out of the chat.  Jackson earned my eternal venomous dislike by cutting "The scouring of the shire," the chapter of the book that properly brought home the Hobbits' respective arcs and killed Saruman in a satisfactory way.  Although I do own the extended DVDs, and grudgingly await the Hobbit films... Brilliant to break that book into two films. Bilbo could have two distinct arcs that way: getting the team to the lake with all hands alive, and then, DRAGON!!

I agree with Mike.  I didn't miss Bombadil either.

I agree with your other questions, but wanted to correct you here. For one, Frodo didn't actually die; Jesus did.

Secondly, Jesus descending into Hell is sort of a misnomer, no doubt thanks to the Nicene creed. He did not in fact suffer in Hell in our place, but is sometimes thought to have gone to Hades briefly (the holding place before Hell is opened up on Judgement Day) to preach to those there and explain why they are there. The notion he suffered in Hell is easily dispelled by his words to the thief on Calvary: "today you will be with me in paradise." Clearly he was going to chill in Heaven more or less right away; albiet with maybe a pit stop

Thirdly, Jesus was not resurrected by an Angel, but by God the Father. The Angel was simply there as a messenger to Mary and the few disciples to discover the empty tomb, as they most often are... since it comes from the Greek word "angelos" meaning "messenger."

Anywho, as for the drinking games being mentioned, I think Arwen crying alone would kill us all. It would be interesting to go up against Gimli and Legolas in ROTK

I never read the books. What the fuck is a Bombadil?

If Disney was at the helm, Bombadil wouldn't have been cut.

Heh. As a kid, I honestly didn't know about the concept of fictional maps. If I saw a map at the start of a book, I assumed it was from some real place (probably didn't help that I first read history books and stuff like the Horatio Hornblower tales). Can't remember where I put Middle Earth on the map, trying to match the coastline, but the Earthsea books naturally took place somewhere around Indonesia

Oh, I hope someone has a good camera with them so we can get before and after group shots of our valiant commentators!

Palantir or Skype? Which is better on 4G?

Another topic for discussion is all the amateur fan movies: Hunt for Gollum, Born of Hope, etc. Some have pretty good production values for a 'credit card' budget.

I never understood the prank that Gandalf pulls on the fellowship when he respawns. And why can he deflect arrows and superheat swords there but resorts to conventional melee fighting elsewhere?

Inconsistent use of wizardry. Show him doing too many tricks and he's invincible (all tension evaporates)  but not enough wizardry and he's just some old hobo drugged out on weed.

But these are all minor quibbles in the scheme of things. Jackson pulled off the impossible, against all expectation. Before 1999, it was Peter who? The films are endlessly spectacular, re-watchable, quotable, immersive, moving, and accompanied by the best score this century. The casting is spot-on, the production design is impressive and the cinematography and effects are top notch. Think of all the many ways the adaptation could have failed. For once, a genre film clean-sweeps the Academy Awards.

I'd prefer three files, one for each movie, but it might be more convenient to break them up by disc (for sync purposes).

Looking forward to this - I can fly from London to Singapore and Down in Front will still be discussing Lord of the Rings, while all the other schmucks on the plane are watching Adam Sandler movies.