Der Rings des Tolkien

A few months ago I read that a musical production of Tolkien’s The Lord of The Rings was being produced in Toronto. Bruce and I discussed this briefly and the idea didn’t give either of us a warm fuzzy. When I mentioned it to David he snarled.

The $25 million dollar production features 55 performers, 17 elevators and 500 pieces of armor. Trying to condense the three books which compose the Lord of The Rings into one night of stage work (albeit three hours and forty five minutes worth) seems overly eager to me. Wagner broke Der Ring des Nibulengen into 4 parts totaling 14.5 hours of stage time.

So, it had its premiere last night and opened to mixed reviews. Most of them say it is “spectacular” to look at, but falls short in the score and story adaptation. Here are a few reviews from the BBC and Broadway.com

V is for Tongue Twister

“This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is it vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished, as the once vital voice of the verisimilitude now venerates what they once vilified. However, this valorous visitation of a by-gone vexation, stands vivified, and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin van-guarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition.

The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta, held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose vis-à-vis an introduction, and so it is my very good honor to meet you and you may call me V.” -V

This past Monday David, Shimmy and I went to see V is for Vendetta. V is the latest offering from the Wachowski Brothers - who also brought us the Matrix Trilogy. V stars Hugo Weaving (The Matrix and The Lord of the Rings Trilogies as well as The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert) and Natalie Portman (Star Wars Episodes I – III and Cold Mountain).

I won’t go into the story line as it has been espoused ad nauseam elsewhere.

I haven’t read the graphic novel the story was based on so I can’t say how well they followed the original, but it was an entertaining movie! The pace of the movie was good – the few times the action slowed down, the story line stepped up to the plate. V is a bit more graphic (mainly blood) and contains slightly less action than the Matrix series. However, the story with its graphic novel background is stronger and better developed. The torture scenes with Evey and subsequent letters from Valerie are great and add a humanizing element to V. The destruction scenes are quite impressive as well.

All in all, a good movie! If you need to kill a few hours one evening, I highly recommend it.

“Evey Hammond: Who are you?
V: Who? Who is but the form following the function of what. And what I am is a man in a mask.
Evey Hammond: I can see that.
V: Of course you can. I am not questioning your powers of observation. I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is.”

Second Second Chances, or Separated At Birth

Everyone has seen those segments on SNL or other comedy shows where the announcer displays two celebrities who at some awkward moment look a bit like one another. A “trekian” spin was applied to the concept in Episode 150 of Star Trek: The Next Generation, "Second Chances", written by Mike Medlock and directed by LeVar Burton.

“Having already gone down the "evil twin" route (with Data and Lore) but still wishing to explore ideas of doubles and doubling, the writers of "Second Chances" involve Riker in a plot that would later be exploded into the Gwyneth Paltrow indie film Sliding Doors. Once upon a time, young Lieutenant Will Riker was the last crew member beamed off of a planet as its distortion field intensified. Eight years later he returns to the same planet as Commander Will Riker and learns that he both did and he didn't make it off the planet. The distortion field caused him to split into two, one of whom made it and one who didn't get away. Like bickering brothers, once the two Rikers meet, they don't get along. One thing that helped Lieutenant Riker get through his eight years as a castaway was thoughts of his main squeeze at the time, counselor Deanna Troi. When Lieutenant Riker finds out Commander Riker chose career over romance, he sees it as a chance to make things right. Then again, maybe it's just in his nature to choose career first. Jonathan Frakes hams it up in his dual role, while the true second chance belongs to Troi, who quickly falls back into a relationship with the Riker who didn't leave her on purpose. She's the true heart of the story, even though the twin Rikers get all the screen time.” --Andy Spletzer

When last we saw "Tom" Riker (Deep Space Nine episode 55: "The Defiant"), he was thrown into a Cardassian prison for the rest of his life - but that's apparently not the end of the story, as this recent Earth sighting shows:

Will Riker, c. 2368

Tom (Will?, Dave?, The Debil?) Riker, c. 2005

Time anomaly? Wormhole? Yet another transporter accident? The answer's sure to be revealed in a future movie or novel, but remember, you saw it here first!

Horror Scope

Earlier this month, I stopped by the Park after work to visit Shimmy. He was there with the usual crowd and they were looking over the horoscopes. Shimmy decided that he would read them aloud for all our benefits. When it came my turn I knew I was in for a “Great Reward” as he began laughing manically – that is laughing to the point he had to take a break so as to catch his breath. Once he returned to normal respiration, he was able to finish his dramatic interpretation of my horoscope.

Thus began my reading:
(My socal commentry is in GREEN )

"Happy Valentine Daze, Capricorn!" Yeah yeah yeah, we already know what I think about VD – see below. "To being our meditation on love, let’s turn our attention to your appearance." Shimmy’s giggling beings. Well, we are off to a great start here, its like when a minister says “I don’t mean to sound preachy,” you just know they will. "I think you owe a huge dept of gratitude to the fact that you don’t have the face and body of a dazzling supermodel or gorgeous hunk." Frenzied laughter has started. Not just by Shimmy, but by the entire group. Well slap me down, and make me feel good about myself. Whereas there is some truth to this statement, I do not have the face or body or a supermodel I don't need it pointed out in my "Horror Scope". Surely there are some Capricorns in the world that have been bestowed with beauty or who are Adonic. Let’s see, Who are some Capricorns that look good? Well, there is Marlene Dietrich, Mel Gibson, Annie Lennox, David Fumero, Sean and Diane Keaton to name a few.

Ok, off my soapbox and back to the prose:

"The temptation to rely on your physical attractiveness at the expense of developing you character would be virtually irresistible." Oh, so now I should feel better, I have been blessed with character and not looks? "In the coming days, this fact will bring you a fresh batch of benefits, including a subtle breakthrough in your romantic life." Yeah, yeah, blah blah blah the ever present attempt in the scope to make you feel good about something. "Here’s your quote for the week, from Katherine Hepburn: 'It is the plain women who know about love. The beautiful women are too busy being fascinating.'"

So anyway, I think I am done with horoscopes, well, at least until I find an astrologer that has nicer things to say about my appearance.

Rib Tickling Funny – Well, Not So Much

Sad and pathetic as this may sound it really is true. I was walking through my house this past Sunday. As I entered the kitchen, I coughed and felt a terrible cracking sound toward the back of my right side. In great pain, I collapsed onto the floor where I remained for about ten minutes while I attempted to re-compose myself. I was in considerable pain throughout the day, generally brought on by movement of any kind – breathing included.

Monday I went to the doctor to determine what was wrong although I had a good idea. After poking and prodding followed by X-rays it was determine that I had cracked two and completely broken a third rib! Numbers 5, 6 and 7 respectively (this is not my X-ray). There isn’t really much they can do for a broken rib other than leave it alone. So, for the next six weeks I take it easy while trying to avoid coughing, sneezing, hiccupping or any other sudden movements.

“The quickest way to a man’s heart really is through his stomach, because then you don’t have to chop through that pesky rib cage” J. Jacques, Questionable Content webcomic, #478, 10-27-05.

St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, of Sorts

Valentine’s Day has a lengthy history dating back to 500 AD when Pope Gelasius I declared a feast in Saint Valentine’s honor. It didn’t take on its current form until the American marketing engine got a hold of the idea. It has now become synonymous with candy, greeting cards, roses, diamonds, and the clogging of restaurant arteries with happy couples. It will be virtually impossible to dine out tonight without witnessing a barrage of couples starring wide-eyed into one another’s eyes while they sip champagne and share desserts, most likely forgetting that a part of the cost of their meal should include a proper tip for the waiter serving them. This day has become quite the profit center for chocolatiers, florists and other purveyors off love the world over. I however, take a more cynical view of this “Holiday”. I believe this day was created by happy couples with the sole purpose of making those of us who are single feel bad. It is a chance for the joyful couple to rub it in our faces as if to say “See how happy we are and how miserable you are?”

The Spice Must Flow

Last Christmas, while shopping with Dave, I purchased the Director’s cut of the SciFi Channel’s production of Frank Herbert’s Dune (that was a mouth full). With all the Holiday hubbub it was shoved into a box and quickly forgotten about.

Friday night, while perusing the bookshelf for something to read, my eyes landed on the book. This then triggered my memory of buying the DVD. The next step in the chain reaction was a whirlwind of activity throughout my house as I searched high and low for the DVD. Fortunately I finally did find it. I started watching it Monday night after work. It is a three DVD set, so I viewed one each evening finishing the show last night.

I watched it when it was on TV in its original broadcast but don’t remember it being quite so “made for TV” as it seemed this time. I actually like the David Lynch version better (yes, I am the one) and found myself continuously comparing the two variations. Where as both adaptations had their strong points I liked the characterizations and costumes better in the Lynch version. Each took more liberty with the story line that I would have preferred, but I understand with a story that involved, somethings had to go. Both had some decent special effects shots, but overall, both were a bit lacking in this department. I think the casting was stronger in the Lynch version as well – yes I know it had a considerably larger budget.

Don’t get me wrong, I did like the SciFi version, however, I believe if fell a bit short of its potential. The SciFi Channel version could have over come some of these short falls it had not put most of its money into the hat budget. See below:

DRS

Frank Oz’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels has always been one of my favorite movies. If I am channel surfing and run across it I have to stop and watch it. It has now been made into a Broadway musical. John Lithgow opened the show as Lawrence Jameson, the Michael Cain role, with Norbert Leo Butz as Freddy Benson, the Steve Martin role. About a month ago I stumbled onto the soundtrack for the musical and its great! Earlier today, I found this video online, hopefully Act 1 will show up.

Finally, the first...

After considerable time and effort, mostly wasted, I have finally published my first blog entry. Not that this is any great achievement for mankind, nonetheless, it is an achievement for me. Then again, not much of one for me either.

What are mankind’s greatest achievements? Some might say eradicating Polio, others might say landing on the moon or the splitting of the atom. Chris Cope asserts that “The two greatest accomplishments of mankind are knitting and beer. Have you ever looked at a sweater? That is some seriously outside-the-box thinking right there. First of all, someone had to look at a sheep and think, 'Instead of eating that animal, I am going to shave it.' Then they took all those shavings and turned them into one really long piece of string, or yarn. That in itself is impressive, but they didn't stop there. Once they had all this yarn, they took it and knotted it all up in such a way that it became something for them to wear -- that's all a sweater is: one long piece of string tied up in knots. Then they made scarves and socks and blankets and tea cozies and little booties for infants. Beer is also a great accomplishment, and another example of inventive thinking. It's made of barley and hops, which, if you didn't know any better, look a lot like grass. That means that some bloke was walking through a field one day and thought to himself, 'What a beautiful field this is. I wish I could drink it.'"

So, anyway, after weeks and weeks of not doing the blog thing, entry number one is finally done.