'TBH Politoons'
Thanks, again, Tim!
Reader Review
'Lord of The Rings: The Two Towers'
by Brad B.
I finally got a chance to sit through the second installment of the
LOTR epic, and I have to confess my frank disappointment. Of course the
special effects were terrific, as in the first installment. How shall I
begin to explain?
J.R.R. Tolkien was a brilliant philologist - one who studies ancient
languages. This vocation was the genesis of LOTR - which became a
vehicle through which Tolkien could develop the Elvish languages he had
devised for his own amusement. Tolkien was an Oxford Don - one whose
lectures were so popular as to require waiting lists. He was a WWI
veteran, who took from his service a deep understanding and concern
about the horrors of war. He spent a long and fruitful lifetime creating
the epic story LOTR.
I could say much more about Tolkien - but this is supposed to be about
the film based on his work - so I'll get to the point. What gave the
screenwriters for this epic film the audacity to think that they could
improve upon the work of a genius? A work that has been devoured
voraciously by three or more generations of enthusiasts - some perhaps
with a zeal comparable to the Trekkies. It is quite clear that none of
the screenwriters possesses a shred of Tolkien's incredible imagination
- yet they have made so free with the story as to take it beyond all
recognition!!
Of course when one sets out to bring an epic novel to the screen there
are changes that must be made. Much of what can be conveyed through the
written word simply cannot be translated to the screen. Still, that does
not give the screenwriter carte blanche to trash the central themes of
the story - and worse, to create new themes that have no relevance at
all!
Down to specifics. First - Elrond the Half-Elven. In The Two Towers
Elrond is portrayed as one who will turn his back on Middle Earth and
leave it to men to resolve the conflict with Sauron. This premise is
patently absurd. First, Elrond's brother Elros (not part of the
tale)chose to follow the human side of his being and became a king among
men. Aragorn is descended from that line, and is therefore distant kin
to Elrond. Second, Elrond is the keeper of one of the three rings of
power - and as such is bound up in the fate of the one ring. So long as
the one ring exists there is a danger that it might return to Sauron -
who would use it to rule over the keepers of the three. It it therefore
in their interest to see it destroyed, so that they are not enslaved by
the Dark Lord. Finally, although Elrond is grieved at his daughter
Arwen's choice to follow her human side and marry Aragorn - he does not
try to dissuade her or belittle her choice.
On to Theoden, King of Rohan. The movie depicts him as being rather
fatalistic about the war with Saruman - he is not. Once the conniving of
Grima Wormtongue is exposed Theoden is resolute in his intention to
fight Saruman and then to bring what forces he can to the aid of Gondor.
The screenwriters seem to betray some prejudice when it comes to their
portrayal of Gimli, the Dwarf. Sure he is valiant enough in battle - but
he is characterized as some sort of clown at other times. As the company
pursues the Orcs in search of Merry and Pippin, for example - Gimli is
shown lagging behind and struggling to keep up. If the screenwriters had
bothered to actually read the book, they would know that Dwarves are
extremely hardy and tireless beings - and can travel at a fast pace for
days on end with little rest.
Faramir, son of Denethor the Steward of Gondor, is portrayed in the
film as a bold warrior, but one who believes the ring can be of aid to
Gondor. Again, if the screenwriters had read the book they would know
that, unlike his father and his brother Boromir, Faramir has long been
an admirer of Gandalf - and learned much of the lore of the ring from
him. When he talks with Frodo in the cave behind the falls, he
immediately comprehends Frodo's mission and that it must be undertaken -
even with little chance of success. More importantly, he knows the ring
cannot help in the defense of Gondor. Yet in the film he is portrayed as
suspicious and perhaps greedy - like his brother.
Finally - and this is a minor point - why does Gollum sound like
Donald Duck with laryngitis?
As I said earlier, I understand that it is difficult to translate an
epic novel to the screen. But the changes to the story put in place by
the screenwriters serve no useful purpose. They do not make it a better
story - nor easier to comprehend. The writers clearly have no
understanding of chivalry, or the importance of kinship and alliances.
Instead they have used their meager wits to transform a brilliant epic
into something that, in the end, is on the level of a mediocre action
film - the noble ideals and values so central to Tolkien's work are
lost, and what is left conveys nothing.
~~ Brad B.
Thanks, Brad! Haven't seen it yet. Will purchase the dvd, regardless, but, jeez, I felt the way you do at the end of the first 'LOTR'. But, then, I'm a purist. ; )
In The Chaos Household
Last Night
Another sunny, mild day.
The calico kitten thinks the toilet is best place for a drink - and if anyone neglected to flush, it's even better......ewwww.
Aunt Jenny in Pittsburgh is major bummed over football. Aunt Francesca from South Philly is stoked. They probably won't speak for a couple of months now...LOL
Tonight, Sunday, bucking tradition, CBS opens the evening with a delayed & 90-minute version of '60 Minutes', followed by The 'People's Choice Awards'.
NBC starts the night with 'Dateline', then a fresh 'American Dreams', followed by a fresh 'Law & Order: Criminal Intent', and then a fresh 'Boomtown'.
ABC opens with the movie '101 Dalmations', the old cartoon version, then follows with a fresh 'Alias', and a RERUN 'The Practice'.
The WB starts with a RERUN 'Surreal Life', then a fresh 'Charmed', and a fresh 'High School Reunion'.
Faux has 'Futurama', then a RERUN 'King Of The Hill', followed by a fresh 'Simpsons', a fresh 'King Of The Hill', a fresh 'Malcolm', and a fresh 'Andy Richter'.
UPN has the weekly RERUN 'Buffy', the weekly RERUN 'Enterprise', and 'Stargate SG-1'.
TBS has its made-for-cable movie 'America's Prince: The John F. Kennedy Jr. Story'.
Anyone have any opinions?
Or reviews?
(See below for addresses)
Thousands march to protest a possible war with Iraq in downtown Los Angeles, Saturday, Jan. 11, 2003. The chanting marchers headed toward the federal building where a rally was planned.
Photo by Damian Dovarganes
For more, go here.
Dog Jumps in River
Edie Falco
A dog that tumbled into the Hudson River was rescued after "The Sopranos" star Edie Falco flagged down a passer-by to call 911.
Falco was walking the dog, a mixed breed named Gracie who belongs to a friend, on Friday when the dog broke free and jumped a fence, falling into the river.
"It was a nightmare," Falco told the New York Post. "I looked down and it was about a 15-foot drop into the water. The dog quickly disappeared under the pier."
Gracie treaded water for about 20 minutes before a police officer and two emergency workers pulled her to safety by wading into the water and hooking her collar with a 12-foot pole.
Edie Falco
Collaborated On New Album
Iggy Pop & Green Day
Green Day and Iggy Pop have collaborated on two songs for Pop's forthcoming album, which is to be released in April through Virgin Records. The titles of the songs were
not known at press time. For the forthcoming album Pop hooked up with two of his old bandmates from the Stooges, Ron and Scott Asheton, and recorded a few tracks in Pop's
Miami studio. It's their first work together since the 1973 Stooges classic Raw Power.
Pop's last album, Beat 'Em Up, was released on Virgin in 2001.
Iggy Pop & Green Day
The Information One-Stop
Moose & Squirrel
Opening At Rock Hall In February
U2 Exhibit
A U2 retrospective is set to open February 8 at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in Cleveland. "In The Name Of Love: Two Decades Of U2" features more than two dozen pieces of clothing,
including outfits worn on the group's tours and in videos from the past 20 years; instruments provided by all four band members; original lyric manuscripts; stage set designs; personal
correspondence; and video and animation cells. There's also some U2 memorabilia that's been on loan to the Rock Hall Museum since it opened in 1995. The exhibit is scheduled to run through September 2003.
U2 guitarist the Edge says that the exhibit is part of a long-term commitment the group has made to the Rock Hall. "We've been donating stuff to the Hall Of Fame over the years, you know, and
I've been there a couple of times, and I think it's a great facility," Edge said. "It's fascinating to wander around. We give them any help we can." Edge and U2 frontman Bono have been involved
in Hall Of Fame inductions for the Who, the Yardbirds, Bob Marley, and Bruce Springsteen.
"In The Name of Love: Two Decades Of U2" will kick off with a special preview party open to museum members and their guests. A limited number of tickets priced at $15 each will go on sale Monday
(January 13) through Ticketmaster and at the Museum box office.
U2 Exhibit
Dick Clark, center, producer of the 'American Music Awards,' shares a laugh with show hosts the Osbourne Family from left, rocker Ozzy Osbourne; son Jack; Clark; daughter Kelly and wife Sharon before rehearsals for the show Saturday, Jan. 11, 2003, in Los Angeles.
The awards, as selected by the American record-buying public, will be presented Monday, Jan. 13, on ABC.
Photo by Reed Saxon
Looks to Aid Kids
Billy Boyd
Billy Boyd, who grew up in one of Britain's poorest areas, says he wants to get more disadvantaged children involved in acting.
Boyd, who grew up in Easterhouse, Glasgow, Scotland, says he's been in talks with the Equity acting union. "It's difficult enough getting into acting,
but when you come from a place like this, your chances are even more limited," the 34-year-old actor said Thursday.
"There's definitely a stigma when you say you want to take up acting or drama, and I hope this can change," said Boyd, who portrays the Hobbit Pippin in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.
Boyd, who studied at Glasgow's Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, co-stars with Russell Crowe in the upcoming action film "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World," directed by Peter Weir.
Billy Boyd
In The Mail
Oscar Nomination Ballots
Nomination ballots for the 75th Academy Awards have been mailed to the 5,816 voting members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
The ballots, which were mailed this week, must be completed and returned to PricewaterhouseCoopers by Jan. 29, academy officials said in a statement Friday.
The nominations will be announced at the academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater on Feb. 11 at 5:30 a.m. PST.
The Academy Awards, known as the Oscars, will be presented during a live broadcast March 23 on ABC.
Oscar Nomination Ballots
They're Back - Sort Of
Yardbirds
Seems like every few months another '60s band reunites for a shot at Behind the Music glory. With the release of Birdland, the Yardbirds stake their claim.
The group, one of England's earliest rock bands, is back and will release its first album since 1968 in April.
The Yardbirds are most famous for being the answer to a great trivia question: Which group included Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page?
After beginning as a hardcore blues band with Clapton on guitar, the group crossed over to the pop charts with the single "For Your Love"--causing the tradition-minded Clapton to leave the band in protest.
He was replaced by Jeff Beck for the group's second LP, Roger the Engineer. The band was featured in Michelangelo Antonioni's influential 1964 film Blow-Up and seemed destined to be the Brit band most likely
to follow the Beatles' coattails to international fame. Instead, Beck and other key members defected and Page eventually transformed the group into Led Zeppelin. A succession of managers and record labels
and a bizarre and confusing catalog of releases left the Yardbirds in relative obscurity for decades.
But the seminal group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992, and the release last year of Ultimate!, a definitive two-CD set of the band's greatest hits, has apparently provided sufficient
momentum for original members Chris Dreja (rhythm guitar) and Jim McCarty (drums) to enlist three new bandmates and record the upcoming Birdland.
High-profile guests litter the album, including Jeff Beck himself. Other guitarists filling Page and Clapton's venerated shoes include Steve Vai, Queen's Brian May, Slash, Joe Satriani and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter (famous
for his work on 1970s Steely Dan and Doobie Brothers records). And omnipresent Goo Goo Doll Johnny Rzeznik lends his vocals to one track.
Birdland is due in stores on April 22. For more info, check out the band's site, theyardbirds.com.
Yardbirds
In The Kitchen With BartCop & Friends
Singing National Anthem At Daytona 500
Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey has been tapped to kick off the festivities at the Daytona 500 on February 16 by singing the national anthem.
Carey will perform in front of an audience of millions since the 2003 Daytona 500 will be broadcast live on Fox TV. Tickets for the Daytona 500 and other Speedweeks events are available
online or by calling the Speedway Ticket Office at (386) 253-7223.
Mariah Carey
A Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy, right, cuts away John Quigley's metal bracelet before Quigley was removed from a 400-year-old oak tree Friday, Jan. 10, 2003, in Santa Clarita, Calif.
Photo by Gene Blevins
Adam Sandler & David Spade
'Dickie Roberts'
Adam Sandler and David Spade have collected a Who's Who of sitcom has-beens for "Dickie Roberts." The movie about a grown-up child actor will have appearances by Danny "Partridge Family" Bonaduce, Dustin "Saved by the Bell" Diamond, Emmanuel "Webster" Lewis,
and Barry "Brady Bunch" Williams, plus teen idol Leif Garrett and Corey "Goonies" Feldman.
'Dickie Roberts'
''Studied Porn for Book''
Pete Townshend
Who guitarist Pete Townshend said Saturday he had studied child pornography on the Internet as research for an autobiography dealing with his own suspected childhood sexual abuse.
Townshend, 57, spoke after the Daily Mail newspaper reported detectives were investigating an unidentified British rock star for downloading child pornography.
Townshend said he was appalled by the growth of pornographic images of children on the Internet and "the millions of dollars being made by American banks and credit card companies for the pornography industry."
He said that on one occasion he had used a credit card to download pornographic images as part of his research, and that he had reported what he had seen to police.
British police have arrested 1,300 suspects as part of Operation Ore, a crackdown on people who view child pornography on the Internet.
Operation Ore is the British arm of an FBI-led operation which traced 250,000 suspected pedophiles around the world through credit card details used to pay for downloading child pornography. The names of British suspects were passed on to police here by U.S. investigators.
Pete Townshend
Formerly 'The Vidiot'
Joining LA Police Unit
John Miller
John Miller, co-anchor of the ABC News magazine "20/20," has been appointed a special assistant to create a bureau of homeland security within the city's Police Department.
The new bureau will include anti-terrorism, detection and response efforts, the LAPD said in a statement. Miller's appointment is effective Monday.
Bratton is a former commissioner of the New York Police Department who became Los Angeles police chief last year. Miller was a deputy police commissioner for public affairs when Bratton was in New York.
Miller joined ABC News in 1997, covering legal news stories including criminal investigations. He joined Barbara Walters as co-anchor of "20/20" in January 2002.
John Miller
A fresh fall of snow clings to the lamp posts on the Victoria Enbankment, right, as a double decker bus crosses Westminister Bridge, left, by the Palace of Westminster, in central London, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2003.
A second day of snow and freezing temperatures in southern England brought disruption to train services with frozen points delaying passengers. The fresh snow on already icy roads was expected to cause havoc with traffic.
Photo by Alisatair Grant
Time For Drapes?
Harrison Ford
Note to Harrison Ford: Get some curtains! The star of blockbusters like "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Air Force One" has unwittingly been providing live entertainment for his neighbors across the street from his
Chelsea penthouse. At least one gay couple can see right into the actor's apartment, and they've been inviting grateful friends over for impromptu Ford-watching parties. "We collectively run there, especially when he's
in his boxers," one male guest tells the new issue of New York magazine. "We just sit in the dark and ogle." The peeping toms never get a glimpse of Ford and his girlfriend, Calista Flockhart, au naturel, as the bedroom is "tucked in the back."
Harrison Ford
Virgin Mary Seen On Window
Another Sighting
Sightings of images of the Virgin Mary on windows and walls in northern reaches of the Canadian province of Saskatchewan have produced a minor tourism miracle for the remote villages involved.
Since September, mysterious images of Mary, mother of Christ, have been reported in four villages -- three of which are accessible only by airplane -- spurring hundreds of people to visit.
The latest images appeared Monday on two homes in Beauval, Saskatchewan, which has fewer than 1,000 residents. The images appear to glow at night, and have been captured on video, said Bertha Durocher, who owns one of the homes.
Since then more than 300 people have come from hundreds of miles around to view her window.
Sightings of images of Christ, Mary and saints are not uncommon around the world, and have been witnessed in media as diverse as glass, water, a burrito and a Camaro muscle car.
Possibly the most famous recent Canadian sighting was a Christ-like image on the brick wall of a Tim Horton's doughnut shop at Bras D'Or, on Canada's Atlantic Coast, in 1998.
Another Sighting
In Memory
Maurice Gibb
Maurice Gibb, a member of the famed disco band the Bee Gees, died Sunday at a Miami Beach hospital, his family said. He was 53.
Gibb, who joined with his older brother and his twin to harmonize their way to becoming one of the best selling musical groups ever, suffered cardiac arrest before undergoing emergency surgery for a blocked intestine. He was admitted to Mount Sinai Medical Center Wednesday and underwent surgery Thursday.
"To our extended family friends and fans, with great sadness and sorrow we regretfully announce the passing of Maurice Gibb this morning," Gibb's family said in a statement. "His love, enthusiasm and energy for life remain an inspiration to all of us. We will all deeply miss him."
Gibb played bass and keyboard for the group, whose name is short for the Brothers Gibb.
The Bee Gees — twins Maurice and Robin, and their older brother Barry — have lived in South Florida since the late 1970s. Their younger brother, Andy, who had a successful solo career, died in 1988 at age 30 from a heart ailment.
Known for their close harmonies and original sound, the Bee Gees are members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and their 1977 contributions to the "Saturday Night Fever" album made it the best selling movie soundtrack ever with more than 40 million copies sold.
Among their disco hits on that album are "Stayin' Alive," "More Than a Woman" and "How Deep Is Your Love," and "Night Fever."
The group won seven Grammy Awards. The Bee Gees last album was in 2001, entitled "This Is Where I Came In."
The family emigrated from England to Australia in 1958, and the brothers soon gained fame as a teen pop group.
They returned to England in the 1960s, and their first four albums contained hits such as "1941 New York Mining Disaster," "To Love Somebody," and their first U.S. number one song, 1971's "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart."
The Bee Gees followed "Saturday Night Fever" with the 1978 album "Spirits Having Flown" which sold 20 million copies.
The brothers wrote and produced songs for Barbara Streisand, Diana Ross and Dionne Warwick in the 1980s. They also wrote the Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton hit "Islands in the Stream."
The Bee Gees released three studio albums and went on a world tour in the 1990s. The live album from the tour "One Night Only," sold more than 1 million albums in the United States.
The Bee Gees run a music production company in Miami called Middle Ear Studios.
Maurice Gibb
An American Brown Pelican stares down a visitor to the Pelican Harbor Seabird Station Saturday, Jan. 11, 2003, in Miami.
Photo by Wilfredo Lee
'The Osbournes'
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