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| jeremy |
 Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 3:40 am |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 6794
Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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Marc,
I agree, we will have to wait and see if The Hobbit warrants splitting into three films. And I may have been unfair to blame the increase in the number of films from two to three on the venality of the studios. I suspect that fan-boy, Peter Jackson couldn't help himself. This may be a mixed blessing; his love of the books was manifest in the LOTR films, but not everyone will share his fascination for elvish lore. Tolkien went on to write the world's biggest back story to his Middle Earth novels, even inventing whole languages. It will be no small task to extract cinematic gold from that lode. I am afear'd that it will be a ponderous and heavy footed thing. |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 6:02 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
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| I. Can't. Stand. Tolkien. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 6:57 am |
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| bartist |
| Posted: Sun Sep 23, 2012 12:23 pm |
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Joined: 27 Apr 2010
Posts: 6961
Location: Black Hills
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Why. Can't. You. Stand. Tolkien?
I mean, indifference I would understand - fantasy not my cup of tea, either. |
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He was wise beyond his years, but only by a few days. |
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| jeremy |
| Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 7:34 pm |
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Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 6794
Location: Derby, England and Hamilton, New Zealand (yes they are about 12,000 miles apart)
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| I just got back from watching "The Princess of Montpensier", complete with commercial subtitles. Set amidst the religious wars of 16th Century France, it concerns three noble men in love with the same married woman (there's also a few other men who are quite hot for her, but don't really get a look in). For the most part, the film failed to engage my interest, partially because I found the characters frustrating or dislikeable, but also because of the film's deliberate detachment from the events portrayed. French...existentialist...self-regard...clunky...blah, blah, blah...not terrible. |
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I am angry, I am ill, and I'm as ugly as sin.
My irritability keeps me alive and kicking.
I know the meaning of life, it doesn't help me a bit.
I know beauty and I know a good thing when I see it. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 8:08 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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billyweeds wrote: I. Can't. Stand. Tolkien.
Me, too. |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 8:24 pm |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 8:59 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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| Why can't I stand Tolkien? Uninteresting characters, far too twee a tone, mixed with unbearably pretentious attitude, plus--can't deny it--a fanatic cult that built up around it in my youth. Trekkies before their time. Other reasons, too. Found it unreadable past the first ten pages. Make that five pages. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 9:01 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
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marantzo wrote: The trio of taste.
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 9:02 pm |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: Houston
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billyweeds wrote: Why can't I stand Tolkien? Uninteresting characters, far too twee a tone, mixed with unbearably pretentious attitude, plus--can't deny it--a fanatic cult that built up around it in my youth. Trekkies before their time. Other reasons, too. Found it unreadable past the first ten pages. Make that five pages.
I could have written this post, word for word. |
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| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 9:17 pm |
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Location: Houston
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| I'd also like to add the frustrating fact that many people who are really smart and discerning are obsessively into them, and that somehow makes it all the more grating. I always want to ask them, "Why are you, of all people, reading this crap? Why is it speaking to you?" Something I don't bother doing with the Harry Potter or Twilight obsessives (I do know people who read these, whose opinion I respect, but they usually put these books in the popcorn-read/guilty pleasures compartment of their lives). |
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| marantzo |
| Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 10:31 pm |
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billyweeds wrote: Why can't I stand Tolkien? Uninteresting characters, far too twee a tone, mixed with unbearably pretentious attitude, plus--can't deny it--a fanatic cult that built up around it in my youth. Trekkies before their time. Other reasons, too. Found it unreadable past the first ten pages. Make that five pages.
A good friend of mine when I was in fine arts kept telling me I should read The Lord of the Rings. It was a must read according to him. I did buy the book a few years later and finally decided to give it a try. I still remember lying on my bed and anticipating a good time. Very similar to Billy I waded through about 15 or 20 pages and I'd had enough of this silly crap. Strictly for the flower children, of which I wasn't one. I guess being a Henry Miller, Norman Mailer, Terry Southern fan, it wasn't an author I could swallow.
I also have a story about his son and his wife who is a Winnipeg woman who lived down the street from me and I disliked (she hated me). I think I wrote about it before. I'll write it again if anyone is interested. |
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| Syd |
| Posted: Tue Sep 25, 2012 10:40 pm |
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Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12929
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
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| The first chapter of Lord of the Rings is a struggle. Tolkien starts off with an innocuous scene in the Shire that doesn't have much meaning unless you've already read the Hobbit. The first part of volume one is gradually opening up from the limited world of the Shire to an entire fantastic universe. |
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| gromit |
| Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2012 3:16 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9016
Location: Shanghai
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I don't think I ever tried to read Tolkien.
Watership Down was enough for me ....
(yes, that's a joke) |
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| billyweeds |
| Posted: Wed Sep 26, 2012 5:06 am |
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Joined: 20 May 2004
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Location: New York City
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marantzo wrote:
I also have a story about his son and his wife who is a Winnipeg woman who lived down the street from me and I disliked (she hated me). I think I wrote about it before. I'll write it again if anyone is interested.
Yes, please. |
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