The Lord of the Rings

Two Towers protest

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This just might be the single stupidest thing I’ve seen in a very long time. A group of people have put up a website protesting the title of the next Lord of the Rings movie, “The Two Towers”, because, “The name of this movie will undoubtedly cause a return of the emotions felt on Sept 11th which left so many people in the nation feeling stunned and in a state of shock.”

From their FAQ:

The movie is intentionally being named The Two Towers in order to capitalize on the tragedy of September 11. Clearly, you cannot deny the fact that this falls under hate speech. We believe that if they will not willingly change the name, the government should step in to stop the movie’s production or to force a name change.

Just amazing.

The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien

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First off — wow.

I thought I’d read The Lord of the Rings a long time ago. Now that I’ve just finished reading it, I’m not sure if I ever actually had or not. It may well be that I’d read The Hobbit a long time ago and over the years thought that I’d read the entire LotR series. It could also be that I’d seen the animated version and assumed over the years that I’d also read the book. Now I’m not as sure, as far too much of what I read was entirely unfamiliar to me.

Either way, though, I’ve now read it — and if I hadn’t read it before, it’s a shame it took me this long. It really is as good as people say it is. Not that I ever really doubted that, however, it’s far different to have so many people hold it up as a masterpiece of fantasy, and to be able to actually form that opinion for yourself.

There’s a lot more information and reviews of LotR available on the ‘net (a quick Google search for “tolkien lord of the rings -movie” turns up around 125,000 hits) that are very likely to be much more well-written and in-depth than this little bit of babble is, so I’ll just stick with what I’ve got.

I was promped to pick it up and (re?-)read it after watching Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (which I apparently didn’t post any comments on, though I did mention it a couple times beforehand…). I’ve definitely got a lot more respect for Peter Jackson‘s ability to translate the books to the screen — and I’m really jonesing to see the rest now! Just seven more months until The Two Towers comes out, and nineteen until The Return of the King. Going to be a long wait, that’s for sure….

Site fixed, new addy, and LOTR

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Okies — first off, I was able to restore this main page from a recent backup, so the page is back to normal again.

Secondly — www.djwudi.com is active! Yay! I’ll go ahead and leave the old djwudi.dyndns.org addy active for a while, but the preferred address for my site is now www.djwudi.com. Woohoo!

Lastly — just got back not too long ago from Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. In a word — incredible. I’m not sure I can get much more than that out yet, a more detailed review will have to wait, but…. Well, I enjoy fantasy movies, and they’re a lot of fun, but this is the first time I can remember that a fantasy film was that good and true to the spirit of the genre, completely sweeping you up in its world and carrying you along the entire time. Just wonderful.

And it’s going to be a long year until the next part….

Upcoming reading material

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I’ve been between books for a while now, and have been casting about for what to read next. My next book I’m now good for — I can’t think of the title right now, but Candice loaned me a book last night that explores many of the different religions and/or cults (depending on your point of view) in the world today, from Mormonism to Scientology, should be interesting reading.

Today I was reading this thread on the Home Theater Forum where they’re discussing some of the reviews that have been coming out for Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. On [page two of the thread conversation turned to whether or not the film would capture that near-undefinable “magic” or “epic” feel of really good fantasy or science fiction. In the course of the discussion quite a few books and series were mentioned, and I thought I’d jot some of them down so I can pull from this list next time I need to find a book to dive into. Here’s what they’ve mentioned so far:

Read more

Aaaah! I wanna see it! I wanna see it now!

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Reviews of the first Lord of the Rings film, Fellowship of the Ring, are starting to hit the net…

Here’s what I’ve found so far: Home Theater Forum Sneak Peaks, Sir Ian McKellan, The White Council Forums, Ain’t It Cool News, The White Council Forums (another one), Home Theater Forum. I may be back to update this list later on, but these are the first batch.