I need a laugh

These made me laugh, but I've already read them...and as we all know, reading for pleasure doesn't come to the top of the list this semester.  You should read them though: 

                                                                                                                                    


And while you are picking these up, let's not forget that it's my birthday soon, and that I will have time to read over the Christmas break: 

Go? Don't go? I don't know.

The inept interpreter of one of my favorites books (aka Peter Jackson ak PJ: Primo Jerk) is directing The Hobbit Movie. My intestines are all cranky just thinking about how he and his screenplay writers are going to defile Tolkien's work. I made a decision not to go to the movie opening in 2012, because his interpretation of The Lord of the Rings was shameful. It's not what he got wrong, it's what he changed in the story to pander to Hollywood and viewers who may not have read LOTR.  As a matter of course, people who hadn't read LOTR had asked me what the big deal was all about. I tried to explain that the character subtleties and deep camaraderie that forged and maintained the fellowship were lost in the film, and that the subplot of the dangers of material pride over creation (which can be traced to Feanor in the Silmarillion, by the way) was lacking, so all one got was a movie about good vs. evil.

So why didn't people get it?  I suggest the cause is that script writing suffered at the expense of  creating a visual spectacle. Note to PJ: it's called dialogue, PJ...that's what moves the story - not your sweeping aerial shots of New Zealand and faux fight scenes and redaction of the text in pivotal parts. Loser. I understand that textual fidelity is difficult, but really PJ, Tolkien laid it out there, and all you had to do was follow it. Don't take my word for it, read the Guardian article; they're Brits, they take Tolkien seriously ... I hope. The article calls what PJ is doing with The Hobbit it 'tinkering' with the story; I call it tragic, in the Aristotelian sense that it evokes fear (I'm afraid to go) and pity (what gets done to Prof Tolkien's genius is truly pitiful). 

My mind was made up not to go and then, this rumour slips out by none other than Ian McKellan (Gandlaf).

If the delectable Mr Cumberbatch is the voice of Smaug, that is no reason to go...or is it?

What to do, what to do....

Head Check

An email went out to the Junior class, asking to vote on a speaker for commencement.  Even though I'm a first semester senior, and will be done with my A.B. (B.A. for those of you who don't get diplomas written in Latin) in December, the college tosses me in with the Junior class, based on when I will attend commencement.

All but 145 of the 2200 students enrolled at Mt Holyoke College are between the ages of 18 and 23. As such, I find myself culturally out of the mainstream when it comes to who would be a suitable speaker at our graduation in may, 2012.  I nearly choked when I saw the list of potential candidates:  Oprah Winfrey, Ellen Degeneris, John Stewart, Hillary Clinton...in that order. Poor students; I had such high hopes for them. I am stunned, but not surprised at the "raised by TV" generation.  I don't even want to know the results of the poll, lest I toss my love of academia into the trash and go work for a cat shelter.

The poll has only strengthened my resolve to get Gogol Bordello to play at the Perkins Scholar Annual Grill and Chill.  What's the link there? They have a song called "Start Wearing Purple" and the Perkins Scholars' colors are purple: 

woooo!

Seriously:

This is what it is like for me when I'm working at the Vet's between semesters: Click here and then click "play free preview".