Do I stay home, or go?

It's never too early to start wondering if I should go to the 2012 release of The Hobbit, directed by that grossly misdirected, self-absorbed buffoon who ruined the cinematic debut of the Trilogy....ahh, my anger gets the best of me.

Try to understand me, people.  Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, and The Hobbit, and The Silmarillon (the order in which I read them the first time - yes I've read them multiple times...when I say multiple, I mean more than four...except for the Hobbit which I only read twice) are mainstays of my reading experience.  I haven't re-read them since I became a "formal" student of literature. Somehow, the fascination surrounding books, and the memories I have attached to being engrossed in them would seem tainted if I read them right now.  It is that notion of being tainted that brings me to wondering whether I should pay $10 to go see that portly Kiwi ruin ANOTHER experience for me...anger again.

oh, yeah...I have this edition...in its original box holder AND with the fold out maps. Jealous.

Allow me to explain:  there are some texts, works, literature (pick the nomenclature that suits you best) that need no modification.  These works, as written, are fine as they are, and don't need Hollywood's hand to make them palatable for general audiences. Here are some examples: Wuthering Heights, or anything by Dickens. Still, movie producers in an effort to extract as much cash as possible from movie goers over emphasize love scenes, trauma scenes - or worse: create scenes that appear no where in the text....like in the Fellowship of the Ring movie where that cracked-out Kiwi allowed a completely fabricated scene to be inserted.  Arwen was NOT at the Ford of Rivendell. NOT THERE.  Number of lines she had in that book???? NONE!!!!! What?!?! you are claiming that the producers were trying to show the strength and courage of Arwen and the Elves?!?! IT'S CALLED DIALOGUE, MORONS!!!! LEARN TO USE IT INSTEAD OF THE SWEEPING AERIAL SHOTS THAT SERVED AS A POST CARD FROM NEW ZEALAND!!!  oh boy...really whipped up. 

I should try this when I'm more rational.  See what mid-semester break does to a person???

Sol Invictus

The video itself is pretty amazing, and the music isn't half bad either. What starts as a simple note progression, gives way to some serious chord formations, ala Bach and Beethoven (Cream Horn...don't lie, you like the chords),  the gets a beat at 00:50.  At ~ 5:00 the strings become chaotic, which is a nice touch, since the magnetic field of our sun is chaotic. 

Have a look at our Sun taken in extreme UV light (no, it's not blue shifting.) here.  Amazing flares and arcs. See more at my second favorite government website, here.  Humbling...simply, humbling

Technically, the title of the video, Sol Invictus is only partially true: while our Sun is invincible at this point in it's life as a main sequence star, it will most likely become a blue dwarf...but well after we humans have finally made ourselves extinct.

Everybody on the bandwagon!

The media is enjoying the protracted pontificating, positing, and posturing about my man, Charlie "Winning"Sheen. Celebrity failure vultures, that's what the media is. 

I happen to admire the man's brevity: 

"Can't handle it? Losers. Winning."  

Seriously, what more needs to be said that wasn't said there?  He made his point in affirming himself by comparative. Just because he made declarative, single-word statements, doesn't make him nuts... just grammatically questionable.

"I don’t think people are ready for the message I’m delivering." 

Perhaps most people can't understand it, though I can't imagine why.  Paring down thoughts to single words apparently isn't clear enough.

Losers. Winning.

Mind the List, and avoid the wrath

New list for 3/6/11: 

Consciousness

Synergy

Leadership  

Post-Colonial

Photos are up

In case you care, there is a link on the side bar called "Pictures from the Republic".  You can see my pics there, instead of having to log into that dreadful FB.


Having trouble finding it on the side bar? Click here: 

free at last!

Hi Diane,

You have deactivated your Facebook account. You can reactivate your account at any time by logging into Facebook using your old login email and password. You will be able to use the site like you used to.

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Cognitive Dissonance

Brother James Brown and......Luciano Pavarotti: listen here.  (ps: 5 second delay before the Godfather comes on stage)