It's been snowing for over twenty-four hours. I love snowy days like this. They seem to give one liscense not to do anything. And I have two brothers to shovel and snowblow so I sat inside and read The Faerie Queene in preparation for my SIP. It's such a psychedelic narrative poem. Narrative poetry is pretty trippy to start with, but when you put it in Middle English and use phrases like "I feare the fickle freakes" and "mincing mineon" and talk about women who would rather be turned to stone than have sex (you know, that's an interesting idea, because you find it a lot in mythology, too: Apollo wanted Daphne and she turned into a laurel tree, whereas when Zeus wanted women they were all cool with it. Makes you wonder . . .) I've decided that "Stone Virgins" would be a pretty cool band name.
William and I started watching the extended edition of Return of the King. I have such trouble watching that movie because the parts with Frodo and Sam are so boring. I feel like Jackson tries to put in conflict to make the trek through Mordor more interesting, but it backfires. If he just relied on the idea of Mordor and trusted that it would be threatening enough in itself I think it would have been better. Besides that, I'm liking the movie more this time through. Even Liv Tyler, not seeing her for six months has made her much more tolerable.
Posted by linnea at January 5, 2005 8:44 PMI LOVE Spenser!!! What is your SIP on?
I love the Fairie Queene, and this summer I came to the realization how much it stands in the tradition of the Roman de la Rose. You know, you should C.S. Lewis's Allegory of Love. I really appreciated his overview of the courtly love tradition. (And his scholarly writing is much more bearable than his theological, wh. I find a little banal, but that's just me personally....After all his job was a scholar.)
That's just what Dr. Wildeman says about C. S. Lewis.
Posted by: linnea at January 5, 2005 11:49 PMI totally feel ya on the Frodo and Sam thing. A, H, and I were agonizing through each scene, wishing it would go back to Aragorn or SOMEBODY else. Get me out of this 'ell'ole. The only part that makes those FS scenes worthwhile is the Gollum lines we like to imitate ("why do you cry?"). And it's sad, because the orc tower scene where Sam rescues Frodo is so interesting and exciting in the book...but Jackson almost botches it.
Posted by: elk at January 6, 2005 10:18 AMfunny thing--I, who have been referred to as "A," distinctly remember agonizing through the FS parts whilst reading the books. has anyone considered that maybe we're SUPPOSED to feel that way? but then, maybe those two hobbits-and-gollum-travelling-through-mordor scenes just aren't very cinematic. except for nixing much of the soundtrack, i don't know how jackson could have made it less agonizing. so, speak for yourself, elk.
Posted by: A at January 6, 2005 10:57 AMThat's true, A. One of the things about the books that I first thought the movies missed was the horrible feeling that everything was dragging on and on and on and on, that F&S were never going to get there, that everyone was going to die of being darkened and dried up like apple slices in a filthy closet before anything glorious - even a shining death - could happen.
And the horrible things Jackson did with F&S (I mean, come on! Frodo could NEVER have sent Sam back like that. The one think I can't forgive Jackson for is making Frodo so melodramatically self-aware of his pain. He positively whines with that annoying pinched brow.) (sorry for the tangent) do have a similar effect on me in watching the movie. Please, just end it! lol
Also. My imagination is way better than that design team when it comes to Shelob and her lair. Should've been way, way darker, less cobwebby along the main route, more stinky and drippy and mysterious instead of haunted-houselike. And Shelob's main terror was that she was so stinkin' FAT, pendulous folds of it, grossly swollen, you know? And yet tremendously fast and fierce. Part of her horror was that she was so awful to behold that you couldn't fight her for being paralyzed by disgust.
End of rant. I agree that the rescue was also unneedfully insufficient.
...but, darn it, I still really like those movies.
Posted by: tuggy at January 10, 2005 1:44 AM