My thoughts on the web.

I haven't been thinking a lot recently. I've been very angry with my computer though and the whole blood-boiling thing gets in the way of rational thought. They're awful bloody things. Subject, like every man made thing, to entropy, wear and tear and obsolescence. They are the answer and the problem.

But on the thinking front, i just can't be arsed anymore. I miss talking absolute bollocks about theory and ideas, that was fun. Like the people on Newsnight Review talking about art, film and theatre. Ecstatic or critical, possibly both at the same time, drawing parallels, going off at tangents and most importantly; loving the exploration of expression and challenging the notions of what artists try to say to us. Asking: why? how? why not? wherefore? whom? etc.

I was told recently that i had ruined someone's enjoyment of TLOTR Part III. I took umbrage at this. I don't like to feel that i've done something like that. My Lady argued that people have a time after a film, say, when they are still caught up in it, and talking about it, particularly criticisms, can affect the overall view. Again this upset me.

My friend saw the film again. When i saw him last he said, that in hindsight it was the film, he had not enjoyed the film and my comments had just pointed a number of its flaws within seconds of leaving. TLOTR Part III is a prime example of how boring and twee cinema can be. How traditional and simple we humans must be to be entertained by such drabness. Don't get me wrong, TLOTR Part II, absolutely rocked. The battles were refreshing, different and exhilarating, the presence and realism of Gollum was a piece of cinematic history and it never stopped. From Gandalf and the Balrog opening the movie, all the way to the death of Boromir and the parting of the fellowship, action, excitement, SPECTACLE!

Jackson was onto a loser with the third film from the start. The book is mind-numbingly dull. The strength lies in the eking out of the journey the tension building through the minutiae of monotony, Sam and Frodo dripping towards their ultimate end. If Jackson had spent more time on the journey in the first film, he could have abridged the final film by about half an hour. If he had also missed out the pointless three quarter hour conclusion, we might have seen something worthwhile. The DVD release later this year of the extended version (all of which was filmed with us the 'dumb' consumer in mind) is reputed to be 4 hours 15 mins. Bear in mind that each previous release has had 4 commentaries each DVD has 12 hours of talking over it and the new one will have 16 hours of talking over it. WHO GIVES A FUCK?!? HOW FUCKING UNINTERESTING MUST YOUR LIFE BE IF YOU EVER SIT THROUGH IT ALL? 40 FUCKING HOURS OF PEOPLE YOU DON'T KNOW TALKING ABOUT SOMETHING YOU WEREN'T A PART OF!! SELF CONGRATULATORY WANK!

That Jackson has borne the consumer in his mind throughout the entire process has turned it into artistic shit, dripping through his fingers onto his piles of money. He need never work again i'm sure, and i for one hope that he doesn't. Much like the Warchowski brothers. What a great piece of sci-fi cinema The Matrix is. New, different, exciting and visually without reference. But look at the following films created with the knowledge of its own 'cult' status, drab, boring and predictable. Peter Jackson knew what he was doing all along: visualising a franchise. Like the original 'toy-company funded' He-Man produced to sell toys. Jackson produced the film to sell the commodities associated with it.

But what do i matter? Who am i to request challenging, exciting, visually arresting cinema? Like Kill Bill or Lost in Translation. Cinema that makes you feel something different, exotic, unknown, and inexplicable. Peter Jackson has created a visual Exposition of JRR Tolkiens book. Not an expression, but a pedestrian, safe and mundane translation. His explanation of the book is like the book itself being written by John Grisham.

But maybe it's just my computer rage bubbling up again....