Wow, The last time I updated here was on 2.2.24 and now it’s 2.24.24. I find that weird . . . and kinda cool. How about you? I’ll bet you do also. Maybe? A little?
Okay. Whatever. I’m just trying to keep it light. Or lite. Or, you know, the opposite of heavy . . . or serious. You get the idea.
Anyway. What have I been watching, reading, listening to or otherwise distracting myself with lately? Glad you asked because, well, that’s kind the point of this and things work out better if you just go along. Cool? Cool.
As I mentioned last time I’ve been reading Roger Zelazny’s The Chronicles of Amber. Gotta say, I’m still really enjoying these stories. I first read them as a teenager and loved them. Fortunately, they’ve absolutely stood the test of time and don’t disappoint.
I’ve also been listening to the audio books of The Lord of the Rings as narrated and performed by Mr. Andy Serkis. If you’ve never heard him perform the books before then you’ve never really heard them performed (no disrespect to the previous guy). In short, Andy is terrific and really brings the characters and story to life. Heck, he even sings the songs. All of them. Which, as any Tolkien fan knows, there’s a lot of.
I highly recommend the Andy Serkis versions to anyone who wants to get into the books for the first time or is looking to revisit them. They’re that good.
I recently watched the entire Peter Jackson movie trilogy and that’s what sparked my desire to go back to the novels. It’s so interesting to watch the films and then read (or listen, more to the point) how much of the story had to be changed in order to bring them to the screen. A lot of things had to be dropped and the story altered to fit a film narrative.
Also, the books are very long and you just couldn’t fit everything into three movies. It’s not like you can spend three movies on just one book or something. That’s just crazy.
I’m sure more than one person has already done an exhaustive chronicle of the differences between the Lord of the Rings novels and the Peter Jackson movies, so I won’t get into it here. And no, I’m not too sad that some things had to be cut. Sorry Tom Bombadil stans. Them’s the breaks.
I’m also gonna watch the Ralph Bakshi animated Lord of the Rings movie and see if that holds up. I’ll bet it does, mostly. I’ll let you know. If you haven’t seen it before, be sure to check it out.
I haven’t been watching as many TV shows or movies in the last few weeks. I did, however, accompany the boy to see Kimetsu No Yaiba – To the Hashira Training (aka Demon Slayer) in the movie theater this week. It’s a version of the animated series containing the final episode of the current season as well as the first of next season. It’s all part of the upcoming Hashira training arc. If you know, you know.
It was fun and great to see anime on the big screen. The boy loved it too. We also had milkshakes. They were tasty.
In case you’re interested, here’s the trailer.
I’ve also included the trailer for The Fellowship of the Ring from Peter Jackson too. Enjoy and remember just how great those movies are. I’m not sure we’ll ever get a better cinematic treatment of the novels. Thank you Peter Jackson and co-writers Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens and all the cast and crew. Well done.
I guess that’s enough for the moment. Oh, in case you haven’t done it yet, don’t forget to check out the thing there on the right side (or below if you’re on mobile). Be sure to register to vote and then vote. It’s pretty important, especially if you give a shit about Democracy.
Be kind to each other.
Image: New Line/Warner Bros. / Amazon