Huffy Flounce

All 3 LOTR movies on Sky back- to-back?

Or fire up Netflix and 'do' Breaking Bad?

I finished the third season of Breaking Bad recently. It annoys me sometimes, but I generally like it.

I tried watching all the Lord of the Rings Extended Editions back-to-back in 2008. I didn't enjoy it.

Yeah, Two Towers is on now.

I am thinking that in the cold light of day, with the benefit of hindsight, a lot of it is complete fucking bollocks.

Way back when I was watching Jackson's LotR movies for the first time (it's kinda hard to believe it's been more than a decade since Return of the King was released), I was asking myself if maybe I would have enjoyed them more if I had been a decade younger the first time I watched them.

I loved them first time round. Kinda got all swept up in the majestic epic-ness of it all. But watching it now it seems all a bit lazy.

"This is Ethildror of The Hammer Born, Storm Lord Of All Trees And Horses! And other totally made up shit."

Yes, well of course it fucking is! Well, why didn't you say so!??

I do not like The Two Towers at all. Never have.

Breaking Bad is go! Episode 3 already.

My college roommates were shocked that I hadn't seen the LotR trilogy and that I didn't have any intention to do so. They set out to correct this huge gap in my cultural knowledge - and made me watch the extended editions, too. Biggest fucking waste of twelve hours! I'm glad we didn't watch them back-to-back, or it would have been even more painful. The first movie was still kind of bearable, but with the second and third one I just kept falling asleep on the couch. Eventually, I asked them if we could turn on the subtitles so my mind could occupy itself enough by reading along in order to keep from falling asleep. I mean, it was bad.

Maybe I would have enjoyed these movies if I had read the books, but I feel like a film should be accessible and enjoyable for more than just those people who were already fond of the world and the characters it depicts before they entered the theater. There were just so many characters to keep up with that I simply couldn't give a damn about any of them. Just like Jackson's adaptation of The Hobbit, the LotR trilogy simply lacked focus, in my opinion - it went in too many directions at once and tried to cover way too much ground, which got in the way of telling a compelling story. But maybe that's just as much Tolkien's fault as it is Jackson's.

So you haven't seen Faramir and Rothermire and Cashmire find the mighty daemon axe of orinocho flow?

The books are pretty focused, as I recall. For instance, the entire first book follows Frodo from the Shire all the way to the breaking of the Fellowship. Even when Frodo's knocked unconscious at the ford of Rivendale, we only know what's going on from what Frodo sees, then picks up again when he wakes up days later in a bed in Rivendale. All we know of what's going on in other places in MIddle Earth are what others tell Frodo, such as Gandolf or Glorfindl or Elrond. The second book is broken into 2 halves. The first half follows 2 parties, Aragorn and his crew, and Marry and Pippen, cutting back and forth between the two. The second half of the book is Frodo and Sam.

Bananarama's Bouncy Bits wrote:So you haven't seen Faramir and Rothermire and Cashmire find the mighty daemon axe of orinocho flow?

I'm not sure I'd care for it.

Sail away! Sail away! Sail away!

I remember the day I learned the title of the Enya song. I said, "Man, I hate that 'Sail Away' song." The person I said it to said, "You mean 'Orinoco Flow'?" I had never heard the actual title. I assumed it was called "Sail Away," because, well, you know. Anyway, the moment the person asked the question, I just knew they knew which song I meant, and I knew their absurdly stupid collection of phonemes had to be the song's actual title. I didn't question it for a second. It made me laugh pretty hard.

Womble period.

Season 2 of Breaking Bad nearly done. Better Call Saul just finished. I am burning through these.