Hobbit movie, etc.

My friend MW invited me to join him and his kids for the new 'Hobbit' movie last night. It was one of those things you do for kids.

After the film, I ventured that "it was a little longer than it needed to be." MW gave me a forlorn look and said, "It was the *shortest* of the Hobbit movies."

Oh.

And I hate to be a grinch, but the costumes in that latest Hobbit movie were just awful. Could the beards, bald caps, and plastic crown possibly have looked any cheaper or more fake? And the film was way too heavy in CGI action. There's only so many minutes that watching giant trolls throwing rocks at people can hold my interest.

I liked LOTR because there was a strong character story with the hobbits. The tension created by the temptation of the ring's power was palpable, as was the strain it put on the characters' friendships. Gollum's character - always addressed respectfully by his real name, Smeagol, by Frodo - was amazing. Nobody had seen that kind of expressiveness from a CGI character before, and nobody thought it could be done.

This is such a come-down from that, it's really sad. I'd say it was like watching a comic book of a movie, but that's unfair to comic books.

Looking Back

It's good to stop every now and then and take a look at where you've been. Keeping a journal makes this easier; keeping an online journal makes it easier still. That's why I posted a three-part "Retrospective" here at LJ/DW. It's an opportunity to look back at your life, and think.

And the "thinking" part is what gives the whole thing its value. When there's no thinking involved, and the process is instead handled by a computer algorithm, you get this.

This poor guy is able to muster more forgiveness for the morons at Facebook than I'd have had is such circumstances. What absolute, callous thoughtlessness. And what kind of comfortable, sheltered lives must those young people lead, to assume that every one of FB's millions of users has had a fabulous year that they'll want to celebrate? The mind boggles.

Merry Christmas ...

... to those who celebrate. And to all, hope it's been a good year, and wishing you even better in 2015.