Hm. what to say?

Well, first off, a big welcome home to me, as i made it without adventure from madison to san diego. since i got home so soon before christmas, there hasn't been much adventure to make up for it, either. hung out with megan sarah and mary on sunday night...much fun. i was mercilessly grilled about jerry. my mom did the same the next day. we went shopping--i got some new clothes, which i needed, and some cds, which i wanted, and all is good. lunch at oscars. mm, mm, yummy. pretty tame christmas, well, it is my family after all, and we're never anything but sullen or grumpy when in the same room together. it's fun. or not. I got a gift card to Borders, though, which i am very excited about and will probably spend all of within the next couple of days. i need new music, desperately. i've got some: jerry gave me a john coltrane compilation, i bought a chris thomas king cd (although not the one i was thinking i wanted) yesterday, the soundtrack to Oh Brother and (St) Coltrane's Giant Steps I bought in the airport, and today I got Herbie Hancock's Maiden Voyage as a "present" (i picked it out). So maybe I will be less dissatisfied with my music collection now that it has been refreshed a bit. Excellent.

I was disappointed by LotR. As accurate as it was to the book, and as impressive the visuals, there was something missing. Or maybe there was too much. I can't decide. I must have read those books at least 18, 19 times. It's fixed in my imagination as this giant, this behemoth of a magical world...and of course everyone's imagination works different ways. So maybe the creators missed my boat but have delighted someone else. Probably. I'm kind of a snob about the books I read. I think, especially for a classic of literature such as Tolkien's work, you should read the book before you let the movie put the pictures in your head. So some of the people in the theatre annoyed me...the little "what's going on?" and "that was the end?" comments floating around...grr! But I do think it's funny that some people have still failed to understand that it's a TRILOGY, which means, oh yes you lucky audience you, you get THREE films instead of just one. No, the story doesn't end with Sam and Frodo wandering off into Mordor...there is much much much more to come...Well, I suppose I'm being crabby about it. READ THE BOOKS, PEOPLE! I mean it. I really really mean it. This is important. READ THE BOOKS. Don't rely on the media to shape your conception of things. break free. the greatest tool you have is your ability to create your own impressions, to come away with your own understanding. This is why you read, this is why you let your mind work toward entertaining you rather than sitting for hours in front of a tv screen, a glutton of images and sounds...interact with the world. live it.

i suppose i could also argue that reading books has led me to spend many hours curled up in a chair, rejecting social responsiblities, causing me to be somewhat crabby about having to, oh say, put the book down to go eat dinner...and what am i doing now, after all? just sitting in front of a screen which also feeds me information and images painlessly without requiring much thought, rambling. Well...I have nothing to say to that. :)