a bunch of things, really...

[amruniel]

Let me start with saying that today, for once, I'm damn proud to be an Austrian.

Today Conchita Wurst, who won the Eurovision Songcontest 2014 about a week ago, had her first concert in Austria. It's been a free "thank-you"-gig at the Ballhausplatz and well... Let's say Austria hasn't been that great about a drag-queen with beard representing our country at the Songcontest for a long time. Obviously, once the rest of Europe actually voted for her the public reaction changed to "we're so open-minded, we're great with any kind of "different" lifestyle", etc. But still, the loud and persistent homophobia running wild mostly online put a major damper on at least my mood oftentimes.

I've actually lost one of my oldest friends when her homophobia and complete disrespect and disregard for anything other than "normal" reared its ugly head. And while I felt really bad for learning that her mind-set is the way it is, it's been one of the easiest decisions of my life to walk out of her life for good when a whole day of trying to make her see "the other side" simply ended nowhere. A person that actually tells me that "people like you are responsible for the destruction of mankind" doesn't deserve even a single tear.

Anyway... thoughts like this ran rampant throughout the more "old-fashioned" parts of our society and while many people said they were happy for the change that seems to be happening slowly, I personally felt that a huge part of the acceptance might just be a facade.
Today proved me wrong. Tens of thousands Austrians rallied at the Ballhausplatz, waving rainbow flags, gay couples kissing without any sort of opposition, straight people peacefully enjoying that special moment with people of any other sexual orientation, and -what got me most- a lot of elderly people, people that could easily be my grandparents, happily in all this madness, proud to witness this change in society. I really felt that today was a step forward, a step that I wouldn't have thought possible even yesterday.

Today, I've really felt that we as Austrians have come a long way the last 60 years. While we're still largely associated with Hitler outside this country or the continent, today tens of thousands of people stood at the exact same spot where Hitler stood after his annexation of Austria, celebrating diversity, embracing all sexual orientations, simply being proud to finally see the change we as a society so desperately need to see.

Another thing I ... well, I actually DIDN'T want to talk about is this interview with Viggo Mortensen: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/10826867/Viggo-Mortensen-interview-Peter-Jackson-sacrificed-subtlety-for-CGI.html
But since I can't stop mumbling and grumbling about it and I'm driving people nuts with it, I figured, I might as well get it out here...

Well, let me state on things first: I agree with him in some parts. I absolutely do.
Yes, Peter Jackson sacrificed a lot of the details and hard work in terms of set and scenery that made Lord of the Rings the experience it still is for CGI-work. One look at the various production videos he so kindly supplies us with show that without a doubt.
Where in LotR would have been great sets to explore from every angle, there are huge green-screens today. I'm fully aware of the fact that they did a lot of green- and blue-screen work on LotR too, but not on that scale. (And don't get me started on the Orcs... I mean, it sure is great for the actor not to have to spend hours upon hours in make-up for even the briefest of appearances, but it takes away so much of the authenticity and the feeling of organic real-life beings that the Orcs and Uruks had in LotR.) But yeah, I'm on the same page here with dear Mr. Mortensen.
The Hobbit movies (and I'm really in love with the second one!) do have a more artificial, more technical feel to them. It's not as organic and real as LotR has been, but it doesn't make them bad in any way. I mean, considering that these movies are shot in 3D it's probably pretty understandable that PJ upped the ante and went to the direction he has chosen. I guess that it's easier to get the results he's looking for in terms of setting via a CG-backdrop (but I couldn't be too sure, since I've never worked with 3D cams before. So no idea if there's an actual difference between natural and CG-backdrops. It's an educated guess on my part, but I could be completely wrong there...).

Having said that, I have to add, that it is Peter Jackson's choice to do the work he does as he pleases. If PJ made the choice to go all CGI on the Hobbit (and he's always been a tech-geek, so there's no real surprise there), it's exactly that - his CHOICE.
And while Viggo obviously chose another way of doing the projects he wants to do, it's exactly that too: his CHOICE. And I really don't see any reason at all to go around bashing PJ for making different choices that Viggo did. (Plus, there's the little fact that Viggo is in fact in the position to select his movies very carefully, BECAUSE of PJ and the LotR-trilogy. He has a creative and (probably) financial freedom he couldn't have afforded before the trilogy. So that's another good reason not to go out in the public talking -sorry- shit.)

So, and then the part that bugged me most: proclaiming that Fellowship is the only good movie in the trilogy? Stating (even if in a roundabout way) that the other two movies are so bad that they should have gone straight to video/DVD if the first movie hadn't been the success it was? I mean, really?! Come on!
While we certainly can talk about the second movie not coming up to par to the first and third one, even Towers is way better than any other movie that came out that year. (In my humble opinion, yeah, but this blog is about me, so...) And really, does anybody else remember the great, great night at the Oscars where "Return of the King" won ALL the Oscars he's been nominated for? Breaking records on the way and actually breaking the ban for any fantasy-movies? IF the third (and second, because they trilogy was honoured as a complete entity in a way) movie would have really been a strictly to DVD one, there's no way in hell the Academy would have awarded any of the major Oscars to them. No fucking way.
And talking about the great, great first part? Viggo of all people should know that the things he's saying about the first movie being shot in sequence whereas all the others were utter chaos are simply not true. If he can't remember the years he spent in NZ, I'd strongly recommend watching the DVDs... and the extras. Everybody who's done that knows that they did shoot parts of the 3rd movie right at the beginning of shooting, that they jumped back and forth in the movies for all of the 2 or 3 years, and that in Peter Jacksons vocabulary "shooting a movie in sequence" doesn't really exist. (Which endears him enormously to me, but that's a different story...)

Yeah, I guess I could say a lot more about that interview, but I guess I got at least a part of it off my chest now and can resume my regular scheduled life without too much grumbling ;)

And then, there are these two videos of Orlando talking about acting in "Romeo and Juliet" I've watched today:

Watch on YouTube

Watch on YouTube

I absolutely adore the way he's talking about stage work. I mean, that's true love and passion for theatre speaking.
I particularly enjoyed the way he's talking about the beauty of Shakespeare's language in the first video as well as his description of the incident where the actor playing the friar completely lost track of his text. I mean, that's a real great way of dealing with the situation, and such a great thing to witness if you're afraid of exactly that happening to you (as Orlando obviously was).

And the second video? Just so much goodness in there ;) I mean, first, the fans talking to him were really great. Really focussing on the theatre part, asking quite insightful questions and keeping their cool for the most part.

And then him revealing that he's actually reading a poem to get into Romeo's mind-set? There's just no doubt in my mind WHICH poem he's reading there... *whistles innocently* And don't even get me started on the last few minutes of the video... I mean... I so loved how he obviously stopped himself from calling Viggo a genius (he really deserves to be called one, so... just keep on gushing about him, honey!) and his reaction to the comment that Viggo is a good-looking guy???! "He's devastatingly handsome"... I... I... I completely and utterly adore this reaction. And it makes my little fangirlish heart beat a lot faster. That's for sure ;) *happy sigh*

So yeah, I could go on and on about these videos, because they once again show me that Orlando really, truly belongs on a stage. He's obviously very happy there and he absolutely can and should be proud of what he accomplished as Romeo. (Although seeing his dedication to the text and the work he put into bringing this person to life really shows me how much it means to him - I wouldn't have needed to see him actually act to completely understand that he'd do his absolute very best in the theatre because it means so much to him....)

But now I do shut up and get to work... it's quite late and I should do something now. I really want and need to get at least 4 hours of sleep before I have to face my co-workers tomorrow *sigh*

Comments

[silvan_lady]

Makes perfect sense to me. My favourites in order are TTT EE, ROTK cinema, FOTR EE. FOTR cinema, TTT cinema, ROTK EE.

I thought there was a huge difference between the original TTT and the extended version.

[amruniel]

Oh yes, there‘s an enormous difference between TTT and TTT EE. That one really benefitted from the additional scenes, big time!

I think if I had to rank all six versions, I’d still give first place to ROTK cinematic (because no other film made me cry that much, and at the same time made me smile that much, ever! And it still touches me as much as it did when I first saw it so, so many years ago), closely followed by TTT EE... I’m not sure about FotR and FotR EE, I like them both quite a bit, possibly the EE a bit more. No wait! Definitely more! If only because of that scene in the marshes where Aragorn sings the Lay of Luthien! And after that it’s a close call between TTT cinematic and RotK EE, with RotK EE leading a bit in my favour just because it’s still RotK at it’s core and I could use the EEs as potty breaks 😉