Petty's Purist LotR Edits [3]

Agreed, azriel; it's very saddening. I'm very impressed by how Meiko seems to be taking it in stride, though.

MeikoElektra wrote:

Ringdrotten wrote:
Just make sure you've always got one full set of dry clothes in your backpack, and keep it in plastic bags. When you sleep, put your underwear on your belly, or spread it out under your armpits (may sound strange, but it'll dry them in a matter of hours) :)If it rains, but on your wet clothes if you're going to go outside your tarp, those dry clothes are gold. Bring an extra pair of woolen socks too, if you have. I don't know how cold it gets down there, but warm feet should not be underestimated :)I'm guessing you know all of this stuff, though, since you are planning on going through with this, but thought I'd mention it all the same.

Also, if it snows down there in winter (shows how much I know about your country ), a good trick is to wear two layers of socks, and between the two layers you wrap plastic bags around your feet. Your feet will sweat a lot, but as long as you air them every six hours or so the smell will be the only thing bothering you. The point of it is to keep the sweat away from your boots so they don't freeze during the night. Waking up to frozen boots is about the shittiest morning sight there is in winter

Thanks Ringdrotten for what is clearly advice from a seasoned camper! I've got two sets of clothes and lots of plastic bags (plus ziplock bags for the essential non-wettables), but I never thought to dry them in the method you mentioned! It will get down to (at the worst) -10C, but probably more like -5 unless I'm in the Victorian Alps over winter. I may see a little snow but my greatest danger is bushfire over summer (plus heatstroke, am NOT planning to move by day!) - this will mean not being able to boil water or cook food so will have to buy a SteriPEN and hand-charger for the water, and stick to insects and plant matter in terms of food.

-5 will freeze your boots, so that plastic bag trick is worth a try if you're going on longer trips that'll make you sweat That heat sounds a lot worse, though, and not something I'm used to having to deal with! Keep that water flask filled, and like you say, stay put I got to say I agree with the rest, it's a disgrace that any government could let something like this happen in 2013, but all the same - the way you're handling this is commendable, other people in your situation have turned to worse things.



Be safe!

Never thought about freezing my boots!! I definitely will be going on fairly long trips, not to anywhere in particular but the next meal. -5 is going to be rather horrid, I've never experienced colder than -1, outside my freezer. At least I'm good in the heat, because it'll be hitting 45+ come January. I will be wearing a wet rag on my head under my hat then, to be sure!

Azriel, I guess the government can't fix stupid, and "stupid" seems to be my middle name in terms of placing trust in the wrong people and giving everything away. I've had a good wail and cry, don't worry! But then I pulled myself together and decided I might as well see this as an opportunity or, at worst, a challenge - and not the end of the world. I've always wanted to live a simple life away from the sillier bits of society, and away from capitalist structures. I've always wanted to be environmentally friendly. And I've always wanted to shoot a bow and live as a Dunedan Ranger. Here's the perfect opportunity to do all three!  

Because I keep seeming to Norc the thread...

Petty's edits have got me thinking about what a purist LotR would look like. I had never been a fan of the idea of 6 films (one for each book) but watching what I saw last night, and thinking what was missed out on (especially the awesome scary stuff with barrow-wights and Crickhollow), and the nature of the end of the book, it may just be that LotR would work (story-wise) as a 6 part miniseries. Of course, financially, there's pretty no way this would have happen (as a live action miniseries anyway) - television just doesn't allow for that level of SFX, I don't think. Game of Thrones has to have most battles offscreen, for instance. Although in the not-too-distant future, perhaps it will be much less expensive to have onscreen CGI armies? While I'm not a fan of CGI in terms of named characters (thinking AUJ here...) the LotR battles were excellent and stand up to HD scrutiny.

More specifically - can we identify some key moments that "built" Frodo's character? I sadly don't have a copy of the book at the moment, I left my last copy on the plane a year ago  but I'll run off the top of my head, for Book 1:

- Frodo starting out as initially reluctant e.g. delaying his removal from Bag End for months after Gandalf tells him to leave (very different from PJ's version).
- keeps his head and conquers his fear to summon Tom and defeat the barrow-wights (obviously not in PJ's version)
- initial carelessness and foolishness in Bree, showing he still isn't fully aware of the seriousness of this journey and his role in it (not in PJ's version)
- then steps up and shows leadership at the Prancing Pony, choosing to trust Aragorn against the advice of Sam in particular (less of a "decisive moment" in PJ's version - more happens on its own).
- fights back against the wraiths on Weathertop (not in PJ's version).
- defies the wraiths at the Ford (not in PJ's version).

So there are a lot of missing elements in Frodo's character arc. He starts MORE proactive and by the end of Book 1 seems LESS proactive. (Sadly none of this can be "fixed" by Petty's otherwise wonderful edits, but I have always thought it would be fun to write an alternative purist screenplay that still factors in realities like budgets and flow as a film/miniseries.)

Thoughts?

I think these days it is just about within the realms of possibility to do the story on tv, which would be my preferred format for an adaptation.
Film is unsuitable for lots of reasons, but primarily time and style.

A lot of good points, Meiko.

Somehow I think it was just that mantra of "change for changes sake is okay" when adapting Tolkiens work that those points show, that lead to a lot of the problems we are now seeing with the Hobbit.

I, like Petty, cry great big tears of blood at the loss of Tolkien's language. If I had the books to hand I'd do a highlight job in a copy of the script to identify just what percentage of lines in the film were from the book. Not many...

Petty, I always thought the Harry Potter films would be better has a set of short TV seasons rather than movies. They have a lot of similarities in structure to Dickens novels and others that were published in an episodic manner.

Book 2 Part 7 sitting in my download tray...

You'll like the book-by-book structure even more as you go along, Meiko, or at least I did. Especially books three and four are preferable to Jackson's TTT, though we could perhaps discuss that when you've seen them (don't want to spoil anything) .

Ah Ringdrotten, now I'm wishing I had superfast broadband so I could watch books 3 and 4 NOW! Aaaaaaah!!!!  

Yeah TTT is my favourite part now- and its my least favourite of the PJ films.

Terrible news - internet was cut off partway through downloading part 24 of 26 of Book 2. So close

That sucks! 

Wow, so much happened in the 5 days I was away with friends, I'm still catching up!

It's so amazing to me to hear Meiko sleeping on park benches yet still managing to check in on the internet sounding chipper as can be! You go girl! And you're only about 45 kg?! Small and spunky. I'm still trying to wrap my head around 1 meal a week. All my admiration, Meiko. Keep your laptop out of sight, and dry. You have redefined the meaning of homelessness.

I've only slept out in a city park a couple of times, and I'm sure you know that cardboard is your best friend, so nothing I can add to that...except that we are here for you and eager to hear from you.

Oh, I do have a tip! Something I learned from helping to run a boy scout troop in west africa. Over here in the states they teach us all this stuff about lighting fires by making splinter sticks and shredding bark and all this purist shit...but in africa they actually use fires every day, and don't muck around with this hokey nature boy crap.

So while I was trying to gather together small little twigs and stuff so I could start my fire with one match, thinking in my arrogance I could actually show them something; they were off cutting up strips of old tire you can find on any roadside. The soft inside part is best. A strip of rubber will burn like a stick full of pine sap, and will light damp wood when nothing else will do. Prop it up vertical and light the bottom, surrounded by a teepee of sticks. Give it a try.

partway through downloading part 24 of 26 of Book 2- Meiko

The good news is if you still have all the bits you already downloaded you only need to start again from where it stopped at part 24 of 26 and get the last few. Assuiming you can get somwhere to download those bits.


Ringdrotten- um, you remember how said I was going to write down the bloody email I used for the second drive? Well, um guess what I cant find?

Sorry, but could you pm me it again?  (I need to get book 4 back up)

Sent you a new one Perhaps it would be a good idea not to delete that PM

 

 

  {{{ }}}}

Well my cheque came through and I kind of...prioritised  ...and got the internet turned back on again so I could download the other parts. Now it looks like a whole herd of us might be homeless, but that might give us a better chance of getting emergency housing of some sort. I dunno. They might take pity on us all if we make enough noise!

If not, I'm still keen on the Aragorn route, whether or not anyone else from the house wants to join me! Would far prefer being homeless in the bush than the city. Halfy, that idea of the rubber is brilliant, so many tires blow out along the highway that you're always finding inners. I won't be mucking with that boyscout stuff of rubbing sticks together, I'll be using flint - I can get a spark from a makeshift hand drill (after aaaages and only if everything is super dry) but why put in all the effort when there's an easier way eh?

So now downloading 25 and 26. Halfway there.

Glad you are getting a chance to download the rest Meiko- and I have my fingers crossed that things work out for you over xmas.

Blue- I finally worked out what the problem was with uploading book 4 (my download manager was interfering with the upload process  ) part one of the five bits is up already (you can download them as they appear if you want to spread the download time and save you having to get them all at once, but you will still need all 5 to extract the vid)

Currently stuck in the mines of Moria. Will be posting a review soon  

 

If you find the picture too dark there's a good scene to use to set your brightness and contrast levels in Moria.

Right after they enter and Gandalf lights his staff there is a shot of them going up the stairs, the camera pulls back from it and zooms right out.
On one side (I cant remember which!) right or left there is an arched bridge- even at the furthest point of zoom you should still be able to see that bridge- if its disappeared into the darkness up your settings until its just visible.

Book4 part 2 is now up.

Parts 3 and 4 of Book 4 now up- only 1 more to go which will hopefully be done overnight.