McJulie, at the Goth House site reminds me of a favorite Christmas carol: the Pogues Fairytale of New York.
Cathartic, compressed, magnificent, soggy: my summing up of yesterday's viewing of Return of the King. Soggy both from weeping and from sitting in line in the rain - even with an umbrella, there's always the sideways spume. I breakfasted with
amnotsurly at the Green Cat, then trailed after him while he ran some errands, as well as stopping by the theater to pick up our tickets. People were in line for the 3:15 showing (mine) even then - 11:30 ish? - but it was raining so I went and got some coffee before coming back and parking myself in the drizzle. I brought my little folding stool that I bought at the end of SIFF last year; I also had crossword puzzles and Alan Moore: Portrait of an Extraordinary Gentleman but it was too damp for either. So I huddled under my umbrella with the rest of the diehards. Cinerama employees kindly came by several times offering umbrellas to those without - I thought that was very thoughtful of them.The movie was amazing.
Of course I have quibbles. But everyone who tells a story tells it differently. Three people at an event of a mere hours duration can tell you three unrelated tales of what happened - an epic with so many vibrant threads offers many more opportunities for divergence in the angle of telling. Jackson's love of battles shows in his version, as Tolkien's love of language and lineage shows in his... of course, I am separating the tale from the original teller, but so are all mythic cycles, eventually. If I were to tell the story of the Lord of the Rings, it would be a third separate and equally blasphemously divergent version of the events, I am certain.
I go in for a fasting blood draw tomorrow, so no food after 8 pm. This will of course find me instantly starving at 8:01 p.m. whether I have dined or not...
