Sunday, February 26, 2006

On watching Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings followed by Boz Skaggs in concert

To save money Trev and I get most of our DVDs these days from the library. The collection is a tad random, which makes for some surprises, often positive or at least noteworthy. Strangest double-feature so far: Ralph Bakshi's 1978 attempt to animate The Lord of the Rings (he didn't finish, nor did we), followed by a DVD of Boz Skaggs in concert in 2004. Unlike Boz Skaggs in concert, the Bakshi film combines hand-drawn animation and rotoscoped live action, creating some pretty interesting effects. In some ways the ring-wraiths and orcs are scarier in rotoscope than in Peter Jackson's film, which relies perhaps too much on slow motion and pounding music. The Skaggs concert looked like one of those PBS pledge-drive specials with the Bee Gees or Peter Paul and Mary. The audience was clearly tote-bag inclined. The music was toe-tapping rather than pounding, and there were no orcs. In fact I can't think of a single point of comparison between these two DVDs.

I might add that I was sick on Saturday night (Robitussin: Don't let anyone tell you it doesn't work), otherwise we would have been "out clubbing" at the latest "hot" night spots, where we are immediately ushered to the VIP table, past the riff raff clamoring outside the door, because we know the owner.

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