Posts by BenWilson
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Hard News: Holiday Open Thread 2:…, in reply to recordari,
I'm getting damn sick of being invisible round here. Don't know why I bother.
You're not invisible to me. You're just too likable to have a go at :-)
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What about 1991 ?
What about the 1940s when Tolkien actually wrote this stuff? It was Jackson's intent to be faithful to the source material, which does seem to imply Saracen styles for the various peoples south of Gondor. Yes, so as not to upset Arabs he could have just altered everything about that part of Middle Earth, including the part about it being hotter (thus being more likely to produce "swarthy" people). But why the hell should he? It's not intended as an allegory, even for the times that it was written in, Tolkien makes that abundantly clear in the foreword to the second edition, and it's sure as hell not an allegory for times decades after his death.
If we're talking political sensitivity, bear in mind that a lot of Americans wanted the name of The Two Towers changed, because it reminded them of 9/11. For exactly the same reasons as he kept the vaguely middle eastern styling, he refused to pander to American sensitivities, since the Two towers referred to are Orthanc and Barad-dur, not the World Trade Center buildings.
They're not Arabs, they're just people who are a bit darker, carry curved swords (as half of the ancient world did), wear something like a turban, presumably to deal with heat and sand, and their ships vaguely resembled some Arab ships, in Jackson's depiction (Tolkien doesn't describe them in detail). The book is a fantasy with extremely detailed histories and geographies, and Jackson tried to be true to it. He used the phrase "Men of the West" because it aptly described an army formed mostly from people from Gondor and Rohan, both of which are on the Western part of Middle Earth, pitted against an army entirely formed from non-humans (this diverges from Tolkien - indeed the finale bears little resemblance, other than that the Ring is destroyed in the midst of it).
It annoyed me a little too, because it ignored the important contributions of the Elf, the Dwarf and the two Hobbits, who had been his companions for 3 movies at that point, and his own Elven heritage, and his intended Elven wife. It would simply not have been something the Aragorn of the book would have said, even if he was inclined to give vainglorious speeches, which he was not. Definitely he would not have hacked the head off an ambassador, as happens in the extended edition. But to accuse the scene of deliberate race-baiting is drawing a very, very long bow. It's about fantasy people in a fantasy world pitted against fantasy creatures for fantasy reasons.
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Hard News: A few (more) words on The Hobbit, in reply to Rich of Observationz,
It's kinda gambling to organise events 5 years in advance in the hope that they'll actually happen at an opportune stage in the economic cycle.
Such is the world of major sporting events. I guess we struck gold.
Oct 24th next year, France will be headed home with the cup (probably) and all the extra workers hired for the six weeks will be on the dole (definitely).
I'd be actually happy if the French won it, much more so than Oz, SA, or England. It would generate more international interest in rugby. But of course I want the All Blacks to win.
As for the extra workers, six weeks not on the dole might be nice, and it would save the taxpayers that money.
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Hard News: A few (more) words on The Hobbit, in reply to Joe Wylie,
Those Ozzies are an inspiration when it comes to organizing sport, and having a good time.
Low = meh.
Heh, I thought you were going to say Low = wankers.
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The ecomomic boost of sporting events during a boom may be offset by higher interest rates needed to contain inflation.
Just as well we're in the deepest recession of my whole life then.
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Hard News: A few (more) words on The Hobbit, in reply to Danielle,
For some reason I just can't bear the thought of my small but perfectly formed collection of holier-than-thou friends rabbiting on about how much they hope New Zealand loses and how stupid everyone is for caring.
Yes! Totally. I don't really care that much but I'd rather we won, and more importantly, I would like the whole tournament to go well, for there to be great matches between all teams, upsets, courageous performances, new stars, friendships made, cultures experienced, goods purchased in massive quantities, sold-out stadiums, infrastructure that doesn't collapse, parties that never stop, heated debates, a feeling of excitement that drags even the most dour stay-at-home out to stick their hands in the air.
It's a lot to ask, but I urge you to get a whole slab of that Harden Up. Oh, and send a tanker of it to the All Blacks.
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Hard News: A few (more) words on The Hobbit, in reply to Sacha,
That's the problem though - what it *was* like to be young is not the same as what it is now.
Yes, it's hard. Probably impossible to get it exact, but it's still something to aim for.
Bernard Hickey is probably not helping - see comments.
Yes, I think blaming the whole modern condition on baby boomers goes way too far. They're as much victims of the times as anyone else. It's them who will need the health care and pensions that can't be afforded, and a likely scenario is that they will miss out, despite having funded such things for their own elders during most of their lives.
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Can't disagree, though the boomer term seems to be becoming a bit of a red rag
Yes, fair enough, I was careless. Mustn't insult the oldies, the flipside of getting old is becoming aware of just how annoying it is to realize that young people will ignore almost everything we say.
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Hard News: A few (more) words on The Hobbit, in reply to Islander,
is inviting a tart retort.
I presumed as much, and deleted in it's entirety a lengthy parse of your personal attack. But I still think that when rural memes appear in NZ film (and literature), they are not appealing to youth. Which does not make them bad, but limited their interest to me in my youth, and gives me pause about considering my tastes to be something worth promoting to today's youth. I've lived my whole life being determined that I would not forget what it is to be young, and one of the things I remember most strongly from that time was that older people had disdain for just about everything I liked. The feeling became mutual real fast.
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because I just don't think it's a proper function of government to be providing income protection/corporate welfare for sporting events.
Perhaps not in general, but there are exceptions to that. I also don't think it's the business of government to bail out banks and airlines, but sometimes you have to. Banks failing can screw the entire economy. Airlines going bust in a country where there's really only one local option, is not an option. And getting involved in a massive event like the RWC is also justifiable on many levels.
At the very least I don't want to be ashamed of coming from a nation that to all appearances seems to obsess about rugby, and yet won't go an extra mile in promoting the sport and the country when push comes to shove. It seems ridiculously mean to me, and I don't even particularly like the sport - certainly I never played it, and I can't be arsed to watch anyone other than the All Blacks play.
Maybe that's unjustifiable pride, and it would be better if we just let the world know that actually NZers have very mixed feelings about it all, and are only doing it for the money. If that's really how it is, then maybe it's better the world knows that. But I'm still ashamed, if that is the case.
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