Been tremendously busy for good reasons. There will be some interesting news coming soon in early 2015 for a new RPG I have recently authored as well as launching a publishing company. Legally obtained back rights to two screenplays I co-authored and managed to find a new producing company for them just before the holidays. Very hard at work with the burden of several writing projects that I hope to share soon. This year was not without suffering, but I am learning to bear it. Next year the goal will be bear suffering without complaint. On a brighter note, I earned the promotion from lecturer of general education to adjunct assistant professor for four consistent years of academic service. As this year slowly goes to the deeps of time, may the next one carry us out.
[PS – Now that The Hobbit trilogy is over, The Battle of Five Armies was the foulest of the three films that have all but obliterated the meaning of J. R. R. Tolkien’s work for masses — those who do not read. As a writer in this age this seems to be the fate of the craft. I’m not sure how to stop it. Even Harlan Ellison said there is no way to stop it. In the face of that, I’ll leave Christopher Tolkien’s comments on the nature of this reduction (from the word “reductive” that Madonna (of all people) has used on the current state of art and the humanities)…
“They eviscerated the book by making it an action movie for young people aged 15 to 25,” Christopher said of “The Lord Of The Rings,” revealing he turned down an invitation to meet Jackson. “And it seems that ‘The Hobbit’ will be the same kind of film.” And while most families of authors would be thrilled to be associated with a billion dollar franchise (even if, in this case, they only get a small portion of that coin), as Christopher’s son notes, that’s not the case here. “Normally, the executors of the estate want to promote a work as much as they can,” Adam Tolkien said. “But we are just the opposite. We want to put the spotlight on that which is not ‘Lord of the Rings.’ ”
As for Christopher, he offers a bleak assessment on the legacy of his father and his work, which is now part of a movie machine that won’t be going away any time soon. “Tolkien has become a monster, devoured by his own popularity and absorbed into the absurdity of our time,” he pondered. “The chasm between the beauty and seriousness of the work, and what it has become, has overwhelmed me. The commercialization has reduced the aesthetic and philosophical impact of the creation to nothing. There is only one solution for me: to turn my head away.”]
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