Here I am, sitting at my computer, eating a pint of Ben & Jerry’s (mind your P’s and Q’s damn it) and I just realized (I think for the second time) that I can’t tell the difference. Between Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring’s widescreen edition and extended edition, that is. I can’t tell how they inserted an additional 45 minutes and I don’t notice it, which is strange for me. I’m such an anal-retentive bastard that details should matter. Even so, I’m able to ignore these thoughts and enjoy one hell of a good movie which gives name recognition to some of the coolest action heroes now in existence (who else do you think I’m talking about but Orlando Bloom and Viggo Mortensen). It makes a hell of a good story, these novels that I read in junior high and can’t read ever again. Yeah I’ve always got beef that the story is edited from book to movie, but it’s a phenomenal epic that I still enjoy.
Why did people get all pissed off when they found out Liv Tyler was in this movie? I mean maybe they figured someone with better acting skills could portray Arwen, and at times I agree. But she is pretty hot.
Now to the heart of the matter, or article as some would say, which is: Season One of the USA Networks Series THE DEAD ZONE, based on characters from the book by Stephen King. I received it as a gift sometime ago (whether for birthday or graduation, I know not and it doesn’t matter since they were so close together) from Susan, a friend and business associate of my father’s who has a phenomenally large collection of VHS and a growing collection of DVD. What’s great about the series is it’s like The Sixth Sense but with a much more scientific thesis.
In the first episode, we meet Johnny Smith and his lifetime girlfriend Sarah who plan to marry and have enough kids to make their own family hockey team. But Johnny is torn from his girlfriends side in a tragic accident that puts him in a coma for six years. Awakening suddenly, he discovers that he is now psychic. The doctor cannot believe that he’s even coherent, because there is extensive brain damage from a childhood injury. But none the less, he is coherent because his brain has rerouted basic senses through a normally dormant area of his brain. A dead zone that alters the way Johnny uses his senses. With a single touch, he experiences visions that show him the future or the past or whatever. I’m almost finished watching the first season, but by far, the funniest one is the 11th episode, titled Dinner with Dana.
The series takes place in Maine, (just like every Stephen King novel, although I just realized that he is probably most familiar with this area, just as the South-Eastern states are John Grisham’s area of expertise) in a town called Bangor. Dana is a reporter for the Bangor Daily News, and is on a date with Johnny for a newspaper exclusive. Well, one thing leads to another, and soon their clothes are coming off. But Johnny’s psychic visions are screwing with his head, and he ends up with six different people commenting on the sex he has with Dana, including his mother (GASP! The Horror!). It was very funny. I’m gonna finish watching Lord of the Rings now, so you go on and have a good night. Or day. Or whatever. I’m sorry, I can’t get that speech pattern out of my head, it’s from the Disney Animated Film Robin Hood. I’m leaving now. I’m serious. Stop following me damn it!