Posted On Tuesday, January 21st, 2003 By David Veatch
What did I think of Jackson’s The Two Towers? For a long time, I wasn’t really sure what I thought about it. I’ve pretty much worked that out now. My first impression, as I was driving home at 2:00am, was one of vague disappointment. The friend I was with loved it, and was going on and on about how great it was, but I just couldn’t get into the spirit. I couldn’t help but think "But what about Faramir?! Theoden?! Treebeard!! Frodo!!! They were all wrong!!!!" After a few weeks, I still think that. I think Jackson has room to salvage the wreck he made of the characters in his next installment, but I don’t have much faith that he will. Frodo holding Sting to Sam’s throat? Please. Not even while deeply under the influence of the Ring did he get anywhere near that. Nor was he nearly so short with Sam when Sam expressed his doubts towards Gollum/Smeagol. Faramir was just pathetic. Jackson should have used a different name for the character, b/c in no way did he resemble Tolkien’s Faramir… except maybe in dress and skin color. Theoden was rude, impatient and fatalist in Jackson’s treatment. In print more »
Posted On Sunday, January 19th, 2003 By David Veatch
Damn. I just couldn’t get it together today. I should have realized today wasn’t my day when I was warming up and missing easy shots. Then later, the point should have been driven home when I was biding my time at the 9-ball table and never went a game less than 4 innings. Still, I entered, and just could not get the balls to fall in the pocket. My first match was against Jeff Taylor. It feels like it’s always against Jeff Taylor. He’s good. He’s a 7, but a high 7. Since the first tournament against him, I’ve always gotten to the hill, but I just can’t quite seem to pull away and get over the hump. Today was no exception. He shot well, but I gave him nearly every game he won by missing easy shots. My second match, against a guy named Chris went better, but only b/c he was shooting as bad, if not worse than I was. He’s a 5, but a low five, where I’m a high 4. Granted, these handicaps are in-house, and not official by any means. Our first few games were tedious, with both of us missing easy outs. Hell, the more »
Posted On Sunday, January 12th, 2003 By David Veatch
My Handicap: 4 Matches: 4-3 (opponent rank: 6) W 4-0 (opponent rank: 3) W 4-4 (opponent rank: 8) W 2-7 (opponent rank: 7) L 3-8 (opponent rank: 8) L My Place: 3rd My Winnings: 20