Atlanta

[jazzfish]

In Atlanta, hanging with faekitty and sir_alf and jonny_law. Been eating a lot, because that's apparently what one does in Atlanta. Dollar-a-piece sushi [tasty], good barbecue, two-foot-tall chocolate cake, iced tea with tapioca pearls in it [not trying that one again], etc. Having fun. Saw Harry Potter 3 IMAX on Sunday night; I'm unimpressed by IMAX when it's not used specifically for the whole immersion thing. Yes, giant screen, but beyond a certain point the size of the screen stops mattering. Still and all, glad I went.

Part of my jitters were, I think, at spending a week in close proximity to three people I no longer know all that well. I think it'll be okay, though.

Comments

[narquelion.livejournal.com]

I think (having noticed this in normal theatres with unnaturally large screens, or when sitting very close to the screen, or in a fairly still shot of something small) that once a moment occurs that can break the immersion, there's a certain difficulty getting back into it whilst thinking, "Dude, that jellybean is the size of my head!" So there's a point, for me anyway, at which simply making the same thing larger is counterproductive.

Also, I must ask for more details on your movie impressions later, if I correctly remember you as avoiding the books' horrible contaminating rays. I've been debating whether or not various things made sense given just the movies and the horrible contaminating rays saturation media coverage.

Anyway -- enjoy the vacation and all.

[skreidle.livejournal.com]

Well, if you make the horrible mistake of reading through IMDb.com's forums on the matter, and don't go on a mad bitch-slapping campaign, the general opinion is that the movies are good, are adaptations and not direct translations, stand well enough as their own series, but don't stand as well without their predecessors. However, as long as you aren't an idiot--unlike most of the forum folks--you can figure out what's going on pretty easily.

Note, though, that I read books 1-4 in a week a couple summers ago, followed by 5 some time later, so I have a pretty good clue what's going on anyway, even if I've forgotten half the details and major plot points.

[narquelion.livejournal.com]

reading through IMDb.com's forums on the matter, and don't go on a mad bitch-slapping campaign

From the little I've seen, not sure it's possible; I manage it, but I avoid the place except to find actor names for friends who actually care to remember them.

Hmm. I was quite comfortable with the slight adaptations they made with LotR, but I think it was a much easier source to cut. Okay, take twenty-odd pages of description, poetry, and historical backdrop demonstrating Rivendell is nifty keen; replace with thirty-second pan shot of Rivendell, with elves singing in the background. Take several chapters of battle, replace with pan shot followed by cameos of cool people doing cool things.

Then again, Jackson also made some hard decisions in the plot department. (Mainly scourging of the Shire, the resulting effect on Shelob's scenes....) And in the end, I think that or something like it was necessary to make it work as a movie as opposed to a (*snore*) documentary of book contents. It's quite possible I'll feel the same with HP, but hard to say halfway through. It would suck to lose my favorite subplots and still not get a coherent movie, so I'm glad most people are getting it.