All's been quiet on this northeastern blog ... been alternately too busy or too unmotivated to write. Rather than force it, I've just been taking a little break. Better a quiet blog than a blah blah blog, right?
Saw Return of the King yesterday, and you can probably guess what I thought of it. Took the day off and drove down to Randolph to meet up with my old friend Randy, just as we did for parts one and two. Hard to believe how quickly the years seem to have passed since I first heard Peter Jackson was planning to make it happen. I remember the first one feeling so far away... and here I sit the day after the final chapter. Freaky.
I won't go on and on about everything I loved about it... you can read gushing reviews all over the internet. No one could possibly have done a better job bringing those books to screen than Jackson & company did. I anxiously await the extended DVD (over an hour of cut footage!), which will probably arrive next fall.
Before it does, though, Boston gets a very, very special treat...
On August 1, 2004, the Museum of Science will open the much-anticipated The Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy�The Exhibition. The Museum will be the U.S. premiere site for this international touring exhibition.
The exhibition features hundreds of pieces of memorabilia from the epic film trilogy including original costumes and jewelry, as well as the One Ring. Immersed in film props, visitors can explore the groundbreaking technology used in the films such as computer-generated special effects and animatronics, and hear from cast, crew, and director in exclusive �behind-the-scenes� interviews shown on videos throughout the exhibit.
The exhibit includes massive models, an �armor corridor�, and a display on prosthetics including Hobbit feet and Orc teeth. An interactive scaling activity reveals how filmmakers can make the actors appear to be tiny Hobbit-sized or large wizard-sized, using an ingenious mix of trick photography, forced perspectives, and props made at different scales. Visitors can also see themselves transformed as Hobbit or wizard-sized in their own photo.
The exhibit was developed by the Museum of New Zealand, Te Papa Tongarewa in partnership with New Line Cinema, the producers of the film trilogy. Following its run at the Science Museum in London on January 11, 2004, the exhibit will show in Singapore before coming to the Museum of Science, Boston in July 2004. The next city on the tour after Boston is Sydney.
