Fifty Plus (50+) - OT - How to spend a day on your back

Still hobb(it)ling from my pre-Christmas snow shoveling injury, I decided to spend the day in a way that I had planned to do someday ... watching all three Lord of the Rings movies back to back to back. I decided to do it even though they cut my character out (they couldn't do me justice).

Now if I watched the movie theater versions, watching all three would have taken around 9 hours. But seeing as how I have the widescreen, extended editions, the three total to 682 minutes, or 11 hr 22 min. On my 47" HD set and 7.1 audio system, the effect was sensational. Loved every minute of it - so much that I was a bit sad when it ended.

I've read the books 4 times over the years, about once every decade. Will do so again if I'm able around 2010 or 2011.

I am attracted to the new Rivendell Bombadil bike due to the name, but that won't be enough to get me to pay $3000 for a bike that won't fit me. I wonder if I can buy some Bombadil decals to put on one of my bikes?

Local vinal sign making store can cut self stick vinal letters on a clear carrier that you can transfer to the frame.

Note: while laying on the floor on your back you might try placing something under the knees so that you assume the shape of sitting in a chair but rotated 90deg. This was taught to me by my orhopedic dr's when I was down for over a month in 1980. It helps flatten the spine and takes the load off the back muscles giving them more rest in less time. To this day I will sometimes spend an hour or so in this position when the back is hurting. You have my sympathy as I know that it can be very difficult to read in this position.......the books get very heavy.

Hope you're up and about soon Tom, but as long as you are down I can't think of a better way to spend the day. They may complete the tale in a few years by filming 'The Hobbit'. We can only hope.

I wonder if I can buy some Bombadil decals to put on one of my bikes?

bikenames.com (http://bikenames.com/)

They look great on my bike. The ones I picked were just $5.49 for the pair.

Hey, those look nice. Thanks a lot tsl.

Tom, while you're on your back, read "Cryptonomicon" by Neal Stephenson. I read it recently and thought of you several times... it has WWII hidden treasure, extensive code breaking, silicon Valley inrigue, and lots of math stuff. Great plot, too. Seriously, I thought of you when I was reading it...

Sounds like a nice day. The nice thing about coming down with my yearly cold is that I can do nothing but watch TV... I don't feel like doing any of my bazillion hobbies so I can enjoy some good TV for a change. Usually I'm too restless to just sit in front of the TV without doing anything else...

I'm having that yearly cold today. Plan on watching my tape of the tour of Lombardy (saved for such a day) and re-reading Tai-Pan --one of my favorites from the '80s.

I do agree, TLOTR is one of the great books of all time, first read it when I was 13 -- but the movies didn't do so much for me; I missed the fine points of the story too much.

Tom, don't spend too long resting from your injury -- "they" now say that isn't too good. Gentle back exercises & walking will help. Get a muscle relaxant if the spasm (if that is the problem) isn't easing. It only took two doses for me to end the severe pain.

The theatrical releases of the LOTR were okay, the extended editions are much better. They add considerable detail from the books - after all collectively it's another 124 minutes, which is like adding a 4th movie.

I also watched some of the extra materials, like interviews with the writers explaining why they changed certain things from the books. For example, why they so drastically changed Frodo's encounter with Faramir. They all loved the books, but in The Two Towers, Frodo's quest doesn't do anything except travel on and on and on. That's okay in a book for right after you finish TTT, you read RotK. But a movie can't just show people traveling for 3 hours. Then you wait for a year for the next movie to see where they go.

So they had to add drama to the Faramir encounter, to threaten the quest without really altering the main storyline. That makes sense. I'm glad I watched the explanation.

If you want to see good examples of how screenwriters & producers change things, you should read the real life accounts behind the movies "Hoosiers" and the one about when UTEP won the NCAA championship under Don Haskins. Outside of the teams winning their respective championships, there is almost nothing in the movies that is accurate. And much of these movies are far from the truth.

For example in Hoosiers their coach (Gene Hackman) is a older, disgraced coach with a turbulent past and who has a love interest in one of the school's teachers. In real life the coach was 26 years old, soft-spoken, married, with two children, and had already coached the team for one year before their championship season.

So while the LOTR movies were not "pure" they are much closer to the books than most movies. And certainly a LOT closer to the books than that odd Ralph Bakshi animation from the 70s.

BTW, did you know that J. R. R. Tolkien's primary mode of transportation for much of his adult life was the bicycle? He commuted to his office & classes on a bike for nearly his entire Oxford career.