I watched Return of the King a few weeks ago. Someone else said it best, Peter Jackson inherited a whopper of an anticlimax from JRR, which he again faithfully reproduced for the screen. The result, not surprisingly, is anticlimactic, at 3:21, possibly the world’s longest. Nevertheless, LOTR’s sweet wistfulness is characteristic to the story, and I find the effect not out of place when transferred to the screen. Then again, this is not Casablanca, kids; it’s a fantasy epic. Enjoy it as such.

Started watching Sister Wendy’s Story of Painting series on DVD. Her commentary lacks any of the tormented language characteristic of cleverer art critics of the day. I suppose they would snort in derision at the toothy nun. Call me an ignorant plebeian if you will (I am), but I find her human-level observations to be beautiful and affecting, and a hell of a lot more engrossing than conventional, post-post-modernist discourse. Predictably, she spends a tremendous amount of time discussing sacred art, settling on the middle ages and early renaissance (where the first DVD stops) for what seems like hours upon hours.

Delighted to Rex the Runt, who was, as far as I knew, a product of the delightfully demented minds at Aardman animation (creators of Wallace and Gromit) devised for online consumption. As such, episodes were kept very short (about 3min, I think) and on-screen ‘camera’ movements are much more conservative than the average W&G romp. This might sound like the makings of some boring little cartoons, but quite the opposite is true. It’s the writing, of course: I could listen to these blindfolded and still have a laugh. But the visuals help push the already great humor right off the scale. Rex and pals are plasticine dogs: the kind your first grader might sculpt in class. Except these ones get to live in their own duplex and speak in a terribly funny (to me) posh accent – except for Vince, the dog’s dog, if you will. Vince suffers from two ailments, namely, having the funniest expressions of the lot and Random Pavarotti Disease. I’ve now become afflicted with Random Rex-the-Runt Quoting Syndrome, and I have got to get my hot little hands on this DVD set as soon as I can afford it.

Guilty-pleasure alert: On impulse I ordered the Rail re-release CDs. I’d been meaning to, anyway. And I got an autographed poster with ‘em! How cheesy-cool. Whoever did the analog-to-digital transfer ought to get a Nobel prize. Nothing in the recording makes me think these albums are 20 years old. The sound quality is sterling! (Rail, to anyone who isn’t among the three or four of us who noticed them in the very early 80s, is a proto-hair metal band hailing from Seattle, WA. They became a personal favorite after a friend in junior high introduced me to their music. Strange music for a nostalgia trip, but there you have it.) Their songs always transport me to a more innocent era where I was less aggrieved by life.

eBay has been a mixed success. I’m having to sell nearly-new stuff at a loss in order to move it (and to compete against wholesalers out there — those bastards). In other words, it’s possible to sell stuff on eBay, but I don’t see how it’s possible to get rich from doing it.

In other news, Panther rocks. That’s all there’s to it. I love what it’s done to my old laptop. It’s almost real-time usable! Rock-solid. The CD drive still doesn’t work, though. Darn.

I’ve been consulting with a government group locally for about a week. (Hush-hush.) Their website appears to be an advocacy solution, and I am charged with redesigning it to make it more friendly. I’m sure I can improve upon what’s there: I’m just not sure if I can discover the Best solution — that is, the one that will satisfy me personally — or even, if I create anything at all, if the people there will recognize it as an improvement over what they have at present. Perhaps I worry too much.

Regardless, being tasked with this particular design problem has caused me to get all designey again. Chances are some of that will spill onto here. Stay tuned.