The Year of the Dragon

I was a bit miffed that my children got to see the Desolation of Smaug before I did, but today I resolved that issue.

Before I could go there, however, the day first had to pass. It started in the middle of the night, when I woke up with a very sore throat and for a while was afraid that I was going to go through the whole fever thing again. An aspirin took care of the symptoms however, and fortunately, when day broke all nightly fears were reduced to false alarms.

The Ouse will be up again

Weather is changable these days. Yesterday morning during my run it was cold and sunny, there had been frost in the night. Today it was back to cloudy, rainy and warm - around 10 degrees. During the day the wind got worse and worse. In the evening the rain radar showed an impressive front moving up from southwest; to escape it I went to the cinema a bit early and got over dry, flying on the wings of the wind which I think was the strongest I have experienced here yet.

In the end the only other group member who joined was Konstantinos Barmpis, one of the several Greek PhD students. Well, since there are no breaks during a movie in England, not even for a movie of 150 minutes + commercials, it is not as if there is much opportunity to converse or exchange opinions even if you are with a crowd. Indeed, of all the shows and performances I have been to in York, the cinema is the one for which going alone should cause the least hesitation. I often wonder why there aren't many more solitary visitors, but there is some aspect of human nature (lacking or atrophied in my case) which causes people to not go to see a movie if they cannot find anyone else to go with them. Weird.

Did I see movie history in the making? I think not, but I had a very good time all the same. In the end, the source material simply doesn't have the scope ever to give rise to a trilogy of Lord of the Rings greatness. There might be another special effects Oscar in it, for Smaug the Golden. I agree with those who say that this episode was an improvement over part 1, but I was a bit disappointed at the chosen ending. Talk about cliffhangers! At least Radagast was less prominent: every shot of his egg-strewn head is one too many. And oh yes, I won't be betraying a secret by telling you that there's a she-elf in it (sorry, not my terminology) conjured out of nowhere to keep the story going - not to mention Legolas of course (filled out visibly) but at least he is plausible since he is, after all, Thranduil's son. Despite all the embellishments I think the film fails to pass the Bechdel test which requires that it have two named female characters talking to each other about something other than a man.

The Cityscreen has a crappy 3D projection. Remind me to avoid 3D for the rest of my stay.

The length of the film had the pleasant side-effect that the rain was over and the full moon was lighting my path when I made my way back. Even the wind was down to very gusty and failed to blow me into the river.