The Lord of the Rings (1978 Animated Film)

Fresh on the heels of The Hobbit animated movie, we watched The Lord of the Rings- a 1978 film that combines the first two books of the trilogy (The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers) into one two-hour experience (the second novel gets only 45 minutes of screentime). Here, Bilbo passes his ring to Frodo, who then sets off with it (and an increasingly large fellowship) to destroy it in the fires of Mount Doom.

This set a very different tone from the previous animated movie. Rotoscoping was inconsistently used across a film that was a bizarre and dark experience.  That said, it did clearly influence Peter Jackson's live-action trilogy. Some shots seemed almost stolen verbatim by the latter, so I give this animated work credit for influence, if nothing else.

Rating: C

The Hobbit (1977 Animated Film)

Long before The Lord of the Rings films, before The Hobbit flicks, there was 1977's animated The Hobbit. the story of Bilbo Baggins, Gandalf the wizard, and the band of dwarves as they journey to reclaim their homeland from the dragon Smaug. I watched it today with the children.

The Hobbit follows the book closely, though at 75 minutes, it rushes through everything. The background paintings were excellent; the other art was okay. Plot development was nonexistent, and you could tell this was made in the '70s by the approach (including a recurring musical theme with a moral). My kids wanted to watch it because they're not yet allowed to see the live-action film (and they've been resisting my attempts to read the book to them). On the whole, it was decent, and apparently it did influence Peter Jackson's approach to the tale decades later.

Rating: B-

Agricola and Germany (Tacitus)

Tacitus was a Roman historian (among other things). In Germany, he provides an account of Rome's dangerous enemies: the Germans. Tremendously influential, his study is only 25 pages, but the Oxford edition supplements it with a 40-page introduction and 37-page notes section. Written around 100AD, this is "the only surviving specimen from the ancient world of an ethnographic study."

I enjoyed this book, as it was short, amusing, and a brief insight into what this region must have looked like almost two thousand years ago. Of course, the accuracy is unknown- some observations seemed impressively accurate, even today, while others were laughably ludicrous. But since it's so short, if you live in Germany, give it a go. The Oxford version, with its introduction and notes, is very helpful.

Rating: B+

Midterm Report

image from here

The days are slow, but the years fly by.  We're halfway through 2020.  Each year, I set and present my goals for the year in January.  Today I look at how I'm doing.

2020 is, of course, much different than we all anticipated. In a nutshell, I made good progress on many goals until March, when COVID-19 shut down most of Europe (and the world) and radically changed our routines.  That said, I think things are still going okay, and the break from the typical stresses of life was, perhaps oddly, refreshing and welcome. That said, I hope and pray we are able to find effective treatments for this illness and resume some degree of 'normalcy' . . . though I also hope our new normal is healthier on many fronts. Sometimes severe disruptions illuminate what really matters in this life- does how we spend our time reflect that?

Anyway, here are the goals and how it's going.

Spiritual
- Continue to improve routines in prayer and scripture, including the family
- Finish planned readings related to church leadership
The readings are consistent and valuable; other elements started well, and have been consistent if not as 'quality' as they should be. Including the kids remains difficult- after a good start, things dovetailed rapidly in the pandemic.

Grade: B-

Nutritional/Fitness
- Lose 20 lbs
- Get a six-pack
- Eat no candy (baked goods are fine) except for 70% chocolate
- Drink sugary drinks only once/month
- Run 200 miles total
Over halfway to my weight loss goal! The first three months were great; I've since plateaued but remain hopeful that I can hit my target. The six-pack remains elusive but I see occasional promise; I have reduced my sweets (though COVID time has seen some mild slips in discipline). Bizarrely, I've taken to drinking a morning capuccino or latte in this time, and drink beer more frequently (I still can't say I enjoy the drink, but I no longer detest it. Hefeweizens and Kellerbiers are my favorites). But sugary drinks are non-existent, so there's that. Running has been an issue due to injury, but I have a new love: bicycling. I'm near the 700-mile mark on the year. Welcome, Shadowfax!

Grade: A-

Financial
- Track all spending, not just personal
- Get good budgeting system in place
This started really well, then COVID blew it away. Okay, I just lost discipline in the matter. On the plus side, we've used this time to reduce superfluous grocery purchases, and of course haven't spent much on travel. So things are going well in a certain way, but could be better.

Grade: B-

Reading
- Read 50 books
- Complete 80% of my German Reading List
Both of these goals remain on track to be met or exceeded. Reading is so valuable; use this gift.

Grade: A

Travel
- Take the kids to Belgium and France
- Plan a big trip (to Eastern Europe, Southern France, or Spain)
Well, we had plans . . . we've canceled two trips so far, and I suspect more are on the horizon. Highly unlikely we'll do much, barring medical miracles.

Grade: F

Fluency
- Learn 5000 more German words
- Complete the DuoLingo German course
- Read 5 books auf Deutsch
This is going pretty well. I completed DuoLingo, continue to practice German and increase vocabulary. My new goal here is to achieve "B2" certification.

Grade: A-

Games
- Host more game nights
- Play Magic: Arena no more than three days per week
Well, COVID struck again. I need to look into virtual game nights, though, and I've slacked in that area. I enjoy Arena and was disciplined until the virus; now I play it daily, though normally not for too long. I started a second blog, focused on Magic, in this 'social distance' time.

Grade: C

Overall

I can't be blamed for the travel failure, so this year is going pretty well- perhaps better in some ways than the past few. But there's always room for improvement. The challenge for what remains of 2020 is how to socially interact in meaningful ways.  And, honestly, I really wasted a lot of quarantine time- I could have used that much more effectively. Time is such a gift . . . don't squander it.

Grade: B-

The Imitation Game

The Imitation Game is the 2015 movie about Alan Turing, the British Mathematician who would be instrumental in breaking the German's 'invincible' Enigma encoding machine during WWII. Turing's work at Bletchley Park is widely credited as shortening the war by two years, as it gave the allies insights into German communications during the war. It also laid the groundwork for modern computers. He was also a homosexual in an era where that was illegal; he was convicted and forced to take hormone therapy treatments to 'cure' him. They didn't; he committed suicide at age 41.

I can't speak to the historical accuracy of the film, but it was done well. The story (idiosyncratic and difficult but brilliant person overcomes odds to to something amazing) and associated tagline ("Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.") were good, if familiar. It is sad how he was treated (he would be posthumously pardoned by the Queen in 2014).

Rating: B+

Animated Clone Wars: Volume 2

Volume 2 of the animated Clone Wars series collects the third and final season of the show on one DVD.  Lasting about an hour, it follows the final days of the Clone Wars. While is still surveys the conflict, it starts to hone in on Anakin (becoming a Jedi Knight and continuing to grow in the Force) and General Grievous's kidnapping of Chancellor Palpatine.  It ends right as Episode III begins.

If you liked Volume 1, you'll like this. Same approach, animation style, and overall quality.  There's more dialogue this time around (perhaps because the episodes were longer in length and fewer in number?). Another winner.

Rating: A

The Wall Jumper (Peter Schneider)

Told through an unnamed narrator's eyes as he goes between East and West Berlin collecting stories of the divided city, The Wall Jumper isn't quite a novel. But what is it? A piece of cleverly-disguised journalism? A commentary on, or criticism of, the entire situation? I don't know for certain, save that it succeeds in being a portrait of personal German-German relations and realities in the Cold War era. Through various personalities and anecdotes on both sides of the Wall, Schneider investigates life "where political continents collide," asking "where does the state end and a self begin?" while observing that "it will take us longer to tear down the wall in our heads than any wrecking company."

This style of writing isn't normally my thing, but I really enjoyed this. I found it fair to both East and West perspectives: a profound and poignant insight into life in the Cold War era (and humanity in general).  It's short and worthy of contemplation.

Rating: A