Russell Crowe... Jan 7, 2002

…was very good in A Beautiful Mind, which I saw today. My dad didn't want to drive to work because of the snow, and he had nothing to do, and so did I, so he said, "hey, wanna go see a movie?"

So we went. I wasn't sure what to expect out of the film - math movies I've seen in the past have both been really great and really awful. Some have even been both. A Beautiful Mind isn't, IMHO, strikingly wonderful, but it is quite a good movie. But, of course (and being a geek, I am required to state this simple fact), it doesn't stand up to this season's real winner, Fellowship of the Ring.

Flamebait-of-the-day follows:

<flamebait> Speaking of FotR, it annoys me a bit that Hawthorne Multiplex (a movie theater near where I live) is still showing Harry Potter on two separate screens, and FotR on only one. I mean, really. It doesn't particularly piss me off that FotR is only showing on one screen, but more that Harry Potter is showing on two. Tolkien, arguably, may not be the greatest fantasy writer, or even a very good writer, but he is indisputably a highly significant writer, by virtue of the fact that he singlehandedly created modern fantasy writing. Whereas J.K. Rowling doesn't seem to have an original idea in her entire vast body of literary genius.

The worst part about Rowling is not that kids like her. I can understand kids liking her writing, which is actually fairly decent. The bad part is that adults who should really know better are going nuts over Harry. These are people who have read Lord of the Rings, and Discworld, and Roald Dahl, and probably a lot of the other things to which she owes HUGE literary debts. </flamebait>

OK, all you Potter fans can send me nasty mail or post nasty comments now. Bring it on, guys :)