Excess

There is all kinds of excess in our society. I don't object to it in any liberal way. If people enjoy the excesses of life, then so be it. I just find it offensive for me.

Last night at the Stadium of Fire, there was an onslaught of excess in the fireworks. Now, many people would say they insist on having tons of fireworks, that the show would be somehow less without having three separate themes of 20 minutes each.

This is not just the case with fireworks. Movies have become tremendously excessive. Pirates of the Carribbean 3 was just so unnecessarily long. As was all the Lord of the Rings movies as was the new Star Wars movies as was the new King Kong and so many other movies which insist on being over 2 hours.

I really do believe that no movie should be over 2 hours. In a way, it is amazing that they are able to keep the audience that long in the theaters. I can understand the DVD concept and the idea of pausing a movie to break it up. The two disc set for the Lord of the Rings movies makes sense. Movies are not books. We understand that going in. We know that it will be condensed.

Now, excess can extend to a lot of things. My problem is how it gets in the way of entertainment. There is hardly ever a "less is more" scenario anymore. More is more is more. Like, concerts most of the time are over the top. The creative mind is no longer available, because a large tv screen has to show us what the song is about. The music does not get to speak for itself.

People need to have the annoyances. The flashy stuff has to be there. Why? There was a reason why the original movie was good. The remake uses excess and fails. Show me an example of where this is not true.