Peter Jackson

The man, the myth, the legend. Believe it or not, it wasn't all that long ago (pre-2001) where it seemed that virtually no one knew who this guy is. Even New Zealanders didn't recognize his name. This, of course, was before Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring was released in theaters. Since then, he's exploded and everybody is kissing his ass, praising his work on what many consider to be the greatest movie trilogy of all time, and hopefully expecting his future films to also be instant classics.

But let's back up for a minute. Peter Jackson has been around for a while, long before the Lord of the Rings films, making films that most LOTR fans would find repulsive. His two most notable pre-LOTR films are Bad Taste and Braindead/Dead Alive (Braindead was the original title, but it is known as Dead Alive here in the states). Some Nerdling fans of his (including myself) consider these films to be more interesting than LOTR. Why? Because they're fucking gory as hell? Maybe, but I think it really has to do with the fact that Peter Jackson is this guy from the other side of the planet (if you consider Hollywood to be "this side of the planet"), who literally built his movie career out of his house, while working as a photographer for a local New Zealand Newspaper.

When you turn on a computer, it initially "boots" up. The term "boot" refers to the impossible scenario where someone lifts them self off the ground by their own bootstraps. This is a metaphor for how a box, initially starting in a completely inanimate state, eventually turns itself into a fully functional computer after you press the power button. This is also what Peter Jackson did for himself. He booted himself into the film industry by piecing his first feature film, Bad Taste, together over a period of 4 years, beginning in 1983, from scraps he shot with his buddies in New Zealand. The film was initially funded out of his own pocket, whereas a couple years later he was able to complete the film with money from the New Zealand Film Commission. Working for four years on a single film is no easy feat, especially considering that Mr. Jackson was not only directing the feature and playing two major characters in it, but he was also building many of the important props (such as the alien masks and guns) in his spare time. I mean, if you look at the stuff carefully, you see that its not just stupid crap either. The alien masks had built-in mechanics to mimic facial articulation, and the machine gun props could be cocked like real guns. This guy isn't afraid to get his hands dirty to make sure that the film comes out as wonderful as it possibly can be.

DIY (Do It Yourself) has always been an integral part of punk culture. The idea is that you don't rely on some "professional" to get the job done for you. When you get an idea for a song (or whatever), you grab your tape recorder and record it. If you don't have money to hit the studio, you simply sell copies of that original tape - because, warts and all, its your fucking song and you fucking made it yourself and dammit, that's something to be proud of. Then, of course, there are other philosophical and political beliefs relating to punk culture, but I'm not a punk and don't know about that shit. Go rent SLC Punk if you want a brief analysis of that. Alls I knows is this: being self sufficient is an incredibly rewarding process. Ok, so Daddy pays my bills, but I DO enjoy recording my own brand of shitty music by myself and it usually ends with some kind of self-congratulatory, back-slapping feeling that just makes me want to poop. When I was a kid and I would get excited about something, I would often get a sudden urge to take a shit. Do you know what I'm talking about? But I digress. Peter Jackson is a punk because he was hardcore DIY. This was likely due to the fact that there simply was no other way to do it in his early days, but I believe it instilled in him the tools he needed to build a film with the kind of detail required to satiate all those Tolkien dorks who were actually happy with the finished product. And if you think for a second that that's an easy task, remember the Star Wars Prequels. By the way, I'm not a Star Wars fan, but it still makes me a little sad to see such a successful franchise crash and burn so hard. Is Lucas just surrounded by Yes Men? Is he a just a rich alcoholic bastard? Does success just ruin creativity? I hope not, because Peter Jackson is getting pretty fucking successful.

Anyway, Peter Jackson is one cool dude. He's so cool, he doesn't give a shit about how he looks. I think I saw people making fun of his appearance on VH1. Actually I'm not even sure about that. But I'm sure someone, somewhere has made fun of the way he doesn't seem to groom himself. Well fuck those people, because he's got more important things to think about than combing his hair. I know I don't have more important things to think about than combing my hair. I think about my hair more than a healthy person should. That's why Peter Jackson is way cooler than me, and very likely anyone who reads this. He's making films that are wildly diverse in subject and several of them are instant classics. Ok, so he's not saving the world by curing cancer. That's why I say he's cool and not something more monumental, like tits. When was the last time you heard someone say "That's tits." It's been a while for me. Man, that would probably make me crap myself. Mind you, I poop when I'm excited.

Ok, so I was planning on writing some cool stuff about Dead Alive. But it's 2:00 am and I'm getting sick of this shit. You probably get the point. Peter Jackson rocks hard. DIY is good. And I poop a lot. Nighty night, folks.

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