Posted by Rich/Mohican Press on March 19, 2000 at 05:53:49:
Been erratic ... I know ...
Sometimes the head is in it, but the heart ain't. Then, at other times, it's vice-versa. For nearly eight years, my life has been consumed by "The Last of the Mohicans." Make that CONSUMED!!! Even I'm starting to think I'm crazy. Not even counting personal factors, outside the confines of MohicanLand, there are signs that I am beginning to burn out. Some days I'm full of fire & gusto & can feel the creative juices begin to flow, but then, the well is dry. Other days, I don't even want to THINK about it. Perhaps its getting all too complicated, almost like work. Too many entanglements; too little cooperation ... I'm speaking vaguely here, so it'd be unwise to try to read between the lines. You'll probably come away with the wrong conclusions.
The Site?? We maxed out at over 1600 visitors per day a while ago, as the Director's Cut was being released. It's settled in now at a steady 1300 or so, per day ... way over where we were this time last year. The book sells as well as it has ever. The Trading Post is hot & cold, as always. The Board is as lively as ever ... more so! It has never filled up as quickly as it does now. Opinions on the Director's Cut are over 60% in its favor. So, the problem lies elsewhere ...
One factor, for sure, is other pursuits. Elaine has jumped into another project with gusto & that keeps her away from here most of the time. I feel the loss. There are things I was doing when this Web Site began, that I have now had on the back burner for years. I could go on & on ... I don't want to depress anyone ... Even as I write this, I can feel the attachment to this place and that makes it hard, very hard, to pass the torch.
Before even there was a species named "Mohicanites," there was an early, less populous critter named "Moheckies." Our existance has, in many ways, paralleled theirs. When this Site first went up, I heard from a couple of them ... glad that someone had carried the torch on for them. Weird. Full circle???
Nah ... I don't think so. I ain't ready for that. I will look for solutions elsewhere. Scaling back in some areas is very possible. There is one section we may slice off entirely. The Site will "always" be here, as long as I can afford to keep it up, if only as a reference tool ... hopefully always a lot more than that!
What the heck is he saying??? I can hear some of you now. There's no real point to this ... just some feelings, all jumbled together. Bottom line is I love this place, had a heckava lotta fun building it, but now it is draining, all too often, & I must find a way to rejuvenate. I think that sums it all up ...
One way is .... The Gathering! I love it when spontaneous things happen, and the music discussed by Ann & Bill (added this week to the MohicanLand Masses Page, by the way) and Night Sky is just one of those things. I think it sounds fantastic! Should provide a perfect ending! This Gathering seems to be taking on a personality all its own. With the increase in period costume, with Clabert's trek, with the old-timey music ... Sound good! And then there's young folk like Nathan who posted recently. According to his Mom "a Hawkeye fanatic" ... he bought a sash & choker not too long ago, in fact ... Love that youthful exhuberance! At any rate, The Gathering is only about 3 months away now, so GET TO IT. Make your reservations, get on with your plans ... It'll be time before you know it!
Interesting e-mail from Finland this week, and I asked permission to share it with you all. Here it is:
"Hello,
I'm writing to you about a curious incident regarding the director's cut version of The Last of the Mohicans that might interest you. It seems that in Finland in 1992 there were two different versions of LOTM being shown in movie theatres in different cities at the same time.
My name is Petri Salmi, I am a video editor and I live in Lahti, which is a middle sized town in southern Finland.
My story dates back to December 1992, when my friends and I went to see The Last of the Mohicans in our local movie theatre. Some of us liked the film so much that we viewed it several times during the next few weeks.After the film had left our town I happened to glance a review of the film in Sight and Sound-magazine. They always include full credits list in their review. In the music department of that list I noticed that Clannad had made a song for the film. Being very familiar with Clannad music and their distinctive sound, my friends and I tried to remember where in the film Clannad was played but couldn't recognise any particular spot.
In February 1993 I was studying in a small northern town called Kokkola. The only movie theatre there was showing LOTM at that time and of course I went to see it again. To my great astonishment they were showing
a different version of the film. Now I knew why we couldn't find Clannad from the earlier version. It wasn't there in the first place! This version had it, but to my great disappointment the Heyward's Diversion was missing. There were other differencies as well, a short list of which I have included as an attachment file (Microsoft Word 7.0).
In Finland we don't dubb foreign films, we subtitle them (the only respectable way to translate films). Although there were several differencies in dialogue between the two versions, the translation was the same. Furthermore the translation was made from the so-called "director's cut" version. The "Kokkola-version" is the one released also in video.
The story doesn't end here. About a year later I happened to be in touch with Finnish translator of the video version of LOTM. I mentioned to him that I had seen two versions of the film. He was surprised and said that he was unaware that there were two different versions. He contacted the people in the local distributing company (Finnkino). Those people hadn't even noticed that there were two different versions and I got the impression that they were a bit doubtful if I was telling the truth.
To this date I haven't heard any explanation to this. The truth is however that a "director's cut" of some sort was being viewed by at least thousand moviegoers in Lahti, Finland during the winter 1992-1993.
If you can shed some light to this puzzle, I'd be very grateful."
Attached, was this document:
"The list of differencies between the two versions of The Last of the Mohicans in 1992-1993
For the sake of clarity I will call the first version, shown in Lahti, as the "director's cut" since it was similar to the Director's Cut released now and the latter version, shown in Kokkola, as "official" since it obviously was the official version.
1. In the opening credits the director's cut had no explanation text :"The American Colonies...etc"
Also during the Elk-hunt scene there was no caption referring to the adaptation of the Philip Dunne
screenplay. (You have propably noticed that in the official version that caption is the only one spreading
from top of the screen to the bottom. Everything else is placed neatly on the bottom of the screen.)
2. The Cameron's cabin scene: In the director's cut version there was no shot of John Cameron's cautious reaction to Chingachgook's holler, thus no interior shot until everyone was inside.
3. The recruiting scene in Cameron's farm: In the official version Hawkeye's comment to the British officer's patriotic speech was:" You do what you want with your own scalp and not be telling us what we ought to with ours." In the director's cut the line goes:" I wouldn't shed a drop of blood of any of these men for the greed of European princes"(or something like that)
4. The Courier Diversion/Heyward's Battle scene was in the director's cut version. It's a shame it was cut from the official version since the scene is very important not only for Heyward's character, but also for the film as a whole.(Not to mention it is a exiting scene to watch.)
5. Montcalm calls Magua with the name Le Subtil several times in the director's cut. In the official version
these were dubbed with the word Magua.
6. The director's cut had no Clannad, but the somber theme used in the end credits instead.
7. In the cliff scene the versions used different takes of Cora's reaction to Alice's suicide. In the official version she breaks down in tears, but in the director's cut she merely watches the event in shock with trembling chin.
8. The Cliff scene: After Magua's death, the director's cut had Hawkeye cautiously retreating from the
place, pointing his (empty) Killdeer at the remaing Hurons. The official version had this take replaced
with Hawkeye returning to the crying Cora.
9. The End scene: In the director's cut after Chingachgook's speech, Hawkeye tells Cora that they're going
to spend the winter with his father and come spring they're heading west to settle down in Can-tu-kee.
To cut that from the official version was actually a good thing, since the line kind of spoils the end.
In addition there were several occasions where different lines of dialogue were used."
Sounds pretty familiar, doesn't it?
Anyway, we have some new News & Notes, regarding Cooper's Cave & Fort William Henry, updated a couple of pages, including, as I mentioned, The MohicanLand Masses, plus the Mike Phillips interview page, etc. etc.
Do purchase your Wampum Raffle Tickets! We must make this worthwhile for our French Trader!
On the horizon? An "On The Trail ..." CD-Rom??? Maybe! If so, it will have added bonuses to be sure! Videos? Sounds? More pics? I'm liking it more as I say it!
Ok, here's an e-mail from a friend of mine, tongue-in-cheek, but not TOO far off-base ... It maybe sums up the causes for most of my feelings scattered about above. I'll leave you with this:
"Can you tell me Eric's phone number, fax number,email address, send me any naked pictures, and what size shorts does he wear? I am in a hurry so please let me know asap, ok? Also, if you have any 8x10 glossies, or anything free, I want that, too. Gimme, gimme, gimme. And don't worry about costs, you can afford it! m"