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yay! it came in the mail! I am now the proud owner of the lord of the rings the fellowship of the rings special extended edition dvd! yay! yay! yay! and yes, i watched ROTK again yesterday in malaysia. beautiful film. i cried even worse than the first time. argh.
can't say so much; am going to bathe now. am filthy. gah. have to go to school for that weird test thingie very soon.
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sine
sine ranted on Tuesday, December 30, 2003 12:13 p.m.
Congratulations! You're Elrond!
Which Lord of the Rings character and personality problem are you?
brought to you by Quizilla
sine ranted on Wednesday, December 24, 2003 09:38 a.m.
gah. am not feeling like a nice person right now. nope. not at all. actually, I'm feeling quite lousy. moral of story: when you are having baaad lotr hangover, do not watch pirates of the caribbean (for johnny depp and orlie) and witness (for viggo, who appears for about 5+ minutes as harrison ford's love rival's brother, moses somthing) two consective nights. Because you'll end up going all wonky and demotivated.
searched all over hmv and borders for the FOTR EE DVD, but noooo, it's been out of stock since who-knows-when. Went home dejected and feeling like kicking a helmet like Aragorn in TTT. Called Kinokuniya, which had the DVD one month ago. Nope. Not there. Gah. Then my wonderful father went online to amazon.com and ordered it straight away. standard shipping, if the order actually goes through. That means that the DVD is coming next year with luck. wow. But it's better than nothing.
There's a new house rule that we all agreed to: NO LENDING OF DVDs. NOOOOO.
So if anyone wants to borrow anything, sorry. it's over. noooo moooore.
bought christmas presents for cousins (not my mom's side. my dad's. different from the others I talked about once before) while at borders. Well, since they gave us the tanglin mall vouchers that enabled us to buy both the pirates dvd and a the planets CD, we decided to buy them some nice, less-silly-than-the-last-time books. wanted to buy a book on bodybuilding for oldest cousin, but bought great expectations instead. for my second cousin, we chose Sabriel, because I saw some people reading it in school. Is it good, by any chance? because if it is, I'll read it first. for my third cousin (9), I bought peter pan. No, don't laugh. it's quite a serious book , you know.
I originally wanted to get the ENDER quartet or something for all three of them, until I remembered that I might have given it to them before...
gah. oh, the gathering on the 18th. It was great. the food was great, but my forehead hurts like crazy even when I as much as crinkle my eyebrows. good thing there was no bruise. gah.
viggo mortensen is 43. johnny depp is 40. billy boyd is 36. sean astin is 32. ewan mcgregor is 31 (or 30?). dominic monaghan is 27. orlie is 26. elijah wood is 22. hayden christensen is 22. natalie portman is 22.
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sine
sine ranted on Sunday, December 21, 2003 05:19 p.m.
in writing form again. I hope.
Reason for my entry title? Gah. Not the Lord of the Rings. Nope. My ego deflated. My writing muscle athrophied. The sight of my keyboard made me wince. No, I was a devouring animal with not enough food.
Am I back in writing form? There's only one way to find out...
Okay, okay. I'm supposed to explain, right?
One word. No, two.
pirates dvd
sine ranted on Friday, December 19, 2003 11:18 p.m.
AUGH! I've watched it! My verdict:
brilliant. great. wonderful. ABSOLUTELY AMAZING!! A WORK OF ART!!
As usual, the method of storytelling, the cinematography, and the special effects are stunning. The music is also absolutely breathtaking!! And the battle scenes will either have you clinging to your seats in absolute fear, or will touch you so deeply that you'll start crying. I cried when Faramir went to war. I cried at the Pelenor Fields. I cried when they marched to face Sauron in Mordor. I think one of the reasons I cried was because there's this sort of sense of closure watching the third and last film; like you'll never see the people you've grown to admire, love, or hate ever again.
LOTR the book is a beautiful work of art, and even though Peter Jackson cut out some vital parts or changed some bits of the story, I still respect, love and marvel at the masterpiece that is the LOTR movie trilogy. He has absolutely done JRR Tolkien justice.
And the actors. What can I say? Viggo Mortensen really lets you into the mind of Aragorn; you can feel his fear, his sense of duty, his angst, his love for Arwen, his love for his friends, and his love for his people. He is Aragorn. He is not Viggo anymore. He's a wonderful actor. A toast to him!
Elijah Wood is great. His painful inner struggle is visible to the audience, and his facial expression is a powerful tool in putting across his points. I love Elijah's acting. It's so natural, and it's so compelling that you feel the pain just looking into his eyes.
Sean Astin portrayed Sam, loyal, faithful, and with Frodo to the absolute end, with such talent. I felt for Sam, and I am convinced everyone else in the cinema did as well.
Ian Mckellen played Gandalf with all the grandeur, wisdom, and gravity that was Gandalf. You could see the age, the fatigue, and yet, the undying hope in his eyes during the show. You kind of get this feeling when Gandalf is on-screen that everything would be all right again once he was around.
Dominic Monaghan and Billy Boyd depicted Merry and Pippin's (respectively) coming of age with such sincerity that it is impossible not to be moved by them. And I love Dom's eyes. :)
David Wenham's (as Faramir) angst was almost tangible whenever he was in the presence of his father, Denethor (who also gave a very poignant and self-destructive performance), during the film. That expression on his face and the song that Pippin was singing for Denethor as Faramir rode out to war with the soldiers moved me to tears.
Miranda Otto as Eowyn is another living example of casting brilliance on the part of the casting directors and Peter Jackson. She portrays Eowyn not as a ruthless Xena warrior princess, but with that delicate but yet determined touch that made her all the more human, but yet admirable. The scene on the Pelenor Fields where Rohan rode to war was yet another one that caused me to cry.
And we mustn't forget Andy Serkis as Gollum, or Smeagol. Well, what more can I say? His performance was brilliant. Beautiful. He made the audience want to symphatize with the villian we all loved to hate, but yet the treachery that was laced in his words made one seethe with rage. The bitter truth that if Frodo had the Ring for too long he would become like Gollum, this creature of the darkness and the dank caves was all the more in my mind as I watched Gollum onscreen (especially in the opening scene, which I will not elaborate further).
Orlando Bloom, who is the fair and forever impeccably clean and beautiful Legolas, might be dismissed as mere eye candy, but it is when he is not doing death defying stunts during battle and kicking orc butt, you can see that Orlie does have acting talent. Lots of it. He portrayed the growing friendship between Legolas and Gimli awfully well, as they both realized that they could depend and count on each other in battle, and in life.
Speaking of Gimli, John Rhys-Davies did a very good job playing the stubborn but loyal dwarf. Personally, I think it is very much more difficult to act with prosthetics on, but John Rhys-Davies did a great job. He sort of used his eyes and his entire body to illustrate the feelings of the dwarf, and I think he did a commendable job.
Liv Tyler, contrary to popular belief, played Arwen beautifully. She was distraught, fearing to leave her people and what she held dear to her, but yet she wanted to cling on to the hope of being reunited with Aragorn. Her fear, confusion and grief was very naturally portrayed.
The last one: Hugo Weaving as Elrond. I personally think the characterization for Elrond was a bit to angry in the movie, but Hugo did his best to soften the character a bit, and I applaud him for that (even though I half expected him to go "Mr Anderson. We missed you." halfway through the show). He loved his daughter, and he wanted what was best for her.
All in all, LOTR ROTK is a beautiful film, like the first two. There is no "better" film of the three; all of them have their own plus and minus points. I love them all. I love the characters. I love the scripting. I love the story.
Two thumbs up and ten stars upon five.
This "review" was originall written for the A Few Good Men forum. :) By me.
Argh. Formatting was living hell.
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sine
sine ranted on Thursday, December 18, 2003 10:07 p.m.
quack. quackquack. qua- moooooooooo
And so, I am about to be watching ROTK in around an hour's time. And damien, I will hate you for life if you dare to say that you've watched it yesterday already. shhh. Wait for me.
I think I've ditched the short film, evenstar, if you needed to know. I thought it was quite obvious. The plotline was rather... contrived. pseudo-arty. lousy and trying to be what it couldn't. That's me. My life. I am form, missing the substance. And if you're feeling envious about anyone who was/is working with me, it's not worth it.
And thus you can see that I'm not in a very good mood right now, even though ROTK is just an hour away. Ah crap. I'm feeling sad. DOMsomniac. Call it what you want. Just go away. I'm sad. Craaaaap.
Watched the movie Shine yesterday. It was great. I haven't watched a better mad pianist movie than that. Okay; that's the only mad pianist movie I've watched. But it's up there with one flew over the cuckoo's nest. :)
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sine
sine ranted on Thursday, December 18, 2003 09:22 a.m.
argh. DOMsomnia has set on, and I slept at twelve thirty last night. wow. :) But that was partly because we were watching a movie (with my dad's new surround sound system). Great. I'm bushed, and tonight is going to be another late night. GAH.
bowling+late night=losing
okay, okay... Short Poll: Which was your favourite Sine layout?
1) Spike in RAIN
2) Hakkai in RAIN II
3) Konzen in FRAGMENTS
4) Hakkai in RAIN III
5) Rows of TV screens from the MATRIX in reRENDITION
6) Dominic Monaghan in DOMsomnia
wow. looking at the poll, I feel so established. :) Just drop your choice into my comment box (looks up above).
*yawns* am tired. Oh, and for everyone's information, the Union of Selves is currently being constructed. It's called SELVES.reunited, and the only staff working on it consists of sine and legolas. no. more. Unless you can prove that you can be a fully-functioning, contributing member. Sorry evenstar, damien, gimli and all... There are just too many people.
Interesting point of the day:
INFINITY'S FIRST NAME IS DOMINIC!! (to keep my promise of having a character named dominic in every one of my stories)
Help me. I am so sleepy. I am going to fall asleep. now.
zzzzzzzz.........zzzzzzzzzz........zzzzzzzzzzzzzz....zzzz
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sine
sine ranted on Tuesday, December 16, 2003 09:43 a.m.
welcome to DOMsomnia! I love that picture of dom, apart from the fact that it has been dissected by me. :) Personally, I think I have to work harder on the fuzzy-freaky feeling that I originally aimed for. Now it seems that only one side of the layout looks DOMsomniac. lol. but I'm not complaining. I think it looks okay...
Okay... questions questions questions. Who is "dom"? (I know a lot of people have asked me that. technically you should have asked "Who are dom?")
The original "dom" is none other than Dominic Monaghan, the brilliant actor who played Merry Brandybuck in Lord of the Rings. Born in Berlin (his parents were English, I think), he moved to Manchester with his family when he was 12. Thus, he is fluent in both German and English. He made his debut in the acting career as the character Geoffrey in the UK television series Hetty Wainthropp Investigates, and has acted in others such as Monsignor Renard (1999; as Etienne), Hostile Waters(1997), and This is Personal: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper (2000). His big break came, obviously, when he was offered the role of Merry (he originally auditioned for Frodo). Since his beautiful performance as a hobbit of middle earth, dom has since moved on to act in a 30-minute short film An Insomniac's Nightmare (2003), and another three movies Spivs (about some conmen), The Purifiers (with kung-fu and gangfights; not sure about rating), and Shooting Livien, as a bandmate of the main character. There are so many more things about dom I'd like to put down here but I'm afraid I'll bore you... :)
so... how's the layout?
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sine
sine ranted on Monday, December 15, 2003 10:06 a.m.