wie ben jij=”how are you” (dutch)

..”if u wanna know the meaning of life…..Look it up in the dictionary!”

Haha. Billy gave me a backrub (a very good one) at the CEC and let me give one back to him 🙂 Then he held my hand when I said goodbye. Why oh why couldn’t I be the one who got him when he came here? Sigh.

It’s sad how the little things in life make me very happy.

My AOL | Today’s News Director Jackson vows fresh take on “Rings” sequel

Reuters

Feb 22 2002 5:38PM

LOS ANGELES(Reuters) – With the first installment of his “Lord of the Rings” trilogy a prime contender for Oscar honors, director Peter Jackson says he has reached deep into his bag of movie wizardry to deliver fresh characters and plot twists to part two, due in theaters next December.

“The second feels very different from the first film, which I think is a positive thing. If audiences go to ‘Two Towers’ (the sequel) expecting more of the same, they are not going to get more of the same,” Jackson told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.

Part one, “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” has been a smash hit for over two months in movie theaters, raking in $700 million globally and winning 13 Oscar nominations, more than any other film vying for Hollywood’s top film honors this year.

The “Rings” movies — three in all — are based on the 1954 fantasy epic by J.R.R. Tolkien that tells of a battle for Middle-earth by an alliance of Hobbits, Elves, Dwarves and Men against the dark powers of Sauron and his Orc army.

At the center of the struggle is a powerful ring wrought by Sauron of gold and blood and an evil life force. Whoever possesses the ring can control Middle-earth, and the hobbit Frodo, aided by wizard Gandalf, must return it to the fires from which it came. Keeping it from Sauron’s demonic clutches will save the good people of Middle-earth from his armies.

While millions of Tolkien readers know the “Rings” tales by heart, Jackson’s movie magic and special effects have brought their characters to life and have kept audiences spellbound.

MORE TRICKS IN ‘TOWERS’

The director will use more tricks in “Towers,” including a starring role for a computer generated outcast Orc named Gollum, who with Frodo and his best friend Sam forms a sort of unholy alliance in the quest to destroy the ring.

See, Gollum wants the ring for himself.

“He’s a really twisted, sick little guy,” Jackson said.

Using British actor Andy Serkis dressed up in a “motion capture suit,” Jackson and his animators can digitize all of Serkis’ real movements and transform them into Gollum’s, so the computerized creep can “act” with the real characters.

“The challenge is to create a computer-generated creature that is a totally believable actor … that is as strong and powerful as any human being in the film,” Jackson said.

“The audience will be the judge of it, but I think it’s looking pretty good so far,” he added.

Jackson said he’s only about halfway into editing the second movie. The first was about the “fellowship” of elves, dwarves and men who protected Frodo on his journey, but that band of guardsman was broken.

In the second, Frodo sets out on his own with Sam, and the two are soon to be joined by Gollum. There are kidnappings, chases, battles and intertwined plots that Jackson said are “ultimately refreshing because they will be different.”

Of course, topping the success of the first “Rings” film will be hard, both at the box office and at Oscar.

But for Jackson much of the pressure is off his shoulders because all three films were shot in his native New Zealand at the same time. The movie is “in the can” as they say in Hollywood, and all he can do is edit what he already has.

His biggest concern, now, is what to say on Oscar night if he wins for best director or if “Rings” wins best film.

How does he thank — in the 30 seconds or so the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences gives him — the over 2,500 people who worked on the film, not to mention 25,000 extras?

“If I go in alphabetical order, I’ll be halfway through the ‘A’s’,” he laughed. “The band will strike up, and I’ll be done.”

Well, it may be a short ending for Jackson, but not his movie. The third film in the trilogy, “The Return of the King” is scheduled for release in 2003.

Reuters/Variety

Elizabeth Haydon: The World of Rhapsody

Oh boy. May is going to be a hell of a good month. Spiderman, Star Wars, and the paperback edition of Destiny by Elizabeth Haydon, who is currently at the very top of my list of favorite authors. Sigh. Oh yeah, and that little thing called college graduation.

“How To Stay Young, Happy & Healthy”


Throw out non-essential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctor worry about them. That is why you pay him/her.

Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down. If you really need a grouch, there are probably a few dozen of your relatives to do the job.

Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening …whatever. Just never let the brain idle.

Enjoy the simple things. When the children are young… that is all that you can afford. When they are in college… that is all that you can afford. When they are grown and you are on retirement… that is all that you can afford!

Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. Laugh so much that you can be tracked in the store by your distinctive laughter.

The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life is … ourselves.

Surround yourself with what you love, whether it is family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies … whatever. Your home is your refuge.

Cherish your health. If it is good … preserve it. If it is unstable … improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve … get help.

Don’t take guilt trips. Go to the mall, the next county, a foreign country… but not guilt.

Tell the people you love, that you love them … at every opportunity.

Remember …

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

Well, you can finally read the first two chapters ofThe Moonstone Chronicles over at my other blog. Hopefully I will be able to write more soon.

what happened to Roswell (1)? Technology is weird.

And I don’t have practice tonight. Hmm. Maybe I can get myself to a movie. Or not.

Rock on me. I just took the GRE and got 2030 (and Wash U expects at least 2000)! Hah! Take that! So I am definitely a math impaired engineer, being that I scored about 100 points below the engineering average for quantitative, but whatever. I made my goal of over 2000.

And ff is back up 🙂 I love FSCs.

I stand (sit) corrected: Rimo lim, not rima lim. Sigh. Someday along with Chinese I will learn Elvish.

Why oh why is ff down? That makes me sad. Which in and of itself makes me sad, that I am emotional about a message board. Sigh. My only firends are online. What a pathetic person I am.