Author: etoiline

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PromoGuy dot Net: Monday Mission 3.51

1. Last night, I had a nightmare that my car had been stolen. I and a female companion were leaving a party and my car, that had been parked in the street, was gone. It was so real, that my pulse was quickening. I panicked, and said to myself “It must be a dream, I have to wake up!” I crouched down on my feet, grabbed my head and with all my might fought to wake up. Finally, I did, and it really was a dream, but my heart was pounding so bad that it took a while to calm down. Have you ever had a dream so real, that inside the dream you had to fight to wake yourself up? Do you remember the dream? Mmm. I’m sure this has happened to me but I almost never remember my dreams once I’m awake so I end up knowing that I had a very real dream but not knowing what it was about.

2. I’ve mentioned this before, but I really don’t believe in the concept of a “soul-mate.” Maybe this is because I’ve never really felt like I have met mine. Once I thought maybe, but she felt someone else was hers. Could be that in another relationship I met her, and for some reason it didn’t work out, but then, we wouldn’t really have been soul-mates, would we? So, when I hear someone say “I’ve met my soul-mate” I cringe and roll my eyes and mumble “yeah, right.” How would you define the concept of a “soul-mate” is? Do you believe in such things? Have you met your soul-mate? I think there are soul-mates, but it’s pretty much up to fate. I hope I meet mine someday. Someone who is in tune with you, but not so much so that you lose your sense of self. You enjoy doing things together and there is quite a lot of physical attraction but you’re also well matched mentally. Couldn’t do it with a stupid guy. And no, haven’t met him yet.

3. What does it take to make men happy anyway? Wish I knew. Perhaps then I’d have a bf already.

4. What is your favorite piece of electric hardware, and why? Probably a cross between my dvd player and my computer…too bad my laptop doesn’t have a dvd drive or I’d be all set. I like the dvd player because it lets me see Orlando Bloom in slo-mo and my computer because it helps me make cool webpages. That and write my novel.

5. Yesterday in our adult Sunday School class, a lady was telling us about a woman with car trouble she had stopped to help. Now, the lady who stopped had her own 2 small children in her car. With so much uncertainty out there, I am not so sure I would stop to help a stranger if I had 2 children in my car. Turns out though, that the motorist was a mother who had a 15-month old in the car and was on the way to church. She also had just lost an infant and was having the service the next day, but now would have no way to get there. Eventually she got the lady and her child to her church. It left me wondering how many people I had just driven by that I could have helped. But at the same time, I felt like she was taking too big of a risk stopping to help a stranger when it was just her and her children. Have you ever stopped to help a stranded motorist? Has anyone ever stopped to help you when you were stranded? Isn’t there some element of risk involved when helping someone with car trouble, or is it better to just “do unto others as you’d have them do unto you?” Thank the Lord God Almighty that I have not been stranded by myself. One time after a piano recital our tire blew and a nice man stopped and helped my mom fix the tire. That was a little bit nervewracking because we didn’t know him, but we couldn’t change the tire by ourselves and this was before cellphones became common. So it’s nice to look out for people, thank God that man stopped, because it was late and cold/rainy, but I don’t know how comfortable I would feel about stopping, since I’m a girl. Been a little potential-mugging-shy recently. Gee, I wonder why?

6. Just for fun, what is the one present you’d like for Christmas, but you know there is no way you will? A new Apple iBook. Or Powerbook. Of course, what I really want right now is an electric keyboard, and I seriously doubt that I will get one.

7. What are you thankful for this Christmas [or your current holiday this season]? That my mom is still here to celebrate with us. And my uncle.

BONUS: Could you hurry, sir? Daddy says there’s not much time. Egad, this song made me tear up in the car yesterday. Because it talks about the kid’s sick mom and how she might not make it to Christmas day so the kid wants to buy her some nice shoes to wear to meet Jesus. I can just pray that my mom is around for a long time.

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Yoinked from May:

Results…: “Artistic
You are naturally born with a gift, whether it be
poetry, writing or song. You love beauty and
creativity, and usually are highly intelligent.
Others view you as mysterious and dreamy, yet
also bold since you hold firm in your beliefs.

What Type of Soul Do You Have ?
brought to you by Quizilla“

RotK to the Macs

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Aspyr is going to release the RotK game for Macs next year! Whee! Now all I have to do is get a computer that can play it. sigh. I really want a new computer…
I really need to balance the gifts between my parents. I have about seven gifts for my mom and two for my dad, and those two are pretty small. sigh. what do you give your dad? He never asks for anything and really hates it when people spend money on him.
It’s weird wrapping presents by myself. I mean, I suppose I can wait a little bit, but it’s still weird. And sort of a pain. And messy. But pretty wink
Want to read Return of the King but don’t have the time before you see the movie? Check out this site and you’ll be all set. I like things that make me laugh. There’s lots more great stuff where that came from.
I want to see Return of the King again this weekend! Really! I want to subject myself to three hours and twenty minutes of butt-numbing stupendousness! I do, really! I’ll shut up now.

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the friday five:

1. List your five favorite beverages. Milk, water, orange juice, cranberry-orange juice, apple cider.

2. List your five favorite websites. theonering.net, etoiline.com, fanforum.com, google.com, full-bloom.net

3. List your five favorite snack foods. popcorn, barbeque chips & dip, strawberries and fantasy fudge, cheese puffs, fruit snacks

4. List your five favorite board and/or card games. Cranium, solitare, Balderdash, speed, egyptian rat screw

5. List your five favorite computer and/or game system games. Er. What if I don’t have any? I don’t really play either computer games or have a game system. Although I suppose I like Alchemy and Bounce Out and Diamond Mine from flipside.com. I’m sure I’d like the LotR games from EA if I could ever play them.

Ah. There’s the wall

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Well, I’m officially tired now, and I really need to go christmas shopping still. and pick up something for the lab lunch party tomorrow. and tape smallville and angel. are they even new tonight? I don’t know. Blast, I forgot to tape 24 last night. That’s the first episode all season I’ve missed. Too bad I don’t still have bit torrent on this computer. takes up too much bandwidth.
Happy Birthday to Bernard Hill! He’s 59.
I wanna see it agaaaiiinnn…meh. Soon, grasshopper. I’ve listened to the RotK soundtrack so many times today, and I still don’t know the names of the songs. Beautiful stuff.
So I’ll be going now. If you actually made it through all the tripe I wrote today, I salute you. Bed never sounded so good.

Funnies

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Heee. Foxtrot is funny. So is this one. Gotta love it when comic strip writers go pop culture. Especially when it mentions my favorite actor.
Did anyone else notice the scar on Viggo’s lip? I guess cause I was seeing his face up close and personal…makes you wonder how he got it. Or maybe that’s just me. And Orlando sure does like the pursed-lip mug for the camera. Cute though.
I can’t wait to see the Mumakil scene again! lol. You have to love it when you can see on his face that he’s deciding to do this outrageous thing that no one else would even think of, and then he does it! Whee!

more random RotK thoughts

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Shop at Amazon.comAre you a LotR Expert? Hee. I am wink and some interesting statistics.
Spoiler thought…
At Aragorn’s coronation, he communes with the remaining members of the fellowship, and you get to see Lego in a crown…of sorts. Makes him look a little poncy, but I was like, hey, Prince Legolas of Mirkwood! And then he does this cute little eye flick and directs Aragorn’s attention to a banner behind him…and lo and behold there is Arwen, with Elrond the proud pappy looking on. Now this sounds cheesy, but it works.
You see all the people of Minas Tirith on the Spike of Ecthelion (er. I think it’s the Spike) and Aragorn passes Faramir and Eowyn…they look happy, standing close together, but I wish they would have put in a little of the romance for the two. But I guess that will come with the Houses of Healing sequence. That just makes the EE a must-see. And what about the seedling of the White Tree? I hope that gets addressed in the EE as well.
I cannot wait to see this again. I didn’t really care for the beginning, what with Smeagol and Deagol, but I suppose it’s nice to see how Smeagol became Gollum, so that’s sort of a pain to sit through, but once you get past that, it’s spectacular. A spectacular piece of cinematic history.
Shop at Amazon.comAnd yes, I wore my costume. I did have a coat on outside as it was in the twenties and very windy. But once we got in the theater I had full costume…minus a belt. I can’t believe I forgot the belt! Luckily we didn’t have to wait outside long…they let us in over an hour before midnight, good thing. Maybe they felt sorry for us wink There were some people in costume, a lot of people in cloaks, mostly at the beginning of the line. You could tell some people had been camped out there a while. We should have gotten there a half-hour earlier and we would have been closer to the front of the line…but we got good seats anyway. We sat in the fifth row this time, not the third…still a little bit of a crick in the neck, but right in the middle of the theater. Good stuff.
You WILL have to go to the bathroom at the end of this movie! It’s amazing how three hours and 20 minutes taxes your bladder wink
Some more questions that need answering (there’s been an influx of questions in the last few days…I guess I’m showing up on some weird searches…but feel free to ask anyway!):
Q: Sound track the return of the king. A: If you want to know where to get it, check out lordoftherings-soundtrack.com or
Amazon. If you want to know my opinion…I’ll have to listen to TTT again, which I think is my favorite, but I’ve been listening to the RotK soundtrack for at least a week straight, so it’s my favorite right now. Sweeping sounds, reprises from the first two movies, beautiful symphonic stuff that makes you want to be a composer. I would have to say the LotR music as a whole is my favorite soundtrack work at the moment…Howard Shore is still not my favorite composer, though he’s high on the list. But behind Hans Zimmer and James Horner still, I think. I highly recommend the RotK soundtrack. Of course, I also highly recommend the FotR and TTT soundtracks as well. Spring for the deluxe versions if you can get it. They’re just a little more fun.
Q: Trailers before RotK. A: There were a couple of not so good trailers and a few interesting ones. Spiderman 2 and The Butterfly Effect are trailers that stood out…I assume you know what I’m talking about with Spidey2…if not, search the web and I’m sure you’ll find the trailer as it went online on Monday. The Butterfly Effect stars Ashton Kutcher and Amy Smart, neither of whom I think are great actors, but the movie sounds not half bad. There was a sort of stupid teaser for the 2nd Mask movie. Something about a baby born with the Mask’s powers? Eh. Go see the movie. I liked the trailers but that was not why I was there wink
The credits of RotK are pretty neat. For each actor’s name there’s a pencil sketch next to it of the character they play. I didn’t stay for the whole thing but I will next time. I want to hear the whole “Into the West” song in theaters. Sigh. Theoretically I might still be able to make it to a show tonight, but that’s probably pushing it. I want to see RotK again! Right now! lol. At least I know I’m guaranteed at least two more showings, possibly three…and I’d have no problem with that at all.
Today is the 100th anniversary of the first flights at Kitty Hawk. Whee! So glad the Wrights were smart wink
I’m sure there will be more later.

Well, I’m back…AND I HAVE SEEN IT!

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TheOneRing.net Fan Reviews
Here’s my review that I submitted to TORn. You can read it here and see how I rated things, or just read the text below…
!!!SPOILERS!!!
The word that describes my viewing of the midnight premiere is ‘breathtaking.’ Even though I’ve read the books several times before and knew what was going to happen, I still felt myself carried along with the story and waiting (or dreading, depending on the mood) to know what was going to occur next. The way the story is told is original…using the book as a guide, but done in its own way.
First off, a few gripes…I realize that with a story with so many different characters and arcs that there’s going to be a little discontinuity, but some of the jump cuts were disconcerting. This bothered me in the Two Towers as well, but it’s something I can live with. Sometimes Howard Shore’s beautiful score was drowned out by the action onscreen, but that’s not a terrible thing either. I miss the Faramir/Eowyn relationship and the Houses of Healing. I want to see Aragorn work the magic of the King. But at least they’ll be on the dvd.
It was interesting to finally see the promo stills and trailer clips in their proper context, strange to see how they had changed since we first saw them.
Now the highlights: I’ll admit my fangirl status by saying Go Legolas! His taking down the Mumakil singly got the loudest cheers during the whole movie. And a funny part to boot. Thank you PJ for listening to the fans. And he’s knowledgeable about the Paths of the Dead, eh? lol. And finally making note that he’s a prince of the Woodland Realm…good stuff.
Aragorn. Wow. Viggo, my hat’s off to you. Aragorn seems so real, so human, I believe I would follow you too. Gandalf: nice to see you for most of the movie. I’m glad you got to kick butt with your staff and stave off a couple of Nazgul. Pippin! I love the accent, and the lighting of the signal fires was a wonderful cinematic moment. The soaring music and sweeping vistas…one of these days I’ll go to New Zealand and see it for myself.
Eowyn/Merry vs. the Witchking! Yay! Women/Hobbit power! Don’t those bad guys ever learn that just because ‘men’ can’t kill them they can still be killed? The battle scenes! Huges shots of the armies coming together, when you know that it’s hopeless…they’re willing to make the ultimate sacrifices just for the chance one small hobbit will make it to the Cracks of Doom. And the final fight between Frodo and Gollum. That part stayed with me from the book, and I will always remember it from the movie as well.
I’d heard this one could be a tearjerker, and there were some times that I almost cried. This is pretty impressive, because I never cry at movies. But everything just feels so realistic, so immersive, that you can’t help but emphasize with the characters.
I was worried at the beginning with the slowness of the movie, but I got into it quickly. I never looked at my watch the entire 3 hours and 20 minutes. I do remember thinking just about the time when Frodo and Sam were at the foot of Mt. Doom that there was still a lot to go…but I’m glad they wrapped it up. I’m glad the Hobbits got new suits.
I was sad to see it end (for real, after the several fade-to-black frames), and a little numb. What an amazing experience. I’ll need to see it at least two more times to get the full impact. Thank you PJ, cast and crew for making such a wonderful, touching, moving, action-filled, workout-for-your-subwoofer film. Hannon le.
Final analysis: I loved it, can’t wait to see it again, so-THAT’S-what the silver frock is supposed to look like, yay Lego in a crown, Aragorn: the fans have found their captain, Arwen: ok, she’s very pretty and not as silly in this movie as TTT, read the last two pages of RotK, and walk out smiling. I’ll be listening to the soundtrack all day, and coming back with more thoughts as they come to me…now to work, now for wrath, now for ruin and the world’s ending! er. Still excited.

Five and a quarter

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And this will be my last post before I go home, try to sleep, eat something, watch the 2nd disc of TTT, read the last two pages of RotK, and go wait in line! Egads!
btw, that buffer I was working on all day? Out of the 20 liters the bottle can hold I made 10. Yeesh. Took me all freakin’ day to do that…I so hope it doesn’t take as long to fill the bottle!
Tomorrow is gonna be whacked out, man, so don’t expect too much from me.
See you on the flip side…and expect to see a familiar title to tomorrow’s post.

6 hours to go…

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and questions, questions that need answering.
Q: Where can you buy Legolas’s Bow? A: You can’t. At least not an official replica and at least not yet. Hopefully they will sell one soon. You can buy an ‘inspired-by’ Mirkwood bow here and his daggers here.
Q: Graham Coulton A: Well, all I know about this band is that they opened for John Mayer during this past summer’s tour. I believe the website is www.grahamcoulton.com, could be wrong. Pretty good band from what little I heard of them, since we got to the venue late because of traffic. Silly I-70.
Q: What is everyone in the cast going to do after the movie? How do you feel that you might never get to see each other again? A: For the grand scheme of things I refer you to TORn because I know they have the plans of the fellowship in their archives. I personally am looking forward to seeing the cast in different roles, especially Orlando, if that had escaped your notice. I’m sure the cast will get together often in the future, just nothing on the scale of LotR. And I really hope you know that I have nothing to do with the cast. Just a fangirl living too far from Hollywood to ever have met any of the cast.
Q: How does your Joseph Sugarman quote apply to Survivor? A: For those of you who aren’t sure what this person is talking about: Each time you are honest and conduct yourself with honesty, a success force will drive you toward greater success. Each time you lie, even with a little white lie, there are strong forces pushing you toward failure. –Joseph Sugarman. This is a quote you’ll occasionally see on my webpage, somewhere near the top, with the rest of the quotes. Obviously this quote has nothing to do with Survivor, and I’m sure Mr. Sugarman never intended it to be used in such a context, a context where lying is rewarded and honesty is ridiculed. Why are you asking me to think so hard?
Q: Buddy icons. A: I’m sorry, your answer must be in the form of a question. Yeah. If you’re looking for a small collection of Legolas buddy icons, check out The Realm. Two of them are mine, the others are taken from site, which, I have no idea. Otherwise, try searching the web. Lots of people make avatars. Or you could visit the Orlando Bloom board @ FanForum and look for the avatar thread, or any of the boards there.
Q: why am i asking a question? A: I dunno, cause you were bored and clicked the button?
Q: isnt legolas/orlando bloom fit A: Yes, of course he is. All elves are naturally slim. And if he wasn’t, I bet he wouldn’t be such a heartthrob. Eh. Call me stereotypical.
THIS JUST IN! Q: sneak preview anywhere in CT A: Now why would you expect me to know that? Do I look like movietickets.com? I wish you luck and hope you find a place showing the midnight premiere.