Saruman the White Aaaah, Saruman.

Saruman the White

Aaaah, Saruman.

If Pip hadn't already stolen my affection with his deft Hobbit ways, he'd be the one I'd be raving about all the time.

Saruman has "Ealasaid's type" written all over him, and not just in the film.

In the book, Saruman and his past are explained in greater detail. Saruman the White was leader of the White Council, which met to decide what to do about Sauron. Wise, cunning, and a very patient fellow, Saruman started out as a very good person... but when he spent years researching Sauron's ringmaking, he stopped hating Sauron as an enemy and began to respect him as an opponent... and then to be jealous of his power. Saruman, in spite of his power and brilliant mind, was swayed by temptation.

Saruman in the film is pretty similar to Saruman in the book, although the film suggests that Saruman wants to join sides with Sauron, while in the book it is perfectly clear that Saruman is on nobody's side but his own.

Well, and it annoys me that they call Saruman's halfbreeds "Uruk-hai" in the film when the Uruk-hai in the book are simply another breed of Orc, and the halfbreeds have no name of their own. *sigh*

At any rate, Christopher Lee is the perfect choice for Saruman - tall, dark-eyed, venerable, and with the ability to be truly nasty. Lee's got those amazing hands, which fit Saruman's cleverness in devising machinery of his own.

Plus, of course, he has a beautiful, low voice; Saruman's voice is magical and he can use it to sway the minds of his hearers. Saruman could probably read you the phone book and make you think he was the most amazing creature on the planet, worth following and dying for. Lee's voice works for that. Mm-hm.

Wow.

I mean, really, what's not to love?

I'm definitely looking forward to the next two films in the series; Saruman's story is a fascinating one, and can easily be used to examine Tolkien's fascination with the vulnerability of great power. Saruman is eventually laid low in what could be seen as the most painful way of any nasty character in the book.

However, I'm not entirely looking forward to the last bit of Saruman's tale, as I still have trouble forgiving him for everything he does after Frodo speaks to him on the road. I won't go into details since I know some of my readers haven't finished reading LotR, but those of you who have will probably know what I'm talking about.

To sum up this ramble: Saruman rocks the house, even if he does a couple things that even a villain-lover like myself finds unpalatable.

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Aaaah... Mondo props to Photoshop

Aaaah...

Mondo props to Photoshop 6.0 and Netscape 6.2, which made one of my jobs a LOT easier this morning.

Every month, I put up a new issue of The Red Pages. This month, there were a ton of photos to put into galleries. BUT! Netscape 6.2 lets you save all the attachments to a message in a single folder with just a couple clicks, and Photoshop lets you point at that folder and say "make a web photo gallery!" and have one magically appear.

Hooray!

I am now uploading the new issue. If WS_FTP will stop crashing, it might actually be up in another hour or so, yay!

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WHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! Aw YEAH. I rule.

WHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

Aw YEAH. I rule. Went to that LotRTCG get together last night. After some initial panic (when I showed up about 10 min early there was no sign of the event) I found Ron, the Decipher guru and the other folks who'd shown up. Ron had brought a couple decks, so Jen and I played with his instead of our own.

The first game was one-on-one, me versus a kid who'd come and Jen versus Ron's wife. The kid had to leave early, so Ron took over half way through. I won! Go me!

Then we played a four-person game, which just rocked. Tres cool. I won that too, mostly because when the store closed at 11 I was in the lead. Go me! :-D

Ron was kind enough to give Jen and myself some nifty cards and he said he's going to set up a league, meeting on Monday nights at Borders. Whoo-hooo! That will rock. I am very stoked.

And no, Ith, I didn't filch anyone's Pip cards. I was rather annoyed to discover that, practically speaking, the not-so-cute Pip card is much more useful than the cute one. *sigh* Oh, well, that way the cute one won't get shuffled and will continue to look pristine and nifty. And yes, Keith, it's in a card protector. Now that I know I won't be actually using it much.

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Oy. Woke up with a

Oy.

Woke up with a nasty headache this morning and didn't actually get to work until after 9am. Grrrr.

On the plus side, after SLC today I get to go to the nifty LotR shindig at the local Borders! Whoo! That should be fun. I've been reading up on some strategy stuff, and it will be interesting to seee how things go tonight.

At least I'm not toooo far down on the Geek Hierarchy. Not yet, anyway. At any rate, I'm not wearing any LotR-related clothes to the event, since I won't really have time to change between work and it.

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Tolkien Geek and Proud! So.

Tolkien Geek and Proud!

So. Played a couple games of LotR with Jen last night. Mucho fun, even when I was getting the smackdown end of things. I won the first game, then she whupped me. Really hard. It was depressing.

On the up side, I got to use my new Pippin card. Yay!

Today I get to deliver to one of my students the starter deck I picked up for her over the weekend. Yay. Hopefully we'll be able to play a bit on Wednesday. That'd be fun.

I'm also really looking forward to the event at Borders' on Tuesday! I just hope it's not full of the kinds of geeks I knew back in High School who played this kind of card game...

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Whoooo! Well, the Pippin

Whoooo!

Well, the Pippin card Nin got for me came yesterday! I didn't get it until today, though, as nobody bothered to tell me that I actually GOT mail yesterday. *sigh*

It came along with a letter from Mei, which was cool. She writes the coolest letters.

Not much else to report - spent a great afternoon/evening with Kay yesterday, saw The Count of Monte Cristo, which was ok. Today, I'm going to a SFNaNo gathering, then over to Jen's to play LotR with my new card in my deck! YAY!

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Aaaah.... I sometimes think I'm

Aaaah....

I sometimes think I'm naturally cut out to be a freelancer. I can think of no greater joy than working at my very personalized desk, sitting in my pjs and bathrobe, sipping hot coffee and coding.

Well, ok, I can think of several greater joys (watching Lord of the Rings, meeting any one of the actors I've obsessed over, etc), but none involving actual paying work.

When I was at Oxy, I loved having classes late enough that I could get up, make coffee, and read email in my bathrobe for an hour before going down to breakfast. That enabled me to wake up enough to stop being the verbally antisocial grouch I am when I first get up and become a mostly civilized human being.

I just like working comfortably at my own computer desk, surrounded by my action figures, candles, books, and various other decorations. Getting paid just makes it even cooler.

Viva la freelancing!

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Oh, dear. So as you've

Oh, dear.

So as you've probably noticed, I'm something of a fan of Peregrin Took from Lord of the Rings. I'd never heard of Billy Boyd, the actor who plays him, before the film. But now, after listening to a bunch of interviews with him on his site, I'm in serious danger of going totally googly over him too.

It's not just the accent (there's just something about that Glasweigan half-swallowed sound), or the fact that he looks good in a kilt. He really comes across in the interviews as a nice guy. The kind of guy you'd like to have a pint or two with and just chat. I also love the fact that he's clearly intelligent - listen to the interview about Harry Potter v. LotR. I swear, it's like he read my mind or something, we're on exactly the same wavelength.

What's even scarier is that he's just as cute out of character as he is in. In a different way, mind you, but still. I'm now in serious danger of doing the old call-every-video-retailer-in-town routine to track down the very very few films he's done. I wonder... maybe he'll be doing some stage work when I hit the UK next August... that would rock...

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Dang... There's something about teaching

Dang...

There's something about teaching three six-hour shifts in a period of 36 hours that just takes it right out of you.

I got hired to substitute teach yesterday and today, and yesterday was also the day I have a 6-hr shift at Success! Learning Center. Wheee!

On the other hand, one of my students at SLC is getting into the Lord of the Rings Trading Card game. I love corrupting the young. :-)

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More LOTR Musing So. I've

More LOTR Musing

So. I've babbled about Pip, mused on Boromir and Gandalf... I think it's time for Legolas.

To be perfectly honest, I don't really remember having much of an opinion on Legolas when I was reading the books/having the books read to me. He was buddies with Gimli, which is very cool. He was an Elf, also very cool.

Then I saw the film.

Now, let me make it clear, that Pip is, and always will be, my #1 fave from this film.

But DAMN Legolas is gorgeous. It's just not right.

What's scary is that Orlando Bloom, the actor who plays him, is only moderately cute when he's not being Legolas. But as that Elf... whoa. Stand back.

I think what really makes it work is that Bloom is so graceful and distant. He's gorgeous, but in a very organic way - organic the way that, say, a waterfall or a cat or a glacier is. They're beautiful to look at, but also very alien.

When I was rereading the book recently (and boy, was finishing hard to do. I just didn't want it to end!), I was struck by how well Bloom's version of Legolas fit on the page. Legolas is young by Elf standards, but he's about 100 times older than the youngest member of the Fellowship, and it shows. What's really cool about him is that he doesn't hold the age of the people around him against them.

Legolas follows Aragorn even though Aragorn's (a) a man and (b) about 3% of his age. Why? Because Aragorn is a great leader. It'll be interesting to see if they play up Legolas' age in the coming films or not. They haven't really mentioned it yet.

It's strange; I really like Legolas, but in some ways I think he's the least developed of the Fellowship. He's very inaccessible, which may be why he comes across that way. He's a great fighter - almost too great. He's not afraid of anything except, perhaps, the Balrog. His one flaw that I can remember is his bias against Dwarves... and he loses that about halfway through the story when he and Gimli become such good friends.

Hm... maybe I should reread the book and look for more stuff about him. I was so busy focusing on Pip that I may have missed something interesting.

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Geek Pride! Spent a couple

Geek Pride!

Spent a couple hours playing the Lord of the Rings trading card game tonight, and after the first couple of turns, which were painfully difficult and long, I really liked it. I mean really, really liked it.

Seriously.

Scary, eh?

In other news...

Anyone who knows what a Mary Sue is and is tired of seeing her in LotR fic should read this.

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Not much to report... Glad

Not much to report...

Glad to hear folks like the new layout. Go me!

Have spent the morning, after waking up at an ungodly hour, trying to find better ways of doing a navigation bar for my current freelance web project. No dice, annoyingly enough. I'm still stuck with the pain-in-the-heinie way. Oh, well.

On the up side, tonight I get to try playing the Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game for the first time! Woo!

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Behold! A new look! Well,

Behold!

A new look! Well, somewhat new. This should look nicer on smaller screens than the first design did.

Let me know what you think, OK? That's what the comment function is for.

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More LotR! Yes, it's true,

More LotR!

Yes, it's true, this entry will also be focussing on Lord of the Rings. What a shocker.

Saw the film last night with Jen and John. His first time, her fourth. My sixth. Yes, I rule. We ran into a couple people we know, and they pointed out that I've spent a total of about 18 hours watching this film now. I said it was time well spent, though, and they had no real reply to that. Hah!

Jen pointed out yet again that Pip isn't exactly the kind of guy I usually go for; she'd expected me to dig Saruman or someone like that.

It occurs to me that I do dig Saruman and a lot of the other characters. It's just that Pip, for whatever reason, totally eclipses them. Here's an approximate ranking of the guys in the film, ranked by how frequently they make me cheer/drool/go "YEAH!" in the theater. This is adjusted for screen-time, by the way. I spend almost all of Saruman's limited time enthusing about him.

1. Pip (duh)
2. Saruman (evil, cool voice, cool hands - see right)
3. Legolas (sooo pretty)
4. Gandalf (just cool. And cranky.)
5. Aragorn (babe. And a great fighter)
6. Sam (brave, loyal, and funny)
7. Boromir (babe, good fighter)
8. Frodo (cute)
9. Merry (funny, and hangs with Pip)
10. Gimli (funny, good fighter)
11. Elrond (Hugo Weaving. 'nuff said)
12. Everybody else.

I think that's about right.

It was a trip seeing the film with someone who'd read The Very Secret Diaries. Jen and I kept whispering to each other and cracking ourselves up. Tried not to do it too much, but couldn't help ourselves.

We've decided to rent the DVD and MST3K it in the privacy of her or my living room so we won't have to feel guilty about howling with laughter.

Yes, I'll be doing another character ramble soon. Honest.

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Go me! Just cruised by

Go me!

Just cruised by my statistics server to see if there was anything exciting, and noticed that my Blog here gets the most hits by far of any section on my page! Now, that's probably at least in part because I myself hit it a couple times a day checking for comments and stuff, but even so! 247 hits since Monday! Go me!

Oddly enough, the second-ranked page is my Hugo Weaving Photo Gallery, with 172 hits since monday.

My Riddler Shrine is also getting a fair bit of traffic, for some reason. Huh.

My Ealasaid.com Web Design page is getting no traffic (or at least, not enough to show up on my stats page, which shows even pages with only one hit a day). I gotta spiff it up or something, start really promoting it.

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Whoo-hooo! Having gained permission to

Whoo-hooo!

Having gained permission to do so, I am now archiving the incredibly twisted Very Secret Diaries! Check 'em out. They're all gathered together in one place to make 'em easier to read.

Do be sure, though, to check out the LiveJournal they came from. Cassie is a seriously twisted person, and I mean that in the nicest possible way. :-)

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*sigh Saw Kate and Leopold

*sigh

Saw Kate and Leopold last night. Fun little film, if terribly fluffy and not all that well constructed. Romantic, scenic, and funny, though, so I had a good time. Hugh Jackman is so gorgeous in period clothing, I swear, he's inhuman.

At any rate, had a very good time in spite of being forced to sit in the second row.

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More musings! Firstly: Go here

More musings!

Firstly: Go here and read a cool article on kilts.

Now, then. I've babbled endlessly about Pip and mused on Aragorn, what about Gandalf?

Gandalf was always one of my favorite characters, I think, if I really had one. I loved everybody in The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings so much I'm not sure if I really had a proper favorite. At any rate, my opinion of him hasn't changed like my opinion of Boromir has.

I love how incredibly cranky Gandalf is. His temper is one of the few things that keeps him from being annoyingly perfect. You can't accuse someone of being an aggravatingly perfect character when he's capable of saying things like "Fool of a Took! Next time throw yourself in and rid us of your stupidity!" (that's from the film, but is virtually the same as what he says in the book).

He's definitely living proof that "meddle not in the affairs of wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger" is a very true proverb.

And yet, at the same time, he's capable of incredible warmth and affection. He cares a great deal for the Shire and hobbits, and Middle-Earth as a whole. He is generally good-humored in times of peace, enjoys merriment, and seems to enjoy himself thoroughly when the opportunity presents itself. He's very much aware, though, that peace and harmony are but interludes in the eternal conflict.

Which is as it should be. After all, Gandalf is an immortal, a Maia, sent by the Valar to protect Middle-Earth along with the other wizards. He's seen quite a bit of conflict in his long life.

And yet, he's able to turn his mind to party games when he wants to! Take his fireworks, for example. Those are mentioned practically first thing in The Hobbit - Gandalf is famous for his fireworks, and Bilbo can't help getting all excited when he thinks about them, even though he's mildly disapproving of Gandalf as a disturber of the peace.

Gandalf is immensely powerful, but not all-powerful, and that helps keep him interesting. Add to that a real temper and an amazing capacity for caring, and you've got a great character. Gandalf rules.

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Look, ma! New banners! AND

Look, ma!

New banners! AND I appear to have gotten a free JavaScript (which rotates the banners randomly) to work properly. Yay me.

In other news: expect more babbling on the various major characters in LotR to come soon!

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Well, now I've gone and

Well, now I've gone and done it.

I went and bought the Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game Deluxe Starter Set today. Hobbit deck, counters, rulebook, AND a collectible box to keep my cards in ('s got a greenish top with Gandalf's hat on it). I'm in serious danger of becoming totally obsessed. The game is totally secondary - it's the photos on the cards I like!

The cards are gorgeous, simply gorgeous. Go here to see for yourself. I'm not entirely happy with the pic they've chosen for Pip's normal card (it's above), but I'll survive. At least he's there! :-)

There's a big event at the local Borders - one of the honchos from Decipher is going to be there and teach us how to play! Whoo! I am so there.

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So. Boromir. OK, Jen, here

So. Boromir.

OK, Jen, here are my thoughts on Boromir!

Along with some pix to make you grin.

First impression: What a fecking great twerp. Would someone please just kill him?

When I first met him, back when I was all of 11 or so and Mom read me the book, I thought he was a great, hulking git. Pretentious, stuck on himself, the works.

Then I read the book on a train in 1999.

Second impression: What a fecking great twerp. Would someone please just boot him in the nuts?

He wasn't quite as annoying, but I wanted someone to inform him that, no, he wasn't all that, and he should get over himself before getting everyone killed.

Then I saw the film.

New impression: What a fecking great tragic loss. Would someone please just smack him? Maybe he'd come to his senses.

Maybe it's because I'm older. Or because Sean Bean is a babe (did I just type that?). Whatever it is, I'm starting to get the sense of him Tolkien was trying to give - that Boromir is a great man, a great warrior, a great leader - who is quite simply out of his depth. He's used to being very direct - kill the bad guys, go home in glory. The thought that physical strength and good battle tactics aren't everything is a foreign one to him, and that is why he wants to use the ring. He sees it as a sort of superweapon.

He goes along with the council because he's used (like a military man) to following orders - but he's also used to getting them from his father, who thinks like he does. Not from an Elf lord and a wizened old dude who is known as a troublemaker of a wizard (remember, Boromir's dad is not a fan of Gandalf).

His inability to believe in his heart that they are right and the Ring must be destroyed is what leaves him open to the ring's influence.

Oddly enough, it is Boromir's attack that gives Frodo the courage to go off on his own. He's known for days, weeks maybe, that the Fellowship can only get him so far - he's got to go off by himself if he's going to have a hope of getting the Ring to Mordor.

And so Boromir's weakness, Boromir's fall, is to the greater good.

It's interesting to note that in Tolkien, weaknesses often prove to be good points, and strengths often prove to be weaknesses. After all, it is the hobbits' weaknesses that have left them hidden all this time. It is their apparent insignificance that will let Frodo manage to get to Mordor without being nabbed. It is Hobbits' powerlessness that lets them carry the Ring for so long with so little effect.

And it is Boromir's strengths that lead to his downfall, Gandalf and Galadriel's great power that makes them the most likely to be corrupted should they so much as touch the ring, let alone carry it.

Interesting, nu?

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Wow! Someone I know online

Wow!

Someone I know online said in a recent email message, "Ealasaid, I don't believe that the word "obsessed" can even begin to cover the depth of your absorption with Peregrin Took."

I'm flattered. :)

Actually, this is fairly normal for me. It's just that there are so many folks going ga-ga over Lord of the Rings, I'm getting a lot of fodder/encouragement/incentive to babble about him publicly. I mean, being totally obsessed with Steve Buscemi isn't really something you talk about in public unless you're very sure of your audience.

But it's easy to babble about being obsessed with a cute guy from a recent and very popular film.

Plus, it's my *duty*. Everyone else is drooling over Aragorn, Legolas, Frodo, et al. I'm just trying to make up for Pip's lack of fanatical drooling people.

OK, time to get back to work.

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Dammit! OK, I just want

Dammit!

OK, I just want to say that there are WAY too many LotR pix out there.

And WAY too many duplicate pix.

I keep thinking, "just one more page, there's GOT to be a couple new pix there..."

I swear, it's like gambling.

At least I have something to show for staying up waaaay past my bedtime. Tons of pix of everyone in the film, including a couple more of Pip! YEAH!

Oh, and before signing off: amusing anecdote. So my bud Jen was over tonight, and we were watching "Smallville"... and a LotR preview came on. I was hoping there'd be a little Pip in it, but nooooooo. "What a gyp... no Pip Clip!" I whined. I thought Jen was going to hit me.

(sekrit note to Xover folk: this is TOJen, not JenandDave Jen.)

*scans previous entries*

Damn, I gotta start writing about something other than Pip. This is getting monotonous.

Just sometimes. Once in a while. For variety. Yeah! I can write about... Aragorn. Or Legolas. Or Merry (who is really growing on me). Yeah! I like this...

Kidding! Just kidding!

I'm torn about tonight's "Smallville." On the one hand, I was actually curious about how they'd resolve it without spilling Clark's secret (although in retrospect I should've seen the whole ending coming). BUT Lana is really starting to annoy me. I swear, they really need to give her some flaws. She's waaaayyy too perfect. Staying with Whitney is a flaw, but not the kind I mean. She's too perfect. Chloe is weird and flies off at the handle. Clark is naive. Lex is ... Lex. Lana needs a flaw, dammit!

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No rest for the wicked

No rest for the wicked

I'm going to get to work in a minute (no, really!) so I can't do a real entry. So, to tide yourselves over, go read this nifty column about LotR. Makes some very interesting points.

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HOLY COW! A WONDERFUL woman

HOLY COW!

A WONDERFUL woman on a list I know has not only made some terriffic wallpapers, but turned us all loose on a TON of image pages for Lord of the Rings.

Be afraid.

Be very afraid.

I really, really hope you like Pippin, because I now have enough photos to last me through at least the end of the month, and I'm still downloading between bouts of coding like a madwoman.

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I'm a bad girl. I

I'm a bad girl.

I should be working, but instead I made this:

600x800 version

Photos filched from various sources, then altered by moi.

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What a weekend! Firstly, Today's

What a weekend!

Firstly, Today's Pic of Pip!

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This quiz says absolutely

This quiz says absolutely nothing about your personality. Take it!

Hm... probably the latter. Although possibly all three. I do like playing with hula hoops. Some consider me silly. In other news: am back from Las Vegas and very tired. Should be in bed. Will be headed there soon.

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This is it... In about

This is it...

In about 5 minutes, I leave for the airport to hit Las Vegas! Whooo!

That's good.

What's bad (scary?) is that I bought a nail buffer stick on a whim today at Long's Drugs and have taken the girly step of buffing my nails.

And liking the way it looks. Well, the one nail I'm done with, anyway. DAMN but it takes a while to do it right. Faster than polish, though.

Whatever. It'll give me something to do in the airport. See you lot Sunday night! Or Monday morning.

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As usual... I should be

As usual...

I should be in bed. But I'm not.

Instead, I just read the hysterical THE VERY SECRET DIARY OF SAMWISE GAMGEE . (Watch out, there are spoilers). Go read it. Actually, I take that back. Scroll down and read the other VERY SECRET DIARY entries, beginning with the one by Aragorn waaaaay down near the bottom.

Oh, and just because I like it, here's some categorization (format copied from the same journal)

"Three categories--
Sexiest--the one that makes me fan myself, giggle, and say "what a man!"
The Knight--the fairy-tale prince type who makes me sigh because men in the real world aren't like that
The One I'd Most Likely End Up With--judging from past and present relationships, who the most realistic guy for me would be."

Hm... For LotR:
Sexiest: need you ask? Pippin, of course. Followed very closely by Legolas and Elrond.
The Knight: Aragorn. Duh.
The One I'd Most Likely End Up With: I'd probably wind up buddies with Frodo.

OK, I'm off to bed now.

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Good Morning! And it is

Good Morning!

And it is indeed a morning which is good, for once. Lazed about, talked with one of the honchos for the school district (for which I'm doing webwork) and ironed out some stuff that was freaking me a bit, and to top it off people are leaving comments already! Hurrah.

Oo, gotta go update my Book Log, I just realized it's woefully out of date.

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You know you want to.

You know you want to.

I have added a comment system! Now y'all can tell me you love me.

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Posted at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

I admit it, I'm a

I admit it, I'm a Tolkien geek.

So. I have now seen Lord of the Rings five times, the last one while wearing a killer Saruman tshirt I got as a present. Tee hee!

I've also, because I'm working my way through everything Tolkein wrote about Middle Earth, gotten really good at remembering all kinds of things - like how closely Merry and Pip are related, and the names of the Hobbits between them on the family tree. And why Aragorn isn't heir to the Throne of Gondor, just the Heir of Isildur, which isn't quite the same thing.

In related news I had a conversation with the pal I went with (it was her second time) about Pippin. She couldn't understand why I was into him - not because she doesn't think he's cute (she does, although she's a Legolas fan), but because he's "not the type I usually go for."

This is true. I usually like older, brilliant, tall, and terribly clever characters (think Saruman, if he were a bit older and didn't hang out with the Uruk-Hai so much). Pippin, on the other hand, is young, foolish, short, and not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer. But he's a lot of other things too! So I hereby present...

Top Ten Reasons to love Peregrin Took

In the movie, anyway

10. He's got a great accent.
9. Good fashion sense (or at least better than Merry's).
8. Those green eyes!
7. He's funny. Sometimes even on purpose.
6. He's loyal to his friends.
5. He's brave
4. He's a decent fighter!
3. Takes criticism like a real Hobbit!
2. He can cry.
...and the number one reason to love Pippin...

He's played by a guy who looks good in a kilt!

Those seeking instances of any of the above are welcome to email me for examples, which will no doubt be provided ad nauseum.

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Posted at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

I need a vacation

I need a vacation

Or at least I'm going to, when this vacation is over. Although I've been getting bits of reading-wth-the-feet-up and sleeping-later-than-usual, I've also been doing much more house-cleaning-type-activities than usual and yesterday I ran errands all afternoon.

Fortunately, I did get to see "Lord of the Rings" again on Wednesday. That was fun - saw it with a friend who hadn't seen it before and who hasn't read any Tolkein besides The Hobbit, poor girl. No worries, however, she appears well on the way to being corrupted.

You know a film is good when it's three hours long and you STILL can't bear to go to the bathroom in the middle even after seeing it four times.

Oh, and the water heater is fixed, thank heavens. And just for variety, today's pic is of Elrond, one of the handful of LotR characters who are second only to Pippin in coolness.

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Posted at 12:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

AUGH! I am going

AUGH!

I am going to remove the phrase "take a cold shower" from my vocabulary. It's a late New Year's resolution. I can replace it with "take a lukewarm shower," or "take a cool shower," which has a better flow to it.

Call me a hopeless modern hedonist, but damn. Our water heater is dead, but I HAD to get clean. Mom said she used to take cold showers when she was on the geology projects with Grandpa, so how bad could it be, I thought. Ha!

I have never taken a faster shower in my LIFE. You'd think after being on the girls swim team in high school for two years I'd be used to freezing my butt off, but that was, Oh God, eight years ago.

So. Next time I've been thinking about Pip (or any one of my other obsessions) too much and someone says "you need a cold shower," I will laugh hollowly.

And then I'll go take a cool shower.

Oh, go here and take a while to download. Someone with entirely TOO much time on their hands has created a little masterpiece.

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Posted at 11:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

I don't know whether to

I don't know whether to be pleased or offended.

I mean, he is one of my favorite characters, but still...

Which Rocky character are you?

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Posted at 03:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Groan... Well, we're breaking with

Groan...

Well, we're breaking with tradition this New Years and not watching the Rose Bowl or Rose Parade. Instead, Mom is watching a Netflix DVD and I'm working on my various websites and catching up on Email. Nice and relaxing, actually. Pretty darn cool.

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Posted at 11:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Happy New Year! Had a

Happy New Year!

Had a great time in LA - caught up with a couple friends I haven't seen since I left southern CA, saw "Lord of the Rings" again, and became addicted to a new band - Throwing Toasters.

I'm reading The Silmarillion now (damn, gotta update my Book Log) and really enjoying it. Man, Tolkein is an amazing writer.

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Posted at 12:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)