Congratulations Honey

Presents for you.. for making the 500th post in this thread!!!
Heard you like gifts from geeky delivery boys :Dhttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v480/ylla/012da905.jpg




:k Ylla :k

Hi Guys!

Mech, you definitely didn't upset me. We agree to disagree and that's fine! :)

You know -- I think that just like Elijah's photographs, the reason that AIW is the polarizing film is that it's his first "adult" role. So of course, just like our reactions to the photos, we're going to have specific reactions to this portrayal, and probably for the same reasons.

I apologize, too, if I have seriously miffed anybody -- like you Achila and Rikka, by saying detracting things about EW's acting work in this movie. I suppose it is rude, even, to do so in a fan site that is specifically dedicated to him.

I would absolutely hate it if we couldn't express our opinions of The One Lad's work frankly. I don't see anyone being rude or nasty or trolling. To be allowed to express an opinion, eloquently and without malice, is the basis of all discussion. On this side of the puddle, it's taken extremely seriously, as I'm sure it is elsewhere in the world.

His Ladness is very young despite his long resume' and he's bound to have some klunker moments in films. Personally, I appreciate the discussion.

I loved AIW from the second I saw that ridiculous trunk! It made me laugh, which sometimes isn't too easy. :) I thought it was charming.

~grumpilygettingbacktoworkonaSunday
(of course it would help if I had time to *READ* posts and respond grumblegrumble)

I wanted to add earlier...and forgot...I applaud Mech for always getting a stimulating conversation going..when things get quiet in here she can always be counted on for some very challenging studies :D And is very eloquent in her postings :)
I sometimes feel like I should apoligize when I stongly disagree with the majority of the group...because I'm the type of person who will quite frankly bend over backward to not offend my friends(and I do feel like I'm with my friends here!)but I've never felt afraid to speak my mind in here...that's what makes me so comfortable with this group. Nobody attacks or personalizes disagreements in this room...We simply agree to disagree....What do they say about diversity?
Thanks Mech for stimulating some great discussions
Your posts are always welcome here
Even if we disagree :eek:
You know I'm a fan of yours :cool: So here's one for you :

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v480/ylla/frodocandlepartyahhh.jpg


And one for me:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v480/ylla/049bd05d.jpg

(((Mechtild))) :k :k :k (((Faculty)))

... And Jane's "This isn't happening" (and, even more, her insistance that Jones say it) seems to me an attempt to convince both Jones and herself that this is a one-time event. Jones does not come across to me as someone who would be happy with a one-time event

Sorry to jump into the middle of this discussion. I happen to be one who likes this movie. Tho I do think script and direction could have been improved. I wanted to add a 'me too' of sorts to tg's quote above. I've always felt that not only is Jane's "This is not happening" meant to tell Jones it's a one time deal, but I feel her making him repeat it is a bit her getting her own back (and an in 'joke' of sorts between them?) in that it refers back to his making her repeat that the letters are for her only.

I'm probably reading too much into it since from the time he starts the heavy breathing I'm fully sucked into the scene. I also find it more romantic than erotic as a love scene, but I fully buy Jone's reactions and his look of total adoration as he gazes up at Jane later in the scene.

TAMTSNBN

Now I have to admit I can't for the life of me figure out what this means! I'm sure as soon as I'm told it will be a 'duh' moment but I've mentally gone thru everything I can think of that EJW has appeared in and have come up blank.

Eáránë Elensar

Now I have to admit I can't for the life of me figure out what this means! I'm sure as soon as I'm told it will be a 'duh' moment but I've mentally gone thru everything I can think of that EJW has appeared in and have come up blank.

Eáránë Elensar
This is rather handy, as I'm going to put some other links in this post, too, so I can add this one at the same time. TAMTSNBN is The Animated Movie that Shall Not Be Named. If that doesn't give you the answer, you can read some comments on it here (http://www.frodolivesin.us/ejw/id27.htm). (We generally try not to sully the thread by actually putting its name here ;) .)

-----------

New pages are up for December at frodolivesin.us -- I'm afraid Frodo is going to have to cringe in the dark in Shelob's lair for another month :( , as I don't want to add anything there until I've at least gotten to him taking out the phial, and I'm not that far yet.

But there are three new pages for The Mirror of Galadriel (http://www.frodolivesin.us/FotR/id34.htm). The new set starts with "The Mirror Shows Many Things."

And I was rather excited about being able to add something to the international research collaboration on Day-O, so I've added both its review page (http://www.frodolivesin.us/ejw/id62.htm) and screencaps from a scene (http://www.frodolivesin.us/ejw/id61.htm).

That's about it for now. I was working on an essay for the JRRT "side" of the site, but was overcome by Day-O cuteness so the Professor will have to wait. Of course, it's all his fault, for pulling the strings he did to get the right person cast as Frodo. ;) So he shouldn't mind too much. May have something there later in the month.

-------Interesting conversation going on, as always. But I've hit my limit for the day, I'm afraid, and will have to just say good night :) .

But, good heavens! We're already over half-way to needing to start another new thread! :eek: Didn't we just do that? :cool:

HALLO LADIES!!

WELL WE ARE VERY BUSY IN HERE!!!
500 POSTS ALREADY!!!!!!! :k :k :k

LOVELY PICTURES EVERYONE!!!
OH, YLLA,THAT PICTURE!!mmmm BEST I
GO SOMEWERE ELSE!!! :D :p

NOW, I JUST WANT TO ASK IF THERE IS SOMEONE
WHO KNOWS IF THERE IS ANY NEWS ABOUT HIS NEW MOVIES
I THINK IT IS VERY QUIET ABOUT THEM ISEN`T IT ???????

I CAN`T FIND ANYTHING NEW!! CAN YOU LADIES??

LOVE YOU ALL/WOOD

EDIT: I HAVE THIS PICTURE IN MY ALBUM AND I HAVE
ALL THE TIME FORGOTT TO ASK IF THERE IS SOME ONE WHO
KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT IT??!!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/erendil/3425lijandPA.jpg

Good morning, all! :)

Gosh, have you been busy! How on earth shall I ever catch up with you :confused: :k ... never leave the Faculty for an entire week.

Wood, that's a very charming picture, isn't it? I had found it in a January issue of the German "Cinema" magazin - here's the link to my post in the "old" Faculty thread:

www.khazaddum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=192327&postcount=5354 (http://www.khazaddum.com/forums/showpost.php?p=192327&postcount=5354)

-------

Hell's bells - Tg! Your Day-O section on your web site is fantastic! As soon I find time I'll rewatch the scene you've screencapped so beautifully. Wasn't he the cutiest little boy imaginable?
Must run - bye for now.

I go away for 5 days, and miss so much that I can't keep up properly.

Thanks to everyone who posted pictures. I, like several of you, hate the posed, supposed sexy pictures. I do find it hard to see Lij as an object of sexual attraction, but not because of any maternal feelings. It has something to do with him taking me back and reawakening in me the kind of feelings I had for attractive lads when I was a teenager, just before I reached the age where thoughts of actual sexual relations came into the equation. I also think it is because I would only want physical relations with someone I really liked, and if the character behind the image was as shallow, vein, petulant, (and any other negative words you care to use) as the image, I wouldn't like that person enough.

I love the link made between Elijah and Fred Astaire, since the latter is the only other person who has had the same effect on me. As a 17 year old, I totally fell for Fred Astaire without really knowing why. Then it was embarrasing to have people know I was bowled over by a skinny, not exactly good looking man old enough to be my grandad, and now it is a skinny, not conventionally good looking youth, young enough to be my son.

It is very interesting reading the conflicting opinions of AIW. I don't think it his best film, but both my husband and I enjoyed it as a couple of hours entertainment. I didn't see Jones as a writer, but as a friendless, clueless rich kid. He had enough money to not need to make a career for himself, had not received any direction, discipline or love from his immediate family and had had no friends to discuss women or relationships with. He was just drifting along through life almost as an observer, waiting for other people to lead him into something interesting.

While I was reading the posts, I put my newly received Region 1 DVD of Bumblebee on to test the new multi-region player, and just left it on without watching (Reading the posts took up the hwole film). I realise now just how much the soundtrack influences my liking of this picture, and how important soundtracks are. I liked the one in Ash Wednesday, but I know many people thought it dreary, and i can't even think what played during AIW.

And on the subject of Bumblebee, I do think that Elijah's romantic relationship in this film showed that he has got it in him to play that kind of role. Yes, it was just a young man's first kiss, but the intensity of feeling and expression was there, and I got the feeling that had the situation been less serious they would have ended up in the bushes together.

TG - thanks for the screencaps of Day-O. I just love that twinkle in the eye.

Good Morning Ladies!

WHO KNOWS IF THERE IS ANY NEWS ABOUT HIS NEW MOVIES

Well, Wood, I just last night saw a very interesting article (linked off "Beyond Blue"; can I link to BB do you think?) which described a test screening for a new "Sin City" trailer. The article is no longer there, however :confused:

ETA just found that article again. I'm gonna link it, trusting that it's OK. If not, you mods can slap me later! :k "Sin City" Trailer discussed here. (http://superherohype.com/news/sincitynews.php?id=2291)

Anyway, according to the writer - a theater employee, I think - this newest trailer looked very intriguing. Elijah's Kevin appeared at the very end of it, very briefly. All you could see of him was the shape of his head, and the light reflected off his glasses. Said this author "you wouldn't know it was him," or words to that effect. Don't know how this person did know it was him; suppose his name was superimposed on the bottom of the screen, or something.

Honestly I'm slightly baffled as to how one plays a mute character in a movie where the images have been graphically altered to, for the most part, flat black and white. I suppose this will be a very physical role for Elijah, in the sense that it will involve pantomime, and require him to make use of his "balletic grace," as well as tap into that earlier training as a dancer. He'll have to use his entire body to emote won't he? Of course you all know that I think that one of Elijah's strengths is as "silent" performer. Now he'll be in his own "silent" movie sort of! :cool:

Still very wary about this one though. The movie will be focussing on a darker aspect of life that I have no desire to explore, even without Elijah's role as a serial-murderer. But then that's what movies do; take you to where you might never have dreamed you could go, or would even want to.

Just a word about "Beyond Blue." This is Ms. Allegro's new site dedicated to Elijah. Lot's of the usual pictures, articles and news. She seems to be keeping it clean, the only reference to Elijah's private life being her usual veiled reference to his status as "officially single for many years." But I don't know if I should link there, so I won't.

TG, great updates. Fun to finally get a peak at "Day-O!" Loving the opportunity to get a good look at Galadriel's mirror frame-by-frame.

Ylla, thanks for the "gifts." I'll share 'em with everyone, since it took all of us to get to 500 posts
already . Why do I feel like a kid on christmas morning who is at least as excited about the big cardboard box the toy came in? That "delivery boy" is pretty cute! ;)

honey!

ETA simulposted with you, Skate! Hullo! "off in the bushes..." !!! :lol:

So whiteling it was from you i got it!! I coulden`t remember were
i found it!!! thanks!!

Thank you Honeyelf for the link and the news about Sin City!!

Skatergirl,did you also hade that feeling???
You coulde feel there was something between them
and the idear of them rumbeling in the bushes are a
great image of it!! :lol: :lol:

Love you all/woodEDIT: Sorry it maybe been told in here but is there anyone who knows were i can find this movie Day-O??

Skatergirl,did you also hade that feeling???
You coulde feel there was something between them
and the idear of them rumbeling in the bushes are a
great image of it!!
Definitely some chemistry there--that's one reason I like the ending :) .

Sorry it maybe been told in here but is there anyone who knows were i can find this movie Day-O??
Ah, a long story, indeed (awhile back, my location here was "Still looking for Day-O" ;) ). The movie was originally made for TV and evidently has never been released in any kind of recording. For several years, I followed any lead I could find--contacting any websites that had pictures from it, joining IMDb specifically so I could contact the one person (in Australia) who'd written a review of it. No luck at all. None of the websites knew where the pictures had actually come from, and most or all of them seemed to be promotion pics. The guy in Australia had evidently written the review from watching it on TV (and he didn't record it?! :confused: )

Then Whiteling :k found a videotape from when it had played on TV in Germany. It's not in its original English--it's dubbed in German. But, hey, it's Day-O!! An absolute coup! I don't know of any other EJW site/fan group that's found it! I don't know of anyone, anywhere who's found it! But, aha! No one else has reached the level of international research collaboration of the Faculty :haha: !

VHS is nice, but, of course, it's not the best medium for serious research, as you can't screencap it (well, I can't screencap it--I guess some people with special equipment can). So the tape went from Whiteling to Moondancer :k , who had a way to get it from VHS to DVD, and sent me a copy of the DVD. But it didn't work on my computer! So the movie traveled on to Skater girl :k (not sure if it was VHS or DVD at that point), who was able to make a different type of DVD from it as well as an extremely helpful synopsis of the story in English. She sent a copy of that DVD to me, and it works!!

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/off topic/champagne-resized.jpg

So--Does that answer your question :p ?

The search continues for the movie in its original English. One thing that was suggested here was that the Lifetime channel might show it at some point in the U.S., as it's "their kind of movie," and that a letter-writing campaign might help. I don't have cable, so would again be relying on the kindness of friends :z: to get a copy of it, if such a thing would happen.

But, y'know, a couple of years ago I never thought we'd see Radio Flyer on DVD--and Chain of Fools was only a Fool's Hope. So, who knows? Day-O is sitting in a vault somewhere. It, North and Child in the Night are the only EJW movies not available now on DVD and, IMHO anyway, Day-O is the best of the three. Hey, it could happen. But I don't want to say it too loudly.

--------------

On the same topic--Whiteling, after you watch it again, could you please tell me if I'm right in assuming that Grace thinks Ben could see Day-O at the park even after she realizes that it's not Day-O he's talking about (that question's probably a little clearer on the screencap page). Also, I'm wondering about the "sing-song" poem we hear Day-O say a few times (for example, just before he first appears to young Grace). The rhyming and meter sounds pretty good (as in "untranslated"), and we never see Day-O when he's reciting it. So I'm wondering if it's a poem that's originally in German--some childhood rhyme people in Germany would recognize--rather than a translation of what he says in the original English?

Thanks. (Also, if anyone catches mistakes in my interpretation of what's happening, or in the above saga of the movie ;) , please give corrections. This will continue to be an international research project for some time, methinks. :)

Thank you so much TG!!!! Hope is the one thing
we must holde on too!!! :k :k :k

Well i almost have all Elijahs movies on dvd now!
The only one i is missing is Huck Finn and that one i have on
VHS!!! Oh, and Oliwer Twist and Ash wednesday also on VHS
Some off them with out swedish subtitel but who cares!!! :p :D

Love/wood

: )
On the same topic--Whiteling, after you watch it again, could you please tell me if I'm right in assuming that Grace thinks Ben could see Day-O at the park even after she realizes that it's not Day-O he's talking about (that question's probably a little clearer on the screencap page). Also, I'm wondering about the "sing-song" poem we hear Day-O say a few times (for example, just before he first appears to young Grace). The rhyming and meter sounds pretty good (as in "untranslated"), and we never see Day-O when he's reciting it. So I'm wondering if it's a poem that's originally in German--some childhood rhyme people in Germany would recognize--rather than a translation of what he says in the original English?



I've just watched that section again, and I don't think she does think he could see Day-O in the park. The fact that he can't see Dayo-O sitting on her left at the beginning of the scene, and the way she says at the end 'He's sitting beside you at this very moment' bring me to that conclusion. I didn't put it full enough into the transcription that the confusion comes about because when Grace mentions the name Day-O, her husband thinks Day-O must be an Italian name and queries an italian having blond hair. It is therefore reasonably obvious that he has only seen one guy in the park. I really wish I had the time to do a full English transcription. It is much more fun than trying to translate German articles about arguments over their spelling reforms, and perhaps next summer I can do it, though I'm still hoping it will be out in English on DVD by then.

I too would love to know what the little rhyme was that Day-O sings. Childrens' voices in a foreign language are often more difficult to understand than adults, so I didn't even attempt to translate it, since its effect was fairly obvious without words.

Morning, all,

Just wanted to say thanks to tg for the gorgeous caps of Galadriel's Mirror. That is probably my favorite scene in Fellowship and those closeups of Elijah are just...well...let's just say that I'm grateful to tg for producing so MANY of them, obviously less than seconds apart.... :k

ETA: You know, looking back at it again, I noticed your comment about how he looked younger when gazing into the mirror, than before. I wonder if perhaps those extreme closeups were shot a year later, during pickups, since his cheekbones are much more prominent.

Now i too have seen the caps from Galadriels mirror!!! :)

OH MY GODNESS TG!!!!!!!
I HAVE TOO AGREE WITH ACHILA !!!!!!!THEY ARE ONE OF
MY FAVORITES!!!!!
AND THE WARNING CAME TOO LATE I AM ALREADY LOOST
TOO THIS BEAUTY!!!!! :D

I WISH I COULDE SAVE THEM ALL!!!!!

LOVE/WOOD

On the same topic--Whiteling, after you watch it again, could you please tell me if I'm right in assuming that Grace thinks Ben could see Day-O at the park even after she realizes that it's not Day-O he's talking about (that question's probably a little clearer on the screencap page).

I don't think she does think he could see Day-O in the park. The fact that he can't see Dayo-O sitting on her left at the beginning of the scene, and the way she says at the end 'He's sitting beside you at this very moment' bring me to that conclusion.

Skater girl, I think you are right. Grace doesn't think that her husband's conclusion "Dann hast Du zwei Männer?!" ("So you have two men") is meant as proof that he could see Day-O. She recognises that he's so confused, he just considers everything possible.


Also, I'm wondering about the "sing-song" poem we hear Day-O say a few times (for example, just before he first appears to young Grace). The rhyming and meter sounds pretty good (as in "untranslated"), and we never see Day-O when he's reciting it. So I'm wondering if it's a poem that's originally in German--some childhood rhyme people in Germany would recognize--rather than a translation of what he says in the original English?

No, it's not a common childhood rhyme here in Germany. But it does imitate existing ones very nicely. It's difficult to translate without losing the wit, I'm afraid. Literally translated it is more rude than funny and complete nonsense:
"Ätschibätschi, dumm gelaufen, musst 'n Eimer Jauche saufen!"
"Neener neener neener! Sh*t happens, quaff a bucket of sullage!" :eek:
(Don't try this at home :p )

Simulposted with Whiteling--thanks for the info on the poem. Now I'm even more curious to know what he says in the original English. :lol: When I have a chance, I'll amend the comments on the page about Grace thinking for such a long time that Ben saw Day-O. That is her immediate thought, though, isn't it?

Thanks for the additional info, Skater girl. I'd completely missed the Italian connection. (Typical American remark--There are blond Italians :rolleyes: . Grace and her family--at least on her father's side--are supposed to be Italian in the movie, I believe.)

---------

Glad people are enjoying the Mirror of Galadriel caps :) . I personally put many of them in the "frighteningly beautiful" category. There are a number of things in that scene that make me suspect PJ was concentrating on Frodo's elven nature, as well as on the whole Faërie ambiance, which has the effect of drawing us into a different reality. It's interesting that he said he needed "magic" from whoever was cast as Frodo--I don't know if he was specifically thinking of that bit of elvish blood, but he does seem to realize that Frodo is more than a "mundane" hobbit.

One thing I hadn't gotten until I looked at the caps is that Frodo's fighting against something during his vision of the Eye. I'm curious to see exactly how that segues into his fall backward--but that analysis will have to wait awhile.

Achila--I'd love to see a schedule of when each shot in the LotR movies was done (not each "scene," as we know some scenes were put together from shots done weeks or months apart). It's happened more than once that I'll think Elijah looks particularly young or particularly mature in a certain shot--and then find out it was done at the opposite end of the filming than I had thought.

Hello! Long time since I posted but I hope you remember me anyway. The reason I post is because of that Day-O rhyme thing (and I read all the time..I just don't feel there's any need for me to say anything that doesn't contribute to the discussion. And I usually just don't have anything to say). Anyway, I have a few soundclips from Day-O (including that uber cute Day-O song as well :cool: ) and on one of them he sais a rhyme. It goes like this :

'Too bad, you lose, gotta eat some old shoes'

and then he makes this HAH sound. Could that be the one you are referring to?

Hi, Bohemian :) -- As soon as I saw your name, I hoped you were going to say something about Day-O ;) . IMHO, the poem definitely sounds like a childhood taunt. He says something similar two or three times during the movie, and I don't understand it well enough to know if he's saying the same thing each time. Seems perfectly reasonable that one time he'd say what Whiteling posted, and another time use the line about "old shoes"--that seems to fit exactly what a child would do.

On the "uber cute" Day-O song :D : It didn't hit me until the second time I watched the movie that "Day-O" is sung in English :p , both at the birthday party and in Grace's "karioke moment." Since I'm so used to hearing it in English, it just went over my head. Too bad we didn't get a round of it from Day-O himself; we might have heard Elijah's voice ;) .

ETA: As I mentioned the different scenes there, I got to wondering if it would be helpful to post a kind of "summary" of the movie in screencaps, so everyone would at least know what's being referred to. I wouldn't be able to do it right away, as I'd have to pick up a number of scenes I didn't screencap the first time around. (Maybe I'd find out some of the other things I misunderstood :p .)

Glad I could fulful your hopes then :D and that summary thing would be great as I have never seen Day-O (and probably never will) and would really like to see what it looked like ;)

Hullo Dear Ladies of the Faculty,

I know many of you here are aware of the One Ring Celebration in Pasadena, which takes place in January of '05. I think I mentioned previously that I was to be in the area that weekend, and was really thinking about attending. Well, myself and Alyon have decided to go.

The reason I'm telling you all this, is that we will have the opportunity to pass a little something along to Elijah, a little thank you for being our Frodo. It occured to us that it might be fun to put together a little book for him from the Faculty.

I know people have proposed this sort of thing before but, if I recall correctly the proposals alwasy included the aspect of pointing him to our little corner of the internet. It seems we all found that notion rather uncomfortable, and so the issue would always be tabled.

The other thing that perhaps disturbed some, was that those other proposals always carried the idea of telling Elijah what he means to us. Some objected on the basis that that sort of thing might be embarrassing to him. (At least that's the way I remember the discussions going. Forgive me if i'm mistaken.)

So Alyon and I had a couple of ideas of how to bound this in terms that would be enjoyable for all of us.

1. The "book" or letter would be reflective of the usual intelligent posts we see in here.

2. We would stick to discussing what Frodo means to us, with perhaps the slant of what he means to us at whatever particular stage of life we are at.

3. We would keep the content as anonymous as possible. No references to "The Faculty Lounge," or "khazaddum.com."

4. We would absolutely refrain from any form of swooning. No declarations of undying love for Elijah! ;)

This, of course, does not mean that we cannot personalize our "posts committed to paper." This might mean, for example, that Whiteling will send along one of her wonderful drawings. Or maybe Rikka and Wood and Whiteling would like to put their thoughts in their native tongues, with an english translation included. Maybe TG would like to contribute one of her amazing essays. In other words, it would be like speaking from your heart, and in your own words, to Frodo.

Alyon, if I've mangled our intent, feel free to correct me.

Lurkers, we would also love to have your thoughts!

with much affection and respect for my Faculty friends,

honey!

No, it's not a common childhood rhyme here in Germany. But it does imitate existing ones very nicely. It's difficult to translate without losing the wit, I'm afraid. Literally translated it is more rude than funny and complete nonsense:
"Ätschibätschi, dumm gelaufen, musst 'n Eimer Jauche saufen!"
"Neener neener neener! Sh*t happens, quaff a bucket of sullage!" :eek:
(Don't try this at home :p )

Whiteling - Quaff and Sullage were words I didn't know, so I got my dictionary out and as is often the case, there are several translations of words available. Now I can see the German written down, I would choose slightly different options for Jauche and Saufen to get 'guzzle a bucket of swill'. I don't know if 'guzzle' and 'swill' are used the same meaning throughout the English speaking world, but to me it means eat pig food in a greedy disgusting manner. This is a bit nicer than 'sullage', that I have discovered means filth, refuse, sewage, according to the OED. I think I prefer the 'eating shoes' poem, but obviously that wouldn't rhyme properly when translated literally into German.

Honeyelf - That sounds like a good idea it it turns out as intelligent and tasteful as most of the posts here. If you get to a question and answer session, I'd love to know how the end of Good Son was really filmed.

Now I can see the German written down, I would choose slightly different options for Jauche and Saufen to get 'guzzle a bucket of swill'.

Agreed ;) , thank you. "Guzzle a bucket of swill" sounds really better, although I wouldn't be too enthusiastic to actually try it out :D .

I think I prefer the 'eating shoes' poem

Yep, me too. Thanks, Bohemian! I have to listen to the other taunts again. Couldn't say ad hoc whether they are very different. BTW, Tg, I think, it is Elijah's voice singing the Day-O song during the end credits. Or am I hallucinating?


Honeyelf and Alyon - your idea sounds wonderful! Count me in :k !

COUNT ME IN HONEY!!!

I WILL SE IF I CAN STAY AWAY FROM SWOONING
FOR ELIJAH!!! IT WILL BE HARD BUT I WILL TRY!!
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

JUST KIDDING!!

IT REALY SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT IDEA!! JUST TELL ME AGAIN
DO YOU MEAN WE WILL WRITE DOWN OUR THOUGHTS IN (FOR ME SWEDISH
AND TRANSLATE THEM IN TO ENGLISH?) AM I CORRECT?

AND NO SWOONING??!! :(

OKEY I WILL BEHAIV I PROMISE!!! :k :p :D

LOVE/WOOD

On the "uber cute" Day-O song :D : It didn't hit me until the second time I watched the movie that "Day-O" is sung in English :p , both at the birthday party and in Grace's "karioke moment." Since I'm so used to hearing it in English, it just went over my head. Too bad we didn't get a round of it from Day-O himself; we might have heard Elijah's voice ;) .


However, there IS Day-O in Elijah's voice in North!

HOney:
I know many of you here are aware of the One Ring Celebration in Pasadena, which takes place in January of '05. I think I mentioned previously that I was to be in the area that weekend, and was really thinking about attending. Well, myself and Alyon have decided to go.

Honey and I are going to ORC!! I really waffled on this decision. But the lure of adventure and all. I still don't know if I will only observe from a distance, or march right up with Honey. We have a plan to look like cool sophisticated ladies :p ..this means dark sunglasses, cigarette holders, and of course, berets. :D We will remind each other not to trip over our spiked heels as they drag on the cuffs of our black pants that go with our all black outfits. Anyone have some dark red lipstick? :D :D Oh yes, we can definitely carry this off... :rolleyes:

ETA: Regarding the book. I think she would agree that we are open to suggestion. I don't think it would have to preclude talking about Elijah -- we've had some interesting discussions that I don't think would be "embarrassing," but I don't know. What Elijah brings to Frodo--or Elijah to other roles... all that stuff is open to discussion. I'm sure there is even a very intellectual way to talk about beauty *smirk* (sorry Honey, I've got my toe over the line again:rolleyes: , just use those spiked heeled shoes and step on it!! ;) ) We just want it to represent something beyond a gush, you know?? There will be seven million people ahead of us delivering that message. (and to be fair and give elijah fans their due, I'm sure a whole lot delivering very articulate ones, as well).

Wood: I just ADORE that picture you posted of Elijah with the wardrobe person (?)

Taking a break from general ickiness in my present task to agree with dear Alyon.

Yes, if you really wish to address Stu Simmons, or if poor, benighted Mikey Carver is the Elijah character who really resonates with you, please feel free to write about that.

Wood, Sorry I wasn't so clear in my last post. I was just thinking that maybe those of you for whom English is a second language, might want to write your letter...essay...thing...in both your native tongue, and English. That way Elijah would see that there are many of us all over the world who appreciate his talents. Besides, we know how he appreciates accents! ;)

We have a plan to look like cool sophisticated ladies ..this means dark sunglasses, cigarette holders, and of course, berets. We will remind each other not to trip over our spiked heels as they drag on the cuffs of our black pants that go with our all black outfits. Anyone have some dark red lipstick?

Ah, c'mon Alyon! Do I really hafta wear black? And I just have to veto spike heals for me! I'll be sure to trip and break my neck! Nope, Birkenstocks or maybe Naots, but no spike heels. And don't worry, I'll make sure whatever shoes I wear won't squeak! :p :D

honey!

thank you honey for the explenation!!!


Well honey,if you trip and fall i bet elijah will be there and
catch you in his arms!!!!!

oh, i wish i coulde go with you!!!

love/wood

Please can any of you who have a region 1 DVD of Bumblebee Flies Anyway let me know whether it is a poor quality picture off the DVD compared to other films. I have purchased a supposed multi-region DVD player quite cheap from Amazon, and although it plays my region 2s OK, it seems to have really poor picture on this, my one and only region 1 DVD. My DVD is a Canadian one distributed by Think Film that I got off E-bay, and it says on the back cover 'This film has been modified from its original version. It has been formatted to fit your TV.' Does everyone's copy say this, and is the picture on the front rather grainy? I'm wondering if it is an illegal copy that I have, since it was only $2.99 and doesn't have any inserts with details of scenes etc.

I can't tell whether it is a duff DVD or a duff machine I have that I need to return.

BTW, Tg, I think, it is Elijah's voice singing the Day-O song during the end credits. Or am I hallucinating?
When I was listening to it I thought it might be, but I wasn't sure. IIRC, the only thing I've heard him sing at around that age is "You Are My Sunshine" in Forever Young--not exactly something to judge his voice by :rolleyes: . He's a bit older in North, but if he sings the same song in that it might give a clue--I hang my head in shame :o that I haven't watched North (or Paradise :o ) since the summer before FotR was released, so I forgot that bit.

-----------

Skater girl, I have a Canadian region 1 DVD of Bumblebee, also. It seems to be a decent DVD--I've posted a few pics from it below. I don't have any full screencaps online, but I have some at home if you want to see fuller pictures. I wouldn't call the picture on the front "grainy." I don't remember if it had anything enclosed. I probably should have waited til I got home to write this :rolleyes: .

Mine is full-screen, which means that "formatted to fit your TV" statement would apply. I've never seen a wide-screen version available.

Of course, you can't compare any other DVD to the LotR ones--even the "neutral" people who rate DVDs agree they're the highest quality DVDs that have ever been made. But my Bumblebee one compares favorably to others--better than AW or AIW, actually.

Here are a few caps. These were all done with my "old" DVD software, so might look even a bit better with my new one. I should mention that probably all of them have been "tweaked" a bit on the lighting and sharpness. I don't think that affects their quality much, though:

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/shoulder/cap1995-crop.jpg

http://www.frodolivesin.us/ejw/052eec80.jpg

http://www.frodolivesin.us/ejw/05320c00.jpg

Achila--I'd love to see a schedule of when each shot in the LotR movies was done (not each "scene," as we know some scenes were put together from shots done weeks or months apart). It's happened more than once that I'll think Elijah looks particularly young or particularly mature in a certain shot--and then find out it was done at the opposite end of the filming than I had thought.

Well, the only ones I know for certain that were filmed during pickups are 1) the roast chicken scene in the EE of T2T, 2) the scene with Sam and Frodo in T2T, in Ithilien (?), when Frodo says of Gollum, "I want to help him", and they argue a bit, and 3) (as we all know), the "It's been four years since Weathertop, Sam" scene in Bag End, in ROTK. My guess is that the pickups done for T2T and ROTK are easier to spot than those for Fellowship because they were filmed longer after principal photography ended, and hence, Elijah's face looks significantly different enough to notice.

One of my favorite scenes where you can tell (well, if you're a Faculty member, that is, and are paying super strict attention -- what? YOU DON'T?!) that it's made up of scenes shot at different times during principal photog is the very last one -- Sam and Frodo looking off at Mordor (Mt. Ruapehu car park). As someone says during the commentary (I think it's Sean), the beginning was done earlier on than when Frodo turns around to look at Sam. BUT Frodo's hair is slightly different so we observant Frolijah scholars probably would've noticed anyway!

BUT Frodo's hair is slightly different so we observant Frolijah scholars probably would've noticed anyway!
That one tends to freak me out a bit :eek: .

The ones that really make me wonder are the ones at the Grey Havens. IIRC, they were supposed to have been filmed early on, but I wonder if they were done all at the same time, or if some of them were shot separately? Frolijah doesn't look very young in them, but that might be due in large part to the make-up. He really is made to look ill in that scene.

-----------

A quick note from home about my Bumblebee DVD before I sign off.

--I'd call the picture on the front "artfully grainy," but the lettering is crisp and clear, as are the photos on the back.

--There was nothing enclosed, and IIRC (without putting the DVD into the computer) the only added feature was a set of very brief bios about some of the actors.

--The disk itself is purple and yellow, with a grainy repeat of the cover picture on the purple section.

I did a little hunting and found some "virgin" screencaps I made from the DVD. They've been reformatted from bitmaps to jpegs, but I'm about 95% sure that nothing else has been done to them. I've put them on a page (http://www.frodolivesin.us/Pics/id11.htm)in my "testing" area. I think they look pretty good, except for one representative from a series that--for some reason I can't remember--doesn't come across like the others. As you can tell, it's been awhile since I've done any screencapping work on this movie :rolleyes: .

Hope this helps you figure out what's wrong.

And, oh, yeah, if there happens to be anyone else here who'd like to see a few nice pics of Barney ;) , go ahead and click on the link above. :)

Achila
One of my favorite scenes where you can tell (well, if you're a Faculty member, that is, and are paying super strict attention -- what? YOU DON'T?!)

Semi-delurking. The above comment and recent posts reassure me that I am in the best of company here. :) My favorite *ok! I've watched this too many times* is at the end of Shelob's Lair, after Frodo chokes Gollum, gets up and says, "I have to destroy it ...", notice the cobwebs on his left shoulder, and then when the camera cuts back to him saying, "For both our sakes", the cobwebs are not the same. :D

Back to semi-lurking, actually I've been having a great time over at the Green Dragon playing the quote game.

Enjoy every moment in LA, Honey and Alyon! I would love to be there!! Post pictures, please...

Honey...yes I think some messages of Frodo's effect on our lives is most appropriate
I somehow would like him to know that during the time I was in so much pain while sitting in a hotel room wondering if my husband would survive his surgery I played Fellowship over and over in my laptop...it's really the only thing that allowed me to sleep without dreadful nightmares
The beauty and inspiration of that movie will always be treasured as my little tranquilizer during that difficult time in my life.
Frodo's strength gave me strength.
I really would like him to know how he helped me through the roughest time in my life.
And perhaps we can somehow let him know how we have all found each other...so many people from all corners of the world enjoying his work and in turn enjoying new friendships because of him...certainly there most be a way to let him know this without revealing our message board...done in a truly classy way...without causing him any embarrassment.
I think he would be thrilled to know how much joy he has brought to so many of us. :k

My favorite *ok! I've watched this too many times* is at the end of Shelob's Lair, after Frodo chokes Gollum, gets up and says, "I have to destroy it ...", notice the cobwebs on his left shoulder, and then when the camera cuts back to him saying, "For both our sakes", the cobwebs are not the same.
And there's the frame-flipping in Osgiliath--

http://www.frodolivesin.us/TTT/08d1e530.jpg

Where, during the emotional bit with Faramir, the smudge switches to the other side of Frodo's face, and his brooch is pointing the "wrong" way.

http://www.frodolivesin.us/TTT/13020500.jpg

Disappearing barrels? Hey, we don't need no disappearing barrels :haha: !

--This does bring up a vital research question (although because of the amount of time involved, it would need some serious funding--so I could quit my job :p ). The way I understand it, this frame-flipping is pretty standard in movies. But, especially with Elijah's asymetrical face, does the frame-flipping make a noticeable difference in Frodo's appearance? Could it account for any of the times Frodo looks a bit different than usual?

(Of course, like most things with these movies, this is in the midst of being blown away by how many things they did exactly right :) . I've also spent a good deal of time watching that cut on Frodo's face heal during RotK :p .)

-----------------

I'm thinking about that "book"--What I'd say about Frodo's place in my life is very different from what I'd say about Elijah's. And I'm not sure where the line is between appreciative and syrupy. But I'm thinking about it.

*de-lurks*

TG - I just looked at the pictures you posted. Yes, it is obvious the frame has been flipped when we see Frodo's brooch reversed in the second picture. However, did you notice that Sam's brooch is the "proper" way round (though perhaps upside down)? I wonder what happened there? :confused:


Kumari

*re-lurks*

Oh no, tg! I never noticed that flipping before. I'm really not sure I want to know about such things. :(

I knew about the splicing of the scene at the end of FOTR, the two parts of which were filmed 18 months apart and not in the same place (from what was said in the actors' commentary, I think). But that didn't bother me because it looked so seamless to my eye--it just increased my admiration for the way logistics seemed always at the service of art in these films.

But the brooch, agh.

hallo ladies!!!

Ihave thought all day about how i will
tell Elijah how much Frodo means to me
with out swooning for Elijah!!! :(

Becuse too me Elijah is Frodo and Frodo is Elijah!!
Any one get the pictiúre?? :z:

He has given me so much in his preformens so i don`t know how too tell him?? :(

Maybé someone can help me out!!!! becuse i realy whant him too know
but i think i have too deep feelings for him!!

somebody who can help me out here!!! :z: :z:

love/wood

*de-lurks*

TG - I just looked at the pictures you posted. Yes, it is obvious the frame has been flipped when we see Frodo's brooch reversed in the second picture. However, did you notice that Sam's brooch is the "proper" way round (though perhaps upside down)? I wonder what happened there? :confused:

Sam's brooch is always on the opposite way of Frodo's (and, I'm pretty sure, the rest of the Fellowship, as well). So, when they flip the frame, that's the only time that Sam's is pointing 'the right way.' :)

Wood, perhaps a good way to begin is to just write down what you feel, but set yourself a space limit--a page? Half a page? Then put it away for a couple of days and try not to think about it (hard, I know ;) ).

After a few days, take it out and re-read it, edit it, and maybe read it out loud (when you are alone, of course). If you're satisfied with it, then you're done. If not, let it sit another few days and repeat, but only one more time. Don't drive yourself crazy with it.

What do you think?

It seems to me the important thing (always) is to let some time go by so you can get a little perspective on what you write. It helps you evaluate it, I think.

Good luck! :)

Sam's brooch is always on the opposite way of Frodo's (and, I'm pretty sure, the rest of the Fellowship, as well). So, when they flip the frame, that's the only time that Sam's is pointing 'the right way.' :)

In last month's LOTR fan club magazine, someone asked this as a question in the letters to the editor. No one appeared to have a good answer, and I've never heard anyone say why it is, exactly, that only Sam's brooch points in that direction. I do remember the boys saying that when they were running and jumping around, the brooch would come up and stab them in the throat at times, so perhaps Sean's was moved to stay out of the way of his chin(s)? :)

Sam's brooch is always on the opposite way of Frodo's (and, I'm pretty sure, the rest of the Fellowship, as well). So, when they flip the frame, that's the only time that Sam's is pointing 'the right way.' :)

Well, you knew I'd have to check that one out :p !

This one isn't the clearest of Sam's brooch, but it's the first one I could find of the two of them together (except for another flipped shot, which I happened to see first but refrained from using for Flourish's sake :) .) Sean's not lefthanded by any chance, is he? As a lefty myself, I know I often put things with clasps, etc., on opposite of righties, just because they're easier to operate that way. In fact, as I think about it right now, when I'm wearing my Fellowship brooch horizontally I do wear it like Sam's (pointing toward my left). I'd never really thought about it before.

http://www.frodolivesin.us/TTT/15ace2d0.jpg

I'd read about the brooch clue for the flipped shots, but it's the face smudge I notice the most in the Osgiliath one. You can also see that the little "rise" of Elijah's upper lip has changed sides. Sometimes it's possible to tell from his eyes, but they're pretty symmetrical in the Osgiliath shot--and I don't see the permanent crease (which I noticed in some Day-O caps, so we know he's had it quite a while, if not his entire life).

(except for another flipped shot, which I happened to see first but refrained from using for Flourish's sake .)

tg, my humble thanks! :D :k

Thank You So Much For The Tip!! Flourish !!!!!!!

Love/wood

For TG, Wood, Ylla and anyone else who is considering what they might write for our "book" to Elijah:

Don't worry about the line...between appreciative and syrupy Don't even worry about ...Elijah is Frodo and Frodo is Elijah!! sorting one from the other!

For me (I think I speak for Alyon too) the important thing is conveying my gratitude to Elijah for his portrayal of Frodo. So just write what you feel. It may be that the only gesture of gratitude from us that Elijah will have is when we hand him the book, telling him it represents alot of us....wiser ;) fans. Because he'll be recieving tons of little notes and things, and honestly he may never even peak into ours! But still, he'll know we loved his work, and we'll have conveyed our love to him. (But I do promise you this; I'll make every effort - as a sort of artistic person myself - to make the book intriguing looking. Maybe pocket sized would be good, too! If he can slip it into his pocket, maybe just maybe, he'll open it! And be captivated by our collective wit and wisdom! :) )

Having said that, here's what I think my entry will look like. It's not great, and I'm not sure it answers the question of what Frodo means to me, but it's from my heart.

Dear Elijah,

One of my favorite scenes in “Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring” is a quiet one. Frodo has been reunited with his dear Uncle Bilbo in Rivendell, and is looking at the Red Book. “I spent all of my childhood in the Shire pretending I was somewhere else,” Frodo says, “off on one of your adventures.” The smile slips from his face as he reflects, and then heartbrokenly adds, “My own adventure turned out to be quite different. I’m not like you, Bilbo.”

I think this scene is utter brilliance, because it exactly describes how I felt the first time I saw “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring.” I already loved Bilbo Baggins (I’d got round to reading that book at least!) Bilbo had humor, wit, a resourceful nature, and a sense of justice; I adored him. But almost immediately he up and vanishes, leaving behind his nephew, Frodo Baggins, who seems but poor substitute.

So there is Frodo sitting next to his uncle, feeling quite inadequate it seems. And I was sitting there in the audience rather agreeing! After all, Frodo has managed to put the Ring on though warned not to, get himself stabbed by Nazgul, and nearly die! He’s not like Bilbo in the least.

Which made it all the more magical when I, along with Sam, came to love him. His nobility of spirit begins to shine forth as his struggle becomes greater, and he begins to understand the true nature of the Ring.

And, dear Elijah, you made it so easy to fall in love with Frodo! You became the glass through which Frodo's light is shown. Your talent and expressivity as an actor allowed me a glimpse at Frodo’s heart. And with nary an extraneous word! Your very lovely face showed every emotion, tempered with Frodo’s beauty of spirit.

For that, for getting me to read the books, for the unique beauty you brought to Frodo, I will ever and always be your fan!

With much love, and prayers,

Pamela

Hallo Elijah!!

I`m writing this letter becuse i want you to know how much
your potrayel of Frodo has effected me.And many others around the world.
I first read the books when i was around 17-years old and then i was stuck.
Since then i i have been reading them many times.When i have read,i have becomecloser too each caracter.But espacelly Frodo.I realy was hurting with him,wanted too help him and for me he is the true hero of the story and the movies.It was he who supose to save The ´Shire,it was he who was saving his fiends it was he who has to sacrefice his soul.

Your acting and beautiful face and beautiful potrayel off Frodo made it possible.I can`t find any other actor who coulde have done that!!!
Your eyes,your face your buddylanguage shows the audiens exactly what
Frodo whent throu.I want you too know how much it meant too me to see Frodo come to life infront of me,something i diden`t belive was possible.

You energi ,your way with fans your magical way of acting made me be
very fond of you as a person!!You are spredding so much happinesand your positive energie makes other feel better!!

I hope by this letter you will understand how much you means by just beeing your self.
I always and for ever will be a fan of you!!
I wish you all the happines in the world for you!!!!!

Lots of love from Sweden
(Lena)



So what do you think?????????
I have it in swedish too!!!


love/wood

That's very sweet, Wood! I Love the way your accent comes through when you write! It's just adorable! :k :)

But if you ladies want you can just send your messages in PMs!

honey!

thank you Honeyelf!!!

I think yours was beautiful and very sweet!!!

How do you mean my accent shines trou?

love/wood

You write the way you probably speak english. Just little quirks of tense, and spelling that make your "voice" unique. I have a friend from Russia who's accent is rather heavy, but charmingly so. You spell things idiosyncratically, with vowel sounds that "read" like my friend's accent. I don't want to make you self-concious about it though, because it makes you unique and very charming.

honey!

thanks honey elf!!!

it makes me feel more selfsecure!!

love/wood

I did a little hunting and found some "virgin" screencaps I made from the DVD. They've been reformatted from bitmaps to jpegs, but I'm about 95% sure that nothing else has been done to them. I've put them on a page (http://www.frodolivesin.us/Pics/id11.htm)in my "testing" area. I think they look pretty good, except for one representative from a series that--for some reason I can't remember--doesn't come across like the others. As you can tell, it's been awhile since I've done any screencapping work on this movie :rolleyes: .

Hope this helps you figure out what's wrong.


Thanks for the help tg. It appeared the DVD was legitimate, so hubby took a good look at the player and changed some settings. It now plays great, and if I tweak the settings further, I get a brilliance of colour to the pictures that I am not sure should even be there when I compare it to your screencaps and my NTSC video version. Somehow, this film needs to be rather dull and grey to keep the atmosphere right.

The disintigrating picture you showed on your site is about what I was getting with the DVD last night.

Honeyelf and Alyon- when do you need the letters by? It will take me a few days to really write something I feel right about.

HoneyElf
One of my favorite scenes in “Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring” is a quiet one. Frodo has been reunited with his dear Uncle Bilbo in Rivendell, and is looking at the Red Book. “I spent all of my childhood in the Shire pretending I was somewhere else,” Frodo says, “off on one of your adventures.” The smile slips from his face as he reflects, and then heartbrokenly adds, “My own adventure turned out to be quite different. I’m not like you, Bilbo.”
As I listened and watched Howard Shore conduct the Seattle Symphony, I was greatly anticipating the Mines of Moria as he entered Dwarrowdelf and I expected to cry when he reached the Grey Havens. Little did I know, that when he reached Rivendell and this particular moment, that I would have the first tears in my eyes. I was surprised but I didn't really know why...

Now I do. You describe this scene and the explanation in your letter just perfectly.

As for myself, I'm not a good writer but I do know what's in my heart. I will always cherish Frodo/Elijah except I'll keep it semi-private. Can I still share with you all, The Faculty?

Gosh...just in for a quick visit before I dash off again. So many fantastic things to do, so little time.

I'll never be able to catch up once I take the time to sit down and read a bit of your posts (I have two weeks off soon) :( :(

But I did have a look at the last posts:
Honeyelf, I love the idea. Could I join the project with a couple of words in Flemish? I'm not the best writer (to say the least) but I'd love to try.
Trouble is: do you need the letters really soon or could I write it at the end of this month (in between the many festivities). If not...no problem.

SPREAD THE WORD!
There are still 200 spaces left for Sean Astin's booksigning on Wednesday,
Dec. 8th! Tickets are NOT available at the door, but I believe they can
be put on a Will Call. Not sure. Call University Bookstore (# below).
Best bet is to GO TO a U. Bookstore branch.

DETAILS:
7pm at Town Hall
"There and Back Again: An Actor's Tale" (ST.MARTIN'S PRESS)
Reading & Book Signing
Town Hall, 1119 8th Avenue, Seattle

TICKETS:
Available exclusively at University Book Store and are free with the
purchase of "There and Back Again"; otherwise tickets are $5. Seating is
limited.

DIRECTIONS:
http://www.townhallseattle.com/directionsAndParking.cfm

Call 206/634-3400 or visit a University Bookstore for more information.

"The Lord of the Rings star Sean Astin (Samwise Gamgee) reflects on his
film career and the movies that changed his life. Astin, the son of Patty
Duke and John Astin, made his film debut at the age of 13 in the 1980s
classic Goonies. He may look young, but Sean Astin is a Hollywood veteran.
In There and Back Again, he takes readers on his journey as an actor from
child star to the 18 months he spent playing devoted friend and guide to
Frodo Baggins in the massively popular Lord of the Rings movies."

GUIDELINES:
Sean will sign one Lord of the Rings movie-related book or dvd for every
copy of There and Back Again
No posed photographs
No personalizations
Sean will only sign books; he is unable to sign memorabilia.
Signing guidelines are subject to change.

_________________

If anyone needs help getting tickets, please let me know ASAP!

EvFrodo

Shelbyshire said:
As for myself, I'm not a good writer but I do know what's in my heart. I will always cherish Frodo/Elijah except I'll keep it semi-private. Can I still share with you all, The Faculty?

I'd love to hear your thoughts. That's what we do best here; kind of a post-Ring group therapy! :lol:

Honeyelf, I love the idea. Could I join the project with a couple of words in Flemish? I'm not the best writer (to say the least) but I'd love to try.

Alyon and I would love to have as many of you as wish to be included in the book.

Moondancer and Wood, Rikka and Whiteling too; I thought it would be kind of cool if we included your letters in both languages. Maybe we can have the English and Flemish/Swedish/Russian/German lines altenating, and in different colors of ink?

Honeyelf and Alyon- when do you need the letters by? It will take me a few days to really write something I feel right about.

I'd like to have the letters no later than December 25th. That would give me a couple of weeks to get them into a book.

this is fun!

honey!

Gosh it's quiet. Is everyone writing their letters, then? ;)

I've been wondering what will be done with the fees collected for autograph and photo opportunities at the TORn meet. Does anyone know? (If this was posted at TORn already I apologize for overlooking it.) Thanks.

I've been wondering what will be done with the fees collected for autograph and photo opportunities at the TORn meet. Does anyone know? (If this was posted at TORn already I apologize for overlooking it.) Thanks.
I expect that it will go into Creation Entertainment's money-grubbing little hands. :rolleyes: I've never been to one of their conventions, but their motto seems to be 'make the fans pay through the nose'. So to speak, of course. ;) Case in point: they added a 'Celebrity Brunch and Auction' to the event list yesterday, open to anyone who wants to pay yet another $65 on top of what they're already dishing out. :eek:

I'm curious about how much the actual celebrities get out of this. It would have to be enough to make it worth their time and effort. But I think that the $60 for a photo op and another $60 for an autograph (for Elijah) is much higher at this con than it was at, say, Collectormania4 a year ago, where you could get both for around $44 (US). But that, of course, was run by a different company.

Will it be worth the $120 to get that close to Elwood two times in one weekend? Oh... I expect so. :D

Thanks for the info, BunnieBugs. That's about what I spent to join the Film Society of Lincoln Center and go to the Trilogy screening here in NYC (with my two kids) last year, which Elijah, Sean, and Andy attended, along with Bernard Hill. We're still shivering with delight even though we didn't get to meet any of them. So I can understand the cost-benefit tradeoff if you don't have to pay for travel and hotel etc.

But I was hoping to hear that the celebs are donating their proceeds to a charity, since they surely don't need the bucks--? And those are BIG bucks.

If anyone should hear anything about this during or after the convention I hope they'll remember to come back and post.

Bugs says:Will it be worth the $120 to get that close to Elwood two times in one weekend? Oh... I expect so.

Well, Alyon and I are only going to encounter El Senor Wood once. We're kinda doin' this on the cheap. As much as it's possible to do it on the cheap. We're really excited that we'll get to attend one of those panel events.

Somehow I doubt "Whatcha gonna do with the bucks?" will be an appropriate question in the Q&A though! ;) Not that I hadn't wondered myself. I'll keep my eyes peeled for info.

Gosh it's quiet. Is everyone writing their letters, then? ;)

I feel a little guilty, like I've disrupted all the lovely conservation of the last several days. :(

My husband and I have joined the 21st century, and signed up for NetFlicks! What does an Elwood enthusiast do when choosing DVDs to borrow? She orders all the ones she hasn't been able to find in her local vid place. Nope, wait, that's a lie. I didn't order TAMTSNBN! :rolleyes:

But "Black & White" is here, and I'll get around to watching it inthe next few days. Do I get extra points if I watch it all the way through? Is the resultant loss of IQ worth the extra points? Somehow I suspect the nicest part of the whole experience will be sealing the disk back in it's litte envelope and putting in the mail slot. There! I've set my expectations nice and low; maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised! :) :haha:

honey!

But I was hoping to hear that the celebs are donating their proceeds to a charity, since they surely don't need the bucks--?
It wouldn't surprise me at all to find that the 'well-off' celebrity guests do indeed donate their share to the charity of their choice, :cool: but I don't know how one would find that out unless they volunteered the information.

And those are BIG bucks.

And that's not counting whatever money was spent (upwards of hundreds of dollars) for tickets to the event itself, accomodations, travel expenses, etc. So, yes -- a very expensive proposition, indeed. Loads of fun, though! :)

:::: dashing in, running wildly around in circles waving hands in air ::::


Gosh it's quiet. Is everyone writing their letters, then?

Oh, brother. Have I fallen that far behind?!? What the heck are these letters?!? :::: diving headfirst into stack of papers on desk as pencils, pens, mugs, papers, and books go flying everywhere ::::

For anyone going to Sean's book-signing, since you can't hug him in person, give him a big mental hug from me, willya? ;)

Any news on The One Lad's next project? Seems like he's been awfully quiet lately. Something he said in some interview (I have *no* hope of remembering where or when I read it) implied (to me) that he's not getting as many good scripts. Is that true? I hope not!!! Any news about his next movie?

:::: tripping over Rikka's foot while rushing back out the door to work and turning cartwheels to recover ::::

~grumpy (are we getting a new "Lost" tonight?)

are we getting a new "Lost" tonight?

*yells out after grumpy*

"Yes!" :D

Must be a lot of letter-writing going on ;) -- I started a post a few hours ago and had to abandon it for work :rolleyes: , but nothing's been added in the meantime.
But "Black & White" is here, and I'll get around to watching it inthe next few days. Do I get extra points if I watch it all the way through? Is the resultant loss of IQ worth the extra points? Somehow I suspect the nicest part of the whole experience will be sealing the disk back in it's litte envelope and putting in the mail slot. There! I've set my expectations nice and low; maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised!

Some general thoughts on B&W that give away the tone but not what happens:




I'm a bit of a "voice in the wilderness" in this group regarding Black and White. I don't enjoy it or like it, but IMHO that's exactly the point, so I think the movie ends up doing what it aims for--showing a revolting, violent (in more ways than one), brutal, and hopeless angle on life. The human race is a dangerous group to be part of, and human beings not only don't do anything about changing it, but would rather have it that way.

By the end of it, you'll probably still have all your brain cells, but may wish you didn't... If you are surprised, "pleasantly" might not be the word that comes to mind. The only part of the movie* that I consider having any resemblance to entertainment is Robert Downey Jr.--his character and his acting (much of which is completely ad lib, but saying too much about that would definitely be a spoiler).

And if you're emotionally pulling for Elijah to do a good acting job, that may be another source of pain :( . He made this movie not too long after The Ice Storm, which was about the time he decided he wanted to get serious about his acting, IIRC, and I really do applaud him for trying something so foreign to him (improvisation), but it's very obvious that it is foreign to him. This is the movie that convinced me Elijah should swear off improvisational acting for life, but I'm glad ESOTSM proved me wrong--from what he's said, he got support and encouragement from others working on ESOTSM, which seems to have made all the difference in the world. In B&W, they seem to have left him to sink or swim on his own, and he was just too young and inexperienced (in both acting and life, IMVHO) to pull it off.* Thankfully, it's a small role.

-------------

*Not counting the closing credits, of course ;) .

I would only add one thing to tg's assessment of Elijah's performance in Black and White -- my feeling was that the idea of whites appropriating black culture was utterly foreign to him. He seemed uncomfortable with the speech, the clothes, the whole shebang -- he was completely out of his element.

I watched B&W this afternoon. I like your assessment of it, TG
I don't enjoy it or like it, but IMHO that's exactly the point, so I think the movie ends up doing what it aims for--showing a revolting, violent (in more ways than one), brutal, and hopeless angle on life.
But I wonder what the point of showing that part of life would be?

And Elijah's part was pitiful; a doorstop might have done as well cast as Wren! He just seemed like he was holding his chunk of sidewalk down, and that was about it! What a waste of talent! And not just him either.

I ended up fast forwarding through a lot of it. It was just too unpleasant to watch, and listen to! :eek: I think one of the things that bothered me most about the film, was watching all these self-important people standing around saying nothing in some unrecognizable dialect that was comprised of 80% swear words! Even the bits of dialogue that weren't so ridden with foul language were stilted and artificial. One exchange that was just driving me mad was the one with Brooke Shields and her old school friend on the ferry.

Can you tell I didn't like it much? :rolleyes:

I'm looking forward to "Lost" tonight.

Achilla, could you pass that bottle of brain bleach down here, please? ;)

on another topic:
Oh, brother. Have I fallen that far behind?!? What the heck are these letters?!?
ZK, some of us are contributing pages to a little "book" from the Faculty to Elijah. Alyon and I are planning to go to ORC (The One Ring Celebration) in January, and will give it to him then. If you want to know more, page back a couple of pages, it's at post #522. We'd love to have you contribute. Your entry can be humorous if you like; that would be very :cool: !

honey!

Hi all

I'm on my way out the door in a few minutes to go see Sean at our Town Hall tonight. I'll have to tape LOST, as I have become very attached to Dom's character. Two hobbits for me on one wednesday night.

I'll let you know how it all goes, and also recap a mini interview with Sean from our local paper this morning.


Letters, Grumpy. See back a page or two and get at it!!

Letters for Lij :D

Achilla, could you pass that bottle of brain bleach down here, please? ;)

Coming right up. I actually rented B&W again recently just to listen to the director's commentary. Don't bother. Talk about self-important claptrap. It made Ed Burns seem humble. But I did have to laugh when James Toback calls Mike Tyson a genius. Is it any wonder the film turned out the way it did?

B&W spoilery stuff

Still thinking about that stupid movie, and Elijah's leaden performance in it. I can't believe he was out-acted by Bijou Phillips; at least she had the head-wagging attitude, and the patois down well enough! When Wren delivered his "Oh, yeah! Will; he's the real nigga!" he sounded utterly ridiculous. I think you're right, Achila, when you say:
my feeling was that the idea of whites appropriating black culture was utterly foreign to him. He seemed uncomfortable with the speech, the clothes, the whole shebang -- he was completely out of his element.

His only half-way genuine moment was his little speach during the class discussion on identity. And that was almost embarrassingly earnest somehow.

I'd had the treat :rolleyes: at the end of the film spoiled for me sometime ago, (by a poster on TORC who had rented the video just to watch the credits! :lol: ) So I kept watching Brooke Shields' documentarian character to try and figure out what she saw in Wren. He wasn't convincingly knowledgeable about the culture she was documenting, so it wasn't street smarts, or even swagger that drew her interest. Nor did he even seem to have much to say. The only particular attention paid was when she kept the camera on him the whole time in the scene at the park. I can only conclude that she thouhgt he was a pretty little thing! ;)

end spoilery stuff

OK, sorry just had to get that out! ::honey! uses achila's bottle of brain bleach::

Alyon can't wait to hear what Seanwise had to say!

honey!

HI there!!

Just got back from seeing Sean do a Q and A and book signing. I will have to write more tomorrow night when I get home from work, because minutes from now SOMEONE still needs to finish homework on this computer!! (it will be a late night because of our Sean date ;) )

I will say that he was charming. He didn't really ahve any talk prepared so after goofing around a little he took some questions. His wife and daughters were in attendence, so prior to questions his kids came on stage and he sang a little ditty with them..and somewhere in the middle Ally also came onstage so that he could demonstrate the "fireman's carry", when someone asked how he carried Frodo up the mountain.
The first question he took he talked on and on --it was about how he collaborated with the co-writer. He took it from when he had the idea through every little step until he finally answered. He did say that Joe didn't offer criticism, so he was on his own there.

He said after going through so much of the process he had Christine read it and she came to him and said, "weren't we married during this time?? Wasn't I with you when you auditioned?? Didn't I go through this with you?? How come I'm not mentioned?" oops...he said then he started to worry --"god help me when my dad, my brother, my mom and elijah read this" Who did I leave out? He said the timing was right in the Market so he just wanted to get it out and not spend too much time thinking about it . He said I trust I have a good heart--if there are hurt feelings, or I got something wrong, I hoped it would open a conversation with the person I was talking about.

He said Joe Layden the co-author came back at one point with the theme that he is Rudy. this book will be like his life is Rudy.

He said he purged a lot--but it was liberating --and a watershed for him and since writing it he hasn't been subject to the same thought patterns...

After answering about three questions the moderator said they only should take about three more (his answers had been long). There were lots of people in line to ask questions and he answered actually about ten more. he started taking them all from children. (oh, and several adult questions were about the Goonies). One very little girl said thank you (with the help of her mom)--and she said she loves Frodo. Sean says in a sweet voice "I love Frodo, too." And then he went and hugged her. Another young boy had already asked for a hug.

But not much actor sort of talk. Someone asked him who he thought was better looking, Dom or Billy (someone in the audience piped up ELIJAH!). Sean said, Billy.

When I got to the book signing part, I thanked him for working for Kerry (yes, HOney, I had your book signed), and he sighed and said, "at least we won this state."

Okay for now. Computer now gets turned over to real work. School homework.

I'll see what else tomorrow.
:)

Thanks, Alyon, for taking the time to post that at what must have been a very late hour.

I can't help drawing from Sean's remarks some confirmation of the idea that he wrote the book as a kind of private or personal therapy rather than as a tribute to or memoir of the LOTR filmmaking process--and especially not as a treat for the fans.

That it was OK to rush it out without thinking about it, even if he "got something wrong," sounds sadly mercenary. That "something wrong" that he was willing to risk is now in print forever, but not the corrective "conversations" he hopes to have.

"God help me when my dad, my brother, my mom and Elijah read this" is really embarrassing to hear.

Brain bleach for Black and White viewers. :rolleyes:
Smelling salts for Lost viewers. :eek:

BTW--Achila, I like the "brain bleach" idea for B&W. My experience with the movie, too, wasn't that it took anything out of my brain, but that it added stuff I'd rather not have there. :(

Honey--I'd always assumed the "moment" during the credits was Elijah and Brooke, not Wren and [what's her name?]. Goofing around between takes. Don't know what others thought :confused: ? Not that I think there was actually something going on between the two of them (although we do know Brooke gave Elijah her telephone number--and that he didn't use it ;) ).

Alyon, thanks for the report on Sean's remarks. It sounds as if he gave answers to most of the questions we've been wondering about here. When you have a chance--and computer time ;) --could you mention whether he said more about working with the co-author? Thanks again. :k

More on Sean

I forgot last night to say that someone in the audience asked him to sing, he asked, what should I sing? Someone brought up that it was Dom's birthday--and he said something like, oh yeah--and so he sang Happy Birthday to Dominic. And made some comment about Dom likely having a good time in Hawaii.
TgShaw:
Alyon, thanks for the report on Sean's remarks. It sounds as if he gave answers to most of the questions we've been wondering about here. When you have a chance--and computer time --could you mention whether he said more about working with the co-author?

I took notes so I've tried to be as accurate as possible, but he talks faster than I write-- if EvFrodo has any corrections, go right ahead!!

Sean said that he wanted a co-author because otherwise he had so many things going that he wouldn't be able to focus and really get it done. He wanted a book that was really in the class of historical, or reference, or film theory guides for actors. He had a lot of experience and feelings about Hollywood and the profession and he wanted to have something that would be useful to others (I am totally paraphrasing here)

He said he first told his manager he wanted to write a book--then they contacted a NY literary agent. He wanted something out fairly quickly---especially because it would be the first time in years there wouldn't be a LotR movie for people to look forward to (here he plugged the coming release of the EE RotK). Anyway he was sent the name of Joe Layden (who had written another book called, if I wrote this down right-- Smile as Big as the Moon).

Anyhow, Sean said basically Joe (I think he said over the phone) started by asking a question about lotr, and then Sean just started at the beginning of his life and talked for hours. He said he just basically would talk and Joe would take it down--I assume record it. He said that Joe didn't feel it was his place to offer constructive criticism, so that was all on Sean. He would be sent drafts and if there would be parts that he didn't feel captured his voice he would change it (or maybe have it changed, not sure).

At this point in the narration is where he sheepishly brought up the comments from Christine that I had mentioned before.

As I said before, he said he needed to purge, and that he has been sort of liberated from that kind of thought pattern ever since.

In the newspaper earlier he was asked about the timing, as apparently one reviewer said he was too young for memoirs--and Sean said it was about servicing the marketplace, and this was the time it would sell.
"And I wanted to service the marketplace, if you want to put it in coarse monetary terms, and communicate with people in a way. People will wait in line for two or three hours, for a moment, so you want to honor that. You know, the last two years, I've done something I've never done throughout my enitre professional life. I've never really communicated with the audience..But now I sort of have."
Apparently there was a lot of interest in the book--about 10 publishers meeting with him.

He is now writing a book on citizenship and political thinking.

I'll find the link to the wed Seattle Post Intelligencer article if I find it online and figure out how to do that. At the moment, I find that my husband has perhaps taken page two of the article and put it in recycling. I must go dig for Sean.

It was a nice evening with a very supportive crowd. :)

Again a quick dash in and out of the Faculty. :)

A couple of random thoughts:

- I refuse to watch B&W. I've heard too many bad reviews.


- The extended LOTR:ROTK DVD comes out today here! I'm going to see if I can find it today or else on monday.
:)

- John Howe, well known to you guys of course, is working on a project about Bruges, the very, very beautiful Belgian city.
The project is called 'The Abandoned City' and John has made the illustrations for it.
Have a look at some of the examples:http://www.john-howe.com/news/more.php?id=104_0_1_0_C
http://www.john-howe.com/images/news/Belfry-illus-port.jpg

- My favorite from the Belgian Idols show has reached the final (it's on sunday). I feel like a teenager but I'm very happy about it. :)

HALLO ALL!!


ROTK WILL COME OUT TODAY HERE TOO!!!!!!!!! :D

I HAVE PRE-ORDER IT MONTH AGO AND WAS EXPECTING IT IN THE MAIL!!!

GUESS WHAT?? IT DIDEN`T COME :confused: :confused:
SO NOW I GUESS I HAVE TOO WAIT UNTILL MONDAY!!!!!! :confused: :( :eek:

THANKS FOR THE SEAN-BIT ALYON!!! ;)


LOVE YOU ALL/WOOD

Ohhh, poor Americans. We have to wait until Tuesday for the ROTK-EE. Sigh.

About the final kissing scene in B&W--in the director's commentary, James Toback (is that his name? all of a sudden I'm not sure. Anyway, it was the director) said that he paired them in the epilogue just to be sort of shocking. Their height difference, which he mentions specifically, and their age difference, would make a great visual image. That was also why he had them "tongue kiss" so flagrantly. It was the sort of image that was thematic to the movie--opposites coming together (opposites in race, culture, gender preference, etc.). There is a bit of a mirroring effect with the opening image in Central Park, which I cannot describe on this family friendly board. ;)

Moondancer, I can honestly say you are not missing much. The only "good" part of the film is how Mike Tyson inadvertantly points out how his image is so damaging to his culture--his tactics, both in and out of the ring, advocate violence, but when one of the characters in the film approaches him about a situation, he first advocates violence to solve it, and then pulls back, realizing the ramifications of violence to the ordinary man.

I think that is why Toback refers to Mike Tyson's genius--not that Tyson is a genius, but that is performance quite naturally comes right to the heart of much of what Toback is trying to say with his film.

Personally, I think the topic of the film--the idolization of black culture by white suburban kids and white intellectuals--was much more interesting than the film itself.

I also thought Toback was hinting, with that final kissing scene, that Wood's character was emblematic of white culture--emaculated in the presence of the super-sexual hip-hop culture. I mean, Wood's stint in the park is pretty tame compared to Bijou's opening scene. Then when Wren tracks his girlfriend to her other boyfriend's house, he is ineffectual in getting her to choose him, but then he accepts it and stays around anyway. Finally, he ends up with the woman who has a penchant for falling in love with gay men. And she certainly seems to be controlling the final make-out session.

For our purposes, that may explain why Wood's performance was lackluster--he meant to do it that way, or was directed to. Of course, even if that isn't true, Wood ought to claim it is. I've learned this lesson from my cats--when you mess up, pretend you meant to do it that way and then it's called innovative (instead of a mistake). ;)

GUESS WHAT ??? THE POST-OFFICE CALLED ANE TOLD
ME THERE HAVE A MISSTAKE,MY MOVIE WAS LAYING IN
THE OFFICE!!!!!!! :D :D :D :D

i HAVE A SNEAKPIK AT THE EXTRAMATERIAL!!!!!

BIG SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





JUST LET ME TELL YOU THIS WHEN YOU ARE LOOKING
AT THE LAST DISC AND THEY ARE SHOWING VIGGOS
AND ELIJAHS LAST TAKES BRING A BIG AET OF HANDCACHIFES
WITH YOU!!!! I ALMOST CRY THE HEART OUT OF ME!!!!!


AND OF SPOILERS!!!!!

TONIGHT I WILL LOOK AT THE HOLE MOVIE!!!
I WILL BE THINKING OF ALL OF YOU WHEN I WATCH!!!

LOVE YOU ALL VERY MUCH/WOOD

Not to make my American friends jealous...
...wait a minute, who am I kidding here?
I'm enjoying this! :p

I HAVE THE DVD's!:D

The Easter Egg with the interview with Elijah and Dom is so brilliant and so hilarious...the interaction between them is fantastic.

Eresh, thanks for your comments on B&W. Mr. Toback's comments were "helpful" in understanding what I saw. :rolleyes:

TG, I thought that the little vignettes in the credits were a continuation of the story. So that would have been Wren and the documentarian kissing, not Wood and Shields (ick). And it would fit, that the stories continued on beyond the movie, since what plot there was didn't really have a conclusion. Also, Rob Lowe's gay character had left her for the school teacher, right?

Can't believe I'm thinking about that stupid movie still. ::honey! looks at the bottle of brain bleach...not much left :eek: ::

Alyon, thanks for the report on Sean's appearence in Seattle. It sounds like he may have got something positive out of the book-writing experience, if he really does think his thought patterns have changed. It's just that people usually impose those sort of painful admissions on their therapist...whom they pay for the service :rolleyes:

Moondancer, Not to make my American friends jealous... :p :D :rolleyes: :p :D :D :rolleyes: :rolleyes: :p :rolleyes: :D :p

I'm green with envy!

honey!

B&W is one of the movies I bought back in the primeval days before I had a DVD drive, so I've seen it only on VHS and haven't heard the director's comments. I suppose I should do that.

Alyon and I think it would also be fun to include a few choice Faculty posts in our little book for Elijah. Anything particularly erudite, insightful, or even just plain funny would be appropriate. So we thought we'd ask you ladies if you have any past posts you'd like to suggest. Perhaps you have something squirreled away on your hard drive?

Of course we'd ask the original author's permission before including anything in the project. And anything that might give away any identities would be removed.

begging your indulgence once again,
honey!

The Easter Egg with the interview with Elijah and Dom is so brilliant and so hilarious...the interaction between them is fantastic.

OUCH! My belly hurts from laughing... :lol:
Those questions! That accent ( :rolleyes: that makes me thinking of how I'd sound to English ears :o ;) :D )!
Sorry, dear Americans, I just had to get this off my chest :k

You are all so very mean.... :( But I suppose we had it coming, considering how many things we get before you guys do! (I'm kidding, of course -- thrilled to see that everyone's enjoying themselves -- and I'm NOT looking at the clips of the easter egg...I'm not looking at the clips of the easter egg...I'm gonna watch FOTR again tonight on TNT....I'm gonna....hey -- like my mantra??!)

For those in the States still pondering who has the best price, it appears to be Wal-Mart.

Sorry guys,
didn't mean to be so mean
soon shall end your time of lean
Americans, hang in there please
I really want your pain to ease
And therefore to make amends -

a little screencap for my friends:


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/whiteling/elwood_dom_interview.jpg

:)

...De-lurking

I'm in the UK, and I have the collector's edition ROTK EE DVD!!! :)

It's here - in our house! :)

But it's my Christmas present from hubby, and he's wrapped it up in about 10 layers of paper and confiscated it! :( I get the feeling he just doesn't trust me. :rolleyes:

So, I can't watch it until Christmas Day! :mad:

You see, you American ladies are luckier than you think! :D

I will lurk in here and read all your thoughts with interest, not to mention ENVY.


OUCH! My belly hurts from laughing...

That easter egg interview is far beyond hilarious. I laughed till I cried

I think that Easter Egg will be number one on the agenda for me, Whiteling and Maeg. Thanks for the screencap, Whiteling. He makes me smile. :)

Btw, Maeg, I'm so sorry I missed your birthday a couple of weeks ago. I hope you had a lovely day anyway.

Moondancer - that Jon Howe book on Bruges looks really beautiful. And congratulations on your favourite reching the final. :) We have a similar show on here at the moment, and my favourite group have reached the final, too. It's tonight!

Re-lurking...

Blossom, good to see you :k !

I didn't have anything else to add, but in doing a "click for Moggy" I ran across this pic that I thought some here might enjoy :p . It's on a t-shirt you can buy at e-bay:

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/Artwork/f9_1_b.jpg

Most of the other things for sale are signed photographs and posters--which I really don't like to see people selling as it seems too much like "using" the person/people who signed it. Most of the ones with Elijah's signature are selling pretty cheap, though, which means there are a lot out there. Maybe one way a celebrity helps himself by signing a lot of autographs?

THANKS FOR THE TIP ABOUT THE T-SHIRT,TG!!! :lol:

BUT I DON`T THINK MY HUBBY WOULDE LIKE ME TO
WERE IT!!!! :rolleyes: :rolleyes:


ABOUT THE EASTEREGG: IT WAS SO FUNNY!!!
:lol: :lol:

ABOUT GIVE ELIJAH SOME OF OUR EARLY POSTS,
WELL I GUESS ONE OF MINE DON`T FIT IN,
BECUSE OF THE HEAVY SWOONING!!!!
:p :D :rolleyes: ;)

LOVE/WOOD

Honeyelf,
What an absolutely FAB idea....a book for Our Dear Lij !!!! :cool:

How about persuading the very talented Whiteling to contribute one of her wonderful sketches...I'll bet Elijah would be chuffed to bits to see them...
How about it, Whiteling ? (Be brave !! :D )

Now then, for all you US Faculty members who don't get your DVD until next Tuesday, I have discovered that someone in LJ-Land has managed to screencap already some of the "Cameras in Middle-Earth" Documentary, some of the Easter egg, and also there are some short movie-clips of some of the added scenes in the film itself...

PM me if you would like to share in some of this ROTK-goodness ...

I’m just getting around to reading a week’s worth of posts, and so many interesting discussions have gone by that I won’t go back to. So, here are just a few random comments:

Like most of the other US members, I’m WILDLY jealous :mad: of all of you who already have the RotK EE DVDs. But it’s good to know that the Elijah/Dom interview is as funny as I had hoped. And whiteling, thanks for the great screencap of Frolijah with Geekboy.

And speaking of pictures, wood -- Love the one you posted on December 6!

tgshaw wrote, a while back:
The ones that really make me wonder are the ones at the Grey Havens. IIRC, they were supposed to have been filmed early on, but I wonder if they were done all at the same time, or if some of them were shot separately? Frolijah doesn't look very young in them, but that might be due in large part to the make-up. He really is made to look ill in that scene.
He certainly does look very different at different points in that sequence. I can think of at least three different versions of Frolijah here (listed in decreasing order of haggardness): the very white-faced, empty-eyed one who first walks onto the quay with Bilbo; the one who does the hugs; and the one who (IMHO) looks as if he’s waiting for a cue (closeups right after Bilbo boards, and right before Gandalf says, “It is time, Frodo”) and who walks slowly toward the ship. (I’m not counting Frolijah on the ship, since he’s obviously INTENDED to look different there.)

Skater girl wrote, about film scores:
I liked the one in Ash Wednesday, but I know many people thought it dreary
I like that score, too; very moody and atmospheric. But then, I liked the movie more than most people here did, too.

I like that score (AW), too; very moody and atmospheric. But then, I liked the movie more than most people here did, too.

Hi Pelagia -- welcome back! Actually, I just found it tiresome and repetitive. It was quite evocative, but would've been fine once or a few times. It was the fact that it was heard over and over, not as a motif but as a theme, that made it awful.

Unlike others of the Faculty, I am not at ALL envious of those who already have the EE in their hot little hands. Oh no. Not at all. And I have some lovely swampland in Florida for sale - wanna buy some?

~grumpyandthumpingcaneinimpatience :haha: :haha: :haha: :haha:

How about persuading the very talented Whiteling to contribute one of her wonderful sketches...I'll bet Elijah would be chuffed to bits to see them...
How about it, Whiteling ? (Be brave !! :D )

Already done! :) :D
And although I'm getting nervous about the thought that Elijah might set his eyes on my drawings, I found it actually more difficult to write a few lines...

Greetings, Blossom :k ! Poor you, our American members will be put out of their misery tomorrow at least, but to have to wait until christmas... :rolleyes:

zkgrumpy: LOL!

Hi, Achila – I didn’t notice the repetitiousness of the Ash Wednesday score. Guess I’ll have to look at the film again sometime. It’s a tossup as to whether I’d rather re-watch this one or (gulp) Flipper – which I finally got to see; but more on that another time. All I’ll say for now is that when I think about Elijah’s films in chronological order – and I haven’t seen all of them – Flipper is the first one where I look at him and think “handsome boy” rather than “beautiful child.” (Stu is sort of transitional.)

Last month’s issue of Total Film had an interview with Jude Law, in the course of which they asked him about why he had “resisted” taking on “romantic” roles earlier in his career. Here is his answer, which I thought was interesting in light of some of the discussion here about Elijah’s career choices:
I wasn’t really resisting them. As a twentysomething actor I didn’t feel moved to play those roles, I didn’t find them interesting. I never had an appetite to go and see films about a 20 year old and his relationship problems. I wanted to flex other muscles.
I also thought that tgshaw’s mention of Hugh Grant, a few pages ago, was interesting. Grant’s bashful stammerers (his stock in trade, originally) were in some ways the counterpart to Elijah’s ingenue geeks. And Grant has successfully broken away from that image, with his more rakish roles in Bridget Jones and About A Boy. EJW has already played a greater variety of roles than Grant and, IMVHO, is also a better actor. So he has all sorts of directions open to him!

Pelagia--The way you compared Hugh Grant's early roles with Elijah's was exactly what I had in mind but couldn't quite figure out how to say. Thanks :) . (Although Grant's "bashful stammerer" in The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill but Came Down a Mountain is still his character that I love the most. Maybe because there's a real event behind it.)

I’ve just been looking through the Xmas listings for the UK. There are a grand total of TWO EW delights for terrestrial viewers over the Crimble period - Flipper on the 21st, and something called - er, well it's an animation with Jennifer Love Hewitt in it - on the 23rd. Not sure I want to watch the second one, though, because there was a comment in the review that ‘Elijah Wood fails to convince as her [Jennifer Love Hewitt's] rescuer.' Hmm. Still, if I want to be a completist... what do you think?

I’ve just been looking through the Xmas listings for the UK. There are a grand total of TWO EW delights for terrestrial viewers over the Crimble period - Flipper on the 21st, and something called - er, well it's an animation with Jennifer Love Hewitt in it - on the 23rd.

I'm so glad I will finally get to see this by all accounts dreadful animated film without having to pay to rent it. It is the only Elijah film I haven't seen yet - though I have to admit to not watching enough of Black and White to even relate the story.

I am feeling so disappointed and sad this evening. Amazon mailed to say my EE was despatched on Thursday evening, and when it didn't arrive Friday or Saturday, I was sure it would come today. I came home from work all full of anticipation - and nothing!!! Seeing as it's only £24.99 in the shops, I wish I hadn't ordered it now.

...and something called - er, well it's an animation with Jennifer Love Hewitt in it - on the 23rd. Not sure I want to watch the second one, though, because there was a comment in the review that ‘Elijah Wood fails to convince as her [Jennifer Love Hewitt's] rescuer.' Hmm. Still, if I want to be a completist... what do you think?
Too bad, really; I was hoping that one could sink without a trace. But I guess every actor has his Ishtar. :rolleyes:

Ummm... "fails to convince" is a very kind way of putting it. Actually, I don't think Tom comes across as a rescuer at all. I'm not sure what his role is supposed to be in most of the story. I have the feeling Elijah couldn't figure it out either--if he's ever "phoned in" a role, this is it.

Watching it on TV may be the best alternative because you can turn it off if you want without feeling like you wasted any money on it. But please, please, whatever you do, make sure there are no children around while you're watching it. They could be scarred for life!

---------

Back in the days before everyone drove on interstates (yes, I really am that old :eek: !), you used to be able to buy a bumper sticker that said "I Survived Highway 71" after you followed its hairpin turns and steep grades through the Ozarks. IMHO, there should be some kind of an award for watching TAMTSNBN, and maybe one or two other EJW movies that could be mentioned. :p [Hmmm... I haven't had a slogan under my avatar here for quite some time... ;) ]

Too bad, really; I was hoping that one could sink without a trace. But I guess every actor has his Ishtar. :rolleyes:


To tell the truth, if this' Elijah's Ishtar, for the rest of his career, he'll have come out far luckier than most. Fortunately, it's a movie that few non-Elijah fans will ever see or pay attention to, and it surely won't be the object of jokes the way Ishtar always is.


Ummm... "fails to convince" is a very kind way of putting it. Actually, I don't think Tom comes across as a rescuer at all. I'm not sure what his role is supposed to be in most of the story. I have the feeling Elijah couldn't figure it out either--if he's ever "phoned in" a role, this is it.

It's intriguing to wonder what attracted Lij to this role. It couldn't have been the great script....

It's intriguing to wonder what attracted Lij to this role. It couldn't have been the great script....
I've wondered about that, too. According to the copyright, the movie was actually completed in 1999, but wasn't released until 2002 (anyone want to hazard a guess as to why it was released on the same day as the first FotR DVD :rolleyes: ?)

So it predated LotR, and probably a couple of Elijah's pre-LotR movies. I'm sure he wasn't getting as many offers then as he is now, but I'd hate to think he took this one because he "had to." I've wondered if it might have been part of a package agreement to make a certain number of movies involving various aliases of Disney ("Buena Vista Home Entertainment" in this case). I don't have any evidence for that--it's just something that might make sense.

It's intriguing to wonder what attracted Lij to this role. It couldn't have been the great script....

I've always had a theory that there was some kind of "cousin clause" on most movie contracts. It would go something like this:

Promising young actor signs to do a role in a promising film. In order to maintain a kind of Hollywood Karmic Balance, he is told that if he wants to act in "Ash Wednesday," (which might have been good, with Edward Burns writing and directing) he must also sign to do a movie produced/written by/directed by someone's cousin/ne're-do-well kid/lendor.

This little fiction of mine helps me maintain respect for an otherwise fine actor who appears in a dreadful film. It falls apart thgugh, when an Oscar award winning actor begins to appear in one after another rather odious movies. For example, I'm beginning to think Tom Hanks should hang up his acting hat after "The Lady Killers," "The Terminal," and "Polar Express." Of course maybe I should be fair; I suppose anyone can have a bad streak.

Regarding my reference to Ash Wednesday above, I've been reading through the first pages of the Faculty Lounge here at Khazaddum (a thing I'd not done before! :o ) It's kind of fun to see the anticipation for movies we've all seen by now. All that was just before I popped the video cassette of FoTR in my VCR, one December evening in 2001 and changed my life.

ETA: simulposted with TG. Yup! The "cousin clause!" :D :D but my timing was off. I'm awfully glad to learn that EJW didn't do TAMTSNBN between
"Ash Wednesday," and "All I want" as the release dates would suggest.

honey!

Eternal Sunshine got 4 -- Best Musical/Comedy, Best Actor in a Musical/Comedy, Best Actess in a Musical/Comedy and Best Screenplay. It also won the NY Film Critics Circle Award for Best Screenplay.

(BTW, Lost was nominated as Best Television Drama -- congratulations to Our Dominic!)

Wow! Achilla, that's exciting news about ESOTSM! :cool:

hi everyone!!!
glade to see some action going on here again!!!

wonder why it has been so quiet?? :D

i realy hope you guyes get youe dvds tomorrow!!!! :z: :z:

i`m realy feeling sorry for you skater girl!! :(

great news achila thank you for telling us!!! :k


love you all/wood

Okay, maybe it's just me. Does this strike anyone else as a bit... weird? Found it on e-bay while playing "clicking for Moggy". It reminds me too much of how you might see a relic of a saint (a second-degree relic, which is often a little piece of cloth that touched the saint). I suppose you could get a balrog candle holder and make a little shrine :confused: .

(I'd probably feel differently if someone bought a card like this as a memento of visiting the traveling display or something like that. But to buy it on e-bay? For $60+?)

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/outtakes/costumexcard.jpg

------------------

Thanks for the Golden Globe news, Achila. It's nice to see ETOTSM getting some recognition. :)

Okay, maybe it's just me. Does this strike anyone else as a bit... weird? Found it on e-bay while playing "clicking for Moggy". It reminds me too much of how you might see a relic of a saint (a second-degree relic, which is often a little piece of cloth that touched the saint). I suppose you could get a balrog candle holder and make a little shrine :confused:

Apparently, not too long ago, a piece of Frodo's elven nightshirt was available like that on Ebay as well. Frodo was not included.

Apparently, not too long ago, a piece of Frodo's elven nightshirt was available like that on Ebay as well.
On the page I saw, there was this card plus one for a piece of Frodo's traveling cloak, which I assume would be the pre-Lorien cloak. When engaged in "clicking for Moggy" I don't tend to go very deeply into things, but it's amazing what you can find just on the first page ;) .

Frodo was not included.
That, of course, would be a first-degree relic.
[Sorry, I couldn't stop myself. :rolleyes: :o ]

It reminds me too much of how you might see a relic of a saint (a second-degree relic, which is often a little piece of cloth that touched the saint). I suppose you could get a balrog candle holder and make a little shrine :confused: .

I wonder what a little crystal reliquary containing Frodo's finger would go for? :eek:
Nope, TG, you aren't the only one who finds it a bit weird!

I wonder what a little crystal reliquary containing Frodo's finger would go for? :eek:
:lol:

I think we could get into some serious simony with that one! :lol:

Like so many others, I'm terribly far behind. I've caught up with the last couple of pages, though.

Alyon, thank you for that wonderful report of Sean's talk. Very interesting. I commend your reporting!

Moondancer, that John Howe pic was just lovely. Wow. I would have that on my wall, happily. :)

Oh, and thank you for the discussion of B&W. I feel as if I have escaped from a dangerous situation, and count myself lucky. Brain bleach sounds painful!

I'm not sure what I might contribute to Honeyelf's letter project. My posts tend to be a little swoony, I'm afraid. I'll take a peek before my next trip if I can, and see if there is anything appropriate. Can you take pictures, or will it be text only?

Cheers.

I don't know, tg, that's one of my favorite costumes. (Which one isn't? :rolleyes: ) Someone, possibly Mechtild, has described this costume as Death by Velvet.
Ngila Dickson wrote in The Art of The Return of the King, "The beautiful green and purple colors used...were perfect for Frodo, with those exceptional eyes." There has never been a really good picture of that costume. In the film , it is shown so briefly and the stills were taken on what looks like a cloudy day.

But I have no money to send to ebay, as I just purchased The Art of the Lord of The Rings. (Why don't I skip a step and just send my paycheck to PJ?) Alan Lee writes in it that for the end credits, Fran Walsh picked "frames from the films that represented moments in which each of the characters look the way we would wish to remember them, and I used these as the basis for pencil renditions."

ETA-Council of Elrond lists a few of EW's movies playing this week on various U.S. channels: Ash Wednesday, ESOTSM, Paradise, and The Ice Storm. Plus, EW's SNL appearance from last December will air this Saturday, December 18 @ 10 PM on E!. C4

SEE ,you us ladies are lucky in a way!!!
you can see all elijahs aperanc on the tv
over here it take ages before they showing something!!!!
but i am lucky ihave some very good friends in this
place who is sending this stuff to me!! :k :k :k

ANY other news?? this man realy has the gift to disepere!!!!!! :(

well Mariole,you are not alone with that!!! ;)

i don`t think i have any post were is not heavy swooning!!! :D

so i just leave it up to others to deside!!!!!


love you all/wood

(Mood...still impatiently waiting for my DVD !!!...)

Wood,
ANY other news?? this man realy has the gift to disepere!!!!!!

Chin up, Wood...just think how dreadful it would be for you to get fed up with him due to over-exposure... :D

Well, seriously, I, for one, am quite glad that he can fly under the radar for long periods of time ! For two reasons...

1) Most importantly...for his own sanity, I think it's good that he can live his own life in private for weeks at a time...of course, the occasional photo taken by a fan will surface, snapped at a restaurant or similar, but on the whole, he doesn't get the incessant hassle, and constant exposure in gossip mags, that many other stars get...
And for that, may we all be profoundly grateful, :z: because it will probably mean that he will not get fed up with the whole she-bang and give up on his film career in favour of something a little more private...

2) Also, of course, it means that the occasional tit-bits that we do get are that much more precious...I would much rather read a really good in-depth interview with him, by a truly professsional journalist, than read about how he was spotted in some gay bar, doing unspeakable things to all and sundry....If there is really no news, then made-up rumours and tale-telling out of school are not really what we want to see...and that's what a lot of stars have to put up with from the likes of the National Enquirer, and our very own Sun...Yuk !!!

So, Wood, I know it's hard to go for weeks and weeks with no news at all, but, just think, he may actually stick around longer because of it, and that IS an encouraging thought...

Tgshaw,
I, too, wonder at $60 being reached for a bit of cloth...this IS fandom gone mad !!
Still, I guess, if someone is willing to pay it, then there will always be someone there to supply the goods... :rolleyes:

( and, yes, "Death by Velvet" does sound just like something Our Mech would say !! )

tgshaw wrote, on the topic of Frodo relics:
I suppose you could get a balrog candle holder and make a little shrine
Surely Galadriel’s phial would be a more reverent addition to the shrine. Of course, it would be pretty pricey – right up there with the crystal reliquary containing his finger. This could be a whole industry: locks of hair (or wig), pointy ears, leftover bits of spiderweb (“Taken from Frodo’s shoulder!”), dirt from Mount Doom (“Clutched by Frodo as he crawled!”), mugs from the Green Dragon (“Touched by Frodo’s very own lips!”), etc.

ceefour wrote:
But I have no money to send to ebay, as I just purchased The Art of the Lord of The Rings.
Is that the fourth volume in the Art of series? I read that one was coming out, but haven’t seen it anywhere. I love those books. (And thanks for the SNL alert, ceefour – I’ll have to find a “cabled” friend to tape for me, as I’ve never seen that one.)

Is that the fourth volume in the Art of series? I read that one was coming out, but haven’t seen it anywhere. I love those books. (And thanks for the SNL alert, ceefour – I’ll have to find a “cabled” friend to tape for me, as I’ve never seen that one.)

This Art book is a compilation of the previous 3, I think. And if you're a really good girl (and remind me), I'll show you Lij on SNL on Friday when we get together. :)

Achila and Pelagia, there is some repetition in The Art of the LOTR, but also new art work and information. It is fascinating to see how the drawings of Alan Lee and John Howe become real. However, I usually end up thinking "Enough with the orcs and fell beasts! More costume pictures!"

Like you, Lady Wendy, I am still waiting impatiently for my EE to arrive. C4

Hi everyone!!!

Well Lady Wendy i guess you right!!!

And we realy want him too stay for a long time
don`t we??!! :k :k

And ladies i realy hope you getting you dvds today!!
Crossing my fingers for you!!! :z:

love you all/wood

Ceefour, doesn't the new "The Art of..." contain all the material from the first two books, plus some new stuff?

Mariole, Yes! I can include pictures in the book. If possible can you send them in Hi-Res? Depending on what they are, color or not, I will print them on photo paper and include them kind of like "color plates"

Wendy, I'm glad you like the book idea. We'd love to have you contribute too!

Does anyone here have contact with Brunhild? I'd love to include her "Hamlet" a al Jackson in the book. It's :lol: She doesn't seem to frequent KD much anymore.

I have discovered what will get my college age daughter out of bed on winter break. It only takes the Return of the King ee, and a Starbucks mocha! :rolleyes:

I have seen the Easter Egg! How funny! (but i really miss elijah's giggle! it's so much lovelier to listen to than that throaty, gasping smoker's laugh :( )

h!

Moondancer, that John Howe pic was just lovely. Wow. I would have that on my wall, happily. :)

Isn't it? And the city Bruges (or Brugge in Flemish) is a very inspirational city. I love it.
I showed the site to a colleague of mine and he said:
"Oh my gosh, the American tourists already think that Brugge is a fairy tale town instead of a real city with a real history...this is only going to enhance that thought"
;)
This weekend, I visited the Grand Place (grote markt) of Brussels. Now, the market place of our capital city is one of the most magnificent and beautiful in Europe but ... OMG ...it's just awesome in this Christmas season. Enchanting...and lots and lots and lots and lots of tourists and visitors...jeez, what a crowd.

Forgive me, I'm in a chauvinistic mood...it'll pass


Honeyelf,
So, the deadline is dec. 25th? I see if I can come up with something good but like I said before...I'm not that good a writer and there are others in here who can come up with more eloquent stuff than I can.
Maybe the next couple of days will give me some inspiration. :z:

So, the deadline is dec. 25th? I see if I can come up with something good but like I said before...I'm not that good a writer and there are others in here who can come up with more eloquent stuff than I can.
How about if we aim for January 1, 2005? Eloquence is not a requirement. You keep us all happily interested in what you have to say. One thing we love about Lij, he's just good people. If he gets around to reading what any of us write, I'm sure he'll do so with his usual good grace and humor.

Maybe the next couple of days will give me some inspiration.
Isn't "inspiration" comiing in little dark blue boxes these day? ;)

h!

Approaches door of Faculty Lounge. Taps lightly on door and turns knob slowly. Pushes door open just enough to stick head in and say a little timidly, "Hello, is there room for one more?"

"I've been peeking around corners and slipping cautiously past shadowy locker areas for awhile now. Just observing the goings-on around here. But with the advent of the ROTK: EE, I thought it might be a good time for me to start throwing my humble two cents in with the analysis and musings on the talented Mr. Wood of all you learned ladies."

"May I come in?"

Waits patiently for permission to enter.

Hello, SandCastles, welcome to our humble abode! Of course, there's always room for one more. Pull up your chair closer to the fire, get your (Porn and) chocolate ready and settle in for a nice, long chat -- you'll find we're pretty talkative around here.

All is in despair at my house....sigh....a certain dark blue box has not arrived yet (and it's 2:30 pm)....

How about if we aim for January 1, 2005

Isn't "inspiration" comiing in little dark blue boxes these day? ;)

h!
:k
I'll give it a go...and try to do it before your first deadline.

That blue box goes together very well with a brown and a green box and...together, they make magic! :)


PS My favorite from the idol show didn't win it... :( Belgians tend to vote for the underdog in these things (we did it also in the first series) and so the other guy won. I'm sure Wouter will have a great career anyway.

Edit...where are my manners? :o Welcome SandCastles

Hello, SandCastles!

I've been tracking my little blue box; it's only one state away now. Delivery guarenteed for tomorrow. Sigh.

Honeyelf, The Art of the LOTR contains some new material, but not all that was in the previous 3 books. No costumes....Grrr! There are a few full page pictures, some new, some not. An amusing reaction of John Howe to PJ's request for an illustration of Frodo confroting the WiKi at Amon Hen, " 'Is nothing sacred!?' I hollered.... Actually, I didn't do that; I probably said, 'Sure Pete, no problem!' and went off to nurse my bruised and battered sense of ethics in a corner. It was often hard coming to terms with the changes the script required, especially if the script called for Sam to lasso the fell beast and Frodo to tempt the Witch-King close enough to stick him with Sting. Fortunately this was a very early on in the project, and the script evolved a lot, thus the scene never was." C4

The Art of the LOTR contains some new material, but not all that was in the previous 3 books. No costumes....Grrr!

NO Costumes???? But that's what I wanted! I held out buying the other two books, because I wanted all the material in one place. And I was particularly interested in seeing costumes! Grrr! Grrr! :mad:

So which of the books is the best for costumes? I'm placing an order at Yes!Asia (Perverse Destiny, vol. 3! :) ) and I might as well order the books while I'm there. If they're on sale. :rolleyes:

Hullo, Sandcastles! Welcome!

Can't wait to get into the DVD. Lot's of good discussion material there I hope.

ETA: OK, I'm confused. What is the differnce between the "Visual Guide" and the "Art of..." books? If I want to see costumes, which do I order? :confused:

honey!

Approaches door of Faculty Lounge. Taps lightly on door and turns knob slowly. Pushes door open just enough to stick head in and say a little timidly, "Hello, is there room for one more?"

"I've been peeking around corners and slipping cautiously past shadowy locker areas for awhile now. Just observing the goings-on around here. But with the advent of the ROTK: EE, I thought it might be a good time for me to start throwing my humble two cents in with the analysis and musings on the talented Mr. Wood of all you learned ladies."

"May I come in?"

Waits patiently for permission to enter.

Hey, they let *me* in! You should be fine! ;) ;)

::: hands sandcastle an overflowing pint and plate of bread&cheese&lembas :::

~grumpy

Honeyelf, if you want to see costumes, then "The Art of..." books are what you want. In FOTR book, there is a chapter on costumes, but it is only about 15 pages long. TTT and ROTK books follow the plot of the movies, so in the chapter on Edoras, for example, the costumes of Theoden, Eomer and Eowyn are pictured and discussed in brief paragraphs, but there's only 2-3 small pictures of each character. Not nearly enough to see all the detail, IMVHO. (In the FOTR book, there is a delicious picture of Frodo's waist, showing the elven cloak, herringbone jacket, velvet vest and trousers, with Sting being drawn by hands with the nails bitten to the quick. Sorry, no swooning allowed. I'll stop now.) What you get are lots of drawings by Alan Lee and John Howe, among others, and then how their drawings are made into armor, sets, statues, set dressings, etc. Some concepts changed greatly from original drawing to final execution, but others are like looking at a picture brought to life. C4

An amusing reaction of John Howe to PJ's request for an illustration of Frodo confroting the WiKi at Amon Hen, " 'Is nothing sacred!?' I hollered.... Actually, I didn't do that; I probably said, 'Sure Pete, no problem!' and went off to nurse my bruised and battered sense of ethics in a corner.

Ceefour, thanks for the best laugh of the day. :D

So am I right that you feel all three "Art of" books are worth the investment? I saw the ROTK one in the bookstore today--it did seem to have a lot of bad guys in it.

Yes, Flourish , I think "The Art of..." books are worth it. The emphasis does seem to be on orcs, fell beasts, and other assorted baddies, but on the whole, there is just so much other information that I feel compensates for that. Like the tidbit that the Easterlings were not wearing mascara and eyeliner, but around their eyes were tatooed! What really comes across is how much all the artists loved the story, what they were all creating together, and that they all respected one another.

Well. it's very quiet here. I guess most are watching the EE. At least mine is now in the same state (but 236 miles away-but who's counting?). C4

Ceefour, you wrote,

ETA-Council of Elrond lists a few of EW's movies playing this week on various U.S. channels: Ash Wednesday, ESOTSM, Paradise, and The Ice Storm. Plus, EW's SNL appearance from last December will air this Saturday, December 18 @ 10 PM on E!. C4
Thanks for this info.!

If anyone knows when Ash Wednesday is on, and which channel it will be on, I would love to know. That is a film that is not for rent here. I know it is not supposed to be very good, so that is not surprising, but I still would like to see it.

About relics and such:

The desire for and treasuring of relics is extremely ancient and very deeply rooted, I am betting. In my family, we argued (lightly) over who would get this sweater or that hat of my father's after he died, because he wore them. My sister wore his sweater around for a year, to make her feel as though he was with her. It mattered that he wore it and mattered even more that he wore it a lot; that it was a favourite of his. A sweater that he owned but had never worn or didn't like, wouldn't have counted, however beautiful it was. He had to have worn it.

Christians kept bits of things as physical mementoes of saints, who, although not known personally now, were known personally during their life times and many were loved and revered, somewhat as cultural celebrities are now. People wanted "souvenirs" of them; things they had worn; a lock of their hair; and in the long ages of ossuaries -- when the dead were left to decay and then their bones removed to a large pile of bones (monasteries having very limited space for actual graveyards), they wanted to keep bones or bits of bone, too. There are reliquaries with reputed body parts, too, I know. The most "romantic" ones, to me, are those with "a tear" or "a drop of blood" of the saint. It is not impossible, I suppose, if someone had wiped the face (or wound or whatever) of the revered person in question with a cloth and then kept the cloth. I do not know how these sorts of "souvenirs" were supposed to have been taken and then preserved.

Now, secular celebrities are our saints. People bid far more for John Lennon's old beat-up guitar that he played when he was a boy than for a very much nicer one he owned but never or seldom played; they paid a pile for the ruby slippers worn by Judy Garland -- or for anything at all used by Elivis Presley. Even with autographs, what is one paying for but a very indirect form of physical contact? To make the autograph, the celebrity's hand held a pen and perhaps rested on the paper or photograph. Otherwise, what pleasure would there be in having an autograph that was procured by a second party? The usual attraction of getting an autograph is that it memorializes a personal encounter with the celebrity, however brief. That would be the main attraction for me, in getting an autograph. But it is not the only one. A friend of a friend might get to go to ORC in CA -- would I give this person money so that she might buy the opportunity to "get" me an autograph from the actor who played my cherished hobbit? I might. But if I did, I would not be getting any gratification in the "memorializing-the-encounter" department; it would only be meaningful to me in so far as it was a "relic" -- that is, that in producing the autograph, the actor would have touched the paper, program, or photo on which it was written. It's not as though I give a ding-dang-doodle what his handwriting looks like or how he spells his name.

I am not at all surprised, therefore, that there might be many people who have loved Frodo -- or EW or the LotR in general or who are merely investors -- who would be keenly interested in having a "relic" from that character. Personally, I would adore to own a swatch of something worn by my favourite film character of all time.

Years ago, I adored going to an exhibit of film costumes at the Metropolitan Museum in NYC. In it was displayed clothing worn by some of the greatest film stars of the 30'3, 40's and 50's. Although many of the costumes were wonderful in themselves, what mattered to me as a fan of old films, was that Katharine Hepburn or Marilyn Monroe or Audrey Hepburn or Greta Garbo had actually worn the costumes displayed on the mannequins right in front of me.

So. I admit that I, too, would love a swatch from some costume piece of Frodo's (though not packaged and marketed in the tacky manner shown above), if it didn't mean destroying a costume to get it. I'd rather skip the swatch, in that case, and instead relish the opportunity of seeing the costume displayed in a museum exhibit, although I couldn't keep it or even touch it. But even if they were in a museum exhibit, I would be going to see the LotR costumes for two reasons -- first, to see the gorgeous designs of Ngila Dickson and the work of her artisans but, secondly, to see clothes that had actually covered and touched the bodies of the living breathing people who enfleshed the film characters I love. The first reason is appreciative in an aesthetic way; but the second is frankly emotional and is very related to feelings of veneration, which gazillions of people have had for relics over the millenia.

Especially I would love to be able to examine the Frodo costumes -- for the thrill of looking closely at such beautiful work and being able to handle such beautiful fabrics -- but even more, I would love to see and touch those costumes simply because the character I love wore them -- that is, as relics.

Just dropping in from swoondom,

~ Mechtild

Welcome, Sandcastle!! Please come in and join the party. It's supposed to be serious, but really, it's a party. Glad to have you!! :)

I have the dvd. Both easter eggs are great. Haven't seen anything else yet and we will have a little tug of war in our house. My husband's opinion really doesn't weigh in--he keeps hearing "easter egg" and without exception he keeps asking "what's an easter egg?" Daughter wants to save all the best specials and cast commentary for last...she wants to stretch out the experience as long as she can. But then, I tell her, how can I join in on Faculty discussion!!? We may have to break up the team and let mom watch on her own. Ohhh....sad...

Mechtild--I love your posts. You always bring the concrete element to the spiritual. (???) Now what was that I just said?? Umm...I like what you said about relics. It's true. The physical is sometimes thought to be so mundane--and sort of subservient to ideas. What? because we can see it? Because we have acess to it since we have senses? And so it doesn't seem mysterious? The physical perhaps manifests a lot of spirit.

Well, that was merely a late night tossed off sentence. But I meant somthing by that...I think.

Oh, I do hope you find something to contribute to the little Elwood book ;) . The profile of the Faculty is richer for all the unique individuals...and the twist they bring!!
(And thanks, HOneyElf for doing virtually all of the legwork. Thanks for convincing me to come along, as well. After all of my waffling, I'm very much looking forward to our little adventure).

Hey, and Moondancer....you are too eloquent!! Oh, and the John Howe pic is stunning!! Thanks for sharing.

And ceefour thanks for the info on the Art of books....I wanna see... :)

Well. it's very quiet here. I guess most are watching the EE. At least mine is now in the same state (but 236 miles away-but who's counting?). C4
I just got an email from Amazon.com refunding my shipping fee because my ROTK EE did not arrive yesterday as expected. :( We were crushed. It must be some sort of test...hopefully we will pass it. The Amazon UPS update says this morning it is Out for Delivery. :z:

Alyon,
I have the dvd. Both easter eggs are great.
Both? I thought it was just the one with EJW and Dom. Please let me know of the other one, I would appreciate it.

SandCastles Welcome! :D

I just got an email from Amazon.com refunding my shipping fee because my ROTK EE did not arrive yesterday as expected. :( We were crushed. It must be some sort of test...hopefully we will pass it. The Amazon UPS update says this morning it is Out for Delivery. :z:


You're not in PA too, are you? ;) I also didn't get mine yesterday -- for whatever reason, it never made it out of Texas. If it doesn't come today, Walmart will be hearing from me.

ETA: Yep, mine's on the way too -- it's with the courier for delivery. YIPPEE!

Both? I thought it was just the one with EJW and Dom. Please let me know of the other one, I would appreciate it.

The other is in roughly the same place on the second disk -- it's the MTV Movie Awards skit from this past summer with Pete and Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn.

Mechtild, if you go to The Council of Elrond site (www.councilofelrond.com), scroll down to CoE TV Guide, a list of shows is displayed in which the actors from LOTR are featured.

I travelled to the Cooper -Hewitt in NYC just to see a pair fo Fred Astaire's dancing shoes and a gown worn by Ginger Rogers. This was after a trip to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum to see the Star Wars Exhibit. :rolleyes:

My little blue box is my town in a truck out for delivery! C-yipee!-4

Welcome, Sandcastles!

You people are making me nervous about whether my DVD is going to arrive today or not. I received an e-mail on Monday that it had shipped and I didn't bother tracking it online because amazon has never let me down. I'm just sitting by the front door like this because---- well, I always do that on Wednesdays, OK?! :haha:

About the "relics"--nobody here thinks those eBay offerings are REAL, do they? I never for a moment. I'm sure those costumes are under lock and key.

(Ceefour, HOW did I miss seeing Fred Astaire's shoes?? *kicks self*)

Flourish,
I'm just sitting by the front door like this because---- well, I always do that on Wednesdays, OK?! :haha:
:lol:

A laugh a day keeps the Ringwraiths away!

I'm still waiting for my DVD from Amazon.co.uk, even though they e-mailed me to say it was despatched on Thursday evening. I'm getting desparate. Every time I come through the door full of anticipation, I am so disappointed.

I have a completely off-topic favour to ask. Is there anyone from America who would be prepared to tape two 2 hour professional skating events off NBC this weekend. I will of course recompense costs incurred. If so please PM me.

Easter Eggs: could someone pretty please tell me again how to find them, or copy a link to the instructions? :z: I'm sorry; I can't find where I filed the instructions that were posted the last time. Doh! :confused: :rolleyes: :)

ceefour, thank you so much for that link! What a boon. Alas, Ash Wednesday is being shown on a channel to which we do not subscribe. But, there still will be the fun of watching the Saturday Night Live segment. Hot dog!

The Ginger and Fred costumes in the display I saw included the gown that had the maribou trim along the hem of skirt and of the sleeves. It was looking a little tatty, I am sad to say. So did Marilyn's Seven Year Itch "blows-up-in-the-air" dress. The diaphanous things seemed to hold up least well. Richer, heavier, more formal things like Greta Garbo's costumes from Anna Karenina or Mae West's from She Done Him Wrong held up much better. I thought Audrey Hepburn's "Ascot" gown from My Fair Lady would have yellowed, but it looked like new.

Alyon, thank you for the words of affirmation; I was writing sincerely, not comically. You wrote,

The physical is sometimes thought to be so mundane--and sort of subservient to ideas. What? because we can see it? Because we have acess to it since we have senses? And so it doesn't seem mysterious? The physical perhaps manifests a lot of spirit.
I, too, think the transcendant can be embodied or revealed through the material. Perhaps this means is devalued because it is so accessible, as you say -- although, even then, it only is seen if one bothers to look for it.

One of my favourite theological formulations is, "Finitum est capax infiniti" ("the finite is capable of holding/bearing/containing the Infinite"). Luther coined this in the 1520's to oppose the formula, "Finitum non est capax infiniti," in arguments about how God could be truly present in something material, like the Eucharist, or why icons and religious images should not be jettisoned as idolatrous (this, against those reformers who were stripping churches of their representational art works, smashing out the stained glass windows, etc.).

I do think that underneath all swooning (erotic or non-erotic) and perhaps especially for Frodo, there is a hunger and thirst which, although it takes up and works through bodily appetites, transcends them. Some people experience this as a desire and appreciation which is strictly aesthetic (i.e. the desire to be in touch with the Transcendentals: the Good, the True, the Beautiful). For others, while it involves that, too, a religious dimension added; that is, the Good the True and the Beautiful themselves point to another reality behind or beyond them. If I were speaking Middle-earthian, I could compare the relation of the Transcendentals to what is behind them, as the the relation between the Valar and Eru. In Aman, the Valar can be seen, heard, touched -- but Eru cannot. One can appreciate the Valar for themselves, but one also can appreciate them as pointing to Eru, from whence they came.

Frodo, for many, has been a powerful embodiment of the Good, the True and Beautiful. (No wonder he has so many swooners.) For me, though, it took Elijah Wood's performance to rachet all that appreciation up into swoon overdrive.

Toronto Film Critics Awards:

Best Director:Michel Gondry, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

Best Screenplay:Charlie Kaufman, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind


and Critics Choice Awards nominations:

Best Picture
Best Actress
Best Writer

Also -- for those of you going to ORC -- as if you didn't think THIS was going to happen -- Dom has joined the other 3 hobbits to complete the set.

STILL no DVD -- it's 1:13. I am going to die of frustration....

THANK YOU FOR THE NEWS ACHILA!!!!!

AND CHEER UP,I WILL TRY TO PRAY REAL HARD
SO IT WILL COME TO YOU AND ALL OTHER AMERICANS!!!! :z: :z: :z:

I AM NOT A RELIGIUS TYPE BUT I WILL DO IT FOR
MY BEST FRIENDS!!!!! :k :k :k


WELCOME SAND CASTLE!!!! I HOPE YOU WILL ENYOY IT
IN HERE!!!!!!

LOVELY POSTS AS ALWAYES MECHTILD!! ;)

LOVE YOU ALL/WOOD


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/erendil/Frodo5.jpg


I post this one NOT for teasing but to tell you the wait is wouth it!!!

WOOD

Your praying must have worked, wood -- it just arrived! See you guys next in about 10 days! LOL

Good!!! Enyoy It With All Your Heart!!!!!


Love/wood

Welcome, SandCastles :) . No need to be timid. Have a seat. Oops! Looks like we need another chair. Oh, I see someone's bringing one for you-- :p

http://www.frodolivesin.us/ejw/075c88f0.jpg

I've been hanging out in the RotK forum a lot the last few days, so haven't been here much, I'm afraid. I'm never one to avoid spoilers for the LotR movies--I like to know what to be prepared for--so I've been reading the reactions from people who'd already seen the EE. And finally got to add my own comments this morning :) . I went out and picked up my dark blue box at a store--I find it much easier on the nerves that way ;) .

Jim Carrey was on The Today Show yesterday to talk about his new movie, but the interview started with congratulations on his nomination for best actor. He immediately shifted the conversation to the four nominations for ESOTSM and how much it had meant to him to be part of such a wonderful project :) .

About the "relics"--nobody here thinks those eBay offerings are REAL, do they? I never for a moment. I'm sure those costumes are under lock and key.

The cards (which I think are valid "certificates of authenticity") are worded very cannily. They say they include material that was used in the making of... whatever costume it is. Strictly interpreted, that could mean that the molecules of material on/in the card were not necessarily molecules of material that were actually in the costume, much less actually worn by Frolijah. They could have been from scraps or (even more likely, IMHO) from the same bolt of cloth or from material identical to what was in the costume. If the pieces were large enough to let me feel the texture, etc., they might be interesting, but I don't think that's the case.

I don't know how many of these cards are out there, but I have the feeling that if they were gathered together we'd have something akin to the truism that if you put together all the relics claimed to be pieces of the "True Cross," you'd have a forest. At least, that would be the case if the material was actually said to have been part of the costume, which IMHO is something New Line's lawyers could effectively defend against because of how carefully the claim is worded.

I'm not sure how much sense the following will make, but I've been thinking about why this "card" thing bothers me when I believe (and always have believed) everything Mechtild has said about the physical being holy. But I think it's because I believe it that it bothers me when it's taken too far or misused. That's "taken too far" or "misused" by my definition, of course--and I can't say that I'm even sure where I'd draw the line :rolleyes: . But making a monetary profit from it does go over the line for me (see previous reference to simony). That's probably in part a historical reaction for me--going back to the trafficking in "relics" that took place in the Middle Ages (the origin of that forest of pieces of the True Cross). Using the religious analogy, it bothers me when someone who doesn't consider the relic to be something holy--or they wouldn't be selling it on ebay--takes advantage of someone who does have that belief, and probably is doing it in a very premeditated way. And, as with the True Cross, I'd bet a lot of people who buy those cards think they're getting something they're not. The whole transaction just lacks any odor of sanctity for me.

I admit I also get a bit nervous when a living celebrity is involved. I'm not saying everyone who buys one of those cards is crazy, but there are enough crazy fans around that I'd just as soon they not be encouraged even more to think that they have some kind of personal connection with the celebrity.

As I think even more about it, I believe some of my discomfort comes from the fact that this particular item does treat a celebrity just as we'd treat a saint. I meant it when I said the costume would be a "second-degree" relic; that's exactly how it would be classified if it had been worn by a saint--and it would very possibly be distributed via a little card not too much unlike the ones that are being sold on ebay (except that it's against Church law to sell relics these days, thank goodness--the iconoclasts were the impetus for some needed reforms). Now, if people start selling Elijah's hair clippings as first-degree relics, I'm outta here :eek: . (I had originally said "fingernail clippings" as that's a rather traditional item to be used for the purpose, but then realized that Elijah wouldn't have any fingernail clippings, seeing that he doesn't have any fingernails to be clipped. A cigarette butt would be second-degree, but if there was actual saliva on it... Help! Someone stop me! :eek: )

BTW--going back a page or so--Yes, the phial of Galadriel would be much more fitting than the Balrog candle holder, but the Balrog candle holder can be bought at Amazon for $34.99, while the phial is sold by the Noble Collection for... well, let's just say... a bit more than that :eek: .

Easter Eggs: could someone pretty please tell me again how to find them, or copy a link to the instructions? :z: I'm sorry; I can't find where I filed the instructions that were posted the last time. Doh! :confused: :rolleyes: :)

Well, I'm not that good at explaining stuff like this in English but I'll try.

The Easter Eggs can be found on the two DVD's with the movie itself.
1. Go to "the main menu"
2. Click on "Select a scene"
3. With your remote controle, go to the very last scenes with the arrows on your remote controle. (For example: for DVD2, the very last scene has the number 78. Fan Club Credits)
4. When you reach the very last scene, you use the 'down' arrow on your remote control once again and you'll reach "*New Scene"
5. You'll see a golden ring appear.
6. Click on the golden ring and...voilà, het paaseitje (= easter egg).

I hope this helps.

TG said: Now, if people start selling Elijah's hair clippings as first-degree relics, I'm outta here :eek: .

Some months back someone posted a review in which the author said:... it would be easy to build a religion around Elijah Wood....
:eek: :eek: :eek: scariest thing I'd read in a while :eek: :eek: :eek:

Mech, TG and Alyon. I guess it's just my resolutely non-denominational heart, but I don't think any residue of 'holy' remains in an object, whether it be a sliver of the 'true cross,' or a scrap swept up from Ngila Dickson work room. Saint Whomever's finger bone is only a more ghastly version of the box of my children's baby teeth in the back of my dresser drawer.

I think God is all around us, and on some level this physical world is only an illusion which our physical being needs to beleive in. (Now I think I'm the one not makin a lot of sense, but I'm going to blame two nights of insomnia.) God is evident in the calming touch of a companion, when one is troubled, not in some snip of hair. For me at least.

Which doesn't mean that I wouldn't like to get up close to one of Frodo's costumes. I would love to see the stains, the rends, the manufactured evidence of all his travails. And the spot where the tomatoe slipped out of Elijah's club sandwich, and left an oily mayo stain! ;) Because I'm a costume geek, too.

Apologies for straying into the territory of religion. Yikes! Politics can't be far behind!

It's a lovely sunny day here! ;)

I hope everyone here has their blue box by the end of the day.

We watched it last night, and most of the new stuff was terrific. (I really could have done without the longer 'orc on orc violence' scene at CU! :rolleyes: ) I cried like a baby all over again, even when I'd told myself I wasn't going to.

I really want to hear the cast commentaries, but I can't watch that movie again for a while :( maybe someone will take pity on me and just trascribe the things! ;)

honey!

SandCastles, there's always room here for anyone who shares our appreciation, passion, or whatever form the affliction takes, for the wondrous Mr. Wood. Welcome.

ceefour wrote:
The Art of the LOTR contains some new material, but not all that was in the previous 3 books.
That always annoys me when they do that. Because you have to buy the NEW book, but you can't get rid of the OLD ones. The same thing happened with the one-volume Visual Companion, which included quite a few pictures that weren't in the three separate volumes, but skipped some that WERE.

As for whether the Art of books are worth it: I think so; but then I'm fascinated with how the people who worked on LotR developed the visual concepts for characters and places, and how those concepts evolved. But not everyone may enjoy working through a dozen pages of Shelob drawings and maquettes (not sure if I've spelled that correctly). As ceefour indicated, these books also have comments from the people who worked on various aspects of the films (Ngila D. for costumes, Alan Lee and John Howe, all sorts of artists

Also from ceefour:
In the FOTR book, there is a delicious picture of Frodo's waist, showing the elven cloak, herringbone jacket, velvet vest and trousers, with Sting being drawn by hands with the nails bitten to the quick. Sorry, no swooning allowed. I'll stop now.
Oh, yes! That's a good one of The Hands. And you really get to see how the costume designers used such a variety of fabric textures. (I love that shirt, myself, with that faint stripe pattern.) And did I mention The Hands??

Oh, Moondancer, thank you! I had promised to watch "Lost" tonight (since I never remembered to watch the first ones, I skipped the whole series) with our daughter who loves it, since it is starting over again, rather than watch my new DVD. But, she has been giving a band rehearsal and has made me PROMISE to tape Lost and NOT watch it without her. (Isn't that cute?) I can watch RotK without her, because she is waiting to see it "Trilogy fashion," three nights in a row, during the Christmas holidays. (Isn't that even cuter?) But now I can watch the DVD tonight! Perhaps I will look at the Easter Egg, using your instructions, for "hors d'ouevres".

Achila, have a wonderful time! And now all four hobbits will be at that thing. Oh, I really would literally squeee were I there. Perhaps I would even jump my old bones up and down.

The ORC thing brings me to your insightful remarks, tg. I, too, am repelled by the notion of selling bits for profit, these "relics." I wouldn't have minded buying something that had intrinsic value (if I had the money! :D ), like a costume or a guitar or a car that belonged to someone I admired, but not something personal, like their hair. Those are things to be given as gifts and kept as mementoes, not sold. As for the True Cross, if there had been an eBay in the first century, you can bet it would have been a hot seller. Like pieces of the Berlin wall. Perhaps they sold kerchiefs with which Jerry Lee Lewis wiped his sweaty brow; I wouldn't be surprised. Yech. There once was an hilariously bad but unscrupulous TV evangelist, about whom I once saw an acerbic documentary, who sold his personalized "prayer cloths" -- little coloured hankies he purportedly had held while praying mightily on the behalf of the purchaser. He didn't. How gullible, desperate and silly were the purchasers? Very. But his abuse, in my opinion, did not invalidate the basic sincerity iof their requests, even if they were being fools. They wanted something tangible to show that this person they believed was especially gifted as an intercessor, had prayed for them, as individuals.

My main point about the relics and secular saints is to suggest that the impulse to revere -- and even idolize -- living persons (who then become dead persons) we admire and/or love, and to want keepsakes of them is older and more irradicable than the religious faiths that are famous for welcoming -- and eventually abusing -- that impulse. The majority of modern Western people are post-Something, in terms of their personal religious beliefs (I am not talking about where they get married and buried, but about actual beliefs). But even people who eschew any sort of formal religion or spirituality can be seized by the desire to make and revere "saints" (in the form of admired people, usually famous).

But, as you point out, this whole impulse and the "rituals" that have grown up to gratify it are just ripe for abuse. Witness your comments about the Church's former selling of relics -- or the selling of days off in Purgatory (in exchange for what were essentially cash donations). This is certainly comparable to trafficking in the "relics" of celebrities. Still, I say the abuse does not void the essential desire in its "purity." The desire to revere and cherish another whom one greatly admires or feels gratitude towards, and to want a keepsake of that person, is not a bad thing in itself.

Now, about ORC. I am curious about how this autograph and take-a-picture-with-your-star works. I have never been to a fan convention, but on another site, someone who goes to such things often explained that there are a) tiered entries fees and b) one may purchase, at additional [high] costs, the opportunity to get an autograph or have one's picture taken with the desired celebrity. This poster was asked, who gets this money? A charity? Surely the celebrities themselves did not charge their fans to give their autographs or to pose with them for a picture. This poster, who had been to Scifi conventions (including manning tables at them) put on by the same company that is putting on this ORC one, said that the hosting company gets a share and the rest goes to the celebrity.

I must say, this gave me a very icky feeling. FAR more icky than the feeling I get about some small-time entepreneur hawking bits of Ngila Dickson's costume shop sweepings as "souvenirs." The idea of paying Elijah Wood (or anyone else) to submit to being photographed with me, to be willing to touch me (as the poster pointed out, "if you can't do both, go for the photo op. -- that way they'll give you a hug!" *shudder*), smacks not of trafficking in relics, but, dare I say it? (I dare :cool: ) -- prostitution.

Do any of you know the facts about this?

Even if it is the custom of celebrities to do this, (it scandalizes me, I confess) at least they could, personally, choose to donate their "earnings" to a charity. Do they?

Thank you for any facts on this.

I've spent far too much of today talking on this; please forgive me if it has been too off topic. Off to work,

~ Mechtild

Actually, I disagree with the interpretation of the 'costume cards' as 'relics', and with the notion that the actors being paid for entire long days of signing autographs is a form of 'prostitution'. But I'll take them one at a time. :)

The 'costume cards' are part of a larger set of cards. They never purport to be part of the actual costumes worn by the actors - they are just made of the same cloth (they don't even claim to be from the same bolt of cloth). They're not made clandestinely by some entrepreneur who has scraped sweepings off Nigela's floor, but are designed and sold legitimately as a collectors item related to the movies. I'm a LotR collector, and I have all kinds of things - one of the coins thrown at Mardi Gras, busts of the characters made by Sideshow Weta, official reproduction swords made by United Cutlerty, action figures made by ToyBiz, film frames released on Trilogy Tuesday - etc. etc. The collector cards that have a swatch of cloth like that used to make the costumes are no different than any of these other items, IMO. They are memorabilia, collectors items, official reproductions - call them what you will, but they are far from being 'relics'. They are collector's items, plain and simple, and command the prices that they do simply because they are relatively rare, and kind of cool (if you're into collecting.) We're not talking sweaty, cast-aside handkerchiefs here. :D

As for the autographs - we have to remember these guys are professional actors. Their time is worth something - why would that be any different if they attend a fan conference than if they were on a movie shoot? There has to be a fee for autographs for several reasons: 1) The conference cannot afford to pay the kind of daily fee these guys can command through conference registration fees alone - that would raise the price for everyone, and limit the number of actors the conference could afford to invite. 2) If the autographs were free, everyone would want one from every single actor, and the whole place would just be a riot act. They're often close enough to that as it is. ;) 3) By charging a fee per autograph per actor, the conference is able to channel some of that back to the actors themselves, thus reducing the 'appearance' fees that get charged to all registrants - and so keeping the conference affordable. 4) People pay only for the autographs they want, thus controlling the number of people who line up for each actor. 5) The people who could care less about autographs, or only want one or two, can pay only the conference fee and still enjoy the public speaking appearances of the actors. 6) This actually shifts much of the financial risk to the actors, and away from the conference itself. If you're a minor actor, or less popular, you'll do fewer autographs, and make less for your appearance at the conference.

Plus, what is wrong with an actor charging for his autograph, if that is what he is expected to sit and do for ten hours at a time (or five hours, or three)? This is one of my pet peeves, because I'm an accountant, and lots of people assume that I should be willing to do their taxes for them on the side for free, because that's just what I do, right? As if my time and expertise aren't worth anything outside of my regular 'work' hours. Providing autographs is the primary 'work' that actor is expected to do at the conference, for hours at a time, acting in their professional capacity. (Does any one of us think this would be little or no work? It's probably some of the hardest work they do - they are expected to be positive, attentive, caring, funny, etc the whole time - if they're anything but, it shows up in fan reports right away - how dare they be anything but next-to-perfect when with their fans?) I can hardly imagine harder work. I simply don't understand expecting them to do it for nothing.

I'm still waiting! :(

[Psst, Narya, how does mini Minas Tirith look? (Just a guess, from your post.)]

I'd written another post on religion in response to Honey's(and basically agreeing with it--just talking about how some people expand on those thoughts), but I didn't post it (you're welcome :rolleyes: ). But I wanted to respond to this, as it's a very, very common misconception:

from Mechtild:
-- or the selling of days off in Purgatory (in exchange for what were essentially cash donations).
We're talking indulgences here, right? Indulgences weren't about days in Purgatory; they were about "temporal punishment," which in those days meant public penance. Standing outside the church every Sunday for a year begging people to pray for you because you were a sinner--things like that. The "300 days" or other length of time for the indulgence was in place of that many days of public penance (something I'm sure some people were quite willing to pay for!). We don't even know if Purgatory has days, after all. The confusion came in when public penance went out the window, a fair number of centuries ago.

-----------------

Narya, thanks for your insights--you're much more knowledgeable about fandom than most of us. I have no problem with the cards as long as they're fairly represented--which I didn't feel like the ones on ebay were. But maybe that's just because I would have been "taken in" by the description (that is, thinking the cloth was claimed to be from the costume). If anyone other than a knowledgeable collector saw them, I'd think there would be that risk. My beef is principally with the ebay seller, who I didn't think made things very clear, not with the people who sold them officially--or even, I'm sure, with most ebay sellers. (But, I have to tell you, they look astoundingly like the little cards that do come with some relics... relics which often are little pieces of cloth... which made it awfully hard to ignore the similarity :rolleyes: :o .)

Do any of you know the facts about this? Even if it is the custom of celebrities to do this, (it scandalizes me, I confess) at least they could, personally, choose to donate their "earnings" to a charity. Do they?

Well, since you're asking so politely and all, and because I now Just Have to Know....I have e-mailed the event cooridinators, and inquired how this works. We'll see if they e-mail me back. It may be a day or two before I hear anything, if I do hear anything.
I must say, this gave me a very icky feeling. FAR more icky than the feeling I get about some small-time entepreneur hawking bits of Ngila Dickson's costume shop sweepings as "souvenirs." The idea of paying Elijah Wood (or anyone else) to submit to being photographed with me, to be willing to touch me (as the poster pointed out, "if you can't do both, go for the photo op. -- that way they'll give you a hug!" *shudder*), smacks not of trafficking in relics, but, dare I say it? (I dare ) -- prostitution.

:eek: :eek: :eek: Mech, I don't think of it this way. And I really hope the celebrities involved don't think of it that way either! Let's face it, they are alot more comfortable with having a public persona than any of us are, and it's just part of their job.

Given things that Elijah has said about his own capacity to be star-struck, such as
And Cate Blanchett! I'm absolutely in love with that woman....To be in her presence not only as a guy who is absolutely infatuated with her physical beauty, but her brilliance as an actress, is just stunning...
I'd think he'd not see it in the mercenary light you paint it.

Sean Astin, too. In a recent interview he spoke of how he has a opportunity to connect with the fans, and how he values that. (was that part of your post about his appearrance in your neck of the woods, Alyon ?)

I'll keep you all posted on what I find out, though.

honey!

My DVD arrived, safe and sound, though I have been prevented by RL "stuff" from getting to it as soon as I want.

Anyway, that gave me a chance to catch up on all you've been discussing today--thanks are due to wood for saying "Enjoy it with all your heart"--that is so "you" and very sweet too--and to Moondancer for the key to the Easter eggs--much appreciated and this time I printed it out!!

Thanks to Honey for trying to find out about the fees for the autographs. I remember asking about this the other day. While I can't speak for Mech, I know one thing that bothers me a little about this sort of set-up is that celebs of this stature surely don't need the money they're going to make in just a couple of days, and above and beyond that, the fact that the fees are just SO HIGH that it kind of boggles the mind.

(ETA: Doesn't New Line pay the actors for promoting the films and DVDs? Perhaps they are already earning something, on retainer perhaps, for the days of the event. Just a thought.)

About seeing the costumes, with rips and sweat and stains--the ones in the traveling museum exhibit were absolutely pristine which made me wonder whether they were really replicas. Perhaps the actual filmed ones, ripped and sweaty and stained, were given the same treatment as the real thing, "folded and set aside with honour" (ROTK, "The Field of Cormallen").

Well, I'm back...

Achila, have a wonderful time! And now all four hobbits will be at that thing. Oh, I really would literally squeee were I there. Perhaps I would even jump my old bones up and down.

Mech, I'm not going. Would that I could, but alas...no ORC for me.

Having just seen the extended cut, all I have to say is that I would happily have Peter Jackson's babies....oh,Pete so rules! The additions were perfect, as far as I was concerned, and totally helped to bolster Frodo's M-E departure, which the theatrical cut never did to my satisfaction. I'm very content right now...

and totally helped to bolster Frodo's M-E departure, which the theatrical cut never did to my satisfaction. I'm very content right now...

Oh, this is just CRUEL!!! (*) :( I got it yesterday but don't have time to watch it! ::: sniffle :::

~grumpy (on the other hand, Pale Male and Lola will get their nest back so I'm happy)

(*) just kidding ;)

Grumpy, you have something wonderful to look forward to -- "trust me".

Thanks to Honey for trying to find out about the fees for the autographs. I remember asking about this the other day. While I can't speak for Mech, I know one thing that bothers me a little about this sort of set-up is that celebs of this stature surely don't need the money they're going to make in just a couple of days, and above and beyond that, the fact that the fees are just SO HIGH that it kind of boggles the mind.
Didn't someone say that this particular convention-giving company has especially high fees? Maybe if another company had organized it, they would be lower. Does anyone have experience with that?

I can also understand that, a day or two here, a day or two there, and pretty soon you're talking about real time (sigh--Where's Everitt Dirksen when you need him? :( ) Especially with a commercially-run convention, it would be difficult to give freebies at one and not at the next one. I'm sure there are non-commerically-run things they do gratis--but we probably don't hear about those.

(ETA: Doesn't New Line pay the actors for promoting the films and DVDs? Perhaps they are already earning something, on retainer perhaps, for the days of the event. Just a thought.)
I'd think they'd only get paid for things New Line specifically set up for them--interviews, press conferences, etc., before one of the movies was released. Especially since everything is released now, I doubt that they'd be getting paid for promoting anything related to LotR.


About seeing the costumes, with rips and sweat and stains--the ones in the traveling museum exhibit were absolutely pristine which made me wonder whether they were really replicas. Perhaps the actual filmed ones, ripped and sweaty and stained, were given the same treatment as the real thing, "folded and set aside with honour" (ROTK, "The Field of Cormallen").
Aha! This one I think I just might have an answer for! :) Remember these movies weren't shot in sequence. That means the clothes weren't shot in sequence. They didn't gradually get dirty and ragged as filming went along, or the characters would be hopping back and forth on-screen between nice-looking clothes and ragged ones, sometimes between one shot and the next. Remember the quote from Sean Astin during filming, when he said they often didn't know what scene they'd be filming that day until they got to wardrobe? Then it might be, "Okay, rags today. We'll be in Mordor."

So there would have been a version of the same costume in each state of repair or disrepair. It would be an interesting display to see them side-by-side. In these movies, particularly, this took a heckuva lot of work. Not only would, say, each one of Frodo's shirts have to be done with the exact same type of stitched lines (and Pippin's is even more elaborate--granted, his didn't get as ragged). But then the same costumes had to be made again for the scale doubles in every condition they'd need them in, with everything scaled to their size. And from what I've read, they really did that--from size of the weave of the cloth to how long stitches were! So that if you saw Kiran's cloak it would look the same as Elijah's cloak, given their difference in size. It's mindboggling. At least they didn't need numerous versions of the Lorien cloaks--don't you love how they stay in the same condition no matter what :p ?

One instance that didn't strike me until I'd seen FotR a number of times--but really raised my admiration level for all involved when it did--is when Aragorn puts his hand on Frodo's shoulder on Caradhras and we see the ring of Barahir. That's obviously Viggo's scale double, making Elijah look smaller than he really is. But the ring of Barahir was made exactly the right size to work with that scale set-up. (If it had been me in charge, I probably would have said, "Hey, why don't we just have you put your other hand on his shoulder?" This is probably why people don't give me $300 million to make movies. :p )

Just spent an hour watching part of disk 5: The War of the Ring. Oh, you are in for a treat. They talk alot about the book to script changes, and how the actors had a voice in them. Believe me, they could have got a lot wronger than Elves at Helms Deep? :eek:

And Elijah tells a funny little story about encoutering Jack Nicholson back stage at the Golden Globes! :lol:

The additions were perfect, as far as I was concerned, and totally helped to bolster Frodo's M-E departure, which the theatrical cut never did to my satisfaction. I'm very content right now...

What Achila said! :)

About seeing the costumes, with rips and sweat and stains--the ones in the traveling museum exhibit were absolutely pristine ...

That's a little dissapointing. I'd really want to see the costumes from about midway in TTT.

Just got an e-mail from the lovely Anne at Creation, saying that they'd forwarded my question on to someone who would be able to answer it. :cool: At least my question got that much attention. Stay tuned!

honey!

Flourish, I don't think that the actors get paid any extra by the studio for promotional activities, but their availability for such events was a key part of the negotiations they had for bonuses. IIRC, the Newsweek cover article for RotK mentioned that, when the TTT bonuses were announced in 2003, and they were considerably less than the bonuses for FotR and offered to fewer actors, the entire cast got together and threatened to send letters directly to the head of New Line stating that they'd be oh-so-inconveniently not available for the press junket for RotK if the bonuses were not increased immediately, and offered to more people.

The posts upthread questioning whether or not they filmed the Grey Havens over the course of some time is somewhat answered on the documentary Cameras in Middle Earth. Apparently, they only filmed over three days, two of which ended up onscreen. The first day was rough, emotionally, on all of the hobbits, so they were not happy when the daily rushes showed that, after lunch, Sean had forgotten to put his waistcoat back on, so the entire afternoon's shoot was out of continuity. They had to go back the next day, get themselves back into crying mode, and try to recreate that moment again (muttering at Sean whenever PJ yelled, "Cut!"). Then, PJ called them that night and broke the news to them that the camera was out of focus for the entire day's shoot, so they had to go back AGAIN! They were still giving Sean grief on the documentary, and all of them agreed that the Grey Havens were the most difficult scene to film for RotK.

For those who haven't watched it yet, make sure to have plenty of tissues ready for The Passing of An Age....just sayin'. Watching everyone's last day of shooting -- particularly Elijah's -- was simply gut wrenching, knowing that it was not only the end for them but for us (at least for a while) as well. :(

And how absolutely mind-blowing to see ourselves (I mean -- I didn't see myself but heck -- I was there!) at the TORn party on the DVD!

It's here! It's come!

I haven't had time to watch much. The Two Children insisted on dinner and help with homework, but I managed to watch the Howard Shore DVD about the creation of the LOTR symphony. He looked like he was having a great time conducting the Shire theme.

Yes, this means I ordered the Collector's Edition and have ordered my Minas Morgul and King Elessar crown! My son and I were trying to figure out where the beacon was in Minas Tirith and then he wanted to know how Denothor was able to get from the tombs to the where he jumped/fell off the cliff, while on fire. "Well, in the book..."

tg, I can't remember any of what my Baltimore catechism taught about indulgences--thanks for the mini-lesson.

As to what the actors will receive monetarily, I imagine whatever they can. Their "business" is themselves and who knows what they do with the fees they receive. Maybe they'll pool their money, buy land in NZ and invite The Faculty for a visit. :D

ETA-tg, I recall that Everett Dirkson was a senator in the 60's, but don't quite understand your reference. :)

Dirksen was the one who said that famous line about Washington DC: "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking about real money."

It's past 1 AM and everyone has gone to bed (and left me with a sink full of dirty dishes), but it was soooooo worth it. I stayed up to watch the entire film straight through and then the cast commentary from Shelob's Lair to the end.

I loved most of the additions--I think more than I did for TTT--and since I've been rereading the book for a while now (slowly, as RL allows) I'm less annoyed with Gimli's humor in the films than I used to be. In the book he's actually quite funny--I'd forgotten.

What's really impressed me about the EE so far, though, is how delicately Elijah kept steering the commentary away from Sean's regrets and perceived inadequacies by interrupting him with little compliments--"What a great moment that is for your character, Sean," and "Look at you there, aww," and so on. Masterful, diplomatic, and very much appreciated--especially since it left Elijah holding the floor and he was able to speak about his own acting in some of the most critical and beautiful scenes, which is really all I wanted to hear about (though Billy and Dom were quite funny). But my hat is off to Elijah for his unerring grace and tact in this EE.

And I loved it that he remembered to talk about his interpretation of Frodo's final smile, and even that he'd had a hard time coming up with it "at one of those Q&A things," which was of course the one last year in New York.

About the costumes--of course there were dozens of outfits for each of the actors in various states of disrepair--there is even a picture, somewhere, of a whole rack of "Frodo's shirts" individually labeled that shows this clearly, and it's often commented on in the film-related books and documentaries. What I meant about the exhibit costumes is that they truly look like they were never worn in the films, but for whoever said they wanted to see the ripped and dirty ones, I proposed a somewhat facetious explanation for their not being in the traveling show.

Thanks for the info about the conventions and contracts and fees and so forth. I do still think there's a dollar ceiling above which a fee for autographs begins to feel a little awkward for some people even though it's the convention organizers who set them.

Now I'm curious about scale doubles in the scene on Caradhras--perhaps there's something in the commentary about that because I seem to remember Elijah saying they filmed that with just him on his knees after the cast were helicoptered to the location. On the other hand (no pun intended), when Gandalf holds Pippin's face after the fright with the Palantir, and when Denethor extends his ring for Pippin to kiss after swearing allegiance, those are clearly the hands of a scale double. They're just huge.

Autograph fees??

I don't know if it's the same for all events. Likely not, since, for instance, Sean signed basically for free (The venue charged us $5.00 to get into his talk) -- but that was for his book--and he was out promoting.

In the Seattle Post Intelligencer, Sean told how he had to turn down $30,000 for 6 hours of autgraphing in London ( I think it was London)--because it was his daughter's birthday. He had a hard time saying no, but in the end he said he "did the right thing." It's certainly possible that fees vary. I do agree with what Narya said, though. The actor's do deserve something for their time--and it's not easy autographing all day. My hand would cramp up after 15 minutes. Sean was very gracious when I saw him, but he had already been at it for quite awhile, and I thought he also looked a bit weary.

Also, I think I did appreciate, after reading Sean's book, how precarious the career of an actor is. Work is often iffy and sporadic, and opportunities may just disappear. The possibility of dramatic shifts in earning potential may make actors insecure, so that I imagine a working actor might be of the mindset of thinking he or she had better cash in while they can. And of course it's their agents or managers working the deal for them--and there are likely industry standards. MIght there also be SAG stipulations?? I don't know if SAG has anything to do with these kind's of events--though they do have standards when an actor is traveling to promote a movie...they have to fly first class, there is a perdium...that sort of thing. I don't know what else.

I'm not going to get all bothered about what the actors get in this case (ORC). I know they are all fine people--and I don't have the luxury of questioning other people about the income they make and whether they deserve it or who they give it away to. I don't know how much it is fair to assume with these guys....and anyway, In my opinion most people make too much money ;) but I can't go interrogating everyone as to what they do with it to see if they meet my approval. :)

It's still not long enough. C-yawn-4

Narya et all, re: convention fees.

Thank you for your answer. Boy, was I way off! I had thought the actors were remunerated for coming to these conventions by the sponsors. You know, with a reasonable fee and expenses paid, or something like that. Also, I thought attending these things was a form of getting publicity and solidifying their fan base for these guys, so that they actually got something out of it, not just the fans taking advantage of their largesse. I didn't know they made their real money on the autographs and photos. I guess that's how these things work. I just didn't know. Now, I do.

Well, I'll bet the Lad does great. Maybe the four hobbit lads will go back to the motel room of one of them that night, dump out their money on the beds, like we kids used to dump out our Halloween candy when we were little, and compare "takes." I can see them teasing each other about whose fans were willing to put out the most for their John Hancocks or for that "extra-special squeeze." They are such teases. ;) Naaaaah; they would be sensitive to offending the one with the least. Who am I kidding, watching Billy and Dom talk about, "taking the p*ss out of Elijah" et al? They'd run him ragged about it, until his little cheeks were as red as apples. I'd love to be a fly on the wall. :D

Well, all I can say is, Howard Shore sure got gypped! He posed for pictures and signed autographs for nothing, the noodle. But, I love him anyway, the musical genius cutie. A kiss for Howard Shore: :k

P.S. Things came up. No RotK viewing was possible tonight. :confused: Tomorrow night -- I am hoping -- with fingers crossed.

OT to tg. Until very recent times, purgatory was indeed considered to be a "place" and the punishment there was reckoned in days, weeks and years. Therese of Liseux (late nineteenth century) speaks in her spiritual memoirs of praying as an intercessor (as a Carmelite nun), for petitioners' dead loved ones, that their time of suffering in Purgatory might be reduced -- in terms of real time:

--from the Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (but I can get it from other sources; that just happens to be a good reference that I have on hand in my limited library):

INDULGENCES:

The remission by the Church of the temporal penalty due to forgiven sin, in virtue of the merits of Christ and the saints. In the RC Church the granting of indulgences is now ordinarlily confined to the Pope. The practice presupposes 1. a retributive basis for Divine justice, i.e. that sin must have a penalty either on earth or in purgatory (....) In the early Church, esp. from the 3rd century, the intercession of confessors and those awaiting martyrdom was allowed by the ecclesiastical authorities to shorten the canonical discipline of those under penance; and when canonical penance came to be considered a substitute for temporal punishment in purgatory, the transition was easy to the belief that the prayers and merits of the saints availed to shorten such punishment itself, even for sins which did not require penance. (...) Partial indulgences are no longer reckoned in days and years [but they used to be]; they simply supplement (....) Indulgences can also be gained by the living for the souls in purgatory, but only by an act of intercession, since the Church on earth has no juristicion beyond the grave."
Although most modern theologians rarely teach that heaven, hell or purgatory are "places" analogous to those in the known universe, people until quite recently (in terms of human history) did. It is belief during those times of which I was thinking, when alluding to the practice of indulgences ("paying for time off in Purgatory"). And rarely was a fee charged explicitly: "Pay X and you get a year off for Uncle Hans." One paid X to the church or to a particular monastery for its religious services -- then intercessors would pray [with promised, if not guarranteed efficacy] for your intentions.

About the costumes--of course there were dozens of outfits for each of the actors in various states of disrepair--there is even a picture, somewhere, of a whole rack of "Frodo's shirts" individually labeled that shows this clearly...
Couldn't resist posting this when I read that, because I love this photo (perhaps not least because the garments are labeled as 'hero travelwear'). :)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v32/bunniebugs/LOTR%20photos%20-%20misc/costumes.jpg

BB--Thanks for posting that picture. "Hero" is such a nice word :) .

Mechtild--I'll be sending you a PM shortly regarding your latest post. I doubt if most people here are interested in theological hair-splitting (although I find it great fun :p )!

tgshaw wrote:
BTW--going back a page or so--Yes, the phial of Galadriel would be much more fitting than the Balrog candle holder, but the Balrog candle holder can be bought at Amazon for $34.99, while the phial is sold by the Noble Collection for... well, let's just say... a bit more than that
I didn't know that there actually IS a Balrog candle holder! I thought that was just something that you dreamed up, along with Morgul Vale Hair Dryer and Web Remover. ;)

Narya Celebrian, thanks for your comments on the economics of charging for autographs and photos at fan conferences. For some reason, many of us seem to have an instinctive aversion to the idea of doing this. Maybe it's partly because we think of an autograph as something we could have for free if we encountered an actor by accident, in his "free time;" so why should anyone have to pay for it? But your point that, at a conference, the actor is actually working, is a good one -- as is the point that nobody at these events is holding a gun to anyone's head and forcing him or her to buy an autograph.

BTW, I went the CHEAP, SLOW route and ordered the RotK EE from amazon.com with free shipping (which won't get it here until next week!). But I'm getting together with Achila tomorrow, and she is going to let me see the Easter egg, as well as the SNL tape AND Chain of Fools. So that should be enough of an Elijah fix to keep me going.

I have a response from the fine people at Creation Entertainment:
Thank you for your interest on our event. Creation Entertainment has been in business for 34 years. The money goes to every expense
pertaining to the show. As to the money the guest's earn at our event,
it is up to his/her discretion.-Leticia

Doesn't clarify much, does it?

honey!

Doesn't clarify much, does it?
You know, I suppose they just don't know what each celebrity does with the money they earn (and it shouldn't be any of their business, either).

From things I've heard lately, most of the money that the celebrities make comes from the autographs and photo ops. Dom Monaghan, for instance, who was just added to the program, was not 'budgeted for', and therefore any money he makes comes from the photo and autograph tickets that are sold. That is why he is not included in the comprehensive packages that have already been sold.

I wouldn't be surprised if Elijah either donates his money or uses it toward one of his business ventures. Someone like Dom, though, might have more need for the cash, so he holds on to it. Sean could put it toward his daughters' college fund. :) And Billy could pay for his ridiculous overseas travel expenses. ;)

I was watching a little bit of the documentaries this afternoon when my daughter come in with a homework question. I was watching "Cameras in Middle-earth" and it was at the Shelob's Lair section. Billy Boyd was on screen commenting about EW's eyes, which then showed a picture of rosy cheeked pre-quest Frodo. This happened to be where I hit pause. (Not on purpose, honest.) The homework question was answered. My daughter, who is 7, looked at the screen, looked at me, then looked back at the TV (my wondrous large screen HD marvel). "You should turn that off," she said. "Why?" "Doesn't he make you nervous, looking at you like that?"

C :lol: 4

[quote]I didn't know that there actually IS a Balrog candle holder! I thought that was just something that you dreamed up, along with Morgul Vale Hair Dryer and Web Remover. ;)

Here y'go. It's in the second row (the one that starts with the LotR cake decorating kit), between the Legolas lunchbox and the Gollum snowglobe :p : Mathoms and Curiosities (http://www.frodolivesin.us/Bywater/id15.htm). Great gift ideas, eh?? :D

---------

For some reason (maybe the acting :confused: ?), I tend to get more involved with the movies on the DVDs than with the special features. There are still some special features from FotR that I haven't looked at yet, to say nothing of TTT--or RotK! So I enjoy reading what people have to say about them. I'm sure I'll eventually see them all, and listen to all the commentary tracks. I definitely consider this a lifetime study! :)

The most-discussed Frodo moment so far in the Trilogy forum is the bit that leads into the scene with the headless king. If you've seen it, I'm sure you know why it's causing some upset. Methinks it will have to be screencapped for serious study--what's really going on in the "inner Frodo" when he says those lines? There are some places in the movies where Elijah's acting comes closer to the real Frodo than what the director and screenwriters say they meant to put into the scene. More evidence that there was some Frolijah channeling going on? I don't know if that will turn out to be true in this scene or not; we'll just have to check it out, right? ;)

For some reason (maybe the acting :confused: ?), I tend to get more involved with the movies on the DVDs than with the special features. There are still some special features from FotR that I haven't looked at yet, to say nothing of TTT--or RotK! So I enjoy reading what people have to say about them. I'm sure I'll eventually see them all, and listen to all the commentary tracks. I definitely consider this a lifetime study! :)



Migosh! I thought I was the only one who hadn’t seen the extras. :D For me, everything about PJ's LOTR has been the story, and in PJ doing it justice on the big screen. I've only ever looked at Sean, Billy, Dom and Elijah as Sam, Pippin, Merry and Frodo, and had no desire to mar that. Watching the special features and seeing the actors' own lives and mannerisms encroaching on their LOTR characters would have created a distortion for me.

That’s not to say I haven’t seen them out of character before. I saw the “making of” type of specials that accompanied the earlier phases of the trilogy, and enjoyed them a great deal. But I bet they were tame compared to what's on the disks. Now that the movies are over and I can finally allow a separation of actors and hobbits, the idea of seeing Elijah as Frodo step into a helicopter or crack a questionable joke no longer seems like a sacrilege ;) . Maybe next year when December comes looming with LOTR nothingness, those special features will go far in cheering me up. By then I may actually have time to watch them.

...By then I may actually have time to watch them.
The time is my problem. If I could hook up a direct cable download into my brain, I'm sure I would have "watched" everything by now :p (although IMHO it would still be a lifetime's work to assimilate it all, especially the movies themselves).

'Mind' Over Matter
D.C. critics honor ''Sunshine,'' Jamie Foxx. Washingtonians give the twisty romance Best Film and three more prizes, and they recognize Foxx twice, for ''Ray'' and ''Collateral'' by Gary Susman




Sideways has been the leading film for every critics' group that has announced awards or nominations — until now. On Friday, the Washington, D.C., Area Film Critics Association became the first group to endorse Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind as Best Film. The mind-twisting romance earned four prizes total, including Best Director (Michel Gondry), Best Original Screenplay (Charlie Kaufman), and Best Acting Ensemble (for a cast that includes Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo, and Tom Wilkinson). The film's subject is forgetfulness, but WAFCA president Tim Gordon said in a statement that the group made a point of remembering the movie, even though it was released way back in March. Gordon called its awards success proof that ''a great film will be remembered and rewarded even if it isn't released in December.''

Best Acting Ensemble (for a cast that includes Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Kirsten Dunst, Elijah Wood, Mark Ruffalo, and Tom Wilkinson). '
Hah. Harrrrumph. Another "Best Ensemble" including The One Lad. I wonder if The Esteemed Academy will ever figure out that there's a reason why movies that he's in win awards?

I can't wait till EII comes out. If there's one where he might actually be recognized for himself, that may be the one.

~grumpy (work Christmas party)(very, very big dessert table)(Life is uncertain. Eat dessert first)(still haven't cracked open RotK EE)

Elijah will be on Conan this Monday night -- it's a repeat, gang, so don't get overly excited (it's the one with Estella Warren and Liz Phair, during the ROTK junket). So this announcement is for those who a) didn't get to see it the first time, b) didn't get to tape it the first time and c) just can't get enough of watching Elijah. Heck -- all three categories may apply to some of you! LOL

thanks achila!!!!

well i will yoin catogory c)!!!!!!
definet i will,just can`t get enough
of him!!! :p :D

love/wood

In case anyone's interested--

I just posted my first two screencaps from the RotK EE over in the "Yes, it's here..." thread in the Trilogy/RotK forum, along with a basically Faculty-style interpretation ;) . It may be awhile before I have time to do a full treatment of the scene, but it's a start.

Well, Achila and I spent all day Friday shamelessly wallowing in Elijahdom. She had already seen everything we viewed, but she was kind enough to sit through it all again. (I didn’t have to twist her arm too hard.) First, we watched the RotK Easter egg – hilarious! “Mr. Woods.” “Do you kick balls?” And Flipper being killed in a car accident. Poor Elijah. He obviously suspects that either he’s dealing with a loony, or this is some kind of set-up; but he has to keep going just in case it’s for real.

Then we watched his SNL show, which confirms our belief that EJW can do just about anything. Then Chain of Fools. “Mikey: Working for G.E.D.” “Do you want to go have a malted?” I love off-the-wall movies like this -- I can’t wait for it to come out on DVD next year. Achila’s Chinese subtitles weren’t too distracting, although it seems odd that they use Arabic numerals and standard Western punctuation symbols (question marks, etc.)

Then we ended up watching the RotK EE. Most of the restored scenes really are improvements, I think. Either they fill major continuity gaps in the original (Frodo and Sam discarding the orc armor), or they help to set up later scenes (can’t remember any specific examples, but we talked about them while watching), or they are excellent in themselves (the Houses of Healing; Saruman’s finale). I can’t wait for my own copy to arrive so that I can watch it again (over New Year’s weekend, possibly), nd all of those “making-of” extras.

I have never had the opportunity to watch any part of the trilogy with anyone who is at least as fanatical about it as I am, so that was also great fun. We pointed out likes and dislikes, cracked up over little things (the way that one orc spits out the line “Catapults!”), sang along with Gollum (“Caught in the web/Soon he’ll be. . . eaten”), shouted “Deaaaaaaaaaaath!” along with Theoden and the Rohirrim (Achila – or was that just me??). And then, at my request, we watched the Easter egg again – and laughed just as hard.

And naturally, we discussed the diversity of Elijah’s talents, the subtlety of his performance, the aesthetics of his person (hair, eyebrows, eyes, nose, lips, teeth, chin, jaw, hands, waist, etc., etc.). Since we are both mature, highly educated, intellectual women, there was of course no swooning in any of this. (And I’m peddling that same tract of swampland that zkgrumpy had on offer a few days ago. ;) )

In a word – sigh.

tgshaw: “the LotR cake decorating kit” – :lol:

I too had a great time, Pelagia -- I highly recommend to everyone that they find a LOTR/Elijah friend nearby to watch these movies with. It's truly wonderful to spend time with someone who shares your...ahem...interests.... ;)

tgshaw: “the LotR cake decorating kit” – :lol:
What I want to know is how Legolas rates a lunchbox (with drink container!) and Frodo doesn't. :mad: ;)

Glad you and Achila had a great time! I'm looking forward to having a similar experience--this coming year, maybe? :)

I`M SO GLADE YOU TWO HADE A GREAT TIME!!!!! :)

BUT I `M SORRY TOO SAY BUT I DON`T HAVE
ANYONE HERE I CAN SHARE WITH!!!!! :(

IT SHOULDE BE MY MOTHER THEN BUT WE DON`T LOOK AT THE SAME
MEN!! :(

OFCURSE ,LOOK AT IT BY MYSELF WORKES JUST FINE TOO ME
THEN I CAN HAVE (HIM)ALL FOR MY SELF!!! :p

OH SORRY NO SWOONING IN HERE!!!! :lol: :lol:

WELL YOU ALL KNOW ME BY KNOW DON`T YOU!!! ;) ;)

LOVE YOU ALL/WOOD

What I want to know is how Legolas rates a lunchbox (with drink container!) and Frodo doesn't. :mad: ;)

Me too! That would be the perfect nexus of two of my collections, Frodos and lunch boxes!

My husband at least loves the Movies as much as I do. I think he cried more than I did when we watched the EE the other night. But it would be lovely to have one of my Faculty buddies to watch it with. :(

h!

I forgot to mention that Achila and I also watched the Tonight show with Elijah and the Siberian lynx. How can you not love this guy??

tgshaw wrote:
What I want to know is how Legolas rates a lunchbox (with drink container!) and Frodo doesn't.
Oh, I think Frodo rates one of those elegant picnic ensembles that come in lovely wicker baskets, complete with plates and silverware and cloth napkins. The plates could be adorned with various pictures of him. And a wine carrier, (inspired by the Old Winyard).

tg and wood: Come to Philadelphia some time! We’ll let you do all the swooning you want, wood.

And now (ahem) a holiday piece: a little late for Hanukah, a little early for Christmas and Kwanzaa, but just right for the winter solstice.


SONG FOR THE SEASON

(To be sung – with great pathos – to the melody of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas”)

Have yourself a merry little ‘Lijah.
Let your hearts be light.
Next year, Matt, Kev and Jonathan will be in sight.

Have yourself a merry little ‘Lijah.
Make the season gay.
Next year, three new movies will be on the way.

Here we are, staring at the screen,
Viewing things we’ve seen before,
As we wait for news of The Lad
That will make us glad once more.

Through the years, we hope to see more Lij films,
If the backers allow.
Till then, watching “Rings” again must do, somehow.
So have yourself a merry little ‘Lijah, now.

Pelagia, that's brilliant, luv (and it's Matt from "Hooligans", btw)!

I love your song, Pelagia! And so appropriate! :p

I'm just dropping in to give my good wishes to the Faculty. I've been out of town, then ill, and soon will be out of town again. :eek: Too much going on! But the nice thing about being ill was being able to watch the EE and all the extras. I found the farewells very moving. The love that these people put into these movies warms my heart. I wish them all well.

Cheers! Happy holidays, everyone!

Achila, thanks for the correction on The Yank's name. (I knew it began with an "m," anyway.)

Mariole, sorry to hear that you've been ill. But it was nice that you had the EE to comfort you. I'd think that would be right up there with hot tea and chicken soup, for making anyone feel better.

A quick hello to all :k
Thank You Pelagia for your brilliant holiday song...I'm gonna commit it to memory so I can sing it at work..Yes I sometimes go down the halls at the hospital singing..not a great voice but the babies don't care( I work in a maternity unit :) )Actually the babies have a favorite song that I do...Believe it or not it's the theme to the Beverly Hillbillies :rolleyes:
But I think I'll try out Pelagia's little ditty...being it is after all the holiday season :D
I've been enjoying the new EE...A renewed appreciation for all the work that went into making that trilogy :k :k :k

Enjoyed EW's performance in the SNL re-run on the
weekend. He has great timing and a lightness on his feet.
Somebody write this man a comedy! C4

Enjoyed EW's performance in the SNL re-run on the weekend.
Was a bit dissapointed that I didn't get to see him as Boy George again, though!*pout*
He has great timing and a lightness on his feet. Somebody write this man a comedy!

Yes, please! Preferably Charlie Kaufman! :)

Spent yesterday nursing a bad back. :o Lovely excuse to watch all the extras! :)
We need our little GIF fairy Blossom to pluck out those bits of Frolijah playing in Shelob's web! :D Pretty please? :k How silly is he?

Haven't listened to the actor's commentary yet. Something to look forward to.

h!

The Sin City trailer is up. Not sure if I can link directly to the trailer itself, but the site is Moviefone (http://movies.channel.aol.com/). There is only about a second and a half of Elijah, but at least he's there! :cool:

If anyone is kicking themselves over missing the repeat of Lij on Conan tonight, don't -- although it was widely billed that it would be starring Our Lad, the actual show that aired was (strangely) with Ian McKellen. Somebody goofed!

ETA: Sin City trailer -- http://demand1.stream.aol.com/ramgen/aol/us/moviefone/movies/2004/sincity_019736/sincity_trlr_01_bb8.rm

Hey, thanks for that link to the new Sin City trailer.
:)

A very, very brief glimpse of Elijah. Jeez...these guys know how to feed my curiosity.

From tvnow.com:

Actor Elijah Wood; Liz Phair performs. Host: Conan O'Brien. 59 minutes- (CC), SS, In Stereo

Tue Dec 21 07:00P on CNBC

Looks as if we have to try again tonight. . . .

Achila, I see by the time on your post that you too stayed up to watch Connan O'Brien and we had to "settle" for Ian McKellen. The trailer you linked has totally woken me up! Robert Rodrequiz's movies can be very violent, but his use of color and the choreography of the fight scenes can make them almost beautiful to watch (even though I still have to close my eyes sometimes). A curious thing is I had been thinking for a while that EW and Alexis Bledel would be interesting together. She does lovely work on "The Gilmore Girls." I am not familiar with the comic on which this is based, but was wondering if EW wearing sunglasses was deliberate. "Bladerunner" immediately came to mind when I viewed the trailer. This looks great!

ETA-Is "woken me up" proper grammar? :)

Robert Rodrequiz's movies can be very violent, but his use of color and the choreography of the fight scenes can make them almost beautiful to watch (even though I still have to close my eyes sometimes)...
This should be no exception, C4. It is an extremely violent comic, but the way it's been filmed is undeniably gorgeous and striking. The violence will be shocking, though -- no way around that.

I am not familiar with the comic on which this is based, but was wondering if EW wearing sunglasses was deliberate.
They're not actually sunglasses. That's just the light reflected off the lenses of the glasses. Most (if not all) of the shots in the film are direct copies of panels from the comic, and this is one of the first glimpses of Elijah's character (if I recall correctly) and the obscuring of his eyes is deliberate, of course. ;)

ETA-Is "woken me up" proper grammar? :)Er... I think so. I've always been confused by the past tenses of that word! Maybe someone else knows better than I...

I would go with "had awakened me" because I'm sure of it and not sure of the other. ;)

Achila, I see by the time on your post that you too stayed up to watch Connan O'Brien and we had to "settle" for Ian McKellen.

Hey Cee -- can't get anything past an attentive Faculty member, can I? LOL Actually, it just so happened that I was still up when Conan came on (I wasn't planning to watch it -- I have it on tape). I had dozed off earlier and woke up just in time to see part of the opening skit -- about which I immediately thought -- "Hmm...don't remember that from last year -- well, OK." So of course, being that I was up and Elijah was going to be on -- what's a girl to do but watch, right?! I dozed off again and woke up just as Conan was saying "Lord of the Rings", but realized as soon as "X-Men" was mentioned that this, in fact, was not going to be Lij. Sort of strange to wake up this way, expecting to see one person from LOTR and seeing another actor from it instead!

One thing that was good -- I hadn't seen this episode last year. One thing that was bad -- I ended up staying up until 6:30 this morning! Zzzzzz

LOVE YOUR SONG PELAGIA!!!!! :k

HOPE YOU ARE FEELING BETTER MARIOLE!!! :k


JUST WANTED TO WICH YOU ALL A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
OR AS WE SAY HERE IN SWEDEN GOD JUL!!!!!!
YOU ARE MY BEST FRIENDS IN THE WORLD!!!!!! :k :k :k :k



LOVE YOU ALL/WOOD

Wow, that Sin City trailer looks wild! I mean the look of it is just amazing wiith the black and white, and occassional splashes of color.

What's with the yellow ferenghi looking guy?

I wonder what they've done to Elijah's face? Don't you suppose they've changed it in some way, besides the glasses, and that's why they reveal so little of it in the trailer? I still can't wait to see how he'll play a mute character. I don't suppose the move will be cut so quilckly as the trailer, but all the black and white, and quick edits will make it a little hard to read expression I imagine.

OT: Did you also notice the trailer for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on the same web-site? Johnny Depp...chocolate... ;) :p

honey!

Thanks, wood. Merry Christmas to you!

I was catching up on my LOTR magazines and Issue #16 had an interview with Bruce Hopkins, who portrayed Gamling. He talked specifically about fees at conventions, a topic we were exploring a few pages back.

LOTR magazine: Bruce, you have been making quite a few convention appearances in the last year.

Bruce Hopkins: Yes, it's true. As a Kiwi actor, I literally live from week-to- week because there is not that much work for actors in New Zealand. When I go to these conventions, I am not one of the actors sitting there with endless lines, but I sometimes have a good line in front of me. I will never not acknowledge the fans. Last year, I have no idea how I would have survived financially if I hadn't been able to go to conventions and be paid to sign my autograph. It stems from the fact, too, that I like people. I have gone too long without understanding the fact that I am a business. As an actor-no matter whether you are in a big movie or a little movie-you are a business. Treat your talent and what you do with it as a business.

C4

The yellow guy is Nick Stahl -- The Yellow Bastard. No clue what they've done to Lij but the trailer looks so stylized and cool!

I did think Johnny Depp looks like Marilyn Manson in that trailer! LOL

HELP!!!!!

I CAN`T SEE THE TRAILER!!!!!!!! :confused: :confused:



WOOD

Wood, I had the same problem.
Probably you have to download RealPlayer first (that's what helped in my case).

I agree, the trailer looks great - visually innovative. Thanks, Bunnie and Achila. :) - But will I endure the story?? :eek:

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ibsys/20041221/lo_wdsu/2506551

Hi whiteling!!
i tryed that but i can`t get the réal player!!
my computer can`t find the real player homepage!!

well i trust your guyes!!! if you said it looks great i trust you!! :k :k

love/wood

Hobbits to take over Mardi Gras Again!

At least the suit will fit this time! :lol:

I wonder what they've done to Elijah's face? Don't you suppose they've changed it in some way, besides the glasses, and that's why they reveal so little of it in the trailer? I still can't wait to see how he'll play a mute character. I doubt that they've done anything to his face, Honey, as Kevin in the comics actually resembles Elijah somewhat already (or, vice versa ;) ). But, he is intended to be a bit of a mystery, so I'm sure they don't want to give away too much too soon.

wood, I couldn’t download the trailer, either. But if you go to this link . . .

http://www.theonering.net/scrapbook/view/14896

. . . you can see a still of Elijah as Kevin, supposedly from the trailer. Creepy! This will be a real change for him. (And god Jul to you, too!)

There is a downloadable version of the Sin City trailer available on LiveJournal, courtesy of undone27. Just scroll back an entry or two, and you'll find it. :)

Good morning!

Happy Birthday, Moondancer! :k

Frodo has something for you:


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/whiteling/ThisIsSting_72dpi.jpg

"This is Sting"


Somewhat strange present, isn't it? ;) Poor Frodo, a long period of being turned upside down lies behind him, maybe this is the reason for his disorientation. :p (For anyone who wonders about this - I am in the habit of turning my drawings upside down during the making process)
That one was tricky! Translating the zillion shades into a drawing made me dizzy in between. But it was great fun portraying a determined Frodo-Elijah - he's so much more himself than on the Cracks of Doom (the expression of the eyes in both pictures is rather similar in appearance, but here his glance is direct and resolute, almost authoritative. In the CoD picture his eyes looks cold and... well, he's no Hobbit anymore. *Shudder*)

Moondancer, I hope you like it - this picture is not only your birthday present, it is also a big "Thank-you" for you and Skater girl - you two made it possible that several Day-O DVDs saw the light of day. (And maybe the picture does count as an extremely belated birthday gift to Grumpy, too? ;) )


----------

Just a quick get back to the engrossing relic discussion lately (the piece of cloth selled at e-bay). In Bavaria, my homeland, there is a pilgrimage church in which the heart of "Märchen-König" Ludwig II (yes, the one with Schloss Neuschwanstein, well-known thanks to Disneyland :p ) is treasured in a silvery, heart-shaped reliquary. I must say, as long as they are not selling pieces of Frodo's myocardial fibres at e-bay, I'll be quiet. :rolleyes:


And there's a new "face" - SandCastles, welcome! :)

Happy Birthday, MOONDANCER!
Here's something warm and fuzzy for a winter birthday girl!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v377/honeyelf/warmnfuzzy.jpg
---
Whiteling, you've done it again! Your drawing is lovely!

Frolijah's authoritative look there is also reflected in the change to his voice. While watching the extras from the RoTK ee the other day I was fascinated by the little snips of Elijah in costume as Frodo, but speaking in his normal voice, and in his american accent. What a difference!

Mariole, hope you're feeling better! :k

I just want to give a gentle reminder that if you plan to contribute to the fan book that Alyon and I will be giving to Elijah at ORC, the deadline is January 1st. Thank you, everyone who has contributed so far! :k

honey!

Happy Birthday, Moondancer!

This guy came running in and wanted me to send you his regards as well (oops -- and then he went running out again -- quick little devil!)!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/aquila0212/cap267.jpg

Anyway, I hope it's a great day! (and terrific drawing, whiteling, as usual!)

Moondancer – Happy birthday, and all the best to you in the coming year!

whiteling: What a terrific drawing! The eyes are just amazing. (For a true aesthetic experience, try scrolling quickly back and forth between those eyes and the ones in honeyelf’s birthday offering.)

Happy holidays to all Faculty members everywhere! I've been a lot happier since I discovered you all.

(I’m off to visit my family in Virginia for a week. None of them is a LotR fan, much less an Elijah fan. Hello, cruel world. :( )

Ceefour, thanks for the information about convention fees. I always suspected there was a grain of truth in the movie "Galaxy Quest." ;)

My heart does go out to all the minor actors out there who find themselves trading on their bit of fame (or waiting tables) just to pay the bills. I'm sure none of them are in the same tax bracket as the actors in the top tier who are supporting their families in prime neighborhoods and earning book royalties and other fees, so Bruce Hopkins' plight is particularly poignant. It must be very difficult to have to add geography to all the other challenges an artist faces.

By the way I was surprised to read in the paper the other day that "50 First Dates" was one of the 15 or 20 highest-grossing films of 2004. Even a small slice of that pie must have been rewarding as it turned out to be such a big pie.

But you know what? Our economy now is built on celebrity worship and on our willingness to pay exorbitantly for the privilege of watching a handful of lucky people hit, throw, kick, or catch balls and act, sing, or sell computers. That's our collective choice, and who am I to argue with it? :rolleyes:

Thanks again for the info.

My heart does go out to all the minor actors out there who find themselves trading on their bit of fame (or waiting tables) just to pay the bills. I'm sure none of them are in the same tax bracket as the actors in the top tier who are supporting their families in prime neighborhoods and earning book royalties and other fees, so Bruce Hopkins' plight is particularly poignant. It must be very difficult to have to add geography to all the other challenges an artist faces.

One comment I read about RotK being given top ensemble acting honors was that it was an appropriate way to honor even the actors in minor parts, not just one or two top "stars" as individual awards would have done. And each of them did such a great job and threw themselves heart and soul into their roles--not a single case (that I can think of) of "Ho, hum, I'll just walk on and say my line." Totally, totally deserved. I hope they each take some pride in that, even though it might not put any money in their pockets (although I'm sure it couldn't hurt). I also hope the actors in FotR and TTT can see the RotK ensemble honors as recognizing them, too, even though they might not do so "officially."

Whiteling, another great drawing. One thing with that particular "subject"--you don't have to worry about ever being bored from drawing the same thing all the time :p .

Moondancer, I don't have any brand-new gifts to offer, but here's someone with a little sparkle in his eye to wish you a happy birthday :k :

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/Previous movies/PDVD_13770.jpg

Happy holidays to all those who are starting their travels! :) :)

Here's a little present from Santa for everyone who's been very, very good this year :z: (or just a little naughty ;) ).

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/off topic/www_pics_am-christmas95.jpg

No, I have no idea who he is, but doesn't he look nice in that stocking cap? :p

Well, it's very dark here and the weather is not great but....it's my birthday!
My birthday is usually just about the darkest and shortest day of the year and this year is no exception. My brother told me so with a grin on his face: "You know that your birthday is the darkest of the entire year, don't you?"
I replied that I knew but that was not the way to look at it. "My birthday is the turning point and from then on...everything will be better and brighter."
He looked at me for a bit and replied: "Yep, we could see it that way, but whether we actually do is another matter ;) "

Ah....brothers. He called me up at 6.30 a.m. to wish me a happy birthday, knowing very well that I didn't have to wake up early.


But, then I come here to see Whiteling's drawing and... :) :) :) :)
I love that picture and this drawing is awesome. I love determined Frodo with Sting. Just look at that expression in his eyes and that mouth...
You did it again!
Thank you very much for sharing a bit of that talent with us. :k

Honeyelf, I could use something (or somebody ;) ) warm and fuzzy at this moment. It's cold and wet over here. Thank you for that picture.

Achila,
Just the picture to put a big, big grin on my face. Thank you. Perfect!

Tgshaw,
That's a picture from Day-O, right? Thank you very much.


By the way, I've been watching bits and pieces of the extended DVD and I love the commentary of the production team on Elijah's ability to just stare for a long time without the need to blink (and their plan to make a t-shirt "Frodo doesn't blink")

Happy birthday, Moondancer!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v32/bunniebugs/LOTR%20photos%20-%20misc/743608.jpg

Thank you, Bunnie! :)
That's a classic picture.


PS Another little thing I enjoyed in the extended DVD: Dominic's theory on why Elijah has these big eyes. :lol:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOONDANCER!!!!
HOPE YOU WILL HAVE A WONDERFUL DAY!!
:k :k :k :k :k :k

I COUDEN`T FIND A PICTURE I DIDEN`T AREADY POSTED
BUT I PROMISE YOU I WILL KEEP LOOKING!!!!! ;) :p :D

LOVE/WOOD

:o :o :o

OK, I admit it....I have know idea who that rather nicely built guy in the motion capture suit is, Achila! :confused: :confused: I hope you'll provide me with a clue? Please? :D

h!

Moondancer, yes, that's Day-O. The only time in history that either of Elijah Wood's eyes have been artificially enhanced (I'm not going to count those glasses in the Sin City shot :p ).

Bunnie--I love that picture; it always makes me want to brush his hair! :lol:

:o :o :o

OK, I admit it....I have know idea who that rather nicely built guy in the motion capture suit is, Achila! :confused: :confused: I hope you'll provide me with a clue? Please? :D

h!

Hmm...well...here's a clue...it isn't Andy Serkis! LOL

here's a clue...it isn't Andy Serkis! LOL :confused: :mad: ;) _Thanks_ Achila! :D One down several billion to go...

Well, it's not Elwood is it? On the set of Sin City? We haven't seen "making of" shots from that, have we? Can't be Elwood, not quite thin enough.

Bunnie--I love that picture; it always makes me want to brush his hair! :lol:

...not Andy Serkis...brush Frodo's hair...not And...brush....Fro...curly...

::honey! falls into a reverie in front of her computer imagining brushing Frodo's curls::

ETA: honey! pops out of her reverie to wonder why it is that every time I decide to prove that I am a fool, by saying something really stupid, it winds up at the top of the page? :o

:confused: :mad: ;) _Thanks_ Achila! :D One down several billion to go...

Well, it's not Elwood is it? On the set of Sin City? We haven't seen "making of" shots from that, have we? Can't be Elwood, not quite thin enough.

Oh my gosh, you were being serious, weren't you??? So sorry -- I thought you were kidding. Oh no, that's Elijah filming mocap for Fellowship. It's from the doco about Weta Digital on the EE DVD of FOTR.

'S'OK, Achila! :k My next guess was gonna be Elwood as The Guy from SK3D. Guess I have a Robert Rodriguez thing today! :D

Glad you liked the drawing, Moondancer!
BTW, Moondancer, did you get my email? I forgot to fill in the "subject" line, oops.

And thankyou-thankyou-thankyou all for your kind comments. :)

Whiteling, another great drawing. One thing with that particular "subject"--you don't have to worry about ever being bored from drawing the same thing all the time :p .

I dunno, Tg. I thought, this guy did have only one expression! ;) :rolleyes: :lol:
(Dimwits!!)


Since some of you are leaving for holidays, I wish you a Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/whiteling/advent_in_altoetting.jpg


*Whiteling joins Honey in brushing Frodo's curls, bye!*

Hobbit! I posted this on the Harem the other day, and forgot to drop my pressie here too -- it's a link to a set of production stills of Frodo, some of which I had never seen before. Enjoy!

http://users.pandora.be/patsie/pics/frodo/

Also: Apparently, the choice of Sean Astin as King of Bacchus is not delighting some of the New Orleans locals as much as it is some of "us". Here's a tidbit having to do with the selection of celebrity parade marshalls from a message board -- this was posted by a member of the Bacchus krewe and mentions something about last year's king that you might find interesting (and btw, this guy thought the world of our One Lad and told everyone how much Lij enjoyed himself; he also thought Sean was there last year, but we know he was at the SAG Awards!):

The forgotten element is that celebrities are not paid for their appearance. They get their expenses comped, but they are expected to give their time to support "The Greatest Free Show On Earth."

Some celebrities or their agents simply refuse to do any gig in which they are not paid at Hollywood rates. In the case of Elijah Wood, he personally overrode his agent and his studio because he was so moved when he saw the DVD compilation of past Kings. At his young age, the opportunity to walk with those greats was something he could not let slip by.

Naming a King never gets universal acceptance. Some will say too old, too young, past his prime, not noteworthy enough and why didn't they get the current Best Actor Academy Award winner this year and, my favorite, why isn't Dennis Quaid the King again.

Every year we go through this. The 1,350 men of Bacchus were able to sleep better last night knowing we had a King and knowing whose face would be on the wine-colored Kings doubloons that are now hurriedly being minted.

BTW, Moondancer, did you get my email? I forgot to fill in the "subject" line, oops.

Yes, whiteling,
I did receive your email. Thanks again.

Have a fantastic Christmas everybody and a great new year!

I went to a Christmas concert tonight with a children's choir. The concert was presented by some Flemish young singer (I haven't seen before) but all those girls were so crazy about him. Cute to watch. At the end of it all, they asked his autograph, which he did in the midst of a large group of giggling girls with a lot of smiling mothers around that (because he had been very kind and sweet to those kids during rehearsals apparently)
A father, standing aside, was wondered out loud: "Is he handsome? I can't tell."
One of the mothers of those girls replied to him: "Yes, he is."
Father: "Ha, good to know, thanks."

Achila, nice snippet on Elijah regarding last year's Mardi Gras. Just when you think he can't impress you any more than he has already... ;) [ETA: Just had time to follow the link you posted. Ah, nostaligia time--the "Hamletian Hobbit" photo shoot. But there are a few I'd never seen. Thanks.]


from Moondancer:
By the way, I've been watching bits and pieces of the extended DVD and I love the commentary of the production team on Elijah's ability to just stare for a long time without the need to blink (and their plan to make a t-shirt "Frodo doesn't blink")
I vote for a "Frodo Doesn't Blink" t-shirt with Whiteling's latest drawing on the front :cool: !

[BTW, I'm still noticing details in that drawing--the hair, the shadowing on the face... It just keeps getting better.]

For my own protection, I shall have to surround my desk chair with nice, fluffy pillows if Faculty members continue to post such large photos.

Happy Birthday, Moondancer!

Certain family members have suggested I am fanatical about LOTR. I disagreed; I am ...attentive to detail. C4

ETA-lovely drawing. Whiteling. You are blessed with a gift.

Ceefour, "attentive to detail" sounds truly convincing. Yep. ;)


from Maeglian:
...brimming with character presence and strength.
Maeg, that's interesting. For during a drawing process I am trying to put myself in the mood/emotion/condition of what is to be portrayed. In the case of the latest Frodo drawing it was - well, strength, determination and presence of mind. So, if you can see these traits in the picture, my *channeling* has been obviously successful, in this respect :) .


I vote for a "Frodo Doesn't Blink" t-shirt with Whiteling's latest drawing on the front :cool: !

Wahaha, this really really cool idea led to following -
proudly presenting a product proposal:


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/whiteling/FrodoDoesntBlink.jpg


Thanks to Mr. Whiteling's picture editing skills (:k ) we Faculty ladies now know what we wantsss for Xmas.... ;)

(Honey, wouldn't that t-shirt design nicely fit into the fan-book?)

Oh whiteling, I LOVE that! Where do I get one (oh, and you can throw in the t-shirt too -- hee hee)????

PS -- Anyone here from Norway, or anyone who can read this? It's an article about Hooligans:

http://www2.filmweb.no/template/kunder/ctn/components/showPrintableVersion.jhtml?articleID=33237

Apparently the release date is now Feb 24, 2005 (you lucky ducks!).

Hallo To You All!!!!

I Will See If I Can Translate The Story
I Can`t Promise Anything But For You All
I Will Do My Best!!!!!

OH I WANT A T-SHIRT TOOOO AND CAN I HAVE THE
MEN WEARING IT TOOOOO?????? :p :D


Love You All/wood

To wish all Faculty members (and Haremites, come to that), a wonderful, peaceful Christmas period and all the best for the New Year. Can't fail to be, really, with Hooligans in February (fingers crossed in the rest of the world as well as Norway) and Sin City, I read somewhere, on 1st April.

And Happy Birthday Moondancer. I know exactly what you mean about having a birthday spent mostly in darkness cause mine's today; I've spent the morning decadently lounging around and watching ROTKEE. :) I watched so much I forgot to catch TAOTTAT. Ah well. :D

Happy Birthday, Random!

So, you're a child of darkness also!
Something to brighten up the place (not that it needs much of that)

http://lotr.afisha.ru/img/frodo.jpg

Whiteling, I LOVE the t-shirt! The model's pretty special too! Yeah! let's put in the book! tee-hee! :D

http://webplaza.pt.lu/barbara/Mikey_Senator.jpg

Who's this sneaking in furtively with a bottle of chilled champagne? Could he be saying ....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOONDANCER ?
HAPPY BIRTHDAY RANDOM ?
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRUMPY ? (I believe yours was even longer ago .... sorry)

Has he missed anyone?

If so, it's my fault and I apologise. Likewise for long absence. Much to catch up on, but that will have to wait till next week. So meanwhile .... happy feet .. er, Christmas, everyone!
http://webplaza.pt.lu/barbara/XmasPinguin01.jpg

PS Another wondrous drawing, dear Whiteling - somehow you've portrayed his skin as even more lifelike than in photographs (yum!). How do you do it?
Achila, THANK YOU for those production shots! Now I know where my favourite Frodo pic comes from!
Mariole, I too hope you are fit and well again and, as a Woman of the West, not too frozen ....

Hmm...well...here's a clue...it isn't Andy Serkis! LOL

Harrrrumph. No mistaking those shoulders and that well-constructed post - er - um - :::: slapping hands over mouth in consternation :::: :eek: :eek:

Now, if he could wear *those* tights correctly, why couldn't he have worn the Bacchus tights correctly? Dad-burned whippersnapper.

When did T.O.L. have occasion to do motion capture?

~grumpyanddeterminedlyclawingwaybacktoactingageratherthanshoesize
(Sekrit message to Whiteling: Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou! :z: )(Sekrit message to Moondancer re Dom's theory on The One Lad's eyes: Now that's just KREWELL!!!! :( Tell! Tell! )

Happy Birthday, Random! :k
For you, another chilly birthday girl, a "vintage" muffler. Only slightly used. ;)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v377/honeyelf/scarf.bmp
Sticklebats! I saw a pic the other day where Sean appeared to be wearing an identical scarf, but I can't find it now.
honey!

Harrrrumph. No mistaking those shoulders and that well-constructed post - er - um - :::: slapping hands over mouth in consternation :::: :eek: :eek:

Caught you squeeing, darling -- but your secret is safe with me! LOL

Now, if he could wear *those* tights correctly, why couldn't he have worn the Bacchus tights correctly? Dad-burned whippersnapper.

I blame that on whoever designed that costume -- surely there was money enough in the budget for correctly-fitting tights????

When did T.O.L. have occasion to do motion capture?

All of the boys were mo-capped and the digital images of them were used throughout the 3 movies (watch the doco on Weta Digital on the EE DVD of Fellowship to see how, or take a close look at the figures running across the Bridge of Khazaad Dum).

Achila, I forgot to say "thank you" for those pictures of Frodo earlier. My favorite is this one. I like the way they emphasized the hobbit and wizard size difference with Frolijah's little hand, and Gandalf's (not) huge mitt!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v377/honeyelf/frogandalf.jpg
Although wouldn't Frodo have been standing on a box to fit so neatly under Gandalf's arm? ;)

h!

HI ALL!!!
I`VE BEEN TRYING TO TRANSLATE, HOPE YOU CAN UNDERSTAND IT!!!!! :z:

POSSIBEL SPOILER AHEAD!!!!!!!!!





this is a very violent movie about a young american who will be caught up
in the violent culture of fotballholigans in england.Matt Buckner turnes his nose to London were his married sister lives.After he been expeled from harvad.
He become friend with the charming but very dangeres Peter Dunham.
Here he be caught up in a warbetween diffrent fotballclubs.
The streetwar will be a diffrent between life or death.
At this point Matt is learning his inner strenght and is learning to fight and
to take care of him self.
But everything around him is exploding and friendships and lojalty comes to be testedand it all ends in the century biggest fight.

Elijah Wood is a well known actor after his roll as Frodo.
Amongst his movies we can mention a few!!
eternal sunshine,spy kids3,chain of fools,faculty,deep impact
ice storm,flipper,the war,north,good son,forever young,radio flyer,
avolon,iternal affairs,back to the future!

END OF SPOILER!!!!!!!!!!





HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND THIS!! IT CAN BE SOME WRONG WORDS BUT I THINK I GOT IT ALMOST RIGHT!!!!!



LOVE YOU ALL AND A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL/WOOD

I'll have a go at translating the article - here it is:

This is a brutal, emotional story about a young American who gets caught up in the violent sub-culture of soccer hooliganism in England. After unjustly having been expelled from Harvard where he was a student, Matt Buckner moves to London where his married sister has settled down.

He befriends the charming, but dangerous Pete Dunham, and is drawn into an “underworld” of violent hooligans. He lands in the middle of a war between rival clubs, where street-fighting constantly marks the dividing line between life and death.

In this extreme new world Matt discovers his hitherto unused inner strength and learns to fight and to stand on his own two legs, while at the same time forging the first real friendship of his life. When a secret from Matt’s life in the US is discovered, everything explodes around him, and friendship and loyalty are put to the test when everyone is forced to meet an even bigger challenge – the fight of the decade.


A very merry Christmas to you all! :)


Edit:
Ooops - I see someone got in just before me - well, I'll let this one stand anyway. Suppose it can't hurt.

(Sekrit message to Moondancer re Dom's theory on The One Lad's eyes: Now that's just KREWELL!!!! :( Tell! Tell! )
Krewell? Innocent little me? ;)

Well, I can't remember exactly in which documentary I saw this but they were talking about Elijah's ability to just stare without blinking.
Dominic said that the irony about Elijah's big, beautiful eyes is that they don't work properly; he has very bad eyesight. But of course that's not easy to test in small kids so that often goes unnoticed until the kid gets a bit older. So, his theory is that little Elijah just looked around him with his eyes wide open in an effort to get at least a good glimpse and after a while, his eyes just got stuck in the 'wide open' mode.

HI!!!
MAEGELIN,I HOPE YOUR TRANSLATION IS BETTER THEN MINE :k :k :k

I HAVE SOME PICTURES TOO

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/erendil/The_Yank_29632g.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/erendil/The_Yank_29631g.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v399/erendil/Hooligans_6_31976f.jpg

Thanks for the translations, wood and Maeglian. BTW, to see larger versions of those pics (the first of which is extremely nice), go to the live journal of undone27.

I'm late for your birthday, Moondancer! (I had it in mind it was next week, for some unknown reason. :confused: ) Sorry!

But I hope you had a lovely day! :)

Here's your birthday gif(t) (http://www.imagemagician.com/images/blossom/Moondancer.gif)

And Random - a belated happy birthday to you too!

For Random (http://www.imagemagician.com/images/blossom/Random.gif)

Whiteling - Once again, I am in awe of your talent - what a beautiful drawing! You always capture Frodo's mood perfectly. Thank you for sharing your work with us all. :)

We need our little GIF fairy Blossom to pluck out those bits of Frolijah playing in Shelob's web! Pretty please?

The EE DVD is my Christmas present from hubby, Honey, so I'm still watiing :( - but as soon as I get my grubby little hands on it, that gif will be first on my list. :)

Meanwhile - MERRY - sorry, wrong hobbit - CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/blossom/ElijahXmas.jpg

Wow--new experience! I'm at the office by myself so opened Blossom's gifs here instead of at home--quite something not having to wait... and wait... :p (although I kind of like watching that first download, too, as the frames come up one by one). Either way, very nice. :)

Thank you to the article translators. I kind of hope I don't find out what the "secret" is in Matt's past ahead of time.

Serena--Great pic of my favorite bellboy :) . Really makes me anxious to get that CofF DVD so I can hopefully get some bigger and better screencaps than I've been able to from the VCD. Keeping my fingers crossed that it'll be a good quality DVD.

Awww... and my favorite penguin. The one who inspires me to just keep putting one foot in front of the other :) :

http://www.imagemagician.com/images/tgshaw/off topic/penguin.jpg

Whiteling, your husband's "artwork" is great, too :p . Now, a few weeks ago I purely by accident :eek: ended up at the blue place and saw that they have a "Cafe Press" store going there now. Cafe Press lets you send designs to them and they'll put them on t-shirts, mugs, mousepads, and about a gazillion other products (one at a time, as they're ordered). Thought maybe I'd mention it on this site as a way to make a bit of income, but I hadn't gotten around to it yet. There are some distinct possibilities ;) .