Hiya, Grumpy! :) It's wonderful to see you!


tg, the picture shireling posted looks rather Kevin-ish to me, especially around the eyes. (But maybe that's because of the glasses!)
Ceefour, my thoughts exactly. How odd is that? :eek:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v327/ShirelingUK/EVERYTHING_IS_ILLUMINATED-6crop.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/whiteling/Kevin_smile_small.jpg

Well, yes, it's the glasses, but there is also this slight smile...

HI GRUMPY !!!!

And Hii Skatergirl!!! and i agree with you totaly ,,,,i also watch that part the other night and it is awesome !!

Thank you all for your suport on my smoking !!!!

"Waves to Whiteling thanks for the card !! :k it was so funny just like me !!!!!

LOVE YOU ALL/WOOD

When I keep the last two frames of the page on the screen together and go between them, I so clearly see the mix of adoring servant/caring parent in Sam’s eyes and the little smile on Frodo’s face that tells me of his slightly more detached role in relationship; being in one instance both the more mature master and the vulnerable kid, who can’t begin to comprehend the true depth of what his parent feels for him.
I always see a little "conversation" going on between the two of them. Frodo's expression changes from the pure happiness of seeing his other friends again to what almost seems a "sheepish" smile (wish I had a better word for that, because it's not serious enough) when Sam comes in - the one person who knows about his "failure". Sam's response is one of unquestioned and unconditional love; Frodo doesn't have to worry about what Sam thinks of him, and Sam lets him know that.

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

On Jonathan/Kevin -- What I'm trying to compare is not only the glasses and the smile but that little head-down-but-eyes-up look. I'm at work, so don't have all my pics handy, but I'm wondering about that little Dark Lord smile as Frodo puts on the Ring. Kevin - DDL - could this be Evil Jonathan? :eek:

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

Wanted to wait until I actually had them in my possession before I mentioned it, but I now have a replacement for the purple emu LotR set that I read to pieces (literally) beginning in 1969. This one will stay safely out of my reach ;) . My middle brother had just finished reading LotR before I went for my recent visit, using whatever copies he found first at a used book store - not a matched set. I joked with him over the phone that if he'd found a mint-condition purple emu volume I'd have to steal it from him. He didn't know anything about the various editions, of course, and when I arrived he showed me what he had - with FotR being, actually, a purple emu, although definitely not in mint condition. So we made a trip, in the rain, to the same book store (until he retired, this brother seemed to have missed inheriting the family used-book-store-shopping gene, but he's making up for it now). We found all three volumes in never-read condition. Not in a box, and 17th printing rather than first, but still a very nice set. Rather than try to smash them into my carry-on, my brother said he'd mail them to me, and they just arrived, very carefully packed.

The book store evidently knew they were something special, as they cost $4/volume instead of the store's usual 50 cents for paperbacks. I did some looking on ebay to see if I could find out what the going rate might be (not that I'd ever sell them :eek: ). Didn't find anything exactly comparable, but did find a funny note from a mother who was selling her daughter's 12 Tolkien books. She said the daugther had "grown up" and wasn't interested in Tolkien any more, "but Elijah still hangs on her wall." :confused: to the first part of that sentence, but :D to the second.

Tg, thank you for the piccies! I hope you don't mind if I repost one of them; I'll take it down if you'd rather.

This particular view just astounded me; it clearly shows how much of Elijah's face those big eyes take up:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/mariole/dayobigeyes.jpg


Hi, Grumpy! It's nice to see you drop in. :k

She said the daugther had "grown up" and wasn't interested in Tolkien any more
I suppose that is the common view, isn't it? Fantasy is for kids--if you think it's acceptable even then. It's nice to know that the same people who were writing about how Tolkien could never be taken seriously back when he was publishing have their modern-day counterparts. I look forward to having the last laugh in their case, as well. Fantasy is myth, perhaps the most moving force for shaping one's thinking, because it gets you deep down, under your surface thoughts and in the very fiber of your being. The dose is so potent that it can touch people profoundly even in an abbreviated and altered form, such as the movies. We're all proof of the lasting effect, at least on some of us. *hugs Tolkien, in spirit* :)

I suppose that is the common view, isn't it? Fantasy is for kids--if you think it's acceptable even then.
I just finished my first straight-through reading of "On Fairy-stories" and "Leaf by Niggle" in a long time; "On Fairy-stories" is one of those things I dip into often for quotes or specific ideas, but has a whole different effect when read the way Tolkien wrote it. He was confronting those same issues then (before LotR).

When I read that essay, one thing I wish I could know is Tolkien's feelings about the possibility today of putting fantasy on film, now that suspension of disbelief can be supported so strongly, something that didn't exist when he wrote against it. (But I think he still would be upset by AATF and ninja-Gandalf, as well as a few other character developments.)

And shireling - that picture of Jonathan reminds me mightily of some other pic, but I can't quite place it.

TG ~ when I read your comment the first image that came to my mind was something very different to Kevin - in fact, just about as different as you could get - a pic taken many years ago, even pre-LOTR!! Its just something about the expression, particularly the mouth, and the very direct gaze. Does anyone else see it, or am I a bit odd? :eek:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v327/ShirelingUK/elijah-013crop.jpg

Oh My Gosh!

Oh My Gosh!!

Oh My Gosh!!!




Green Street Hooligans

is showing in Indianapolis this week!



OH MY GOSH!!!!
*heart palpitates wildly*

SandCastles :) *in shock*

Shireling -- I think that's it! As I said, it's the combination of the head tilted down but the eyes looking up that triggered the feeling. The Kevin pic doesn't really have that. The one you posted has it even a bit more than the Jonathan picture, but it's closer to what I was thinking of.

And the smile doesn't hurt.

That's good. I'd rather not think about an evil Jonathan!

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

ETA: Sandcastles - It's not going to be at the same little hole-in-the-wall theater that was showing EII is it? :p [Now take a deep breath :k .]

That's great, Sandcastles! And I must apologize, because I knew that, and I posted about it in my LJ but not here. I would have felt terrible if it had come and gone and you didn't find out until afterward! :( I hope you get to see it as many times as you want! :)

Shireling and TG,...
TG ~ when I read your comment the first image that came to my mind was something very different to Kevin - in fact, just about as different as you could get - a pic taken many years ago, even pre-LOTR!! Its just something about the expression, particularly the mouth, and the very direct gaze. Does anyone else see it, or am I a bit odd?

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v327/ShirelingUK/elijah-013crop.jpg

No, Shireling...you are certainly not odd....well, no odder than the rest of us, anyway!!

That picture, with its absolutely no-holds-barred, in-yer-face gaze, and the secret little smile playing around his mouth, gets me every time I look at it !!
'Tis my favourite picture of Elijah to this day, and the one I will always think of when his name is mentioned...
Even though he can't have been more than seventeen when it was taken, around the time of "Bumblebee" I reckon, and even though I am old enough to know better, he looks as if he knows everything about me and is prepared to keep it all secret, IF I comply with his every wish...well, you know what I mean...he looks all-knowing and very full of secrets....

Strangely, the next picture from that photoshoot, exactly the same, but without the all-knowing smile, doesn't have the same effect at all, even though it's still a good shot !! He just looks a little sad...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v449/wendylady1/Elijah/EJW/EJW.jpg
Now, who's getting a bit odd ??? ;) :rolleyes:

The release date for Bobby has been moved (I think anyway). It's now 22/11/06. I think this is a good sign (it's a date that is considered in the Oscar season if not quite in the main block of weeks). Kind of close to Happy Feet though.

Also it's listed as being a wide release (on HSX at least), which probably doesn't mean the 3000 theatres (/theaters) of an action block buster but must mean likely far more theatres than EII got. I think the definition of a wide release is anything over about 800 theatres.

Thanks. sneaking.

Happy Feet is scheduled for release in the U.S. on Friday, November 17. This would have Bobby being released the following Wednesday, the 22th.

November is looking good!

C4

Rather than try to smash them into my carry-on, my brother said he'd mail them to me, and they just arrived, very carefully packed.

Wow, tg. That's such a lovely brother you have there. Send him a hug from New Zealand for me. :)


Greetings Shireling :) Nice to see you in print!!

from Alyon Yet someone just throw in a good excuse to discuss Frodo and we are off and running, practically jumping around and clapping hands....there just is nothing like an enthusiastic Frolijah appreciation circle
LOL. Very true. This was, and still is, my main attraction to EW as an actor.

The Ian McKellan comment was very nice to read. I also had my doubts, though not quite in the "shoot me now" vein that tg remembers, but its very cool to have been proved wrong. :) I've been holding off from watching any of the LoTR films because I want it to be fresh, or as fresh as is possible after having soaked them up so avidly for so many years. ....but...finding...it ..hard...must ...keep...it....up...at...least...a....little....longer.... ;)

I do not know whether this is newsworthy in the lounge, or not, but my jaw dropped to the floor when I read this:

IMDb News Page: http://imdb.com/news/wenn/2006-04-07/#3

Rodriguez Splits with Wife

Sin City filmmaker Robert Rodriguez and his wife Elizabeth Avellan have split after 16 years of marriage. Rodriguez and Avellan insist their separation is amicable and they plan to raise their five children together, as well as continuing to work professionally as partners in their Troublemaker Studios production company, reports PageSix.com. Rodriguez, 37, told the crew on the set of his new movie Grind House, "This is an extremely painful time for me and my family, and Elizabeth and I very much appreciate your understanding and patience." The Weinstein Company plans to release Grind House, Rodriguez's collaboration with longtime friend Quentin Tarantino, later this year.

I wonder how this is going to effect Elijah and his views on marriage?

Do you think it will affect his views at all, TxTac? I kind of doubt it. Elijah seems like a guy who's got his head pretty squarely on his shoulders, and who carries deeply held opinions and convictions. I think his own parents' failed marriage, and lack of contact with his dad will probably inform his views on marriage more than that of a friend.

And since Elijah has said that he wants to marry at some point, and have kids too, I'm guessing that he wants to try and do some things very differently than his parents, particularly his dad, did them. I guess sometimes the strongest role model is a negative one that teaches you to do differently. I know watching my parents' unhappy marriage of thirty-four years has certainly contributed to the happiness of my twenty-three year marriage!

It's awfully sad for the Rodriguez family and their five kids though. :(

Thanks for the news about the realease date for Bobby, Sneaking! I read an interview with Sharon Stone the other day, in which she was saying she thinks Bobby will be in Oscar contention next year. I hope she's more right about that than she was about Elijah in that article; she said something like "everyone is in it....and that "Lord of the Rings" guy, Elijah Wood." :rolleyes:

honey!

ETA: Sandcastles - It's not going to be at the same little hole-in-the-wall theater that was showing EII is it? :p [Now take a deep breath :k .]

*breathes in, breathes out, breathes in, breathes out*

Yes, tgshaw, it is the same little hole-in-the-wall theater. :p :D

*breathes in, breathes out, breathes in, breathes out*


BunnieBugs, it's OK. :)

While I would have been seriously bummed if I had missed it here in my own backyard, it wouldn't have been a tragedy because I was fortunate enough to see it in Chicago in September (when I also got to visit with the fabulous Saile :k). I still can't believe I traveled 200 miles to see a movie.

SandCastles :)

ETA:

*breathes in, breathes out, breathes in, breathes out*

OMG! Green Street Hooligans is here for another week!

*breathes in, breathes out, breathes in, breathes out*

Happy Birthday, Goldenberry!

I've been reading Tom Shippey's Author of the Century. Interesting book. His commentary in the Appendices of the EEs was one of the best things about them, so I was looking forward to reading it. If I had read this sooner, tg, I would have understood why the order of Frodo's words at Sammath Naur is so important. (Here we are, back to Frodo!)

Enjoy Hooligans, SandCastles. (Hmm, Travelocity has roundtrip airfare to Indianapolis for $123....)

Prim, I find listening constantly to the FOTR Complete Soundtrack helps to lessen the cravings to watch the movies. That and chocolate.

C4

Frodo is terrified he might miss Goldenberry's birthday:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/mariole/Pippinsslip02.jpg


Have a wonderful day, Goldenberry!


Thank you, Mechtild, for posting such wonderful caps in your LJ! :k

"Missing Goldenberry's birthday?! Never! I'd rather eat my hat, er, puppet,... whatever!" :confused: :D
(Elijah at this year's SXSW)

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

Happy happy Birthday, Goldie! :)



Thank you, Mechtild, for posting such wonderful caps in your LJ! :k
Mariole, I heartily agree - Mechtild's screencaps are to die for! :k
(Off topic to Mechtild: I tried several times to comment on your LJ, but it wouldn't let me do it. It kept insisting I'd be a source of spam :eek: )


ETA: Ceefour - congratulations on 700 posts! :)

Happy Birthday, Goldenberry!

Do you golf? The guy on the far left...not quite sure who he is...has graciously offered to give you his place in this foursome. PJ, Sean, and Elijah would love for you to join them. Have fun!! ;)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v638/Shelbyshire/seansbook04.jpg

*Oh, I'm sorry the pic is so small. I'll try to remedy that...*

Hey...ceefour...Frodo wasn't the first one to leave the Shire. Hope you didn't get too far down the road to turn back.

Thank you, Mechtild, for posting such wonderful caps in your LJ!

Mariole - I couldn't agree more. Mechtild's LJ is a veritable feast for the eyes! Bree Frodo... sheer beauty! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GOLDENBERRY!

Just for you, here's a sleeping Frodo:
http://www.imag.us/x/blossom/Frodo1.jpg

But I'm sure he won't mind if we
WAKE HIM UP! (http://www.imag.us/x/blossom/Goldenberry.gif) It is a special day, after all. Hope you're enjoying yourself. :)

Wood (waves) Congratulations on cutting down on your smoking! Keep up the good work. :)

Grumpy and Prim - It's good to see you both. :)

We always concentrate of Frodo, and on Elijah’s expressive features, but for me it is Sam’s eyes here that really tell me how deep the emotional relationship between the two is, and how they share a bond that goes beyond, and has no need for any physical relationship.

Skater girl - That's beautifully put. Of course, I do usually concentrate on Frodo, but many a time my gaze has wandered to Sam, who often is in the background of the scene. When we watch Sam - and I think this is true of many scenes during the course of the three films - we cannot help but see the deep affection and concern he feels for Frodo: it's loyalty and devotion; it's caring for and protecting Frodo - if he can; it is love - a pure, virtuous love, strengthened and deepened by their shared experience of a long and torturous journey which they believed they would not survive. The look that passes between Frodo and Sam in the HofH scene is to me deeply moving, and expresses that closeness of spirit only those two can comprehend.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GOLDIE !!!!!

HOPE YOU WILL HAVE A GREAT DAY !!!! :k :k :k

I SO HOPE THAT BOBBIE WILL COME TO SWEDEN TO !!!
BECUSE EII HASENT BEEN HERE SO I HAVENT SEEN THAT ONE YET !!!!! :( :(

and yes i doing progress! i have now been totally out of cigg. in three days !!!!!!!!!!! hows that girls !!!?? :cool:

"waves" to blossom and whiteling,eandme !!!

LOVE YOU ALL WOOD

Happy Birthday, Goldenberry!!!


http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v382/mechtild/Elijah%20Wood/pkPremiereRotKstroll.jpg


~ Elijah Wood prepares to play Frank Sinatra in the upcoming feature film, "Mr. Success."*

* Frank was not called "the King of Swing" for nothing....


Hiya, Wood! I love to see your posts. I hope you are doing ok, too. :k

Mariole, Blossom, Whiteling, I'm glad you enjoyed the caps. I mean to make my LJ the Swoon Capital of the net. (*loud raspberry noice*)

Whiteling, you couldn't comment? On just my LJ or the whole system. That's very odd. Maybe come spywear is getting into the LJ site and I'm just not noticing it yet.

P.S. Whiteling, I loved the picture you used to wish Goldenberry a Happy Birthday. I saved it at once. What a priceless expression!

If I had read this sooner, tg, I would have understood why the order of Frodo's words at Sammath Naur is so important.
Ceefour, which words are you talking about? (*browses shelf for her copy of Author of the Century*) Are you talking about the placement of "now" in his Ring-claiming speech? I seem to recall that being discussed here recently....

Nevermind. I just pulled down the volume and found the place you were referring to. Brilliant discussion and something helpful in a Frodo/Ring/evil/human responsibility wrangle I am having right now. You deserve and great big chocolate dessert of some sort, or a voucher to go see Bobby at a theatre near you. (If this were the Harem, I'd wish you other rewards, of course.)

~ Mechtild

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GOLDENBERRY!! Hope its a good one :) A wee piccie for you ~

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v327/ShirelingUK/Birthdays%20and%20Spams/VFF13crop.jpg

Shireling -- I think that's it! As I said, it's the combination of the head tilted down but the eyes looking up that triggered the feeling. The Kevin pic doesn't really have that. The one you posted has it even a bit more than the Jonathan picture, but it's closer to what I was thinking of.

TG ~ I'm so glad we were thinking of the same pic - great minds think alike as they say :D And as an added bonus I was pleased to hear its your all-time favourite pic Lady Wendy!!

Whiteling ~ at first glance I thought Elijah was eating some very strange sort of ice cream cone in that pic you posted for Goldenberry!!

Shelbyshire ~ when my husband and I were in Rotorua, NZ last year our hotel was right opposite that golf course - which gave me a great thrill as I had already seen that pic in Sean's book!! Oh, the nostalgia :)

Blossom ~ what a dreamy pic and gif - just gorgeous. Btw - expect something through your letter box very soon, possibly even tomorrow :) Sorry about the delay.

Mariole, I heartily agree - Mechtild's screencaps are to die for
I couldn't agree more - I know I've said as much in your LJ Mechtild but its worth repeating here - I am taking a wonderful journey through your posts, screencaps & the brilliant discussions that ensue. And the pic you posted for Goldenberry certainly deserves comment too ~ trouble is, I'm not sure this is the right place for the comment I was about to post!! :o :o :D

I couldn't agree more - I know I've said as much in your LJ Mechtild but its worth repeating here - I am taking a wonderful journey through your posts, screencaps & the brilliant discussions that ensue. And the pic you posted for Goldenberry certainly deserves comment too ~ trouble is, I'm not sure this is the right place for the comment I was about to post!!
Well, thank you, Shireling!

When I first saw that picture from the RotK premiere (the one I posted), I really had nothing to say for a while. Finally I was able to murmur, "Nice pants...."

P.S. Your post reminded me:

Blossom, that gif was just gorgeous. I played it and played it. Even though he wasn't wearing pants [that showed].

~ Mechtild

Can't miss this day!


Happy Birthday, Goldie!

Big :k

I just saw this on the LJ of an Elijah Wood fan who does not frequent K-D. I thought it was very clever and, if you haven't already seen it, you might enjoy it too. :D

It's an animated clip using Elijah's face and personna to star in "Elijah the Prophet." The link is to a site that does not look at all racy or foul-mouthed, so I'm just going to link it.

http://shabot6000.com/elijah/


~ Mechtild

Happy birthday, Goldenberry!



Enjoy Hooligans, SandCastles. (Hmm, Travelocity has roundtrip airfare to Indianapolis for $123....)
Come on down, over, or up, ceefour! :D

Thanks for posting the link to that clip, Mechtild. That is just too funny! :lol:

SandCastles :)

ETA:

Belated return of greetings to Mechtild, Mariole, and Saile from mid-March. I was off line, no computer or Internet access at all, for 2 1/2 weeks and I'm still trying to catch up. I honestly don't know how I survived. :rolleyes:

Aren't birthdays in here just wonderful? All those lovely pics and gifs... mmmh. :)



Whiteling, you couldn't comment? On just my LJ or the whole system.
I don't comment very often, but when I do, it worked so far - save on your LJ. :confused:

Anyway, thanks for posting the link to the hilarious "Elijah the Prophet". :lol: How funny! From a research point of view, it was interesting that they used not only ONE expression, but TWO! :D


*waves to Wood* NO ciggies for 3 days?! Way to go, girl! :k

Shelbyshire, the person on the left in the golf photo is Rick Porras.

whiteling, thanks for the congratulations. I didn't realize there were that many. :eek:

Mechtild, glad you found your answer. While you were posting Achila, Pelagia and I were at the movies to see Inside Man, which we all liked very much. One of the stars is Clive Owen (Sin City) and Achila caught that the cinematographer is Matthew Libatique, who also did Everything is Illuminated.

Shireling, how nice you were able to see the golf club in NZ.

Congrats to wood.

C4

Dear Facultites, thank you all so very,very much for the Birthday wishes, photos and GIF(t). :k It's an honor to know so many excellent and admirable hobbits. I don't know half of you half as well as I should like :D . Of course, if I posted here more often, that could change--might as well accept that I'm a lurker at heart.

Your collected birthday photos are sort of an ode to the many moods of Elwood; from the silly (whiteling's photo of Elijah biting whatever that cartoon figure was at SXSW :confused: ) to the sweet (shireling's Elwood being himself, and Shelbyshire's golf outing picture) to the sweaty (Mariole's Frodo at the Prancing Pony) to the sublime beauty of Blossom's gif of Frodo waking up (be still my heart!) and Mechtild's Elijah at the ROTK premiere, with his tongue and other parts :eek: ;) hanging out. Naughty AND nice, all in one fine...erm, package. :o :p

It looked like Homer Simpson to me, Goldie, tho Valar knows why he was biting it?!

Happy Birthday, sweetie -- hope it's a great one!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v236/aquila0212/hool.jpg

I've been really scarce here lately - Sorry that I can't take the time to respond to all the posts, but I have to say a big Congratulations to Wood on her not-smoking. I wonder if it would be an inspiration to TOL to know that a fan was quitting in part because of him? (Just "in part" because I hope it's mostly for yourself, Sweetie :k - so you don't start again after the convention.)

And to Prim -- [My brother said to tell you he liked the hug :) . ] It's great to see you here whenever you drop in. :) And I'll add another "ditto" on the Frodo admiration. IMVHO, Frodo is the most complex fictional character there is; Hamlet is one-note compared to him. The role let Elijah use his talent more than any other role he's had (or, IMHO, is ever likely to have). I enjoy watching what he can do with other characters, but Frodo is, well, Frodo. I don't think I'm alone in saying that part of my Elijah Wood fandom (not all of it, since I was a bit of a fan before LotR) comes from gratitude that he put his entire self into doing the best job possible of portraying someone I love. I'm happy to give him some DVD royalties and up his box office numbers every so slightly. :)

And I missed Goldenberry's birthday! :eek: :o So, so sorry. I'd like to blame the lateness on Frodo being so careful not to spill the ale on his way back to the table, but I'm afraid it's my own fault...

http://www.frodolivesin.us/new/0f7aa530.jpg

(I think that's a very "expressive" expression on Frodo's face there, if you delete all the hubhub going on and just focus on him - not that anyone here would ever think about focusing on Frodo to the extent of not noticing anything else happening onscreen ;) ).

Hope you had a great birthday. :k

Here I am and the lawn needs mowing.... :rolleyes:

IMDB had a link to an article in Salon.com about Meryl Streep and Lindsay Lohan and EW was mentioned.In Lohan's next screen appearance in Bobby, she plays a Vietnam-era idealist who marries men to keep them out of the draft. One of her screen husbands is Elijah Wood, who earns the immortal distinction of sharing Lohan's first cinemagic make-out.Lohan's character has more than one husband? Have we heard that before?

C4

Lohan's character has more than one husband? Have we heard that before?That's the first time I've heard that. Before, she was always described as Elijah's brother's girlfriend, and she marries Elijah to keep him out of the draft. Do you suppose it is -- or becomes -- a habit with her?

BTW, Elijah is in NYC now, beginning work on Day Zero. It is very definitely a micro-budget film, so it will be interesting to see what comes of it.

That's the first time I've heard that. Before, she was always described as Elijah's brother's girlfriend, and she marries Elijah to keep him out of the draft. Do you suppose it is -- or becomes -- a habit with her?

Lindsay's character is patterned after a woman Emilio Estevez met, who regularly did just this -- married guys to keep them out of the service, and was at the Ambassador on that fateful night. She might well be Elijah's brother's girlfriend too.

Heck, I'd marry him to keep him out of the draft. I have my noble side, too.

You're just so self-sacrificing, Mech -- you're an inspiration to us all ;)

Ah, that kind of raises the complication level when he falls in love with her, doesn't it? Much more interesting than just having a fight with his brother over her. :haha:

I've been reading Tom Shippey's Author of the Century. Interesting book. His commentary in the Appendices of the EEs was one of the best things about them, so I was looking forward to reading it.


Hey everyone! I'm intrigued by yor post, dear C4! I'm just now reading "The Road to Middle Earth" and I'm developing an enormous respect for T.A Shippey. I'm lurving this book! But what of the "commentary in the Appendices of the EEs"? I know not of what you speak. :confused: Please enlighten me. I'm salivating at the thought of more of Mr Shippey's knowledge coming my way....

Take this info with a grain of salt because I found it on the IMDB boards.

I forgot how to spell "Paris, je t'aime" so I cruised over to the IMDB to refresh my memory. While I was there, I checked out Elijah's board. I rarely do this because I don't like and/or don't trust what most posters at IMDB have to say about anybody or anything, but curiosity being what it is...

Well, it appears Elijah may have been Punk'd (as in Ashton Kutcher's idea of fun). Apparently, Elijah was spotted in previews for the new season of Punk'd which airs Monday nights at 10 PM (EST) on MTV.

Interested people should be on the lookout and ready to crank up those recorders. Hopefully, if it's for real, someone will be kind enough to share with those of us who don't have access to MTV. I mean, I suppose I want to see it (it's ELIJAH after all), but I do have mixed feelings. From what little I saw back when I had cable, Ashton Kutcher's idea of fun is rather mean. Oh well, I can't imagine that Elijah would handle whatever awkward situation he's thrust into with anything other than grace and class. That would be nice to see.

(IMDB still doesn't have Elijah listed in the cast for Paris, je t'aime. :rolleyes: )

SandCastles :)

Don't know if we mentioned this here before or not, but the release date for Bobby has been moved to November 22, which, coincidentally (or perhaps not) is the day in 1963 that JFK was assassinated in Dallas. :eek:

*busy trying to come up with an explanation for Mr. ceefour about why I'll be watching MTV*

Eandme, The Appendices are the documentaries about the making of PJ's LOTR included with the Extended Edition of each movie. Tom Shippey appears, along with other Tolkien scholars, to provide insight into JRRT's life and writings.

And EW appears in them, too. :haha:

C4

ETA-Happy Feet will also be shown in IMAX 3D. :cool:

Hi! I haven't posted an inventory in awhile and I just now updated my records. If you would like to "borrow" something, here is the list...

Child in the Night, DVD, Plays on computer DVD drive using Media Player.
Dayo, DVD, Plays in Region 1 DVD player.
Graham Norton Interviews, DVD, Interviews from England plus Heaven and Earth Show. :lol: The Graham Norton interview with EJW and John Malkovich is one of the funniest I have ever seen. I woke up the kids I was laughing so hard. This one is highly recommended if you haven't seen it.
Green Street Hooligans, DVD, Overseas copy formatted for Region 1.
Homicide TV Episode, DVD.
North, DVD, PAL Region format, Plays in computer DVD drive.
The Witness, VCD/CD, Non-English w/foreign subtitles, Would not play in computer DVD but did in DVD player.
youtube.com, Link, GSH movie clips.
http://www.storylineonline.net/, Link, Elijah reading Me and My Cat, can be found through "more stories".
.avi Zipped Files for download. The Witness, Arizona Interview, Laptop Commercial. Email Shelbyshire for Link Address, Username and Password.

Any and all contributions will be accepted. If you updated to a newer copy of a movie and no longer want the old one, we could use that for lending. And it would be strictly for lending and returning, copying would NOT be encouraged.

Back to the regularly scheduled programming...

ETA: Yes, I couldn't resist angsty Elijah! Borrowed this cap of it. The commercial for it is up for downloading out there in LJ land and over at Elijah Wood Now. Poor guy, he really does look quite stressed!! A little bit of eyebrow action going on too.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v638/Shelbyshire/p1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v638/Shelbyshire/p2.jpg

Can I mention/credit LJ accounts without actually linking to them? Not that I know how to link anyways :rolleyes: .

Well, it appears that Elijah really was Punk'd. A copy of the promo has found its way onto the Internet.

Speculation is that it will air on April 24, but no one seems to know for sure yet.

SandCastles :)

ETA:

Just noticed Shelbyshire's ETA with screen caps in her last post. Poor guy looks very distressed. Eyebrow action, indeed. I wonder if we'll see some potty mouth fireworks when he finds out he's been set up.

I had to look up Punk'd in Wikipedia. I will have to see this when it airs-- if I can. I just canceled my minimal cable service because I never turn the tube on. I'm an online gal almost exclusively. :)

Thank you for your list and your offer, Shelbyshire! What is Region 1-- does that include US?

I haven't seen The Witness, but I probably should order it. Can I get it from youtube.com? Can I find the Graham Norton Interviews somewhere online? I would like to see them. I saw one once, and I did enjoy his show. I've seen all the rest except Dayo. Is this a Faculty lending library?

Can I mention/credit LJ accounts without actually linking to them?
Yes, this is fine. For example, you can say, see user ElijahWood (he's online, you know, and answers all comments--nothing better to do) at livejournal.com and that's okay. Tg, correct me if I'm wrong! (About the link, I mean; we all know that Elijah Wood lurks at LJ under his own name just to throw off suspicion. I mean, who would suspect that?) ;)

Oh, dear. I just realized this will be my 1,000th post! Can't let that go by without a picture. I'm not sure where the following is from. It must be during the holidays, because of the bulbs on the tree. Happy milestone to me and KD! Cheers!

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y30/mariole/EWscareds.jpg

Sean comforts Elijah after the latter learns he has been Punk'd.

Mariole, congratulations on your 1000th post! I apologize for not explaining about Punk'd. :o I never imagined there was anyone less MTV savvy than I am. :p :D

For the benefit of anyone else who might not be familiar with Punk'd, it's a show on MTV hosted by Ashton Kutcher (That '70s Show). On the show, they play elaborate, dramatic pranks on celebrities. Once the celebrity is all shook up, scared to death, pissed off, stressed out or whatever, someone (usually Ashton, I believe) comes out and says basically "Surprise! It's just a joke!" They show you the set up for the prank, the prank itself, and the celebrity's reaction to finding out it's just a prank. I think that's it in a nutshell.

SandCastles :)

Haven't been around much lately. We are having computer problems which has knocked out my primary e-mail box. I just learned from ShelbyShire that it's also taken down the GreyBook website. :eek: :(

Mariole, congrats on 1000 posts! Cute picture! I've always wondered where that was from; can't someone enlighen us, maybe scrounge up a copy?? When we get the GreyBook site up and running again you can download The Witness from it. This is only a temporary measure until the powers that be decide to release TW to dvd; it's out of print. Your best bet is E-Bay. I thought I had a bead on a legitimate copy from there some months back; turned out it was a dvd copied from a legitimate video tape. I guess if they lock me up for piracy you'll all know why!

Happy Belated Birthday, Goldenberry! I'm so sorry I missed the festivities. Glad to see the decorations are still up! ;)

hugs,
honey!

Personally, I'm not sure I want to watch Elijah be terrified on Punk'd. I have a feeling that I'm going to want to go after a certain Mr. Demi Moore with a socket wrench afterwards...

Mariole, congratulations on 1000 wonderful posts of pure "Marioleness" (TM) :k

Perhaps I will catch said Punk'd episode by chance. I virtually never watch MTV (yuck!), save our Lad is scheduled. (SandCastles, you are not alone :p!) Good gracious, what have they done to him?! :eek:


I think it is about time to wish all Faculty members a very Happy Easter! :)

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

Thank you for the kind words, everyone! I have certainly enjoyed the KD community a great deal; my only regret is I found it so late. :k

Personally, I'm not sure I want to watch Elijah be terrified on Punk'd. I have a feeling that I'm going to want to go after a certain Mr. Demi Moore with a socket wrench afterwards...
I think this will be my reaction as well. My way of dealing with potentially stressful things is 1) avoid it 2) read other people's reactions to it 3) wait for someone to post the relevant bits on the Internet 4) download and then 5) play, which may or may not be in the same timeframe as #4. I'm a complete chicken!

Sorry about your computer problems, Honey! I hope it all gets sorted out!

*pets Whiteling's bunny rabbit* :)

I know of Punk'd, but have never watched it. Do families and/or friends help set up the prank?

C4

ETA-Mariole, your picture is great!

ETA 2-Peace be with all The Faculty!

The fourteenth installment... (3 games on PS1, 2 games on PS2/Gamecube/X-Box, 4 games on the GameBoy Advance, 1 game on the Nintendo DS, 3 games on mobile/cell phones) ...of the long-running 'Spyro the Dragon' franchise that has sold over 14 million games worldwide since the release of the first game in 1997,is having a new game developed for release this coming fall which is titled: "The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning", but is also known as "Spyro: Legend" and "Spyro:6".

The publisher, Vivendi Universal Games, who have released such games as "F.E.A.R., 50 Cent: Bulletproof, Crash: Tag Team Racing, Caesar III, Scarface" as well as many others has published on their website that David Spade and Gary Oldman will co-star voicing characters from the new game with Elijah Wood. It is all official, and details about the game can be found at:

http://www-vugames-com.staging.vugames.com/product.do?gamePlatformId=1903

Thanks, Mariole and Sandcastles for telling what "Punk'd" was. I didn't know either. :)

(P.S. Mariole, congrats on 1,000 witty, perceptive, salacious posts! :k )

For the benefit of anyone else who might not be familiar with Punk'd, it's a show on MTV hosted by Ashton Kutcher (That '70s Show). On the show, they play elaborate, dramatic pranks on celebrities. Once the celebrity is all shook up, scared to death, pissed off, stressed out or whatever, someone (usually Ashton, I believe) comes out and says basically "Surprise! It's just a joke!" They show you the set up for the prank, the prank itself, and the celebrity's reaction to finding out it's just a prank. I think that's it in a nutshell.
This sounds like "Candid Camera" meets "Celebrity Roast."

You'd think Ashton would have had better offers than this. (Maybe Demi said the baby needed an investment portfolio and he'd better get out there and rustle up some income.)

I suppose, ironically, to be "punk'd" is to be honoured, since they wouldn't bother to do it to someone The Folks At Home had never heard of and didn't care about. An honour, but a dubious honour. :rolleyes:

~ Mechtild

Mech, some time ago, Elijah said in an interview somewhere that he didn't think he'd ever get punk'd because he didn't travel in the same circles as Ashton, etc. However, now that he's made a movie with Demi and Ashton (although I'm still not sure if he's actually in Bobby or not), he's become fair game.

Ah, I see. Thanks!

~ Mechtild

Looks like the Greybook site is back up! As usual, PM me or ShelbyShire for username and password.

I'm of two minds on this Punk'd thing. On the one hand I'd love the chance to see Elijah just bein' Elijah. At the same time I feel a little creepy watching him when he doesn't know he's bein' watched. OTOH I hate to see somebody I'm so fond of looking so miserable and stressed-out. But I do "like" that little clip because Elijah seems resort to politeness when at odds what else to do; he's such a little gentleman, though I'm sure we'll hear plenty of four-letter words to. Did I say I'm of two minds on this thing?? Ha! :haha:

honey! blathering as usual

P.S. Mariole, congrats on 1,000 witty, perceptive, salacious posts! :k
I read this rather quickly at first, and thought you said, "congrats on 1,000 pretty repetitive posts!" I'm not sure what this says about my subconscious. *submits self for psycho-analysis* :p

Thanks for getting your site back up, Honey! I'm downloading now. :) ShelbyShire, you'll be hearing from me. :k

De Lurking Briefly
So Sorry I've been an absent Member of The Lounge for the last few months...but sadly RL has been quite horrible to our family this past year...health issues for my husband and some personal issues involving an ugly custody battle over my dear ,almost twelve year old granddaughter...so needless to say I've been slightly pre-occupied as of late
Wanted to drop in and say hello and let you know I still monitor the goings on here and think about all of you often...also wanted to share a cute pic of my new member of our family..
May I present Jackson...our 18 week old coonhound who played Easter Bunny yesterday:

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



Thanks for allowing me share a little OT moment
Love
Ylla

Hi, folks! :)

I haven't been able to find a definitive source, only speculation, for the date of Elijah's episode of Punk'd. It could be tonight (April 17), next week (April 24), or later. I guess everybody should just keep their eyes peeled and/or recorders primed on Monday nights at 10 PM until it airs.

Yes, ceefour, I believe family, friends, and/or business associates often, if not always, help set up the victim of a Punk'd prank. Makes you wonder who might have "betrayed" Elijah into the hands of Ashton Kutcher. :eek:

Whiteling, congratulations on your 700th post! I must admit I used to watch MTV occasionally, but that was a long time ago when they actually showed music videos. I don't pay any attention to them now except when they do something related to Elijah (or certain other special interests of mine).

Honeyelf, I have mixed feelings, too. I'm not a big fan of mean humor. In this case, I console myself somewhat with the fact that if Elijah himself wasn't ultimately okay with what happened it probably wouldn't be shown. I'm sure he could have quashed it by refusing to sign any release forms or by threatening legal action if he wasn't comfortable with it.

What's wrong with blathering, honeyelf! :D

SandCastles :)

Ylla, what a cute pic of Jackson. I hope he's doing better now. He sure looks as though he is. :)

A custody battle, too? What HASN'T been thrown at you this year? (((((:k)))))

Anyway, it's always good to see you post, just to let us know you are out there, however dreadful things have been. *smooches you*


~ Mechtild

Ylla.....Thanks for the introduction to little Jackson. Very Sweet indeed. I've been slightly pre-occupied as of lateWith good reason, dear ylla, I see........ hoping for a better 2006 for you. Peace and love. :k

saile

p.s. Sandcastles, thanks for all the news. So GOOD to see you.

Hi, Ylla :k - how good to see you (and Jackson the temporary Bunnie dog)! I'm so sorry to hear about your troubles. I wish you all the best, strength and faith. [(((Ylla))))


SandCastles, thanks for the congrats. :) (And you are so right - once upon a time MTV was worth watching - when they did play mostly music videos [at least they started out as a really cool music channel], but that's long gone)

Could anyone please enlighten me which season of Punk'd is the one with the Elijah prank? (I checked the German MTV site and saw that it is the second season that airs here; I wonder if we are very far back?)

Sandcastles,
In this case, I console myself somewhat with the fact that if Elijah himself wasn't ultimately okay with what happened it probably wouldn't be shown. I'm sure he could have quashed it by refusing to sign any release forms or by threatening legal action if he wasn't comfortable with it.


I have been following this conversation with interest...and I have to agree that the whole concept of pulling a fast one over a celebrity and then filming it for TV, for the entertainment of the Public At Large, is a bit distasteful, and really rather reminiscent of Candid camera from the sixties...aren't we a little bit more advanced than that these days...Oh wait...hmm, maybe not !!

The thing is that you may console yourself with the fact that Elijah has the power of veto over anything that he isn't happy with being shown, and that is what we always assume...

However, Elijah, being the ultimate soul of good humour that he is, would very probably NOT want to be seen as a bad sport, or as the one and only celebrity who didn't think it was a good joke, even though he may have been absolutely scared to death or horrified at the time...Do you not think, also that his agent may well advise any star that this publicity is a Good Thing for his public reputation...Nobody wants to be seen as killjoy, and Elijah may just get bad publicity by refusing to let this be shown ...
By the same token, he may not feel that he has a choice, given that the fact that it would probably get leaked onto the Internet, before long anyway, with or without his go-ahead...(The footage that Elijah Wood didn't want you to see !!! ) ...nothing more likely to get itself on the Internet than that, I'm afraid !!

The other thing I am not entirely happy with is that fact that the Gawker Stalker website saw fit to tell everyone exactly where and when Elijah was filming in New York yesterday, and probably will repeat this exercise any day that they have information like this !!
Apr 17th, 2006 @ 10am

Chris Klein and Elijah Wood are filming at the Holiday Cocktail Lounge. They should be there all day today. Chris Klein is in a nice suit, wearing aviators and eating a banana. Elijah is just as small as everyone says he is.

I know some other people are as unhappy as me about information being given out like this, our view being that, given that the film "Day Zero" is such a low budget, it probably won't have much security going on...any old nutter could take it into their heads to do the dirty here...

Ylla, I'm very sorry to hear about all your RL woes...you have had a bad time lately !!

Hullo Ylla! I'm sorry to hear that you are having such a rough time lately, I hope things improve for you soon. Cute poochie! How does Mr. Frodo get along with him?

Nothin' to say, just hugs to all!

honey!

The thing is that you may console yourself with the fact that Elijah has the power of veto over anything that he isn't happy with being shown, and that is what we always assume...

However, Elijah, being the ultimate soul of good humour that he is, would very probably NOT want to be seen as a bad sport, or as the one and only celebrity who didn't think it was a good joke, even though he may have been absolutely scared to death or horrified at the time...Do you not think, also that his agent may well advise any star that this publicity is a Good Thing for his public reputation...Nobody wants to be seen as killjoy, and Elijah may just get bad publicity by refusing to let this be shown ...
By the same token, he may not feel that he has a choice, given that the fact that it would probably get leaked onto the Internet, before long anyway, with or without his go-ahead...(The footage that Elijah Wood didn't want you to see !!! ) ...nothing more likely to get itself on the Internet than that, I'm afraid !!

Well, Lady Wendy, I did say I console myself somewhat. I would prefer that he had never been Punk'd at all.

Yes, Elijah is an easygoing good-natured person, but I would like to think he also has a backbone. After all, if he always did what his agent advised, he'd be doing more mainstream movies and fewer Indie projects. (And we'd all probably have an easier time getting to see his movies. :p ) I believe a number of celebrities have successfully quashed their Punk'd pranks. I would like to believe that if he really had been unhappy about the situation that he would have said so and acted accordingly. I just wish he had never been put in that position to begin with. *sigh*

The other thing I am not entirely happy with is that fact that the Gawker Stalker website saw fit to tell everyone exactly where and when Elijah was filming in New York yesterday, and probably will repeat this exercise any day that they have information like this !!

Apr 17th, 2006 @ 10am

Chris Klein and Elijah Wood are filming at the Holiday Cocktail Lounge. They should be there all day today. Chris Klein is in a nice suit, wearing aviators and eating a banana. Elijah is just as small as everyone says he is.

That's... very disturbing. That's way too much relevant in real-time information. "Here he is, crazy people. Come and get him!" Irresponsible. I hope there is enough security on the set. :z:

SandCastles :)

ETA:

Whiteling, I think they've started the 7th season of Punk'd. It looks like they do more than one season a year (they've only been making them since 2003).

Ylla, glad to see you around. Sorry to hear you're having such a hard time in RL. Hope things get better. Cute dog!

That's... very disturbing. That's way too much relevant in real-time information. "Here he is, crazy people. Come and get him!" Irresponsible. I hope there is enough security on the set. :z:

George Clooney was so disturbed by the Gawker Stalker google maps that he urged his fans to start a dis-information campaign and flood the Gawker with false sightings. Just sayin.'

honey!

George Clooney was so disturbed by the Gawker Stalker google maps that he urged his fans to start a dis-information campaign and flood the Gawker with false sightings. Just sayin.'

honey!
yes it also disturbs me........just sayin"........what's the plan? ......Just give me the nod........

Oh no in checking past postings I see I've missed Goldie's birthday. A pic or two is in order I think.........

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/billiep/photobucket2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v404/billiep/photobucket3.jpg
Hope all is well Goldie.

fawning and waving at the same time.... :k :k
saile

........what's the plan? ......Just give me the nod........


Well one might submit any tips to the website, that is send reports of having seen Elijah @ this or that eatery/public venue/concert etc., to the indiscriminate website gawker.com. Just a ferinstance, you see. However I happen to know four lovely ladies who spotted him in New York today, ;) ;) nudge nudge see what I mean and they sent their tips in. Last I checked, @, 21:00 west coast time, none of those tips had been posted to gawker.com.

But one might be brewing a further enhancement to the plan. Perhaps one, and ones friends might cook up a little something in the kitchen. Step into my parlor if you concur.

honey! who sucks at being all cryptic and stuff

New, much better Paris Je T'aime photo. It looks like he's some kind of backpacker (note what looks like a Portuguese flag on his rucksack. Also maybe Brazil as well at the very top. Don't know what the middle one is unless it's South Korea). Kevin-style crouch but scaredy cat not menacing and creepy.

From allocine (http://www.allocine.fr/film/galerie_gen_cfilm=46401&filtre=&cmediafichier=18610754.html)

Thanks for the pic, sneaking. I used my mighty mod powers to take the extra "http" from the link so it would work. See, they're occasionally good for something. ;) Will also note that visitors might have to wait through a short ad for another movie before the gallery comes up.

I also looked at the second picture in the gallery, and thought, "Oh, so he gets to have some normal scenes, too. But his hair looks different," before I realized it was a pic from one of the other stories in the movie and I was supposed to be looking at Natalie Portman, not the guy who had his back to the camera. :D Looking at things through Elijah-colored glasses? :p

Some "whole body" acting going on in Elijah's picture - the hands especially. I do believe there's a Frodotype [same as Froshadowing but from a post-LotR movie] lurking there. Something like the pic below, maybe? This is from the TTT crebain VCD, since that's all I have from that particular scene, so the quality's not too great - sorry :o :

http://home.earthlink.net/~screencaps/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderpictures/cap7980-85.jpg

I'll behave myself and not hotlink to the other site :) . But I will note that if you open the Allocine link and make the window small enough, you can, indeed, see that pic side-by-side with the TTT one here.

A bit OT -- A stupidly simple thing that I hadn't consciously thought of before is that Gollum also had to have made that trip down the cliff after Sam fell, because here he is again at the bottom. Of course, he would have been following the Ring, not Sam. :rolleyes:

---------

(((ylla))), please drop in when you can, even if it's "just" to say hi and get a few hugs. :k

Thanks for the pic, Sneaking! Oh, his little goatee. Too cute.

*does elaborate photo comparison*

Yup, looks like a Frodotype to me! I owe much to your crebain TTT VCD, Tg. Thanks so much for all you do. :k

ETA: I got my notification from Amazon.com that the Green Street Hooligans DVD is available. Tg, is it true we can order this through your site, so you can get a little bonus? Cheers!

Love that pic, Sneaking! The Cannes film festival is just a few short weeks away, and TOL will be well represented with roles in Paris je'Taime, and Bobby both.

TGShaw said: Thanks for the pic, sneaking. I used my mighty mod powers to take the extra "http" from the link so it would work. See, they're occasionally good for something. Will also note that visitors might have to wait through a short ad for another movie before the gallery comes up.

I used my mighty powers of...um...of generalizing launguage, to figure out that the "passer la publicite" at the bottom of the film ad loosely tanslated to "click here if you want to get to the good stuff." ;)

honey! misbehaving again

Eandme, The Appendices are the documentaries about the making of PJ's LOTR included with the Extended Edition of each movie. Tom Shippey appears, along with other Tolkien scholars, to provide insight into JRRT's life and writings.

And EW appears in them, too. :haha:


*shoots self* I cannot believe I had actually forgotten that man on the EE's who had all that knowledge about Tolkien... I must have gotten sidetracked, can't figure out by what though, or whom... ;) Now that I go back and look at the Appendices I do recognize him but now I also know who he is. Thank you for this!

This is cute -- note what it says about Lij:

http://www.zdnet.com.au/blogs/techandthecity/soa/What_do_you_want_to_sell_me_today_/0,39033350,39252395,00.htm

I got my notification from Amazon.com that the Green Street Hooligans DVD is available. Tg, is it true we can order this through your site, so you can get a little bonus? Cheers!
I must have gotten my notification at about the same time you did - right after I'd turned off the computer to go to work. :p It was sitting in my inbox when I got home.

And, yes, on ordering through my site. Even simpler now than it used to be - Until April 1, the system gave a bonus whenever someone ordered a specific item through a "direct product link" for it (e.g., I put up a link to Paradise, someone clicks on the link and specifically buys Paradise). But that's no longer true, so as long as someone goes into Amazon through a link on my site, it doesn't matter what they buy while they're there - my commission will be the same.

But my main purpose in putting up the direct product links, anyway, is to make it easier for people to find things, so I hope they help. Hooligans is an example: some search results at Amazon still take you to the old page that tells you the movie's not available. The email notification does take you to the new one. I just did an update to the What's New (http://www.frodolivesin.us/new) page and added a link to the right place.

When the DVD wasn't available, it was Hooligans. Now it's Green Street Hooligans. There are 7 customer reviews so far, all of them positive except for two that were written by diehard football fans who felt the movie didn't do justice to the hooligan culture. (And would you believe Prisoner of Zenda still comes up on a search for Elijah Wood? :rolleyes: )

TGShaw wrote: But my main purpose in putting up the direct product links, anyway, is to make it easier for people to find things, so I hope they help.
Yes, it does! Thank you TG. :k

hi all !!! :k :k

just dropping by to say hallo !!

Ylla my thoughts are with you !! you know were i am !!! hugs and kisses !!!

Well Tg i have to admitt when i started all this with not-smoking it was all for the trip but its getting better and better and i already feel a good difrens in my health so i will not start again not as i feel now!! :cool:

LOVE YOU ALL WOOD

OH,, and Mariole congrats on you posts 1.000 thats something :k :k :k

On CBS, in May:

Magician and Psychological Illusionist Keith Barry Dazzles Jessica Simpson, Matthew McConaughey, Elijah Wood, Nicollette Sheridan and Other Celebrities in His First Primetime Special "Keith Barry: Extraordinary," May 12

Good Amazon! My EII DVD arrived on schedule (German release date was the 21st of April). Hubby and I watched it together on the weekend. Frankly, in retrospect I'm glad that I read the book after seeing the film. The other way round, I'm sure, I would have been disappointed. The book is so much richer; the film feels like a tiny chapter taken from a tome. Well, of course it IS an extract, and was meant to be this way, but in addition with the alteration in Grandfather's story I missed some crucial book layers. I feel suddenly like a book purist! ;)
I felt sorry for poor hubby, as he was actually depressed after watching the movie. Book and film apparently bring about that the reader/viewer gets in touch with their own roots, and depending on how happy or unhappy your family history is or was, EII can make you happy - or quite the contrary.


SandCastles, many thanks for the Punk'd info. The seventh season, you say? :eek: That means I get to see the Elijah ep in about... 2 or 3 years! :p
Has the said episode already been aired in the States?

Has the said episode already been aired in the States?It airs tonight, actually, whiteling.

I just vvant to say congratulations to vvood for her success in getting the letter "W" into the Svvedish dictionary!
"Vhat? No 'W' in Swedish Dictionary?" (http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/other_news/&articleid=269889)
I'm sure it vvas her devotion to The One Lad that finally tipped the scales.
Vve love you, Vvood! :k :D

Whiteling and all, when Elijah's episode of Punk'd airs, I am going to TiVo it. Perhaps I can get it up on the greybook site if anyone is interested in seeing it.

honey!

Vve DO LOVE you Vvood :k Aw the joy of languages! :lol:I just vvant to say congratulations to vvood for her success in getting the letter "W" into the Svvedish dictionary!
I'm sure it vvas her devotion to The One Lad that finally tipped the scales.
Vve love you, Vvood! :k :D
Whiteling and all, when Elijah's episode of Punk'd airs, I am going to TiVo it. Perhaps I can get it up on the greybook site if anyone is interested in seeing it.I love to see it honey. What a great ( and thoughtful) idea. :k
saile

If there was no W in Swedish, how was EW's name spelt and pronounced?

Was it Vvood and now it's Wood?

C-still trying to figure out how to explain to Mr. ceefour why I'll be watching Punk'd-4

Whiteling and all, when Elijah's episode of Punk'd airs, I am going to TiVo it. Perhaps I can get it up on the greybook site if anyone is interested in seeing it.

I have forgotten, honey. What is the greybook site? Is that the one that's locked? :confused:

~ Mechtild

Whiteling and all, when Elijah's episode of Punk'd airs, I am going to TiVo it. Perhaps I can get it up on the greybook site if anyone is interested in seeing it. :z: Honey, I vvould love to see it! The kids and I vvatch no television since we don't have cable or a satellite hookup. :) But, we do vvatch lots of movies! In other vvords, I'll be Vvood deprived until it's uploaded somewhere in cyberspace.

Wow, thanks Wood for getting the "w" in the Swedish dictionary. :D

Mechtild, in response to your question, Honey's site is the one that requires a username and password to access. Just PM Honey herself or me and we can give you that information.

Thanks, Honey!!! :)
*excuses myself for just jumping in there and answering Mechtild's question for you*

Well, it took about 30 seconds of watching Punk'd for me to feel like an old curmudgeon. Gack, what a show! :eek:

C-and EW wasn't on this week, so now I have to watch it again next week-4

ETA-Hey ho, Merry and Pippin, pass me that bottle...

*excuses myself for just jumping in there and answering Mechtild's question for you*

Thank you for answering the question, Shelbyshire! :k

I've watched Punk'd twice now, and all too frequently people show themselves to be utterly graceless under fire. Of course the people who make the show are really good at keeping the pressure on until people do crack and behave badly too. Possibly my biggest trepidation going into watching next weeks episode - Elijah's episode - is that I'm afraid he'll dissapoint me and be as graceless as so many previous Punk'd "alumni." I do hope I'm wrong.

honey!

Gee, thought I'd find out in this thread how bad Elijah's Punk'd episode was last night. Now it'll be one of the first things I watch on my new TV service (if it really does air next Monday, that is). I'm finally giving in :rolleyes: and getting Direct TV through the phone company. In my "new" apartment, where I've been since last June, I can barely get NBC and ABC and - that's it. The other local channels, including public, are as if they don't exist. The service is supposed to be installed this coming Saturday. Three advantages over cable - it's cheaper, it's through the phone company so there's no extra bill to mess with, and I don't have to deal with our local cable company (I really don't like some of their business practices). So now I'll be able to watch all of TOL's questionable MTV airings for myself. :p And I won't have to wonder what I'm missing on Lost! because of the bad reception. ;)

A question, though - is MTV exposure really going to help Elijah's box office in the small indie movies he's making? But, then, if his name can get some of them to Bobby, more power to him.

- After I posted, I reread honey's post and remembered that I was going to say -- in the stills we've seen, Elijah looks terribly upset in a sad way rather than in an angry way. But I imagine those were taken before he knew it was a "joke." :(

Another question, a geeky one this time :p , since Whiteling brought up EII again. One thing in the movie that's been bugging me is that Lista (IIRC) says Safran and Augustine were married on Augustine's "name day." For a Catholic (and probably for an Anglican or an Eastern Orthodox Christian), your "name day" is the feast of the saint you're named after. But what would it be for a Jew? Is that a slip (from a Jewish screenwriter?), or is there a Jewish meaning for the term? And, to take the question one step further, since Augustine is so definitely a Catholic saint's name, would it be an odd name for a Jew at that time and place? If the "name day" remark was in the book, I'd be looking for other clues from JSF that possibly Augustine wasn't Jewish - it's been awhile since I've read the book, but I think the statement is only in the movie.

----------

amazon seems to be doing its bit for Green Street Hooligans - That DVD is definitely getting more than its share of exposure in the rotation of ads for Elijah Wood movies. The other DVD that seems to be getting this treatment at the moment is Spy Kids 3D :confused: , although EII is still popping up regularly.

A wave to txtac and anyone else who finds the amazon links on my website helpful. amazon really needs to hire a Tolkien geek (to say nothing of an Elijah Wood geek). If you think they got confused by Hooligans, you should see how bad it is with HoMe :haha: . But I think I have things sorted out on that page in the shopping mall. :D

----------

:z: ainon :z: with the troubles in Sri Lanka.

The MTV Movie Awards nominations are out, and Elijah was not nominated for Sin City :(

As for your question, TG, I've never heard of a "name day" in Judaism, but perhaps it's a Ukrainian custom, rather than something religious?

Interesting question, TG. In the book EII the population of Trachimbrod was mixed at the end. So Grandfather 'Alex's' best friend was Jewish, but 'Alex' himself was not, right? Remember the Nazis asking "who is a Jew?" And Safran was in love with the Gypsy girl. But it would be very weird for a Jew to marry a Catholic then wouldn't it? I afraid I'm no help at all here, and I don't rememeber the line you're talking about in the film at all, so I guess I need to catch up with my research. Maybe that'd be a good thing for me to do tonight, with hubby darling gone for one last night. Better'n going out to see a scary movie on my own like I did last night! :eek: At least I'll watch the Augustine scene again, trying to catch that bit. I might have someone to watch the whole thing with in a couple of weeks, right Alyon? ;)

About Elijah's Punk'd episode, they showed a different preview last night. In this one they show Elijah as a passenger (now Iggy Pop's gonna be in my head all morning. "I am the Passenger..."). He tosses a cup of some sort, maybe Starbucks, out the window into a big red dumpster, and there is an explosion and a burst of flame. "What the **** was that?" Elijah asks. Then the camera cuts away to show a scaffolding falling on the roof of the Escalade Elijah and his friend are in. The camera then comes back to Elijah's face. "Just drive" he says, "let's get the he** out of here." He doesn't look as distressed yet as he does in the other scenes we've seen. It's gonna be interesting, that's for sure.

honey!

I agree, honeyelf, EW didn't look distressed like he did in the screencaps posted last week, he looked rather ...handsome...

I agree, honeyelf, EW didn't look distressed like he did in the screencaps posted last week, he looked rather ...handsome...

Goes without saying, don't it? :D he did look gooooood

It's that time of year again. Teen People is asking for our input as to who are the Hottest Star(s). Vote for Elijah here: http://channels.isp.netscape.com/celebrity/package.jsp?name=fte/hottest25/hottest25&floc=wn-nt

Who was the friend in the Escalade? Any ideas? Male, female? Jason, family member, maybe?

...handsome, you say? Can't wait! :)

ETA: Cast my vote! Thanks, txtac.

Definetly male, possibly big brother Zach, but I'm thinking not. Somebody somwhere said he looks like another friend of EJW's, but I have no clue.

I've done further research on the preview spot :rolleyes: , and on closer inspection I don't think it's the car that Mr. Wood is in that gets the scaffolding dropped on top of it. So already I'm a bit dissapointed in young Mr. Wood, that his impulse would be to run from the accidental trashing of some unidentified person's car. I mean, shoot, if he bumped my car, I'd like to think he'd leave a note on it. With his number. So, you know, we could exchange insurance information, right? That's what I meant. Really. No, honestly! :haha:

honey!

I've looked around LJ and it appears that the preview hasn't been posted anywhere. Do you know if its available somewhere to be seen?

I haven't been able to find it on LJ either. I have it on Tivo, but with hubby out of town I'm hopeless at doing anything useful with it. I can probably get it posted by Wednesday night, if that's worth anything to anyone. Or we could just wait and post the show itself? *shrug*

Honey, since Monday is so far away when it comes to anything having to do with EJW (I'm impossible...obsessed in reality...:rolleyes:...I know!), I'll take Wednesday or Thursday or Friday or...for research purposes only.

Thanks! :k

:D I understand completely. I shall endeavor to do my best. Maybe, with a lot of IMing tonight, I can even manage it sooner. :z: Doubtful, but I can sure try!

ETA: Well, I tried. But no go tonight. Maybe tomorrow morning.

G'night hugs, all!

honey!

One thing in the movie that's been bugging me is that Lista (IIRC) says Safran and Augustine were married on Augustine's "name day." (...) And, to take the question one step further, since Augustine is so definitely a Catholic saint's name, would it be an odd name for a Jew at that time and place? If the "name day" remark was in the book, I'd be looking for other clues from JSF that possibly Augustine wasn't Jewish - it's been awhile since I've read the book, but I think the statement is only in the movie.
Tg, I just rewatched the scene, and you are right, Lista (who is never named throughout the film; when Grandfather asks her, "What is your name?" she says nothing, but shows him the photograph of "Baruch") tells her visitors that Safran married Augustine on her name day. This little detail escaped me completely. I'm quite sure that it is only in the film. - In the funeral scene of Jonathan's Grandmother (one of the deleted scenes) the Rabbi speaks of "Sabina". Well, that's an equally non-Yiddish name, isn't it? (Could the unusual women's names be a remote echo of Brod, the book's progenitor? Just a thought. :rolleyes: Geeky? Who, me? :p)

[B]I'm quite sure that it is only in the film. - In the funeral scene of Jonathan's Grandmother (one of the deleted scenes) the Rabbi speaks of "Sabina". Well, that's an equally non-Yiddish name, isn't it? (Could the unusual women's names be a remote echo of Brod, the book's progenitor? Just a thought. :rolleyes: Geeky? Who, me? :p)
Maybe so, but perhaps these are names from Liev's family? There are some unusual names there (for Jewish people, I mean) -- his father was Tell (who was not Jewish, btw), one of his brothers is Pablo, etc. Was Jonfen's grandmother's name mentioned in the book? I never got that far.

My guess is that these (i.e., Sabina, Lista, Augustina, etc.) are Ukrainian names. My mother's side of the family is from Russia and the women had names like Lena, Sophie, etc.

Was Jonfen's grandmother's name mentioned in the book?
Not that I know of, Achila.

My guess is that these (i.e., Sabina, Lista, Augustina, etc.) are Ukrainian names. My mother's side of the family is from Russia and the women had names like Lena, Sophie, etc.
That's quite possible. The Russian female names I can think of end literally all with -a.

OK ladies. I've got Elijah's little Punk'd preview snippet on YouTube.

punk'd (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ltnTvl4Mrps)

It was an adventure getting it there. My husband helped me last night over the phone. We had expired licenses to contend with, not to mention my curious fingers which took down the servers be accident at one point! :o But there 'tis! Look quick because I'm not supposed to have it there, it being copyrighted material and all. Hopefully I'll get it to the greybook site tonight.

honey!

Whoa...(((HONEY!!!)))

Careful what you throw in front of morning eyes!!!!! I don't think I need my caffeine now

thank you!!!

I can't watch the Punk'd preview because I'm at work, so I'll go back to talking about EII :p .

The only name that's been mentioned here that wasn't in the book is Sabina, unless I missed that. Book-Jonathan is also looking for Augustine, who's named on the back of the photograph. Difference is that in the book we never find out who she is, so we have no idea if she married Safran on her name day or any other time. Book-Jonathan does put Lista in his imagined history, which I thought was nice of him :) .

What struck me about the name Augustine (or Augustina) isn't so much that it's not Yiddish as that it's so Catholic. What makes this even more confusing is that we have JSF to thank for the name, but Liev to thank for the "name day" comment. Of course, in the book all we really know about Augustine is that she and Safran had their picture taken together. Since the town was a "mixed" community, and in the book we know of at least one pair of Jewish and Christian best friends, there's no reason she couldn't have been Christian. But the movie complicates things by having Safran and Augustine married to each other.

IMHO, JSF does know who Augustine is - he's just not telling. ;) But I don't think she was Safran's wife.

Definetly male, possibly big brother Zach, but I'm thinking not. Somebody somwhere said he looks like another friend of EJW's, but I have no clue.

Many thanks for the preview Honey!! I had to watch it very many times before I could tear my eyes away from Elijah to look at the person with him :D Almost certain its not Zak - in fact, I believe I do recognise this person - he was very prevalent in the pics of which we do not speak - he was even in Prague with Elijah but I've never known exactly who he is - he always seemed to be around when Elijah was with people from World Without Sundays so perhaps he's connected to them in some way.

What puzzles me from what we've seen of Punk'd is how they knew that Elijah was going to throw that cup, or whatever, into the container :confused: I suppose all will be revealed next week. But, far more important, he does look so very handsome :)

I found this site about the meaning of names and this is the entry for Sabina.

http://www.behindthename.com/php/view.php?name=sabina

The site also states that name days are more important in some countries than birthdays.

C4

ETA- I can't find the name "Lista" anywhere and I've checked numerous name meaning sites. (They keep asking me if I mean "List.") I wonder where JSF heard or read this name before.

Shireling wrote:But, far more important, he does look so very handsome. :) Written from an objective and scholarly standpoint, of course.

he was even in Prague with Elijah but I've never known exactly who he is - he always seemed to be around when Elijah was with people from World Without Sundays so perhaps he's connected to them in some way.
It's such a quick look in that preview, but I do believe that's Elijah's friend Ray, also a friend of WWS.

My suspicion is that said friend HAD to have been in on the set up, don't you think? I mean, the cameras are in and around his vehicle! I don't know how else they'd get those shots.


I don't have anything to add to the EII conversation, and besides, I'm too busy grumping over a Japanese review of the film that calls Elijah's performance "lackluster." It's here (http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/arts/20060427TDY17001.htm), if anyone is interested in reading it.

I don't have anything to add to the EII conversation, and besides, I'm too busy grumping over a Japanese review of the film that calls Elijah's performance "lackluster." It's here (http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/features/arts/20060427TDY17001.htm), if anyone is interested in reading it.
I saw that, Bunnie. Grrrr :mad:

Elijah updated his website (Simian Records), well...a little bit at least. :)

Is his website considered an "official" Faculty research source? :D

Honey, THANK YOU FOR THE PREVIEW! :k

Is his [Simian] website considered an "official" Faculty research source? :D

Sure, youbetchersweetbibby! (and how old does that make me?) Any insight into the mind of the man, in order that we may more fully appreciate his acting, right? ;)

OK Ladies and Gentleman, the Punk'd preview is now up on the greybook site, so that you obsessives may right-clickety-save for in depth analysis and research.

honey!

Following up on this post of Mechtild's from a while back:



I just saw this on the LJ of an Elijah Wood fan who does not frequent K-D. I thought it was very clever and, if you haven't already seen it, you might enjoy it too.

It's an animated clip using Elijah's face and personna to star in "Elijah the Prophet." The link is to a site that does not look at all racy or foul-mouthed, so I'm just going to link it.

http://shabot6000.com/elijah/

They have posted Part 2: http://shabot6000.com/elijah/yh.php

:lol:

I'm so glad I went checking for dead bookmarks tonight. :D

SandCastles :)

I've done further research on the preview spot, and on closer inspection I don't think it's the car that Mr. Wood is in that gets the scaffolding dropped on top of it. So already I'm a bit dissapointed in young Mr. Wood, that his impulse would be to run from the accidental trashing of some unidentified person's car. I mean, shoot, if he bumped my car, I'd like to think he'd leave a note on it. With his number. So, you know, we could exchange insurance information, right? That's what I meant. Really. No, honestly! :haha:

honey!

I think he probably in the heat of the moment didn't register the explosion as being related to what he just threw, in which case I am very glad his instinct was to get away before another explosion took him and his friend out and deprived the world of all his future performances.

I went to the MTV website to try and find if Punk'd is shown in the UK and got caught up watching (and sadly, enjoying) past Punkds of Justin Timberlake and Mandy Moore. Justin's reaction when his house and possessions were supposedly seized to cover unpaid taxes was to call his mum. It was kind of sweet. I don't know if they were shortened clips I got to see, but the deception went on long enough to make it funny, but not so long that I felt it was too cruel and wanted it to stop, which is what has been the case with similar programmes here in the UK.

And now for something completely different:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v32/bunniebugs/Misc%20Film%20Stills/18612977.jpg

Just found this this morning, the latest shot from Paris, je t'aime.

And now for something completely different:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v32/bunniebugs/Misc%20Film%20Stills/18612977.jpg

Just found this this morning, the latest shot from Paris, je t'aime.

Hmm...Lij with a backpack -- where have we seen that before? ;)

Hmm...Lij with a backpack -- where have we seen that before? ;)

Wow! That's an even better shot than the crouching one. I hope I get a chance to see this even it only is 5 minutes...

Actually, I was alluding to Frodo and his backpack -- sorry -- don't mind me -- strange day. :o

Actually, I was alluding to Frodo and his backpack -- sorry -- don't mind me -- strange day. :o

Woops. Yes, I did actually get that. I just messed up the quoting of messages to make it look like I hadn't. Don't mind me, move along, nothing to see. ;)

I actually thought that it does look like a Frodo-like rucksack. I.e. not that big or full. When I backpacked round europe, mine was definitely more Sam-like. Although I didn't have a frying pan or sausages (apart from the occasionally pack of sliced salami).

Although I didn't have a frying pan or sausages (apart from the occasionally pack of sliced salami).
Darling, no one should go anywhere without salami! :k

Thanks for the links, SandCastles and Honey, those were fun.

I know this is LAZY not to go look it up myself, but what's supposed to be happening in Paris, je t'aime?

A day in the life of a backpack? (I liked his Frodo backpack better. And Sam's was better still.)

Just curious. :)


~ Mechtild

I know this is LAZY not to go look it up myself, but what's supposed to be happening in Paris, je t'aime?It involves vampires (a female one, at least) and that really famous graveyard the name of which escapes me. Does that help?

Well, BunnieBugs, that's loads more than I knew before, which was that it was about EW looking furtive while wearing a heavy-looking backpack (pints of blood?). :D

~ Mechtild

I'm back! I saw the LOTR musical in Toronto on Tuesday-- I was very pleasantly surprised! There's a lot to like in this production, and a couple of "way cool" moments. I'll post more in the Harem when I get a report together.

ETA: I made my report, jet-lagged as it may be! :p It's in the Harem thread.

Frankly, in retrospect I'm glad that I read the book after seeing the film. The other way round, I'm sure, I would have been disappointed.
That is always my preference. A book can get so much more detailed than a movie. I can enjoy the movie more if I'm just looking at the adaptation; otherwise, all the omissions can seem a little harsh. I think part of the reason I was so receptive to the musical LOTR is because my Purist got bashed to pieces with the LOTR movies. That experience made looking for the abridgements and changes in the stage production kind of fun. :)


I'll join everyone else in saying, Thank you for the preview, Honey! I am also of the school that believes you should drive away from explosions and perhaps report it to the police later, when you're out of danger. Sheesh! I had no idea it was so intense.

As someone who has no TV--I cancelled all services 2 weeks ago because I never watch it-- I will be relying on the kindness of strangers to see Punk'd with Elijah. *blows kisses in advance to kind Internet posters*


SandCastles, thank you so much for the link to the updated "Elijah the Prophet" sequence. I adore Tobey Maguire as the developing villain. I really enjoyed the rather serious look on cut-out Elijah's face when he suggested, "let's dance." Hilarious. :D

I'm back! I saw the LOTR musical in Toronto on Tuesday-- I was very pleasantly surprised! There's a lot to like in this production, and a couple of "way cool" moments. I'll post more in the Harem when I get a report together.
You went? How wonderful! I look forward to hearing your comments!

:)

~ Mechtild

"I think he probably in the heat of the moment didn't register the explosion as being related to what he just threw, in which case I am very glad his instinct was to get away before another explosion took him and his friend out and deprived the world of all his future performances."

Just wanted to pipe up and say I intensely hate "candid camera" type shows where a person is deliberately deceived and made to look stupid. I especially don't want to see The One Lad on a show like that. So I will probably never see him on Punk'd. Wouldn't mind lots of discussion by those of you who do see it though!

Sandcastles,
I went to the MTV website to try and find if Punk'd is shown in the UK and got caught up watching (and sadly, enjoying) past Punkds of Justin Timberlake and Mandy Moore.

Yes, it seems that "Punk'd" is shown on the TMF Channel, which is Channel 348 on Sky, on a Wednesday evening from 8pm until 10pm...with the new episode being shown at 9.30pm apparently...it will remain to be seen whether this is the same as the new edition as in the States or not...

From the IMDB forum, the trailer for Paris Je T'Aime. It's mainly just clips and people talking about it (almost entirely in English). Elijah is pretty prominently featured - and proves rather cutely that his french isn't fantastique. Also, it looks like his character falls down those stairs he was standing beside in the other picture.

Trailer (http://www.commeaucinema.com/news.php3?nominfos=54312&Rub=BA)

(It shows an ad or something, click "Passer l'intro" at the bottom of the page).

Thank you, sneaking! That's a very cool montage of images. :)

(It shows an ad or something, click "Passer l'intro" at the bottom of the page).
From Honey's previous "general language" lesson, I'd guess it means "skip the intro" :p .

Glad to hear Elijah gets featured well in the trailer. When I first heart about the movie, I wondered about his French, but with his character being an "American tourist" it should be okay. :)

I won't be watching Punk'd on my TV tonight - was supposed to have the satellite service installed this past Saturday but they were "running late" so I got pushed back a week. One more week of not really being able to see what's happening on Lost -- and it's a sweeps month! ;)

--I hadn't thought of that until this moment. That is, that it kind of says something that Punk'd is putting Elijah's segment on the first program in May. They wouldn't do that if they didn't think it would have a good audience.

Merci, Sneaking, for the trailer! Does this film have a distributor?

C4

ETA-I forget, which number segment is EW in?

8th arrondissement. Although we don't know that they will actually be in order. Seeing the trailer has got me excited about this whole movie.

I don't think it has a distributer anywhere but France (or rather, there is one listed for worldwide but it looks like not a real distributer but one of those ones which sells it on to other companies). They may be waiting for Cannes to sell it or it may just be too gimmicky and uneven to sell.

It's out in France on the 21st of June. I can't figure out if bringing the release date forward (from the end of December) to June is an indication that the film is good or bad. Even if it is only released in France, that should mean that there will be a Region 2 DVD of some kind out there. Having said that, I cannot believe that this won't get a limited release in most european countries and the US. It's a film that, with all the directors and actors involved, most film buff-type fans would be curious about seeing.

Hi all,

There's an article (not completely flattering to EE, however) in the May 2006 issue of Esquire about the trials and tribulations of making Bobby. The nice folks over at aimsters.com scanned/typed it and it's here:

http://home.comcast.net/~aimsters4/bobby1.htm

One minor mention of Lij but interesting reading. Keep in mind that the author, Nikki Go, is a pseudonym, which could mean anything.

Hi all,

There's an article (not completely flattering to EE, however) in the May 2006 issue of Esquire about the trials and tribulations of making Bobby. The nice folks over at aimsters.com scanned/typed it and it's here:

http://home.comcast.net/~aimsters4/bobby1.htm

One minor mention of Lij but interesting reading. Keep in mind that the author, Nikki Go, is a pseudonym, which could mean anything.

This could really mean anything or nothing. The problems of making any low budget film with that kind of backer must be enormous. I don't think this is anything particularly unusual - it just doesn't get talked about openly too much. When you read about some of the problems like this that have gone on even with big budget studio backed films, it really opens your eyes to how nasty the film business can be. Some of the films end up being really great in spite of it all, usually because the director is digging his heels in versus the producers (the Godfather is perhaps the most famous example). Some of them end up being so awful you can't imagine how anybody got involved in them in the first place (because they've changed out of all recognition from what was originally intended). I guess we just need to cross our fingers and hope the end result is OK.

Thank you, sneaking, for locating that trailer.
Elijah is pretty prominently featured - and proves rather cutely that his french isn't fantastique.
The grammar may be questionable but his accent doesn't sound too bad. And I love the way his says "Je t'aime, je t'aime, je t'aime...." at the end.

Thank you, sneaking, for locating that trailer.

The grammar may be questionable but his accent doesn't sound too bad. And I love the way his says "Je t'aime, je t'aime, je t'aime...." at the end.

Yes, his accent seemed OK to me (much better than Gurinder Chadha for example). The first time he said it, I thought hmm he just slightly fluffed that and assumed that there wouldn't be anymore of him. The rest was a real bonus and was just about as lovely and cute as it's possible to get.

Plus who am I to complain about his French when I'm pretty sure that the way I used fantastique for fantastic is blatantly incorrect. ;)

Sneaking, thanks for linking the trailer. EW was very charming in it. The filmmakers thought he was, too, obviously. :D

The rest of it was too disjointed to really enjoy, however. Not one person was allowed to complete a thought. Who knows what any one of them actually meant to say? :confused:

~ Mechtild

:eek: If you just have to see it now...Punk'd is available over at elijahwoodnow !

That poor young man!! He even says they almost got tears. :(

He's still so cute though! :)

*oops, wrong thread for that* :k

POOR, POOR Elijah :( :( !!!

Watching that Punk'd, I felt so sorry for him, but it made me realise just what draws me to him so much compared to other actors I have found interesting and/or attractive. To quote the interviewer at the end of the Heaven and Earth interview last year, he is just 'so nice'. As usual, he comes across as such a genuine, unpretentious person.

I rather suspect the episode won't, unfortunately, have had any lasting effect on his smoking habits.

OK, I'm just gonna be honest and say what I'm thinking, and you all can slow-roast me on a spit when I'm done.

I think this quote is from an interview with Quint at AICN:
"What it means to be a man these days is lost," he says, suddenly focused. "We used to have men like Gregory Peck, heroes like Steve McQueen. They were men, but they were layered, they were sensitive. That idea has been
lost. Being a man's man; hanging out with the guys for football games; competing for sleeps-with-the-most-women titles -- that's all bull****. It has nothing to do with manhood. Too many men stand for being macho and nothing else. They're caricatures of men. Then there are the men who are girl thingies. They're too sensitive and whiny, and they don't stand for anything. There are too many men like that. That's just as bad as the other side." His own goal, he says, is to be his own man, sensitive and strong:
basically the kind of guy who doesn't give a **** what anyone thinks. That's a tall order for anyone in the entertainment business.

I'd have liked to see him channel Mr. McQueen a bit more there, rather than "almost tears." We saw "sensitive" by the dumpster-load but he needs to work on "strong" it seems. He just let his friend Ray jump out of the car and deal while he cringed in the front seat.

honey! standing up and taking it like an opinionated woman

He IS who he is............... in the past we've seen him intent on knocking down any pedestal anyone tried to place him. So...What you see is what you get........I like that about him, but then I have no expectations except for him to be himself and find some good scripts.
IMVHO
saile

I'm sorry, Saile, you're probably right. Even my husband was defending Elijah to me this morning, saying that Ray probably wouldn't have got out of the car if he hadn't known what was going on. Those Punk'd people are expert at piling on the stress, trying to make people look bad. I adore Elijah, and I give him heaps of credit for not getting angry and defensive, and for being very honest.

h~

If anyone would like to see the "Punk'd" clip without having to download something to their computer, it's available streaming for awhile here at MTV.com (http://www.mtv.com/onair/punkd/assets/hall_of_shame.jhtml) (I think it's okay to link there -- it's pretty PG). It leaves out a little of the beginning, but it's mostly all there.

I found it very hard to watch (spent most of it with my arms wrapped tightly around myself), but the end and his reaction were brilliant. He is such a good sport! And his relief was palpable. Thank goodness he never has to go through that again!

As usual, he comes across as such a genuine, unpretentious person.

That's so true Skater Girl - I was quite worried how he might react in this situation - that perhaps we might see an ugly side never before revealed - but I should have had more faith in my own knowledge of his character, acquired after more than 4 years intense study!! He came across as so very human - and I'm not surprised he was nervous about getting out of the car - the situation would have been worrying enough for anyone but for someone like Elijah there is also the prospect of all the negative publicity that is bound to follow. At one point he seemed on the verge of a panic attack but still he remained polite and completely non-aggressive. I just love that about him. Not since poor Frodo was struggling up Mt Doom have I wanted so much to give him a cuddle :)

...but he needs to work on "strong" it seems. He just let his friend Ray jump out of the car and deal while he cringed in the front seat.

honey! standing up and taking it like an opinionated woman *stands up but positions self right behind Honey so as not to get hit by any flying objects*

Sorry, but I agree with Honey about working on the "strong" part. I'll admit I'm in the same boat as the Lad. After 6 years, I still turn to jelly when I have to be in court or even in the same vicinity as my ex. And as far as any kind of confrontation with anyone regarding anything negative and my face turns a pretty shade of red ( :mad: + :eek: ). I think Elijah was geniunely concerned when Ray did get out of the car and then when he was handcuffed. I'm also impressed that he does not use "who" he is or his "occupation" as any kind of leverage. But I cringe everytime the girl says, "that guys gonna beat you up" and Elijah well...whimpers. It amazes me how small he really is.

I watched the show, laughed a little, cringed a little and just loved it from the moment he finds out he was punk'd. He's just not good in a crisis. Neither am I.

I would love to see someone ask him at ELF, "Do you smoke while driving or riding in a vehicle in California or Colorado?"

We saw "sensitive" by the dumpster-load but he needs to work on "strong" it seems.

I've been thinking about this, and it must be quite difficult for him accumulate experience to work on this. As a kid, instead of being in school and having to stand up for himself regularly, he was around adults on film sets who would naturally want to look out for him. At 18 he goes to New Zealand, where he is the youngest and smallest of a closed comunity, and as everyones' darling will have the others naturally taking a protective role over him.

From the way he looks, his soft voice, and his non-aggressive personality, it is almost as if like Paddington, he comes with a label saying 'please look after this bear'. I know how it makes me feel when he looks so upset, and I can imagine that it is hard for anyone who knows him not to want to look out for him, even now when he is 25.

Would Elijah have acted differently if it were Pamela in the car with him? Is Ray normally the dominant, strong one in their friendship?

Although I agree with Honey that he could perhaps work on being a little less of a wimp, I would much prefer to see him act like he did than be totally the other way and act aggressively from the start like I imagine Russell Crowe, for example, would have.

From the way he looks, his soft voice, and his non-aggressive personality, it is almost as if like Paddington, he comes with a label saying 'please look after this bear'. I know how it makes me feel when he looks so upset, and I can imagine that it is hard for anyone who knows him not to want to look out for him, even now when he is 25.

I was thinking the same thing. Sean was type-cast as Sam after having spent years looking out for his little brother, MacKenzie, and shielding him from their bi-polar mother's moods. Similarly Elijah was somewhat type-cast as Frodo; he's probably always been "looked after" by someone, from mom to big brother Zack to his more traditionally-masculine friends. As you say, Skate, you just can't look at the Lad without wanting to take care of him.

...I would much prefer to see him act like he did than be totally the other way and act aggressively from the start like I imagine Russell Crowe, for example, would have.

Absolutely, couldn't agree more. I've watched a few Punk'd episodes and some of those guys are just obnoxious in their defense of self. Elijah was a little gentleman throughout.

honey!

Good grief, that was painful to watch! What a horrendous thing to do to anybody. I'm so glad it's over. Thank you to whoever posted the clip, but I hope I'll never watch it again!

for someone like Elijah there is also the prospect of all the negative publicity that is bound to follow.
This was my thought as well. I think also he might have remained in the car because he's known. He would have wanted Ray to handle it, rather than expose his face (and possibly cause negative ramifications for himself). Is this the strongest behavior? I don't think so, but I'm not going to pass judgment on someone who is a celebrity and has to deal with things that I've never had to deal with in my life. I could almost imagine I could see the wheels turning in his head: how am I going to deal with this, what will happen as a result of this?

I admit I was surprised when the guy is lamenting that his car is all he has. Isn't Elijah rich? Couldn't he just offer to buy him a new car? I didn't understand why all that liability and insurance stuff should be so frightening to him. It's only a car. He might have been scared about going to jail for setting off a fire hazard, but I don't understand why the monetary stuff rattled him.

I missed the whimper. I was just shocked and stunned, every bit as much as Elijah, and I knew it was a setup. He really is an honest person. He tried to fudge it at first--that surprised me. But he came clean to the cop who questioned him separately and was very respectful and lucid. I had to deal with the cops just 2 weeks ago. Someone had clipped my car when they pulled out of the cul-de-sac in a fury. I came outside to three cop cars, shouting guys in a back seat, and whirling lights. One of the cops stopped me and said, "Do you realize you were hit?"

Now, I consider myself very good in a crisis, and I've had a few, but for some reason I kept answering the question backwards. He was asking if the damage to my car was new, which it was--you could see the shredded pieces clinging to my bumper--but although my brain said "Yes" my mouth said "No." Weirdest darned thing. "No, this just happened," I said, which really confused the cops. They were very kind and pitied me, but it's still embarrassing.

On another note-- how did they do all that photography? Did they have distance cameras pointed at the car? They could bug it to get the voice, but the shot of EW and Ray from two different angles, that takes camera work.

O.K. I couldn't resist. I watched it. Almost all the way through -- although I don't know, because, who knows how long it went on for? I turned it off before it got to where they told him it was a hoax (they did tell him, didn't they?). If they did, when they did, I wouldn't blame EW if he stuffed their microphones down their throats, especially anyone who had purported to be his friend. As if he ever would. But, if he felt like it, inside, I'd be all for him.

That was most sucky, stinking piece of bull-shit filmmaking I've ever seen. I am so furious! I don't care WHO it was they were doing this to, it was just unconscionable.

And this is what people in my country call entertainment?

This is what Ashton Kutcher does for a living? He should go home and take care of his child and throw the TV out the window, just in case his kid ever sees a clip from this show one day and says, "That's my dad? My dad did this? My dad took money for this? Mom, were we so poor dad had to do this to keep me from starving?"

I thought Elijah was, oh, I am just too angry and upset. You who know me from lurk-dom on this thread know that I don't have some blind crush on this man, but, I thought he was so human, so real, so present -- and so BADLY and SHAMEFULLY treated. I don't think this because this was done to a celebrity, an artist, but to anyone. To be so shamed -- and made to feel shamed -- FOR NOTHING!!!! And then put it on film in hopes of shaming him MORE!!!!!!!!

I am mortified, mortified for him, for me, for my people.

I couldn't believe it when the fake cop said, "I need to call your parents" -- an obvious joke to titter over "for later," because he is someone who is always teased for looking young. It was the last straw.

I knew I would go balistic when I typed this out and I am typing it now so I won't have a rational attack before I post it.

What has our country come to?

Oh, why should I ask? As if it weren't staring me in the face every day, in the news, on TV, in the talk I hear at work.

I am ashamed, deeply ashamed for my whole culture. I am crying, but I can't tell whether it's from sorry or shame or anger or all of them.

I know, I know. I am over-reacting. And I suppose tomorrow I'll feel really stupid and un-cool. Not tomorrow, maybe in five minutes. I'll hit "delete" and the rant will go away.

But this really was TERRIBLE to do to someone, anyone, and put it on television. It would have been terrible to do and show to the person's family and friends.

I don't think it makes EW look bad, only everyone else for having acquiesced to doing it.

And for my culture, for being the audience that supports this sort of programming.

Oh, I am going to go and pour myself a big stiff drink.

~ Mechtild

Oh my GOODNESS was that ever hard to watch! :eek:

I watched EW suffer through that scheme the same way I watch Olympic figure skaters doing a really hard twirl that could make or break the night. Or like when I used to live in Alberta and attended the Spruce Meadows jumping, as the horses thundered past me to tackle the toughest of obstacles. Or like when you've helped your best friend for weeks as she practiced for her solo on the big concert night...then, there you are in the front row looking up at her, praying that she'll do perfect up there, all alone with her complicated number! :)

I was so afraid that EW was going to lie about the ciggie in the can - I would have been very disappointed in him if he had! I was all talkin' outloud to him over the computer screen: "...oooh, Elijah - don't lie...please don't lie! Be honest. Be brave!" :z: Being honest takes a lot of courage and strength, as we all know! ;) Okay, I was a bit disappointed that he actually chucked out a recyclable can, but what can you expect? He once posed in a photo shoot wearing a Burger King t-shirt, holding a syrofoam cup, and smoking. Not exactly Mr. Sustainability. ;)

Anyways, back to those mean 'ol Punks! :D I was all relieved for him when the "Truth Will Out" (winks at Mech :D ) for EW at last - you can see the crazy-fast morphing of expressions on his face: dumbfounded, disbelief, anger, relief, mental/emotional-drainage.

And then maybe a little room left for half a chuckle (after the death threats were uttered, of course). I'm sure he was craving a ciggie after that little episode!! :lol:

Lembas :)

Edit: Hi Mech! There, there my special Internet Pen-Pal *hugs Mech* :k EW is well-traveled, sensitive, and 25 now. Plus, if you have an estranged dad, you can pretty much cope with anything. ;) *hugs Mech again*

Oh, why should I ask? As if it weren't staring me in the face every day, in the news, on TV, in the talk I hear at work.Enjoyed your rant. Oh enjoyed is not the right word.....understood is........
And "rant".......no pejorative meaning intended...to me it means expressing strong feelings and expressing them in one sitting.
:D hugs and :k

Instead of facing :eek: the NEWS everyday, I come here, I admit. And catching a glimpse of TOL on film or in real life reminds me that there is good news. If I look for it.
saile

- you can see the crazy-fast morphing of expressions on his face: dumbfounded, disbelief, anger, relief, mental/emotional-drainage.

What is really interesting for me in watching the Punk'd episode (no, :o sorry to admit it, but I'm not done yet watching it; I guess I have a less developed social conscience than our Mech.) is how expressive and motile his face is. I'll admit it; I'm fascinated with the opportunity to watch Elijah being Elijah, thinking himself observed only by those in his immediate vicinity, who - let's just note - give every appearance of not recognizing him as "someone."

Let me just say here that I think he's a really amazing actor. And I've always wondered "who's he when he's at home" as they say across the pond. In the past I've suspected that he might be much more gaurded with his expressions in his private life than he is on screen. I thought that someone so expressive with his face would also be aware of that expressiveness, and be able to "tune it down" so to speak. I find that I was very wrong in this theory.

Instead we learn that Elijah has only enough skin to barely stretch over his emotions, and not a bit to spare to conceal those same emotions. Which is fascinating and a little frightening. I've always attributed his acting ability to keen intelligence and incredible powers of observation. Now it seems that he is "just drawn that way."

I suppose his fierce intelligence does figure in his acting, in that each character is so different in body language and even facial charateristics. I didn't see one bit of Stu Simmons or post-London Matt Buckner sitting in the seat of that car. And that frightens me for him a little bit. I didn't even see Frodo's stoicism. Just a badly frightened boy who is so trusting, so used to his friends looking out for him, that he doesn't know to hide anything.

Suddenly he just seems so very fragile, like he might be broken with a breath. Or frighteningly powerful, as if he could manipulate entire segments of the population with the merest bat of those ridiculously lush eyelashes. I hope he always uses those powers for good.

honey

PS Looks like I'm simulposting with Saile. Hullo, Saile! :)

Well, as my friend Pam would say, I think Mr. Wood came across as a bit of a big girl's blouse, I must say. I caught the whimper, and he was hiding behind the big cop everytime the enraged man came near. The few times I've watched the show I've found the ones who handle themselves the best are the ones who stick to their story, don't cringe, don't lie, and don't get angry. They just try to figure out the situation. One of the best I saw was a rapper (and doesn't that beat the stereotype) who just kept plainly describing the situation in good humor to the police, but not a trace of cringe.

Still, I have to admit that I was proud TOL didn't lie about the cigarette, although he nearly gave in to the temptation, only admitting to it as an afterthought. And I laughed at the slow dawning of relief on his face when he does realize it's a joke.

At least he didn't, like Michael Liennert (spelling?) before him, sell out his friend on public TV. No wonder the guy went so late in the draft.

I think I'm ruined by my husband, who never, ever, ever loses his cool, but will acurately characterize a situation, and, most importantly, admit when he is wrong and take care of the injured party. In our litigious culture, that's hard to do.

I would have been proudest if TOL had made some offer of restitution. He could, as someone else has mentioned, probably afford it.

Overall, I must say I agree with Mech, although I'm not quite so vehement. TV shows like this remind me why I rarely watch TV. Except for the new Battlestar Galactica, which is on hiatus right now. Sigh.

TTFN

Eresh

Just a badly frightened boy who is so trusting, so used to his friends looking out for him, that he doesn't know to hide anything.

Suddenly he just seems so very fragile, like he might be broken with a breath. Or frighteningly powerful, as if he could manipulate entire segments of the population with the merest bat of those ridiculously lush eyelashes.I don't mean to just reply to Honey's posts as I've been reading everyone's. It is quite interesting to see the mixed reactions. When you look at Elijah's life as a whole, he probably has been very protected and sheltered from the real world. However much his mother tried to give him a "normal" childhood, I'm sure it wasn't quite that. The rest of his family and his friends have always remained very very silent in maintaining that protection. Being on a film set must provide a certain level also. He's been around the world promoting this and that, escorted or met at places, but most likely rarely on just a vacation. I know there's rabid fans, a stalker or two, and reporters but most of them are kept at a distance. I guess I'm trying to say he's seen the world but through "rose-colored" glasses. His reaction to the events played out was just that, it was his way. Elijah is young yet and has quite a lot ahead of him. This experience may help "strengthen" his emotions. I've watched the episode quite a few times and I do feel awful for him.

However, I can't help loving the end. That is the Elijah I have seen and know. And it happens to be in front of a camera. I'll keep it that way. :k

(Hi, Ereshkigal! Hi, Lembas! Hi Saile and Honey!)

Thanks, Shelbyshire for the assurance that it came out ok in the end for him. I'm not going to be watching it again to see it.

It reminds me of watching a cat being held over a bathtub full of water. The cat yowls and spits and writhes, but before it scratches and bolts, the child owner hugs it close. "There, there, Kitty. You know I wouldn't hurt you!"

Awww, croon the lookers-on, warming to the hurt/comfort of it. Meanwhile the parents have made a clip to send to America's Funniest Pet Videos. They win a prize and a spot on the show.

Kitty doesn't mind, either, forgetting all about it over a bowl of Purina (free bag, courtesy of the sponsor).

~ Mechtild

Wow. :( So can I watch this show?? I'll wait til HOneyElf comes to visit next week and she can hold my hand. One of the worst things for me is the deliberate embarrassing or hurting of someone for the amusement of others. Even if it ends up a joke. I even have a hard time keeping a surprise a secret if it means that someone might feel they have been forgotten until the surprise is sprung on them (for example, having someone think all day that no one remembered their birthday, even though a huge surprise is waiting at the end of the day...I can't bear the whole day during which they feel lonely and unloved)

I don't know how Elijah's friend could have gone on with the charade, seeing his distress...

Anyhow--thanks all for the warning. I"ll watch it with HoneyElf, but not with other family members. I'll try to be brave. Or maybe we won't watch it. We'll see.

Shelbyshire:
When you look at Elijah's life as a whole, he probably has been very protected and sheltered from the real world. However much his mother tried to give him a "normal" childhood, I'm sure it wasn't quite that. The rest of his family and his friends have always remained very very silent in maintaining that protection. Being on a film set must provide a certain level also

Acting provides it's own pressure, for sure. One has to develop a thick skin to criticism and to public comment and scrutiny. And I'm sure he has developed that --I mean he is very philosophical and just for self-protection he probably has developed a way to not take public comment too much to heart. More than you or I would ever have to develop because we just don't have to endure that scrutiny. He has to be tough to then agree to air something in which he may not look very good to loads of folks. So in that way he is likely less protected than most of us. And tougher.

But I think you are right about generally being taken care of. Whereas in theater very often actors are really much more in charge of themselves, film actors are ushered around and everything done for them. I read that the guy who plays Spike on Buffy talked about this, as he used to be in theater before the TV role...he said it (the way it's done for film) sometimes feels a little like they think you are stupid. But it's the way it's done. I've seen it on set. There is a hierarchy and the actor is very well taken care of--someone is always ready to slip a jacket over the actors shoulders, or hold an umbrella over his/her head to keep moisture or sun away. There is always a chair. Served first. There are watchers around to herd them to set. There are reasons for it--continuity for one (can't have sudden sunburn, or wet hair that doesn't match the scenes). They get served first because they have to be ready in makeup etc. And if anything isn't going smoothly, there is a manager who takes care of any uncomfortable conversations. Things are...taken care of. So though Elijah likely knows to be wary of the press and odd meetings out in public, he likely trusts those friends around him to be looking after his best interests. What a shocker this would be.

On the other hand, he has been around a lot of pranksters...some other hobbit actors come to mind who seemed to have introduced him to the world of practical jokes. But that's not really the same level as to what this seems to have been. Playing on someone's fear or distress, is not the same as just confusing them, or giving them minor embarrassment.

Time to go to bed.
By the way, (((Mechtild))), thank you for sharing your feelings. I'm glad you decided to vent them--they are good for all of us to hear.


Oh--and it really is unfair to judge how a person acts in a situation they have never experienced before. People get better at things with exposure. I happen to know another person who was involved in a Punk'd episode (not the person who was punk'd). The actor who was Punk'd got very upset and angry and agressive...and yet by all other accounts that person is one of the nicest people, and he was shocked at the intensity of his own reaction.

I dont' think it's a nice way to have to "grow" -- to discover your own reactions aren't what you liked, and do it on television. None of us know for sure what we would do ourselves. It's easy to say we would do this or that when we can think calmly, but as Mariole pointed out...in the middle of a situation, all of that may just go out the window. Any of us could be humbled...

This is so horrible – how despicable to put a fellow human being through this. It is not even remotely funny.

I think Mr. Wood has enough to occupy his mind (stalkers and rabid fans). Now he will be even more on his guard in the future. What if he suspects that something that is serious may just be another practical joke.

:(

I am posting very quickly from work and haven't yet had time to read all the latest Punk'd posts so this may have already been mentioned - but I find it surprising that one of Elijah's best friends was instrumental in getting this set up - it couldn't have been done without his co-operation. Either he knew that Elijah would enjoy the joke - or he's not such a good friend as Elijah thought :(

And my main reason for posting just now - according to the Sun newspaper Elijah is now a tattood skinhead :eek: Apparently he's had his head completely shaved for Day Zero :eek: :( Patsie scanned the Sun article & pic in her LJ. His head is covered in tattoos but I assume these are fake :z: What I can't understand is - he's supposed to be filming Iggy Pop at the end of the year - assuming he lets his hair grow it will still only be about 3 inches long :confused: Looks like he'll have to wear a wig or at least extensions. Unless, and I know this is probably just wishful thinking on my part, the 'skinhead' is a skin wig over his head. But from the pic, I don't think it is. So when I see him in July his lovely hair will be gone :( What we suffer for his art.

My skin crawled as I watched that miserable show for the first time.

I hope Elwood stays far away from the so-called "friend" who set him up for this horrible experience.

I kept waiting for him to wise up as the "cop" told him it was illegal to smoke and drive in California. AS IF!! Isn't there a law against impersonating a cop, anyway?

:mad:

Really enjoyed your perspective Alyon, thanks. And so agree with this commentOh--and it really is unfair to judge how a person acts in a situation they have never experienced before. People get better at things with exposure. ......I dont' think it's a nice way to have to "grow" -- to discover your own reactions aren't what you liked, and do it on television. None of us know for sure what we would do ourselves. It's easy to say we would do this or that when we can think calmly, but as Mariole pointed out...in the middle of a situation, all of that may just go out the window. Any of us could be humbled...
Guessing THIS EXPERIENCE was a first for him, I thought he handled it well.
With my many decades of experience I do so remember those "OUT of Control" ..."what's happening here?" situations. After each, second guessing myself about what I SHOULD have done. Does logic kick in first or those FEELINGS? Anger? Panic? Flight?
The thought of being tested like that even now and on TV :eek: :eek: ..........I'm not that brave....could be very humbling indeed........
saile

LAST RANT, I SWEAR.

When you look at Elijah's life as a whole, he probably has been very protected and sheltered from the real world. However much his mother tried to give him a "normal" childhood, I'm sure it wasn't quite that. The rest of his family and his friends have always remained very very silent in maintaining that protection. Being on a film set must provide a certain level also.

But I think you are right about generally being taken care of. Whereas in theater very often actors are really much more in charge of themselves, film actors are ushered around and everything done for them. I read that the guy who plays Spike on Buffy talked about this, as he used to be in theater before the TV role...he said it (the way it's done for film) sometimes feels a little like they think you are stupid. But it's the way it's done. I've seen it on set (....)
Alyon and Shelbyshire, you are right about him having been taken care of most of the rest of his life -- as a professional. And a lot of the rest of his life he was taken care of like a child, because he was a child.

I have read in this very thread, time and again, that all through his growing up his mother made sure there was a sharp distinction made between actor-Elijah and son/brother-Elijah. [You sort of acceded that, Shelbyshire, but note that it wasn't quite a normal childhood, whatever his mother tried to do for him.] It has been here that I have read over and over how she made sure that her famous son received no special treatment at home, doing the same chores, receiving the same accolades or disciplines. I have read the comments of posters here taking it to heart how burdened he was, even if not quite consciously, knowing he was his family's breadwinner -- perhaps one of the reasons he took money and its spending so seriously. And the time he spent being this "normal" child at home was far greater than the time he would have spent on set.

But, come on, he can't be both, not deeply: the child actor who never had to grow up and never learned to take it, so shepherded and catered to was he as a young performer, and the young supporter of his family, his father having left them, taking out the garbage, walking the dog, and making do on a small allowance.

*yes, I'm still smarting -- don't take it personally -- I suppose I'm using you as a whingeing board -- sorry! :z: *


I don't know how Elijah's friend could have gone on with the charade, seeing his distress... (...) On the other hand, he has been around a lot of pranksters...some other hobbit actors come to mind who seemed to have introduced him to the world of practical jokes. But that's not really the same level as to what this seems to have been. Playing on someone's fear or distress, is not the same as just confusing them, or giving them minor embarrassment.
Good point, Alyon. We all have witnessed the various noogies and jocular hazing he's been put through by his friends and he's seen it as all in fun, but this is different. If he ends up thinking, in his heart, that this was a really cool prank to pull on him, I would find it very hard to have any respect for him, caving in to pressure to look like a good sport again.

This is so horrible – how despicable to put a fellow human being through this. It is not even remotely funny.

I think Mr. Wood has enough to occupy his mind (stalkers and rabid fans). Now he will be even more on his guard in the future. What if he suspects that something that is serious may just be another practical joke.
I'm quoting you in agreement, Estë. I think he'd be on guard that way, but be on guard in a more insidious way: wondering if he were being filmed eating or in bed with his lover or sitting on the toilet, for crying out loud.

"Oh, but it's all in fun, 'Lij!" And, the worst-case scenario for me: he'd just swallow it down and blush and drop his eyes and grin and say, "Awww, you guys...!"

I find it surprising that one of Elijah's best friends was instrumental in getting this set up - it couldn't have been done without his co-operation. Either he knew that Elijah would enjoy the joke - or he's not such a good friend as Elijah thought.
Right. "With friends like that...." But if he says, "Oh, heck, that was f***ing great, guys!" then he showed his true colours back in Sin City, happy to play a 'way cool' role like Kevin.

An e-friend I discuss Frodo with has been soothing my brow, telling me that I really need to let this Frodo-identification thing go with EW, thinking he somehow has the qualities, at least in part, of the character he played.

(These are all paraphrases, not quotes --)

"He's just EW, after all, Mech, an actor. If you had read they had done this to some other actor, would you care two beans? No, you care because they did it to the Frodo-actor. How could people do this to the Frodo-boy, you demand. And if the actor doesn't respond to it the way you think a Frodo-boy ought, you get all bent out of shape."

She encouraged me to let the "noble actor who played Frodo" thing go and let EW be who and what he is: a really smart, really talented young artist who so loves or needs to receive any form of attention from those he considers his peers and friends that can be considered positive, whe will be "nice" at any cost. Who chills playing video games and grooving to tunes, and thinks Kevin is cool.

Oh, I'm still gnashing my teeth, as you can see. But I'll be a good girl, now. EW is my role model. :)

Edited to Add:

Go, Peaceweaver! (love your icon)

~ Mechtild

One of the worst things for me is the deliberate embarrassing or hurting of someone for the amusement of others. Even if it ends up a joke.
(...) Playing on someone's fear or distress, is not the same as just confusing them, or giving them minor embarrassment.
I agree 100 per cent, Alyon! I think this typ of "entertainment" breachs any existing Convention of Human Rights. No really, I mean it. It's nothing but a modern form of the Roman "panem et circenses" ("bread and circuses") - "recreation" for the masses, and not exactly famous for its tastefulness. :rolleyes:
Poor Elijah. I wonder which aftertaste this episode left on him.

("Oh, Eru, she's back!")

(Hi, Whiteling!)

I forgot to mention this bit, too, Alyon:

Oh--and it really is unfair to judge how a person acts in a situation they have never experienced before. People get better at things with exposure. I happen to know another person who was involved in a Punk'd episode (not the person who was punk'd). The actor who was Punk'd got very upset and angry and aggressive...and yet by all other accounts that person is one of the nicest people, and he was shocked at the intensity of his own reaction.

Good for whoever that was. Good that he can feel indignant and know that he felt indignant and recognize that he was right to feel indignant.

*pumps fist in air*

~ Mechtild

I'll put my 2 cents in....
Viewing anyone, in that much distress ,is not entertainment...IMVHO
I think we can all see that EW is a deeply sensitive young man...I think to second guess his reactions to this deplorable prank is a mistake...does anyone know how they would react in a similar situation?
My initial reaction to watching this ,was noticing how small and frail he looks next to that officer...I found the whole event EXTREMELY distressing...and EXTREMELY mean spirited :mad:
NO
If this is entertainment....what does this say about our society?
Deriving pleasure from someone's pain.....is simply wrong and terribly sadistic
:(

What kind of a message are we sending to our children(since this horrible show is on MTV)....are we teaching our children to find joy in others' misfortunes?
How Sad :(

Viewing anyone, in that much distress ,is not entertainment...IMVHO
...My initial reaction to watching this ,was noticing how small and frail he looks next to that officer...I found the whole event EXTREMELY distressing...and EXTREMELY mean spirited :mad:
EXTREMELY agree with Ylla's entire post, particularly about the values it shows about our society and what we teach our children.

My skin crawled as I watched that miserable show for the first time.
I felt nauseated.

This is so horrible – how despicable to put a fellow human being through this. It is not even remotely funny.
Estë, I was actually shocked when I read this. The whole incident was so excrutiating for me, I forgot the purpose was to make people laugh. Some people find this funny. :eek: :confused: :mad:

Alyon, lovely speech, dear. Thank you for that perspective. :k
Among the other good points people have noted in this discussion, this one leaped out at me:

how burdened he was, even if not quite consciously, knowing he was his family's breadwinner -- perhaps one of the reasons he took money and its spending so seriously.
This rang the little bell in my brain. If he's supposed his household, his mom's household (which, as far as I know, he is) and perhaps even Hannah, he might not have as much spare cash lying about as I assumed he did. I don't think he's foolish with money, but I hope he's not so careful that he doesn't try some fun or experiments. I just thought, "Offer to buy the guy a new car, what's the big deal?" It still seems like a relatively small expense to me, but perhaps E's financial situation is not as cushy as I really even now think it is (compared to the average Joe, that is, who buy new cars all the time). Hmph. Something to think about.

"With friends like that...."
Hmph. Ditto.

Interesting points about Elijah being "Frodo-boy." I actually thought about that, too. Notice that women were much more receptive to EW's Frodo than men; most men wrote him off as a wimp, either rolled their eyes or despised him. Were they perhaps picking up wimp signals from the actor, something that told him he would not be a stand-up partner in a fight, and therefore wrote him off from the start? Ugh, what a wretched thought.

I took the contents of Ereshkigal's post to bed with me last night, as it was the last thing I'd read about this. First, ditto on avoiding television; if this is our "entertainment," I can do without it! But the more squeemish topic of Elijah being a wimp, that's tough. Or, as Honey said, "Suddenly he just seems so very fragile, like he might be broken with a breath." I started wondering if he'd ever been beaten up before. That could well carry over into excessive fear over this rampaging guy threatening him; EW is a pretty tiny person after all. I just don't know that much about his early life, but with those big eyes and soft voice he'd be a natural target. I grew up in a pretty thuggy neighborhood, so this idea doesn't seem at all far-fetched to me. I'm fairly big for my size and I know I can (or could, when young) take a punch-- does Elijah know that? It just... bothered me. The whole thing just irritates me.

Whiteling, your post hit me in the gut. That's exactly what we have: a modern-day "bread and circuses." Only, instead of literally dying, the wounding is figurative: death by humiliation, victory by destroying the spirit. What a lovely society we've evolved into.


So when I see him in July his lovely hair will be gone What we suffer for his art.
Shireling, I feel your pain. Skinhead. Ugh. His worst possible "look."

It still seems like a relatively small expense to me, but perhaps E's financial situation is not as cushy as I really even now think it is (compared to the average Joe, that is, who buy new cars all the time). It might help to remember that he made about a million dollars (total, pre-tax, with no residuals) for LOTR. Sure, he probably makes a decent living, and no doubt makes at a con almost as much as my husband earns in an entire year of back-breaking work (now, there's food for thought), but I doubt that he is "rich." He lives fairly modestly, and doesn't throw money around on trivial stuff.

It's also possible that he was so distressed about the whole situation, and the words "felony" and "liability" being thrown around -- not to mention his friend actually being handcuffed -- that it didn't occur to him to offer restitution at that particular moment, especially with an officer who would not really have the authority to say whether that would be adequate for the situation or not.

I started wondering if he'd ever been beaten up before. That could well carry over into excessive fear over this rampaging guy threatening him; EW is a pretty tiny person after all. I just don't know that much about his early life, but with those big eyes and soft voice he'd be a natural target.
He did say during the press junket for GSH that he had never been in a fight, but I suppose it's possible that he didn't count little scraps he'd had growing up. I doubt that he experienced much of that, personally, as he wasn't small for his age, and seemed pretty tough even back then.

Shireling, I feel your pain. Skinhead. Ugh. His worst possible "look."Heeeee... I really must be the most forgiving Elwood fan on the planet, because I think he looks awesome. Mind, I wouldn't want him to adopt it as his default look (kitty hair is still my favorite), and if he has also shaved his eyebrows, as some say, I'm truly desperate for them to grow back in. But, honestly, there is very little he has ever done to himself that I either didn't like or couldn't warm up to. If he wants to keep this look for a bit, it's okay by me. :)

I took the contents of Ereshkigal's post to bed with me last night, as it was the last thing I'd read about this. First, ditto on avoiding television; if this is our "entertainment," I can do without it! But the more squeemish topic of Elijah being a wimp, that's tough. Or, as Honey said, "Suddenly he just seems so very fragile, like he might be broken with a breath." I started wondering if he'd ever been beaten up before. That could well carry over into excessive fear over this rampaging guy threatening him; EW is a pretty tiny person after all. I just don't know that much about his early life, but with those big eyes and soft voice he'd be a natural target. I grew up in a pretty thuggy neighborhood, so this idea doesn't seem at all far-fetched to me. I'm fairly big for my size and I know I can (or could, when young) take a punch-- does Elijah know that? It just... bothered me. The whole thing just irritates me.

I suspect he's never been physically beaten, never having attended public or private school or played in unsupervised situations (just guessing), although he has "taken a beating," just performing. But that's by his own choice, not a matter some scary person lamming into him.

Perhaps that was part of the fun for him of being in Hooligans, to see what it was like, vicariously, to see if he could "take it," perhaps show "he could take it" and dish it back: be thuggy, be the sort of person who threatened and intimidated the little guys in life and who could enjoy it. So much more gratifying to be part of the kickers than one of the kickees.

Actually, I was thinking about GSH last night, which I still haven't seen but I have read the spoilers and discussions for in here.

In a way, I think that the way EW is teased and made the recipient of practical jokes is just the more socially acceptable form of what happened in that film: male friends and peers who are supposed to be above actual fighting (like low-class persons) still are able to do their alpha male/pack behaviour but without resorting to actual face-smashing.

What always makes me a little sick about these sorts of displays featuring EW is the same thing that I hated about the RotK Easter Egg (when Dom strung him along, asking him rude questions about his lover at the time, just for laughs), and countless other situations in which EW gets some sort of pie in the face, and has to show what a good sport he is, which he is.

It's like the non-fists way of hazing him.

"You wanna run with the big boys, little 'Lij? Well, show us you can take it and we'll let you." So he puts up with this stuff -- even, I suspect, invites it -- so he can show he's one of the guys. He can pass the initiation. I know this is typical behaviour but it disappoints, even sickens me to see him falling in with it. It degrades him in my eyes and I lose respect for him. So I guess it's really about me: I don't like my illusions about him blown. It hurts.

In GSH, it sounds like he played this scenario out in the world of real fists and bashed faces, in the characters of Matt. The people EW hangs around with do the same sorts of things, but with psychological and emotional assault (presented as joking - all in fun, of course!), instead of of actual physical punishments. They don't gang-f*** him, they just 'mind-f***' him -- and he puts up with it.

But, unlike Matt did in Hooligans (if I remember the plot correctly), so far, EW hasn't had the maturity, or the strength, to say enough is enough and walk away from it. Perhaps he hasn't had enough, yet.

Again, it wasn't how EW responded in the Punk'd situation that made me cringe, with everyone was scaring the sh** out of him, hurling questions and accusations and demands at him out of the blue. It was the fact that he would go along with it, in the end. "See, I'm your little mascot, aren't I, guys?"

It's doggy, tail-wagging behaviour and I hate it. No wonder I own cats. :)

~ Mechtild

It's also possible that he was so distressed about the whole situation, and the words "felony" and "liability" being thrown around -- not to mention his friend actually being handcuffed -- that it didn't occur to him to offer restitution at that particular moment, especially with an officer who would not really have the authority to say whether that would be adequate for the situation or not.

BunnieBugs, I felt this way, too. The most self-serving thing I could think of him thinking at that moment was, "LAW SUIT!!! THERE GOES THE RECORD LABEL!" But mainly I thought he looked just too distressed and under assault at the moment to be thinking about getting out his little notebook and writing down the details to reimburse the man screaming at him.

Again, I felt no shame for him in terms of his behaviour, only shame for the behaviour of those who planned, orchestrated, acted in and revelled in this show. And shame for him to act like he was ok with it.

And to put a lot "Good Housekeeping" sticker on the show, that it was a cautionary tale about not smoking, oh, the deceit of it. Grrr Grrr grrr!!!!

You know, I probably sound as insane as I do because I haven't watched regular TV in so many years I just haven't realised that this has become normal programming.

~ Mechtild

Heeeee... I really must be the most forgiving Elwood fan on the planet, because I think he looks awesome. Mind, I wouldn't want him to adopt it as his default look (kitty hair is still my favorite), and if he has also shaved his eyebrows, as some say, I'm truly desperate for them to grow back in. But, honestly, there is very little he has ever done to himself that I either didn't like or couldn't warm up to. If he wants to keep this look for a bit, it's okay by me. :)

Gets in line behind Bunnie as the second most forgiving Elwood fan on the planet.

I kinda like the shaved look. He doesn't look like a little boy anymore! And my husband says he'll be "really impressed" if Elijah can pull off a character like that!

Regarding the Punk'd thing, it's been very interesting to see the wide variety of reactions. People have called him "infantile", a "bitch" :confused:, and "cute," (which weirdly sets my teeth on edge most of all.) One woman claimed that she could no longer be a fan because he wasn't "eco-aware" using a paper cup, plastic shopping bag, and caving to "peer pressure" to throw trash in a recycling bin! Talk about being demanding of your celebrities! :rolleyes:

I think Elijah handled himself well after he got over the initial shock. By the time the cop had extracted repeated promises that Lij would never smoke in a car again, he was beginning to look and act more like himself. By the time he notices a camera in his face, he even manages to look like the mature professional we know him to be, that muscle flexing in his cheek revealing his irritation at the intrusion.

I hope you'll all forgive me for saying this, but we sound like a bunch of mother hens here! Young men play pranks on each other. I have a son; he's on the small side, quiet, reserved, sweet, and a good brother to his younger sister. But get him with his buddies, and there'll be teasing to one degree or the other. I think Elijah is used to pranks because it's what young men do, and he has an older brother. Yes this one was unusually frightening, but he took it with good humor in the end, and I can't fault him for that one bit.

Elijah is not Frodo (who, by the way, was known as "the terror of Buckland"), and I don't need/want him to be. I suspect that he's a lot more resillient than we've given him credit for. I think there was some anger at his friends at revelation that it had all been a prank, but it seems to me it's only women who hold grudges. And however "puppyish" (my husband's word) Elijah might seem, I suspect he relishes the opportunities to prove himself just another of the boys, that pretty face of his not withstanding. At the same time, I admire him for being deep enough to show his more sensitive side; I don't know many guys who'd admit that their friends almost got tears out of them!

honey! still opining

He did say during the press junket for GSH that he had never been in a fight
Thanks for settling that, Bunnie. No, the fight I was wondering about would not have been called a "scrap" but an actual beating. I'm pleased to learn that (at least publicly) such a thing never occurred. It's dreadful but these things do happen.

Young men play pranks on each other.
But those pranks are not televised to a mass viewing audience. No matter how embarrassing the situation, a normal prank is contained to the people immediately upon the spot. His whole life, Elijah will never be able to recast or take back any of this, because they caught his fear and confusion on film and can play it back for all eternity. For someone who has struggled with the wimp image and struggled hard to reset it after LOTR, this may well cement it in the minds of the public and color his opportunities for future roles; we've had some harsh takes on his behavior in this forum of die-hard fans! Normal social pranking just doesn't compare to this.

Gets in line behind Bunnie as the second most forgiving Elwood fan on the planet.
Gets completely out of line and hides until he has more hair on his head. Shaved eyebrows? *goes off to cry*

Lots of things in life are very contradictory, IMHO
Mechtild:
But, come on, he can't be both, not deeply: the child actor who never had to grow up and never learned to take it, so shepherded and catered to was he as a young performer, and the young supporter of his family, his father having left them, taking out the garbage, walking the dog, and making do on a small allowance

I don't agree. You can be both, deeply.
But I wouldn't have put it that way, anyway--that being watched after implies you never grew up or never learned to take it. It might mean he expected he was used to being loved and protected, but that doesn't mean that there weren't OTHER pressures and burdens. YOu can have both, and being protected and loved in one quarter doesnnot mean one can't grow and mature. Probably there were lots of pressures in his life, and yet his family was a sanctuary of protection and love. And maybe they were both. I do think many conditions co-exist. And I think people can be very mature in one area, and yet behind in others.

But having said that, as I rambled last night I expressed only part of what has to be going on.
Mechtild:
In a way, I think that the way EW is teased and made the recipient of practical jokes is just the more socially acceptable form of what happened in that film: male friends and peers who are supposed to be above actual fighting (like low-class persons) still are able to do their alpha male/pack behaviour but without resorting to actual face-smashing


I also was thinking this after I posted--glad you beat me to it.

But I don't agree with you that his response in the end could be blamed--that about taking it and being a good sport. I think that is such a balance -- likely in life he has chosen to have what is the graceful response. You accept when you are being made fun of without lowering yourself to some sort of ugly push and shove (verbally or otherwise) defensive-sounding stance. It's good in most situations in that you actually look more mature than your mates (it doesn't have to be i'm your whipped puppy but happy about it look). In some cases it is likely better to tell someone off. But we have witnessed spontaneous situations....where it's on camera and all for the fun. I do wonder if later that night elijah wished he had said somethng differently or would have words with his friends. Who has time to think in the moment after such an emotional incident? don't know. some people are more spontaneous than others...some take time to turn things over and then think of what they might have said. There's plus and minuses with both those traits.
But I do think lots can be going on at once.

Mechtild: (in regard to my comment about the actor on punk'd who got really mad)
Good for whoever that was. Good that he can feel indignant and know that he felt indignant and recognize that he was right to feel indignant.

LOL--actually the situation was very different. He got very angry while he was being punk'd--but it was HIS property being destroyed--and he was yelling at someone half his size. When he learned he was being punk'd he reverted to the good sport routine.

The other thing is that (though I haven't seen it)-wasn't Elijah being guilt-tripped?? To be made to feel you did something hurtful to someone else would bring out more distress in some people (like Elijah?), than to see your property get messed with.

Bunnie:
It might help to remember that he made about a million dollars (total, pre-tax, with no residuals) for LOTR. Sure, he probably makes a decent living, and no doubt makes at a con almost as much as my husband earns in an entire year of back-breaking work (now, there's food for thought), but I doubt that he is "rich." He lives fairly modestly, and doesn't throw money around on trivial stuff.

I've thought about this, after all the discussion last year about the money the actors made at the con. Of course I'm just speculating....but I also don't think Elijah is extremely rich. He has chosen to do independent movies in the last few years--and very few of them at that. The pay scale SAG allows is far lower for indies...and the shooting time is much shorter (3-6 weeks)...so while we would all think it's fairly good as a weekly wage...one or two movies aren't likely to pay your bills for a year (though I know there are different levels of indies, so pay scales differ). With lots of these small movies, it's in the residuals that the actor makes the real money...and I can't see that happening for EII or GSH. Okay, I've thought about all of that in more depth than I should, but basically I figure he supports his mother, who likely acted as his manager growing up--and the big money likely comes in residuals from lotrs, plus maybe from some of his older movies. I'm just guessing. Guessing guessing guessing. But I've seen other actors who have to budget, who you wouldn't expect. We just don't know...and it's way too easy for us to have assumptions regarding money...that just may or may not be true.

Sorry, Alyon, didn't mean to sound like I was bashing or undercutting your comments, or the reasoning and real-life film biz experience that suported them. :k

I don't agree. You can be both, deeply.

Yeah, he can be/we can be both. Just having a fit and being whiney. :rolleyes:

But those pranks are not televised to a mass viewing audience. No matter how embarrassing the situation, a normal prank is contained to the people immediately upon the spot. His whole life, Elijah will never be able to recast or take back any of this, because they caught his fear and confusion on film and can play it back for all eternity. For someone who has struggled with the wimp image and struggled hard to reset it after LOTR, this may well cement it in the minds of the public and color his opportunities for future roles; we've had some harsh takes on his behavior in this forum of die-hard fans! Normal social pranking just doesn't compare to this.
Hard words to hear, Mariole, but they sound about right. Someone on my f-list who is a teacher of 6th graders said that she asked to her class who they might like to see play the characters in the story they were reading that day. One girl tentatively put up her hand and suggested for the story's hero, "Elijah Wood." No, no! A small chorus protested. He was a wimp and looked like a girl! The teacher (a devoted Frodo and EW fan) hid her personal feelings, but secretly patted the girl on the head. That was over a month ago.

Shows like this don't help, especially since mostly kids watch them. (Do grown-ups watch Punk'd unless their favourite actors are on it?)

So what if kids watch such shows? Who cares about their opinions? In a couple of years they'll be part of the main mass of movie-goers and DVD-buyers.

(Or however films are watched at home by then.)

I'd rather he not have it underscored, all the "wimp" and "girl" stuff. I don't care personally, but I agree, it is not good for his career unless he wants to do a revival of Pee Wee Herman's old TV show (at which EW would probably be extremely good, actually; he sure knows how to read kids a cat story :p).

~ Mechtild

I think the eyebrows are still there.

(From justjared which I'm not sure is PG enough for here)

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f153/sneakingraptor/elijah-wood-bald.jpg

On the other points, I'm sure he's not as rich as we might think but I think he must be doing OK. I suspect that him (or him and his mother) probably invested quite a bit of his childhood earnings in the past. So he might not have that much money to throw around on a day to day basis (compared to some, not us!) but from a long term point of view, he's probably not going to be one of those actors who ends up really, really broke.

Whoa! Thank you, Sneaking! He looks amazing! The weight loss, the facial hair, the shaved head all go to make him look really really amazing! But I wanna see a picture with the glasses off!

One last thought about Punk'd from me. I find it interesting the kinds of things people will put Elijah or Frodo (who usually has big blue eyes, and dark locks) through in fan fiction, horrible inhumane things. I can't tell you how many times I've started to read some piece of fan-fic, and then just shut my computer off cold out of disgust. I've learned to just not go there anymore. To me, writing those kinds of things is just the same as wishing them on someone. I guess we all have our lines in different places, don't we?

Nobody got hurt. If Elijah is anything at all like I hope he is, he's probably had a good laugh at himself since, learned a couple of lessons, and (given the photo above) is practicing tough expressions in the mirror every morning.* He's very young yet. He's mature in many ways, and a little soft around the edges in others. But I still have tremendous respect and affection for him.

*ETA: and forgiven his friends.

honey!

I find it interesting the kinds of things people will put Elijah or Frodo (who usually has big blue eyes, and dark locks) through in fan fiction, horrible inhumane things. I can't tell you how many times I've started to read some piece of fan-fic, and then just shut my computer off cold out of disgust. I've learned to just not go there anymore. To me, writing those kinds of things is just the same as wishing them on someone. I guess we all have our lines in different places, don't we?
Fictional characters suffering in stories and films can be enjoyed for sadistic thrills, I suppose. But most readers/viewers imaginatively identify with the character so that the suffering has meaning for them, and the emotions experienced in that identification can be transforming and cathartic.

This is not the case watching real people suffer, for most people.

I can watch Boromir get shot on the wide screen with half a dozen arrows and cry my eyes out. I enjoy it -- emotionally, aesthetically, and spirituality -- to enter into the drama of a great character suffereing and even dying, even though he suffers terribly.

But if I were to see a real man take half a dozen arrows, I wouldn't stand there thinking with pleasurable pathos, "Oh, isn't he suffering meaningfully? Isn't he noble? *sniffle* I hope I'm half that brave when I get shot full of arrows! And I hope a noble friend will come and cradle my head and murmur hopeful things like that to me when I die, like that nice policeman who has just shown up. Oh, I'm so glad I didn't miss getting to see this, it's so moving!"

It's enjoyable, even powerfully so, in a transforming and cathartic way, to watch and identify with characters who suffer in stories and films. It's funny and enjoyable to watch characters made to endure all sorts of ridiculous disasters in comedies, even as I identify with the characters. But it is not enjoyable to watch suffering and disaster befall real people.

Maybe it's just me, but I don't respond to fiction and real life the same way.

~ Mechtild

P.S. If anyone could look good with his head shaved, EW's the one. He's got a really nicely-shaped skull. :cool:

Addenundum to Honey:

I may have overstated your argument. Are you talking about Frodo (or any other character) being made to suffer gratuitiously? In that case, I see exactly what you mean. It's profoundly moving to "watch" with Sam, as he comes upon Frodo beaten and bound in the tower of Cirith Ungol. But no reader thinks Tolkien has written that scene for the pleasure of seeing Frodo beaten and bound.

I am guessing what you are responding to is the the sense in some fics that Frodo is being made to suffer for the sheer pleasure of watching him suffer -- seeing how he responds.

That doesn't just happen in fic, though, characters being made to suffer just for the fun of watching them respond. It happens in "real" fiction. It happens in films and TV shows a lot.

It's sinking yet lower, in my opinion, to make a real person suffer just for the fun of watching him or her respond to it.

Children are punished for torturing bugs or cutting worms in half to watch them wriggle. Why is it ok for adults to do it on television?

Addenundum to Honey:

I may have overstated your argument. Are you talking about Frodo (or any other character) being made to suffer gratuitiously? In that case, I see exactly what you mean. It's profoundly moving to "watch" with Sam, as he comes upon Frodo beaten and bound in the tower of Cirith Ungol. But no reader thinks Tolkien has written that scene for the pleasure of seeing Frodo beaten and bound.

Yes, that's exactly what I mean.

That doesn't just happen in fic, though, characters being made to suffer just for the fun of watching them respond. It happens in "real" fiction. It happens in films and TV shows a lot.

And those books, shows and movies are generally called "gratuitous" and "exploitive" by anyone whose opinion I value.

It's sinking yet lower, in my opinion, to make a real person suffer just for the fun of watching him or her respond to it.

I'll agree that Punk'd takes their "pranks" too far, and I don't plan to watch it again. But it was all special effects. Elijah was the one getting punk'd so of course he was the only one not "in" on the "joke." And he does seem to have taken it rather hard, but then to have recovered with his usual good humor and grace.

I hardly class Punk'd in with movies like Hostel or Saw, neither of which I've seen, nor do I care to. Talk about being afraid for the next generation! Movies like that make me afraid for all of us!

honey!

Oh thanks sneaking for the photo. I love the look. Ya never know what he'll do next.:D:D But surely this means wigging for the Iggy role.:confused:
HMMMM........... His whole life, Elijah will never be able to recast or take back any of this, because they caught his fear and confusion on film and can play it back for all eternity. For someone who has struggled with the wimp image and struggled hard to reset it after LOTR, this may well cement it in the minds of the public and color his opportunities for future rolesnot my take on it.........I don't believe that Elijah gives any thought as to what other people think. I certainly don't think he chose his post LOTR roles to bolster his "wimp" image. I suspect that he could have gone mainstream but chooses to be a character actor. I know he is no longer "popular" with the school age kids (not an audience he is soliciting IMVHO) but then many of them thought Frodo was a wimp too. FRODO a wimp??????? Don't get me started......At 25 years I think he has a long character actor career. Well I hope.. :z: :z:

saile

and the big money likely comes in residuals from lotrs, plus maybe from some of his older movies. I may be mistaken, but I think Elijah said on the Howard Stern show that he doesn't get any sort of residuals for LOTR. Not for tv showings, not for sales of DVDs, nada. I remember being completely incensed. But then again, I may have misinterpreted.


Pssst... Saile, it wasn't me (for a change), it was Sneaking. :) And thank you, Sneaking, for posting that here! At least in this pic, he does seem to still have his eyebrows (and quite a bit of facial hair), which he may or may not shave at a later point. But I really like how he looks, if only because it's so different! I am so much more interested in this film now, if that's possible!

At 25 years I think he has a long character actor career. Well I hope.. :z: :z:

saile

That's what I think too. He's got as good a chance as anybody of managing to do that. But it will mean more smaller roles, less media coverage etc. To end up a "name" character in Hollywood is in someways the best place to be: less fame hassles, more interesting films and parts, more respect and a longer career. The downside: no 10 million film deals.

However, somebody at oscarwatch went to a test screening of Bobby and they didn't like it ("awful"). They don't say anything about Elijah at all. Only one opinion and from a test screening (e.g. they might well end up with a radically different cut). However... not a good sign. Although, that they actually are test screening it this early kind of indicates that they aren't worried about bad word getting out (maybe the Weinstein's want some re-shoots and want to know where the problems are).

I know he is no longer "popular" with the school age kids (not an audience he is soliciting IMVHO) but then many of them thought Frodo was a wimp too.

I wouldn't say that. I myself am practically still..school age (what's considered school aged around here anyway) and my brother (who is 15) likes Elijah as an actor too which I find weird because he's the kind of person who enjoys things like Saw and Punk'd. And I'm afraid to say that I quite liked the Punk'd episode. Maybe that's because I'm young and rotten as we all :p But I have a different perspective on it. I know Elijah must have felt really bad at that point, but it's really not that awful *hides from flying tomatoes* I don't know anyone who thought Elijah was any wimpier because of that episode, I think his reaction was quite normal. I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say here.. Maybe that people of different ages see things differently, I don't know.. So I'm just gonna shut up now...

Bohemian, I love your icon. Especially to go with your post with lines like, *hides from flying tomatoes* and "So I'm just gonna shut up now...." You have a good sense of humour, too. I should take a page out of your book! :D

~ Mechtild

:eek: Over in LJ land, patsie to be exact...new hi-res pictures of the head with no hair! There's also a link from Elijah Wood Now.

Wow, actually, I like it! He looks great and believable in the role if only to judge that by these pictures.

Go, Lij! :cool:

:( There's a cigarette in practically each one though. Here's one of the pics...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v638/Shelbyshire/2.jpg

Bunnie:
I may be mistaken, but I think Elijah said on the Howard Stern show that he doesn't get any sort of residuals for LOTR. Not for tv showings, not for sales of DVDs, nada. I remember being completely incensed. But then again, I may have misinterpreted.

Really!!??? Oh, my...then IMO there is nothing to complain about in regards to those guys augmenting income with those ORC and ELF appearances. NOt that I thought there was before.


Thanks for posting that picture, Sneaking.. :) He looks pretty good!
Mechtild:
Sorry, Alyon, didn't mean to sound like I was bashing or undercutting your comments, or the reasoning

No worries, Mechtild. I didn't take it that way at all. I've enjoyed your comments.

Honey said boys are always playing pranks. Boys are just bad. ;) Maybe that's all there is to it. :k ;)

Great pic, Shelbyshire! Thanks for posting that pic.



Really!!??? Oh, my...then IMO there is nothing to complain about in regards to those guys augmenting income with those ORC and ELF appearances. NOt that I thought there was before.
Yes, that was what EW told Howard Stern in his interview during the NYC premiere of EEI. I listened to it, too. EW said that none of the LotR actors got any residuals of any sort. Not from the films or any of the related products. Howard and his co-interviewer were stunned, joking then that actors got more from the one episode of a hit TV show, or a popular commercial, than anyone got from acting in LotR.

Mechtild:
Yes, that was what EW told Howard Stern in his interview during the NYC premiere of EEI. I listened to it, too. EW said that none of the LotR actors got any residuals of any sort. Not from the films or any of the related products. Howard and his co-interviewer were stunned, joking then that actors got more from the one episode of a hit TV show, or a popular commercial, than anyone got from acting in LotR.

I'm stunned, too! That seems so unfair, given the amount of revenue that movie made. Oh, my :eek: -- Again!!

Well, that puts a new light on Sean writing his book to admittedly make money while the iron was hot. What seemed a little bit like a crass statement before, now rings of some practicality.

That also brings to mind that Sean said that Lotrs was not a union movie. I always wondered about that...

And it reminds me (I say sheepishly) that I whined and whined for someone to get me the Howard Stern interview--and it was either you, Mechtild, or Honey who did get it for me...and I was finally able to download it...but then I had computer problems and couldn't play it...and then I forgot to listen to it :o

boys are bad..and I'm bad :rolleyes: ;)

I'm afraid to say that I quite liked the Punk'd episode. Maybe that's because I'm young and rotten as we all :p But I have a different perspective on it. I know Elijah must have felt really bad at that point, but it's really not that awful *hides from flying tomatoes* I don't know anyone who thought Elijah was any wimpier because of that episode, I think his reaction was quite normal.
Bohemian, thank you so much for your fresh perspective on this. I suppose I'm just an old sourpuss after all! *hugs you*

All right, having seen the pictures, he looks way better now than he did the last time he shaved his head. I like the facial hair to put some texture on him; before, he just looked like a cue ball. Thanks, Sneaking and Shelbyshire, for the piccies! (Although I also want to see him without sunglasses.) Cheers, all.

My apologies if someone already posted this, but a poster at TORc, Nienor, just posted this copy of the negative review of "Bobby." Unfortunately she did not say where it came from or who wrote it.

I am wondering if this is the same bad review mentioned above?

There are SPOILERS, so I'll post it in white-on-white.

Halfway through "Bobby", Emilio Estevez's new film about the assassination of Robert "Bobby" Fitzgerald Kennedy, there is a scene in which Shia Lebouf and Brian Geraghty, playing student volunteers for RFK's campaign, go on their first acid trip courtesy of a wacked out hippie played by Ashton Kutcher. They shout at each other, laugh, get naked, hallucinate and generally act stupid. This scene epitomizes everything that is wrong with "Bobby". It is utterly random, pointless, badly scripted and not terribly well staged.

"Bobby" begins promisingly with the stenorous, presidential voice of Martin Sheen narrating a montage of clips of Bobby Kennedy and the times he lived in. Sadly, it's all downhill from there. Estevez spends the first 45 minutes or so introducing us to his milleu of characters. Diane (Lindsay Lohan) is marrying William (Elijah Wood), the brother of her boyfriend to keep him from going to Vietnam. Jose (Freddy Rodriguez) has tickets to see Drysdale's record-breaking Dodger game, but can't go because his racist boss (Christian Slater) is making him work a double shift. Miriam (Sharon Stone) works in the hotel salon and is married to Paul (William H. Macy), the hotel manager, who is having an affair with Heather Graham's switchboard operator. Virginia Fallon (Demi Moore) is a aging booze-hound singer who is performing at the Coconut Grove and who's husband (Emilio Estevez) can't stand her. John Casey (Anthony Hopkins) has been the doorman at the Ambassador since it opened and he has a fiery friendship with Nelson (Harry Belafonte). Joshua Jackson and Nick Cannon play the head of the student volunteers and of course the aforementioned stoners/hippies.

He has obviously modeled his film on the great ensembles of Robert Altman, but where Altman soars at creating memorable characters in fleeting moments, Estevez fails completely. There are far too many unecessary characters and subplots. Most of them are either only tangentially related Kennedy or have absolutley nothing to do with him at all. Perhaps Estevez was trying to capture a microcosm of the outside world inside the Ambassador, but instead he just comes up with shallow characterizations and stale cliches. Nothing in the script conveys the enormous turmoil, strife, violence that the world was going through in the late 60s or the great potential to effect change that Kennedy's candiacy held.

The only scenes that have any integrity and authenticy to them are those set in the kitchen with Freddy Rodriguez and Laurence Fishburne. These scenes hint at the racial tensions going on in the US, and Rodriguez's fantastic performance goes along way to filling in the blanks in the script.

Sharon Stone and Lindsay Lohan also bring depth and humanity to their severly underwritten roles. The other actors do not acquit themselves so well. The range from merely servicable (Hopkins, Fishburne, Macy, Belafonte) to one-note (Cannon, Jackson, Graham, Joy Bryant, Lebouf, Geraghty, Estevez) to ridiculous (Moore doing her best Neely O'Hara impression) to AWFUL (Kutcher).

The only time the film really reaches its potential is when Bobby finally arrives at the hotel. Estevez uses real news footage of the victory party and aftermath well. The assassination itself, a dialouge free montage with voiceover from a speech Kennedy gave on the state of violence in the country is moving, but that is completely due to the integrity of Kennedy's words and the majesty of his voice. Bobby deserved a much better film than this.

~ Mechtild

P.S. I was scrolling back, looking for the reference for the bad review of Bobby (found the link from Achila for the Esquire article, but that wasn't it), and saw that I had missed a very nice comment.

I've been thinking about this, and it must be quite difficult for him accumulate experience to work on this. As a kid, instead of being in school and having to stand up for himself regularly, he was around adults on film sets who would naturally want to look out for him. At 18 he goes to New Zealand, where he is the youngest and smallest of a closed comunity, and as everyones' darling will have the others naturally taking a protective role over him.

From the way he looks, his soft voice, and his non-aggressive personality, it is almost as if like Paddington, he comes with a label saying 'please look after this bear'.
That was already quoted from your post earlier, but it's so ... "awwwww...."


:k

~ Mechtild

*C4 stumbles into The Faculty Lounge still in shock from "Lost"* :eek:

Mechtild, that review was originally posted at Oscarwatch. :)

The review does say (and it's only one person's opinion) that Ashton Kutcher is AWFUL so maybe there is some justice in this world. :p

C4

The review does say (and it's only one person's opinion) that Ashton Kutcher is
Quote:
AWFUL
so maybe there is some justice in this world.

Haw! Ceefour, you deserve a smooch. :k

But, boy, that sure was negative!

~ Mechtild

Just unlurking for a mo' to thank all you Faculty researchers, who so bravely went forth and plunged into the "Punk'd" episode in question, and posted such excellent reviews and analysis!

Because I gotta say, it's a style of 'comedy' that has never appealed to me, so now I don't have to watch it (whew!). (Back in the last millenium, I hated 'I Love Lucy' and 'Candid Camera'. Just recently I tried to read the classic 'Don Quixote' - and I found the constant humiliation too much to take, and bailed.)

And an even more heartfelt thanks to Sneaking and Shelbyshire for the pictures of the One Shaved Lad - I'm surprised, but the look is quite pleasing to me. Really emphasises the planes of his face and jawline, in a good way.

chattegrise

I found this slumming on A&F's boxie this morning:

Young HollyWOOD #4 (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr7eLVfuYpM&search=elijah%20wood%3Cbr%20/%3E)

Don't know how recent that is. And they may be stretching things a mite, calling EII a "box office hit", but it's nice to hear appreciation for TOL from other quarters.

h

I just looked up the numbers for EII, because I was curious, and found this:

Domestic: $1,712,337
+ Foreign: $985,593
= Worldwide: $2,697,930

Its widest release was 110 theatres. Now, imagine how well it might have done if they'd only seen fit to actually promote it. :rolleyes:

Not bitter. Nope, not me.

Just for comparison, here's GSH:

Domestic: $346,830
+ Foreign: $2,807,516
= Worldwide: $3,154,346

I'm not sure if I had a point with all that, but I thought it was interesting. :)

Wow! I'm amazed. GSH topped EII at the box-office!

I saw EII three or four times at various theaters near home. The theater was full every time, and at least once I got the impression that some of the people around me had seen it once, and were bringing friends to see it. It should have done a LOT better at the box office.

h!

I saw EII three or four times at various theaters near home. The theater was full every time, and at least once I got the impression that some of the people around me had seen it once, and were bringing friends to see it. It should have done a LOT better at the box office.
EII never played my smallish city at all. I am not sure it even played the Twin Cities, which is big: together, including their suburbs, they have millions of people as well as half a dozen colleges and universites, plus vocationally-oriented schools. I kept looking on the internet theatre directories to see if it would open at a theatre down there in the fall, in order to drive down and see it. But I stopped looking when I got to see it in Indianapolis when there for the LotR Museum exhibit. Maybe it came there later, after it had finished its run in other cities, but that does not seem likely.

If what you saw at your theatres held true here, or in Minneapolis/St. Paul, then EII really could have done a lot better, box office-wise.

Wow! I'm amazed. GSH topped EII at the box-office!


It's not that surprising. Whilst GSH didn't get a really wide release in the UK or do very well, it did get wide enough to make it into the weekly top ten box office charts (I think it was at least number 5 at one point, maybe even a little higher) and definitely wider than EII got anywhere.

IMDB have GSH down as getting £1,116,324 in the UK. Which, using todays rates, is about $2,150,000. The (very) rough rule of thumb is that you multiple the UK box office by 4 to get a sort of equivalent to the US box office, so that would be $8,600,000. Meaningless numbers (especially since the localised UK topic of the film means that no direct comparison can really be made) but maybe gives a feel for how much better GS(H) did in the UK than either of the two films did anywhere else and how much that is skewing the figures.

Edit: I think I messed up my conversion factor. I think the 4 multiplier might for pounds to dollars and not after converting to dollars as I did it. However, the point is the same...

ETA: Simulposted with sneaking...
----------

I think part of the answer is in the comparison of domestic and foreign box-office. EII did better in the U.S., but GSH did better in the foreign - GSH did enough better in the foreign box-office to come out the overall winner. But, yeah, if EII would have been promoted :rolleyes: .

Since we kept EII at our little "indie" theater in Omaha for 3 weeks, I can't imagine that it wouldn't have shown in the Twin Cities somewhere, sometime. It was in Indianapolis at the same time it was in Omaha. But it was one of those things you had to be looking for in order to find (meaning, no one was going to be looking through the movie ads and say, "Oh this looks good..."). I went to the first showing in Omaha, and the theater was almost full. Since there hadn't been a chance for word-of-mouth, and because the audience seemed to know when some of the jokes were coming ;) , I'm suspecting there were a lot of book-readers there who'd picked up on the name of the movie in the teeny tiny listing it got. But if you hadn't read the book (or been waiting for an Elijah Wood movie), it definitely would have been below the radar.

I can't imagine that it wouldn't have shown in the Twin Cities somewhere, sometime. It was in Indianapolis at the same time it was in Omaha. But it was one of those things you had to be looking for in order to find (meaning, no one was going to be looking through the movie ads and say, "Oh this looks good...").
Oh, I know about that. But I really did look for EEI in the listings. I looked on its own website, too, where it listed theatres that would or might be showing it. I did the same thing, cruising GSH sites and the newspapers and movie sites for the Twin Cities to go see that film, too. It, too, never played tthe Twin Cities. I am sure I would not have missed seeing the notice, since I was really looking. In the online newspapers and movie directories, they listed all the "arty" movie theatres and independent houses, not just the multiplexes.

Oh, sorry. I hadn't meant to tie the note on the Twin Cities together with the "had to be looking for it" comment, where I was really referring to Omaha. I didn't even realize I'd put them in the same paragraph. I wasn't saying you hadn't been watching for it - I think it's very possible it came to the Twin Cities later, after you'd stopped watching for it, but it's just that it's hard for me to imagine that it never showed up there, although it's certainly possible. I wouldn't be surprised if GSH didn't, because it only played in a few places.

Hi everyone! I'm a little behind, just made myself watch Elijah get punk'd. I hated seeing him so distressed, but I didn't once think badly of him for anything he said or did. I think Skater girl deserves a KD quote-of-the -week cake for this:



From the way he looks, his soft voice, and his non-aggressive personality, it is almost as if like Paddington, he comes with a label saying 'please look after this bear'.

So true! :k

I think it's very possible it came to the Twin Cities later, after you'd stopped watching for it, but it's just that it's hard for me to imagine that it never showed up there (...)

I'll bet you are right. :confused: :(

~ Mechtild

In Seattle--with tons of arthouse theaters--and also a pretty good reading audience (book fans)--EII only played in one, tiny, sort of out of the way, theater for two (or was it three) weeks. And I never saw it advertised at another theater (though I can't say I was going to tons of movies around that time--my daughter says she can't remember seeing a trailer for it in other theaters, and she is always going to indie movies). It wasn't in a Landmark cinema--so maybe that's why--since a lot of the arthouse theaters around here are Landmark cinemas. I just think it got a lousy distribution deal. And I actually saw posters for GSH on the walls of buildings along my bus route. It got heavier promotion, locally, I think.

I wonder if EII will get a TV deal in the near future?

KD statistics...a little Off Topic... Currently Active Users: 184 (4 members and 180 guests)
Most users ever online was 387, Today at 09:42 AM.What was going on this morning? It seems most were viewing in The Asylum. I did find a link to a really cool satellite map and managed to zoom in enough to see the main roads around my neighborhood. The map link was posted in reference to the recent earthquake in the South Pacific. Just curious...

Hi all -- been out of commission a few days, taking care of Mom. You guys sure have been talkative in my absence!

I have to admit that I didn't watch Punk'd (because I was at home in NYC), and had thought that I possibly wouldn't anyway, but judging from what you've been saying, those seem like pretty normal reactions to me. Without belaboring this too much more, wouldn't we all just love to go back and have a "do over" in certain situations of our lives, things we think to say in the heat of battle after the fact, etc. I would bet that in watching that, Elijah probably said to himself, "S***, why didn't I say yadda yadda instead?" etc. And considering his very public face and the need to be careful at times, it sounds like he handled himself fairly gracefully. Do I like that this show is on? Do I like that they dinged someone I love? No and No. Resoundingly. But all things taken into account, it could've been much worse.

Thanks for the pics from Day Zero, whoever posted them. Obviously he starts out at some point with hair, because I've seen pics of him onset with hair too, that someone posted somewhere. Personally, I think Lij looks totally awesome. With his "Iggy weight loss" and the last few years of maturity, his features really pop. Nice shaped head. Yes, preciousss. ;)

It's good to see you back, Achila. I hope your mom benefitted from your presence.

Personally, I think Lij looks totally awesome. With his "Iggy weight loss" and the last few years of maturity, his features really pop.
That is a very cool expression. I have never heard "pop" used that way before but it's immediately vivid, what you mean.

*writes that down in list of cool turns of phrase*

~ Mechtild

It's good to see you back, Achila. I hope your mom benefitted from your presence.

Thanks, Mech -- she had hand surgery, for carpel tunnel syndrome -- all those years of being a secretary. And at 80, they don't bounce back as quickly. Giving up my computer for a few days was the least I could do (but it was soooo hard!).

That is a very cool expression. I have never heard "pop" used that way before but it's immediately vivid, what you mean.

I think that comes from all the designer shows on the Discovery Channel and TLC that I used to watch! :D

I have to admit that I didn't watch Punk'd (because I was at home in NYC), and had thought that I possibly wouldn't anyway, but judging from what you've been saying, those seem like pretty normal reactions to me. Without belaboring this too much more, wouldn't we all just love to go back and have a "do over" in certain situations of our lives, things we think to say in the heat of battle after the fact, etc. I would bet that in watching that, Elijah probably said to himself, "S***, why didn't I say yadda yadda instead?" etc. And considering his very public face and the need to be careful at times, it sounds like he handled himself fairly gracefully. Do I like that this show is on? Do I like that they dinged someone I love? No and No. Resoundingly. But all things taken into account, it could've been much worse.

I've wound around to many of the same conclusions as you, Achila, after watching it too many times to admit to :o . I guess that means you didn't miss much, doesn't it? ;)

There were a couple of cringe-worthy moments in Elijah's reactions to things, but I know I have my share of moments that I'd love to take/steal/buy back. I'm very grateful that there wasn't a camera trained on me for any of 'em. (Right? You all aren't planning to blackmail me or anything? ;) )

Somebody said that they hoped Elijah would rethink spending anymore time with his "friend" Ray, but I think that Ray has just as much reason to rethink his friendship with Elijah! And I'll bet they both do what friends do; laugh about it, make little unspoken adjustments in their friendship, and forgive each other.

In the end, Elijah proved himself to be very human, but none of the faults revealed were a "kick the dog"* moment for me. (*Another fine turn of phrase from Achila! :k )

*sigh* I know I said I wasn't gonna comment on Punk'd again but Achila made me do it! [/whine]

honey!

Can I piggyback on Honey's quote of Achila? :p I've been here, just trying to read fast enough to keep up, but I haven't seen the Punk'd episode, either. From the comments here, I've come to the same conclusions. After I have a "Why didn't I...?" moment, I'm very glad that there aren't thousands of other people having "Why didn't she...?" moments. Along with everything else, I really don't think this is something that's going to follow Elijah for the rest of his life or affect his career. It's just a stupid TV show that kids watch for "fun." (I'm not saying that's a positive statement about our culture :( , but it's true.)

I'm much more unhappy about the reviews of Bobby - not the article about the difficulties making the movie, as my guess is they're not unusual, but the actual reviews. Wondering if EE is capable of juggling a multiple-story, many-character movie and doing it well, and thinking that maybe it would have been better to concentrate on one or two stories (including the one Elijah's in - just because it was the one that sparked the project, of course ;) ). I was also disappointed that one review mentioned Anthony Hopkins as one of the actors who just did a "serviceable" job -- he can be so good.

The Punk'd episode did have one effect - this thread is getting close to 500 posts again, with a lot of the credit going to that discussion. ;)

I'm much more unhappy about the reviews of Bobby - not the article about the difficulties making the movie, as my guess is they're not unusual, but the actual reviews. Wondering if EE is capable of juggling a multiple-story, many-character movie and doing it well, and thinking that maybe it would have been better to concentrate on one or two stories (including the one Elijah's in - just because it was the one that sparked the project, of course ;) ). I was also disappointed that one review mentioned Anthony Hopkins as one of the actors who just did a "serviceable" job -- he can be so good.
No, I'm not either, and I'm especially unhappy over the idea that now, everyone on the internet who reads this at Oscarwatch (they're all snobs on there to begin with) will be running all over, spreading the word that the film's horrible. Of course, this' what a test screening is for, and it's better that they get a chance to work out bugs based on an actual audience's critique. However, also of course, this' still only one person's opinion.

Yep, Achila, you hit the nail on the head. I'd hate to think of what the camera could capture if it followed me around all day, especially when I was 25 years old. In fact, there was this one incident involving beer, mud and a lot of profanity in my twenties that has permanently excluded me from running for public office (there were a lot of witnesses, unfortunately).

And a do have a lot of sympathy for a small man. My husband has the luxury of being about 6 feet with forearms like Pop-eye the sailor. In fact, he kind of has this whole Beowulf thing going on that keeps people from messing with him. Not so TOL.

Sorry that Bobby seems to have lackluster press, at least at the start. I just want another really great movie. But think about this--remember how Antony Hopkins went through this great string of hits, and now his career has hit a downturn? Well, maybe TOL is just going through a dry spell. Let's hope one of his movies ends up garnishing him the attention and praise we all want him to have.

Sorry to add this so late but as usuallmy presence here is intermittent- but I just wanted to comment on something Mechtild said:
"You wanna run with the big boys, little 'Lij? Well, show us you can take it and we'll let you." So he puts up with this stuff -- even, I suspect, invites it -- so he can show he's one of the guys. He can pass the initiation. I know this is typical behaviour but it disappoints, even sickens me to see him falling in with it. It degrades him in my eyes and I lose respect for him. So I guess it's really about me: I don't like my illusions about him blown. It hurts.

In GSH, it sounds like he played this scenario out in the world of real fists and bashed faces, in the characters of Matt. The people EW hangs around with do the same sorts of things, but with psychological and emotional assault (presented as joking - all in fun, of course!), instead of of actual physical punishments. They don't gang-f*** him, they just 'mind-f***' him -- and he puts up with it.

But, unlike Matt did in Hooligans (if I remember the plot correctly), so far, EW hasn't had the maturity, or the strength, to say enough is enough and walk away from it. Perhaps he hasn't had enough, yet.


I understand what you are saying. But there's a gender thing going on here. I don't think EW even thinks about these pranks consciously, let alone analyses them like we do for mature or immature aspects ;) . Teen and young adult males do this razzing automatically; it's like puppies from the same litter, they race, challenge, chew each other, snap, (snarl on occasion) and then fall asleep together in a heap. :) To adult women its often imcomprehensible. But as a mum of young boys and a teacher of teens I think its just an automatic part of human male socialisation. EW is right smack in this age group so I don't see it as demeaning that he accepts being teased and challenged; I see it as him acting his age. Even adult males tied down with responsibilities indulge in this sort of challenging behaviour, its just less frequent and usually more toned down.

Honey, another mum with young males in the house (hail, and well met) said the same thing I know. ( *waves at honey* :) )I just wanted to say it again because Mechtild's sense of loss touched me and I'm hoping to cheer her up! He's normal. Being a dork is part of youth. He can be a "wise spirit" as so many others have pointed out and as has been discussed on this thread many times before, but fundamentally he's still a young, single guy and behaves a lot of the time exactly as every other young not-yet-tied-down-with-responsibility man does. Part of what makes men so attractive to me is exactly this exasperating element of incomprehension. ;) And really, I find it startling how many times EW does NOT act his age and DOES come out, and in public what's more, with comments that show a depth of thought and feeling that does him credit.

Having said that: I hate Punked and think it goes way over the line of acceptable razzing. But what can he do with a camera bearing down on him but grin and bear it???

* wishes Ashton Kucher would get a life and a real job* :mad:

Thank you, Prim, for taking the time to explain all that. You are right. I am not the mother of boys (I have a girl, a "tomboy,"), and cats, not dogs. Neither cats nor my daughter are big on pack behaviour.

I felt that what EW did running the gauntlet of the guys in New Zealand was normal and fine. I enjoyed it with him, watching the documentaries. I thought, though, at twenty-five he would have got past that. Maybe men never do, or they wouldn't enjoy hanging out in pubs and spending weekends in fishing shacks and deer stands mostly eating, drinking, joking and telling tales.

If Elijah's friend Ray had orchestrated this same stunt just for a group of Elijah's friends, I would have thought it was a scream, seriously, as long as they cleaned up the mess they made afterwards and soothed any alarmed neightbors. But, as something manufactured solely to provide entertainment to strangers, I hated it.

~ Mechtild

If Elijah's friend Ray had orchestrated this same stunt just for a group of Elijah's friends, I would have thought it was a scream, seriously, as long as they cleaned up the mess they made afterwards and soothed any alarmed neightbors. But, as something manufactured solely to provide entertainment to strangers, I hated it.

~ Mechtild

Did Ray really orchestrate it? Or did they decide that they were going to Punk Elijah (maybe during Bobby) and then go looking for a volunteer to help out. The latter sounds more likely to me. Some of the stunts they pull can be much nastier (e.g. much more personal, relating to the victims posessions, house, family, pets etc.). Maybe Ray didn't want to do something like that but thought this kind of thing would be funny (and that Elijah would find it funny - and how do we know that he didn't, even if just in retrospect once he'd calmed down. He probably enjoyed paying Ray back at some point).

We are wasting too much time considering what is, when it comes down to it, just an inane show. Drastic haircuts and considering what possible plot could require such a drastic haircut and a fake tattoo is probably more interesting. ;) Anybody of Elijah's build getting an in your face, not to mention flowery, tattoo like that before joining the army would be asking to get bullied and beaten up. The only thing I can think of is some kind of defiance thing or may trying to get kicked out for some reason but basically it's very odd.

Anybody of Elijah's build getting an in your face, not to mention flowery, tattoo like that before joining the army would be asking to get bullied and beaten up. The only thing I can think of is some kind of defiance thing or may trying to get kicked out for some reason but basically it's very odd.
Except that it's supposed to be 2011, so perhaps that will be quite manly 5 years from now! You never know.

Did Ray really orchestrate it?
O.K., "cooperated." :cool:

~ Mechtild

Love your comment Prim... And really, I find it startling how many times EW does NOT act his age and DOES come out, and in public what's more, with comments that show a depth of thought and feeling that does him credit. I so agree.
I, actually upon reviewing the Punk'd episode again, really liked his way of expressing himself. Not macho for sure but to identify and for him to say --(paraphrased) hey I'm feeling really helpless ((talk about brave!!!!)) and need your help -----.
I'm impressed. If I were a psychologist I'd say this guy has good sense and Good self esteem.
And fortunately (from my point of view).....no NEED to cater to ANYONE's ILLUSIONS. Friends and family matter to him. He'll take some ####***** from them ...as we all do from those we love. I consider myself lucky just to witness this rather interesting talented actor share more of his life than I have any right to expect. And no illusions. He's merely human.

saile

If I were a psychologist I'd say this guy has good sense and Good self esteem.
And fortunately (from my point of view).....no NEED to cater to ANYONE's ILLUSIONS.
Reminds me of Sean A's remark that Elijah's "comfortable in his own skin." To me that says his self-esteem is healthy enough that he doesn't have the unhealthy self-centeredness of wondering how he's coming across to other people. One of the things that's kept him sane over the years, IMHO; he was so young when he had to shrug off negative reviews without them affecting his sense of self.

(And, if it helps, remember that 33-year-old Frodo basically hid in the study leaving 19-year-old Merry to deal with Lobelia. Nobody's perfect.)

from sneaking:
Anybody of Elijah's build getting an in your face, not to mention flowery, tattoo like that before joining the army would be asking to get bullied and beaten up. The only thing I can think of is some kind of defiance thing or may trying to get kicked out for some reason but basically it's very odd.
Do we know that the character got the tatoo after he was drafted? "Joining the army" wasn't something he'd planned to do. Or was there something about it that I missed?

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

BTW, Shelbyshire, regarding the "most users ever online": I believe CofE was down, which means a lot of people were coming here to see what was happening. It still seems to be having some problems, actually.

Drastic haircuts and considering what possible plot could require such a drastic haircut and a fake tattoo is probably more interesting. ;) Anybody of Elijah's build getting an in your face, not to mention flowery, tattoo like that before joining the army would be asking to get bullied and beaten up. The only thing I can think of is some kind of defiance thing or may trying to get kicked out for some reason but basically it's very odd.

I've been puzzling over the head-shaven-tattooed thing too. I'm thinking that might be the sort of extreme thing certain personality types might do when faced with the possibility of their violent demise. Maybe it's something Eljah's character does out of shock at being drafted. I think I read a few weeks ago that the story is what these friends go through in the weeks leading up to their "shipping out," so I don't think we'll see him in boot-camp. And that one pic we saw last week seemed to show him at some sort of protest, perhaps against the draft.

Is the tattoo really flowery? It looked rather thorny to me, but I haven't seen a picture of the whole thing. Someone said it was a rose, but there are not always roses where there are thorns.

Honey, another mum with young males in the house (hail, and well met) said the same thing I know. ( *waves at honey* )
Hi Prim! I only have one son and a daughter. But the antics that my son and his friends used to get up to amused me greatly since I never had brothers, and was very shy around boys as a teenager.

My kids are both living away from home now; my son is engaged, and my daughter is at college. But they still come home every Friday for a meal with us. My husband has this amusing habit of showing them anything that we've taped with Elijah in it, so we all watched Punk'd together last night. The three of us females ended up laughing throughout, and my son was the one saying "Oh!...Poor guy!...He looks so scared!" all between his own laughter! :D

Simulposting with you TG! :)

h!

We’ve been talking recently about Elijah’s rather wimp like behaviour on Punk’d, and I just got a small taste of what he must have felt like. A women backing out of a car park space stopped as if she had seen me, and then proceeded to carry on moving as I drove past her. She wasn’t really looking and obviously got a shock when she finally saw me flying past, but she wasn’t actually close to colliding with me. I parked up a couple of aisles on and then realised she had followed me round, got out of her car and was storming over to open my driver’s door. I only just got the lock down in time, and my heart was thumping so hard. I am 5 foot 8, well built and work out, and she was just small woman, but it was really, really scary being faced with someone reacting so irrationally. There was no way I would have got out of the car, and fortunately she just yelled a lot, then gave up and went away when I reminded her that she obviously hadn't been looking.
No fires, no damage, no police, no guilt – and it still took 10 minutes before I stopped shaking. I sure hope someone gets Ashton Kutcher good and proper one day, though it probably won't be easy as he'll no doubt be expecting it.

Well, the verdict is in... and... I still don't like mean "humor". :mad: Punk'd sucks! :(

Mechtild, I'm sorry I didn't get a stronger warning posted beforehand in response to your comments likening Punk'd to a combination of "Candid Camera" and "Celebrity Roast". :o Punk'd is sort of like those shows, only much, much meaner.

After I catch up on my reading, I might post a few thoughts on the subject, but it looks like you ladies are doing a pretty thorough job. There might not be anything left to say. :p :D

Moving on to Day Zero:

Elijah -- bald and tattooed -- oh my! (:eek: but a little ;), too.)

I'm wondering if the tattoo might be part of the character's attempt to get himself disqualified from service?

I know that not all that long ago, here in my state, some guy wanted to enlist and had a very tough time doing so because he had a tattoo that showed just slightly above the collar. He underwent multiple procedures in an effort to have the tattoo removed/lightened enough to satisfy the recruiters. After quite a bit of rigamarole, I do believe they finally accepted him. The story got a lot of attention here at the time because they were practically begging guys to enlist and yet they were turning their noses up at this guy just because a small portion of a tattoo was going to be visible above the uniform collar.

Anyway, Elijah's character's tattoo is much more prominent, plainly visible on his neck and possibly through a typical military style haircut. An attempt to make himself unacceptable for the draft?

SandCastles :)

Ladies, I think you are all overlooking something with this Punk'd business. Elijah, and his agent, are well aware that as an actor he is part commodity, something to be advertised. Believe you me, none of this would have gone down unless some sort of deal was made beforehand. I guarantee none of the celebrities who are on Punk'd are on there randomly--their agents have agreed, or possibly even campaigned, to put them on the show. As the saying goes, no publicity is bad publicity, and being on Punk'd is better than not rating enough of a draw to be on Punk'd.

So my point is, Elijah or his agent probably asked to be on this show, to put him before the show's target audience, young people between the ages of 15 and 25, who are also the people most likely to go to the cinema. And considering his name's inability to draw a large box office so far, maybe this is a good tactic.

Just makes me glad I'm not in show business.

And at least all of us here can say we loved him before he was a box office draw, if he ever gets to be. And if he does become "big" in the Hollywood way, at least we'll get to see him more on the big screen. Right now I feel he only gets the parts Jake Gyllenhal and Tobey Maguire pass on.

And at least all of us here can say we loved him before he was a box office draw, if he ever gets to be. And if he does become "big" in the Hollywood way, at least we'll get to see him more on the big screen. Right now I feel he only gets the parts Jake Gyllenhal and Tobey Maguire pass on.

I think this might have been true but isn't true any more. You could regard Jake, Tobey and Elijah as coming from the "nerd ingenu" type.

I think Jake has just about broken free from this or will soon. He's the tallest of the three and physically the only one really suitable to play a conventional leading man. He probably gets offered every part for a guy under 35. He's probably the biggest box office draw of the three and he's can be a big, big movie star as long as he wants to accept the limits of that (usually the big box office stars play the same core thing over and over). I'm still not convinced on his acting ability: a lot of his characters have been very similar. Most of the parts Jake has played recently Elijah would never have been offered and I think's he's basically broken out of the nerd ingenu type that he was playing in Donnie Darko or even the Day After Tomorrow.

Tobey has been an actor who has probably got a lot more of the parts that Elijah has been after (I can't think of anything he's played that Elijah would really look out of place doing). I liked Tobey in lots of things but I think it's obvious that he repeatedly plays pretty much the same character (a point in his favour from the movie star thing) but also that he's starting to get a little bit old for it. You can't play nerd ingenu for ever. It's questionable how much of a genuine draw he is. More than Elijah certainly but most of his films have made money on the films rather than directly on him. I don't know where he really goes after Spiderman ends: he could eithe be a big star or fade away. He isn't really doing that much apart from Spiderman at present.

Elijah has been trying to play quite a variation in parts (you could say a lot of them are lost boys or some kind of outsiders but that's about it) and diversify. I think he probably doesn't get offered that many good parts at all. His physical type and height will really limit things, especially as he doesn't want to play high school kids (Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a really good actor pretty much the same age as Elijah is and is still doing that) or even conventional college type parts. He's in quite a difficult position. He's (presumably) gunning for parts in good films by good director. But there's comparitively few of those and even fewer of those parts that are suitable for him (I can't think of any off hand in the last year) and, as you say, for those he's in competition with other people. So he's taking what look like interesting but risky parts in interesting but risky films. The thing that concerns me most is that he's been going for relatively quiet, detailed parts; he's not been showing a particularly strong, charasmatic screen presence (he's certainly capable of doing that, he's done it in the past). He needs to watch that. I don't feel he has quite broken through to being taken seriously an actor by the respected side of the film community but he's trying to go in a different direction to either Jake or Tobey.

Edit: woah. I'm sorry that degenerated into a long, wandering ramble.

So my point is, Elijah or his agent probably asked to be on this show, to put him before the show's target audience, young people between the ages of 15 and 25, who are also the people most likely to go to the cinema. And considering his name's inability to draw a large box office so far, maybe this is a good tactic.

As I read this, my instant reaction was to say there was no way from his reactions he could have known, but I decided to watch it again without sound first. Conclusion - he may have know he was going to be punk'd at some point in time, but unless he is an even better actor than we consider him, didn't realise this was it while it was going on. At the end he does twig rather quickly once they tell him, so you may be right about him being aware that he was up for one.

Right now I feel he only gets the parts Jake Gyllenhal and Tobey Maguire pass on.
and the parts that neither of these could, in my opinion, have pulled off as well as Elijah did. Gyllenhall, especially, doesn't for me have the sensitivity, depth and physcial fragility to have played Jonathan and Matt effectively. I'd sooner see TOL take the quieter path to the kind of success in his 40s that Johnny Depp has achieved than emulate the likes of Tom Cruise and become a less of a human being in the process. I know we don't see him on the big screen as often as we would like, but I am really enjoying the journey he has taken me on since I first saw LOTR back in January 2004, and to be perfectly honest, I don't especially want the mass teen market taking the journey with me.

ETA - simultaneously posted with Sneaking

ETA - simultaneously posted with Sneaking

And also a great deal more succinct and on target.

And also a great deal more succinct and on target.
Taking the opportunity here to mention one of the most longstanding "rules" in the Faculty Lounge - especially for those who haven't been here forever :p : Never apologize about the length of a post! Being succinct has its advantages, but some of the best ideas are discovered on a ramble to something else. ;) And a few posts down the road, someone will probably take something you didn't even know you said and run with it. :cool:

So he's taking what look like interesting but risky parts in interesting but risky films.
I really like this turn of phrase :cool: . But I don't think it's necessarily something he's doing because he can't get other parts (even if he can't get other parts). I think, at least at this point, it's what he gravitates to, and even thrives on. He did a fair amount of it even before LotR: Radio Flyer, North, The Ice Storm, Bumblebee, Black and White, Chain of Fools - even Huck Finn was much more of a "fly by the seat of your pants" movie-making experience than the finished product looks like. Heck, even though LotR was a set of blockbusters with a huge budget, it was made in much the same way as an indie movie would be - and talk about risky films and a risky role!! :eek:

It can be like watching someone working on the high wire without a net: Iggy Popp? Football hooligans? First-time directors (and Emilio Estavez?)? Tatooed skinheads? Some acts are a little shakier than others, but when he takes on the risk and succeeds it's magnificent (both Mikey's, Jonathan, Frodo...). You hold your breath till he's back on the ground, and you know he's going to be up there again before long trying something else. In that way, at least, it does remind me of how Johnny Depp has done things. Also the fact that both Johnny and Elijah are consummate character actors; that doesn't mean they can't play the lead, but when they do it's the character that's the lead rather than Johnny or Elijah.

The thing that concerns me most is that he's been going for relatively quiet, detailed parts; he's not been showing a particularly strong, charasmatic screen presence (he's certainly capable of doing that, he's done it in the past).
Iggy should be interesting. :z:

My take on this is that Elijah can have a strong screen presence if that's what the character calls for, and I like to see him do it occasionally, but he's so much better than anyone else in the quiet, detailed parts that I can see why he gets cast in them. IMVHO they're usually more difficult than the "stronger" roles, and he's able to take them on while other actors are doing the easier stuff. The only way this would concern me would be if it became the only way casting directors saw him, so I am glad he has a couple of "louder" roles coming up.

I don't feel he has quite broken through to being taken seriously an actor by the respected side of the film community but he's trying to go in a different direction to either Jake or Tobey.
I'm not disagreeing with this. Even though Elijah's often mentioned as an "A-list" actor, he certainly doesn't get the notice some others do. But I'm curious about just who's included in "the respected side of the film community" - I can think of several possible definitions for that label, but don't know what one's being used there.

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

May updates are posted at frodolivesin.us - Another page of Nat pics (http://www.frodolivesin.us/Pics/id46.htm) in the Photo Shop area (either click on that link or on the "hands" pic on the Guest Book page (http://www.frodolivesin.us/Pics/) to get in). Other additions, including some interesting but not pretty :eek: Shelob's Lair caps, are listed and linked to on the What's New (http://www.frodolivesin.us/new/) page.

ETA: Forgot I also have just a few new Frodo pics (http://www.frodolivesin.us/picsfrodo/id61.htm) in the Photo Shop section, too.

Are we debating whether Elijah can make it long-term again?? I vote a big fat "yes." Johnny Depp followed a rather bizarre career trajectory, and it ain't hurt him any! He first became a "name" working on 21 Jump Street, a show better known for it's good looking cast than its great acting. Deservedly he rose above the rest, and got some movie roles. Despite making a notable splash in Edward Scissorhands, he went on to be cast in several films only a true fan could love: He cross-dressed in Ed Wood, ate a few prospectors in Dead Man, was swooniliciously odd in Benny & Joon, and then slummed it in a Disney pirate fantasy that the critics hated. And yet he's done an Actors' Workshop interview on Bravo, been nominated for an Oscar, and is widely regarded as a very "important" actor. And yet very recently he did a turn in the execrable The Libertine showing that he's not afraid to take risks.

So Elijah's made some odd choices? He's building a career that looks very different from Jakey's and Tobey's, and setting himself apart. (Frankly I'm not a fan of Tobey's; I always want to hand him a triple espresso, along with a smart slap to the face, and tell him "Wakey-wakey, Tobey!" he's just so sleepy!)

I'm not so concerned about Elijah's box-office draw at the moment. Just let him keep garnering attention from "interesting" directors, and his day will come. I've become resigned to the fact that he'll probably never be a leading man, but he's got talent enough to be around for a long time.

He's got lots over some of todays leading men; he's private, so hopefully the audience won't ever look at him and think "oh, he's the guy who got caught boinking his kids' au pair." He won't allow himself to get caught up in one of those "franchise" series, as he likes to play a different character every time. He's willing to do any number of odd things to his person, and hair in order to physically fit a role, and yet he's undeniably recognizable no matter what he does to himself.

I think as an actor he just has to pick one role that will over-shadow Frodo and he'll be golden. That role needn't be as large or important as Frodo. I figure something controversial enough to get him some respect as a mature actor, not just a grown-up child actor, will do the trick. Think Ewan MacGregor in Trainspotting maybe.

hopefully from the Northwest,
honey!

Not anything to add, I just wanted to let everyone know how much I'm enjoying the conversation. Sneaking, ramble on any time! Cheers. :)

The sight of Elijah with NO HAIR has jolted me (belatedly) out of lethargy and back into doggerel:


LAMENT FOR LIJ’s LOST LOCKS
(with apologies to JRRT)

Where now the curls and the color? Where are the bangs that were blowing?
Where is the “kitten hair” springing, and the bright mane flowing?
Where is the faux-hawk of yore, and the highlights glowing?
Where is Jonathan’s side-part, and his black mop growing?
They have fallen like wheat to the sickle, like grass in the meadow.
The hair has gone down on the floor, and left a 5:00 shadow.
Who shall gather the tresses of deep chestnut shorn,
Or behold the flowing locks when we meet him at TORN*?

*(Actually, ELF; but that didn't make for as good a rhyme)


Oh, well. Early on in my career as an Elijah fan, I mentioned his chameleon qualities. Definitely visible nowadays. And that's one reason why he should be able to sustain a career, long-term (though probably one with lots of ups and downs and fan-frustrating slow periods).

And now I know what you spent your day off doing, Pelagia. Good one! :lol:

:rolleyes: Haven't quite figured out how to link, yet! ETA, it worked!! :)

The following goes to an interview with the magician, Keith Barry, who performs this Friday. Elijah appears about halfway through it. They do have a clip regarding the "trick". Looks a little more dangerous than getting Punk'd! I know ;) there are those out there that adore Elijah's hands, bitten nails and all.

http://cbs2.com/video/?id=18082@kcbs.dayport.com

Thank you for the poem, Pelagia! :) Very fun and vivid-mental-image provoking! :D


*clears throat and assumes a semi authoritative public speaking voice which projects throughout the Faculty Lounge*

Just a reminder to everybody: Elijah will be on Keith Barry Extraordinary on CBS this coming Friday night. Don't forget to check local listings and set those VCRs, TiVos, etc.! Great research opportunity.

This is an especially critical appearance by Elijah for those among us who have been so recently traumatized by the sudden revelation of a bald and tattooed pate. It has been confirmed, by a brief glimpse of him in a preview, that Elijah has hair on this show. This should provide some solace until The Return of the Kitty Hair.

*raises an eyebrow at some faculty members who appear to be conspiring in a corner*

Of course, while we all want to see him achieve "I'm going to play Iggy Pop" length hair, I don't think presenting him with a supply of Rogaine at ELF is such a good idea.

*watches the guilty parties try to look innocent while shoving a box big enough to hold a year's worth of Rogaine under a table*

Finally, as Elijah's appearance on this show is likely to be of the happy, light, and fluffy variety, I hope to see many research papers (posts) here concerning its effectiveness in alleviating/counteracting the symptoms of PPTSD (Post Punk'd Traumatic Stress Disorder).

*clears throat again, glances around, and then goes back to reading*

*hopes she didn't sound like too much of a pompous idiot -- hates public speaking*


SandCastles :)


ETA: Darn, I'm slow! Shelbyshire came and went while I was concocting this! :D Thanks for that link, Shelbyshire. I hadn't seen that one before. Now everyone has proof of the hair! :cool:

Loved the poem, Pelagia! :lol:

Thanks for the link, Shelbyshire! :)

*hides Rogaine* Thanks for the tip, SandCastles! :D

Pelagia, what a delightful poem! :D

And Sandcastles, you're in rare form today too!

I got to see Alyon today! We watched Punk'd in the morning, then saw EII in the afternoon. We'd innoculated her against the shock of Punk'd with all our micro-analysis last week! :haha:

Shelbyshire, thank you for that clip! As an appreciator of TOL's hands, I have to say :eek: :eek:

honey!

Thanks for the link Shelbyshire. I so wish I could see that whole show. Maybe with him being Irish it will get shown in the UK some day.

Rachel Hunter - I am so with you on the control thing.
Elijah Wood - you are far too calm and trusting for your own good.

Pelagia, your Lament is lovely and lyrical! :D

Shelbyshire, I'm still suffering from PPTSD (Post Punk'd Traumatic Stress Disorder [Thanks, dear colleague SandCastles for that significant term :D]) and now you made me watch Spike'd. :eek: ;)


*waves to Skater girl* :)

Oh Pelagia what a great LAMENT!

Thanks for the link Shelbyshire. Very cute.

And Tg you said this so much better than I........Reminds me of Sean A's remark that Elijah's "comfortable in his own skin." To me that says his self-esteem is healthy enough that he doesn't have the unhealthy self-centeredness of wondering how he's coming across to other people

And Honeyelf:k......I so agree....Are we debating whether Elijah can make it long-term again?? I vote a big fat "yes."........
He's got lots over some of todays leading men; he's private, so hopefully the audience won't ever look at him and think "oh, he's the guy who got caught boinking his kids' au pair." He won't allow himself to get caught up in one of those "franchise" series, as he likes to play a different character every time. He's willing to do any number of odd things to his person, and hair in order to physically fit a role, and yet he's undeniably recognizable no matter what he does to himself..................
I think as an actor he just has to pick one role that will over-shadow Frodo and he'll be golden.


Tg:k.... again so worth repeating.....


So he's taking what look like interesting but risky parts in interesting but risky films......
I think, at least at this point, it's what he gravitates to, and even thrives on.

It can be like watching someone working on the high wire without a net: Iggy Popp? Football hooligans? First-time directors (and Emilio Estavez?)? Tatooed skinheads? Some acts are a little shakier than others, but when he takes on the risk and succeeds it's magnificent (both Mikey's, Jonathan, Frodo...). You hold your breath till he's back on the ground, and you know he's going to be up there again before long trying something else. In that way, at least, it does remind me of how Johnny Depp has done things. Also the fact that both Johnny and Elijah are consummate character actors; that doesn't mean they can't play the lead, but when they do it's the character that's the lead rather than Johnny or Elijah.


Elijah can have a strong screen presence if that's what the character calls for, and I like to see him do it occasionally, but he's so much better than anyone else in the quiet, detailed parts that I can see why he gets cast in them. IMVHO they're usually more difficult than the "stronger" roles, and he's able to take them on while other actors are doing the easier stuff.
I saw Tom Cruise in War of the Worlds recently on DVD and thought...."Oh look, there's Tom Cruise on screen .....(in a really stinker movie)". I know people pay/go to see Tom Cruise on screen but that's ALL ya get.

And Skater girl :k.....YES YES YES.....I'd sooner see TOL take the quieter path to the kind of success in his 40s that Johnny Depp has achieved than emulate the likes of Tom Cruise and become a less of a human being in the process. I know we don't see him on the big screen as often as we would like, but I am really enjoying the journey he has taken me on since I first saw LOTR back in January 2004, and to be perfectly honest, I don't especially want the mass teen market taking the journey with me..

Enjoying all the discussion......:k
saile

I haven't checked in for a plethora of posts, but must say, Pelagia, I LOVED your poem! Oh, delicious, witty and affectionate.

~ Mechtild

Pelagia, thank you for so eloquently expressing my own feelings about Elijah's shaved head look! :D What a shocker! I've had the same reaction as Achila: how could he DO that so short a time before ELF? :confused: :( Am actually having second thoughts about going now. Sigh. Sometimes it isn't easy being a fan, you know? ;)

Very, very relieved that I wasn't around last week for "Punk'd". The whole basic concept of that show seems twisted and disturbed to me, and I've formed a belief that Ashton Kutcher must be a deeply disturbed person to come up with such a thing. In fact, it's the major reason why I intensely dislike him (and this was BEFORE he did such a thing to Elwood!).

So here am I, worrying about Mr. Wood again: about his psyche, his future in film, his finances.....sign me up for the Mother Hen club! :rolleyes:

Pelagia, thank you for so eloquently expressing my own feelings about Elijah's shaved head look! :D What a shocker! I've had the same reaction as Achila: how could he DO that so short a time before ELF? :confused: :(

Um, no -- don't *think* that was me. I tend to be pretty forgiving when it comes to such things as hair -- it grows back! And besides, the guy I'll be standing next to at ELF to have my picture snapped might be with hair, without hair, black hair, brown/red hair, purple hair, long, short...etc. -- BUT he will still be ELIJAH ;)

Found this on TORN--

http://gaming.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=5527

C-if only I liked video games-4

Found this on TORN--

http://gaming.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=5527

C-if only I liked video games-4

Let us hope that he doesn't suddenly start method acting or Achila really might have purple hair to contend with. :lol:

http://xbox.ign.com/articles/702/702797p1.html

(Click "continue to Spyro" to get past the X-Men.)

C4

My elder daughter and I agreed yesterday that we would have to buy this game for her GameBoy Advance when it comes out. She might even let me play it. ;)

Although I'm not much of a gamer, I do actually have my own PS2. OK, it's a kid's game and not really my type of thing but... Whistles Innocently

Young Master ceefour knew all about this. :rolleyes:

I'm so out of the loop, I don't even know where the loop is. :lol:

C4

Um, no -- don't *think* that was me. I tend to be pretty forgiving when it comes to such things as hair -- it grows back! And besides, the guy I'll be standing next to at ELF to have my picture snapped might be with hair, without hair, black hair, brown/red hair, purple hair, long, short...etc. -- BUT he will still be ELIJAH ;)

Oops--sorry, Achila! So much for my short-term memory of recent posts. :o

Purple hair? Now there's one thing we haven't seen him do yet.....but I wouldn't rule it out for the future! :D

Purple hair? Now there's one thing we haven't seen him do yet.....but I wouldn't rule it out for the future! :D
But do get ready, because Iggy is blond....

But do get ready, because Iggy is blond....Well... he is when he bleaches it. Elijah as younger Iggy will probably use his natural hair color, or something very close to it. I wonder if he'll then bleach it :eek: or go with a wig? If his hair is long enough, I'll bet he'd take the first option. ;)

Well... he is when he bleaches it. Elijah as younger Iggy will probably use his natural hair color, or something very close to it. I wonder if he'll then bleach it :eek: or go with a wig? If his hair is long enough, I'll bet he'd take the first option. ;)

Right -- and again, we still don't know exactly what years the film is going to cover, so Lij could be anything from light brown/dark brown to platinum (or all of them and more in between!).