a fool's musings

Boreas by Waterhouse
Fool, said my muse to me,
look in thy heart and write...

Warning: Adult Content

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the five Ws, or, all about me

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current mood: current mood

"pathological and unbalanced"

Items of Interest

    Music
  • Walk On - U2
  • Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen
  • If I Can't Change Your Mind - Sugar
  • Sick of Myself - Matthew Sweet
  • Town Called Malice - The Jam
  • One - U2
  • The Space Between - DMB
    Books
  • Lord of the Rings
  • Catch-22
  • The Neely Trilogy
  • Absalom! Absalom!
  • Possession: A Romance
  • Foucault's Pendulum
  • Dreamhouse
  • LA Confidential
  • I Capture the Castle
  • Sandman
  • Waking the Moon

    Shows
  • Angel

    •
  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer (in reruns)

    •
  • Alias

    •
  • West Wing

    •
  • The Simpsons

    •

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all links, if I haven't screwed up somehow, should open in a new browser window

12.21.02 - 3:17 p.m.

Jingle Bells

Jingle Bells, Bethy's birthday ficlet, has been uploaded, for your reading pleasure.

Cleaned the apartment, shopped for orange juice and milk and such for the kidlets, and am now waiting patiently for them to arrive.

Very excited.

~victoria

[current mood: excited]
[current music: All Through The Night - Cyndi Lauper (in my head)]
[random quote: “I don’t slur, I mumble.” JH Brodie, HLotS]

~*~

12.20.02 - 10:58 p.m.

hostess with the mostess

My brother and his wife and kids are coming to visit me tomorrow. They haven't seen the apartment yet.

Well, Helen did, the day I moved in, but Dom hasn't. And the kids haven't. Victor keeps asking me if it's clean. Because he was in the old apartment once and was appalled at how messy it was.

So tonight I started straightening and tomorrow I'll vacuum and Swiffer it up, so it's presentable. I know they're going to report back to the parents (well, to my dad, who's hung up on neatness), so I want it to be spiffy. Or as spiffy as a seriously indifferent housekeeper like me can get it.

So they're going to visit and then we'll all go to dinner, and then they're going to see the tree in Rockefeller Center.

I'm very excited about this.

After the first two years in my old apartment, I never had people over. I mean, like, never.

So having people over here is such a cool, new experience for me.

Leslie says she thinks I have the makings of an excellent hostess, and if that means having a comfy couch and beer on hand, I'm all over it.

I also watched the two-hour Firefly - which was the original premiere before Fox made them shelve it in favor of one I haven't seen.

I don't understand why. This was a kickass episode. Thoughts will be up in the LJ sometime soon.

Let me just say, Mal in tight pants? Yummy.

Mal in tight pants on horseback?

I thought I was going to slide off the couch.

My god.

::mumbles incoherently::

I don't understand why this show got cancelled, but a piece of crap like John Doe hasn't.

It's funny, what attracts us and what we get attached to and will get defensive over.

Katta was talking about attraction the other day, and though she was mainly talking about sex and looks, I'm thinking about characters and why they speak to us and what our attachments to certain characters (or musicians or actors or athletes) say about us.

I guess because I'm wondering about my reaction to the whole Faramir thing.

You can look back in this diary and ask anyone who's emailed with me - I have been worried about this since before FotR came out. And part of my big bad reaction to the change in Faramir in the movie comes from the fact that I attached myself to him at a very young age.

It would be like someone remaking Star Wars (the original one, the real thing) and making Han Solo a spy for the Empire who turns Leia in before he has his change of heart.

It just doesn't make sense.

Ahem.

So yeah, that's something I'm thinking about, because I think who we attach to, what characters we defend and which ones we are indifferent to, says a whole lot about us as people, and what we like/respect/believe/expect.

But later for that.

I'm still thinking about Mal on horseback, and Mal with the dead-eye aim, and also the Wolvie icons I made tonight:

Please, may I kick your ass? and Take it easy

Thanks, DD, for the pics!

Speaking of thanks and DD, she sent me the bestest gift. I got the conditioner, and some lip blotting papers, a pulp fiction postcard of the cover of Junkie! Confessions of an Unredeemed Drug Addict (she knows my obsessions well), an adorable green, heart-shaped patch that says "Marie" on it (and can't you just see Rogue sneaking it onto Logan's jacket and him grumbling about it but then not taking it off? *sigh*) and a lovely purple journal.

And Pete. Pete is a most magnificent bastard. He sent me Clark and Lex action figures for Christmas.

All hail Pete!

Plus, the bosses chipped in and got me a gift certificate to Bloomie's (and for a substantial amount, too. I almost cried) so I could "buy something for the apartment" and a box of Godiva truffles. My boys (and L.) love me.

Hee!

Life is good. I'm seeing the kidlets tomorrow and I got pressies. What more could I want?

~victoria



link

[current mood: gleeful]
[current music: Walk On - U2]
[random quote: I do not want people to be agreeable, as it saves me the trouble of liking them. ~Jane Austen]

~*~

12.20.02 - 11:54 a.m.

Hit me with the recs, baby

Unfit For Society recs are updated.

9 stories, 3 fandoms.

For my sins, that's 7 Harry Potter, 1 LotR and 1 X-Men comics stories.

I'm going to the special hell, aren't I?

~victoria

[current mood: busy]
[current music: Heartbreaker - Pat Benatar]
[random quote: You're a heartbreaker, dreammaker, lovetaker don't you mess around with me]

~*~

12.20.02 - 10:27 a.m.

"I am poised and centered in the mind of Christ"

Last night I dreamt that I was working for Lindsey McDonald (mrrowrr), who had teamed up (very reluctantly) with one Dana Scully to investigate odd, demony goings-on at a hospital.

There were pregnant women in waiting rooms and rushing through hidden corridors and schlepping luggage through airports and - scariest of all - a huge mutant chicken roaming the streets of Miami (which is where the dream took place).

I fear my brain.

Oh yes, I do.

I'm still on the Faramir tip in the LJ and if you've not read the books and you go see TTT, please stop by and read it, because I basically copied out Faramir's pivotal scene from the book, and you can see how different he is in the movie, and how *wrong*.

In other news, commute was something of a nightmare, but I'm zen about it. I have this mantra running through my mind, and god only knows where it came from, because it's not Buddhist, it's Christian - "I am poised and centered in the mind of Christ" - and lately I find myself repeating it to myself whenever things get hectic. I mean, yeah, we meditated occasionally in religion class when I was in school, but even though I went to 16 years of Catholic school, none of them were incredibly religious or devout or fanatical, imo.

I mean, in college, I didn't even have to take a religion class- there was a requirement and religion was an option, but you could choose philosophy (which I took) or ethics instead.

In high school, in junior and senior year, my religion classes were things like, Sex and Sexuality, Morality, Death and Dying, and World Religions.

I guess they figured by that point, if you weren't indoctrinated, you probably weren't going to be, so best to teach you other things that might be useful in life.

The thing that gets me about this mantra, if that's what it is, is that it's "in the mind of Christ." You'd think it'd be the heart or soul. Christianity doesn't much value brainpower.

And I say again, I fear my brain, that it dredges up these things I learned or heard god only knows how many years ago. But I can't remember to pay my bills on time.

::shakes head::

Jumping topics, have I mentioned how much I dislike blinking, moving, or flashing things on my computer screen?

Unless I'm specifically watching a video/movie clip etc., I don't want things flashing at me. I find it distracting and not a little freaky.

Yes, I am that persnickety.

Of course, I occasionally find myself longing for the soothing tones of amber on black, so yeah, take it for what it's worth.

As for writing, I haven't been doing any. Last night I was thinking of Bab!Rogue, and I've discovered one of my real problems as a writer.

I don't mind rewriting if something isn't working, but I hate/loathe/despise reimagining or revamping.

Like the end of the watchfic needs to be changed. Not edited or rewritten because the language doesn't work or sound right, but the whole damned *idea* has to change. It's not X anymore, it's Y now. And I have this reluctance, this strange dread, of doing that. With any story.

To use Bab!Rogue as an example, the original conception is that Rogue is a young woman offering her one-time service at the Temple of Ishtar, but because of the streaks in her hair, the rumor spreads that she's been touched by the gods and that to lie with her is death for any man. So she lingers in the Temple precincts until Logan comes along and shags her and lets her get on with her life.

But that makes it difficult for anything else to happen without massive contrivances to get her back into Logan's life.

Then I was thinking that maybe she wasn't just a regular girl doing her one-time service, but some sort of special acolyte being groomed to be a priestess, and no one was supposed to touch her (yet) because she was going to be the bride of the king (or some such nonsense. I know there were yearly rituals with the king mating with the land and the king mating with the goddess, so...), but Logan picks her out and she goes and then they have to go on the run because they've just committed some sort of huge sacrilege.

And the idea of revamping the whole story to fit that really just makes me queasy with dread.

I don't quite know why that is. I don't have any trouble changing directions as I'm writing something, but writing it and then deciding to completely change it?

::shudder::

It's like my worst writing nightmare.

But I will face it, somehow.

As for the J/D, poor Donna is still sitting in Josh's apartment, drinking a pina colada and waiting for him to show. I have the scene in my head, but I haven't had time to write. Or rather, I haven't *made* time to write. I've allowed myself to be distracted by other things.

Definitely a big failing of mine, being easily distracted.

... ooh shiny...

what was I saying, again?

~victoria



link

[current mood: distracted]
[current music: Man on the Moon - REM]
[random quote: \"Cunnilingus and psychiatry brought us to this!\" Tony Soprano, _The Sopranos_]

~*~

12.19.02 - 3:36 p.m.

Everybody wants to be connected

In discussing the whole "seeing the writer in the writing" bit, Mara wrote:
I'm wondering, though, why we so desperately want to connect the author with the characters.

I think it's mostly just wanting to connect - with the author, with the character... People tend to see connections and patterns even when there aren't any. It's the way our brains function.

So even though I can say, "Oh, I don't care about that actor's or writer's personality, etc." I find that I *am* influenced to some degree. I don't like Russell Crowe at all, from what I've heard of him as a person. I think he's a spectacular actor, but I'd never call myself a fan of his. Hugh Jackman, on the other hand, has never conducted himself with anything less than grace while in the spotlight, so while he has yet to prove (in movies I've seen anyway) he can act at Crowe's level, I'm much more a fan of his.

Same with say, Anne Lamott - I find her grating and pretentious. I know she's a good writer, but she irritates me, so I can't really read her fiction now that I've read her nonfiction. Neil Gaiman, on the other hand, continues to enchant me, both through his blog and his fiction.

So part of it is looking for something like ourselves in the characters, and therefore in the author.

With fanfiction, especially, since a lot of it is cathartic writing written by young girls, of course we worry if they spend too much time writing about rape/murder/torture/incest/cutting etc.

On the one hand, it's a way to explore darker fantasies (in the sense of imaginings, not things we'd like to have happen) safely, and it's a way for people who've undergone trauma to cope, because one of the most important things for grieving or traumatised people is to tell their story and believe that someone is listening.

On the other hand, it's worrisome to think that some of the people we know, even if "only" from online, have had so many bad experiences and are writing about them.

Does that make sense, or is it just a lot of hooha?

Hee! While looking up something on Faramir, I found a bunch of essays on Middle-Earth and Tolkien, and this: Even Faramir's dream, of the overpowering wave welling up in the ocean, owes something to a real experience. Tolkien himself confessed to having had the dream. Like every writer before him, and every writer since, Tolkien put something of himself into his creation. [...] (from Et tu, Faramir, which isn't about Faramir at all. Bugger.)

We seek Tolkien in Middle-Earth. Whole schools of literary criticism are built on reading the author's life experiences into a text.

Is it any wonder we do it with fanfiction?

And I have more TTT thoughts in the LJ , mostly about, you guessed it, Faramir.

God, I think the woman who made my iced mocha latte put an extra shot of espresso in it or something, because I can't stop shaking.

~victoria



link

[current mood: caffeinated]
[current music: Boys of Summer = Don Henley]
[random quote: If I speak at one constant volume, at one constant pitch, at one constant rhythm, right into your ear, you still won't hear]

~*~

12.19.02 - 9:26 a.m.

Quick TTT thoughts

Quick TTT thoughts up in the LJ. Spoilers abound.

More later.

Suffice it to say, my reservations about Faramir were correct, I think the Ents got short shrift, but overall? It rocked out.

~victoria



link

[current mood: geeked]
[current music: Untouchable Face - Ani]
[random quote: Always the need To feel again the real belief Of something more than mockery If only I could Fill my heart with love - Closedown]

~*~

12.18.02 - 2:53 p.m.

Musical inspirations

In an attempt to make today go more quickly, I spent a good portion of the morning doing this.

What is "this," you ask?

Well, The Fannish Songs survey got me thinking.

I've said a number of times how I don't write 'true' songfic, but an awful lot of my stories were inspired by music. Some of them are titled with song titles or lyrics, but the songs has nothing to do with the story. Some are inspired by songs and it shows in the story, even if the song is never quoted, and some weave song lyrics and the story of the song into the fic itself.

So I decided to go through my rather long list of stories and separate them out into three categories:

Stories inspired by songs, stories whose titles have been stolen from songs otherwise unrelated to the story, and stories that actually incorporate the plot of the song or lyrics from it into the narrative. I haven't included the few stories that have no musical relationship whatsoever.

Group I: Stories inspired by songs

The Empire of the Senses (XMM)
Summary: If Logan were more of a poet, he might think like this about Marie
Song: Love Is the Seventh Wave - Sting
In the empire of the senses, you're the queen of all you survey

The One Sure Thing (XMM)
Summary: When does a thought become a look? A look become a touch? A touch, a kiss?
Song: Inconsolable - Jonatha Brooke
You were the one sure thing

The Envious Moon (XMM)
Summary: "I lurk at the edge of their awareness, not yet glimpsed in full. But my time is coming."
Song: The Fly - U2
It's no secret that the sun is sometimes eclipsed by the moon, you know I don't see you when she walks in the room

Comfortador(BtVS)
Summary: "Oh, Master, grant that I may never seek / so much to be consoled as to console"
Song: Prayer of St. Francis

Group II: Stories whose titles have been stolen from songs otherwise unrelated to the story

Scratching at the Eightball (XMM)
Summary: Logan teaches Marie to play pool, among other things...
Song: Bad Luck - Social Distortion
You're always scratching at the eightball, don't wanna know the reason why. You reach the top and then you fall. Gonna hang your head down and cry

Girls Talk (XMM)
Summary: It's Rogue's turn to get advice about her situation. Sequel to "Scratching at the Eight Ball."
Song: Girls Talk - Nik Kershaw

The Devil's in the Dreaming (XMM)
Summary: Rogue and Logan comfort each other during nightmares. Follows "Confrontations"
Song: I Wish I Was A Girl - Counting Crows
The devil's in the dreamin' / He tells you I'm not sleepin' / In my motel room alone

Lost and Found (XMM/H:LotS)
Summary: Rogue's mother hires Mike Kellerman, PI to find her daughter
Song: Amazing Grace - various
I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see

Piece of My Heart (XMM)
Summary: Rogue's grown up and Logan finally notices. It's fluffy.
Song: Piece of My Heart - Big Brother & the Holding Co.
Take it, take another little piece of my heart now baby

Christmas Wrapping (XMM)
Summary: Logan and Rogue exchange Christmas gifts
Song: Christmas Wrapping - the Waitresses

My Time Is Gonna Come (XMM)
Summary: Conversations between Jean and Rogue, Jean and Logan, Rogue and Scott, and Rogue and Logan.
Song: My Time Is Gonna Come - Led Zeppelin

Bikini Kill (XMM)
Summary: Rogue gets a bikini. Logan gets lucky.
This is named after a band. Does that count?

Keep It Like a Secret (XMM)
Summary: Rogue has medical difficulties. Logan has to deal.
I snaked the name from a Pavement album, but not because the music inspired it. I just liked the name.

Love Me Two Times (XMM)
Rating: NC-17
Summary: Scott. Logan. A shower.
Song: Love Me Two Times - the Doors

Angel of the Evening (XMM)
Summary: Alternate Universe - Logan and Marie meet in NYC instead of Laughlin City.
Song: Angel of the Morning - Juice Newton
Well, the title is a twist on that.

First Trick of the Day (XMM)
Summary: Logan visits Rogue again.
Song: First Drag of the Day - Bob Mould - again the title is a twist on the song title

Alone Again Or... (XMM)
Summary: Jean reflects on the events of the past few months
Song: Alone Again Or - The Damned version

In the Service of the Queen (AtS)
Summary: Angel is kidnapped, and the AI crew must must rescue him before he's lost for all eternity.
Song: Rain King - Counting Crows
I belong in the service of the queen, I belong anywhere but in between

Love Will Tear Us Apart (XMM)
Summary: Scott returns to New York to face Jean
Song: Love Will Tear Us Apart - Joy Division

In Between Days (XMM)
Summary: Hank's turn to think about everything as winter turns to spring.
Song: In Between Days - The Cure

The Space Between (XMM)
Summary: "She contemplates the personal bubble in which she is enclosed."
Song: The Space Between - DMB (while I love the song now, then I only knew the title)

A Question of Trust (XMM)
Summary: "It's a question of lust / it's a question of trust / it's a question of not letting what we've built up crumble to dust"
Song: Question of Lust - Depeche Mode

Circle of Life (XMM)
Summary: Two couples deal with grief in remarkably similar ways.
Song: Circle of Life - Elton John (to be a completist. Though I didn't realize until afterward.)

The Real Slim Shady (XMM)
Summary: Scott temps. The job's a little different than he expected.
Song: The Real Slim Shady - Eminem

Full of Grace (XMM-Unspoken RR)
Summary: "She hadn't slept alone in six years. ... And now, she lay in Logan's bed, and sleep was very far away."
Song: I suppose I have to say Full of Grace - Sarah McLachlan, but it's actually named after the "Hail Mary" that Rogue says in the story.

A Little Gossip (XMM-Unspoken RR)
Summary: Bobby explains it all to Hank.
Song: A Little Gossip - from Man of LaMancha
A little gossip, a little chat, a little idle talk of this and that

Who You Are (XMM)
Summary: Logan and Rogue discuss identity issues. Directly follows 'Tis a Pity She's a Whore.
Song: Who You Are - Pearl Jam

Slight Return (XMM)
Summary: "Not gonna kill the fatted calf for this thief, homme?"
Song: Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) - SRV version

No Day But Today: Joy & No Day But Today: Pain (XMM)
Summary: One fleeting moment, two very different outcomes... Rogue and Logan are trapped in a cave-in.
Song(s): Er, the one from "Rent" (No other road, no other way, no day but today) and also "Joy & Pain" from Rob Base and Eazy Rock

Stay(XMM)
Summary: "She had to know."
Song: Roadies - Jackson Brown
Oh won't you stay just a little bit longer, please please stay just a little bit more

Group III: Stories that actually incorporate the plot of the song or lyrics from it into the narrative

Feel Me Don't You (XMM)
Summary: Logan and Rogue try to fix their relationship.
Song: Feel Me Don't You - Dada
One of the few stories where I actually did the "lyrics as section header" thingy. I did it in Ties That Bind, too, actually.

The Ties That Bind (XMM)
Summary: Bobby makes a friend who reminds Rogue of someone.
Song: The Ties That Bind - Bruce Springsteen (also includes quoted lyrics from "Thunder Road" in the story -Logan and Cecilia quote it at each other. And god, this is one of the few of my own stories that I just don't like.)

No One Is to Blame (XMM)
Summary: Rogue gets an eyeful. L/J/R/(S)
Song: No One Is to Blame - Howard Jones

Invisible (XMM)
Summary: L/R/S/J from another point of view.
Song: Invisible - Alison Moyet

The Ghost In You (XMM)
Summary Logan goes after Rogue. [L/R (L/J), Scott]
Song: The Ghost in You - Counting Crows version

A Harbor in the Tempest (XMM)
Summary: About seven years after the movie. The US government is persecuting mutants. The X-Men are scattered. Somehow, they manage to find each other again, in a little dive bar in a little town south of the border.
Song: All I Want Is You - U2 - fic is Mutant Casablanca, so the song replaces "As Time Goes By"

Untouchable Face (XMM)
Summary: After four years away, Rogue returns to the mansion for Kitty and Bobby's wedding. Things have changed.
Song: Untouchable Face - Ani DiFranco

Our Noble Scars (XMM)
Summary: Rogue tells Scott a few things after a mission.
Song: Reclamation - Fugazi
You carry out your noble actions. We will carry our noble scars

32 Flavors (XMM)
Summary: "and god help you if you are an ugly girl / of course, too pretty is also your doom / 'cause everyone harbors a secret hatred / for the prettiest girl in the room / and god help you if you are a phoenix / and you dare to rise up from the ash / a thousand eyes will smolder with jealousy/ while you are just flying past"
Song: 32 Flavors - Ani DiFranco

Raining In Baltimore (XMM)
Summary: "I need a phone call / I need a raincoat / I need a big love / I need a phone call"
Song: Raining in Baltimore - Counting Crows

Two Out of Three Ain't Bad (XMM)
Summary: "They would learn to be content, a pieced-together whole made from two uncoupled halves."
Song: Two Out of Three Ain't Bad - Meat Loaf
I want you, I need you, but there ain't no way I'm ever gonna love you, now don't be sad, two out of three ain't bad

Should Have Taken a Chance (XMM)
Summary: Thoughts at an engagement party
Song: Fell Into the Loneliness - Lori Carson
I should have had faith I should have taken a chance I should have laughed I should have risked something I should have kissed you I should have told you I should have let you know Instead I fell and fell And fell into the loneliness

Forever Doesn't Mean Forever (XMM)
Summary: "Forever doesn't mean forever / Just maybe some other time or place / How can two souls still eat together / when life has lost its taste?"
Song: And I Fell Back Alone - World Party

Kindness Falls Like Rain (XMM)
Summary: "This isn't love."
Song: Anna Begins - Counting Crows

Just My Imagination (XMM)
Summary: "It's just my imagination / running away with me."
Song: Just My Imagination - Drifters

Waiting in Vain (XMM)
Summary: "I love Remy. I do. But something's missing."
Song: Waiting in Vain - Annie Lennox version
it's been three years since i'm knocking on your door and still i can knock some more oh boy, oh boy, is it crazy look, i wanna know now for i to knock some more, you see in life i know that there is lots of grief but your love is my relief tears in my eyes burn tears in my eyes burn while i'm waitin' while i'm waitin' for my turn, you see i don't wanna wait in vain for your love

Learning to Accept (XMM)
Summary: "It's not the most romantic love, or the biggest epic romance, but we're going to do the best we can with what we've got."
Song: Let Me Touch You For A While - Allison Krauss and Union Station
I'm gonna ruin my black mascara you're drinking whiskey when it should be wine you keep on looking in to that mirror but to me your looking really fine I don't hardly know you but I'd be willing to show you I know a way to make you laugh at that cowgirl as she's walking out your door I know a way to make you smile just let me whisper things you never heard before just let me touch you baby just let me touch you for a while

He Knows (XMM)
Summary: "He ... knows now that he can never escape -- no matter where he sleeps or how far he runs, he will come back to her."
Song: She's the One - Bruce Springsteen
And tonight you'll try just one more time To leave it all behind and to break on through Oh she can take you, but if she wants to break you She's gonna find out that ain't so easy to do And no matter where you sleep tonight or how far you run Oh-o she's the one, she's the one Oh-o and just one kiss She'd fill them long summer nights With her tenderness that secret pact you made Back when her love could save you from the bitterness Oh she's the one, oh she's the one

Jim Morrison's Dead (XMM)
Summary: Motels, money, murder, madness
Song: LA Woman - the Doors

Not Like Years Ago (BtVS)
Paring: Xander/Willow
Summary: "It's not like years ago."
Side By Side In Orbit (XMM)
Paring: Logan/Rogue
Summary: "And what if there were two / Side by side in orbit / Around the fairest sun?"
You I Cannot Judge (SV)
Pairing: Clark/Lex
Summary: "You, I thought I knew you. / You I cannot judge."
Song: Nightswimming - REM for all three (hence, the Nightswimming Tryptich)

Magic In the Night (XMM)
Summary: "From your front porch to my front seat / The door's open but the ride ain't free"
Song: Thunder Road - Bruce Springsteen

Running to Stand Still (XMM)
Summary: "She will suffer the needle chill / she's running to stand still"
Song: Running to Stand Still - U2

~victoria



link

[current mood: ]
[current music: ]
[random quote: ]

~*~

12.18.02 - 12:05 a.m.

T-9 hrs and counting...

TTT gets 4 stars in the Daily News

The Times calls it "gripping and intense" and "a rare perfect mating of filmmaker and material". (Also, read about Viggo Mortensen's appearance on Charlie Rose, decrying the use of the film as pro-war-with-Iraq propaganda)

The Post gives it 3 stars and contains this horrifying sentence: But this fidelity - broken only by the emphasis on the female elves played by Cate Blanchett and Liv Tyler, and the turning of Faramir of Gondor (David Wenham) into a quasi-villain (emphasis mine) - is also at the root of the film's occasional stiffness.

::cue anguished screams::

NOOOOOOOO!!!!!

How is that even POSSIBLE?

And from the Washington Post:

It alone among them transcends. It works as story for the common narrative-starved fool, who needs heroic example and pulsating, vicariously energizing experiences of love and hate. You don't have to be one of those Hobbit-like geeks who've lost themselves in this world so intensely there is no other – though I hasten to add that there's nothing wrong with knowing more about Middle Earth than, er, Earth. You can – and this is the cool part – enjoy dual citizenship in the world where trees launch assaults on castles and the one where bills come due. Whichever citizenship you claim, you walk out and you think, that was a hell of a story.

And another quote I like, at the end of this really funny, flippant and not-too-respectful review:

But underneath it all is the same issue that defined Tolkien's life, the battle between Western democracy and monsters who wanted to destroy it. Read into it what you want, or read nothing into it, but it's really the oldest story of all. It's the one about a band of free men on a hilltop with nothing to get them through the night but their belief in themselves and their cause and the long steel they carry in their scabbards.

The LA Times is barely lukewarm on it, but I expect no more from them.

New York Magazine joins the others in saying Gollum is the best thing in the movie, and I'm guessing if you like big battle scenes, you're going to love it, and if you don't, you might be disappointed.

Me, I dig guys with swords and bows so... *G*

I'm still not reconciled to that horrible news about Faramir, though. It can't be true, can it? Please tell me it's not? I'd rather have Boromir around if one of them is going to be villainous.

From Time Out New York:

Darker and fleeter than its predecessor, The Fellowship of the Ring, alternately more relaxed and more exciting, the middle child of Middle Earth evinces a supple, brooding grandeur. Director Peter Jackson succeeds, with The Two Towers, in finding and—more crucially—sustaining a rhythm, crosscutting adroitly between the broken fellowship's three factions. Jackson puts most of Hollywood's vaunted action directors to shame, creating bloody chaos on a grand scale without resorting to spatial incoherence. He also craftily restructures the trilogy in order to close Two Towers on a note of queasy alarm, creating a quiet cliff-hanger.—Mike D'Angelo

Here's a brief interview with Peter Jackson in EW and here's their review.

Can you tell I'm really excited and can't wait for tonight? Nine hours to go...

~victoria



link

[current mood: incredibly excited and geeky]
[current music: Fool in the Rain - zeppelin]
[random quote: and now my body is starting to quiver and the palms of my hands getting wet, oh, I got no reason to doubt you baby]

~*~

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The painting is "Boreas" by John William Waterhouse. Again, not a muse, but I like her. She suits the color scheme.

The quote is from Sir Philip Sidney.

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