Friday, January 30, 2004


LOTR: TTT (extended) & ROTK ...with some Gladiator

Last Saturday (that would be the 24th) I finally got a chance to see LOTR: ROTK but first I wanted a chance to see the extended edition of TTT so I rented it. I'm watching it again right now before it goes back in the morning. I'd forgotten how funny it was and how much I'm really enjoying this series, but unlike with FOTR, I can't really tell where the extended scenes are in TTT. Oh well. It's still a good film.

Now ROTK on the other hand, is one of the BEST films I've seen in a LONG TIME! Because I didn't blog it immediately, I can't give you the usual break-down, but I'll say this: I'm reading the books. I've been putting it off but I'll actually get to it one day, this is good stuff and by good I mean interesting and well put together. ROTK could very well win the Oscar for Best Film. I got pissed when it got the Golden Globe nomination after only being out in release for what 2 days? And then it won and everyone in the room got pissed (something sure pissed everyone off during the first commercial break- did you see everyone's expressions?)...

Anyway, the point is, it's good. Real good. Dang good. But I'm not gonna sit here and play LOTR vs Star Wars or LOTR vs Harry Potter (or Star Wars vs Harry Potter). They're all their own little different worlds and I ain't gonna do that. Star Trek is the exception tho. ;-) Star Trek loses every time. :-D Yes I'm very biased there. :-D

LOTR: ROTK is EXCELLENT!!!! Most impressive feature: Gondor! Did Lego make a model of that?

PS- Btw, immediately after seeing ROTK, my movie buddy (my Aunt) and I ate dinner with my family and we all watched Gladiator together. I didn't care for Gladiator at all. I'm still having déjà vû like nuts so that kept at me all thru both films. I might have seen Gladiator before and forgotten it but Gladiator didn't impress me at all and I'm sure part of it's because I was 90 minutes fresh from ROTK. But mostly I just didn't like it (hint: it's the incest theme they had going). So that's that.
posted @ 9:50 PM  |   0 comments  |  


Debate Debacle

I was out of the house at the time of the Democratic debate last night but I taped it. <::sigh::> Politicians. <::sigh::>

I have a bad feeling it's gonna be either Kerry, Dean, or Liberman who comes out of that one. Sharpton's not gonna be President- he's using the campaign as a soapbox even tho a good bit of what he's saying is true to some extent. I thought it was more of a "my ego-can-beat-up-your-ego"-fest than an issues debate, at least we *had* one of those last time. I won't be voting next week.

Another thing, I can't remember if this was on local news here in SC (the Democratic debate was held in Greenvile SC but no I don't live in Greenville, but yes I did attend a Weird Al concert at the Peace Center there once): but Brokaw said that the candidates there were all too familiar with each other and didn't seem to want to "mix it up". I agree. But there was also a good bit of eye-rolling and heavy sighing as well. A lot of them had that look of "oh shit, here he goes again..." and that's how I felt about it. There was a town meeting this morning on my local channel with the same group but I slept thru it. Oh well. It's not like we won't be voting again this year.
posted @ 9:30 PM  |   0 comments  |  

Wednesday, January 14, 2004


Steve-o Steve-o Steve-o

Okay this shows you how a bit behind I am in getting online right now. Yes I know about what Steve Irwin did and no I don't approve, but this just goes to show you how the media can be so <too angry to say it> about some people whether they be celebs or not. Us bloggers who have grudges against the media already know this particular beef pretty well and know the kind of rant I'm about to pull before I pull it here even if they don't know Steve Irwin. And neither does Entertainment Tonight even tho Steve Irwin's been around for years. If you've heard this before, apologies. <sigs offer earplugs>

croc fiend: I saw both tape angles and I've been watching Steve Irwin's series for years. I've also seen the bios and many specials several times. I'm hard-core, I know what I'm talking about here.

croc on ground, baby in arms: Crocodile was on one side of Steve's body. Baby was on *opposite side* of Steve's body. Croc would have to *go thru Steve* in order to get to baby.

croc on ground, baby on ground: Crocodile was *facing the water* AND *heading towards the water* while the baby was on the ground. Doubtful the croc ever saw the baby.

Mommy was home: Teri was there and saw the whole thing. She didn't pitch bloody murder and rest assured she would have done so if she thought there were a problem.

Baby Irwin: Baby was Steve and Teri's son. Steve wouldn't endanger his own kids on purpose.

Steve's turf: Steve Irwin GREW UP IN THE ZOO. I'm not kidding. If you've never seen the bio (in particular the 90-minute version) episode of "The Crocodile Hunter: Steve's Story" then you'd better go watch it right this instant. Steve Irwin grew up in a reptile zoo. And not just any reptile zoo. The VERY ZOO he keeps and maintains right now. He owns that place, and he still lives there! There's another episode in the same series (cuz he's got at least 3 series: the regular "The Crocodile Hunter", the kids 30-minute "Croc Files", and the most recent "Crocodile Hunter Diaries") titled "Sleeping With Crocodiles" and in it, he deals with a situation with a croc who gets into a piece of something someone left at the side of the pen and the sound of it woke up Steve in the middle of the night. Steve's house is on the zoo grounds. Btw, said situ w/croc could've killed the croc if Steve didn't handle it and Steve had to do it alone cuz it was in the dead of night. Yes folks- alone.

Steve's kids' turf: If Steve's house is on the zoo grounds, that means his kids house is also on the zoo grounds as well. And if Steve grew up at the zoo, that means his kids are growing up at the zoo too. STEVE KNOWS WHAT HE'S DOING!!!!

the Teri video: Out of context. Watch the series- all 3 of them. Teri gets lots of screen time and even in the bio she brings this up. She even brings this up in interviews, but of course she's gonna be worried for his safety- who wouldn't be?! But this IS the media we're talking about here...(see below)

Steve's recent croc bite: OFFS!!! Steve's gotten THOUSANDS OF BITES! To quote Steve, he's got "scar on scar"! WATCH THE BIO EPISODE!!!!

media feeding frenzy: This is one of those rare times when I've been able to watch the media take a "hot topic" and deliberately leave out crucial information that explains the situation in background context. ET won't tell you to watch the series to put Steve and Teri into context. They won't tell you that Steve grew up in the zoo and that he knows exactly what he's doing. They won't tell you that all the money Steve makes he pours into the zoo and into wildlife conservation. The "publicity experts" don't watch Steve's shows often enough to know that what he wants to do in life has to do less to do with being famous and more to do with education and conservation.

They don't care about putting things in the right context, all the media wants is to show you dirty laundry! Was it Peter Gabriel or Don Hendley that sang "Dirty Laundry"? Egads people...

I'll say it again: I don't approve of Steve taking his son at that age into the pen, but Steve Irwin DID grow up in the reptile park and therefore knows more than a sh*t-load-full WAY more of what he was doing than the rest of the media COMBINED!!! SO SHUT UP!!!!

<whew!> Thanks for that...< everyone de-earplugs>
posted @ 9:32 PM  |   0 comments  |  


Yo-yo-yo-yo-yoga!

No chanting here! Not exactly a NYR (resolutions- stopped making those things years ago), but I've just returned from my second yoga class tonight -oh shut up you guys! <everyone continues non-stop giggling>

I'm taking it for the exercise and relaxation- I badly need both. So far it's not so bad. I took various dance/tumbling/gym-esque classes for a while when I was 3/4/5 and about 6-13 weeks of karate when I was in 8th grade and a right good bit of the thing we're doing in yoga come DIRECTLY from the warm-ups we used to do way back then! We actually did yoga as warm up for dance back when I was 4! Imagine that! I've actually done yoga before! <has to shut Ianpuff up> In case you haven't noticed, the 'Puffs have been giving me heck for this... ;-D

The instructor's alright, no she's not whacked out or anything, altho the music she plays is a bit weird. <Seanpuff and Ewanpuff break out the various weird eastern instruments> Naturally the mats smell like feet. <Hamillpuff makes up some scratch-n-sniff solution and puts it on the astroturf welcome mat> Hey, why do exercise mats always have that same exact smell of either feet or sweat and no matter where you go or what they've been doing, it's always the same 2 smells? Okay nevermind...

The room's nice and dark, but I still gotta wear my layers of socks cuz I still get cold. <Ianpuff quietly tosses ice cube to self> And yes all the different exercises have all those weird names and yes the instructor -very nice lady- does use the names.

<Ewanpuff:>"Is there a Pokémon-releated one?!" No, but there is this one that I think is mis-named because <does the pose> it reminds me of a seal that's coming out of the water and is about to balance a ball on the end of its nose, doesn't it? <Hamillpuff:>"Oh, like this?"

<Hamillpuff jumps into air and tries to land on RH's nose>

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

<::WHEW!::>Lucky no one broke a nose there!

<Hamillpuff:>"owowowowowowowo........."

Anyway, so far so good. Nothing majorly sprained or anything yet. The instructor did say that there are some "side effects" (oh yeah you saw THAT one coming didn't ya? ;-D ) such as irritability or just breaking down spontaneously when you first start because of all the tension that gets released cuz this is a relaxation/tension release thing after all. So far, I've just had a few arm and leg pulls at a few times, a little coordination trouble, some irritability (but then again, I had to wake up about 6 hours earlier than normal that day), and the feeling that my face had been stretched. That "seal pose" (don't remember the real name just now) makes my face feel like a bit like the description of Ford Prefect's face from H2G2, the part about "his skin seemed to be pulled backward from the nose". Then tonight I started losing my balance. I wonder what sort of other fun stuff will start happening to me next week. <'Puffs balance themselves on the hanging lights in the yoga room and hold a bucket of ice water over my yoga mat>

Oh well. I don't go back until Monday (I go Mondays & Wednesdays). <others groan> We had a really great time tonight. There were just 4 of us and the instructor on Monday and none of us really talked all that much before or after then, but tonight one of them wasn't there, and the one who was was born in DC also so it was to have a homegirl there! It was also funny cuz the instructor was a bit sleepy and a little off and we did some improvising and there was also this bit where the night guard peeked in on us but didn't say anything and then all of a sudden there was this funky noise and then the instructor went racing out of the room as we were all stuck mid-pose and then came back kinda flustered cuz the guard and set the security alarm and we had 30 seconds to leave the building before it went off. Well the guard coulda stopped us and said something but NO she just looked at us like we're a bunch a loonies just standing there doing our whatever-the-heck-it-was-yoga-pose we were doing at the time and set the alarm. But then again, maybe that wasn't a guard at all... <eyes 'Puffs to be sure> <'Puffs eye ceiling in a certain way> Okay they're innocent this time- execpt for Ewanpuff, he's spiked something again, only not with alcohol. <Ewanpuff blushes>

Anyway, yoga's cool so far! Just need to figure out a much smarter way to get my hair out of way (and NO I'm NOT cutting it!).

Btw, HAPPY NEW YEAR! <everyone drinks drinks and throws stuff around>
posted @ 9:05 PM  |   0 comments  |