Nico's Journal

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has its première tonight and opens for the public Wednesday 12 December at midnight. We have tickets! Yes--for midnight! [is excited] And awww, today's Herald had a poster of Martin Freeman looking very anxious and Vila-like. [loves] There was a photo of the main cast and I noticed Sylvester McCoy was in there; he plays Radagast the Brown.

Wellington is calling itself Middle of Middle Earth as Greg found when he went there last week. On the plane they had the Hobbit-style safety video and also Hobbit-related trivia questions. Of course Gollum is fishing in the airport. When Greg got back, he said he'd also seen Mount Doom from the plane, meaning Tongariro, and it erupted the next day.

I should post something other than art. OK, what have I done lately?

We failed to go to the Food Show because Greg said he was too busy to take Friday morning off, though he'd earlier said he could, and claimed it would rain on Saturday (it didn't), and I consoled myself that I couldn't really afford to buy stuff there. We did however go to the house of a fellow Roman re-enactor known as Rob the Roman (which Vila would take as a welcome suggestion) to watch The Eagle with other re-enactors and classics geeks. The film was strangely unengaging, and apart from being American, which seemed somehow wrong (probably because it's based on an English book) they'd changed a lot. I can see why they missed out Cottia and Cub, but not why they changed other things like what happened in the seal people's village. Plus blue Mohicans? Did not seem particularly Pictish apart from the colour.

Also, after growing my hair to chin-length for a couple of years, my hair is now shorter than it started (though not yet Servalan-like) except for the long spiky animé-style fringe which may get a lot longer.

I might do a self-portrait. Or not.

Oh and it was Jasmin's third birthday last week while LJ was down.

I really enjoyed Avatar. It was beautiful, inventive, visually stunning, and exciting. I can see why people go to see it again: for the sheer alien beauty in so many scenes, and the spectacle. I'd like to try it out in 3D even though I'm a bit nervous of heights.

( Slightly spoilery )

Behold, a post that isn't about art! It's hardly surprising though; RL is pretty boring these days.

We watched Wargames last night. It's one of my favourite films and it's been years since I've seen it. It's held up amazingly well, not looking dated at all except for the computers, and it's hard to believe it was made shortly after Blake's 7 which looks as if it's from a different era. The staff at NORAD include women and people of colour; none of the sexism that sometimes came up in B7.

It's a brilliant film, and I love General Beringer with his preference for people over machines, and his "Hell, I'd piss on a spark plug if I thought it'd do any good!" The cast is perfect, with Barry Corbin as the rather lovable general and John Wood with his thin, intellectual face and sardonic, detached look as Falken.

It reminded me of when I worked as a programmer for the Health Department, where we used to play Global Thermonuclear War ourselves, even though (or perhaps because) it was well after the fall of the USSR. The building we worked in was a solid concrete bunker with slit windows designed to be too narrow for a person to get through, and with rotating security firms providing guards, and swipe cards for all employees to get in, set to different levels of security (e.g. I couldn't actually get into the computer room). I used to think it was overkill for medical records, being young and innocent, until a colleague uncovered the frequent hospital visits of his neighbour for removal of various self-inserted items. Anyway, one day I left a printout of my missile sites (I was playing the USSR) on my desk and it was gone in the morning. Someone said a guard had it, so I went to see. Yes, one of them had found it in the night and put it in the safe and wasn't releasing it to anyone without sufficient authority. I let him keep it. He obviously thought the place wasn't really the Heath Department, and I bet it totally made his week. :-)

So it's J J Abrams who gets the golden spork from me for the annoying Star Trek lens flares that bugged me throughout what was otherwise a great and fun film. Have a look at the video on that page for just how maddeningly intrusive they are, those of you who didn't seem to notice them. No, J J, your explanation doesn't wash with me.

5,000,000 negative points and a spork in the eyes for that.

Check out this very funny Comic Relief spoof of Mamma Mia (there's a link to part 2 on the first one).

Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Joanna Lumley, and Sienna Miller star with Philip Glenister (the Guv!) in the Pierce Brosnan role, Miranda Hart (Teal in Hyperdrive) as the director, and Matt Lucas (Little Britain) as the choreographer. Bwahahaha! Thanks to azdak for the link.

Today I went to the mole map clinic where they mapped a few for future comparison and removed two suspicious ones right then and there under local anaesthetic. One was on my left calf and the other on my right shoulder. I have to go back next week to get the stitches out. Even if they're melanomas, they were small enough to be caught in plenty of time. The clinic had these huge glass backlit pictures on the wall depicting an island (possibly The Island of Lost) at sunset, and at midday, and two waterfalls while the changing light behind then made the water look as if it was rippling or falling. I was... a little disconcerted and asked why. The doctor said the office designer said they were soothing to patients. Me, I spent time trying to work out of the patterns were random or not (not).

When I got home, I found I had: a travel umbrella I'd bought on line; the When Vila met Gan audio I ordered from Horizon complete with Michael Keating's signature and a very miserable photo of S4 Vila (I will scan it tomorrow); and a postcard from kalypso_v on her holiday in France--thank you! :-D I am somewhat nervous about listening to the CD. I've heard it is not just rather crap and that Gan is from Croydon (these two facts possibly connected) but it's not from the B7 universe at all, but the alternate B7E one set 200 years in the future but with contemporary helicopters and police cars. Yes, the same one that will be in the miniseries. Still, it's Michael Keating, so it can't be all bad. Can it?

Then I went out to Mamma Mia with Greg and three others from his work. Meryl Streep as Donna, and her two friends (esp the wonderful Julie Walters) were the best. Pierce Brosnan was a bad choice though; every time he burst into song--looking slightly embarrassed, poor guy--we sniggered. Colin Firth was awkward and sweet; pity there wasn't more of him. For one frightening moment, I thought Egrorian was performing the marriage ceremony. :-P

I am now back home after a very nice fish dinner followed by an amazingly good stem ginger pudding and am going to bed.

From kernezelda: Below the cut is Entertainment Weekly's list of the top movies of the last 25 years. Go through their list, bold the ones you have seen and underline the ones you own on video or DVD.

( 100 films and some comments )

And now for Prince Caspian

( Spoilers )

My life isn't exactly a thrill a day, but I'm enjoying taking it easy in mostly sunny if cool weather.

Yesterday I had my hair cut and some very nice, subtle caramel streaks put through it. Shiny! Oh and my 3-pack of bamboo t-shirts arrived: very nice and smooth against the skin. I always buy men's t-shirts because women's have such silly little sleeves.

Today I was driven from the house by yet another power cut (the second in three weeks) to get some ordered library books, lunch, cat food, and some teeny light bulbs that make my glowy planet made of Himalayan crystal salt glow like Jupiter about to achieve fusion. According to my neighbour, it was a line fault, but the hardware store checkout guy said it was a moron in a Bentley hitting a power pole in Remuera. [rolls eyes] This happens all too often with far too many lunatics, drunk or otherwise, on the roads. And this after I rang up Vector a few weeks ago and asked why they weren't undergrounding power lines while Metrowater was digging up our road, which they're supposed to under their 'dig once' policy.

When I got back however I was pleased to find the power back on and the SG1 DVD The Ark of Truth, the conclusion to the Ori story, in the letterbox. It has a lot of special features too, including: a commentary with Robert C Cooper, Christopher Judge, and Peter Woeste; Stargate at Comic-Con; and a couple of 'featurettes' which might be compressed sequels compiled from the series. Yay, some weekend viewing.

Speaking of SG1, the SG1 friendathon master list is up. I've only read a couple so far but they were excellent.

I also saw Indiana Jones in the weekend and it was the adventurous and entertaining escapism I was expecting and wanted, full of the cunning ancient traps, vehicle chases, and SFX that I've enjoyed in the others. ( Minor spoilers )

I haven't done that much of interest lately unless you count going to the Aotea market and scoffing a delicious samosa before buying some dichroic glass pendants for Greg's sisters and a couple of other nice things for myself. The same guy with the unicycle and basketballs that trixieleitz and I saw a couple of years ago was there. Huh.

I'm entertaining myself at night with films on DVD. Last night it was Wah Wah which I found more sad than the 'heart warming' it was described as. Beautiful scenes of Swaziland though, and a great cast, including Fenella Woolgar as a horsey type; pity there wasn't more of her.

Tonight, while Greg is on a train from Sofia to Varna, it was Galaxy Quest. Man, I love that film, even more than when I first saw it because I hadn't been to a con back then. Brilliant stuff!