You're gonna be bothered by how cool I am.

It was shared on the BNAT Facebook group yesterday, and I'm going to be watching it pretty much on a loop between now and the Hobbit release date.



ETA: OMG YOU GUYS, this is available on MP3 on Amazon! *downloads immediately*

Yes, I'm still doing this! :P

( Order of the Phoenix )

( POTC: Curse of the Black Pearl )

( Kill Bill, Vol. 1 )

( LOTR: Return of the King (movie) )

( Oldboy )

( Wandwielder )

( The Botherfic )

( Kill Bill, Vol. 2 )

( Prisoner of Azkaban film )

( The Mutations )

In a fit of madness masquerading as nostalgia, I have set myself a reading and watching schedule of all the HP books and the films (not just HP) that shaped my time in the fandom. (I may throw some television in as well - an episode or two, not whole seasons! - depending on how well I keep to the schedule.) I'm doing everything in chronological order, just to make things extra complicated.

I started with the first four HP books, which of course is where it all began. I should have stopped after the first book and watched the first HP film, since that's when I technically experienced it. But I can't even explain why that makes things so much more complicated without sounding like an even crazier person than I must already seem. :P

I thought I'd record some thoughts here for posterity.

( Sorcerer's Stone )

( Chamber of Secrets )

( Prisoner of Azkaban )

( Goblet of Fire )

( Sorcerer's Stone film )

( Fellowship of the Ring film )

( Gosford Park )

( Lagaan )

( Chamber of Secrets film )

( Night Warning )

( The Two Towers film )

And now to push through Order of the Phoenix. As I said, I usually dread rereading this, but I'm looking forward to it for a change. Bring on the Umbridge! "HE GOT OFF!" Harry's first snog! I'm even kind of looking forward to Grawp, WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME???

I'm sure you've all heard by now that Sir Ian McKellan (and Andy Serkis, of course) is officially on board to film the two Hobbit films in New Zealand starting next month.  But what you might not have seen is this blog post he wrote confirming it. 

He is so lovely, and I am so glad he will be back.

There's only one word to describe Tarantino's Kill Bill - kicka**. This is a geek's film. I didn't get all the references, but I definitely saw the Shaw Brothers' influence. I think it's cool that of the five people The Bride is out to kill (all of them assassins), three of them are women. And I love the whole 'honor among thieves' idea. These people are cold-blooded killers, but they're not going to kill The Bride (her real name, the only time it's mentioned, is bleeped out) while she's in a coma and can't fight for herself, because that would be beneath them. And, all of the butt-kickin' samurai stuff aside, my favorite scene is early in the film when The Bride kills Copperhead (Vivica A. Fox). If you've seen the previews and TV spots, you know their knife fight is interrupted by Vivica's little girl coming home from school. The fighting stops and the two women decide to meet that night, so that the little girl doesn't have to see her mommy kill or be killed. But things get out of hand and The Bride has to kill her anyway. As she's cleaning off her knife, the little girl comes in. The Bride expresses her regret that she had to see this, and she tells the little girl "When you grow up, if you're still raw about this, I'll be waiting." She acknowledges this little girl's right to seek revenge, and that really moved me.

And it reminded me (painfully) that a lot of people who consider themselves good people (and even people in our own government) don't have principles as firmly held as those of the people they consider "the problem". It's all about whatever's best for me and mine, not what's right.

This was also one of those movies that forced me, as soon as I left the theater, to go straight to Tower Records and buy the soundtrack. I can't stop playing the first track (see musical selection for today).

EDITED TO ADD: But best of all was before the movie even started, when I got to see that glorious Return of the King trailer in all its widescreen beauty. I FREAXIN wept!

It's Friday again, and it looks as if I'll be able to get away from work on time again today, despite having squandered a good portion of the work day yesterday in a battle of futility trying to get LOTR tickets. Oh well. It will be interesting to see the three films in 3 different cities - FOTR in Franklin, TTT in Houston, and ROTK in Austin.

I fully intend to see Kill Bill, vol. 1 today. I hear it's the most violent R-rated movie ever made, or something like that. That's a pretty bold statement, but I guess I'll see for myself in a few hours. I've never understood why Tarantino's stuff is so good and why I love it so much, but I do.

I'm reading the Lord of the Rings books for the first time in my life. I'm still just a little ways into Fellowship, but I'm really enjoying it so far. I'm having a hard time, as I did with The Hobbitt, getting around all of Tolkien's descriptions of the landscape. I'm just not good at spatial visualization. And I keep picturing the film actors as the characters, which I guess is a mistake. It's hard to reconcile Frodo being 50 years old, when I keep picturing Elijah "Mr. Cute" Wood. And the Frodo of the books seems a lot more angsty than Elijah's more wistful portrayal in the films. But I am enjoying the book immensely so far.

I am currently in an online battle alongside angua9 for tickets to Trilogy Tuesday. Our mutual enemy . . . fandango.com. First they were sold out. Then they weren't able to sell tickets. Then they were able to sell tickets, but they wouldn't take my credit card (either one of them). Then they were sold out again. Then there was an internal error. Unable to process card. Internal error. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.

And now it's back to "sold out." The only option is to drive back out to the theater and make sure. Until then . . . we wait.

Trilogy Tuesday is already sold out! Why oh why can't they have it in more than one theater in town?

I can't even see it in Nashville, but if I end up going to Texas, it's still sold out, whether I make the trip to Houston or stay in Austin.

Waaaaahhhh!

Well, I finished Northanger Abbey this morning, and I loved it. I believe my favorite bit was Henry teasing Catherine about the Abbey by playing on all the things he knew she had read about in novels.

Anyway, next on my list is Lord of the Rings. Yes, I know I should have read it long ago, but I never got around to it. And I figure I'd better read it before the last movie comes out. ;)

On the debate front, now people are trying to argue that Ron doesn't like Hermione *that way*. I suppose all that jealousy over Krum was just out of spite since he can't stand Hermione. (*rolls eyes*) Can't they make up their minds?

Omygosh! Click here and prepare to be amazed!

Peter Jackson is THE MAN!