I'm out of town...

for a couple weeks. No posting until 1.2.2004 or later. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

'Return of the King' Reviews

(via Jaq)

Green Man Review

Gamer's Nook Review

I mainly agree with these guys and will come back and reference them later.

Return of the King review [No Spoilers]

Well, we saw 'Return of the King' last night. Of course, we enjoyed many parts of it immensely. You may remember from years past that my first review does not include criticism, just the stuff I enjoyed. So let's get on with it:

- Miranda Otto/Eowyn - loved most everything about her. Whenever she's on stage I call out 'Choose her!'

- Aragorn was more regal, and Christine said she felt Viggo's performance was better.

- Sir Ian McKellen continues his star turn

- a lot of the Pippin stuff, including Billy Boyd's singing

- really, all the Hobbits do a good job. Christine called this 'The Movie of the Brave Hobbits'.

- Minas Tirith

- Frodo's and Sam's relationship (with one minor objection)

- the lighting of the signal beacons

- Grond, the hammer of the Underworld

- the ride of the Rohirrim at The Battle of the Pelennor Fields

- Minas Morgul

- The Straight and Winding Stairs to Cirith Ungol

- Shelob

- the Phial of Galadriel

- Sam in the Tower of Cirith Ungol

- Galadriel is chill at the end

- the ending (which I can't talk much about right now)

Hopefully that makes you even more excited to go see the movie. It's always good to remind myself of all the good things. Otherwise the unreasonable expectations can overwhelm...

The future of flight

Really cool article in The Economist. Pretty wide-ranging, covering both commercial and military frontiers. Warning: no flying cars.

Abandon hope, all ye who enter here

(Which I've also seen translated 'Abandon all hope, you who enter here.', incidentally.)



One of the cool things about Macon, new interact commenter and reader, is that his brothers-in-law run Despair.com.

Repeat after me, Jaq...

New England Patriots: Team of Destiny.

I can't believe how many close ones the Patriots have won. It's like their championship season all over again.

The Patriots gave up a touchdown at home for the first time in five games.

That's crazy.

A better Arwen

interact correspondent Kathy alerted me to a better Arwen:



Had you seen Barbie as Arwen and Ken as Aragorn? I like Barbie as Arwen better than Liv Tyler. Ken as Aragorn, though...that's scary.

Great stars, Batman!

Wow, An Atlas of the Universe is really cool, with lots of additional links, information, and maps.

Which dictionary is the best?

My philologists out there will enjoy this article. Please read it and comment with a few thoughts. You know who you are! (via kottke)

(Speaking of philologists, Macon and I were talking about the word for 'lover of words' the other day. I can't believe I forgot 'philologist', especially since it is so connected with Tolkien. I honestly suggested 'logophile'. Oh well.)

Also via kottke, Funny imitation of Google search features.

My Presidential Candidate Selector Results

2004 American Presidential Candidate Selector

1. Your ideal theoretical candidate. (100%)
2. Kucinich, Rep. Dennis, OH - Democrat (68%)
3. Dean, Gov. Howard, VT - Democrat (61%)
4. Kerry, Senator John, MA - Democrat (56%)
5. Edwards, Senator John, NC - Democrat (53%)
6. Gephardt, Rep. Dick, MO - Democrat (50%)
7. Sharpton, Reverend Al - Democrat (47%)
8. LaRouche, Lyndon H. Jr. - Democrat (46%)
9. Clark, Retired General Wesley K., AR - Democrat (45%)
10. Bush, President George W. - Republican (39%)
11. Libertarian Candidate (34%)
12. Lieberman, Senator Joe, CT - Democrat (33%)
13. Moseley-Braun, Former Senator Carol, IL - Democrat (25%)
14. Phillips, Howard - Constitution (23%)

(via Scott, via Charles)

Obviously, this selector is just about stated policy and not about character. That indicates a problem with the selector itself. Where's the place of character? For example, I don't see myself voting for Lyndon LaRouche ever.

It'a all good...

over at defective yeti.

You Know Yer Indie. Let's Sub-Categorize.

You're a Post-Punk. You know 70s punk was cool, but
it was mostly just a stepping stone for the
greater intellectualism of what would come
after. The 80s were amazing. You quite possibly
have huge hair, and may wear lots of black.
Snare drums need reverb. Lots and lots of
reverb.


You Know Yer Indie. Let's Sub-Categorize.
brought to you by Quizilla

via 13labs

David and 'The Two Towers'

Remember when I had dinner with Dorothea and David? David is on the bonus footage for 'The Two Towers' and wrote the lament for Theodred that Eowyn sings on the Extended Version. Cool.

Nalgene

If you've been around me, you probably know I'm a big water drinker. I'm enjoying my new Nalgene bottle. My friend, Leigh, is studying chemical engineering and wondered what Nalgenes are made of. Also, you might be interested in the Nalgene story.

Getting up to speed

I'm so excited. Now I'm playing with power: I just installed DSL at home. I'm downloading applications and surfing like a madman.

Finally watched The Return of the King trailer and really enjoyed it.

Checked out the latest Finches' Wings and defective yeti to great effect. Found out on Collaboratory that many surviving firemen of the NYFD have left their wives and married their friends' widows. Ewww.

I have finished 'Longitude' by Dava Schobel, 'An Illustrated Brief History of Time' by Stephen Hawking, 'Gates of Fire' by Stephen Pressfield, and the massive, 926 page 'Taiko' by Eiji Yoshikawa. 'Gates of Fire', especially, was excellent. I highly recommend it.

As you can see, I've been pretty into historical fiction. What's your favorite? (I'm going to ask on Collaboratory, too.)

Next up, 'Six Easy Pieces' by Richard Feynman and 'A Game of Thrones' by George RR Martin on Jaq's recommendation.

I have also been enjoying Jimmy Fallon's 'Troll Doll Celebrities' quite a bit, like, I wake up with it in my head first thing in the morning