#I recently rewatched the trilogy over a few weekends
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Tag ppl you wanna know betteeer
Tagged by: @somaisbatman
Last song: "Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)" by Talking Heads has been my latest major earworm. I just made it the new opening of the playlist I’ve been slowly building for the BBEG of my D&D campaign. “Take a look at these hands! The hands of a government man”
Favorite Color: I genuinely loved the red that @somaisbatman picked but for the sake of individuality I'll say the type of pink/lilac/violet-y color that clouds take on at sunset
Currently Watching: umpteenth rewatch of Twin Peaks: The Return with friends. I also started Nichijou with friends recently, which is hysterical
Last Movie: A few: Rewatched The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, probably a top 10-or-20 all-timer for me, since I had been thinking about the late great Michael Gambon; Patlabor 2 (without any context for the rest of the franchise), which was really interesting and beautifully animated and made me want to get mechapilled; and The World's Greatest Sinner, a film directed by and starring notorious Hollywood hanger-on Timothy Carey, about the meteoric political rise of a former insurance salesman who wants to empower the American people with immortality. To quote @impish-lion, it is a glimpse into the mind of your father's weirdest friend. He also compared the protagonist to Euron Greyjoy in that he barely registers as a human being, mainlines a Mystery Juice definitely illicit in nature, and fancies himself a god
Currently Reading: Too many books. I'm making my way through The Lord of the Rings for the first time, which, y'know, it's great. Fevre Dream by George R.R. Martin is pretty good so far, and it's interesting to see earlier stages for a lot of ideas that get more fleshing out in ASOIAF. Also by GRRM we have A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, which like LOTR has taken me embarrassingly long to pick up. I'm slowly inching through The Dark Forest by Cixin Liu, which I'm determined to finish because I really liked its predecessor, even if this trilogy is a little out of my usual wheelhouse. Manhunt by Gretchen Felker-Martin is great even if I need to put it down for a few weeks at a time. And lastly Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon, at whose midpoint I've been stalled for about a year. I'm loving it, I've just seen the movie so many times, and also as you can see I've got a lot on my plate already lol
Sweet/spicy/savory: Spicy
Relationship status: Single (not working super actively to change this, but I am talking very casually to people on the apps, more to feel Desired than anything. at least one connection seems promising so We Shall See. I just want to kiss cool queer people lol)
Current Obsessions: I'm in a bit of an obsession-rut, barring like, the actually obsessive things I do, i.e. washing my hands over and over lmao. I really want to rewatch the The Terror for Halloween season, that will definitely become an obsession if I do. I've also been playing lots of Baldur's Gate III but I wouldn't say that's at Obsession Status.
Last googled: the release date for Killers of the Flower Moon. I'm busy that weekend :(
Currently working on: My video editing reel. The next arc of my D&D campaign (no idea when I'll actually be running it, but I feel really confident that I've basically got it all mapped out. I've been running it for several years now and much as I'll miss it when it's finished, I am incredibly happy to wrap it up soon lol). I've also taken to writing creatively more in my free time recently which has been nice. EDIT: oh, also my mental health/gender/interpersonal relationships but that’s not Currently so much as Perennially lol
tagging my irl friend @impish-lion even though I know him pretty well. also tagging mutuals @visenyaism/@soupseason, @moss-sprouted and @pigeonz/@melasshai. Nobody do this if you don't want to lol
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Hobbitses
#I recently rewatched the trilogy over a few weekends#my art#fanart#Lord of the Rings#Treebeard#Merry and Pippin#Peregrine Took#Meriadoc Brandybuck#JRR Tolkein#ents#digital art#LoTR#The Two Towers
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Rules: tag 9 people you want to get to know better or catch up with (or tag whomever)
Tagged by the lovely @chicotfp - thank you! <33333
Favourite Colour: Purple, especially the blue-toned shades
Last Song: A Soft Exchange by Elegant Machinery. I know nothing about them, but they pop up on my spotify on a regular basis because they're quite similar to Empathy Test, who I listen to all the damn time :D
Currently Reading: I'm about to pick up my German coursebook to start this week's work on the theme of Migration. Other than that, I haven't read a book in ages, being entirely without the mental energy and concentration, but I received the English version of Ari Väntänen's biography of Hanoi Rocks' drummer Razzle a few days ago and I am hoping to find the wherewithal to read it this weekend.
Last Movie: I can't remember. I'm sure I've watched one or two recently, but I can't for the life of me remember. I did rewatch the 2011 Three Musketeers and the LotR and Hobbit trilogies over the Christmas holidays, and also Still Crazy and That Thing You Do! on the evening of Christmas Day, but I can't remember any others since. Brain full, no room for new stuff, or most short-term memories, at the moment. :D
Sweet, Savory or Spicy: All three, but not necessarily at the same time (although sweet chilli...hmm...)
Currently working on: Working up the wherewithal to try and make some progress on one or other of Empty Vessel, Break You But You'll Mend or All I Want Is You. And, in about five minutes, if I can make myself start it, the first part of the Migration unit of my Open University level 3 German course.
Tagging: without any pressure, @verecunda, @theresonlyzuul, and anyone else who wants to do it! (I can't remember who I've tagged before, who I ought to have tagged, and who I'm mutuals with, at the moment, so please do excuse me.)
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I was tagged by @wangxianbunnydoodles (oh my, this is long and you might regret it; also I don’t follow instructions well 😉). I tend not to be very good at these things (sorry to anyone else who has tagged me in these kinds of things before—this is a rare event happening mostly because I wanna talk about Tolkien books and ships) but here goes:
Top 3 Ships
I don’t actively ship characters that often. I’m not sure why that is. I do enjoy reading fic with pairings either canon or not, but I don’t often go “all in” on ships in most narratives I consume. There are notable exceptions (more than three but these are the three most recent—I have no idea how to identify my top ships):
WangXian (CQL). This is surely obvious from the current state of my blog, right? I blame The Untamed and its impossibly tender, only-subtextual-by-a-hair’s-breadth romance. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a show express ultimate devotion, deep affection, true appreciation, complete understanding (eventually), and the sheer *necessity of the other* between two people quite like this one has. Hell, I don’t think I’ve ever seen two characters and desperately wanted them together and happy as much as I have these two, so bravo to the cast and crew for generating such second-hand devotion in me.
Silvergifting (Tolkien). This is all @thearrogantemu’s fault. I’d read some Silvergifting before I read These Gifts That You Have Given Me, mostly out of curiosity (some good stuff, too!), but I had never read any Tolkien fic that convinced me it was *true* (on many, many levels, though the ship level is the one pertinent to this post). In any canon-like universe this ship hurts, but in the Gifts universe it hurts the most; it hurts like Hell. It hurts in the way only razor-sharp, sorry-the-universe-works-this-way, oh-are-those-my-entrails-on-the-floor-I-didn’t-even-feel-the-knife tragedy can hurt. And it’s so convincing that it’s just...a fact now. Tolkien just forgot to tell us. So now I ship Silvergifting, but most deeply, specifically THAT Silvergifting. (Meanwhile, 14 year old me continues to look at *significantly* older me like I’m insane.)
ZeLink (Legend of Zelda). Deep down I’m still 12 years old and no amount of fine lines and wrinkles is going to change that. When is Breath of the Wild 2 coming out?
Last Song
I listen to soundtracks and bombastic and dramatic orchestral pieces much more often than I listen to what people mean when they say “songs,” and a significant chunk of the “songs” I listen to are from musicals/operas.
Earlier today it was Hanz Zimmer’s soundtrack to Dark Phoenix (don’t start me up on the continuing disappointment that Phoenix adaptations continue to be to me—you don’t want to hear it; even I don’t want to hear it).
Before that it was Barbra Streisand’s The Broadway Album. (I prefer her outer space cover of “Somewhere” to the actual thing. Fight me.)
Before that it was Carmina Burana (One of my favorite things ever was when we went to a live performance of Carmina Burana and a boy who couldn’t have been more than 7 years old sat in the aisle in front of us and head-banged enthusiastically through “O Fortuna.” It was so metal. You go, kid. You get it.).
Before that it was a splattering of Billy Joel hits with emphasis on “2000 Years”, “River of Dreams”, “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant”, “The Stranger”, and “Only the Good Die Young” (thanks to that outstanding WangXian interpretation!).
Of course the soundtracks to The Untamed/CQL have been on repeat for weeks around here, particularly every single iteration of “WuJi” and the flute-heavy instrumental pieces (man, those are good!).
Not long ago I had Sarah Brightman’s covers of “Figlio Perduto” from La Luna and “Glosoli” and “One Day Like This” from Dreamchaser burning through my iPhone battery (yes, I like popera).
Enya, and especially Shepherd Moons and The Track Which Shall Not Be Named has been on repeat a lot.
Last Movie
I don’t sit down to watch movies that often any more. It just takes too much stillness and undivided attention and more resistance to multi-tasking than I have. The actual last movie that I watched (in a “have it on on another screen while I work” kind of way) was Raiders of the Lost Ark, which, of course, I’ve seen umpteen times and which followed a similar rewatch of the Back to the Future trilogy. The last movie I watched completely without distraction was Book Smart; I don’t watch comedies very often, but I really enjoyed it in an “OMG, I can totally relate to this” kind of way (except for the class president thing—that would have required that I interact with other people my own age and also not be homeschooled). Before that I think it was the Tolkien biopic. Man, I still haven’t written anything about that.
Currently Reading (in order of when I started them)
Oh dear.
The Familiar: part 1, Mark Z Danielewski. *sigh* For as much as I think Danielewski is brilliant and House of Leaves is one of my favorite books ever, I’ve just not been able to get into much of his other work. It’s universally a time and energy investment to penetrate and puzzle through, and I just don’t have as much of that as I used to. House of Leaves makes that investment worth it from early on and is absolutely a page-turner once you settle in, but other than The Fifty Year Sword I’ve just not been able to get into the rest of his work. The Familiar: part 1 is supposed to be the first in a 26 part series which is currently halted at part 4, I think. Without a guarantee of all parts ever being published, I don’t think I’m ready to invest more time into part 1 and may end up abandoning it, unfortunately.
History of The Hobbit, Douglas Anderson. Anderson did what Christopher didn’t and gave The Hobbit the HoMe treatment (if a bit less literal and opaque in format). It’s fascinating (I mean, there’s the Beren and Luthien name drop you were not expecting right there in the first draft), but reading essentially the same passages with only small changes over and over can be a slog, so reading it has been an ongoing project for over a year now.
Splintered Light: Logos and Language in Tolkien’s World, Verlyn Fleiger. This is Fleiger’s look at Tolkien’s Middle-earth in light of his association with Owen Barfield. Particularly, she is examining Tolkien’s work in conjunction with Barfield’s Poetic Diction and his thoughts on language and meaning. I have not read Poetic Diction, but I probably will now since it apparently addresses language formation as related to the origin of human consciousness which is SO up my alley.
New Seeds of Contemplation, Thomas Merton. My late sister-in-law had a masters in theology from Notre Dame and became a huge Merton fan. Meanwhile, my best friend actually spent a weekend retreat at The Abbey of Gethsemani. Between hearing about him from the two of them, I developed an interest in Merton. I happened to read “Moral Theology of the Devil” a couple of years ago. It was one of the most illuminating theological things I have read and deeply inspired my own Tolkien fic-writing (let’s just say the progress there is otherwise slow). This book is a collection of pieces which happens to contain that piece, and I’ve been skipping around through it for a while now.
The Lord of the Rings reread (Tolkien, obviously). I hate this, but I am so deep in so many critical Tolkien books that I’ve not had the chance to really sit down and relax into my reread for months and months and will likely just end up starting over. Plus I want to read it concurrently with the next entry in this list and the next entry is taking longer to get through because of its format. That entry being:
The Lord of the the Rings: A Reader’s Companion, Hammond and Scull. This is a treasure trove of data and insights for those really wanting to dig critically-historically into The Lord of the Rings on a chapter-by-chapter, passage-by-passage basis. The only issue with it is that jumping back and forth between the two (as you have to: this is a reference book) tends to kill the mood of The Lord of the Rings when read as it’s meant to be read: for enjoyment!
The Power of Limits: Proportional Harmonies in Nature, Art, and Architecture, Gyorgy Doczi. This has been an ongoing read here and there since Christmas, especially as I work on two personal projects.
The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, Lesslie Newbigin. To be honest I don’t think I am going to finish this one. I like a few of the things he says, things I think are truthful and which need to be confronted in American Christian culture in particular, but it’s just too much Calvin for my taste, too many assumptions I do not share being the heretic that I am, and I spend too much time anger-notating about theology to read it with grace.
In Full Measure I Return to You, thearrogantemu. This is a reread of the (relatively) happy AU fic for my most favoritest Tolkien fic (Gifts), but I’ve put my reread on hold while I finish one of the two projects, after which I am diving in and screw the rest of this list for the time being.
Food Craving
Sushi. My kingdom for some good sushi. I’ve only had sushi once since we got back from NY and while it was the best sushi I have had locally IT WAS NOT OMAKASE AT SUSHI NOZ. It also didn’t require a personal loan to pay for, but *shrug* I’m spoiled now and will forever crave what I can no longer have.
People I’d Like To Get To Know Better
I hate tagging people in these things because I’m awkward and shy and do them so rarely myself that it feels hypocritical for me to ask it of others. That being said: if you’re a follower of my blog and you want to do this, please do! And please tag me! I’d love to get to know more about you 😊.
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My Favorite Movies of the 2010s
It’s the end of the decade, so I thought I’d join in and post a top ten. As always, keep in mind that this is a list of my FAVORITE movies of the decade, not the “greatest”. Now, before I get to the top ten, here are some of the runner ups.
Most Rewatchable: Take Me Home Tonight
I was one of very few people who saw this flick in theaters, (it didn’t even make the top ten at the box office its opening weekend,) but I have rewatched it a million times since. Love the 80′s setting, the ensemble cast, and the conceit that the plot unfolds over the course of one night. Relatable and funny, I highly recommend it, if you haven’t seen it already.
Favorite Guilty Pleasure: Hot Tub Time Machine
Who would’ve thought a movie with this stupid a premise would actually have as much depth, heart, and of course laughs, as it did. Cusack at his most Cusackiest, again, that 1980′s setting, and a cameo from Chevy Chase; what’s not to love?
Most Marvelous Movie: The Avengers
This movie was everything a Marvel movie should be. Rewarding if you saw the movies leading up to it, (though unlike the more recent Avengers flicks, makes sense even if you haven’t seen the other movies,) emotional depth, and most importantly, it’s entertaining as hell.
And now for the top ten list...
10. Spotlight
No nonsense filmmaking, tight script, and a great ensemble cast, telling a compelling, true story of great investigative journalism, makes this one of the great movies of the decade.
9. Mission: Impossible - Fallout
This Mission: Impossible is everything one of those movies should be: a non-stop thrill ride with impressive stunts, and a story with twists and turns that keeps you on the edge of your seat from start to finish.
8. Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)
Michael Keaton’s triumphant return to Hollywood, in an Oscar-nominated performance, in a visually immersive film, with a great ensemble cast.
7. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo
Between this and the other David Fincher thriller of the decade, Gone Girl, I probably should’ve gone with Gone Girl. It was more popular, more socially relevant, and features the amazing Rosamund Pike in an unforgettable performance, but screw it. I enjoyed this film better. I enjoyed the old school, mystery thriller elements of it, I enjoyed the book, and it features my second favorite non-Bond performance by Daniel Craig, (after Layer Cake). Also, Rooney Mara was great as the title character. I love Claire Foy, but I really wish Rooney got to come back for another round as Lisabeth Salander.
6. Black Swan
Much like The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, this is a movie about obsession. I love movies about obsession, probably because I am a bit obsessive myself. Great performance from arguably my favorite leading lady, Natalie Portman, in a movie well directed by Darren Aronofsky, and beautifully shot in 16mm by director of photography Matthew Libatique. This movie was an A+ theater-going experience, that has continued to hold up over the years.
5. The Dark Knight Rises
Haters gonna hate on this one, but I don’t care. What can I say about this movie that will help you understand why I love it...it’s a Batman movie, starring Christian Bale, the scene-stealing Anne Hathaway, Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Marion Cottiliard, Joseph Gordon Levitt...AND Michael Caine, AND Morgan Freeman, AND Cillian Murphy, AND Liam Neeson, beautifully shot in IMAX, and directed by visionary director Christopher Nolan. That’s enough for me. But if you want more, I really responded to the emotionality of the piece, the character arc of Bruce Wayne, and the fact it concluded what I thought was an amazing trilogy. Again, haters gonna hate, but whatever.
4. Shutter Island
Much like The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo vs. Gone Girl, I probably should’ve gone with the other Martin Scorsese-Leonardo DiCaprio pic from this decade, The Wolf of Wall Street, but I like this one better. It’s a classic film noir/psychological thriller, (I’m a big fan of the genre,) with a tight script, beautifully shot by Bob Richardson, with what I think is Leo DiCaprio’s best performance. And if your response is to say you saw the twist coming a mile a way and that ruined the movie for you, watch it again, because you missed the point of the movie.
3. The Social Network
Director David Fincher firing on all cylinders, an amazing script by Aaron Sorkin, telling a socially-relevant story that defines my generation. ‘Nuff said.
2. Skyfall
Imagine a world where you get a top-notch Bond flick with a classic Bond villain played by Javier Bardem AND a well-crafted drama directed by Sam Mendes, shot by Roger Deakins, composed by Thomas Newman, with an Oscar-winning song from Adele. Let the sky fall!
1. Inception
Enough has been said about Inception, so I’ll just say it is a beautifully shot movie, directed by one of my favorite directors at the height of his game, with a great cast, that truly captured my imagination. What a fun time at the movies.
#Inception#ChristopherNolan#DavidFincher#the girl with the dragon tattoo#leonardodicaprio#Batman#christianbale#TheAvengers#ShutterIsland#natalieportman#MissionImpossible#MichaelKeaton#Birdman#Skyfall#JamesBond
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Notebook Day #26: Abundance
Day 26 (casting coins): ䷶ - hexagram 55, 豐/Abundance
Explanation here, keep track of all posts here.
"I gazed out over the hills. The blackness was now giving away again to grey. The birds started singing again, confusedly. A cockerel crowed but then stopped. A strange, cool wind swept in from the mountains. The dogs went on barking.”
P. 289 of Sixty-Four Chance Pieces by Will Buckingham
I actually cast hexagram 30 again today, but as I’ve already covered that one, I took advantage of a changing line in the sixth place to turn ䷝ into ䷶. Buckingham chooses not to follow the standard translation of ‘abundance’ as the basis of his story, instead following a historical link to the founding of the Zhou dynasty, portended by an eclipse of the sun. Interestingly, there was just such a ‘ring of fire’ eclipse on the summer solstice a few days ago, visible in West Africa, South Asia and China.
Humanity long ago rationalised away the movements of the celestial bodies through observation of regular patterns and forces. However, in recent decades we’ve come to realise that rather than the heavens affecting us, we affect the heavens, at least in the form of climate and weather. This year saw the warmest May on record globally, and I’m currently sitting in what seems an ‘unusual’ June heatwave in London, predicted to top 30°C (86°F) for several days, following on from several weeks of heavy rain.
At the weekend my flatmates and I finished our rewatch of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, a personally formative piece of culture that I love to return to every few years (alongside the books). As Frodo and Sam draw nearer to Mordor, and Sauron’s power grows, the weather changes. It never really gets light, or dark, with the barren land in a state of constant twilight, almost like a solar eclipse.
While Tolkien may have been simply a reactionary in some ways, with an obvious dislike for all things industrial, it’s very much possible to read LoTR as deeply ecological. The ents are the most obvious example, enacting ecological justice by rising up against their own persecutor, Saruman. They personify a ‘long now’ perspective, guarding against the shifting baseline syndrome that means we often don’t even notice the slow degradation of our world.
Although I was initially buoyed by the appearance of Extinction Rebellion on the scene, I’ve come to find their tactics tiresome, and their relentless negativity counterproductive. Their perspective often seems to flirt so close to nihilism that it falls into it, and I suspect it may be making many bury their heads in the sand even more.
In this short article on Tolkien’s inspiration for climate advocates, Tim Beshara talks about the twin ideas of the ‘long defeat’ and the ‘eucatastrophe’, a sudden and unexpected change of fortune for the better, like Gandalf’s late appearance in the battle of Helm’s Deep, or the eagles who rescue Sam and Frodo from Mount Doom.
Some believe that the sudden global consciousness engendered by coronavirus will bring us to our senses, and finally enable proper cooperation on caring for our planet, and I can only hope this is true. Whatever happens, there is no escape from the charnel ground. But at the same time, all the world is a sacred paradise. So we’d better get to work.
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