Just a quick post to say Happy New Year to everyone. It seems so close all of a sudden - or is that just because I seem to know quite a few Aussies? My news years resolution is to make 2004 better than 2003 and also to make sure I stay in contact with friends I haven't spoken to/e-mailed for ages.

For tonight though, I hoping for: a) lots of alcohol and b) some good-looking blokes. I'm taking a, so that's fine. b may well depend on how much of a I drink

Interesting:

Eowyn If I were a character in The Lord of the Rings, I would be Eowyn, Woman of Rohan, niece of King Theoden and sister of Eomer. In the movie, I am played by Miranda Otto. Who would you be? Zovakware Lord of the Rings Test with Perseus Web Survey Software

Eowyn If I were a character in The Return of the King, I would be Eowyn, a Woman of Rohan and niece of King Theoden and sister of Eomer. In the movie, I am played by Miranda Otto. Who would you be? The Return of the King Test with Perseus Web Survey Software

I've now sorted my website out so it's hosted elsewhere, so now all addresses beginning with paranoidangel.me.uk will work and you should be redirected there, if you're getting to this page via mayer.dsl.pipex.com/diary.htm

And here's a Lord of the Rings meme, from fileg:

1. When did you first become a LOTR fan?:
I first read the books six years ago but that was as far as it went until a year ago

2. Have you read the books?:
Yes. I've read FOTR three times, TT twice and I'm on my second reading of ROTK

3. Seen the movies?:
Yes, FOTR once at the cinema and once on DVD, TT twice at the cinema (but I will be getting it on DVD) and ROTK once at the cinema (but I will be going again in February)

4. What is it that you love about LOTR?:
The characters. And, in the films, the swordfighting

5. How many times did you see each of the movies:
See above

6. Times you've read the books:
See above

7. Just how obsessed are you with LOTR?:
Not that obsessed with LOTR, just with Elrond

8. Can you speak elvish?
I have difficulty just pronouncing the elvish words in the books, even when I've heard them in the films.

9. Did you dress up for any of the movie premieres:
No, I didn't go to any of the premieres - I tend to be at work Wednesday mornings

10. Most memorable moment as a fan:
Not so much as an LOTR fan, but when I came out of FOTR with a friend who had never read the books she had guessed Gandalf wasn't dead. I was impressed she'd watched enough Buffy (and other stuff, through me) to know.

11. Favorite of the books:
FOTR. I seem to have something about always preferring the first book in a series.

12. Favorite of the movies:
That would be FOTR as well.

13. Favorite overall character:
Pippin

14. Character you find most attractive:
Aragorn

15. Favorite couple:
I'm not sure I really have one

16. Favorite hobbit:
Since I've already said Pippin, I'll say Sam here

17. Favorite elf:
Elrond, of course!

18. Favorite man:
Aragorn

19. Favorite dwarf:

20. Favorite wizard:

21. Favorite orc:
Don't have one for any of these - there aren't enough to choose from and those that we know about we know some better than others, so it's a bit difficult to compare

22. Favorite villian:
In the film, Galadriel scared me

23. Favorite horse:
Bill the Pony. How can you even ask that question?

24. Favorite scene from the books:
The point in Rivendell in FOTR when Frodo meets up with Bilbo again

25. Favorite scene from the movies:
I think it's a tie between Bilbo's birthday party and Aragorn's fight on Weathertop - sword in one hand and flame in the other.

26. Coolest creature:
None of them, especially

27. Scariest creature:
Actually, the Argonath scared me shitless

28. Cutest creature:
Not sure here either

29. Favorite quote:
From FOTR, Boromir: "They have a cave troll" (it was the way he said it)
From TT, Faramir & Sam: "Your bodyguard?" "His gardener."
From ROTK, Gimli: "That only counts as one!"

30. Where would you want to live in Middle Earth?:
The Shire, or perhaps Rivendell

31. What kind of creature would you be?
A hobbit. I'm nearly there with the height part

32. What's your weapon of choice?:
A sword. What a stupid question.

33. Are you good/evil/somewhere in between?:
That depends on how cool a sword I get...

I actually got to see Return of the King yesterday. I can't say that sitting in a cinema seat for 3.5 hours is a particularly pleasant way to spend the time - especially for my back - oh, how I long for L3 again. Anyway, here there be spoilers if you ain't seen the film - and specially if you haven't read the book.

I'm just remembering Elrond smiling at the end, when Aragorn and Arwen reunite. Yes, it was cheesy, but at that moment I forgave the scriptwriters for making him look like a complete bastard and reminding us he loves his daughter. I don't know whether it was just the way he holds a mug or whether Sean Astin did it deliberately to show us he is a different class from Frodo, Merry and Pippin, but I did like the way the others held theirs by the handle and he didn't at the end, in the Green Dragon.

The film did remind me why Pippin is my favourite character as well. He just looked so scared at being parted from Merry and everything he saw - which is pretty much the same way the rest of us would be reacting in the same situation. And he's now even a grown up yet.

And Faramir, poor Faramir. Why did you ask that question? When the orcs were complaining about the Corsairs being late I was almost expecting them to say "bloody pirates" but that's because I watched Pirates of the Carribbean a few days ago.

I now feel the need to go and download the games (well, demos) now I actually have a computer good enough to play them.

Edit: Elrond and Aragorn quoting Gilraen: "I gave hope to the Dunedain; I have none for myself" (not an exact quote, can't be bothered to get the book out at this moment). They could have capitalised the word hope though.

Now I have new computer I can actually look at Blogger in hi-res mode - which looks like it used to. Very strange.

I've been playing about with this computer since Sunday, along with dad. We were doing really well until I plugged the mouse in on Monday. For some reason this computer doesn't have an ordinary mouse port, even though it has loads of others I'll never use. So we got an adaptor to plug it into the serial port. Which completely failed to work, so we installed the software. Big mistake! The drivers for the mouse and the trackpad conflicted so I couldn't use either, or the keyboard. This was after tech support had gone home, of course. In the end we had to reinstall Windows and start again.

Monday was an eventful day - I also couldn't find my wallet. In fact, I still can't. If I lost it on one of the trains I got on on Saturday and someone's handed it in it will eventually make its way to London. The people I've been ringing up there have been really unhelpful. And don't work weekends so I probably won't get an answer till Monday. And Smiths didn't have The Two Towers DVD, which was very annoying.

Anyway, I am now watching The Phantom Menace on ITV in the corner of my very wide screen (actually, its another ROTK trailer at the mo) and trying to decide on a new wallpaper. Very hard decision to make! I'm off to see Return of the King on Friday so I'm looking forward to that. I'm almost looking forward to going back to work and getting everything back to normal!

I've got out of work on time twice in two days now. I almost don't know what to do with my long evenings. The best thing about ADSL - downloading the new episode of Stargate in about 10 minutes. And it kept on going really slow. The episode seemed to go really slow although I remembered why I love Teal'c - he does come up with the best lines.

Return of the King come out tomorrow. Just as I wrote this the trailer for it came on the radio! I'm not going to see it until Boxing Day, which is probably just as well because I still can't decide whether I'm excited about it or not. I will be once I get in there, I'm just really worried about what they're going to do to Elrond.

Ewan McGregor seems to be doing a whole load of films lately - on Saturday I saw a trailer for one coming out in January. It didn't look that exciting though so maybe I'll wait and see what the reviews say about it first. I still haven't seen the last two he did.

It's really odd that people are talking about queuing up to go to the cinema. I remember thinking the same thing when people in America queued for weeks to see The Phantom Menace. There's this wonderful new invention called booking in advance - through the internet, the phone or simply going there. Admittedly I don't go and see many things on opening weekend and those I do I book in advance. And Warner Village do annoy me by being expensive and not having reserved seating, even for busy films, so you still have to get there 15 minutes in advance.

I know this is the extended LOTR films people are talking about. Even if they were on I wouldn't go to see them - I have to work for a start. I also can't sit in cinema seats for that long. Warner Village do have very comfy seats but even then spending three hours sitting in one on Saturday was plenty. It's odd that L3 was the most comfortable. It didn't seem it in lectures.

OK rant over - I left work on time today! Actually I left early but that was to go to the doctors. And I did work through half of lunch but that was probably just because I was so used to having a short lunch. An hour suddenly seems like such a long time! It was very nice to be home in time to listen to I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue and catch up on last week's Buffy.

I went to see Love Actually on Saturday, I ended up accidentally downloading it last night, and tonight I printed the cover. That must be the fastest turn around ever! I'm going back to watching it now and writing some Elrond & Arwen bonding stuff. My hand's going to drop off - but in a good way (ie it has nothing to do with work for a change).

And yes, I have given in and copied this to my livejournal. I realised it had a use - the friends-locked (and other-locked) posts which I may use. Possibly. But if you're reading this in lj and I refer to a link on the left - that means its in my blog ok?

Greetings from an internet cafe in Reading! This is from fileg's journal:

I know very little about some of the people on my friends' list. Some people are real-life friends who I see frequently. Others I know relatively well: I read your fic, or we have something else in common and we chat occasionally. Some of you I hardly know at all. Perhaps you lurk, for whatever reason. But you friended me and I thank you.

I'd love it if every single person who friended me would do this. Yes, even you people who I know really well. Then post this in your own journal.

So here's my piece:

I was born two days after the election in which the Conservatives won. The next election they lost was four days before my 18th birthday.

I have learnt to drive but have never driven since I passed my test - I hate driving and I hate the idea of having to.

When I was younger I wanted to go to Mars.

I'm crap with all technology and am usually years behind everyone else - except when it comes to computers when at least money is an excuse.

My all-time favourite film is 2001. My favourite TV series is Red Dwarf.

I never moved house until I went to university. In fact, most of my stuff is still there since I don't have enough space for it all until I can afford a house of my own - which won't be anytime soon with the current house prices.

Anyone who wants to write something about themselves either in the comments here, or you can comment in my livejournal if that's easier. Don't feel obliged but it would be cool.

On an entirely different subject Love Actually is good. I mean you have to suspend your disbelief but its still funny and you come out feeling good (trying not the use the phrase feel-good movie here). Plus you can spend your time spotting people you've seen in other stuff - certainly that bloke from The Office and Rob from The Bill I didn't know about.

There was also the trailer for Return of the King. I was getting worried about what they've done to Elrond in it but then I realised there would be some Elrond & Aragorn interaction, which would hopefully be good and loads of decent Frodo & Sam stuff - which is what I always thought Lord of the Rings was all about until I discovered Aragorn. There's definitely something about him opening the doors - that seems to be when everyone who fancies him realised they did.

Random thought - I forget, when I haven't seen it for a while, just how good Dead Like Me is. And since SFX put Mason opposite Trip on their Top 20 pages I'm suddenly seeing him in a whole new light. It's weird.

I've also just found out that Blogger decided to publish me trying to publish my old post. Isn't it helpful. I've discovered the beauty of my friends page on livejournal - I can read it, even if people have picked realy light colours that don't show up on my computer! I'm almost tempted to copy my posts onto there again but then I look at my blog and it's just so much better for less money.

Anyway, the Friday Five:
1. Do you enjoy the cold weather and snow for the holidays?

What snow? I come from the South Coast - it only snows every few years and that's usually January/February. I don't mind the cold weather too much - in fact I like it when it's cold and sunny, not so much when it's cold and rainy and windy though. The cold isn't pleasant when you're waiting for a bus though.

2. What is your ideal holiday celebration? How, where, with whom would you celebrate to make things perfect?

I'd be quite happy not bothering, to be honest. It seems that Christmas seems to start in about October and this year I was fed up of it by November. And I felt certain we'd already had Christmas by the end of November.

3. Do you do have any holiday traditions?

We do puzzles in front of the telly. Or we did when there was anything on. The past two years I've gone to the cinema on Boxing Day, which is nice. I tend to feel that Boxing Day is quite special because that's when we used to go to my grandmother's for Christmas dinner when we were younger. Up until I left uni Christmas Day was great for getting work done (I don't have any now). In my third year I wrote two 3000 word essays on Christmas Day.

4. Do you do anything to help the needy?

Not specifically at Christmas but generally all year round, yes.

5. What one gift would you like for yourself?

You mean I can only pick one?

And the fannish five, now linked on the left:
1. How many and which of your fandoms do you own on DVD?

My first DVD was The Phantom Menace. Then there's a free Red Dwarf one I got off a magazine (well, since I didn't really want the mag that much it was really a �3.99 DVD, but still). Fellowship extended edition, various Farscape and Stargate ones I got cheap/free (really free this time). Oh, and The Bill for one episode I missed the last 2 minutes of. So that's six then. Actually, just remembered I have a Star Trek DVD from America that hasn't been released over here. Haven't watched it, mind you.

2. If you had tapes, did you toss them when you got the DVDs?

There's nothing I have on both video and DVD.

3. What are your favorite extras (commentary tracks, behind-the-scenes featurettes, bloopers, foreign language dub, interviews with cast, etc.)? Generally and specifically.

I quite like the behind the scenes stuff, like how they did things. Commentaries bore me. I've never managed to get any decent foreign languages to work, although hearing Teal'c in Spanish was quite funny.

4. What do you view first: the episodes, commentary, extras?

The extras. Sometimes I don't make it to the episodes/films and the only commentary I've ever listened to was on Fellowship and that was only because I was determined to listen to the whole thing. There's only so much sucking up I can cope with.

5. What fandoms on DVD do you not yet own or are not out yet?

Everything. Especially Red Dwarf, Hitch-hiker's, Farscape, Babylon 5, Buffy, Angel, Smallville, Alias. The list could go on, frankly.

I can't believe it's nearly midnight and I've achieved practically nothing this evening. I did make an lj icon for myself last weekend though:

Here's my post from 26th November that Blogger is refusing to publish for some unknown reason:

Ah, the combinations I had to try to get this and not cheat:

Which LOTR man were you stalking? by LadyBella
Name (user or otherwise):
Age:
Who you were stalking:	Viggo Mortensen
Purpose:	You want his autograph. Badly.
Result:	Bumped into him when you weren�t prepared for it.
Created with quill18's MemeGen!

Age: 24
Where did you grow up?: Poole, Dorset (South Coast of England)

What do you call ...

1. a body of water, smaller than a river, contained within relatively narrow banks?

stream

2. the thing you push around the grocery store?

shopping trolley (or just trolley)

3. a metal container to carry a meal in?

The closest thing I can think of is lunchbox but they aren't metal, they're plastic or tupperware

4. the thing that you cook bacon and eggs in?

frying pan

5. the piece of furniture that seats three people?

settee at home, sofa everywhere else

6. the device on the outside of the house that carries rain off the roof?

guttering

7. the covered area outside a house where people sit in the evening?

The closest thing would be the (back) garden, if you have one, but it certainly isn't covered

8. carbonated, sweetened, non-alcoholic beverages?

fizzy drinks collectively, but known by their actual names (ie Coke, Lemonade)

9. a flat, round breakfast food served with syrup?

pancake, I imagine, although I've never had one for breakfast

10. a long sandwich designed to be a whole meal in itself?

baguette

11. the piece of clothing worn by men at the beach?

swimming trunks

12. shoes worn for sports?

trainers

13. putting a room in order?

tidying (up)

14. a flying insect that glows in the dark?

firefly

15. the little insect that curls up into a ball?

The only one I can think of is an earwig - I don't take that much notice of insects

16. the children's playground equipment where one kid sits on one side and goes up while the other sits on the other side and goes down?

see-saw

17. how do you eat your pizza?

If it's take-away, then with my fingers, otherwise I use a knife and fork

18. the act of private citizens putting up signs and selling their used stuff?

sale

19. the evening meal?

dinner

20. the thing under a house where the furnace and perhaps a rec room are?

cellar or basement - although judging by the ones I've seen I wouldn't go down there, never mind have a room in one

Note to Blogger: please at least publish this one, pretty please?