Nandini's Niche: January 2004

Saturday, January 31, 2004

'Rings' characters discuss Oscars snub

'Rings' characters discuss Oscar snub
Tehanu @ 4:04 pm EST

Sadly, I don' t know where this came from. Bouquets to the writer Molly J Ringwraith, whoever you are!

Jan. 27, 2004 MINAS TIRITH (AP) The city of Minas Tirith has been abuzz today over the news that 'The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King,' while receiving 11 nominations including Best Picture and Best Director, did not receive any nominations for acting.

"Eleven nominations?" said Pippin Took, of the Shire. "Well, that's good news."

His friend Meriadoc Brandybuck responded by swatting him over the head with the newspaper and protesting, "But the cast is a part of this movie! Aren't they?"

Their kinsman Frodo Baggins shared Brandybuck's dismay. Upon reading the list of nominations, Baggins commented with an ironic chuckle, "They've left out one of the chief characters: the cast. I want to hear more about them." Waxing solemn and soulful, he added, "The movie wouldn't have got far without the cast."

"You almost don't want to watch the awards ceremony," contributed Baggins' gardener and loyal valet, Samwise Gamgee, "because how can it be happy? How can the awards go right when so much bad has been nominated? Folks in that Academy had lots of chances of voting for these actors, only they didn't."

Legolas Greenleaf, of the Mirkwood realm, commented somewhat cryptically on the Academy's choices, "A red sun rises. Lame decisions have been made this night." When asked to clarify his opinion, he told reporters that he had not the heart, for the grief was still too near, and retired for a walk in the forest.

His companion, Gimli son of Gloin, had sharper remarks to make upon the chosen nominees. "Mystic River? What madness drew them there? You'll find more cheer in a graveyard!"

But wizard Gandalf the White urged a more optimistic approach. "Do not be too eager to deal out Oscars in judgement," he advised. "That is not for us to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the Oscars we are given."

Meanwhile, his colleague Saruman the formerly-White was in favor of retaliation against the Academy: "Too long have those peasants stood against us," Saruman said, referring to the Academy's failure to give any fantasy film the Best Picture Oscar yet. "Leave none alive! To war! There will be no dawn for film critics!"

Treebeard, of the Ents, told reporters after much deliberation and exchanging of long names, that he was in agreement with this proposed course of action. "There is no curse in Elvish, Entish, or the tongues of Men for this treachery," he declared. "My business is with Beverly Hills tonight. With heads made of cotton candy and rock."

"I do not doubt their hearts," Eomer of Rohan conceded. "Only the size of their brains." He then returned to the task of loading up forty of his men and horses with toilet paper and Maps to the Stars' Homes, for a "secret midnight mission" that he regretted he could not give details about.

At least one individual, calling himself Smeagol, claimed to be making plans to steal the Oscar statuettes. "Oscar is sooo pretty, sooo golden," said Smeagol. "We will take the statuesss once the Hollywood snobses are dead! Ye-esss, precious!" He then quickly added, groveling at the feet of reporters, "No! No! We were only joking! Smeagol wouldn't hurt a fly! Nice movie industry." He crawled away before he could be questioned further.

Still others appeared not to care about the snub. Lady Eowyn of Rohan said with a shrug, "The women of this country learned long ago that those without Oscar nominations may still get dates to awards ceremonies. I fear neither critics nor fans." Lord Boromir, a native of Minas Tirith, dismissed the concerns, claiming, "Gondor has no actors. Gondor needs no actors."

But overall the mood was one of mild disgust. As Lord Aragorn put it to reporters, "The day may come when the Academy is able to find their ass with a flashlight. But this is not that day."

Friday, January 30, 2004

Milestone

It's a solemn moment. Today marks the day of my first successful story submission. I will be published in a real book to be released in USA by Atriad Press in May this year, and paid on publication.

It isn't such a big deal, maybe, because it's a book which will contain about 20 'true life' ghost stories - but it's a writing credit, my very first. In fact, it's the very time I've submitted for anything other than a competition... I can't believe this happened!

The best part of the whole deal: the acceptance email I got from the editor began, "Dear Writer."

Chewie

... has the UK top 40. Books, dudes, books, not stupid pop songs. Go read! I'm surprised to see I've read quite a few of them.. I've always thought I had really bad (read: unliterary) taste. Oh well.

I can't believe Prisoner of Azkaban ranked way below Goblet of Fire.

Shopping

The Lord of the Rings - Motion Picture Trilogy Exhibition roadshow was at NTU for the past three days. It was so awesome I can't even begin to tell you! There wasn't any real stuff there, of course, but there was tons of LotR merchandise... as you can probably guess, I ended up spending like a week's worth of survival money on it.

Total toys tally

(1) Two LotR:TTT mugs, one with the heroes and one the the villians on it. They told me the blank black strip at the bottom of the mug 'changes colour' when I put hot or cold things in it. Obviously, those salespeople didn't have a freakin' clue. People, get this: when I put hot water in the mug, writing, in a beautiful, flowing hand, begins to reveal itself all around that magic strip... 'some form of Elvish', in the immortal words of a famous hobbit. It glows yellow and then orange... and when the water grows cold, it fades away gracefully. Dear God, is this love?

(2) One small oval tin, with a picture of Arwen on it. It's just a work of art, that tin.

If I'd had the cash, there was so much more I wanted to buy... there was a Mordor Eye keychain, in heavy pewter, with the One Ring inscription on one side of it, and the Eye itself on the other - and it was only $8.90! There was a miniature set of the arms of Aragorn - the shards of Narsil and the Andúril , Flame of the West. Also present were his daggers and knives and everything - all this direct from WETA workshop, at the low, low price of $49.90. There were miniature orc helmets for $69.90, a bust of Frodo for $89.90... but if I had to have one thing from the whole of that display, I'd choose the bust of a Nazgul, priced at $115.90. It was just so exquisitely crafted; the Nazgul was turning to look behind itself, its hood and robes actually seemed to billow in the breeze. One hand raised, it was utterly realistic. Oh man. AAARRRGGGHH, *why* can't I be stinkin rich??

Empty words, futile dreams, eh? But at least, I have my beautiful Arwen tin right here on my desk and Aragorn and Frodo keeping watch from one mug while Saruman and the Eye glare down from the other, the One Ring inscription glinting a fiery orange from underneath them.

Wednesday, January 28, 2004

Vagueness sucks

I'm a closet un-leader. I'm happiest when people are telling me what to do, and if by happy chance it happens to be something I want to do, interesting and fun and whatnot, yay! If not, at least I don't have to stare into the void of mind numbing possibilities for action and wonder what on earth I should be doing at any given moment. My mind, you see, shows no inclination to pick one calling to be interested in and focused on. Almost everything in the world sounds so completely intriguing. Well, almost - I wouldn't pick painting or anything, though I must confess I sat and read through an art magazine called "Water Colours" cover to cover the last time I went to the library.

Anyway, my current gripe is with the *stupid* topic they've set me for an essay: "Challenges to growth and prosperity". I know from past experience that anything from quirky surrealistic creative writing to deeply boring discourses on globalisation are acceptable. To make matters worse, my entry doesn't even need to be an essay: it can be a video, a piece of art, a presentation... I do believe they'd accept epic poems and dance pieces as long as they stayed within the word and time limit. It's like my worst nightmare - one I've actually had, you know, when I was a kid and lollipops represented the height of fantasy. All the adults I've ever known were standing in line holding one of a different shape and colour, and I had to pick one. I used to just go on and on and on down the line (some adults appeared more than once in the line, to accommodate me), and keep going on and on till I woke up tearing my hair out.

I've read psychology books wondering where this quirk comes from and all they did was tell me the obvious: I have this need for making perfect choices, which of course can only be made after considering *all* the possibilities. A more severe case of this quirk would make me obsessive compulsive, the kind of person that mutters to herself, listing out all the possible colours and fabrics bath towels are available in as she walks through the store. As for me, I'm trying the jab-and-pick therapy. Which means I close my eyes and let myself loose in the library to pick out a book. Chances are, it's about something to do with *some* challenge to *somebody's* growth and prosperity... then I'll be all set.

Overload

Aaaarrgghhh... too many... things... to do... Room.. mess... Must.. pack... must... read.. must.. work.. must shop for b'day gifts... must get.. money! Must coach... must blog must write must enter contest must win must ... stay... alive... *sputter*

Monday, January 26, 2004

RotK review repost

Zblogger seems to be out for good. Thank goodness I posted a copy of my review of The Lord of the Rings:The Return of the King on The One Ring.Net. To all my other posts, so fabulously written, so stimulating, so funny and so enriching, R.I.P.

Sunday, January 25, 2004

WritersWeekly.com

It's done. By a hair's breadth, I managed to send in my entry on time for the Writers' Weekly 24 Hour Short Short Story Contest. It wasn't all that imaginative, and it was really raw ito writing and it had too many things happening in it for it to be a good short-short, but it was the best I could do in 24 hours. It was not that bad anyhow... if you forget the technicalities, you might like it.

This year's specifications: a 1100-word piece which uses the following in any form:

She looked behind her once again before she pushed open
the largest door in the house. She only had a few seconds
to search her employer's office or she risked detection.
Her eyes were immediately drawn to a handwritten note
sitting in the middle of the desk...

Quote for the day

"Verbing weirds language."

- Calvin, of Calvin and Hobbes fame

Friday, January 23, 2004

False Starts

.

I have yet again managed to rip my schedule to shreds and shamelessly shy away from work. I need to do something about it... and what better way to get myself to apply seat of pants to chair than the thought of untold millions sniggering at me, going, "How pathetic!"

So here's the latest of my efforts at writing, which has been stalled for what seems like years. You know how it is when you're in a phase of some kind. Put me amidst cheesy H/H Harry Potter fan fiction for a while, and I start getting all kinds of inspirations to write my own masterpiece. In this case, I'd been reading a really good collection of science fiction stories (a book I got for an incredible $1 - not second hand - at a school book fair!), so of course I had 'the idea to end all ideas' and started on it. A word of caution, though. Non-science fiction fans, writing fans and people who like to read good things may want to stop right here and go read other stuff. Like anything on this page.

Deep breath. (Interpret freely - as an instruction, soliloquy, or as title of story.)

There's a girl sitting there on the mosaic floor. I can see her face because her dark hair is pulled behind��

Thursday, January 22, 2004

Overlooking the obvious

Harry Potter fans are a strange breed. Ask any one of them who their favourite character is, and they'll tell you it's Remus Lupin, Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore, maybe the Weasly twins. An hour ago I'd have picked one of them... but I've thought about it now, and my heart belongs to one boy who above all is overwhelmingly decent.

He's a quiet sort, borderline reclusive. He's resilient and upbeat and optimistic enough to amaze anyone. A subdued sense of humour that's biting nevertheless complements a wisdom beyond his years. Bright green eyes and famously messy hair distinguish him. His loyalty and courage are the stuff of legends, and so it's only fitting that the series is named after him.

I've overlooked Harry Potter ever since I started reading the books. I've sometimes even asked myself if the series wouldn't have been better if JKR had been perched over someone else's shoulder. But she's a sneaky one, that Joanne Rowling - all these years she's been subtly working Harry into my consciousness so that now, when I seriously think about it, here's a boy who's marvellously real and utterly admirable. He's the one person in the series that I wouldn't miss knowing, if I had to choose. There may be no mysteries about him to keep my curiosity burning (which I suspect is why many of us find the rest of the cast appealing), but he's endearing enough to compensate for everything. I love Harry. If JKR kills him in the end, I'm going to murder her.

Happy New Year

... it's Chinese new year and I have a *really* long weekend, during which, I promise, this blog will be posted to like nobody's business.

For those of you celebrating, happy Year of the Monkey!

See, last year was the year of the goat or sheep or cow or something. I never was sure, because my main source of info is this animal model they always make at the Woodlands bus interchange, and last year that model looked... ambiguous. I've always suspected they just repaint the model from the year before to make it look right. At least it'll be recognisable if they've thought of putting a long tail on it this year!

Cheers.

PS: here's a fwd someone sent me:

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in
waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht
the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a
total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the
huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a
wlohe. Amzanig huh

Wednesday, January 21, 2004

New home!

Welcome to my new blog.

Right. That's the *only* formal sentence you'll probably ever find on this blog. You have been warned.

To answer the burning question in your mind: why the move? Because, my precious, ZBlogger sucks for three main reasons.

(a) Eats up posts randomly, after I have typed them out and click on 'post'.
(b) Logs me out in the middle of sessions, also randomly.
(c) Goes offline for a week every two months or so.

Bloody irritating. So, as that ugly orc at Osgiliath (in RotK) would say: The time of Zblogger has ended, the age of BlogSpot is here.

Thursday, January 1, 2004

Reading Archive

Great Reads

Good Reads

Worth a Read

Nothing Special

Burn-Worthy