the week of the lord of the rings

After I finished watching the LOTR movies, I started on the feature DVDs that came with it. And I've finally finished it!! or rather, them! (Each feature DVD is 2-3hr long too). And so, in a space of 10days, I've gone from LOTR klutz to LOTR almost-expert I think. I probably can recite all the names of the main cast by now and have learnt more about movie-making, special effects, digital grading used in movies and all those stuff than I've ever known all my life.

In one word - awesome. Absolutely awesome, just seeing the immense scale of the trilogy and the amount of stuff the crew and actors had to go through. And the props and makeup! OH MY. juz... woah.

Some random thoughts about my massive 10day LOTR... er... 'research':

1) I must say that i'm thoroughly impressed with Viggo Mortensen as an actor. Honestly i've never heard of him before this. He is darn gd at what he does. Extremely intense.

2) I really don't like the battle scenes. Eewyucks. the orcs are so scary I get quite scared watching them. Esp one part where they used human heads as catapult hits. Oh man... yuckyuckyucks. Sometimes I wished the battle scenes were not so long. But yet, it's a crucial part of the story of course, and it just goes to show how much they fought for dominion. It's not called the battle for middle-earth for nothing i guess...

3) It so happens that I'm on the book of Daniel now, and that book does have a number of battle scenes. And the movie has actually made me able to visualise the events as recorded in the bible more now. I thought that was really cool.

4) One of my favourite scenes was Gandalf speaking to Frodo in the mines of Moria.

F: It's a pity Bilbo didn't kill him when he had the chance.
G: Pity? It was pity that stayed Bilbo's hand. Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them, Frodo? Do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends. My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play yet, for good or ill before this is over. The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many.
F: I wish The Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had ever happened.
G: So do all who live to face such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.

In that uber short exchange of words, encompassed so much wisdom, e.g. do not be too quick to judge others (luke 6:37), living purposefully, a greater masterplan at work (romans 8:28).

5) And finally, of cuz, the SCENERY just has to have a special mention. New Zealand! Amazing, amazing mountains, rivers and forests. woooohooo. I can't wait to spend Christmas in the middle of the forest there. haha...

ironies and... lotr!

To think that I'm blogging less even though I've finished the semester! haha... Guess I've been going out more, so less time spent at the comp and therefore blogging. Irony irony.

Irony number 2 is this. In winter, my warm room was my safe refuge and I'd be tottering around my room in tee and shorts. Now it's spring - almost summer already, in fact - but this past week has been so cold at night. And juz because it is spring, the heater mains have been shut off, and so although it's technically spring, I'm wearing about 3 layers in my room at night nowadays. What an irony!

Just completed the LOTR trilogy. Oooh it has been thought-provoking. I shall share some thoughts on it soon, but just a short mention on one of my fave scenes for today.

It has to be the scene in the last one (Return of the King), when the Nazgul leader scoffed at the warrior before him and said 'Man can't kill me!', but the warrior stabs him (and he dies of cuz), then removes the helmet and goes 'I am no man!'. And behind the helmet is the gutsy Eowyn, niece of the king of Rohan!

woohoo! You go, gal!! *thumbs up*!

bleary-eyed

I'm officially done for the semester! Just handed in the last assignment, which has been a bittersweet journey. It was a paper on refugees and asylum seekers and their access to healthcare here. I must admit that I've learnt a tremendous lot from working my guts out on this paper. How not to, when I had previous almost-zilch knowledge whatsoever on this group of people and all that they face?

I started out wanting to kick myself for choosing this elective, this essay, this particular population. Trust me, it was extensive reading and research on the topic from scratch. Big political words like the UN Convention, amnesty, asylum, rights, equity, persecution (may not be political words per se, but more like political context) suddenly had to make sense to me, before I can even approach the actual question. Woah. Thank God for technology and pdf files of all the official documents that are so readily available online nowadays (reaching relevant ones is another thing altogether though, haha). Phew! But that's also why I'm totally bleary-eyed now. I sure hope my myopia hasn't worsened, what with the amount of staring into the computer reading 106pages documents night after night.

On the other hand, I'm grateful at what I've discovered and learnt. There are such vast numbers of refugees everywhere! And the incredible amount of things many have been through and continue to go through as they seek asylum in other countries [whether they're welcoming is another thing, sadly] is just... I don't know... a whole new thing to me.

It's interesting - I'm a avid reader of the Straits Times and I always thought a lot about world issues are brought up in it, and so educates readers about it, albeit not indepth. Cuz even if it's not indepth, at least awareness is present, then it's up to readers to read up more.

But refugees and asylum seekers are strangely missing in all my years of reading the ST. Is it out of convenience? Out of sight, out of mind. Maybe because S'pore doesn't have any goodwill towards them at all? I didn't manage to get official documents or stuff on the country's stand towards refugees, so I really don't have the full clear picture.

And, interestingly enough, just this week, we rated really really low on press freedom in some international press freedom ratings thing.

You learn loads when looking in from the outside I guess.

This, coming from an avid reader of the ST.

enjoy the music =)

YAYYyyyyyzzzz!!!!! I got it up!! Music - the song I want, the little discreet player interface, PLUS it even plays automatically when the page loads! (the previous one was a play-on-click thing).

Woohooooo. So happy.

Yes you must be thinking that I am just so suaku. But it's because I'm such a html-klutz lah. Don't know ANYTHING to begin with ok... So this is like a milestone for me.

Yippee! *dances*

Enjoy the song. And listen to the lyrics, which I think are really so meaningful.

music soon, part II

Changed the Soundblox thing to another simpler... er... thingy. But I still haven't put a song to it, haha. I'm trying to find a good place/server/free hosting place to upload the song, then have to link it in. Or at least I think it works that way. Hehz. Well, I tried Angelfire, but it got a little on my nerves (read: ok I don't really know how to use it), then I tried Geocities but I couldn't even sign up for an account. You know how these forms will give a weirdo-looking alphanumeric code that you have to type in, to verify that I am not a robot automatically spamming their site? Yeah, I probably did it for about 10 times and they kept giving error messages. *sigh*. So, yesh, music. Soon, soon. First I need to get this final essay done, but the topic is so factual, I can't argue passionately about my point leh. So, like a bit no joy in doing it. Sad right. haha.

music... soon

I'm trying to find a way to put up music for this blog, and came across the Soundblox thingy that is now at the bottom. But I haven't figured out how to put the music I want into it. So, in case you're wondering how come I put such weird songs/videos/whatever inside... well, now you know lah. It's just a sample. Coming soon k? I'm learning html and all these stuff from scratch, by myself, and through trial and error. Not easy ok!! haha... so let's see how it goes...