anghraine

Comment on this post and I'll give you 7 things of your own, and you comment on them in your journal. And so on.

(1) Favourite and least favourite things about the LOTR movies.

Favourite: I love the ... sweep of them, I guess, the sense of epic grandeur you get from the scenery and costumes and music and all of it.

Least favourite: Faramir. Not just the obvious, but the general rearrangement of the pieces of his character; his moment of grand renunciation goes to Aragorn, his psychic dream to Éowyn, his tragic description of Gondor to Gandalf, his incredible courage in riding back in the face of the Nazgûl to rescue his men disappears altogether, as does his firm opposition to Denethor's strategy, complying only when ordered and then refusing to leave his soldiers behind and saving a third of them - even when they took a sympathetic approach, it still seemed to involve leaving out the things I liked best about him and making things up. Nice things this time, but still pretty unconnected to the character I cared about. He didn't even get to declare Aragorn king. :(

(2) Favourite and least favourite things about the STAR WARS saga.

Favourite: The Skywalkers. The characters in SW are generally familiar - intensely archetypal, really - but instead of merely participating in the archetypes without doing more, they're so distinctive that in many cases they became the ultimate example of whatever type of character they are. And with the Skywalkers (and those associated with them), the movies insist on the centrality of their characters and their ... let's say, fraught relationships to each other amidst all the spectacle. The visuals, the music, the sheer cool factor of royalty and paladins IN SPACE are all amazing and generally pitch-perfect, but they don't drown out the personal element you get w/ the Skywalkers.

Least favourite: the dialogue, especially in ROTJ and the prequels. I rather like the campy lines in ANH and ESB - there's a certain playfulness about even the most over the top ones (only a master of eeeeeevil) - but I don't see much of it after that point.

(3) Anything you're currently looking forward to?

Moving to my own apartment in Portland! Eleven days to go.

(4) Favourite/least favourite books/movies/etc?

Uh, that's a broad category. Let's see.

Books: my favourites are Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park, Lord of the Rings, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, and... a bunch of others, but those are at the top. My least favourite, hmm. I don't like Twilight but it's not the most godawful thing I've read by any means. That's probably The Klone and I by Danielle Steele, or maybe some terrible romance I read along the lines and have since excised from my memory. Then there are things that I dislike reading but don't consider bad or anything - like Wuthering Heights.

Movies: my favourite movie is The Empire Strikes Back. I love Wall-E. My least favourite ... hm, not sure. Old Yeller is probably the movie I've least enjoyed, though that's nothing to do with quality. The Last Airbender is awful in every conceivable respect!

Wild card ... uh, political parties!: my favourite political party is the eighteenth century Whig party, just for the drama and hilarious electioneering and wacky affairs while generally fighting for things I regard as praiseworthy (whoooo Catholic suffrage!). My least favourite is the modern Republican party.

(5) Any fandoms you want to get into?

I wish I could get back into Austen fandom. I miss it, but I just don't have the time or energy or tolerance. Or spoons. Sorry, fellow Austenfen. :(

Ooh, vidding! I wish I could figure that out, but the fandom scares me.

(6) Any book/movie/etc that everybody seems to love that you don't get?

Titanic. I don't think it's bad or anything, just meh.

(7) What was the last book you read?

Bone Black, by bell hooks.