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shiredancerLast night I went to the local premiere of ROTK *quiet shriek*. I did it right and bought the ticket in advance, very much to my own surprise. I usually avoid opening night hoopla because of the lines and crowds -- I *detest* standing in line for movies. But this, as you know, was very special, and I couldn't resist -- and I have a reputation to uphold amongst my grad students!
So I went, and I think I counted about four other adults somewhere close to my age in the whole audience, and this was the biggest theater in Santa Barbara, filled to capacity. It was a Media Event, of course, so the local news station filmed the crowds waiting outside. Fortunately they didn't come anywhere near me. I was leaning against the wall doing crossword puzzles -- I'm fairly certain I was the only one there who went alone. I wore the Arwen Evenstar necklace as my token nod to dressing up for the occasion (much as I love and adore costumes and will don one at the drop of a hat, there is something about movies and other public events that make me shy away from them -- unless *everyone* is wearing one). I arrived at 10 for the 12:01 showing, armed with the crossword puzzle book, a Harry Potter book, and an electronic Hangman game (when you go alone to wait in line for two hours, you do need something to do. I was under no illusion that the hugely excited teens and twenty-somethings were going to be striking up conversations with me!).
Because it was a Media Event, there were antics after they let us in earlier than expected. Somebody blew up a big yellow plastic swimming pool ring, stood up in the balcony, and presented it as The One Ring. They started tossing it all around the theater, and up close I could see that it had all the proper Elvish script on it, quite beautifully done. And then some guy threw off his cloak to reveal himself done up as Gollum -- that is, he had a shaved head and naught on but a loincloth -- and made off with The One Plastic Ring, and caused much mayhem and laughter. There was a lot of laughter in general, including after the movie started -- they just found a lot of humor in some rather inappropriate places. Lots of applause and wolf-whistles and appreciative noises, but not bad enough to disturb. I prefer dead silence for my movies, but... that's what I get on opening night, I guess.
And, Oh. My. God. The movie. I LOVED it. I really, really did. Oh, there are things I can critique, and *lots* to discuss, but I won't do that here, not until everyone I know has seen it and we can *really* dig into it. Preferably at a HobbitCon in January, right? Just suffice it to say for now that I loved it.
And even being at work after less than three hours' sleep, well, I'm pretty pleased with myself for going. And am in a quiet state of euphoria (although that could be sleep deprivation that I'm mistaking here, but who cares...). Now if the constant headache would go away, along with the fecking *mountain* of applications I have to open and sort (our deadline was Monday, tra la la) -- I'd be in nirvana. Or something. Go see it, so we can talk.
So I went, and I think I counted about four other adults somewhere close to my age in the whole audience, and this was the biggest theater in Santa Barbara, filled to capacity. It was a Media Event, of course, so the local news station filmed the crowds waiting outside. Fortunately they didn't come anywhere near me. I was leaning against the wall doing crossword puzzles -- I'm fairly certain I was the only one there who went alone. I wore the Arwen Evenstar necklace as my token nod to dressing up for the occasion (much as I love and adore costumes and will don one at the drop of a hat, there is something about movies and other public events that make me shy away from them -- unless *everyone* is wearing one). I arrived at 10 for the 12:01 showing, armed with the crossword puzzle book, a Harry Potter book, and an electronic Hangman game (when you go alone to wait in line for two hours, you do need something to do. I was under no illusion that the hugely excited teens and twenty-somethings were going to be striking up conversations with me!).
Because it was a Media Event, there were antics after they let us in earlier than expected. Somebody blew up a big yellow plastic swimming pool ring, stood up in the balcony, and presented it as The One Ring. They started tossing it all around the theater, and up close I could see that it had all the proper Elvish script on it, quite beautifully done. And then some guy threw off his cloak to reveal himself done up as Gollum -- that is, he had a shaved head and naught on but a loincloth -- and made off with The One Plastic Ring, and caused much mayhem and laughter. There was a lot of laughter in general, including after the movie started -- they just found a lot of humor in some rather inappropriate places. Lots of applause and wolf-whistles and appreciative noises, but not bad enough to disturb. I prefer dead silence for my movies, but... that's what I get on opening night, I guess.
And, Oh. My. God. The movie. I LOVED it. I really, really did. Oh, there are things I can critique, and *lots* to discuss, but I won't do that here, not until everyone I know has seen it and we can *really* dig into it. Preferably at a HobbitCon in January, right? Just suffice it to say for now that I loved it.
And even being at work after less than three hours' sleep, well, I'm pretty pleased with myself for going. And am in a quiet state of euphoria (although that could be sleep deprivation that I'm mistaking here, but who cares...). Now if the constant headache would go away, along with the fecking *mountain* of applications I have to open and sort (our deadline was Monday, tra la la) -- I'd be in nirvana. Or something. Go see it, so we can talk.