She hates me. But I don't care. I love her anyway. =)
Tonight I have been watching the live premier red carpet of The Hobbit in New Zealand!! It started with a band playing a bunch of music and ending with the Song of the Lonely Mountain (which their lead singer wrote). Then to the red carpet where the actors and producers and things began to appear! Peter Jackson, Andy Serkis, Martin Freeman, Elijah Wood, a whole bunch of the Dwarfs, and even John Rhys-Davies (Gimli)! They have been interviewed (some of them several times) and so far my favorite has been Sylvester McCoy who is playing Radagast the Brown wizard.
Yes, Miss Jack (and John), that IS a hedgehog! =D
Sylvester McCoy played the Seventh Doctor in Doctor Who and that is not the only reason his interview was my favorite (though he did mention Doctor Who! He said that Peter Jackson has his costume). Sylvester McCoy is quite a character. He was really funny and just sweet. He had a super cool jacket as well. It was all stars and timey wimey. And he had a fun hat. And he actually mentioned hedgehogs in his interview! I thought of you, Miss Jack (and John too!). He said something like, "I was allowed to do some improv... go save this bird! Help this hedgehog!"
I also loved the guy who played The Great Goblin's interview. He was nice and sweet as well.
And now (since it is STILL going on!) Andy Serkis is running all the way back down the red carpet (which is really long) giving people high fives. Andy Serkis is one of my favorite actors, as I've mentioned before.
Anyway, The Hobbit is going to be a fantastic movie. SO much work has been put into it and SO many wonderful actors in it. I am getting seriously excited for this movie. It will be the best movie of the year. I bet it will top even the second Twilight movie.
Sadly Benedict Cumberbatch isn't at this premier. Oh well, I suppose he doesn't have a big enough role in the first movie.
Speaking of Benedict Cumberbatch.... the synopsis for the next Star Trek movie has been released! As you may know, he plays the villain. The synopsis is very vague and really doesn't tell much at all - but it is still a synopsis!
While I'm at it, NaNoWriMo is going well. I hit 46,000 words today and it is looking like my novel will hit 50k after all! Huzzah! Huzzah!
My bad guy has finally been introduced in person.... He is now grappling with one of my main characters. I've left all my characters sticky situations tonight.... And I've accidentally told my invisible audience who my bad guy is which isn't supposed to happen until the fifth book....
It is now nearly 10:00. I have been watching this premier for 3 hours and it still isn't over! The official speeches are to start soon and I'm not altogether sure my mother will let me stay up and watch it.
None the less..... I really want to go re-read the Hobbit for the second time this year. I need to finish the Two Towers first, though.
The great Tolkien himself, with his ever present pipe.
And now the official Hobbit speeches are starting and I should really be going.
I am changing this question to "favorite actorS and why."
My requirements for "favorite actor" are: The person has to be able to act well for one. Also, I have to see the actor in more than one movie/TV show (with a few exceptions).
Numero uno: Andy Serkis.
Not many people are familiar with this actor's face because he mostly does motion capture acting!
I have seen Andy Serkis as Gollum in Lord of the Rings.
Capricorn in Inkheart.
Kong in King Kong.
And Captain Haddock in The Adventures of Tintin.
(I don't play Minecraft but I have lots of cousins/friends who do and I thought this was funny
)
I like Andy Serkis because I think he is a great physical actor and able to do a lot of stunts and a lot of things vocally (like, for example, the Gollum voice!).
Number 2: Martin Freeman.
I have seen Martin Freeman in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Sherlock.
And soon The Hobbit!
Look how CUTE he is!! He's as cute as a button! And he makes the perfect Hobbit!
At first when I found out that Martin Freeman was John Watson I was thinking, "Wait, what? That guy from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is Watson? HAHAHAHAHAHA!! I bet he would make a lousy Watson!" Then I watched Sherlock and I really can't imagine anyone else as Watson! Except maybe David Burke from the Granada show.... He has a mustache after all (Martin Freeman's John Watson would look AWFUL with a mustache! He would look so creepy!).
When I found out that Martin Freeman was going to be Bilbo my reaction was, "HOW on earth is this possible?? He is gonna be AWFUL as Bilbo!!" (this was before I watched Sherlock). Then I watched Sherlock and I cannot imagine anyone else being Bilbo! Martin Freeman is perfect!
I admire Martin Freeman's acting skills, I think he can act very well. He has been in a wide spread of things and acted admirably in all! Plus he's just as cute as a button. =)
Number 3: Benedict Cumberbatch.
He is my exception to my rule that I have to see the actor in more than one thing. So far I have only seen him in one TV series....
(I love the jaguars on his shoes! And the red chair. I want a red chair like that.)
I have seen Benedict Cumberbatch in Sherlock.
Because this,
was the first picture I ever saw of Sherlock... I wasn't too sure about the lead actor. But now he is one of my favorite actors. He is brilliant! I believe that he is one of the most talented actors ever. Plus he's down to earth and nice when off camera.
Although I have only seen Benedict Cumberbatch in one TV show... I am planning on seeing him in a whole bunch of other things!
Like the movie Amazing Grace which I own....
And The Hobbit. He's Smaug! and the next Star Trek movie. He's the bad guy!
I also want to see him in War Horse.
(Am I the only one who thinks he would make a perfect Professor Calculas?)
Gasp! He's a ginger!
Number 4: Jamie Bell.
I have seen Jamie Bell in King Kong (with Andy Serkis!).
Jane Eyre.
(Look at those sideburns!)
And The Adventures of Tintin (also with Andy Serkis!).
Number 5: Sir Patrick Stewart.
He is another exception of my rule (sort of....).
I have seen Patrick Stewart in Star Trek: The Next Generation as (my favorite) Captain Jean-Luc Picard.
("Engage!")
I have also seen Patrick Stewart in a Frasier episode but since he's only in one I'm not sure if it counts....
I love Patrick Stewart because he is also a brilliant actor AND a Shakespearean! He has done lots of Shakespeare and was part of the The Royal Shakespeare Company. I hope to see his version of Macbeth sometime in the future 'cause I missed it when it was on TV.... I also can't wait to see Hamlet starring Patrick Stewart and David Tennant!
Honorable mentions:
David Tennant.
I have to put him in my honorable mentions page because I've never seen anything with him in it... YET! I have confidence that once I see some stuff that star him he will become one of my favorite actors. What small clips I've seen with him (and the documentary about Hamlet staring him) I can already tell that he is a great actor with a lot of talent.
Some things that I am going to see with him in it.....
Doctor Who:
(I absolutely love his hair! And those glasses are super cool too.)
And I am looking SOOOOOOO forwards to seeing him in Hamlet!! Hamlet is my favorite Shakespeare play and his version looks super great! It has Patrick Stewart in it! I saw a documentary type thingy on Hamlet with David Tennant narrating and it makes me love the play even more.
Folks, that is a REAL human skull. The guy died and his last dying wish was to be the skull in Hamlet.
Look! He's got a recorder! .....Why does Hamlet have a recorder? WAIT! Don't tell me! I want to wait and find out. I love how lopsided the crown is.
Hamlet is about to kill Claudius (Patrick Stewart), his uncle/father in-law, in the above picture. In the stage version of the play (which the RSC did for awhile) Hamlet is about to kill Claudius, the knife is raised! And then everything goes black and intermission is declared. 15ish minutes later everyone is back! Did Hamlet kill Claudius?? The blackness rises and we find Hamlet poised, just as he was before, ready to kill his uncle. But he doesn't. Hamlet decides that if he kills his uncle when he is praying, his soul will go to heaven and Hamlet doesn't want that - since he is trying to avenge his father's death.
Anyway, I can't WAIT to see this version of Hamlet!
Speaking of Shakespeare... I recently (last night) found out that David Tennant is in Much Ado About Nothing!!! Playing Benedick! AHHHHHHHH!!! He's the Benedick to my Beatrice! "Is seignior Mountanto returned from the war or no?"
Benedick wearing a Superman shirt? Bahahahaha! And guess who played Beatrice? His Doctor Who co-star Catherine Tate (Donna Noble).
I really, really, really, super badly want to see this version but sadly it is only available for download on the internet and I do not want to pay for it. Hopefully it will come out on DVD sometime in the future.
It's set in the 80's (hence the beer and cigarettes). Look at that... Benedick (in the service of the Prince) in aviator sunglasses... I may faint.
Benedick: "You are a rare parrot teacher!"
Beatrice: "A bird of my tongue is better than a beast of yours."
And one just for Grama: "Oh if I were a man I would eat his heart out in the marketplace!"
Sigh... I miss Shakespeare.
Another honorable mention is Wallace Shawn.
Also known as Vizzini from The Princess Bride.
Or Mr. Gibson from the Kit Kittredge Movie.
Or bill Cosby's neighbor in The Cosby Show Jeffrey Engles.
OR (man, I didn't know I'd seen so many movies with him!) Rex from Toy Story!
And don't forget Grand Negus Zek from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
There are other honorable mentions... Like Raven Symone, Julie Andrews, Frank Sinatra, and many of the actors/actresses from Star Trek.... But I think I will mention only one more.
Michael Shanks.
I have only seen Michael Shanks in StarGate SG-1 as Daniel Jackson.
He is SUCH a good actor! He has, like, a million different weird faces. Even more than Mr. Knightley.
Or Mr. Darcy.
Ok sorry... Enough of Mr. Darcy's weird looks. Back to Daniel Jackson.
Six Daniel faces in four seconds:
See? He has the weirdest faces ever!
Anyway, back to Michael Shanks! The guy behind Daniel Jackson! He puts so much expression into his character. I think that he's a superb actor and now I'm gonna stop because I could literally talk on and on and on and on about everyone I've posted about and more!
So,
Live Long and Prosper. And never ask me about my favorite things. ("Rain drops on roses and whiskers on kittens....")
This week I have been helping out at my church's VBS. The theme is Christmas In July. I am the song leader, while Mom accompanies me and the kids on piano.
All I can say is WOW. I love little kids... But trying to get 65 of them to all calm down enough to listen to you while you try to teach them a song is HARD! Dad says, "It's good practice for when you get older and are a worship team leader!" I replied by saying, "Yeah... sure Dad. But when I'm a worship team leader I won't be saying, 'ok guys, calm down now! I'm gonna teach you a song. I'm gonna sing a line and you repeat after me!'" At least I hope I won't be doing that....
Anyway, VBS has been tiring me out completely but it's SO fun! We have theme days. Tonight's theme is "favorite hat" (Grama, I'm wearing a red W+R Financial Services hat!).
I have taken a challenge from Jake at Teenage Writer (I'm too lazy to get the link.... If you go to my profile you can find his blog - which is full of great authorly advice and tips!) to finish a novel by August 15th.
I have been writing, writing, writing the past week! I have managed about 7,000 words since accepting the challenge and I finally got my characters off the island they've been stuck on for the past few months (both in the fictional timeline and the real timeline)! I am very happy with myself! The island scenes were the ones that needed the most re-writing. Now I move onto the castle scene and the climax.... Which also needs heavy re-writing to make the characters seem more diabolical and the plot not so rushed (hey, it was the end of NaNoWriMo, I was trying to cram everything in). Also, I have re-write this whole sub-plot thingy because I killed one of the characters that was going to be in it... Heh heh. I think he may have a replacement, though. I can't quite decide... I have this one character who is constantly worrying about everything. He has no home and family to go now that he is off the island, so should he stick with my main characters or should I just drop him off somewhere and never mention him again? I feel like that wouldn't be very nice, so I have a feeling he'll be sticking around for awhile... You are lucky William The Worrier.
While writing, I have mostly been listening to the Master and Commander movie soundtrack. I absolutely LOVE the music from that movie! It's so.... oceany! Which is perfect because my novel takes place on land, on a boat, on an island, on a boat, and on land! It's great music to novel by.
Today I have been very distracted from my writing, though. I started the day out by watching some Veggietales (who can go wrong with Veggietales??) and then I did some writing... then watched some more Veggietales... some writing.... some American Girl videos (go girloftheyearstudios!).... writing..... And then my friend called and we got talking about Warriors and How It Should Have Ended. I was telling her about How Tangled Should Have Ended.
So there you have it.... writing, procrastination, and music.... And it all combines to make a totally random blog post!
But it's not over yet....
BBC Sherlock was nominated for 13 Emmy awards! I may just have to watch the Emmy's this year.... I hope Benedict Cumberbatch wins something. I don't think he's ever won something for his performance as Sherlock Holmes and he totally deserves it as he is an incredible actor.
Speaking of... It's Benedict Cumberbatch's birthday today! He is 36. Happy birthday to one of my favorite actors!
Last night my mom and I started watching Cranford, a period drama set in the 1840's or 50's sometime. The industrial revolution is hitting England and the small, unchanged town of Cranford - run by the local ladies - is facing big changes, such as the impending railroad which is set to run just a few miles away from their town.
It's great so far! If you like period dramas, this one is a good one to watch. The characters are lovable (although not as well developed as some in Jane Austin's novels, I find) and I am looking forwards to finding out what happens tonight!
I should probably get back to writing now... So goodbye and happy writing! Or re-writing.... Or editing... Or whatever you happen to be doing right now whether it has anything to do with writing or not. And please pray that I survive the rest of VBS. =)
P.S. Mom signed me up for a driving class!! It starts in September and runs 8 weeks. Scary!
