Ode to Haldir

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I’ve been watching The Lord of the Rings moves while I exercise. Today I reached the part where Haldir dies in The Two Towers and composed this poem.

PJ, why did you kill Haldir?

That really, really stinks.

Why did you kill Haldir?

It’s worse than having to wear all pink (er…maybe…not).

Why did you kill Haldir, PJ?

That part is so sad.

Why did you kill Haldir?

That idea was bad.

I wish you hadn’t died, Haldir.

PJ sent you to your grave.

I wish you hadn’t died.

You were certainly a fave[orite].

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So maybe it’s not the most epic of poems.

Well, honestly, I can see why he (Peter Jackson, the director) killed him (Haldir) (indirectly). Haldir wasn’t supposed to be there in the first place (it’s not in the book). PJ would have had to add another part showing what happened to Haldir to satisfy the audience (or me, at least).

I wrote this in between French lessons, and now I must continue with them.

Have an amazing rest of your life!

- WM

Movie Review: The Sentinel

This is another film about a character who works for the government being wrongly accused of something by the government.

Negative elements:
-The main character (a secret service agent named Pete Garrison) is having an affair with the president’s wife and the movie makes light of it.
-There’s some cussing.
-There’s a scene where the MC and the president’s wife do some yucky smooching.
-There’s a suggestive comment and a suggestive camera angle involving a female agent.
-A few otherwise good lines are made entirely ineffective due to their extreme similarity to dialog from the Bourne movies. Be original, please (The Sentinel was made /after/ the first two Bourne movies).
-The MC steals a car and lies when he’s on the run to prove his innocence in the matter he’s accused of.

Positive elements:
-The president’s wife reveals their affair to another secret service agent to prove the MC’s innocence.
-The MC leaves the service at the end of the movie, apparently ending also his affair with the president’s wife.
-The MC risks his life to save the president.

Other comments: It’s a little confusing, one of those movies you (or me, at least) have to see more than once to understand really well. The other main character is more likable and moral than Pete. There were some interesting parts, with secret service people following evidence and showing their smarts and stuff. I like the music. But overall, it’s nothing special, and I don’t especially recommend it.

Have a wonderful rest of your life!
- WM

Books and the GA Aquarium

We went to the GA aquarium for the first time on Wednesday, so I feel justified in blogging about it. I had a very good time. There are whale sharks, beluga whales, turtles, otters, penguins, sea lions, giant catfish, and piranhas among a wide variety of other aquatic creatures. My favorite tank was a huge one containing whale sharks and a myriad of fish and rays. There are three or four whale sharks there, I think. Pictures at the end of the entry.

After the aquarium, we ate lunch at The Varsity and went to a Christian bookstore. I bought Ted Dekker’s newest book, Sinner. I didn’t start reading it until yesterday. I stayed up until 3:20 AM reading it. So far, it’s more like Showdown than Saint, the other two books “Paradise novels” (Paradise is a town in them, in the Colorado mountains). But I like it better than Showdown, if not quite as much as Saint. We also went to a few stores to look for jeans, and one of them had cheap, interesting books. I got The Writer’s Book of Matches – 1001 Writing Prompts (and a copy for a friend, and then discovered some entirely inappropriate prompts, so I’ve been editing them), a book on drawing landscapes, and a Thai cookbook as a birthday present for my brother.

I was rather out of it for a while last night. Coffee does strange things to me, like inspire me to drink it with an upside-down plastic fork (well, okay, that was partly because I didn’t know there were spoons available, and it tastes better when you use a utensil…nothing like a little plastic and chemicals, ya know?). And sometimes it makes me feel odd, like last night, when instead of making me feel hyper, I felt sick – too warm, and then chilled, and then really tired (it’s made me feel strange in similar ways before). So I think I shall stop drinking it before church, because that’s a very inconvenient time to feel unwell. Oh wait, actually, I think I’ll just stop drinking it… I felt fine again later, after we got home, and as mentioned, proceeded to read until 3:20, when concentration became especially difficult.

I took 309 pictures and videos on two different cameras when we went to the aquarium. Here’s a handful:

Have an amazing rest of your life!
- WM