Look! Screen captures of The Two Towers Initial Footage! I love how they have “spoilers alert” on the top – aren’t the movies based and following pretty close the Lord of the Rings trilogy? So how can the pictures be a spoiler? [via xkot]
Jason & I went to see The Time Machine this afternoon. Ah, not too bad. I mean, I’ve seen worse, but I think it could have been better. Jason said it would have been better if they had followed the book more. I haven’t read the book in years, so I had to ask him what was different. He said the time machine itself is different in the book, and then there is no kid at all in the book – and there was in the movie. Eh, I would give it 3 out of 5 stars. I troubled me to see what we did to the moon in the movie, but I could see it happening in reality. Meanwhile, all I could think throughout the whole thing was “who is that guy playing the professor? He’s HOT. Hot, hot, hot. And he looks familiar.” That’s because it was Guy Pearce and he was in Memento. I didn’t recognize him without all of the tattoos.
Speaking of Memento, why was it up for a 2001 Oscar when it was made in 2000? Oh, Guy Pearce is CUTE!
As I watched the figure skating encores tonight I keep having these boo hoo moments, mixed with moments of joy. First they did on of those “Bob Costas highlight” moments about Sarah Hughes’ performance last night. Watching it again brought tears to my eyes. Then Michelle Kwan skated, and she showed her true grace that makes her the champion that she will always be. She is absolutely amazing, she has such dignity. At the end of her performance she was crying … and so was I. There were performances that made me laugh too – Timothy Goebbel was great; Sale & Pelletier had some get down boogie going on that was a lot of fun. Then the Russian pair team came out to skate, and did what they always do – showed such innovative and amazing moves. It is stunning to watch them skate, they really are poetry in motion. Yagudin performed, then left the ice to change shirts … and they showed it. Ooooh, baby! Hot, hot, hot… Sarah Hughes had two encores – one was a lot of fun, fresh & funky. The other one was more somber – a tribute to New York. After that, the finale … and I’m crying again. Wow. I love this part. Everyone is out on the ice again. But what was so cool was when the Canadian pair & the Russian pair were announced and they skated together in unison – the men both lifting their partners up high in the same pose. Then they formed a crack-the-whip like line, then shifted so that the men were together spinning the women in a death spiral position – as if it was one pair, just made up of 4 people. It’s nearly impossible to describe with words, but it teared me up again. It showed such unity among the two teams, like they have no hard feelings about sharing the gold medal status. The whole finale was skated to the “light the fire within” song from the Opening Ceremony, and they formed the Olympic rings on the ice with the flags. I will say it again – the 2002 Winter Olympics had some of the best skating I have seen in years. And the most consistent with the strongest competition. I’ve really enjoyed it all. How soon until the World competition? A month? Is it time for the 2006 Olympic Games yet?
Last night before the women’s ice skating finals, there was talk of how the Russians were threatening to take their toys, er, atheletes & go home. They were made and didn’t feel like people were playing fair. This is really just the icing on the cake though: the have filed a claim to protest the women’s final results. “We filed the protest last night because we think the judging was biased,” the head of the Russian delegation in Salt Lake City, Viktor Mamatov, told The Associated Press on Friday. “Canadian pairs skaters were awarded their gold medals. Now that subjective judging harmed us, we want the same for Slutskaya.” Sorry, I missed the pairs finals. But no one took the gold away from the Russian pair, they awarded one to the Canadians after finding that there were issues with the pairs judges. On the other hand, I did watch last night’s program. Sarah Hughes was flawless, and I think if she had skated last instead of second in her round (out of 6) she would have had some 5.9’s or 6.0’s up there on the score board. Slutskaya bobbled & fell at the end of a jump and did not skate as complicated of a program, plus her performance marks were not as high. Sorry, I don’t buy it. No gold for Slutskaya, she didn’t earn it. She did however earn a silver, she did do quite well. I think, based on their performances last night, the results were perfect. I sure hope the judges will see the same thing. [via Michele]
Oh, by the way, the Koreans are threatening to go home too. But not over the figure skating event…
Ok, Sarah Hughes just finished her skate (on the Tivo, behind real time still…) and let me just say – DAMN! Damn! She ROCKED!!! Oh my goodness!!! She was amazing! She maxed out the number of triple jumps she could do! Everything about her performance was PERFECT. I’m just stunned. And I *loved* her music. It had some zest, some zing! She got a standing ovation, and she deserved it. The priceless moment? As she came off the ice she was hugging a man – maybe her dad? Or a coach? And she said “I never did that before in my LIFE!” through her tears of joy. I love moments like that…
(Update after Michelle Kwan’s skate) Wow. I’m stunned. Sarah Hughes was awesome, Sasha Cohen did not live up to my expectations – she did not perform quite as amazingly as the night before last, and she even fell. Then Michelle skated … and fell twice. She could still win the Gold (I have to watch Irena Slutskaya skate still) but … I just don’t know now. I will say you could tell what an amazing sportsman Michelle is though – she skated hard, even after falling – she never gave up. I love watching her perform for that reason – she’s not just an athelete, she is an artist.
(Update at the end) OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!!! I’m screaming right along with Sarah Hughes! OH MY GOD!!! She won the GOLD!!! She won! She won! I can’t believe it! And she *so* deserved it! I would have NEVER guessed the outcome (uh, as you can tell by my post below) She got the GOLD! And she was awesome!!! On a side note – is it just me or does her coach look like Katie Couric?
So there it is – Sarah Hughes, Ilena Slutskaya, and then Michelle Kwan. I would have never thought Michelle would get the Bronze. Based on the skates tonight though, Sarah WON that Gold. Without a doubt.