03 September, 2005

Lord of the Rings

Yes, so, it finally happened. I hosted a Lord of the Rings MovieFest (not quite a marathon) at my house, along with a good friend named Domenica. 'Twas excellent, and I hope a good time was had by all. Not all dressed up, but here follows an account of those that did:

Wes (Balathar): Wore an Australian Duster, half-finger leather glove on his right hand, boots, and carried a bow. True to the nature of his character, he cleaned up a bit :-) and brought all the ladies flowers (mine are doing splendidly, by the way, Wes. Thanks!).

Domenica (Arwen): Wore a white dress modeled after the character in the movies and a long-haired black wig. Much thanks do I extend to her for co-planning this event!

Dan (hobbit): Wore a matching brown waistcoat, jacket, and pants rolled to above the ankle. He also went shoeless. Despite his lack of curly hair, his short hair was nonetheless profuse (and I like the buzz cut, Dan). Our only hobbit there, though he was about 6 feet tall.

Lisa ("Talking Tree"): Wore dark brown clothes with various vines and branches tucked into her belt and hair. Obi-wan and Anakin filled in for the roles of Pippin and Merry, and rode along perched on the arms of her glasses. Not only that, but she brought along "Talking Tree Root Beer" and some sort of elvish drink to the party. Her costume was my personal favorite, not only because I love the Ents, but simply because of the ingenuity. Way to go, Lisa!

Myself (Laedelas Greenleaf, who else?): For the first day, I wore a wine-red dress with elbow-length flounced sleeves, a wine-red shawl (only for a bit--it was hot!), black knee-high boots, and a ringlet for my forehead (which my parents purchased at the Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival). On the second day, I wore black pants, the black boots, a blue sleeveless tee, a lovely green silk shirt over that, a woven leather belt over the shirt (which was long), and the ringlet again. This outfit was much more comfortable :-)

Nathaniel (I can't remember the name of his character): Wore a black t-shirt, a blue crushed-velvet doublet, a belt, baggy-ish pants, boots, and carried a bow. That doublet was just killer! What perfect material for a warrior.

Katie (Elvish maiden): Wore a dark skirt and a lacy, wine and green colored shirt with an empire waist, v-neck, and those really cool bell-shaped sleeves. I'm not sure if she was playing the part of princess or not, but she certainly looked lovely!

My dear old brother (5stars.blogspot.com): Dressed as himself with copper chain mail shirt. I'm not exactly sure who his character was and what he was doing, but it looked and sounded cool (clinking chain links=manly)

Calvetti Children: Dressed up as various warriors and elven maidens. More crushed-velvet doubles, and the girls made such sweet ringlets out of ribbon-wrapped wire and flowers. Though they couldn't stay for the entire time, their presence was greatly appreciated.

Though he did not dress up, Rick also played a large role. Thanks to his technology, we were able to project the movie onto an approximately 6-foot screen. Much, much better experience! Next time we'll have to do a home-IMAX experience :-P

The food was fantastic. The Calvettis brought Balrog meat and Balrog drool, Nathaniel brought Balrog meat and sauce, Wes brought Warg (I think it was), Lisa brought her drinks, Domenica brought various foodstuffs, and....well, I made mostly Lembas (which was a great recipe! Thanks to whoever made it) and Rosie's Shire Pie. I think I ate wwaaaaaay too much. My pants...*grunt*...too tight...*gasp* :-)

Muchas gracias to all who helped make this evening memorable!





Oh, some comments about the movies...In this viewing of the extended edition, I saw much more of Ian McKellan's great acting skill and his particular style. Wonderful! I also HATED the death of Saruman. PETER JACKSON, what could have put such an evil thought into your mind??!?!?! What a gross and despicable thing to even SHOW!!! YOU COULD HAVE JUST ALLUDED TO IT, INSTEAD OF FILMING THE IDEAS OF YOUR GROSS MIND!!! Sorry, I'm ok now...I think. All of the hobbit actors seemed to have better acting than I remember, and the character of Arwen is still overblown. I WANT GLORFINDEL BACK! (ok, so maybe I'm not ok). The endings all seemed better, for some reason, especially the scene in the Healing House, though I miss the part where Sam breaks down because a bard wants to sing a song of Frodo the Nine-Fingered and his companion, Sam. Anyway, I like the movies now a lot better than I used to. However, I haven't read the books in a while (unfortunately), so we'll see how my opinion changes after another book read. First, I gotta finish "triss" though. Anyway.

Farewell, dear friends of Middle-Earth!

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

-- J R R Tolkien

2 comments:

#387065 said...

Gooooood times, good times. We should do it again in the future.

(pssssssst, you forgot Katie in your recounting of costumes)

Laedelas Greenleaf said...

Shall we do it again? I was considering the idea that, perhaps, we could do a like production in Akron, our lovely sister city (is it? I dunno). Many folks from that area had declared their desire to come and be present, but were unable to for various reasons. What dost thou think?

Indeed, good sir, your keen eye and quick mind doth serve thee well. I have corrected the error that kept Katie's wonderful costume from being described.