Monday, December 22, 2003
Yeah, I know, I haven't blogged in forever. But I had a good reason, and I'm finally prepared to reveal it. I didn't want to jinx it or anything, but it's happened, it's aired, and now everyone can see it. I made my official proper TV debut on CNN today as the Gadget Guy on Techwatch, showing off a bunch of great musical gifts for the holidays. You can find the clip online here as "Unwrapping the gizmos" (it's free to view). Yeah, I look like a dork and my hands are OUT OF CONTROL, but I'm rather happy with the result since it isn't quite the disaster it could have been! This is the first of two segments I'm doing, and the second one will air tomorrow morning. I'll get back with the link as soon as it happens!
I saw Return of the King at the weekend, and my non-spoileriffic impressions are as follows: Wow. It's awesome. Yes, it has pacing problems. Yes, the different story strands aren't woven as elegantly as in The Two Towers. But it doesn't matter. It's an incredible end to an incredible trilogy. It's goosebump-inducing. It's just amazing. And I have to say, it'll probably only get better if you watch all three in sequence. There are a lot of scenes in Fellowship of the Ring that take on greater significance when viewed together with the final movie. Of course, as a trilogy that goes without saying, but it has been two years since the first part.
And it also means we have no Lord of the Rings film to look forward to in 2004 (unless you count the sure-to-be-badass Special Edition DVD set... I'm hoping against hope that they throw in a Minas Tirith miniature, but I wouldn't bet on it). On the other hand, I did spot three interesting films to check out in 2004. Top of my list, naturally, is Pixar's The Incredibles, which I don't need to say more about (you can check the trailer out by clicking the link). Secondly, another unsurprising pick and another film I've said too much about already, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Lastly is a movie I hadn't heard of until I saw the trailer, which is some feat considering I read a fair bit of movie news and this one stars Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie: Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow. I highly recommend you check it out. It's being hyped for using real actors with fully-CG backdrops (er, a bit like Star Wars?), but I'm interested in it for the weird "retro-futurism" of it. Know what I mean? It's not using modern-era "expectations" of what the future holds -- it's using what people thought the future to be (BIG HULKING IRON ROBOTS) in the 1940s. It looks stylish as hell and has that old-fashioned sense of adventure about it (kinda like Indiana Jones). Needless to say, I'm really looking forward to it now.
More tomorrow... honest.
Posted at 11:49 PM
