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Showing posts from 2008

Spotlight Squee: Robert Jordan

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Today, it's a year since the funeral service, so here's my hommage to the Creator. The only downside of writing this entry is that it has made cry, as I do think the world has lost a most magnificent storyteller. A toast to his memory! May he live forever in our hearts! Who is this person? Robert Jordan, pen name of James Oliver Rigney Jr., wrote The Wheel of Time fantasy series. He was born in Charleston, South Carolina on 17 October 1948, served in Vietnam in the late 60s and later took up writing. He's written some Conan books as well, but is most famous for tWoT. He was diagnosed with cardiac amyloidosis in 2006, and died on 16 September 2007. How did I find this person? A classmate suggested I should read "The Eye of the World", as it was a very good book... and so I borrowed it from the library and started reading. She was not wrong! How long ago was this? Must have been in 1996 or 1997, I think. So what's the deal? It's a world that l

Spotlight Squee: Sam Neill

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The moment has finally arrived! A great big happy birthday to Sam Neill! Here's the story... Who is this person? Sam Neill is an actor and a director, who also has his own vinyard in central Otago in New Zealand. He was born 14 September 1947 in Omagh, Northern Ireland, but moved to New Zealand as a child. Eventually, he became an actor and is perhaps most known to people as Alan Grant in Jurassic Park (films 1 and 3)... but he's been in a myriad of other things. Some more memorable than others. How did I find this person? Well, there are a few different explanations here, because there are a few different occasions. The first one was watching the music video to Michael Nyman's "The Heart Asks Pleasure First" in school - the theme to the critically acclaimed film The Piano (it's actually rather good, even though it's critically acclaimed). I thought "oh hello" - and I can't have been more than 10 or 11 at the time... Second was watc

Spotlight Squees: The X-Files

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Today is the UK opening of The X-Files: I Want To Believe , so it's quite fitting for today's topic to be that of Mulder and Scully. Also, it'll be the first installment of fictional characters. Who are these people? Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) are two FBI agents on a TV show called "The X-Files" (1993-2002). Mulder's the person who believes in all kinds of paranormal things, Scully's the sceptic who is sent in to debunk his work. If you don't already know who they are, go watch the show. How did I find these people? I saw a trailer on TV4 once upon a time. I thought it sounded like a great show, and one of the episodes was on at 8pm instead of 9:10pm, so I was allowed to stay up and watch it. This would've been "Squeeze" (1X02). I wasn't allowed to be up and watch the other episodes, as I was supposed to be in bed, but my sister taped them for me, so that I could watch them the next day when I

Spotlight Squee: JK Rowling

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And the second person to be praised in this series is JK Rowling, seeing as it's her birthday today. Happy birthday, Jo! :) Who is this person? She's the author of the Harry Potter books. If you don't know who Harry Potter is yet, you have probably lived as a hermit under ground the past decade or so. How did I find this person? We got to read a thing with some text excerpts in Swedish class in school, as we were having a big test and were to write something about one of the texts in that brochure or whatever you want to call it. I had heard of HP before, but never read any, and there was an excerpt from the first book, HP at King's Cross. I was instantly taken in by the story and wanted to read more, so I asked a school friend (who had the books) if I could borrow them... and I could, so I quickly devoured the first three and absolutely loved them. How long ago was this? Spring of 2001. So what's the deal? The stories are perfectly bubbly and full of

Spotlight Squee: Ken Olin

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The reason I'm starting with this guy, as opposed to someone that would perhaps make more sense (such as Sam Neill) to most people who know me, is because it happens to be his birthday today. Happy birthday, Ken! :) Loving this piccy btw! ---> Who is this person? He's a TV actor and producer/director. A fact that makes it a bit hard to try and track down stuff he's been in, because obscure TV movies don't always make it to DVD and people can't be arsed to torrent them. He's starred in stuff like Thirtysomething and is a producter on Brothers & Sisters , where he recently guest starred (season 2). He was also working on Alias and made a guest appearance there in season one. How did I find this person? I was channel hopping and came across a movie on the Scifi Channel, called Evolution's Child . The premise of the movie was a little intriguing, so I came to watch it. Interesting links with the Indigo phenomenon, I thought, and then I saw the guy

Monty Python vs Harry Potter

Barty Crouch Jr. meets the Death Eaters at the Quidditch World Cup arena (I might have been a little bored when writing this. You might recognise it. ;)) [trumpets] [clap clap clap] ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen. The next contest is between... Serbia, the Balkan baby-crushers, and Mongolia. BARTY CROUCH JR: Want some... VOICE: Thank you, fellows. BARTY: Popcorn. Chocolate buttons. Snickers. Mars bars. Nachos with cheese. Get 'em while they're hot. They're lovely. Potato wedges, only half a sickle. Chilli poppers. ALECTO: I do feel, Lucius, that any anti-establishment group like ours must reflect such a divergence of interests within its power-base. LUCIUS: Agreed. Amycus? AMYCUS: Yeah. I think Alecto's point of view is very valid, Lucius, provided the Movement never forgets that it is the inalienable right of every man-- MCNAIR: Or woman. AMYCUS: Or woman... to rid himself-- MCNAIR: Or herself. AMYCUS: Or herself. LUCIUS: Ag

We can believe again!

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The second X-Files movie! ( http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443701/ ) I can't wait! Mulder and Scully back on the screens! X-Files! X-Files! X-Files! :D :D :D July 25 is when it comes out in the US, but we have to wait for 1 August for it to come to both the UK and Sweden. But what's a few days after six years of waiting anyway? Nothing! So sue me. It's one of my all-time favourite TV-shows. I remember when the final double episode was going to be aired. I was living in BĂ„stad at the time, and had classmates who were trying to talk me into going with them to Pepe's Bodega (a nightclub) on a Saturday night. My response was along the lines of "Not on your life! It's the final X-Files episode ever!!" It was a semi-accepted response, actually. It seemed more valid then "no, I find nightclubs incredibly noisy and awful and I'd rather watch paint dry". Funny that. I remember when "Fight The Future" premiered. Saw it on the opening night