I chanced upon this Ian McKellen Interview by Fred Topel. Never mind about his sexual orientation, Sir Ian McKellen made Gandalf came to life. And he is oh so philosophical. This is a good interview not to be missed.

Gandalf and the Return of the King

Sir Ian McKellen is so intellectual, I was afraid I wouldn't even be able to run his quotes for a mass audience. Prove me wrong by telling me you understand his analysis and appreciate his scholarly perspective. This is not an interview about Hollywood B.S., "It was so great to work with so and so" and the like. This is a man who thinks about his statements. The only problem is he speaks so slowly and clearly that there are actually fewer questions addressed than in other interviews. Oh well, quality over quantity.

McKellen has been a respected actor for decades, playing many Shakespearean characters, and more recently the likes of James Whale in Gods and Monsters. Kids may know him best as Gandalf, or as Magneto. You've seen him in several small roles too, that when you look back, you finally recognize him now that he's become so mainstream. I, for one, did a double take last time I watched Last Action Hero.

I loved your Simpsons appearance. Thank you.

How did you get involved? Well, they just called me and said that I'd be in it. They were going to London. I suppose they wanted an actor. I was in rather good company, wasn'I? Prime minister and the queen.

Was it fun to spoof the theater community? Well, all I got was the script and I went into a studio in London and half an hour later I'd finished. I think they match the animation to your voice, so it was hardly a creative consultation. It was just going in and doing it. They'd say do it louder or something like that.

How do you approach playing such iconic characters? Well, I don't think of them as that. That's the point. I mean, if you did, you'd be overwhelmed. But if you're playing Hamlet, and every other actor who's any good has played Hamlet, or Macbeth or Richard III or Iago, Romeo, the fear sort of goes [away] and you realize these parts belong to everybody. You're just the latest to be treading over the old ground and don't worry. Just get on with it. Just present your own reaction to what it is to be Hamlet. It dawned on me actually that I was playing an icon with Gandalf, because he hadn't been iconic to me. But I had the same attitude as playing Macbeth. I just present my personal reaction and interpret the screenplay as best I can. Always aware actually that the fans were waiting nervously. But it was sort of comforting to know that the fans were there and alarming at the same time because you wanted to do best by their expectations. And so the connection between the fans who were waiting for the films and the fans who were making the film were those, not just Tolkien but the illustrations of Tolkien by Alan Lee and John Howe who'd set down how Gandalf should look long before I got to the makeup. And the Gandalf we were matching to was those images. So when I look like that, the fans accepted that I was Tolkien's Gandalf, but actually I wasn't. I was Alan Lee's and John How's Gandalf because they'd already done the hard working.

Is Lord of the Rings a metaphor? Well, I don't think it could be much more than that because that's an almighty struggle that happens between nations and inside a person. I think it should be noted, before anybody starts comparing the coalition in the middle east with the fellowship that went to Mordor, that there is no appeal to the almighty in Tolkien. He was a catholic. Your president and my prime minister may all appear to divinity, but there's no church in Hobbiton. It's the perfect place to live and there's no church in it. There's no pope, there's no credo, there's no archbishop laying down, saying what the almighty wants you to do. There's Gandalf. Gandalf says you do what you can with the time that's given you. That's all. Do what you can and try and do it on behalf of the people you love. And it's in that spirit that he sends Frodo off. But he doesn't tell Frodo he's got to do it. Frodo has to accept. No wonder Gandalf's so worried that he did the right thing. So, I don't know. That's the side of the story that appeals to me and my views on the world. There are the little guys who do it in the end. But you relate that in your own way and I think that's what's great about these stories is just that Peter Jackson isn't telling anybody what to do or how to act. He's just saying look at the way they did it in Middle Earth.

Fame and the Lord of the Rings

What have been the biggest rewards from doing these films? Well, I must admit that I sometimes do Gandalf The Grey. It's a rather distinguished voice, and people like that. I've always wanted to be one of those performers that they walked out onto stage and they sang "Thanks for the memories", and you had a signature series or a catch phrase where you could just walk out and say, "You shall not pass!" The advantage of having played Gandalf for me is overwhelming, really, because it's made me famous. Now, I've never been attracted by fame. I think that it's got many, many disadvantages, but in the cases when the situation [is good], I wish that we all could be famous like the welcome that we got [at the premiere] in Wellington.

It was like 100,000 people, right? At least, and that's three percent of the entire population of the country. They recognized me and all you had to do was that. I mean, any politician should be that lucky. It's like being a member of a football team that's come back home and everyone is saying thank you. That sort of fame, that sort of public expression of affection, you can take that, and then, you say, "That's not for me, that's for the movie," and that is better still because what this was for.

Some of your costars are dealing with fame for the first time, like Viggo Mortensen and Orlando Bloom. Did you have any advice for them? Well, you know, they're both good looking young men and they're playing romantic men of action in the film. So why wouldn't they excite people in every possible way, men and women? Viggo is so accomplished in so many fields and so skeptical about fame and celebrity, deliberately astute, even though he's constantly in the public eye because he's got an exhibition in Wellington and London, his photographs and he writes poetry and gives concerts. But yeah, it seems to me, he handles it very well. He's mature. And Orlando is a beginner and he's about to have his big challenge which is a leading part in a film to carry. And that must be exciting. The thing about Orlando, I think it was about 18 months before he started on Lord of the Rings, he fell out of a window and broke his back and was told by the doctor when he woke up that he would never walk again. And 24 hours later, the doctor game back and said, "Oh, I'm sorry but good news, you'll be out of here in two weeks." Anyone who's lived through that 24 hours without going mad and killing himself has got some inner strength.

My Wishlist of the moment reads, If this is the one thing I could have right now, this would be the one. Alright, I cheated, it's two things - a Ring (the cheaper NZD495 9ct gold version) plus a Chain (NZD50). Throw in an Elven Brooch, I'll be even more thrilled because Jasmine Wilson does not make replicas of her original designs. I am going insane just with the thoughts of owning these beauties. Sigh, it doesn't hurt for a girl to dream a little sometimes.

Ho! Ho! Ho! 2003

This is one for the person(s) who has(have) been nagging that I have put off exercise for too long: I'm in school now, just been to the gym for an hour's worth of working out. And I feel great.

My Christmas week this year has been among one of the
most eventful ones in recent memory,
not that my family celebrate Christmas religiously* at all. But like all good Christians,
we too make use of the occasion as a time for family
togetherness - gathering at a cousin's place for some food and good cheer.
The neighbor's kids came over as well,
three cute Eurasian boys with a strange penchant for pickled olives.
The adults played mahjong, I played with the kids.
We should do this more often. I
suppose as I age, family bonding does matter more
(Gawd, I feel old already).
On another note, blood
has been a common theme throughout the festivities.
#1 On Christmas eve, I took a sip of Bloody Mary and realized
I prefer sticking to vodka lime. Tomato and vodka just don't mix fine.
Gimme alcholic drinks or juice anytime,
but please, one at a time.
#2 At about 11am on Christmas day, I nearly sliced
a piece of my fingertip off along with the red pepper I was chopping up.
I cannot imagine how a person would feel if his arm is chopped off by
a sword (as painfully demonstrated by Sophie Fatale) .
Till now I can still feel the lingering sensation of sharp knife edge
slicing into flesh.
It so freaking hurts.
#3 Post-Christmas on Boxing Day, I watched how Gollum bit off a bloody
portion of Frodo's finger. It
made me seem a whinny pussy in comparison.

* We are non-Christians with multiple Christian associations.

I'd stayed up last night to watch Kill Bill Vol.1 at 1am, fresh from the internet. I could have watched it later, at any other time but I chose to watch it the moment it completed downloading. With that, I also chose not to go for my morning jog the next day as it's quite a good bet I would be snuggled in bed at 8am. All I could say, it's worth it, crawled into bed at 3am a satisfied and fulfilled soul. I enjoyed the movie in its entirety, although it does get very gory at times. Apart from that, I love the pop-art comic heightened-dramatic stylistic approach Tarantino has taken. I love every bit of it. I love the soundtrack, in fact am listening to it as I am typing this. I love the dark humor. I love how each line of dialogue is painstakingly crafted, jewelled and so defined. I love The Bride and O-Ren Ishii and Go Go Yubari, a coincidence how they are all females even though I'm strictly not much of a feminist. But feminism it is in this arthouse film, and I have no problems with it. I can't wait for Vol.2 to be out.

It's the weekend yeah. But I didn't manage to make as full use of it as I'd wished to, as most weekends are. Met Ham for a quick lunch on Friday and he gave me my first (and possibly only) christmas present this year, an Aragorn poster! I'm really thrilled with the surprise gift, although there isn't anywhere I could stick it up. Taping it on the wall would result in doubly quick degeneration and I didn't manage to get any poster frames on my bedroom walls, as presumed years ago. So for now, it's rolled up in plastic, safe and sound. The last two days were stressful, spent doing an ad hoc project for a director. To be frank, it was self-imposed stress. I'd wanted to give my best shot. In the end, I couldn't do as much as I'd wanted to within the given time span but I guess I might have exceeded expectations by abit. Will know when he passes the verdict on Monday/ Tuesday. I have spent most of today sleeping haha, had woken up late and then fallen alseep at the sofa since pouring rain in the afternoon makes good cozy moments. I'd just watched Swimming Pool on my laptop, pleased with the fact that I have saved $8.50. It was made out to be erotic thriller, although to me, the movie is either erotic or a thriller, at different points in time. And I'm already stretching it with the use of the word 'thriller'. I wasn't in great anticipation of the next scene to solve the mystery, well the mystery wasn't much to start with, tainted with a certain lack of French (No subtitles! But I manage to make it through). I don't really fancy Charlotte Rampling maybe because she played Sarah Morton too fine - with stiff upper lip, boring, stubborn, conniving, frigid and being too proud to admit she is wrong. Anyhow the twist at the end caught me unawares. I suppose it's all a fragment of her imagination, that we are reading her novel all along. From middle-age loneliness to sexual reawakening and self-resolution, it seems to get more palatable as I digest . I dig the part when Ludivine Sagnier was telling Rampling about her first love at 16, how he was the first guy who proposed to her, and how she was so touched she could only cry. That subtle bit got me. Festive week ahead gleaming with Middle Earth glory, only to signal that I probably can't meet M's deadline but also that J would be here in two week's time. Erm not something to look forward to since I gotta start exercising soon... Ok, a morning jog tomorrow I hope.

SEE YOU IN THREE WEEKS' TIME. No excuses for missing out this entry. The other one is amid the December entries.

I was there, Day 02 of The Tesseract, inappropriately dressed in shentonway garb. It doesn't make much of a difference, really when for the most part of the gig the lights were dimmed. I just don't make much of a fashion fernky statement at the doors, probably the only time when everyone could catch a glimpse of whoever the fernky others were there. In blatant fluorescent light. And so it was there that I spotted the familiar wicked twosome of 86 and w. Been quite a while since I last saw them. 86 seemed to have put on weight, a lil.. (grins) or maybe fat people (I am well on the way to becoming one if I still don't do anything) do have an elongated-perspective of the world around them. Talking to w. he still struck me as the awkward friendly nice guy like last time, even though we know he isn't in any sense awkward at all. That impression sorta stuck - maybe it's the way he speaks the way he ruffles his hair to show it's in a new all-black style the way he slouches abit, but it's well, all good. After all, these are the two guys who got me started on blogs. The influence of their wit spreads far and wide even though they didn't know me then, and I was just the curious bystander looking on at another aspect of how youth live their lives on the island. Yesterday I was the poseur yet again, trying to be the youth I never was in my teens. Definitely smells like teen spirit. Back on the actual gig itself.. I thought Bigred.Moment was messed up with too many instruments ditto too many guys. The overall effect, messedup loud gunk. Also, Phorous left quite an impression because there's this weak-looking specky geek with an oversized guitar (the guitar was just normal, he was too small) yet his band unexpectedly turned out to play quite a spunky earful. Very nice music, fancy the instrumentals way more than the songs with the malay lead vocals. And, as much as Siao On bears a grudge against her for scratching his bass sometime back, I'll still say Two Thumbs up for Ginette Chittick (Is this your real name or what?), she's almost like everything I'd ever wanted to be - designer, photographer, bassist, stylomylo girl in band, etc. What I find most attractive about her is her unique sense of style and design, how she did up websites or took pictures. Lovely expressions of individualism and post-mod art! It's cos of her that I went for the gig and well, she didn't disappoint at all. I heard her sing for the first time and like what I hear even though the drums and guitars nearly drowned out her vocals. Astreal pretty much believes in Loudness for impact. They were the loudest band that night. And what Ginette made me realize, she isn't the best looking girl around, but her character her attitude quite makes up for everything. Essentially the epitome of what I hope I could be.

"The huge christmas tree in the lobby brightens up her every morning, without fail, since the day she first noticed its existence."

Saddam is captured, at long last!

Sab and I went shopping today. The result: We each make up one-half of a pair who demonstrates fervent shopping behavior. Yet like any other, we too display imperfection in our art. Stamina and indecisiveness do not contribute to the qualities of an excellent shopaholic, as I have realized today. We hesitated, we found clothes we like yet could find fault with, we went to three different branch locations of the same brandname, and we did all of the above non-stop. I emerged later in the night, victorious, a camisole and a handbag in hand. And not forgetting pricking guilt.

J came by Singapore last weekend and we hung out the entire of Sunday, together with L too. Both of them made pretty good company being the nice, silly, funny Primers they are - each rare meetup a learning experience. Even though I was cajoled into watching a mediocre movie with them, I had a great time. Thanks for everything dudes and see you again in a month's time, J!

Yesterday was one exciting day, mostly because it doesn't resemble much of a work day since we stopped working at about 3pm. Work didn't envelope me like usual and I had a really decent swingin' good time. At the karaoke session, two of us, the interns, then got invited to the firm's D&D that night because there were some extra seats and we both need to get dinner anyhow. It could just be my department or maybe I was one unwitting witness (pleasantly surprised!) to the legendary DTT culture, the Ritz Carlton event turned out to be really wild with drunkards and dancing and drinks and more drinks. Never mind that it was at the table that I realized cute dude A is married and has a months-old kiddo. Still an eye-candy but I know he is out-of-bounds. Not as if I would try on something funny if he is still single, but I like to keep a mental note that he is already taken. And never mind that the host sucks with his not-that-funny jokes (come to think of it, he was funny at times), I'd enjoyed myself tremendously. It was hilarious being with Mr. Orientation Officer (a.k.a. Brother Bear/ Koda/ Shinchan) since he made me laugh alot. He took good care of us - making sure we weren't forced to drink beer and also bringing us around to meet the man-at-the-helm (cigar included) and couple more partners/senior managers. In the end, he was the one getting kind of groggy cos he had so much, some on our behalf. My first week there and I conclude: Nice bunch. Next week we have decided to go chill out abit after work one day. The only one thing that probably wasn't so neat is that female colleagues don't thaw to the interns as much while the guys are on the whole, easy-going and friendly. Most female colleagues talk to us only solely on the basis of long-overdued filing and cheap labor happens to look very appealing. Not that I mind filing, I do not see why the dudes could explain patiently to me (even for a short while) why I am doing particular tasks yet the females cannot spare a single moment. Talk about gender differences.

JW, one of the three partners in my assigned department sprung on my friend and I after lunch today. We didn't quite expect him to appear as the office was near-empty and we were just about settling down after a hurried lunch. What followed was an hour-long chat which quite altered my perspectives on accounting and audit, the path I should follow and how I should plan my life etc. While he could be quite long-winded at times (hence the one hour), I find him a nice boss, almost like a wise corporate daddy giving me tips on how to cope with jobs and ambitions. The only drawback: Does the friendly jolly chap say this same thing to all the incoming interns - praise them make them feel good so that they will perform? And I guess I fell for the trick if ever there was one. Today is the third day of the attachment yet I am starting to leave the office at 7pm instead of the supposed official 5.30pm. Tomorrow would be a really short day, what with a fire drill and early knockoff because of the firm's annual D&D. Am invited by Mr. Orientation Officer to join some of the colleagues for a karaoke session as they kill some time after work and before the D&D, that'll probably be quite fun. Hopefully cute dude A will come along as well too, hee.

Blistered-sore but happy, I just bought spunky strappy heels. My scarred feet is definitely finding temporary solace in them! Less corporate, more comfort, I will have to make do as healing continues.

The last thing I would expect in this internship is that my duties would resemble that of a law firm intern. Like my previous internship last summer, this stint has absolutely nothing to do with accounting/ audit and I thoroughly relish in the fact. Right now I am helping out in an individual bankruptcy case, getting the documents ready for the lawyer and reading up on the relevant statutes. It's fortunate that my mentor is really patient and makes sure that I understand the case facts and logic behind certain procedures well. If as promised, my email account is set up proper tomorrow, he would be forwarding me his correspondences with the lawyers so that I could further relate to the case - mmm interesting. On another note, there are many files lying around in the office, labelled with company names and their liquidation dates. This one that I'd spotted today: what an irony, it is printed "Failsafe Corporation".

Lesser-known Fact #10 This last photo in the series needs no caption and the mystery is finally unravelled.

My first day as a financial advisory services intern was thoroughly marred by bouts of sharp pain from below. It sounds exaggerated but the stinging pain hurts so much at times it gives me a tingling sensation, reverberating from feet up, and no I'm not trying to be dramatically poetic. It's unfair that a pair of deceptively-harmless three-inch heels is inflicting this much torture in sore feet and blisters, especially when they had cost me so much. I'd hesitated buying them but finally relented just because they had looked nice on me, the only pair that had, after days of shopping for those perfect corporate heels. I couldn't wait to sit all the time, even standing hurts. Throughout the day, pain rings in my mind; every move a consideration of units of pain involved. I figure my threshold for pain is high in comparison to most girls yet I was almost limping pathetically towards end of the day. I do not look forward to tomorrow's enriching business day when every step is throbbing soreness or want to admit that I have wasted good money on something superficially attractive. There is a price to pay for vanity and I don't want it to be deformed feet, bunions or calluses.

Lesser-known Fact #9 His murals were shown in A Perfect Murder, his 1998 movie with Michael Douglas and Gwyneth Paltrow.

My family hasn't had a wedding [1] for some time. I was genuinely happy even though I haven't had more than one hour of sleep the previous night and even though it was an extremely hectic day (family broke the all-year record by spending near-hundred dollars on just cab [2] fare alone). Probably because I was reminded of what a wedding should be about, something I'd long forgotten.

It was my first church wedding as well. The pastor, pre-informed of a non-Catholic crowd (groom's family) presence, did his best explaining the significance of a holy matrimony, unaware that quite a number in the crowd do not understand English. The irony of the situation tickled me. Saturday's wedding also marked the inkspot beginning to the influences of globalization on our small trying-to-be-close-knit-as-much-as-we-can traditional family [3]. Who ever thought it would ever happen, and anyhow the bride's brother looked rather smart in his tie and suit, pretty much an eye candy. By chance (yes, really), I got to stand next to him when we were taking photographs - a cheap thrill but a thrill all the same.

The day ended with a wedding dinner at a posh hotel, and while I was stuck at the reception area most times, the advantage was I could check out the crowd. Unbelieveably I spotted my professor's name on the list and it.. was really him. Him who had some role to play in that tortorous ACCT204 paper on Friday, him who came and then asked me how the paper was. I still can't believe we are related by marriage now. One professor and his average student. I hope he would just let me pass. Nepotism strictly not intended [4].


Explanatory Notes:
[1] When I mean wedding I do not mean grandaunt's third daughter-in-law's cousin's kind-of wedding where the highlight of the night is seeing the bride for the first (and probably the last time in years to come) time. Or that you have to fake a smile for the fifteenth time just because some relative remarked that your parents are getting to the good life since you are in college and all.

[2] I'd called the cab company for a cab, and realized that a particular number in their records is still identified as a Mr. Smith. That brought back quite a bit of memories from yesteryear. Funny, isn't it when fragments of the past are always stowed away in some hidden corner until we accidentally turn them out.

[3] The bride is a lovely Eurasian girl from New Zealand.

[4] Come on, nepotism would involve at least an A by any standards and I know I don't deserve that.

Lesser-known Fact #8 Stuart Townsend was the original first choice. If not for Stuart's creative differences, he would never have made it so big.