{ you will wander around alone in the house we've all abandoned. }

[delga]

So, heading to London tomorrow for a family gathering hosted by one of my paternal aunts. There I will be handed over to my aunt and uncle from N. (where I visited before coming home), and they're going to give me a lift back to Soton. Monday morning I have classes from 9am. Last teaching week this semester, then Reading Week, before the exam period. Normally this time would be spent on an essay and then some revision, but my deadline is for Ex.Writ. Oh, yeah, did I mention the deadline for that piece isn't this Monday, but in a fortnight? At least it's done now, I guess.

Note to self: buy some calendars.

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Lord of the Rings! I don't really know why I haven't seen this before. I supposed because I missed the first installment and then never got caught up. I did try reading the novels once upon a time, but I never made it very far which is a shame because I'm ready to read them again and my book list is just too long. But, anyway, this is exactly my kind of story! Fantasy elements aside - and really, I never really pay attention to the fantasy elements of anything; that's all surface aesthetic - it has all the makings of the kind of epic that I am steadfastly enamoured of. Also: Viggo Mortensen* whom I love quite a bit, but have never really figured out why - I've only ever seen him in G.I. Jane which. Yeah. His character is rather smashing, though. Anyway, I've seen the first two today, and I'll probably watch the third before long. Excellent, excellent.

I think mostly I am perversely attracted to (a) the construction of battle scenes and (b) watching people die for noble reasons. OK, that comes across wrong, but I don't know. As much as I love it when they survive, there's something about a character's death which strikes me as fitting to their code of ethics. I mean, that's why Boromir was redeemed, after all. BUT. I don't like death for death's sake; the death has to mean something. This sounds like a contradiction, but it isn't really. Gratuitous death just for sorrow's worth has never done anything for me. Conversely, death for redemption, for sacrifice, that does actually make sense to me. Dying because that's what you were born to do, that makes sense to me. Being 'doomed' to survive makes sense. I have a fucked up tragic code; obviously I've read too many Classics/Arthurian legends.

(*) So, I just checked IMDB. HE IS FORTY-NINE. I am more than a little gobsmacked. He also speaks a handful of languages, rides horses, is a photographer, artist and poet. Case closed, y'all.

edit: Hahaha, I forgot to mention THE ARMY OF TREES. MAGNIFICENT.

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Am reading Time Traveller's Wife, yay. Will let you know more once I've read past the first page. More yay.

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Wow. I really can't be fucked with tomorrow.