Almeda Sees The Two Towers Again

Almeda Sees The Two Towers Again

When Almeda arrived home from school on Friday, December 20, 2002, her mother told her they were going downtown for a tree-trimming party that night. Almeda, who often plans things without notifying her parents first, exclaimed, "What?! I'm seeing TTT tonight!" Almeda and her mother discoursed for a while and decided that Almeda could go to the party for a little while and take the train back out to the suburbs for the movie. Now Almeda just had to notify her friends, but KT was babysitting and Marisa was at swim practice. After much frantic phone-calling, Almeda sent out an e-mail to KT&Marisa with the numbers of her aunts' houses where she would be.

Then Almeda and family drove downtown to the house of Aunt #1. Almeda's mother had been under the impression that Almeda's cousin was in a Christmas pageant that night, but to the great relief of Almeda & siblings, it had been postponed. So they hung out at Aunt #1's house for a while, then around 7 went to Aunt #2's house, where the tree-trimming party was. Almeda had not been there long when Aunt #2 said, "Oh, your friend Marisa left a message on the machine." Almeda promptly called Marisa and got all the details.

They were seeing a 9:30 showing, which meant Almeda had to get on a train ASAP. Almeda's mother drove her speedily to Market East, but the 7:40 train was pulling out just as Almeda arrived. With frustration Almeda found a train schedule and learned that the next train was at 7:55. Almeda had to call Marisa to ask if this would be okay, for the train would arrive in Glenside at 8:17 and Marisa had said they meant to leave at 8. However, Almeda had no change; only bills. She fished a one dollar bill out of her purse and went up to a man with headphones. "Do you have change?" she asked, holding up the dollar. He shook his head and walked away. Almeda sulked. Then she saw the man put a hand in his pocket and pull out a bunch of coins. He came back and gave her four quarters. She gave him the dollar bill and thanked him, then hurried to the pay phone. It said 50 cents, so she put in two quarters and dialed Marisa's number.

The phone told her to put in 35 cents for a minute of phone time. Almeda put another quarter warily in. It asked her for ten cents more. Sighing, she put in her last quarter. As the phone rang, a voice came on the speakerphone announcing that the 7:55 train would be arriving at platform so-and-so. Marisa picked up the phone and Almeda explained that she missed the last train but would it be okay if she took the next one? Marisa said it would be, and Almeda hung up the phone and dashed off, boarding the train just in time.

Almeda arrived at the Glenside train station sometime around 8:17. She looked around but did not spot anyone she recognised. "Hmm," she thought. "Maybe they're on the other side." She hurried down one flight of stairs, then went up another, arriving on the other side of the train tracks. She wandered about but did not see anyone. During this time a train had pulled into the station, so she couldn't see across the tracks. "Hmm," she thought and walked down the platform as far as she could, so she could just see around the train. "Aha!" There was Marisa. Almeda ran back to the stairs, went down them, went up the other flight and hurried towards Marisa. "MARISA!" she called. Marisa did not turn around. "MARISAAAAAA!" Marisa turned around and saw her. "YAY!" exclaimed Marisa. Or that's probably what she was thinking, anyway. They both got into Marisa's father car, where Marisa's father, KT, and Ryan Collins were waiting. "Hi!" said Almeda. "Sorry about that. When I got here you weren't there, so I went round to look on the other side."

They all forgave her because they are loving and forgiving people, and off they went to see The Two Towers.

"Since I saw it at 9:30 this time (as opposed to 4:30) the age of the average audience member was higher," says Almeda. "This made for a different experience. For example, when the title came on screen, everyone cheered. Then at the opening shot of mountains, someone yelled, 'YEAH, MOUNTAINS!!!!111one' Some people might find that annoying," she gave a loud false cough, which sounded oddly like 'My mother.' "But I was q. amused. And then when the camera zoomed in on Legolas, someone towards the back went, 'Rrrowr!' or a similar sound that means 'OMG WHAT A SEXMUFFIN!' Then there was a close-up of Gimli and some guy in the front was like, 'YEAH! WHOO!!!11one' That was highly amusing. It was a fun audience.

"Overall the CG was great [at one point I noticed that Gollum had fine light hairs on his shoulder and chest, and it just boggled the mind to imagine how much time/effort they spent on making him look realistic], but the one weak part, I think, was the Gandalf and the Balrog bit. When Gandalf lands on the Balrog as they're both falling, and they start fighting, that was blah. But then it's just Frodo dreaming, so I can forgive it. I mean, he's a hobbit, he can't be expected to have top-notch special effects in his dreams.

"Merry and Pippin were just as great the second time. I adored Pippin's face when Treebeard opens his eyes. Squee!

"Éowyn's smile when Theoden was freed from Sarumon reminded me of Beki, for some reason. It was the mouth. I dunno.

"Talking of Beki, is it just me or is Frodo completely useless? He throws himself into the Dead Marshes, Sam has to shout 'Frodo!' and Gollum pulls him out. Then when the Ringwraith is flying overhead, he just lays out in the open, and Sam has to drag him to safety. Faramir tries to take the ring from him, Frodo goes and cries in the corner, Sam yells at Faramir. Frodo goes to put the ring on when the Ringwraith is flying towards him, Sam has to run up and stop him. Noticing a pattern here? I mean, yeah, the Ring's corrupting him et cetera, but really.

"I agree with KT: two saddest parts = poor little boys getting geared up for war and Haldir's death.

"I <3<3<3 the music. It complements the movie so perfectly."

"Ooh, and I forgot to say how much I liked this Aragorn moment the first time: when he's wet and wounded and dirty and sweaty and throws open the doors to I forget where. It's in the trailers, but it still is super. I also liked when Theoden was about to kill Wormtongue, and Aragorn is all, 'Enough blood has been spilt on his account.' <peacemakers3 And when Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli walk into Theoden's throne room place and totally 0wnz0r it. That was fun.

"I had more to say right after I saw it, but I forget everything now. I was definitely sad that I missed the majority of the tree-trimming party [especially the food . . . I had some delicious caramel popcorn before I left, but also the people, I suppose. Everytime I get a chance to see Jane and Laura, I always have something else planned, which sux0rz.], but I got to see TTT, and I would do anything for my hobbitses fix."

Almeda | 22.12.02 12:27 | TrackBack