The snow is off the ground and the ground is muddy. A scent of thaw is filling the air. Dare I hope that spring has finally arrived? According to the Weather Network's long term forecast, tonight may be the last time temperatures dip below freezing for quite a while. So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
I don't mind the rain. Spring rain sounds good in an open window and, besides, the farmers could use a good drenching right about now. Last year and this winter was so very dry.
I went into Toronto this Saturday and took my friend, Martin Proctor to see the Lord of the Rings. Martin had not seen the movie, or read the books, so I guess he was our litmus test on how well the movie was made and how easy it was to understand.
He loved it. He was relieved that it was not as gorey as he feared (despite a large amount of swordplay), and he had no trouble following the narrative. He guessed that Gandalf would be in the next movie because he pointed out that the Balrog was no longer dangling from his legs as he clutched the remains of the bridge in Moria. Instead, the movie makes it look as though Gandalf deliberately let go. Interesting...
And we saw the trailer for the Two Towers. Great stuff. The battle for Helm's Deep is clearly the centrepiece of this movie, and the participants of Rohan are easy to spot and recognize. King Theoden is especially well cast, in my opinion. And, yes, we had a shot of Pippen accidentally grabbing Treebeard's nose, so the Ents are in this movie. It's not summer, yet, but I'm already looking forward to Christmas.
I wish this trailer was downloadable so I could show it to my mother, the Tolkien-phile, could see it, but it seems they're only making it available at the end of the Fellowship of the Ring. Perhaps that is what's keeping the crowds coming back. I was impressed that, even four months after the movie's release, Martin and I were sitting amongst a full house.
The revisions to Rosemary and Time continue. The ripple-effects of Rosemary's character change early in the story have now been carried through to the end. I also decided that it made more sense for "the man in the deerstalker hat" (you know who he's supposed to be) to appear on the Mystery Train rather than in the Haunted House. Peter gets some good new lines as well. Here's a snippit; I hope it's not too angsty:
He grabbed her shoulders and shook her. "Get a hold of yourself!"
Silence descended.
"First of all," he said, calm but firm. "You didn't drag me here, I volunteered. And given a second chance, I'd do it again. Would you rather have faced this alone?"
Even in the dark, he could detect the uncertain cast of her shoulders.
"Well, I wouldn't let you. Being alone is the worst thing in the world. So, I'm here. Deal with that. We're in this together, and we have to keep going if we want to get out!"
There was more silence. Then Rosemary wrapped her arms around him. "Thank you."
I've written the prologue to my third Harry Potter fan fiction featuring Wesley Grange. So, all told, a rather productive week!