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Estelyn
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Country: Germany
Gender: Female
Interests: The Barrow-Downs, reading, walking (to Rivendell and beyond), innovative patchwork, playing piano, travelling, Art Nouveau
Expertise: playing piano, translating/interpreting, sewing
Message: message me
Member Since:
8/2/2003
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| Please check out my LJ blog for more posts; I'm sorry, but I have more readers there than here, so though I will continue to update Xanga occasionally, I will put up some posts there without copying them here.
http://estelyn-strider.livejournal.com/
Should I get massive protests via numerous comments here, I may change my mind...
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| I saw the new Star Trek movie this evening! My expectations were high, since I had read good reviews, and I was not disappointed. Without spoiling it for those of you who haven't yet had the opportunity, I would like to share a few general impressions.
It was definitely an action-packed roller coaster ride. There were so many references to the original series that I'm sure I didn't catch them all. I would love to see it again - preferably in English. I had the usual disadvantage of missing out on the original voices and dialogues; though dubbing and translating seemed to be done fairly well, it's just not quite the same.
I loved the music at the end, making the connection to the series with the original theme. The characters were good for the most part. I didn't buy Scotty though - he was the one whom I couldn't connect to the series' actor. Karl Urban made a suitably grumpy McCoy, Kirk was good, Spock was excellent, and Uhura was wonderful. Chekov was amusing as a young prodigy.
The visuals were fantastic - the Romulan renegade spaceship looked great, as did the space station with docked Federation ships, the slightly bleary and angle-changing camera shots were interesting.
The one thing I didn't get was the ending - do they stay in this alternate reality? What happens to the things that are inconsistent with the TV series canon? We met Amanda Grayson there, but now? Not quite logical, Captain...
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| I've taken a break from work on The Book: over Easter, in order to have time with the family, a rare and precious commodity; and this week, to get some interior decorating sewing done. Nothing fancy, just utilitarian - hemming and hanging up curtains, upholstering a bolster, making a bedspread. The latter was not artistic, just lots of work - cutting the three layers and safety pinning them together; sewing long, straight lines on the machine to quilt it; trimming and hemming the edges. I'm glad the work is finished!
I'll be in Hannover for the Tolkien Seminar this weekend. I'm very much looking forward to the lectures on the theme of "Violence, Conflict and War in Tolkien"; I know a number of the speakers by now and anticipate good, thought-provoking presentations. I'll also be meeting several of the people involved in the book on music in M-e, so we'll have an opportunity to plan the upcoming work.
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| I had a great weekend in Copenhagen; alas, this week has been packed full, so I haven't much time to reminisce. Here's a brief summary:
The train trip took 4 1/2 hours, including the ferry ride. I read Mansfield Park during those hours, one of the books that's been waiting to be read for quite awhile and which finally hit the top of my list. It was icy cold in Denmark; after storing my luggage at the nearby hotel I decided to look for the fabric shops on my list and get that over with.  I walked a long way - the pedestrian shopping street claims to be the longest in the world. The shops didn't have much by way of patchwork fabrics, but I did get three pieces for my collection.
In the evening I met a fellow Barrow-Downs member, Rune; I knew him from Oxonmoot last year, though we hadn't talked much then. I found him to be an excellent conversationalist, intelligent and knowledgeable, especially on Danish history. I learned a lot that was quite new to me, and we had a couple of pleasant hours before the evening was over.
On the next morning the weather was a bit more pleasant, so I did touristy stuff. I wanted to see the Museum of Art and Design; while I waited for it to open I had lots of time, so walked up to the Little Mermaid, then saw the Changing of the Guard at the palace. In the afternoon those members of the German Tolkien Society who had already arrived met - what fun! It was so nice to see familiar, friendly faces; we sat and talked and ate and drank like true Hobbits for the rest of the day. We were joined by Dutch and Austrian society people, most of whom we already knew, and later those who still had the energy (not me!) joined the delegation from the Greek Society - 14 people! 
Two of our members had been in Copenhagen since Wednesday - they designed and sewed new costumes for the Tolkien Ensemble, and there were lots of last minute fittings and changes to be done before the first concert. Of course we were inordinately proud of them; they were backstage for rehearsals and saw Christopher Lee there!
On Saturday there was shopping and sightseeing in various groups of people, then we got ready for the evening. There were three of us in costumes, plus two Austrians in dirndls, which look very hobbity. We met two Danish Society gals in costume as well; other than that, it was a serious, rather staid concert audience. We sure gave them something to look at! The concert was good; Christopher Lee's voice gave the evening an inimitable note - it's wonderfully sonorous. The music was a mixture of Tolkien Ensemble pieces and LotR movie sound track, played by a live orchestra, which is an experience worth having.
Afterwards all of us international guests joined the Ensemble for an after-concert party; nothing special was planned, just an opportunity to talk to various people and wind down for a very short night. (Daylight time began that night.) On Sunday a number of us left, after a bit of time to meet and/or sightsee. A Society friend was on the same train as I was, so even the trip home was part of the fun.
On Monday we had guests at home; fortunately, since that was long-planned, I had pre-cooked, and things were fairly well organized. Tuesday was the deadline for "Music in Middle-earth" papers, so I spent much of the day reading, or at least skimming, the contributions that were mailed to me. They are so diverse; it's going to be a very interesting book! I've begun to translate the first article, and that is what will be top priority for the coming weeks - lots of typing, thinking, and paging my English-German (and vice-versa) dictionary.
There now, that wasn't too brief after all! Since I can't divulge anything from the upcoming book, I may not write much in the next weeks - though other things will certainly happen, so maybe...
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