Things that rule
Jul. 31st, 2004 08:44 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
squeequegSo, some of you may know that there's a Lord of the Rings exhibit at the Boston Museum of Science now. It opens tomorrow at midnight and features weapons, armor, costumes, and effects from the movies.
I got to go to the opening last night.
Why? Because I am Big Media. Fear Me!
No, really. The editor for one of the papers I work on got an invite and passed it on to me. So I got to go and get a little press kit and a badge that said "PRESS" and got to have![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
thomascantor as my attache.
It ruled.
I think I started to freak out around the point where I realized that the huge Maori guy standing ahead of me in line was Lawrence Makoare, who played Lurtz, Gothmog, and the Witch-King of Angmar. I did, however, keep from being a squealing fangirl all night. I regard this as a great accomplishment.
The museum had arranged for refreshments and food outside in a tent and pavilion, all of which was decorated with banners and streamers, some vaguely elvish, some like the streamers at the Long-Expected Party. I discovered that I liked salmon mousse.thomascantor and I staked out a spot near what would be the dessert table (though we didn't know it then) and ran into someone from where I work. Lots of people from work were there, in fact, and it was a relief to find that some were just as LOTR-geeky as me. I even got to hear some office gossip that, being a were-introvert, I hadn't heard a breath of. Wow.
I'm pretty sure there were a lot of kiwi margaritas going around, based on the glasses carried by waiters.
There were several long-winded speakers: the president of the museum spoke Elvish with a Greek accent and commented on that (No, I don't know if it was Quenya or Sindarin. I'm not that much of an alpha geek.); the head of Avid Technology spoke with a delightful Scottish accent, and the New Zealand ambassador spoke. For a while. He did mention that for Peter Jackson's new movie -- King Kong -- they're looking forward to seeing Manhattan recreated in rural farmland outside Wellington. Or words to that effect.
The president of the museum, who is apparently not a tall man, stood next to Makoare, who's friggin huge, and made a joke regarding feeling like a dwarf. To which Makoare said "I toss dwarf!" and pretended to do so.
We then got to see Kahurangi, a Maori dance troupe. They were damn good. I got to hear a conch played, and the mix of song and chant and speech was amazing. I also began to realize just how deadly a flattened stick could be as a weapon.
Then they took pity on us, and let us in.
For me, this ruled. Utterly ruled. I'm a little nervous about saying that, because I don't know if anyone will take my word as reason to see it and then say "this sucks! there aren't any actors or anything, just a buncha costumes and pictures and armor and some swords!" So here's the disclaimer: This exhibit rules if you are as much of a geek as me, if you like seeing the actual costumes and noticing that they put detail on absolutely everything, if you like being able to see all three Elvish rings and little bits of trivia that you probably didn't know before.
Like Gandalf's staff. They have the first one he's shown with. The second one -- after his battle with Saruman -- is a little rougher, and doesn't have the tobacco pouch attached.
They have costumes for just about every major character (with the exception of the hobbits. We're shown just one hobbit costume, Frodo's, and it's in small scale.), armor from every race and time (Prologue elf, later elf; prologue soldier of Gondor, later soldier and ranger of Gondor, Moria orc, Orthanc orc, Mordor orc, Uruk-Hai...), and things that you probably didn't notice. Like Gil-Galad's shield. Or Gimli's boots. Or the royal seal of Theoden. Or the crowns the Nazgul wear as men -- and the ones they wear as wraiths.
Plus Sean Bean in effigy. Really good effigy. I kept expecting him to twitch.
There are videos playing about just about every part of the exhibit, and some interactive things like motion capture and scaling.thomascantor makes a much better Argonath than I do. The 'what race of Middle Earth are you' wall told me I was an elf. I'm always a friggin' elf. thomascantor was a wizard, to no surprise. The one downside to the videos is that I got to hear "YOOOUUU SHALL NOT PASS!" about five times. But hey, it's a line I can live with.
There are also little demo tables around, like the metalworking table, or the one from the Higgins Armory, which is where I got to wield Glamdring. Squeak!
I did notice one thing in the gift shop: you can buy either Hobbit Feet or an Aragorn Accessory Kit. Funny; the phrase "Aragorn Accessory Kit" for me means something like aesthetically applied dirt, manly stubble, and badassitude.
In conclusion: ruled.
I got to go to the opening last night.
Why? Because I am Big Media. Fear Me!
No, really. The editor for one of the papers I work on got an invite and passed it on to me. So I got to go and get a little press kit and a badge that said "PRESS" and got to have
thomascantor as my attache.It ruled.
I think I started to freak out around the point where I realized that the huge Maori guy standing ahead of me in line was Lawrence Makoare, who played Lurtz, Gothmog, and the Witch-King of Angmar. I did, however, keep from being a squealing fangirl all night. I regard this as a great accomplishment.
The museum had arranged for refreshments and food outside in a tent and pavilion, all of which was decorated with banners and streamers, some vaguely elvish, some like the streamers at the Long-Expected Party. I discovered that I liked salmon mousse.
thomascantor and I staked out a spot near what would be the dessert table (though we didn't know it then) and ran into someone from where I work. Lots of people from work were there, in fact, and it was a relief to find that some were just as LOTR-geeky as me. I even got to hear some office gossip that, being a were-introvert, I hadn't heard a breath of. Wow.I'm pretty sure there were a lot of kiwi margaritas going around, based on the glasses carried by waiters.
There were several long-winded speakers: the president of the museum spoke Elvish with a Greek accent and commented on that (No, I don't know if it was Quenya or Sindarin. I'm not that much of an alpha geek.); the head of Avid Technology spoke with a delightful Scottish accent, and the New Zealand ambassador spoke. For a while. He did mention that for Peter Jackson's new movie -- King Kong -- they're looking forward to seeing Manhattan recreated in rural farmland outside Wellington. Or words to that effect.
The president of the museum, who is apparently not a tall man, stood next to Makoare, who's friggin huge, and made a joke regarding feeling like a dwarf. To which Makoare said "I toss dwarf!" and pretended to do so.
We then got to see Kahurangi, a Maori dance troupe. They were damn good. I got to hear a conch played, and the mix of song and chant and speech was amazing. I also began to realize just how deadly a flattened stick could be as a weapon.
Then they took pity on us, and let us in.
For me, this ruled. Utterly ruled. I'm a little nervous about saying that, because I don't know if anyone will take my word as reason to see it and then say "this sucks! there aren't any actors or anything, just a buncha costumes and pictures and armor and some swords!" So here's the disclaimer: This exhibit rules if you are as much of a geek as me, if you like seeing the actual costumes and noticing that they put detail on absolutely everything, if you like being able to see all three Elvish rings and little bits of trivia that you probably didn't know before.
Like Gandalf's staff. They have the first one he's shown with. The second one -- after his battle with Saruman -- is a little rougher, and doesn't have the tobacco pouch attached.
They have costumes for just about every major character (with the exception of the hobbits. We're shown just one hobbit costume, Frodo's, and it's in small scale.), armor from every race and time (Prologue elf, later elf; prologue soldier of Gondor, later soldier and ranger of Gondor, Moria orc, Orthanc orc, Mordor orc, Uruk-Hai...), and things that you probably didn't notice. Like Gil-Galad's shield. Or Gimli's boots. Or the royal seal of Theoden. Or the crowns the Nazgul wear as men -- and the ones they wear as wraiths.
Plus Sean Bean in effigy. Really good effigy. I kept expecting him to twitch.
There are videos playing about just about every part of the exhibit, and some interactive things like motion capture and scaling.
thomascantor makes a much better Argonath than I do. The 'what race of Middle Earth are you' wall told me I was an elf. I'm always a friggin' elf. thomascantor was a wizard, to no surprise. The one downside to the videos is that I got to hear "YOOOUUU SHALL NOT PASS!" about five times. But hey, it's a line I can live with.There are also little demo tables around, like the metalworking table, or the one from the Higgins Armory, which is where I got to wield Glamdring. Squeak!
I did notice one thing in the gift shop: you can buy either Hobbit Feet or an Aragorn Accessory Kit. Funny; the phrase "Aragorn Accessory Kit" for me means something like aesthetically applied dirt, manly stubble, and badassitude.
In conclusion: ruled.
