Yet another LOTR Survey

1. Who is your favourite character(s)?
In the movie? I have two, Frodo and Gandalf. Followed closely by Boromir. You don't ask least favorite, but that's Galadriel, who I still contend has her own agenda...

2. What is your favourite LOTR quote?
In the movie, it's "They have a cave troll." In the books, it's probably the discussion between Elrond and Gandalf about what will happen to Frodo. The quote is something like "He may become like a glass filled with a clear light..."

3. How long have you been waiting for a live action LOTR movie?:
I haven't been. I didn't expect that there would ever be one worth seeing.

4. When did you first read LOTR and how many times since then?:
I think I read it for the first time about 35 years ago or so, a year or two after NOT liking The Hobbit. I was much happier with LOTR, and spent most of the late 60s and all of the 70s pretty much obsessed with it. I used to travel to Chicago (quite a trip when I was a kid) just to go to a Middle Earth Bookshop in the loop.

5. Whom do you think was cast exactly the way you imagined?:
Sean Astin as Samwise Gamgee. He absolutely blew me away on first viewing. His acting became (to me) almost transparent after that, because he was so much the character to me, that I couldn't see a "performance" at all.

6. When will you see The Two Towers?
I'm still hoping I can somehow get a ticket (even at $500) to the NYC premiere. If I can't, I might go anyway, and just wait outside and try to snap photos of arrivals and departures. That might set back my actual first viewing by a few days. If I *don't* go to NYC, I imagine I'll try for a midnight showing in Chicago.

7. How many times do you plan on seeing it?
Well, I saw FOTR 30 times. Don't know if I can keep up that pace, but then again I was stuck in Europe for 10 days early on this year, so maybe it will be even higher.

8. Who is your favourite villian?
The words "favourite" and "villain" don't seem to belong in the same sentence, do they? I guess Saruman, because Christopher Lee did such a good job of it. In the books, the barrow wights scared me as much as anything, because they were so outside of human comprehension or reason.

9. Which character are you most like?
Never thought about it that way. Maybe Gimli, because while I have a set of talents and knowledge, I can't alway figure out how to get them to apply to the task at hand.

10. Mirkwood, Lothlorien, Rivendell, The Shire, Mordor, Gondor or the Misty Mountains. Where would you most like to live?
Answered this on Rings-Thing -- definitely Rivendell. Love the elves, love the water, and there's always what's-his-name...

11. Mirkwood, Lothlorien, Rivendell, The Shire, Mordor, Gondor, or the Misty Mountains. Where would you least like to live?
Unless I was a high mucky-muck in Mordor, wouldn't be much point there, but that's too obvious. Actually, unless I was living with a certain hobbit, I'd probably be pretty damned bored in The Shire. And I have one big problem with Lothlorien...

12. Favorite Hobbit?
ummm.... Do I *really* have to answer that? I think you get the picture. Literally.

13. Favorite Elf?
Legolas, I guess. Most days. Although I worship Elrond.

14. Favorite Dwarf?
Even in the books, dwarves were never a favorite of mine, although they seemed fun enough.

15. Favourite Human?
Boromir. An interesting, complex, and heroic man.

16. Favourite Wizard?
Gandalf, probably the Grey, who was a more "human" and compassionate figure (not to mention quirky) than Gandalf the White.

17. Favourite Orc?
You must be joking.

18. Part in the books that made you cry?
The whole plight of Frodo, of course, although I suspect the movies will be MUCH worse for me.

19. Part in the movie that made you cry?
The whole sequence of events wherein Frodo starts to lose some of his hero-worship of Gandalf and take on more responsibility. I don't want it to happen.

20. If you had lots of money, a good life, family, friend and were happy would you give it all up to live in Middle Earth?
Nope. Los Angeles, maybe, but not middle earth.

21. If you were given a one night stand with ONE character who would you go with?
Character... hmmm... Can I pick what part of the story it would be in? If so, probably Frodo, but I doubt I could bear to see him near the end. If no choice, then... Legolas. Elrond is a bit intimidating, but he'd be the next choice.

22. Was the movie what you hoped?
I had purposely built up no expectations except that two of my all-time favorite actors, Sean Bean and Ian McKellen, would do the best they could with whatever they were given. So in that respect, the movie is universes beyond what I had hoped for.

23. What do you think they should have changed?
That's a bit unclear. Changed from the book? Or not done the way they did? I liked most of the changes Peter made, especially paring way down all the stuff in the Shire in the beginning. The Sackville-Bagginses never did anything for me. What didn't I like the way Peter did it? I try not to think along those lines. The only thing that really, really annoys me is a continuity error and not a filming choice: the amazing disappearing/reappearing hand of Boromir in his death scene. It really detracts from one of the most powerful scenes in the movie.

24. Who is your favorite actor(s) out of the Fellowship?
Well, as I said earlier, going into the project, Sean Bean and Ian McKellen had been favorite actors of mine for years. My *new* favorite from the movie is... wait for it.... Elijah Wood.

25. After seeing the movie, which weapon would you most like to learn?
I don't have the arm or upper body strength for any of them, I think. I've always wanted to learn archery, though.

26. (if you're a girl) Which LOTR woman would you want to be?
I haven't been a "girl" in about 30 years (and I fixed the spelling on this question, argh), but the only women worth being IMHO are Galadriel (OK, I don't like her, but she's powerful) and Eowyn.

27. (if you're a guy, but girls can answer this as well) Which LOTR man (actually male) character would you want to be?
I hate having to rewrite the questions... I can't way that I want to be any of them, but assuming I had the requisite knowledge and strength of will, I guess I'd like to be Elrond.

28. Thing you are most looking forward to in TTT?
Returning to Middle Earth. And seeing Gandalf the White.

28. How did you get into LOTR?
The movie or the books? Read the books when I was about 9-10 or so and spent much of the NEXT 10 years alternately inhabiting Tolkien's world and Lovecraft's.

29. How did you hear of the LOTR books, or who gave them to you?
I suppose my mother must have, although I'm still surprised I read them after having not particularly liked The Hobbit. Then again, I was always dying for *anything* to read, and I went through most of Shakespeare at pretty much the same age.

30. Has LOTR (books/movie) changed or helped your life in anyway?
Oh god, let's not even go there. 30 viewings, trips to cons, buying stuff on ebay, parties, weblogs, fiction...