I made these three quizzes way back in 2002 and 2003, previously hosted in my various other domains and sites. The Lord of the Rings one was particularly popular and was responsible for making one of my domains gain a lot of hits as well as “blog authority.”

These web tests are now available again at my newly-reacquired domain, Xirculo.com, in the Quiz page: Which Lord of the Rings Elf Are You?, Which Fushigi Yuugi Seishi Are You? and Are You A Pervy Obi-Wan Kenobi Fancier?.

Below are my own results and what-not to the aforementioned quizzes:

I am Elrond, Lord of Rivendell. I chose Elvenkind over Humanity and was gifted with great wisdom. During the War of the Ring, I called a Council of the free peoples of Middle Earth and founded the Fellowship of the Ring, all the time wearing a tiara. In the movie, I’m played by Hugo Weaving.
|| Which Lord of the Rings Elf are you? @ Call Me Madame ||

Which Fushigi Yuugi Seishi are you? @ Call Me Madame

Hot, wet Jedi Master!
I am a pervy Obi-Wan Kenobi fancier, go me! Are you?
By Aviendah and Shi
Endorsed by Sen. Padme Amidala

I am currently obsessing over the music of Enya. I discovered her brilliant tunes through The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. She wrote and performed the theme song for this film, May It Be.

Enya’s music is just so soothing and beautiful. Her sound is very smooth, like a deep stream that never gets disrupted by the elements.

Her live performances, quite infrequent compared with most artists, are also a sight to behold. When she sang May It Be in the 2002 Academy Awards, it was an ethereal, unforgettable appearance.

Her songs that are on heavy rotation in my WinAmp are Only Time and Orinoco Flow, which I consider to be contemporary classics.

I was able to find a few interesting Enya remixes online, among them two discofied versions of Only Time. I also came across a particularly daring blend of Orinoco Flow and Eminem’s The Real Slim Shady.

I have just finished watching The 74th Annual Academy Awards.

It is four to the hobbits and four to the schizophrenic mathematicians. I still say that The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring deserves to win Best Picture over A Beautiful Mind any day. Think what you like, but LoTR deserves more than it was given.

However, I was most happy with the results for Best Actor and Best Actress categories, wherein the plum went to Denzel Washington and Halle Berry, respectively. I have seen Denzel and raved about him in Training Day!

It is also great that Oscars are also being given to animated films, full features and short ones alike. The victories of Shrek and For the Birds, both of which are immensely fun, delighted me to no end.

Very good that the animated genre is given the attention and recognition it has long since deserved. Next thing we know, anime-style features may just invade the Western market and make their mark on the Oscars.

Here are the complete results:

Best Supporting Actress: Jennifer Connelly, A Beautiful Mind
Best in Film Editing: Black Hawk Down
Best in Make-Up: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Best in Costume Design: Moulin Rouge
Best in Cinematography: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Best Documentary Feature: Murder on a Sunday Morning
Best Documentary Short Subject: Thoth
Best in Art Direction: Moulin Rouge
Best Animated Feature: Shrek
Best in Sound: Black Hawk Down
Best in Sound Editing: Pearl Harbor
Best Supporting Actor: Jim Broadbent, Iris
Best in Visual Effects: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Best Original Score: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Best Live Action Short Film: The Accountant
Best Animated Short Film: For the Birds
Best Original Song: If I Didn’t Have You, by Randy Newman, from Monsters Inc.
Best Adapted Screenplay: A Beautiful Mind
Best Original Screenplay: osford Park
Best Foreign Language Film: No Man’s Land, from Bosnia and Hersegovina
Herschel Humanitarian Award: Arthur Hiller
Honorary Oscar/s: Sidney Poitier, Robert Redford
Best Actress: Halle Berry, Monster’s Ball
Best Actor: Denzel Washington, Training Day
Best Director: Ron Howard, A Beautiful Mind
Best Picture: A Beautiful Mind

I was out of the house early this morning to attend a convention of Business majors. I had morning snacks and lunch at the venue as a special guest.

Afterwards, I decided to drop by the Book Fair being held at SM City. The Fair opened last Wednesday but will only last for four days, hence the last day was today. Lots of Philippine bookstores and publishing companies took part, and most if not all of them offered their volumes at slashed prices.

I got a few souvenir postcards from The Filipino Bookstore, featuring indigenous endangered species. I collect that sort of stuff. Also got them for a very low price.

I also toured the greater portion of SM City after leaving the fair area. I bought two books from National Bookstore, J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. These came in re-issued paperbacks and were sold at decent prices.

I have read The Lord of the Rings series ages ago when I borrowed the books from an uncle in a fit of summer-induced boredom. It is nice to finally have my own copies, though The Fellowship of the Ring could not be seen anywhere on the shelves. I am planning to go back tomorrow and buy The Hobbit as well.

Call me a shopping overachiever.

I watched The Fellowship of the Ring for the second time at SM City Cinema between classes yesterday.

Between shows, I was able catch the trailer of Star Wars Episode II: The Attack of the Clones. It was not very lengthy but the sequences were quite intense, in terms of both fights between Jedi and Sith and the developing relationship between Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala.

The actor playing Anakin Skywalker was just stunning in the sequences where he appeared in the preview. He also had this dangerous, bomb-waiting-to-explode aura about him that we all know would lead up to his transformation as the fearsome Darth Vader.

I thought at first Anakin was being portrayed by Sean Biggerstaff, who plays Oliver Wood in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

The actor, however, turned out to be a relative unknown, Hayden Christensen. He is a Canadian actor who has appeared in some critically-acclaimed performances on television. Well, he is certainly appealing and menacing, from what I saw.

Fantasy movies do have the most good-looking guys, maybe that is why they are called that.

It began with the forging of the great Rings. Three were given to the Elves, immortal, wisest and fairest of all beings. Seven to the Dwarf lords, great miners and craftsmen of the mountain halls. And nine, nine Rings were gifted to the race of Men who above all else, desire power. For within these Rings was bound the strength and will to govern each race. But they were all of them deceived, for another Ring was made.

In the land of Mordor, in the fires of Mount Doom, the Dark Lord Sauron forged in secret a master Ring, to control all others. And into this Ring, he poured his cruelty, his malice and his will to dominate all life.

One Ring to rule them all.

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring has finally reached Iloilo City after the month-long wait!

The movie opened at 10:30 AM today at SM City Cinema. I was able to catch the early evening show as there was a lot of school business I had to take care of in the afternoon.

Orlando Bloom, who plays Legolas, was even more beautiful on the big screen. He is just so poised, stunning and unruffled that you cannot help but want to glomp him, in full rabid fangirl mode. He did not say much but he catches your eye.

Viggo Mortensen as Prince Aragorn was so very appealing too. He came across as a very passionate, dangerous warrior. Truly a woman’s man. I envy Arwen.

I also got to fully appreciate the soundtrack when it was used in conjunction with the film’s intricate, breathtaking cinematography. I particularly loved the rendition of Rivendell, which was the closest thing to Paradise.

The battle and chase scenes were so epic, that it was like watching a mythological titanic clash unfolding before your eyes.

I finally got to buy two soundtrack albums that I really wanted: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.

I went to the mall this afternoon and was very glad to see that the music store people have already put up the newly shipped-in tapes and CDs up on the shelves.

The LOTR album sounds very grand, with powerful choral voices thrown in during intense bars, not to mention Enya’s fantastic theme song, May It Be.

The Harry Potter album sounds a bit tame, I suppose, but I think it goes with the territory. The movie was pretty much General Patronage in nature, unlike LOTR which was considered by certain Filipino religious groups as violent and not suited for young children.