This 'n' That (aka: The Hobbit and Medical Insurance)
The last couple of days have definitely proven interesting. I've been to see The Hobbit (and in 3D, after promising myself I'd only try 2D,) learned that my "almost-not-quite-officially-adopted" son from Tennessee is gonna spend a couple of weeks with us over the holidays, and finally finished the application for health insurance required by the ACA.
First off, the visit. Joe lived with us for about a year, camped out in my folks' old motor-home, about six years ago. We'd known him for about five years before that, during which time he lived with a friend over in Halcyon. He'd had a bit of a chaotic childhood, and my friend had invited him to come and stay in order to get his head glued back on straight. Joe's very much into computers and such, so it wasn't all that surprising that he eventually went to school for it. This past summer, he earned a BS in IT, and is poised to begin his Master's program in it (subsidized, no less, by the university.)
It'll be nice to have him back around. He's a bit loud, a bit opinionated, a total riot humor-wise, and very much part of the family. He's also crazy enough to have driven all the way across the continent!! He lands on us sometime this evening, after driving the last leg from Las Vegas to here - a trip of some seven or eight hours, depending on road conditions and traffic. I'm really looking forward to a lot of laughter, some nice and deep discussions, and just basically hobnobbing with one of my favorite young people.
Next is medical insurance. I've been trying, since I learned of it, to get the CoveredCA.com website to work properly for me ever since the damned thing came up in October. Do you think I could? Not on your life!! I know that hundreds of thousands have made it work, but evidently the Internet Gods™ decided that I needed to take another route. After trying yet again on the Internet this morning, I sat on hold for nearly 45 minutes to talk to a human being customer service type person.
I shoulda done this to begin with.
She walked me through the process, with her making the entries on her end. In the end, I don't have to make do with MediCal after all, but qualify for some substantial subsidies in order to get the silver level of Anthem Blue Cross. No deductibles, prescription coverage, free preventative stuff - My gosh! I haven't felt this good about my possibly getting sick since Hubby lost his job!!
Yeah, it'll cost me per month - but not an arm & leg: $65/mo. Definitely affordable. And the peace of mind that comes from knowing that I wouldn't bankrupt the family were I to, say, have a coronary is absolutely priceless. I realize I've been living more or less on "borrowed time" by not going to doctors I can't afford. I have severe arthritis which, by necessity, has gone unaddressed by anything but chiropractic care and OTC painkillers. Now, perhaps, I might actually think about going back to my orthopedist.
I tell ya: going without insurance sucks. Triage-mentality medical care isn't a great way to live. Yes, it's gonna cost me some money, but the relief that I won't wipe us out financially makes it SOOO worth it!!
Finally:
Went and saw The Hobbit with Súl and JJ the other night - and was thoroughly entertained. Enjoyed it immensely - especially since I've simply accepted that this is Peter Jackson's multi-million-dollar AU fanfiction version of the story, just as his LOTR trilogy was. That isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Specifically...
Don't read any further if you don't want spoilers.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I mean it. I'm gonna be frank and figure that anybody reading beyond here either has already seen it or doesn't care about spoilers.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Major points:
(1) Mirkwood - VERY well dramatized, including the action of the CGI spiders. My poor son, who's an arachnophobe who has yet to actually watch Shelob in LOTR, hid his head in his hood for the entire spider scene. After thinking about it, I think perhaps PJ went a bit overboard in making the forest so completely web-infested, but I can handle it (more or less). And as a plot device to get the Naugrim into Thranduil's halls without having to completely follow canon and show a Silvan forest feast (after all the doings in Imladris in the last movie) the attack by the spiders worked.
(2) Thranduil's Halls - A bit creepier than I'd visualized, and even the jewelry he wears matches the creepiness of the throne and the idea that he'd be riding around on a monstrous elk/moose/whatever. I'm certain it was intended to show that these Elves were "wilder" than their oh-so-civilized kin in Imladris; but considering Thranduil/Oropher came from Menegroth, I think they'd have been not quite so... yeah.
(3) Thranduil - Not quite what I'd expected; but then, this is PJ's interpretation of him after all. I'm grateful that PJ didn't make him the absolute monster that so many fanfiction writers did. That would have beeen unforgiveable.
I could actually see beyond the thick caterpillar-type eyebrows this time, although they still are not quite capable of throwing me completely out of the story. Now Lee Pace AS Thranduil I can buy - several times over. He did very well with what PJ handed him to work with, and it was very interesting to note, as NiRi did elsewhere, that he moves almost like a dragon himself. The exposing the dragon wound scene was unnecessary, IMHO, although it may play into what comes later. We'll have to see. The class-consciousness/snobbery of his rejecting the idea of any relationship between Legolas and Tauriel threw me - considering how completely he has adopted Silvan/"wild" ways and culture otherwise, WHY would he reject her as a potential DiL? Makes no sense, except to set up UST terms. His so-called "greed" was given at least on-screen mention in the last movie - and one wonders exactly why he wants that particular chest of white gems? Was PJ alluding to the Silmarilli - and if so, why? If not, what was the use of making that point? Sheesh! One can portray greed in so many other ways...
(4) Tauriel - PJ gave us a Mary-Sue, damn it. As a character on her own, I could have accepted her quite easily. She nicely represented the "common man" of the Mirkwood Elves, including their disdain for Dwarves and hatred for spiders and orcs after all the centuries with Dol Guldur in their southern lands. What I hated, however, was the injection of a romance into the tale for no other reason than to have a romance. It was trite, he promised us he wouldn't, and he lied to us through his teeth. Damn. Peter Jackson must be taking pages from the Stephen Moffatt book of "How to Mess With the Fandom by Lying to Keep Them Guessing." Don't like OR appreciate it from Moffatt, don't like or appreciate it from Jackson either.
(5) Dol Guldur/The Necromancer - eh. I know this gives backstory for the rest of the trilogy, as well as provide continuity between The Hobbit and LOTR, but... really? We didn't need to see The Eye - especially since we ended up seeing this black, swirling cloud of whatever resolve into Sauron's pointy suit of armor. One or the other would have been sufficient to pound the point home; both together was overkill. And how does Gandalf escape the cage he's in to rejoin our heroes, eh?
(6) Smaug - Last but not least, eh? Especially from someone who loves dragons of all kinds...
The CGI was fantastic, especially knowing that it was motion-capture of Cumberbatch. I'd love to see a behind-the-scenes shot of him crawling around. The voice (for which Cumberbatch is most known for) was wonderfully modified to sound properly dragon-y, and the dialog between Smaug and Bilbo one of the real highlights of the film. One wonders, however, how he came to be so completely buried in the gold that not a hint of him was visible until he began to move and/or Bilbo's traipsing through the coins caused enough of an avalanche to uncover him.
Interesting that PJ made Smaug protective of the Arkenstone specifically. I'll have to re-read The Hobbit again to see if that was in there, but I don't think it was. It would make more sense for the dragon to just be protective of the whole lot - and not necessarily aware of the Arkenstone as anything but a shiny and pretty part of a much larger whole.
Final thoughts:
The cliffhanger was a good one - and broke the story in a good place. The beginning of the story was a bit hokey, though. As if we needed more shady/threatening characters menacing the pint-sized hero/s in The Prancing Pony. There were times when this seemed less like a movie and more like either a video game or a TV production, and I'm hoping that stands out less in 2D than in 3D. The pacing of the story was pretty good, however. Things on all fronts moved along smoothly.
So... The days ahead seem full and busy, even for folks like me who don't celebrate Christmas at all. I play the piano at Halcyon this Sunday, then Christmas Eve service, and then the next Sunday too. This Sunday, I have my piano/organ duet cohort Nashoma with me, which is a treat (she's 81 now, and has nerve damage that sometimes makes playing quite difficult for her.) I have two (count 'em) fishtanks that need serious maintenance. I have several large meals to plan.
It should keep me out of the bingo parlors, eh?
Happy Holidays, f-list! Have a great time, and stay safe!
First off, the visit. Joe lived with us for about a year, camped out in my folks' old motor-home, about six years ago. We'd known him for about five years before that, during which time he lived with a friend over in Halcyon. He'd had a bit of a chaotic childhood, and my friend had invited him to come and stay in order to get his head glued back on straight. Joe's very much into computers and such, so it wasn't all that surprising that he eventually went to school for it. This past summer, he earned a BS in IT, and is poised to begin his Master's program in it (subsidized, no less, by the university.)
It'll be nice to have him back around. He's a bit loud, a bit opinionated, a total riot humor-wise, and very much part of the family. He's also crazy enough to have driven all the way across the continent!! He lands on us sometime this evening, after driving the last leg from Las Vegas to here - a trip of some seven or eight hours, depending on road conditions and traffic. I'm really looking forward to a lot of laughter, some nice and deep discussions, and just basically hobnobbing with one of my favorite young people.
Next is medical insurance. I've been trying, since I learned of it, to get the CoveredCA.com website to work properly for me ever since the damned thing came up in October. Do you think I could? Not on your life!! I know that hundreds of thousands have made it work, but evidently the Internet Gods™ decided that I needed to take another route. After trying yet again on the Internet this morning, I sat on hold for nearly 45 minutes to talk to a human being customer service type person.
I shoulda done this to begin with.
She walked me through the process, with her making the entries on her end. In the end, I don't have to make do with MediCal after all, but qualify for some substantial subsidies in order to get the silver level of Anthem Blue Cross. No deductibles, prescription coverage, free preventative stuff - My gosh! I haven't felt this good about my possibly getting sick since Hubby lost his job!!
Yeah, it'll cost me per month - but not an arm & leg: $65/mo. Definitely affordable. And the peace of mind that comes from knowing that I wouldn't bankrupt the family were I to, say, have a coronary is absolutely priceless. I realize I've been living more or less on "borrowed time" by not going to doctors I can't afford. I have severe arthritis which, by necessity, has gone unaddressed by anything but chiropractic care and OTC painkillers. Now, perhaps, I might actually think about going back to my orthopedist.
I tell ya: going without insurance sucks. Triage-mentality medical care isn't a great way to live. Yes, it's gonna cost me some money, but the relief that I won't wipe us out financially makes it SOOO worth it!!
Finally:
Went and saw The Hobbit with Súl and JJ the other night - and was thoroughly entertained. Enjoyed it immensely - especially since I've simply accepted that this is Peter Jackson's multi-million-dollar AU fanfiction version of the story, just as his LOTR trilogy was. That isn't necessarily a bad thing.
Specifically...
Don't read any further if you don't want spoilers.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
I mean it. I'm gonna be frank and figure that anybody reading beyond here either has already seen it or doesn't care about spoilers.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Major points:
(1) Mirkwood - VERY well dramatized, including the action of the CGI spiders. My poor son, who's an arachnophobe who has yet to actually watch Shelob in LOTR, hid his head in his hood for the entire spider scene. After thinking about it, I think perhaps PJ went a bit overboard in making the forest so completely web-infested, but I can handle it (more or less). And as a plot device to get the Naugrim into Thranduil's halls without having to completely follow canon and show a Silvan forest feast (after all the doings in Imladris in the last movie) the attack by the spiders worked.
(2) Thranduil's Halls - A bit creepier than I'd visualized, and even the jewelry he wears matches the creepiness of the throne and the idea that he'd be riding around on a monstrous elk/moose/whatever. I'm certain it was intended to show that these Elves were "wilder" than their oh-so-civilized kin in Imladris; but considering Thranduil/Oropher came from Menegroth, I think they'd have been not quite so... yeah.
(3) Thranduil - Not quite what I'd expected; but then, this is PJ's interpretation of him after all. I'm grateful that PJ didn't make him the absolute monster that so many fanfiction writers did. That would have beeen unforgiveable.
I could actually see beyond the thick caterpillar-type eyebrows this time, although they still are not quite capable of throwing me completely out of the story. Now Lee Pace AS Thranduil I can buy - several times over. He did very well with what PJ handed him to work with, and it was very interesting to note, as NiRi did elsewhere, that he moves almost like a dragon himself. The exposing the dragon wound scene was unnecessary, IMHO, although it may play into what comes later. We'll have to see. The class-consciousness/snobbery of his rejecting the idea of any relationship between Legolas and Tauriel threw me - considering how completely he has adopted Silvan/"wild" ways and culture otherwise, WHY would he reject her as a potential DiL? Makes no sense, except to set up UST terms. His so-called "greed" was given at least on-screen mention in the last movie - and one wonders exactly why he wants that particular chest of white gems? Was PJ alluding to the Silmarilli - and if so, why? If not, what was the use of making that point? Sheesh! One can portray greed in so many other ways...
(4) Tauriel - PJ gave us a Mary-Sue, damn it. As a character on her own, I could have accepted her quite easily. She nicely represented the "common man" of the Mirkwood Elves, including their disdain for Dwarves and hatred for spiders and orcs after all the centuries with Dol Guldur in their southern lands. What I hated, however, was the injection of a romance into the tale for no other reason than to have a romance. It was trite, he promised us he wouldn't, and he lied to us through his teeth. Damn. Peter Jackson must be taking pages from the Stephen Moffatt book of "How to Mess With the Fandom by Lying to Keep Them Guessing." Don't like OR appreciate it from Moffatt, don't like or appreciate it from Jackson either.
(5) Dol Guldur/The Necromancer - eh. I know this gives backstory for the rest of the trilogy, as well as provide continuity between The Hobbit and LOTR, but... really? We didn't need to see The Eye - especially since we ended up seeing this black, swirling cloud of whatever resolve into Sauron's pointy suit of armor. One or the other would have been sufficient to pound the point home; both together was overkill. And how does Gandalf escape the cage he's in to rejoin our heroes, eh?
(6) Smaug - Last but not least, eh? Especially from someone who loves dragons of all kinds...
The CGI was fantastic, especially knowing that it was motion-capture of Cumberbatch. I'd love to see a behind-the-scenes shot of him crawling around. The voice (for which Cumberbatch is most known for) was wonderfully modified to sound properly dragon-y, and the dialog between Smaug and Bilbo one of the real highlights of the film. One wonders, however, how he came to be so completely buried in the gold that not a hint of him was visible until he began to move and/or Bilbo's traipsing through the coins caused enough of an avalanche to uncover him.
Interesting that PJ made Smaug protective of the Arkenstone specifically. I'll have to re-read The Hobbit again to see if that was in there, but I don't think it was. It would make more sense for the dragon to just be protective of the whole lot - and not necessarily aware of the Arkenstone as anything but a shiny and pretty part of a much larger whole.
Final thoughts:
The cliffhanger was a good one - and broke the story in a good place. The beginning of the story was a bit hokey, though. As if we needed more shady/threatening characters menacing the pint-sized hero/s in The Prancing Pony. There were times when this seemed less like a movie and more like either a video game or a TV production, and I'm hoping that stands out less in 2D than in 3D. The pacing of the story was pretty good, however. Things on all fronts moved along smoothly.
So... The days ahead seem full and busy, even for folks like me who don't celebrate Christmas at all. I play the piano at Halcyon this Sunday, then Christmas Eve service, and then the next Sunday too. This Sunday, I have my piano/organ duet cohort Nashoma with me, which is a treat (she's 81 now, and has nerve damage that sometimes makes playing quite difficult for her.) I have two (count 'em) fishtanks that need serious maintenance. I have several large meals to plan.
It should keep me out of the bingo parlors, eh?
Happy Holidays, f-list! Have a great time, and stay safe!