Great picture, but...

The latest Before the Helmet shot is a good news/bad news situation.  The good news is it's a new pic of the rarely-seen Padme, and Obi-Wan.  Padme looks absolutely gorgeous with her long curls.  As an aside, I think La Nat's recent bob is adorable and looks great on her, but we all miss the cascading curls. Padme's tummy is obscured, probably so we're not able to tell whether the scene takes place before or after the twins' birth.  It's not as though her pregnancy is a secret to us, is it?

The bad news is it's a pic of Padme and Obi-Wan.  Now there's apparently nothing untoward going on.  In fact, Padme is looking off with a serious expression on her face while Obi seems to be taking advantage of his unlimited free minutes on his comlink.  But you just know this pic has spawned many a plot bunny for the Obidala crowd.  God help us all :).

Shut Up and Act

Warning, conservarant alert.

Okay, I read this interview with Viggo Mortensen in the paper today. Aside from being well-loved by the ladies, Mr. Mortensen is a bit of a hippie and an outspoken lefty. Admittedly, his ramblings can be grating. Actors can sometimes articulate and defend their views rather well...even if I don't agree with them.

But Viggo used the promotional rounds for the LOTR flicks to promote his political views, even going as far as to claim the whole point of the story was UN-style multilateralism.

What???

I'm no Tolkien scholar, but somehow I never got that impression.

There's this book "The Force of Star Wars" by a guy named Frank Allnut, written in 1978. It's a view of ANH from the perspective of a very conservative evangelical Christian and he says the film makes a powerful statement against "quickie divorces" and other social sins he finds odious. I might find them odious myself, at least some of them, but I'm objective enough to realize ANH says absolutely nothing about that stuff.

Well Viggo is pulling an Allnut with movies, or books for that matter, that say nothing about current events or left-wing politics. I wouldn't go as far as Michael Medved in claiming it ruined LOTR for me or anything. Hell, if I let liberals ruin every movie or CD for me, I'd pretty much have a blank wall to stare at all day. But come on dude, put down the Qui-Gon brownies.