Mooming & Grooming for the Big Day at the Movies

It’s Hobbit weekend. Roughly 16 hours from now I will, at long last, be seeing the movie in 3D, regular FR, at a multiplex an hour or so to our north.

Having run across a number of Tweets from folks who have the seen the movie, I have decided to go off coms there before I get well and truly spoiled. I have stopped reading reviews by other bloggers, too. Even though I am not a spoiler-free kind of fan in general, I find I do want to have a few surprises left to me., you know? Especially after waiting for so long to see it.

I gave my husband a haircut earlier to mark the occasion. Mr. Armitage has a better barber (one who has actually been to beauty school), but I bet RA’s stylist charges much more than I do (a pan of brownies or a kiss will more than suffice).

I’ve been trying to groom myself for the big day, too.  This does strike me as slightly incongruous since we will be seeing a group of excessively hairy dwarves, a wizard with a long fuzzy beard and a mop-topped Hobbit with hirsute feet. Oh, well, it IS a special occasion for humans.

Last night I decided to try out my Moom organic hair removal kit. Since I reached a “certain age ” I’ve been plagued with hair sprouting out in places I really would prefer it didn’t. Sometimes it’s white; sometimes it’s almost black.  And very coarse. OK, so I have always had a lot of hair.

Yours truly at the tender age of five, I believe. Not the longest my hair has ever been, either.

But, dammit, Jim–I am not a dwarf woman. I do not want a beard on my chinny-chin-chin!

Waxing always leaves my skin very red and irritated for a couple of days, although I have regularly had it done on my brows and “upper lip” (yeah, it’s really my little blonde mustache). Plucking can be painful, too. These are some stubborn hairs, I tell you!

I really should have read the fine print on the Moom directions more closely. It appears you don’t have to heat up the jar of honey-like stuff when applying to face, only to the legs.

Oh.   Was that why it was such a gosh-darned sticky mess?  Hey, organic and natural doesn’t necessarily mean “neat.” I finally got all the Moom off my chin, throat, the muslin strips, the application sticks, the jar itself, my top . . . ahhhhh, you live and learn. I ended up plucking my brows. They got good and red, but at least I wasn’t sticky afterwards. Obviously, I need to perfect my technique . . .

However, I have no doubt that Mr A has perfected playing Thorin and will meet and exceed all my expectations of him in that role.

Now, I am off to wash and condition my white  blonde locks. May put off shaving the old legs until tomorrow morning. Definitely won’t be Mooming them . . .

The Hobbit is Blowing the Doors Off at the Box Office!

I will be adding to the box office coffers tomorrow–well, I guess I already have, since my tickets are pre-sold. This makes me very happy for Richard and all the cast and crew who worked so hard to make this a reality.

This is from Deadline Hollywood at deadline.com. Thanks to RACentral for sharing on Twitter!

FRIDAY 11:15 PM, 4TH UPDATE: This is the largest Christmas release of all time. The latest from my esources has  The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey looking around $37M and $96M for the weekend with an ‘A’ CinemaScore from audiences. (My Warner Bros insiders peg the numbers tonight at $36M-$39M and the weekend at $81M-$89M. I’ll know more specifics in the morning.) There are two records shattered – biggest December Friday and biggest December weekend for the domestic box office. The opening for the 3D actioner from MGM/Warner Bros in 4,045 theaters is grossing much larger than The Lord Of The Rings trilogy. Today’s take includes $13M from 3,100 midnight shows, including $1.6M on IMAX screens. The pic based on matinee trends had been on a $113+M fast track for its first U.S.-Canada weekend but then its business slowed in the evening no doubt because of its very long 2 hour, 46 minute running time. Hollywood knew Peter Jackson‘s film adaptation of the 1937 JRR Tolkien novel would be one of the monster holiday hits so left this weekend to the pic. It’s already the #1 movie abroad and has taken in $27.3M from 42 international markets going into Friday. My insiders believe it’s very possible for the movie to end this weekend with approximately $200M worldwide. Yowza! In the U.S. and Canada, MovieTickets said box office advance tickets for the pic accounted for nearly 91% of sales going into Friday, with nearly 18% coming from those wanting to see the film in standard 3D format, 8% in High Frame Rate 3D, and 7% in IMAX 3D. The record opening for this weekend is I Am Legend‘s $77m. Remember, all Lords Of The Rings 2D films opened Christmas Week whereas 3D The Hobbit will play to lower openings but huge multiples helped by 3D and IMAX. The Hobbit An Unexpected Journey‘s production was managed by New Line Cinema with parent company Warner Bros Pictures handling worldwide theatrical distribution. Select international territories (including Scandinavia) as well as all international television distribution was handled by MGM.

In North America, the film is playing in 4,045 theaters, a record number for December. That includes 3,160 3D theaters and 461 theaters in the 48 frames-per-second format. Overseas, The Hobbit is opening in 55 territories on approximately 17,000 screens this weekend (excluding Australia, China and Russia). The pic scored a record opening in New Zealand where it was filmed and which is Jackson’s native country, marking the biggest non-holiday debut for a Wednesday.

The Hobbit was digitally re-mastered into IMAX 3D format and a select number of IMAX theatres will be presenting the pic using a higher frame rate (HFR) – presenting the picture in 48 frames per second (fps) which is closer to what the human eye actually sees. This is twice the rate of the standard 24 fps, which is the current format in
cinemas worldwide. This use of HFR 3D is the first use of this method in a major motion picture release.

Thorin & Company are slaying ’em at the box office.

Mr. Storyteller, will you sing to me, too?

I would love to see and hear this man sing a lullaby to a child . . . with that sweetness and gentleness shining through in those beautiful blue eyes and a soft smile on his lips. *sigh* Ok, I need to pick myself up off the floor.

We heard him singing  a sort of lullaby on one of the RH audiobooks, but he was singing as a female character. On Finnish TV, Richard actually sang part of the Misty Mountains song a cappella (and I assume he did so without someone twisting his toned arm) in his own rich, rumbling baritone.  Here’s the link to the clip. Richard’s vocal performance is at the end. A perfect finale!

http://www.hs.fi/videot/Hobitti-leffan+t%C3%A4hdet+kertovat+k%C3%A4%C3%A4pi%C3%B6ist%C3%A4/v1305628040405

Of course, I wouldn’t object at all if he came each night to tell me a story AND to croon some sweet tune to me. My husband might object, but really, I wouldn’t mind at ALL.

Oh, I love a gorgeous, good-hearted man of many talents. *thud*