Return of the King

Jon left before lunch to meet a friend at Shangri-La Edsa. I left around 3pm and boarded a bus that passed by Makati City. Passed by SM Makati to drop the raffle tickets I got for buying appliances, picked up the pictures of Sam's birthday party I had recopied, and hopped on a bus that brought me to SM Megamall at Mandaluyong.

I had planned to do some shopping for gifts but decided against it since Jon said there was already a line outside the theater. Although the movie's supposed to start at 7:30 pm, the line was already long by 5:30 when Jon got there. We estimated that there were more than 200 ahead of us in the line. Bought a combo meal of Champ, large fries and large softdrinks to go from Jollibee which Jon and I ate while sitting on the floor, waiting for 7:00p.m. We finished the fries and softdrinks and saved the burgers for later. I brought the "Da Vinci Code" novel that my boss lent me and Jon thought it was another one of those books I buy. Read a few pages while waiting in line.

Once inside the theater, the movie didn't start at once. With more than 500 people to be seated, it took a long while before everyone settled down. Bought two popcorn combo snacks just to have the ROTK tumblers. The organization that hosted the screening wanted to have a kissing contest because SMINT was a sponsor. Unfortunately for them, no one wanted to join. The hosts were actually begging for at least one couple. No one stepped forward and people were telling the two hosts to just kiss to get it over with... they didn't. The hosts apologized to SMINT and the countdown began. The movie didn't start at once - we endured having to watch a lot of commercials and trailers. It was a relief when the New Line logo finally appeared, signalling for the Middle Earth magic to begin.

It was a beautiful movie. Sadly, the proliferation of slash fiction about LOTR characters ruined some heartwarming scenes. People would hoot whenever Sam/Frodo, Merry/Pippin or other guy/guy characters would have "tender" moments. It confirms that majority of the audience have access to the net and have read the slash fiction - probably Cassandra Claire's secret diaries.

I was amused. I don't know if Peter Jackson would be.