There's this service called "Spokeo" which is meant to be a single way to view all your friends' journal or blog entries, online photos, music, and video posts. Which is OK if you know what you're getting into. But they have some sleazy tactics that make them into something of a menace, messing with people's privacy in scary ways.

Spokeo does this by asking for your gmail/yahoo/hotmail/AOL login name and password, then sucking out the names and email addresses from your address book. Then they look for everyone with those names and addresses, connect names and email addresses among different systems, and cross-corrolate, linking emails and names of accounts that you kept separate for a reason. The service seems to have created a Flickr account for me, and added one of my work friends to it, without me doing anything, WTF?

Spokeo can act as a journal/blog reader. If you give them your LJ name and password, they'll log in and grab your friends page for you. Because they are acting as your agent, Spokeo will also show you friends-locked posts. They claim they won't save any of that info, but it's really hard to tell. They might in the future auto-analyze all the content and show you ads based on what you get (sounds like LiveJournal/SUP!).

The worst problem is that they automatically send out invitations to join Spokeo to everyone in your address book. I think this coming close to fraud, because it's really not clear, and wow, definitely an invasion of privacy. This includes even people who's email you have for odd reasons, and don't really know, which makes it look like you might be stalking them. The wording of the message is unclear: they give you links to accept invitations, or to opt out of email messages, but I can't see any way to opt out of being in their system.

The FAQ says that they are like Google and that anything posted publicly is fair game, so you should lock anything you don't want them to see. Sleazeballs. The only good thing is that they seem to limit their correlations to journals, blogs and Amazon.com -- at this point, they are not including the whole Web.

Two good posts on this topic from jillybinks:

• Spokeo Emails and Your Personal "Public" Data
• Spokeo PSA - Specific Legal Information

In conclusion: don't panic, lock what you have to, and sit tight.

(One Ring Celebration, Burbank, CA, March 10, 2007)
This is just from my notes, not a transcript! Corrections and additions gratefully accepted.

[Comes on, sits down, says in the Gollum voice] "no pictures" [in the Smeagol voice] "oh let them" [audience laughs and cheers]

[Asks if audience wants a speech vs. questions - everyone wants a speech]

( research on Gollum, addiction, lots on motion capture, organic process, King Kong, current projects, friendships with other actors, lots of praise for Peter, Fran and Philippa )

(One Ring Celebration, Burbank, CA, March 10, 2007)
This is just from my notes, not a transcript! Corrections and additions gratefully accepted.

[big applause]

David: This is a pretty fabulous reception, I feel like I'm on the Actor's Studio. Regarding LOTR questions: my long-term memory is appalling. [audience laughter]

( Faramir, other actors, Diver Dan, leather codpieces, meerkat imitation, LOTR friendships, costumes, blue screens, souvenirs )

(One Ring Celebration, Burbank, CA, March 10, 2007)
This is just from my notes, not a transcript! Corrections and additions gratefully accepted.

[As he arrives, slightly delayed, after a fanvid of the Aragorn/Arwen romance] I got engrossed in Viggo's kissing scene, i felt a bit faint, and I couldn't hear anything -- it brought back terrible memories. He actually kissed me more passionately than he kissed Liv Tyler.[audience laughs]

[Jokes about chair being too high and lifting the stage. Jumps up on the chair.] Never be able to get out now though.

Burbank. Burrrrbank. If you're Scottish, the main vowel people don't hear is the U. Burbank, doesn't make sense. I say I'm going surfing, they say you're going suffering?

( what kind of wings, angels, pinkles, fireworks, being a Rock Star, musical training, Peter Pan, parenthood, tails, high kicks, songwriting, and the color green )

My notes & best recollections, not a word-by-word transcript. Please do not rely on these notes for anything important.

( Eowyn, fighting, costumes, continuity, and relationships; also other directors, movies, locations )

Corrections gratefully accepted, also video or audio so I can fix my own mistakes. I love fixing things, so please comment if you see an error!

My notes best recollections, much aided by matildabj. But it's NOT a transcript, everyone clear? Edited in the car on the way home -- straight boring Highway 5 is good for something.

( Ha-pi, French horn, cupboard, heights, teases and jokes, Tig, planting flags, Chuckie, tattoos, cinnamon, acting, rhymes, Beatles, ADR, costumes, favorite color, Star Wars )

Corrections gratefully accepted, also video or audio so I can fix my own mistakes. I love fixing things, so please comment if you see an error!

ETA: As of Jan. 25, added corrections and expansions based on comments here and videos I've seen. Anonymous videos, to protect the guilty. All changes underlined.

These are NOT VERBATIM, notes & impressions, not transcripts. I do the best I can, but please don't take these as exact reporting, k?

continued from first half

( learning from people, 24, Lost, Tig, Sin City, Faculty, Brokeback Mountain )

Corrections gratefully accepted, also video or audio so I can fix my own mistakes. Just comment, please!

ETA, Jan 25, added explanation for Brokeback Mountain reference from morrigan_anne, marked with underlines.

These are NOT VERBATIM, notes & impressions, not transcripts. I do the best I can, but please don't take these as exact reporting, k?

( swearing, collecting, RING BOY, birthdays, crying, fingernails, watching own movies, Frodo )

Thanks to matildabj and madzilla for help with details I forgot.

Corrections gratefully accepted, also video or audio so I can fix my own mistakes. Just comment, please!

Miranda Otto

As Eowyn, she had one of the most crowd-pleasing lines in The Return of the King. But there is more to Miranda "I am no man" Otto than sword swinging and horseplay...</p>

February 2005 issue of HotDog Magazine, by Catherine Bray (scan at TORn)

( good stuff )

This is a mix of three things. Text in italic is transcripts from videos, pretty close to word perfect. Text in first person is based on my notes: I'm fairly confident but not 100% sure it's correct. Text in brackets and third person is my best recollection, supplemented by the fabulous water_vole's report. Where I think I missed something, I put an ellipsis ... (actually, three periods).

---

First thing, the new Pippin doll is unveiled. Billy's favorite that he's seen, he says it looks aggressive, and, slightly sexy.

( make up some stuff... lies... )

I checked against water_vole's report and the other ones I could find. Took the best notes I could but I certainly am not a court reporter. Please reply with corrections!

Dom came out a bit twitchy, but game.

He talked about their favorite kind of eggs -- he asked for a show of hands for people who knew what poached eggs were, and then said he actually preferred them coddled and explained how to make coddled eggs [wtf?]. I don't remember what he said Billy liked but that Elijah preferred his unfertilized -- that got a laugh. I don't believe a word of it, and think that he was teasing us.

Same with teasing us about what happens in "Lost".

Talked about spending New Year's with Billy and Elijah in Hawaii and told us to ask them about "door", "x", and "triangle".

( Q&A section )

From the NY Post online today (halfway down the page)

For the third year in a row, "The Hobbits" from the smash movie trilogy "The Lord of the Rings" will be courtside at the Garden. The hobbits - Elijah Wood, Sean Astin (he was Rudy in the flick), Dominic Monoghan and Billy Boyd will be back at the Garden tonight when the Knicks host Washington.

Looks good for all of them being on MTV TRL tomorrow. And I <3 my brand-new TiVo.

This came over a mailing list and I have permission to post it here.

(And there is some question as to whether Dom's German grammar was correct, did he say he was born in Berlin, or gave birth there? "Ich wurde geboren in Berlin." vs. "Ich habe geboren in
Berlin." shirasade reports he got it wrong. At least he's not a jelly doughnut.)

( my friend's Berlin Premiere notes )

According to the Daily Record,

A spokesman for the movies said the bonuses were worked out on a ''tiered basis''.

He said: ''There was a core of about 18 to 20 who were the main actors. In some cases, there were £560,000 bonuses per film.''

Billy, for example, is reported to be getting £3 million! (That's UK pounds, if the character gets mangled)

In the December issue of Wired Magazine, page 196 in the cool toys section:

BILLY BOYD

His Favorite Gear

[01] Sony Playstation 2
[02] Canon PowerShot S230 ELPH digicam
[03] Apple 15-Gbyte iPod

"I am so gadget! I love gadgets! Me, Dom [Monaghan] and Elijah [Wood] would play PlayStation 2 a lot when we were making Lord of the Rings. We're setting it up to play over broadband now that we're away from each other."

His Wish List

"This new robot vacuum thing [Electrolux] sounds like the best gadget ever! Just switch it on and it cleans out your room, it can 'see' where your chairs are. And if it runs out of power, it just returns to its docking station and recharges. It's a vacuum cleaner, but it could also be a friend, I think. Like having a dog."

~~

I've read all 20 of the Aubrey-Maturin books, the early ones many times over. I'm reading #1 out loud to my son now. I got to see Patrick O'Brian on his last book tour, speaking in San Francisco, and thought he was marvelous. So I'm decidedly prejudiced about these stories. I'm also not a huge movie-goer and quite allergic to gratuitous melodrama and film cliches.

( But this film was good enough to overcome all those issues. )

(edits coming too)


( They were sweet, patient, fun and totally nice )

(Will have some corrections eventually)

Dom notes: He was wearing a green scarf wrapped around his neck and chewing gum, probably to sooth a sore throat. His ears really are big and stick out, but you don't notice except at certain angles.

( Mostly Very Funny Dom! )