The Hobbit films - WHEEE LIFE IS GOOD, IT IS NOT OVER! THIS TOLKIEN FILM WORLD ISN'T DONE.

I don't know if I've talked about this on LJ, but I've been over the moon since I found out Guillermo Del Toro would directing The Hobbit and its sequel, with Peter Jackson producing. Del Toro directed Hell Boy, which was more entertaining than I expected, and although not my favorite comic or fantasy film, I liked it. He also directed, more notably, Pan's Labyrinth, which I loved and which won Oscars for Cinematography, Art Direction, and Make Up, as well as being nominated for Score, Original Screenplay, and Best Foreign Film.

When I heard he'd been hand-picked by Peter Jackson, and that Jackson, Fran Walsh, and Philippa Boyens [LOTR writers] would be co-writing it with Del Toro, I was in a state of fan bliss. That was several weeks ago, and the bliss hasn't really gone away-- I only forget about it sometimes, but as soon as I'm reminded I get excited again. Even though it won't come out until December 2011, I am excited. I expect to stay in a state of being instantly "re-excitable" for the next three years any time anyone mentions the films.

Reading the online chat transcript[HOBBIT BOOK SPOILERS] between Peter Jackson, Guillermo Del Toro, and submitted questions from fans, I was pleased with their responses about the tone of The Hobbit versus LOTR, the fact that these movies would also be "intense PG-13" as LOTR was, and that the two new films will be designed to inhabit the same "world" of middle earth and retain continuity with the trilogy, while also benefiting from a new director's talent and ideas. The interview was rather long, AND CONTAINS MAJOR BOOK SPOILER FOR THE HOBBIT, but if you are familiar with The Hobbit, then I suggest hitting CNTRL+F and searching "Smaug" until you get to Official Question 8... Del Toro gives a geeky, enthusiastic, and encouraging spiel about what he plans for the infamous Smaug. He cites Disney's Maleficent [Sleeping Beauty] and the dragon from Dragonslayer as his ideal cinematic portrayals of dragons, and says:

Smaug should not be "the Dragon in the Hobbit movie" as if it was just "another" creature in a Bestiary. Smaug should be "The DRAGON" for all movies past and present. The shadow he cast and the greed he comes to embody- the "need to own" casts its long shadow and creates a thematic / dramatic continuity of sorts that articulates the story throughout-

This is exactly the kind of thoughtful, passionate answer I would want from a director. This guy sounds like he knows and loves the characters and the story of The Hobbit. Which is important, incredibly important, to me, because I loved The Hobbit more than LOTR. I've read LOTR once all the way through, but I've read The Hobbit three times all the way through and spot-read chapters on a whim other times.

( more talk about The Hobbit, unspoilery )

Wow... I'll be 27 when The Hobbit plays in theaters. That will be weird to the extreme, considering I was 17 when The Fellowship of the Ring was released.

Terry Pratchett fangirling: IT TAKES TIME, if you're like me and are a grouch about order

Apparently it's the 25th of May and that means my flist is making Discworld references. That I do not understand. Yet.

I'M NOT THERE YET! I JUST NEED MORE TIME! OKAY? wait for me?

In the last two months I have listened to 20 Discworld books on audio mp3, plus the 5 that I read previously and the one that I read in the middle of listening to the 20. books. on audio.

In order.

I know this all has something to do with Night Watch, but I can't join, because I haven't read it yet! I'm so close, though. SO CLOSE. I just finished listening to The Truth (book 25), which I loved, and I read The Thief of Time a long time ago so I have to listen to the audiobook to remember what it was about (some died by diving into a vat of chocolate? clocks?), and then it's three more books to Night Watch.

But I'll get there! Give me a bit more time, and I'll be doing whatever flower business y'all seem so focused on. ::waves:: I'll sing, or cheer, or whatever, but i have to listen to four other books first.

It's, you know, a thing. Principals, and such. Got to read them the right way. In order. Narrative causality demands.

I've never listened to this many audiobooks in such a concentrated time in my life. I swear I got to bed listening to this stuff. I usually have to start the segment over again in the morning.

Anyway, this post is just to say, I'm working my way to knowing what you guys are all talking about, and don't spoil me, and I'll join you very soon.

(BTW, I love that The Truth gave Ankh-Morpork the equivalent of the Seattle Underground, ladders and all.)

Jerry fought the law

Why is this so funny?

G-00, Ep 6-8...wherein we get more fanservice, more sparkles, and still not enough characterization

( Episode 6 )

( Episode 7 )

( Episdoe 8 )

Male leads in romance novels vs. fanfic

I'm almost halfway through the Key of Light in audiobook format by Nora Roberts, and I'm enjoying it. I don't think I've ever read Nora Roberts before, but she's good. I can see why people like her. Her narrative is smooth, and she builds decent characters. Good dialog.

The story is a little cheesy, but that's okay.

One thing that I forgot, not having read a real "romance" genre book for a long time, is how perfect all the characters are. Especially the men. There's like a set of perfect "types" and all male characters must fit one of those types, and in addition they must be independantly successful, handsome, charming, and nice but not too nice.

Sometimes fanfiction makes you forget what certain book tropes are like, because you end up reading romance stories for what in the actual show are minor side characters, and thus sometimes you end up reading about people who aren't so perfect because they're not the main heroes, but in fanfic they can get their epic romances too.

Kinda spoils you, actually. Now I'm reading about this male character Flinn, who runs a newspaper and has a big dog and is a reporter/editor and decent and noble and sexy, and they just introduced his childhood friend who inherited the family company and is wealthy and sexy and handsome and "the family prince", and I have to roll my eyes.

I mean, these days I'm writing/reading romantic fanfic about male characters that are:

1) a socially retarded, introspective, perverted, and probably clinically depressed ninja assassin whose sense of self-worth is defined by his job

2) a selfish teenage exiled royal with serious anger problems whose face was mutilated so badly by fire that his eye and ear on one side are deformed, in a way that no one would ever call pretty or handsome.

3) an alien who can't stand to stay on the same planet for more than a week and jumps through space and time and is afraid to be intimate and probably has a God complex and definitely has a superiority complex (although he also good and true mostly nice and very fun to be around).


In terms of character importance in their respective series, that's one minor character, one regular supporting character, and one lead character. Naruto, Avatar:TLA, and Doctor Who, respectively. None of them are exactly ideal or stellar examples of what lead characters in a romance novel would be. Interesting how fandom has altered and shaped our tastes, isn't it?

The last romance book where I fell in love with a "perfect" male lead was The Time Traveller's wife, and that probably had more to do with the fact that he was a librarian who had time-travelling adventures as much as the fact that he was supposed to be attractive and charming. I do have a weakness for Indiana Jones-style adventure geeks.

neat!

Watch this insanely cute and colorful music video with large groups of synchronized dancers that was done all in one take except for the very beginning and end.