Results tagged “the hobbit”

I returned from San Diego ComicCon so energy-depleted (in a good way, since I spent all that energy talking to people) that I’m still catching up on the news coming out of the con. Therefore I’m just hearing what director/producer Peter Jackson had to say about two Del Rey titles to which he’s connected on the film side. For those of you who think that publishing types have all the fun, consider that although I am the editor on both of these titles, not only wasn’t I invited to any of Mr. Jackson’s press conferences, I couldn’t even carve out any time away from the Del Rey booth to attend any of his public events.

Be that as it may, we’d be so, so happy to have either of these films reach the big screen. I honestly don’t know which one to root for. Therefore, no rooting shall occur. This is just to bring any of you up to date on what Mr. Jackson is planning regarding J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series, which involves fighting dragons serving as the aerial forces in the Napoleonic Wars. (Click on the above links to read stories from theonering.net and Empire, respectively.)

And if you’ve never read His Majesty’s Dragon, the first novel in Naomi’s series, it’s available as a free download on the Suvudu Free Book Library. Try it today—the offer ends on August 18.

Like most fantasy nuts, I love the Lord of the Rings movies. I’ve watched the extended versions several times and they never get old.

But now that the film adaptation of the Hobbit has been announced (I’m thrilled about the Jackson-del Toro collaboration), I’m itching to get back into the visual world of Middle Earth. But what can a fan do right now to tide themselves over until that first Hobbit film hits theaters?

Well for this group of fans - it was a simple answer - make your own film!
And that’s what The Hunt For Gollum is, a 40 minute short film “made by fans for fans”. Sounds good to me.

Check out the trailers…

The entire film was released to the world via the internets a few weeks ago, and I must say I was very impressed by it. Very well done, especially the make-up and costume designs. I could go on, but I’ll halt there.

Instead - take a look yourself!

Happy New Year, all! While most people are content with an intake of friends and champagne on New Year’s Eve, I have realized that there are reasons I edit science fiction—and very few of them have to do with my being one of the “cool” people. Now, granted, I’m sure there are people who might say I’m just being modest (thanks, Grandma), but I think self-awareness is one of my better traits, and, well, after I explain my holiday tradition, I think you’ll be able to judge for yourself if I am being fair to mine person.

For I am a New Year’s Eve marathoner: a person who plants his posterior on a couch and watches—wait for it—all three movies in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. The extended versions. For those of you who don’t want to whip out your abacus, that amounts to almost half-a-day of Frodo, Samwise, Aragorn, and Gandalf doing their thing across the splendor of Middle-earth.

Now, there are other sci-fi draws on this day—Sci-Fi Channel has wonderfully picked up where the ol’ New York WPIX left off with the “Twilight Zone” marathon, but with the advent of TiVo, the need (and desire) to sit through a day of commercial television seems paltry and weak compared to the majesty of a little Hobbit-on-Orc action (please keep your thoughts, like the movies, firmly in the realm of PG-13, thank you). So those can be enjoyed later, at my leisure, whereas to watch the whole of Peter Jackson’s opus-like vision of Mr. Tolkien’s opus (collectively: their “opi”), back-to-back-to-back not only fulfills some deep-seated nerd-need, but also bows to a skewed logic that I crave.

This tradition started a few years ago, when I was young and impressionable, and my father suggested we should watch all the movies in a row. Understand: while I am a Tolkien fan, I am also of the opinion (and I am ready to stoically accept the cries of “Blasphemy!” which this next statement is sure to produce) that the movies are better than the books.

Yeah, I know. Ouch.

But I have my reasons: I grew up reading all the people who had themselves grown up reading Tolkien—people like David Eddings, Terry Brooks, and, well, every Dragonlance author TSR could trot out. So, by the time I finally got around to reading The Lord of the Rings, I’ll admit that I found the books to be a bit … tiresome. My father—a man who can watch the movies and point out where a line should have been in the course of the novels (and which character should have uttered it)—almost wrote me out of his will when I told him that. But since I appreciate the movies so much (and still think The Hobbit to be one of the greatest stories, ever), he decided to let such an infraction slide.

He also realized he doesn’t actually have a will, but that’s another matter entirely.

Having done this done this marathon with my parents for three years now (yes, ladies—still single!), I have realized a few things that make such an endeavor possible:

1. Wear comfortable clothes. Face it—you’re going to be a lazy slob for at least thirteen hours, so dress appropriately. While you might think it fun to wear your Gondor Infantry helmet, it probably is going to give you a headache. It might block your vision a bit, too.
2. Make sure you have a snack/beverage plan. You need to have readily accessible munchables that are not overly elaborate in their preparation. Our first year, we kept making little appetizer-like gnoshes, which stretched out the breaks times and really didn’t add to the overall experience. Too, while alcoholic beverages might seem like a nice accompaniment, go for the caffeine. Having recently forsaken the daily intake of caffeine, I made sure to break that for LOTR Day. I mean, it takes two hours for them to leave the Shire! You’re going to want some sort of stimulant.
3. Break times. As the movies are broken up onto two discs each, there are five natural break points, so use them accordingly: use the bathroom, refresh your drink and snack options, and—this is important—stretch. It may seem stupid, but your body is going to fight you on this, and getting the blood flowing will trick it into another two hours of lethargy. It’s not called a “marathon” for nothing—this is an endurance sport!
4. No talking. Maybe this is just a family thing (Yes, I will watch with you, but that doesn’t mean I need to interact with you), but if we didn’t have this rule, we could be making comments throughout the whole thing. Comments, for me, invariably lead to thinking I’m Tom Servo, and the thing is I like these movies. Once I start riffing on a movie, I won’t stop, so it’s best to put the kibosh on the kibbutzing.
5. No pausing! We’ve all seen the movies, so if, for some reason, someone needs to get up, the disc keeps spinning. The worst of this was, the first year we did it, my dad paused halfway through The Return of the King to wish my mom and I a “Happy New Year!” Having been sitting through over ten hours of movie at that point, we were in no mood for such nonsense, and after being verbally chastised (and pelted with various cookies—we were at the cookie phase of our snack-deployment) he realized never to do it again. Even now, when he sees it’s after midnight and wishes us a “Happy New Year,” I can feel my mom tense up, as if she’s about to beat him about the head and neck with a sock full of holiday clementines. She doesn’t, but I can sense it.
6. Have fun! Remember, if you start taking this too seriously (setting up an over/under for orcs slain; groaning every time Legolas starts acting like the guy at the party with a new iPhone and explicates things for us without bothering to use context …), you’re not going to enjoy yourself. And, when you throw in the fact that you’re risking bed-sores for the sake of these films, getting angry that Jackson couldn’t figure out when to end the last movie, or didn’t include the scouring of the Shire, or dismissed the joyful absurdity of Tom Bombadil … well, you just need to let those things slide. Because don’t forget:

You can always read the book.

Happy New Year!

Andy Serkis, the actor responsible for bringing the creature Gollum to life in the Peter Jackson directed Lord of the Rings films, will of course be doing so again in the forthcoming movie adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. Since catapulting to stardom, Serkis has had a great deal of success, with many roles in movies including King Kong, 13 Going on 30 and The Prestige.

Today, Yahoo UK posted a short article about Serkis and what it means to him to reprise the role that gave nerds free rein all over the world to speak in a weird, creepy voice—undoubtedly driving their loved ones crazy. Serkis has always been accessible, something I admire, and I hope he continues delivering these kinds of interviews as Guillermo del Toro really begins shooting The Hobbit to bring us all back to Middle Earth!

I simply can’t wait for The Hobbit! A movie like The Hobbit will increase the recession I’m feeling in my billfold! I bet there are a few others out there who will admit the same…

And Andy Serkis will be a big reason for that!

I must have read The Lord of the Rings a dozen times by now. My dad, God rest his soul, gave me The Hobbit when I was in 5th or 6th grade. I met my first boyfriend thanks to the fact we were both reading The Fellowship of the Ring in 8th grade. Throughout high school and college I read and reread the trilogy, usually starting around September 22 (Bilbo and Frodo’s birthday). But apparently I haven’t read it enough, because I was still tripped up by this quiz, which is reprinted from The McSweeney’s Joke Book of Book Jokes. See how well you do—I got two of them wrong.

IKEA Product—or Lord of the Rings Character?

Answers after the jump: