The end of 2012

As 2012 slowly closes I look to the future. 2012 has been a roller-coaster, one helluv a ride.  I survived it so I guess that is all one can ask. We survived the Mayan End of the Age thing, and alas the events of Shadowrun did not occur.

As I get older I realize that New Years Resolutions are done to try and make you feel better. I am going to stop doing something. I will start doing something. Of course, statistically speaking, resolutions will be abandoned at the earliest opportunity. Having typed that, I do think they can help identify things that need change.

I look forward to 2013. It is a clean slate in a lot of aspects. I have dug up some of my old writing and I'm revisiting it and pushing forward. I plan to try the e-publishing thing once I'm ready. A scary step but exciting! We plan to have the tub ready for the heater by tax refund.  My car will be closer to being paid off. The next Hobbit installment! A new Star Trek movie! So many things, plus those not even looked forward to.

Today is the last day of my vacation. Instead of stressing about going back to work, the fiscal cliff, or anything else too negative. I find that people concentrate too much on the negative and don't seize the day. Gods above and below know I am guilty of that.  Bad things are going to happen. I prefer to think about the good things - finding an old friend, getting another project on the house done, spending time with my wife.


As I look to 2013 I am thankful. Thanksgiving officially comes once a year (in the States) but you really should take time to be thankful for what you have more than once a year.  I am thankful for my supporting and loving family. I have a decent job that I don't totally hate (most of the time). I have good friends. I live in a fantastic city.  Can things be better? of course.  But when I think about all I have and read reports about those who have less than I do I realize I have it pretty good.

So how about y'all? What do you all hope for or plan to do in 2013?

The Hobbit - an Unexpected Journey

The Hobbit – an Unexpected Journey

Warning! There will be spoilers. If you do not wish to have some plot points revealed you may want to read after you have seen the movie. Continue at your own risk!

When Peter Jackson completed his Lord of the Rings trilogy in 2003 I knew it would only be a matter of time before he, or someone else, would come back and do the Hobbit. After many years and rumors production of the Hobbit truly began.  Probably the biggest controversy would be Jackson filming the movie at 48 frames a second instead of the standard 24. Despite the fact I knew there would be changes I was going to see this movie.

Peter Jackson is taking the original novel The Hobbit and breaking it into three movies.  An Unexpected Journey begins just before Bilbo Baggins going away party as he decides to tell Frodo the truth about his adventures with the dwarves some 60 years before. More importantly he will reveal how he got the One Ring. 

Many  years before the events of the Lord of the Rings we are introduced to the Dwarven kingdom of Erebor. Here the dwarves mine gold and jewels and make Scrooge McDuck’s vault look like a kiddie pool filled with pesos.  Dragons, too, love hoard of gold and Smaug is no different. The dragon captures the Lonely Mountain and displaces the entire people of the Dwarves.  These lonely souls wander from city to city selling their services as artisans waiting for the day when they will reclaim their home.

 Now just sixty years before the events of LoTR, Bilbo Baggins was a respectable hobbit. He was predictable and lived in a nice hole. He had no desire to leave the shelter of the shire. After all it would make one late for tea.   Gandalf the Grey has other intentions.  After a brief, and uncomfortable visit with the wizard, Bilbo disappears into his home content to continue.

That night however, Master Baggins is paid a visit by not one, not two, but thirteen dwarves and a wizard show up for dinner and promptly clean out his larder.  They reveal the reason they are at his not so humble hole – to find a burglar and help them take their kingdom back.  Bilbo declines, despite a guarantee of 1/14 of the treasure but after hearing the dwarves sing of their homeland he has a change of heart. And thus the fortunes of Middle Earth are forever changed.

An Unexpected Journey is not an exact translation of the novel but it remains faithful in most aspects. Things were added and modified. But the impetus is the same – the quest to the Lonely Mountain.

The Good

I have read many complaints that the 48 FPS made it look like a cheap BBC documentary. I did not see it in IMAX or 3D but I did not have this experience. I found the film beautiful to look at. The sets were exquisite and the exterior shots felt like I was truly seeing Middle Earth.  

Martin Freeman does a very good job of giving the younger Bilbo life and purpose. Sir Ian McKellan  continues to bring wonder and power to Gandalf.  Richard Armitage made me believe he was Thorin Oakenshield . Andy Serkis returns as the sinister Gollum, playing the ever famous game of Riddles with Bilbo.

The Dwarves – Each of the Thirteen dwarves is distinctly different. Some are young, others old and fat. While all are bearded they do not have the stereotypical beards you are accustomed to seeing. they are dressed differently and all carry different weapons. 

The action sequences are top rate, exciting, and fast paced. Many of the battles described by Tolkein maybe lasted a few paragraphs at best. Jackson and crew have expanded upon these quite nicely.

Despite the changes to the story I enjoyed how characters who did not appear in the Hobbit were brought in.  Rhadagast the Brown, the only other wizard mentioned in Middle Earth is introduced and played by the Seventh Doctor – Sylvester McCoy.  Galadriel (Cate Blanchet) and Saruman( Christopher Lee)  both journey to Rivendell to discuss Thorin’s Expedition. 

The expansion of the Story.  In the original novel we discover that there is a dark force that dwells in Mirkwood named only the Necromancer.  We learn through the Lord of the Rings that the Necromancer was none other than Morgoth’s Lieutenant Sauron. An Unexpected Journey takes this and runs with it.

The Bad

The Dwarves.  The quest is to reclaim the Dwarven Kingdom and here we have thirteen dwarves up to the task. Each is introduced but only Thorin seems to stand out.  This was an issue with the novel as well – while there are thirteen dwarves they are for the most part interchangeable.  While we see each dwarf, and some of them even have lines, Thorin was the only one I truly cared about. 

The movie is long. At almost 3 hours you might want to make sure you have used the facilities well before the movie starts.

The beginning is slow going.  While it has some exposition and some humorous scenes the movie takes a while to get moving. 

A series of very unlikely falls. There are a few points in the story where it was hard for me to suspend my disbelief.  Most of them involved falling. The company of dwarves, plus Gandalf, riding down a crevasse on the remains of a wooden bridge while escaping Goblin Town?  I think I found Indiana Jones leaping from an airplane and landing safely on an inflatable raft more plausible.

The Great Goblin.  I thought with all the different goblins and orcs that had been used in the previous three movies that the production crew could have come up with something better than this.  His voice was also off for me. Goblins and orcs always seemed to speak with a growl and with an air of menace. I thought the Great Goblin came across as a greasy used car salesman.  

The fact that this is part one – and I have to wait a bloody YEAR to see part two.  And then I will have to wait for part three. Damn your black heart Peter Jackson!

Conclusion

I enjoyed the movie.  Visually it is stunning.  I enjoyed the story, despite the changes and additions. It made me yearn to see the next leg of their journey – Mirkwood, the Elves, and finally the Lonely Mountain.  If you have the time to commit and loved the original Lord of the Rings you should go see this.

4 out of 5 stars