Happy Christmas, fellow Tolkien-lovers!

Christmas came early today with the release of the first teaser for "The Hobbit". I am overjoyed. It's been like seven hours and countless reviewings since the trailer was released and I'm still overjoyed, that's how brilliant it is. I've been waiting for this since I was five years old and all that waiting was worth it. I couldn't be happier, really. And I can't help but wonder what the actual trailer will look like if this is only a teaser! The trailer for "The Dark Knight Rises" that was released a few days ago was really good, and I also love the "Hunger Games" trailer, but nothing. Nothing comes close to this. Nothiiiiiiiing.

I have a hunch that Fili, Bofur and Ori will be my favorite Dwarves, aside from the incomparable Richard Armitage as Thorin. And Freeman looks splendid as Bilbo, and I get to see more of him in action soon too with the release of series 2 of "Sherlock" (finally!), yay.

I'd better get to bed, it's incredibly late right now and I want to make rice pudding tomorrow morning. Brown rice pudding. Because, you know, I'm eating healthy and all ;)

Anyway, Happy Hobbit Day! And I hope to post lots of new writing over Christmas break, so if you are on the Radish Room, look out for that. And I also have to post my summary posts about 2011, my book round-up and all. I'm sad I didn't make it to 100 books read this year but honestly I'm quite pleased with my final total as well. I got basically no reading done in November/December because school was INSANE. It's a strange feeling to have no homework now.

AT LAST

The Hobbit cast all gathered together in one fine video Q and A!

[link]

I am so excited right now, I don't even know what to do. Other than watch the video again

What makes me the happiest? . . . The revelation that there's going to be Dwarves singing in the film. That makes me almost ridiculously happy, hahaha.

Also the fourteen guys seem really brilliant together, so . . . basically I can't wait for 2012. Even more.

I made a promise to my friends while the Hobbit was still in limbo a couple years ago that if and when it finally was released I would go to the cinema dressed as the Lonely Mountain. I guess I have to start planning my costume now

(Reposted from my dA page, which explains the little emoticons, haha)

The Hobbit!

Aaaaah, so 'The Hobbit' is FINALLY greenlit, and yesterday the first round of casting was announced. We now know who our Bilbo, Thorin, Fili, Kili, Dwalin, Gloin, Ori, and Bombur are. I, being a devoted Tolkien fan and scholar, am absolutely thrilled. I read 'The Hobbit' for the first time when I was five, so it's been a dear friend of mine for a long time. Can't wait to see what the films are going to be like! My only difficulty now is not going onto spoiler-y sites to look up set photos, clips, interviews, etc; I want to see the two movies relatively unspoiled, but I also have zilch patience. I guess I'll just see what happens and how much I can resist the siren call of theonering.net. I'm even debating with myself about whether I want to look up the rest of the casting announcements when they arrive or whether I want to remain blind about the rest of the cast. I don't know!

Anyway, Martin Freeman is Bilbo. I was, originally, rooting for James McAvoy to have the role, but then he got cast in a X-Men movie of some sort so I figured that was out of the question now . . . And I also watched the new BBC miniseries 'Sherlock' over the summer. In 'Sherlock', Freeman plays John Watson, and it was my first time watching him act. Basically, based on his performance in the miniseries, I'm absolutely happy with him as Bilbo, and think he will do a great job. If you haven't watched the series, maybe check it out (I think it premieres in America soon) so you can craft your own opinion.

Also, Richard Armitage is Thorin. Something I'm loving about the casting so far is how varied all the actors look, not only physically but also age-wise. The thirteen dwarves will really be an ensemble of thirteen characters who will hopefully be all distinct and nuanced persons we can really connect with, and not just thirteen Gimli-clones, which I'm very pleased about. I liked Rhys-Davies as Gimli in LotR, but he mostly left the emotional weight of the story to other characters like Aragorn or Sam, and so dwarves based solely around his character just wouldn't work in 'The Hobbit'. Armitage is actually a tall, stately-looking fellow, but I love that he'll be Thorin. He's a great actor. If you like period costume dramas in the tradition of 'Pride and Prejudice' or 'Jane Eyre', do yourself a favor and check out the 2004 BBC production 'North and South'. It's a beautifully done miniseries, and the male lead is played by Armitage. Although the performance is a little old now, it'll still give you an idea of his capabilities.

I made a pact with some friends that when 'The Hobbit' comes out I'm going in costume, dressed as the Lonely Mountain, so now I can actually look forward to that, hahaha. Not sure how I'll pull it off yet, but I'll do it! It's a little sad that my most-anticipated film is still two years away, but at least it's finally getting made now after so many years of stagnancy. It'll be twelve years since FotR first opened in theatres, can you believe it? Wow.

Speaking of movies I'm looking forward to, there's a few left this year that I'm eagerly anticipating:

• Voyage of the Dawn Treader. I love the Narnia books, and have liked both Narnia films pretty well so far, so I really want to see this. I've heard rumors about plot changes that are a bit weird though, and I doubt it can beat the awesomeness of the original BBC miniseries from years ago. Still, I want to watch it, partially because I hope it'll be good anyway, and partly because I just want to support the Narnia franchise so that later books in the series--most notably The Horse and his Boy and my favorite, The Silver Chair--will also get the film treatment. I really like the Edmund and Lucy actors, and Eustace looks like he'll be great, so hopefully it'll be a fun film!
  
• Tron: Legacy. I like the original 'Tron', and so I'm stoked about this. I'm not usually one to put visuals over story, but--The effects look amazing in this movie! That's all I'm going on at the moment because I don't know much about the plot, but hopefully with Pixar helping out it'll be worth watching. Anyway: Cool music, cool visuals, fun actors, sequel to a film I already like--Yeah, I wanna see this one.
• Tangled. This is a later addition to the 'I want to watch this' party, but I'm actually more excited for it now than I am for the other two. The reason? I have chosen to believe the directors, numerous early reviewers, and the evidence of my own eyes from reading an already released junior novelization of the film that this movie is going to be a humorous fairytale musical but in the tradition of classic Disney, instead of choosing to believe it will be the kind of Shrek-esque movie that the trailers apparently want viewers to think it is. I am so in love with the movie I hope this movie to ultimately be, I'm worried I'll be disappointed even if it's good. But anyway. Do I wish it was animated in traditional 2d? Well, yeah. Am I going to hold that against it? Not at all. I'm hoping they managed to get an artistic look from their 3d animation, since art is of course not limited to one dimension specifically. I linked to a trailer even though I think the trailers are doing an atrocious job of teasing what the film will actually be like (I mean, pop music? What??), but I'm also going to link to some interviews and reviews (here, here, and here) so you can get an idea of why I'm actually excited for this film. Also, Alan Menken's score is apparently a fusion of medieval style and 1960's folk rock. YES.

What do you think of 'The Hobbit' casting? And are there any films you're excited to see in the last few months of this year, or does nothing look appealing? Leave a comment! ^_^

I Should Be Reading My Literary Theory Textbook . . .

. . . But instead I've decided to blog. Class begins in about forty minutes, and then I'll be busy literally all day, so now's my chance, right?

The Medieval Combat Club was sooo much fun, I'm going back this Friday too. I mean, it's a group of people sparring with homemade weapons!! That's something I've loved to do all my life, but as a kid I tended to get into trouble for fighting other kids with sticks and stones and things. Isn't that funny? As a kid I was told that such behavior is immature and dangerous (and I'm not arguing either point), but now as an adult I have an official school club to do it at. It's good exercise, too.

The retreat was amazing. I got to ride a yellow school bus for the first time, make s'mores for the first time, swim around in the ocean and chase tropical fishes around, build an absolutely epic sand-castle, and walk over an hour to Mass on Sunday morning. Oh, and I got to meet a lot of Catholic students, which was great fun, and got to teach my fellow retreat-goers some Irish ceili dancing as well! Top all that off with a bonfire, hymn-singing, prayer, dazzlingly clear stars, the sound of the ocean lulling me to sleep every night, and a cockroach nearly running up my pant leg, and you have a fairly good picture of the retreat. And then when I returned to the apartment where I live, I went out to the shave ice place nearby and bought some. Mmmmm!

I finished "The Copper Crown" and enjoyed it 'til the end, although I'm not sure if I am interested in continuing the series or not. I don't think I'll go out of my way to find the next book. Right now I've finally moved on to another library book, this one called simply "Strongbow". It caught my attention at the library because of course it made me instantly think "BELEG!!!" Oh the joys of being a Silmarillion lover. Anyway, the book is not about Cuthalion, but it's very good so far anyway. It's (loosely) historical fiction. The first line:

When I was a little girl I didn't know my father was a monster.

I thought it a particularly excellent opening line. I always struggle with beginning my own stories, so good beginnings are always special to me. Like, for instance, Lewis' beginning to "Voyage of the Dawn Treader", which in my opinion is one of the greatest opening lines to any book ever written.

Tonight I'll be extremely busy drawing, as my first art portfolio of the semester is due tomorrow and I still have a few drawings I need to get done. I'm a bit worried about this whole portfolio thing, as I've never done one in my life before, but hopefully all goes well! I also have my second midterm of the semester on Thursday, but as that one's all about "The Iliad", "The Odyssey", and the books of Genesis and Exodus and Job, I'm not really worried about it. ENG 321 is absolutely a class in my comfort zone! Oh, and I did manage an A in my Nutrition exam, so that went well.

Before I go--Anybody else gleeful at the confirmation that Daniel Radcliffe will have absolutely nothing to do with "The Hobbit"? How about that rumor that David Tennant might be cast as Bilbo? I find it a bit hard to picture, because he's so tall and thin, but I'm sure it'd be great anyway . . . Of course it's only a rumor, but I don't mind that one. I'm still rooting for James McAvoy, though. He could do a fantastic Bilbo. Just look at how he acts as Tumnus in "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe"!