Virtual Birthday Party, Day 01

[wiseheart]

Hi folks! *waves" I know I'm late kicking off my virtual birthday party of 2013, but considering that I worked almost 11 hours today, I think I can be forgiven, right?

It's that time of a year again - I'm getting older. In this case, I'm turning 57 on October 9, so let's party!

Last years virtual birthday party yielded 1328 comments on 6 pages, before LJ crashed the whole thing, and 617 additional ones on 3 pages at the second coming. Which won't be easy to top, but we're good, aren't we? WE CAN DO IT! WE CAN BREAK THE 2000-COMMENT-BARRIER! Let's give it a try! In the recent years, it has always been great fun, so let's have fun again!

You're all cordially invited to help yourself to a slice of virtual cake of your choice. If you want to post your favourite recipe in a comment, be my guest. If not, just drop by and say hello.

Cheers!

Note: The party will be closed on October 9, at midnight, sharp. However, to avoid the same mishap that occurred last year, there will be a separate post for each day until the 9th. We will count all pages and comments together when the party is closed.

Join us and have fun! Feel free to start any thread, any topic you want; we can discuss it, mock the general stupidity of life and laugh at it. I tentatively started two topics, just to begin the fun somehow, but you may add anything you want.

Comments

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Wiseheart & I were discussing upthread the new The Hobbit film, and its fanfiction, and it struck me as a good general topic for this bunch of Tolkien lovers.

So... love it or hate it? Is three films spreading it too thin? Does Freeman make a good Bilbo? Should Thorin have been played by someone older? What are you hoping for in the second film? Got any fanfiction recs? Want to whinge about all those omega-Bilbos on AO3? Have at it...

[rcfinch.livejournal.com]

Hated the first one. And I'm not sure the second one is any better. I translated the official film guide into Dutch, and when I think how much words were spent on Bard's kids and their pig and the Master's servant Alfrid, I fear the worst.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Actually, I had expected to hate the first film a lot more than I did, in the end. I went to the cinemy with no expectations at all, and came out with a pleasant surprise. Not at all like from the LOTR films, which I hated with a passion and felt horribly cheated afterwards. Save for Boromir, that is.

Personally, I found Freeman as Bilbo fantastic. Of course, I fell in love with his acting by watching Sherlock (never seen him before), but even so, I found him very properly hobbity. For me, he also brought the visuals, unlike Elijah Wood's Frodo.

I needed a bit to get used to the way too young Thorin, but IMO Richard Armitage did a good job. More grey in the hair and a longer beard would have been better, visually, but he sold me his Thorin nonetheless.

I won't speak of the other Dwarves here. Well, not much. I liked Balin (although the original makeup design would have been better) and Óin (although he, unlike Thorin, looked way too old). Bofur was endearing. The rest of them were horrible.

What you say about Bard's get makes me worry, though.

[rcfinch.livejournal.com]

Oh, I love Freeman as Bilbo, I should have added that+ he´s so much better than Elijah Wood that it hurts to think of it. And the scene with Gollum wasn´t bad at all. And I liked Balin, too.
Radagast, though, was pure horror. I don´t want Disney in a Tolkien based film.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

I think we're all agreed that Freeman is a strong Bilbo, though I also like Ian Holm in the role. Balin is my favourite dwarf. I found the Gollum scene the highlight of the film -- largely stuck to the original, and both Serkis & Freeman work for me. I didn't mind Radagast so dreadfully much; it was almost the first time that one recalled it is a children's book, though you are right the whimsy is Disney not Tolkien.

[rcfinch.livejournal.com]

Ian Holm was a very good old(er) Bilbo, but Freeman completely nailed the part. If I'm looking forward to Part 2 despite my misgivings, it's because of him.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

More grey in the hair and a longer beard would have been better, visually

The one piece of post-film fanon I do rather like is the idea that Thorin periodically chops off his beard in token of the loss of his homeland.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

You're right, that's a neat idea. He still looks too young, but, of course, the idea was to make him look sexy. And it worked, too! I liked the looks of Fíli, too - Kíli's designer stubble seemed too little to me, though.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

I don't think Armitage has to try hard to look sexy :) After hating the film, and the AO3 fanfiction, I had an Armitage binge -- rewatched North & South and Shakespeare Retold -- Macbeth, bought Robin Hood & Sparkhouse, and read whole swathes of fanfiction...

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

That does feel to be padding! I don't understand why they decided to go for three films (other than to make money).

[rcfinch.livejournal.com]

I know a guy who thinks Jackson did this because he has become addicted to filming Tolkien and turning the story into three films gave him one more year.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

I wish he'd gone for The Silmarillion instead. Surely he could get funding to film some other Ardaverse story?

[tyellas.livejournal.com]

I'm not allowed to dislike it. If I say anything negative, they'll take away my New Zealand citizenship.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

:) The NZ thing is really difficult, as a Brit -- some of the landscapes just don't feel right -- but they do form a potent tourist brochure for NZ. We're hoping to be able to make a prolonged visit sometime fairly soon -- some friends of Mr EA who emigrated there have invited us, but I don't know whether they are Tolkien fans.

[(Anonymous)]

Oh, yeah? Well, I'm a Tolkien fan and I now live twenty minutes from Kaitoke Park, aka Rivendell. And I have a guest room. Think about it!

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

If we ever get our act together, I'd love to take you up on that! The park looks well worth visiting even if the Elves have sailed (or more likely these days, flown).

[lhun-dweller.livejournal.com]

Late to the party, but I have to say I enjoyed the first film. I was not swept away as I had been by the LOTR trilogy, but I walked out into the chilly night with our tiny bit of snow a contented viewer. (I saw the movie at a cinema near a historic park, the same one I went to each year for the 3 LOTR films, and once again, winter was in the air. Joy!) IMHO, there were a few "off-pitch" bits IMHO, but I felt I'd had my money's worth of a good tale told pretty well and rendered gorgeously.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

I waited to see it until the DVD came out, which might have been why I was quite so underwhelmed. If we could wrangle a bit of snow to come and decorate the ground for installment 2...

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Mum & me extra went to the cinema after half a decade not setting foot in one, and saw it first in 3D. Then I bought the DVD, and I must say I enjoyed it in 2D a great deal more. The feeling of being on the set made me nauseous. Yeah, I know I'm strange.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

I've never seen a 3D film. (Mr EA hates the idea.)

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

Neither love nor hate from me. It is okay - although there are a few bits I do hate (especially the line about the tomb of the Witch-King). However, it was too long and a lot of actiony bits seemed particularly pointless.
For the 2nd and 3rd films, I think there are going to be a lot of overdone battle scenes taking up a lot of the time. I'm looking forward to seeing Laketown and Smaug. I am not looking forward to more messing with the plot and weirdness, but I know those will be there.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Lots of overdone battle scenes are a sure mark of Peter Jackson's leadership, aren't they? That was what ruined the LOTR movies, too. That and the unnecessary "plot" twists (like Arwen's live being bound to the Ring - WTF?) and the character rape (Frodo, Pippin, Faramir, Denethor, Théoden, etc.). The casting was fairly shit in LOTR, too.

At least the Hobbit has Freeman and Armitage who are both great. And Gollum. Let's not forget Gollum!

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

Yes, totally. The plot and character changes were a real shame. And Gollum is certainly the best.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

I get the feeling what Jackson likes in Tolkien & what I like are totally different.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

Me too!