A little girl, tucked into bed, Daddy reading confidently from a book with a soft green cover, always knowing what all the words meant and how to say them and how to shift his tone as he read for the dwarves, that mysterious wizard, and poor poor Mr. Baggins who was so imposed upon when they scratched his pretty green door, tramped into his house, and dragged him on an adventure. It was years before I would pick up “the sequel” Lord of the Rings that my Daddy said I needed to be older to read, in the three pretty red-bound volumes on that high shelf. I loved Tolkien’s world and I loved the bedtime ritual, stories from Daddy and songs from Mommy and all my stuffed animals tucked around me sleepy-eyed and relaxed as we dreamed of dragons and magic rings and floating down a river in barrels. Hmmm maybe I need to pick this one up again.

Our latest member of the Viking Fellowship is an old friend.   I have known and played with Cap since I first started playing MMOs back in 2001.  Back then he was Cappy the Ogre Warrior of Norrath and he later became Capron the Barbarian Shaman.  Huge change in Lord of the Rings Online he is playing a Hobbit Burglar.  Capron started playing with us just a few weeks ago but is already level 44.  He is a MMO pro.  I am overjoyed that Cap has joined us.  He is an excellent player but also he is the life of the party.  Cappy is the funniest player MMO Viking has ever played with.  Smart comedy like 30 Rock not dumb comedy like 2 and a half men.  Cappy used to play Everquest in the back of his classes on his laptop which Beo and Nin thought was awesome.  I also love the fact he chose a Hobbit Burglar.  The fellowship really can use a burglar well for all the conjunctions, specially due to the fact Red seems to always be low on power.  Red will say this is due to the fact he is using all his warden skills possible and getting every inch out of it.  I think Red needs to drink more power potions!   And we needed a Hobbit.  This is Lord of the Rings dammit, sequel to The Hobbit.  This time the hobbit isn’t hired by Gandalf and 13 dwarves to burgle but by Redranth and 2 dwarves!  My favorite races in lotro in order are dwarves, hobbits, female elves, female humans, male humans, male elves.  I don’t know why people play an MMO to play a human that seems boring.  There might be a third dwarf, another old friend added to the mix if he ends up enjoying lotro.  MMO Viking hopes so.  You can never have too many dwarves!

J’avais envie de recycler ici une étude universitaire que j’ai réalisé il y a quelques années. Il s’agit d’une étude sur Tolkien, où est analysée l’évolution de son style. En effet, comment est-il passé d’un conte pour enfants (le Hobbit) à une œuvre majeure de la littérature adulte qui a “créé” l’heroïc fantasy (le Seigneur des anneaux), pour finir avec une œuvre quasi biblique (le Silmarillion). Est-ce l’assurance, le succès, la maturité ou la vieillesse, qui est responsable de cette évolution ? La réponse est un peu plus complexe. Une fois publié sur le blog, l’article est très long, j’ai donc fait plusieurs coupes et je n’ai pas abordé certains thèmes. Ceux qui voudront lire l’étude entière (en anglais) la trouveront ici.
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Tolkien nait en 1892 en Afrique du Sud (cf. cette séquence mémorable de Suck my Geek). Après la mort de son père, il rentre en Angleterre et passe son enfance dans la verte campagne autour d’Oxford (Oxfordshire). Les gens simples et calmes, ainsi que la nature, le marqueront profondément, au point que la comté (the shire, justement) en sera la représentation dans le Seigneur des Anneaux, lieu idéal et menacé (notamment par le progrès et l’industrialisation, cf. la fin du SdA, et par la guerre, voir la suite). A cette même periode, Tolkien se passionne pour les langues. Outre les langues vivantes ou mortes, il est fasciné par les langues particulières comme le Gallois ou le Finnois.

En 1916, Tolkien part pour la 1e guerre mondiale – là encore, on peut retrouver cette influence dans ses œuvres. Il tombe malade dans les tranchées. A l’hôpital, il commence à créer ses propres langages pour passer le temps. Il s’agit de vrai langues, avec syntaxe, conjugaison, etc. Rentré en Angleterre, il a son premier enfant, et, quelques années plus tard (1924/25), grâce à sa passion pour les langues, il rentrera à l’université d’Oxford, en chaire de philologie, en tant que spécialiste des poèmes Anglo-Saxons.

Tolkien le Philologue

Depuis son séjour à l’hôpital, il imagine un monde pour donner vie aux  langues qu’il invente. Un monde peuplé d’Elfes, de Nains (inspiré des légendes nordiques), et rempli de hauts-faits (inspiré des légendes moyenâgeuses). C’est la première version de ce qui sera décrit dans “le Silmarillion”. Cela raconte la légende de fabuleux joyaux, les Silmarilli, et plus généralement de ce qui deviendra plus tard le premier âge. Le mal est partout et il faut le combattre sans cesse avant que la mort ne vienne, inévitablement. Cette periode est très inspirée par les travaux universitaires de Tolkien sur le poème Moyenâgeux Beowulf.

A la fin des années 30, suite à des discussion avec son ami C.S. Lewis (Le monde de Narnia), ils décident tous deux d’écrire sur le thème des voyages. Voyages dans l’espace pour Lewis, et dans le temps pour Tolkien. L’histoire de ce dernier raconte un père et son fils, dans une cité nommée Numenòr, qui voyagent dans le passé pour découvrir la mythologie du Silmarillion. Revenus dans leur temps, la cité coule, la terre devient ronde, les terres de l’Ouest disparaissent, ainsi que la route pour y aller : The lost road, comme s’intitule le texte. Là encore, Tolkien pose les bases de ce qui deviendra plus tard le second âge, et décrit précisément la fin de cette période.

Tolkien le père

Alors que John, son premier fils, n’arrivait pas à s’endormir, Tolkien lui racontait les histoires d’un garçon aux cheveux rouges nommé “carrot”. Ce fut le début d’une longue tradition, et il ne s’arrêta jamais de raconter des histoires à ses enfants (nés en 1917, 20, 24 et 1929). Pendant les années 20 et 30, il leur inventera par exemple The adventures of Bill Stickers,  Rover the little dog turned into a toy, et la traditionnelle Letter from Father Christmas, qui revenait évidemment chaque année. Peu de ces histoires étaient finallement retranscrites. Une autre histoire racontée par papa-Tolkien était the adventures of Tom Bombadil. Humphrey Carpenter (auteur de LA biographie de Tolkien) en dit :

“Tom Bombadil was a well-known figure in the Tolkien family, for the character was based on a Dutch doll that belonged to Michael. The doll looked very splendid with the feather in its hat, but John did not like it and one day stuffed it down the lavatory. Tom was rescued, and survived to become the hero of a poem by the children’s father, “The Adventures of Tom Bombadil’, which was published in the Oxford Magazine in 1934*. It tells of Tom’s encounters with ‘Gold-berry, the River-woman’s daughter’, with the ‘Old Man Willow’ which shuts him up in a crack of its bole […] with a family of badgers, and with a ‘Barrow-wight’, a ghost from a prehistoric grave of the type found on the Berkshire Downs not far from Oxford. […] Tom Bombadil was intended to represent ‘the spirit of the (vanishing) Oxford and Berkshire countryside’**.”

* – soit avant la parution du SdA ou même du Hobbit !
** – cf. ci-dessus, l’attachement de Tolkien à la campagne de son enfance.

The Hobbit

La légende veut que, alors qu’il corrigeait des copies, Tolkien écrive sans savoir pourquoi : “in a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit”. Nous sommes en 1925, Tolkien n’a aucune idée de qui sont ces hobbits, mais il se dit que ça doit être intéressant d’y réfléchir. Un peu avant 1935, Tolkien écrit une nouvelle histoire pour ses enfants, celle de Bilbo Baggins, un hobbit sans histoire, à qui il arrive ce que vous savez. Même si, comme souvent, il en manque la fin, un élève de Tolkien s’arrange pour montrer le manuscrit à un éditeur, qui l’accepte. The Hobbit sort en 1937 et c’est un succès immédiat.

Les éditeurs, Allen&Unwin, veulent une suite le plus rapidement possible (il faudra 17 ans pour que le SdA soit publié ). Tolkien leur montre ses autres contes pour enfant, mais le seul publié, Farmer Giles of Ham, ne rencontrera pas le succès du Hobbit. On notera une fois de plus le thème récurrent du héros de la campagne, qui rechigne à l’aventure, mais se révèle bien plus valeureux que ce qu’on attendait de lui. Selon Carpenter, Tolkien dira plus tard des hobbits :

‘The Hobbits are just rustic English people, made small in size because it reflects the generally small reach of their imagination – not the small reach of their courage or latent power.’ To put it another way, the hobbits represent the combination of small imagination with great courage which (as Tolkien had seen in the trenches during the First World War) often led to survival against all chances. ‘I’ve always been impressed,’ he once said, ‘that we are here, surviving, because of the indomitable courage of quite small people against impossible odds.’

Après 1945, interrogé sur la suite de Farmer Giles, il dira “the sequel is plotted but unwritten, and likely to remain so. The heart has gone out of the Little Kingdom, and the woods and plains are aerodromes and bomb-practice targets”, en référence aux terres verdoyantes d’Oxford, détruites par la guerre…

Le Seigneur des Anneaux, le chaînon manquant

Tolkien comprit très vite que les elfes du Hobbit étaient les mêmes que ceux de sa Grande Œuvre. Puisque l’histoire des silmarils était un premier age, celui de Numenòr un second, la période du Hobbit fut baptisée : troisième âge. Tolkien sentait qu’il avait besoin de quelque chose qui lierait le conte de fée “Hobbit” à son chef d’oeuvre (qui deviendrait “le Silmarillion”) et plus généralement à tous ses textes pour adultes.

La genèse du Seigneur des Anneaux est tout à fait intéressante. Dès 1937, l’année de sortie du Hobbit, Tolkien s’attèle à une suite : The return of the shadow. Mais Bilbo est sensé finir sa vie sans aventure ; Tolkien note alors dans ses tous premiers manuscrits : Make return of ring a motive. Le concept de l’anneau qui a plus de pouvoirs qu’il n’y parait est de suite trouvé, pas dangereux lorsqu’on fait le bien, mais qui peut perdre l’utilisateur. En trois ans, le premier chapitre est réécrit sept fois. Le héros est d’abord Bilbo qui va se marier à Hobbiton, puis Bingo, le fils de Bilbo, qui va chercher des champignons.
Comme souvent avec Tolkien, l’histoire semble s’écrire seule et dépasse dans un premier temps l’écrivain. Tolkien écrit à son éditeur pour lui dire que, sans qu’il l’ait voulu, un cavalier noir est apparu dans l’histoire, et semble vouloir rattraper les hobbits à tous prix. Ce serait un porteur de l’anneau rendu invisible de façon permanente pour trop l’avoir porté. Tolkien se demande alors pourquoi tout le monde en veut à cet anneau, et vient l’idée de l’anneau maître, qui les lie tous. Sauron veut le récupérer, les hobbits doivent le détruire ; cet anneau serait : the lord of the rings. Tolkien écrit à son éditeur que l’histoire lui échappe, devient effrayante, et s’éloigne de l’ambiance du Hobbit. Bingo devient Frodo, car le nom est trop enfantin pour cette histoire.

En 1940, les hobbits traversent la vieille forêt, rencontrent à Bree un hobbit étrange nommé Trotter (qui deviendra plus tard le rodeur grand-pas), puis vont à Rivendell (déjà présent dans le Hobbit, je vous invite à comparer la description des elfes dans les deux œuvres), puis à la Moria où ils restent pendant un an.  Ce n’est qu’en 1941 que ce qui deviendra le premier tome existe de façon définitive, même s’il est régulièrement réécrit. Il lui faudra encore huit ans pour finir l’histoire, puis cinq années de corrections avant de publier le premier tome (1954 à 55 pour le troisième).

C’est surtout ce premier tiers – voire le livre un – que je trouve intéressant, et qui montre l’évolution de l’œuvre de Tolkien : du conte Hobbit au sombre Silmarillion. Les héros partent à l’aventure comme dans un conte, et sont petit à petit rattrapés par des évènements bien plus grands. C’est ce qui explique que ce premier livre ait une saveur différente du reste. On notera que Tom Bombadil et les évènements associés (les hauts-galgals) existaient depuis longtemps dans le monde de Tolkien, et qu’il relie petit à petit ses histoires dans un même univers. Il fera de même dans tout le seigneur des anneaux, se référant aux deux premiers âges par le biais des chants et légendes, et finallement dans les annexes.
On peut aussi noter la manière dont les idées venaient à Tolkien, dont il se lissait guider par elles, concept très important pour lui.

La vie après le SdA

Tolkien passera le reste de sa vie a compléter son univers et à le corriger, particulièrement le premier âge. Son livre Leaf by Niggle, raconte un peintre dont le perfectionisme l’empêche de finir sa peinture à force de corrections, et c’est ce qui lui arrivera. En 1973, Tolkien meurt, sans que le Silmarillion ne soit publié. Son fils Christopher reprendra les notes de son père et les publiera dans différents ouvrages, principalement Le Silmarillion et Unfinished Tales, mais il faut bien comprendre qu’il s’agit parfois de notes compilées, ce qui en fait des oeuvres parfois difficiles à suivre, sans parler de l’extrême complexité du monde décrit.

Finalement, Tolkien était un passionné de langues, marqué par les légendes moyenâgeuses et nordiques, et également un raconteur d’histoires aimant amuser les enfants. Le Seigneur des Anneaux est à la croisée de ces deux tendances, récit évoluant parfois par lui-même, quête initiatique, et c’est ça qui en fait un chef d’œuvre, le meilleur de Tolkien et sans doute une qualité inégalée dans l’Heroïc Fantasy – si ça ça ne soulève pas une montagne de commentaires ^^.

I am in fact a hobbit, in all but size. I like gardens, trees, and unmechanized farmlands; I smoke a pipe, and like good plain food (unrefrigerated), but detest French cooking; I like, and even dare to wear in these dull days, ornamental waistcoats. I am fond of mushrooms (out of a field); have a very simple sense of humour (which even my appreciative critics find tiresome); I go to bed late and get up late (when possible). I do not travel much.
- J.R.R. Tolkien

Merci à Derek Mainwaring.

The One Ring (theonering.net) is a little concerned that Hellboy director Guillermo Del Toro could go kid-oriented when he directs the upcoming Hobbit movies. Personally, I don’t think anyone who’s seen The Devil’s Backbone, Pan’s Labyrinth or even Hellboy 1 or 2 would think Del Toro the type to go that way, so it’s clear TheOneRing is playing this one tongue-in-cheek, but the list it’s come up with is awesome. You can read the whole thing here, but here’s an excerpt…

3. Keep Leonard Nimoy Away From the Soundtrack!
Yes, Nimoy’s version of “Bilbo Baggins” is the greatest music video in history (except perhaps for the DaVinyls “I Touch Myself”). But it’s also exactly the wrong note for the new Hobbit movie.

This is exactly the light-hearted silliness that makes The Hobbit fun to read as a child, but hard to sit through in a feature-length film. Unless Nimoy plays Gandalf. No offense to Ian McKellen, but that would be awesome.

Naturally, they include this video as a chilling reminder…

And in other Hobbit news, remember those bones that were found a couple years back? Small and humanoid, they were dubbed ‘hobbits’ and had even archaeologists and their ilk scratching their heads. Well, a little bit of the mystery has been solved: They weren’t humans at all! The Mirror explains…

Hobbit-like creatures who lived 18,000 years ago were a lot less like us than we thought, say scientists.

Researchers have decided the 3ft 6ins tall tribe from the Indonesian island of Flores are an unknown sub-species of modern man. Their remains caused a sensation when unveiled five years ago and they were dubbed Hobbits after the elf-like creatures in JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.

Some researchers argued they were modern humans with a disorder called microcephaly accounting for their tiny brains.

But analysis of the most complete skeleton, of a female called Flo, suggests she was a different branch of human. Anthropologist Dr Karen Baab said: “Dwarfing syndromes and microcephaly bear no resemblance to the unique anatomy of Homo Floresiensis.”

It is thought the little folk were wiped out 12,000 years ago by a volcano.

And that’s all, it seems, for real-life Hobbit news and the fantasy Hobbit-news we’ll of course be keeping up on–especially when WETA starts sending out the merch! ‘Til then, we do have a wide selection of Lord of the Rings figures and collectibles still available, which of course feature a couple Hobbit/LOTR crossover characters. Look out for ‘em.

- X-Factor Winner & Multiple Grammy® Award-nominated singer Leona Lewis is set to sing title song, ‘I See You’, for James Cameron’s upcoming sci-fi epic Avatar. The song will be included on the official soundtrack featuring James Horner’s score. The soundtrack gets a release on December 15th and can be pre-ordered at Avatar Score.

- Captain Nemo: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Disney’s latest adaptation of the Jules Verne classic, has been cancelled reports Variety. The project, which aimed to begin shooting in February, has been indefinitely postponed and director McG has withdrawn from the project. No cast was ever set despite rumors of Will Smith’s involvement, but the change of the studio’s chairman from Dick Cook to Rich Ross has de-prioritised this and quite likely several other properties in development as so many Hollywood regime changes do.

- Stephen Root (“No Country for Old Men,” “True Blood,” “The West Wing”) has joined the cast of “Cedar Rapids” and “The Conspirator” says The Hollywood Reporter. In Fox Searchlight’s ensemble comedy “Rapids,” Root plays the proud owner of an insurance company and boss of the film’s lead Ed Helms. Anne Heche and John C. Reilly also star. Miguel Arteta directs. In “The Conspirator”, Root plays a principal witness for the prosecution in the trail of a Confederate sympathizer who is tried as a conspirator in the Lincoln assassination. James McAvoy and Robin Wright star in the Robert Redford-directed drama.

- Stephen Susco (“The Grudge”) has signed on to pen the film adaptation of comic adaptation Hack/Slash . The story chronicles the adventures of Hack, a young woman who travels to small towns across the country hunting slashers. Susco will pen a new draft. Justin Marks, Todd Lincoln, Ben Magid and Martin Schenk penned previous drafts.

- Brian Cox is said to be a big contender to play a dwarf in Guillermo del Toro’s upcoming film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” says AICN.

- Joe Wright (“Atonement,” “Pride and Prejudice”) is in talks to direct the action adventure thriller Hanna for Focus Features reports Heat Vision. Seth Lochhead and David Farr’s script centers on a 14-year-old Eastern European girl who has been raised by her father to be a cold-blooded killing machine. She connects with a French family, forms a friendship with their daughter and goes through the pangs of adolescence. When the girl is dragged back to her father’s world and discovers that she was bred as a killing machine in a CIA prison camp, she must fight her way to a free life.

- Helena Bonham Carter, Jennifer Ehle, Derek Jacobi, Timothy Spall and Michael Gambon – and Australian star Guy Pearce have all joined The King’s Speech for The Weinstein Company. The story follows the man who would become King George VI, the father of the current Queen, Elizabeth II. After his brother abdicates, George ‘Bertie’ VI (Colin Firth) reluctantly assumes the throne. Plagued by a dreaded nervous stammer and considered unfit to be King, Bertie engages the help of an unorthodox speech therapist named Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). Through a set of unexpected techniques, and as a result of an unlikely friendship, Bertie is able to find his voice and boldly lead the country into war.

Source: Dark Horizons & MovieWeb

[Updated :    FLASHBACK CHALLENGE website is HERE!!      Buttons maybe sometime later.  ]

I’m challenging myself in 2010 to re-read a few books.

I never re-read books!

So.   Since Jenny seemed so upset to hear this, I decided I needed to try this strange experience with more study.  Besides, somebody somewhere said to really read a book, it must be in the second or third time.     (I’ll go look up that quote – I’m butchering it, I’m sure.   I think it was Nabokov.)

Here’s my list:

Mrs. Dalloway / Virginia Woolf

Wind, Sand and Stars – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (my review of reading it the first time)

Are You There God?  It’s Me, Margaret / Judy Blume

Jane Eyre – because I feel like I’m lying when I say I’ve read this but surely.  Surely!  I did read this already, right?   maybe not.   I can’t really remember.    I know I know the story, so let’s see if I can get through a ‘read’.

and… after finding out about a LOTR challenge, I’m considering diving into The Hobbit.

sigh

“Curiously enough, one cannot read a book: one can only reread it. A good reader, a major reader, an active and creative reader is a rereader. And I shall tell you why. When we read a book for the first time the very process of laboriously moving our eyes from left to right, line after line, page after page, this complicated physical work upon the book, the very process of learning in terms of space and time what the book is about, this stands between us and artistic appreciation. When we look at a painting we do not have to move our eyes in a special way even if, as in a book, the picture contains elements of depth and development. The element of time does not really enter in a first contact with a painting. In reading a book, we must have time to acquaint ourselves with it. We have no physical organ (as we have the eye in regard to a painting) that takes in the whole picture and then can enjoy its details. But at a second, or third, or fourth reading we do, in a sense, behave towards a book as we do towards a painting.”

-Nabokov’s Lecture on Literature

and another quote for you entertainment:

“Tell me what you read and I’ll tell you who you are” is true enough, but I’d know you better if you told me what you reread. ”
— François Mauriac

Yea, I don’t think Frank would bother getting to know me very well.

The official Challenge site offers up a few levels to commit to (My FIVE books fits into the Scholar level) and also suggests re-reading books from various time periods of your life:   childhood (AYTGIMM – first read in 1976 of 1977), high school (Jane Eyre – early 80’s), adulthood (Mrs. Dalloway – 2002 when I was prepping for the full The Hours movie experience).

6 days!!!

New Moon Quote-of-the-day: “Here’s to responsibility twice a week, and recklessness every day in between.” –Jake, Chapter 7

If you missed Stephenie Meyer on Oprah today, you can watch it here. On Monday (Nov 16), don’t miss Kristen Stewart on The Tonight Show, Taylor Lautner on The Jay Leno Show and Dakota Fanning on Ellen!

Hollywood believes that the masses prefer familiar plots and characters, so that they can get easy entertainment without putting too much effort into it. This theory does have some sense to it – this is the generation of instant gratification. God forbid we read a book when we can get a quick shot of entertainment in the form of a 30 minute TV show or two-hour movie. This same mindset appears to go into the production of the plethora of remakes and book adaptations that fill the silver screen year-round. One is hard pressed to find a movie today that isn’t a remake, sequel or book adaption – or sometimes a combination of all three – and it can be argued that this methodology has gotten out of control. The number of sequels in certain franchises has reached astronomical levels. Sam Raimi has signed on to direct the fourth and fifth installments of the Spiderman franchise. Saw 6 came out in October, Rambo 5 is in the works for 2011, with the possibility of a Rambo 6 to follow at a later date. DenOfGeek.com also speculates that, following the success of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, there will certainly be a fifth installment in the franchise. A fourth and fifth Shrek film have also been confirmed. Virtually every successful movie produced today is followed by at least one sequel. Even movies that were really intended to be a holiday one-hit-wonder and weren’t created with a sequel in mind, such as the Christmas event film Alvin and the Chipmunks, have fallen prey to Hollywood’s penchant for recycling. Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel hits theatres Christmas 2009.

Furthermore, it seems no film is off-limits, no matter how long it has been since the original was released. According to DenOfGeek.com, the 80’s cult classic Heathers has a sequel in the works, though no release date has been set. For series based on books or comic books that have a set number of installments and thus a finite potential for sequels, Hollywood has resorted to making prequels, such as The Hobbit, which precedes the enormously successful Lord of the Rings trilogy, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine, prequel to the successful X-Men franchise.

The decision to adapt The Hobbit for the silver screen points to another trend: Book adaptations have run rampant. According to ChasingTheFrog.com, 30 novels a year are adapted for the big screen. In recent years, the number has far exceeded the average. About.com reports that in 2006, 50 books were made into movies, and in 2007 that number rose to 70. Some of the better-known adaptations include the Harry Potter series, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and, more recently, the Twilight Saga. These adaptations prove what the movie industry is only just beginning to realize – fantasy novels, an underappreciated genre in written form, make excellent movie fodder. The appeal of book adaptations is understandable – books already have preexisting fan bases that are certain to turn out at theatres to support the movie version of their favorite book. Plus, many action or fantasy novels are geared toward special effects and sequels, which are two key ingredients in the Hollywood formula for success.

However, it is often the case that movie incarnations of popular novels are inferior to the print version, which serves to outrage loyal fans rather than win them over, but incensed fans are not enough to stop the Hollywood’s production machine if they think they can make a buck or two. In what EW.com has dubbed the “Twilight Effect,” a slew of similar book-to-film adaptations are on deck for upcoming years, such as James Patterson’s teen-oriented Maximum Ride series, because the Twilight film, based on author Stephenie Meyer’s bestselling novel of the same name, has done for the fantasy genre what Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey did for science fiction. The teen hit also proved to Hollywood what, deep down, they’ve known for years: If a movie can draw in a teenage audience, the demographic with the most free time and disposable income, it’s sure to be a smash hit.

However, Hollywood has recently started to dip into genres and books less appealing to the teenage crowd, as well as less well-suited to franchises, action thrillers, and special effects. The film incarnation of Jodi Picoult’s popular novel My Sister’s Keeper premiered last June. While the film featured a blockbuster cast of Cameron Diaz, Abigail Breslin, Alec Baldwin and Joan Cusack, the story of a young girl battling cancer and her sister’s fight for the control of her own body is not typical summer blockbuster fare. Hollywood has even gone so far as to turn a children’s bedtime story book into a film set for released in October: Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak. This is not the first time this particular book has been adapted for the big screen; another version was released in 1973. Nor is this a record for remakes. Many films have been remade multiple times, most frequently films who have their origin in classic novels. For example, IMDb.com shows that Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte has been adapted as a movie four times, not counting multiple made-for-TV versions, and is set for yet another remake in 2010. The same is true of Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, which is set for an eighth remake in 2011.

Films based on classic books are not the only genre in danger of being remade these days. Hollywood has now turned its eye towards cult classic films, such as Footloose, Fame, Dirty Dancing and even The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which all beg the question: Is nothing sacred? One would be hard-pressed to find a film that doesn’t have roots in a novel or previous film, or sometimes both. It was once said that there is nothing new under the sun, and in today’s Hollywood it rings truer than ever. In fact, the only original cinematic attractions in modern Hollywood are the movies full of gross or ridiculous humor, such as You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, and the movies that mock other films, such as the Scary Movie franchise. However, even these movies draw upon the films they parody.

In short, Hollywood today isn’t producing anything that’s going to last. Hollywood’s Golden Age seems to be over – the age of stars like Humphrey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn, whose films are still favorites with modern audiences. But this phenomenon isn’t isolated to just the film industry. The modern age also isn’t producing lasting literature comparable to that of Charles Dickens and Jane Austen, or revolutionary music like the Beatles, who still have die-hard fans, even though two of the band members are dead. Perhaps Hollywood is not the only problem; perhaps modern audiences are demanding less by repeatedly shelling out 10 bucks to see the same film they’ve seen a hundred times before, packaged under a different title. Nevertheless, Hollywood cannot be completely absolved. Film studios, producers and directors have found a formula that works and don’t want to risk their financial security in these uncertain times by generating radical or revolutionary films that have the potential of shocking or alienating audiences. But it’s been proven a hundred times before – the only way to make progress is to push boundaries and move into new territories that have never been charted before. Audiences will love it or hate it, but hey – at least they tried it.

What do you guys think of the “Twilight Effect”? Is it getting out of hand? I’m really starting to wish they’d leave my favorite series alone! They’re turning all my favorite books into sure-to-be-substandard adaptations. The Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld and the A Great and Terrible Beauty series by Libba Bray (both of which I highly recommend) are set to be adapted in 2011 and 2010, respectively. How do you guys feel about this recycling-gone-amok?  Discuss in the comments! Plus, don’t forget to follow on Twitter!

6 days!!!

My Never

PS – Click on the image to buy this hott American Library Association poster (that sounds strange, I know lol):

The best closing line to any episode of The Simpsons has got to be: “Tell him I’m going to the backseat of my car with the woman I love, and I won’t be back for 10 minutes!”  This, astonishingly, was released in 1990, titled “Life On the Fast Lane“.  20 years ago.  What happened since then?  If I were to graph out my liking the Simpsons since it debuted back then to now, it would probably look like a plateau with steep ridges coming up from a valley, with hills to the East (fairly steep incline up to a fairly flat peak, fiarly sharp decline down to a low point, then up only a smudge).  Wait, so my taste for the show resembles the Rohanian capital of Edoras?  That’s just weird.  I was probably the happiest n.e.r.d. EVER when word got out a two-part adaptation of The Hobbit was being made and that Guillermo del Toro was directing in Peter Jackson’s stead.  I might be stoned in the street for this… but honestly, the only bad thing about The Lord of the Rings film trilogy was the directing.  The production design, the acting, the locales, the effects, almost everything about it was stellar BESIDES Jackson, yet he gets all the credit (I guess it was “his vision”).  And I know, “yeah but Jackson won Best Director!” blah blah.  It’s shit.  Best Director is a joke.  You wanna know you NEVER won Best Director?  Oh, just Hitchcock, Altman, Fellini, Kubrick, Bergman, Lynch, Lumet, to only name a few.  Seriously, Best Director means less than even the Nobel Peace Prize now-a-days.  Might as well throw that award at the Simpsons’ writers for plotting The Simpsons Movie around environmental disaster.

-Sonny

Gandalf itching to return to Middle Earth

11 Nov 2009 ( this from a press release – not written by the kiwitravelwriter .. however, read here what she says about a Lord of the Rings Tour)

Sir Ian McKellen, who played Gandalf in the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy, is itching to revisit Middle Earth after reading the script for the first of ‘The Hobbit’ films.

It’s been over a decade since McKellen donned Gandalf’s robes on the ‘Lord of the Rings’ set in New Zealand.

And, while he’s sworn to secrecy over ‘The Hobbit’ script, the veteran British actor says the part has his name on it and he’s longing for production to get underway.

Gandalf
To be directed by Guillermo del Toro, the script for ‘The Hobbit’ movies has been co-written by New Zealand producer Peter Jackson with long-time ‘Lord of the Rings’ collaborators Fran Walsh and Phillippa Boyens – and McKellen says it’s very attractive that the Gandalf part has been written specifically for him.

“As Peter has said, they loved writing Gandalf for ‘The Hobbit’ because they knew who they were writing him for. The other Gandalf was written for, well, just as Gandalf. There’s lots for me to enjoy, in all sorts of ways. And I couldn’t be happier. But I’m sworn to secrecy. I’m not to say anything at all about the script,” he said.

Unexpected Hobbit script
McKellen said he hadn’t been expecting to receive any pages of ‘The Hobbit’ but the script arrived out of the blue.

“I was sitting in London and a courier arrived from New Zealand, which is the other side of the world, bearing the script of ‘The Hobbit,’” he said.

“It was tied around with so much Scotch tape that even with two pairs of scissors, I only got into it half an hour later.”

He said the script had his name on every page with a warning that each page was encrypted, so if it appeared on the internet, it could be traced back to him.

“And I’m not to discuss it with anyone, any colleague, or friend, or family member or pet. I may not write in the script, I may not remove it from its plastic folder, and when it is taken from me by the courier, it will be shredded under supervision,” he said.

Production details
Although he has read the script, McKellen hasn’t yet been signed and details of ‘The Hobbit’ production are still sketchy.

‘The Hobbit’ story will be told in two films to be shot back-to-back with a predicted budget of NZ$474 million. New Zealand-based fan website theonering.net reports that the first six months of filming in 2010 will take place in the studio.

Work has begun at Hobbiton near the North Island town of Matamata with hobbit holes and hedgerows appearing on the farm site.

Scouts looking for filming locations have also been reported in New Zealand’s South Island, and it is rumoured that a creative team is already hard at work on visuals for the two movies.

Although it is thought that other actors have seen the scripts, McKellen is the only one to have spoken publicly.

“Gandalf is a fantastic part and I long to do it,” McKellen said. Both he and Peter Jackson preferred the earlier Gandalf the Grey version to his later, post-resurrection incarnation, he said.

“He was more humane somehow. He was the guy who liked to hang out with the hobbits and drink too much and smoke too much.”

20-plus takes
McKellen said he didn’t, however, always prefer the 20-plus takes Jackson often required on set to get a scene exactly as he wanted, and he wondered if Guillermo del Toro might spare his actors such lengthy repetition.

“A slight shiver went through me just then,” he said (smiling), “because I thought perhaps Guillermo might be a little quicker than Peter, but maybe he won’t be. He’s a bit of a perfectionist. But this script plays very much to his strengths and I can see where he’s put his mark already on the script.”

Although sworn to secrecy, McKellen promised a resemblance between ‘LOTR’ and ‘The Hobbit’ in both look and feel.

“Peter Jackson is still a hands-on producer,” he said. “Guillermo del Toro comes in not as a wild card but very much respecting it all.”

Jackson and del Toro
Jackson and del Toro speak the same language, McKellen said.

“They are the same person. They were separated at birth. They’re twins. They have the same attitude. Neither likes working in Hollywood. They’re both brilliant storytellers in very much the same way,” said McKellen.

“And I think the script, because I have read it, plays very much to Guillermo’s strengths, as I’ve seen them. I have seen his other movies, and people act very well in them. So I think it’s all fine. And Peter will always be there,” McKellen said.

McKellen said that the role of Gandalf changed his life forever. “I can’t believe it’s 10 years for me,” said the actor, who first played the wizard in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring – film one in the trilogy that began principal photography in New Zealand in 1999.

“I remember being told by a friend in Hollywood that ‘your life is going to change,’ and it has. Gandalf is an extremely famous character, and I quite like having him around the corner. He’s very popular.”

More information:

The Hobbit moves into Wellington

Hobbit fans eye up Middle Earth

Builders start work on Hobbiton

Ya ven que se había anunciado de que Peter Jackson iba a producir la cinta “The Hobbit” basado en el libro de  J.R.R. Tolkien. Y sabían de que se la iba a dejar a Guillermo del Toro para que la hiciera, pero lo que está pasando ahorita es que aunque Jackson se queda como uno de los escritores apoyando a del Toro y a Walsh y Phillippa Boyens, se está planeando de que se pueda “unir” con las películas del Señor de los Anillos.

La trama, los que leyeron la novela, se sitúa 60 años antes de que saliera la primera cinta y cuenta de como Bilbo Baggins se hace del anillo que Gollum poseía. Originalmente querían que fueran dos películas, la primera era una adaptación de la novela y la segunda sería el puente entre la pasada y la trilogía que todos vimos hace unos años. Sin embargo, Del Toro posteó en una de las páginas de los fans del Señor de los Anillos que va a hacer dos películas pero que va a “alargar” la historia de la novela entre esas dos. Hasta ahorita todo va bien no?. Pues luego se hizo el conflicto cuando dijo que él sentía que la segunda película tendría que terminar de alguna forma uniendo a la primera película del Señor de los Anillos.

Suena entre raro y normal, comercialmente hablando, de cualquier forma, para los fans, es divertido especular que personajes de las primeras 3 películas van a terminar en estas “secuelas” por decirlo de alguna forma. Originalmente, cuando los cineastas estaban discutiendo que momentos de la cinta podrían servir de “puente” se había dicho de que les gustaría incluir el momento en que Aragorn/Strider comenzara a observar a la comarca. En la página en inglés, tuvieron la oportunidad de hablar con Viggo Mortensen, el actor que hizo este personaje mientras se la pasaba promocionando su nueva cinta llamada “The Road”. Le preguntaron a Mortenson que si estaría interesado en regresar a su papel para la película de “The Hobbit” si los productores vieran la forma de meter a su personaje.

La respuesta fue más que obvia. A él le encantaría regresar y aque adoró trabajar con el cast original y el equipo de trabajo, además de que comprende de que los jefes de este proyecto les gustaría meter a la mayor cantidad de actores de la primera trilogía en esta cinta. Simples razones de popularidad y taquilla.

Si termina dentro o no de la cinta, no hay duda de que a los fans les va a encantar ver todo esto en la pantalla grande. “The hobbit” está programada para que salga en Diciembre del 2011 con su secuela el siguiente año.

¿Ustedes que opinan? Es buena idea incorporar a los actores de la trilogía pasada?

I wonder if it's the beards that gives them the power of awesome, maybe I should grow mine back....

Total Film has a great interview with one of my favorite directors and personal heroes, Guillermo Del Toro about the movie I am probably more hype on than any I have been in… well maybe forever.  I used to read The Hobbit every year like clockwork when I was a kid.  In fact, it’s the book I remember reading first in life, coming from a family of huge Tolkien nerds it was thrust into my tiny hands at the young age of 6.

It’s a dream of mine to work on ‘The Hobbit’, I dunno if I’m going to beat the clock on this one but you can bet that who ever is handling post-production for this film is going to start hearing from me weekly come Spring.  And even if I don’t make it, I couldn’t be happier with what the man is saying already.  Here are a couple excerpts:

You mentioned the structure. Will the book make up the first movie, with the second movie plucked from the appendices and maybe even your imagination? Or will parts of the book be saved for the second movie?

We are respecting the structure established by Professor Tolkien because the order of the adventures in The Hobbit is well known to generations and generations of kids. You don’t want to be moving stuff like that.

But we will be integrating Gandalf’s comings and goings because he does disappear in the book quite often.

So, as opposed to the book, we see where he goes and what happens to him

Presumably working with Peter (Jackson) is not that much different to working with Mike Mignola on the Hellboy movies?

You nailed it. I’d say Mike is as opinionated as if he was another director because essentially he directs on the page. And Mignola, like Pedro and Peter, knows the process – they all know that at some point you’re going to be alone with the beast [laughs].

You’re going to be the guy and you can only trust your own instincts.

You’re not going to be making a phone call from a remote location to ask a question; you’re going to have to make a decision yourself.

An AMAZING interview with the director of The Hobbit, Guillermo Del Toro. He goes into production, depth, characters, and similarities to the book. Probably one of the most wonderful thing I’ve read in a very long time. I recommend you read it as well.

For anyone unfamiliar, The Hobbit is the prequel to the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. Unlike the trilogy, it will be directed by Guillermo Del Toro. Peter Jackson is still heavily involved with the writing and producing. It will be split into two movies, and will again involve the talents of Hugo Weaving and Ian Mckellen. AKA: Wonderful.

http://www.totalfilm.com/features/guillermo-del-toro-on-making-the-hobbit

Guillermo del Toro has been talking to Total Film about his work with Peter Jackson on the adaption of The Hobbit. He mentions what we can expect to see in the film, what extras they are adding and touches on the designs of the creatures including Smaug.

However, there is still no word on who’ll be playing Bilbo or how Ron Perlman will appear.

“I was calmly laying out the next decade of my life when The Hobbit appeared,” he laughs. “I was preparing all these things and all of a sudden The Hobbit shows up and takes over my life.”

“We are respecting the structure established by Professor Tolkien because the order of the adventures in The Hobbit is well known to generations and generations of kids. You don’t want to be moving stuff like that.

So, as opposed to the book, we see where he goes and what happens to him.”

The main thing I want to know is what will the creatures of Middle Earth look like in the new films (it will be in two parts in case you didn’t know).

“The way I phrased it to Weta, I said we would keep the DNA in the same gene pool as the Rings trilogy, but that we would generate a different type of character. For example, in the trilogy most of the creatures are brutish or inarticulate.

Early in production I came up with a very strong idea that would separate Smaug from every other dragon ever made. The problem was implementing that idea. But I think we’ve nailed it.”

I wonder how Smaug will be different from any other dragon. Can’t wait to see some images from the film.

GUILLERMO DEL TORO

New interview with PAN’S LABYRINTHE, HELLBOY, and upcoming THE HOBBIT director, GUILLERMO DEL TORO.

GUILLERMO DEL TORO on what source material is being used for the two The Hobbit movies:

“We are respecting the structure established by Professor Tolkien…

…but we will be integrating Gandalf’s comings and goings because he does disappear in the book quite often.

So, as opposed to the book, we see where he goes and what happens to him…”

On interpreting characters such as; the dragon Smaug, the Spiders of Mirkwood, the Wargs, and Beorn the bear-man:

“Smaug has beautiful lines of dialogue; the Great Goblin has beautiful lines of dialogue; many creatures do. So we had to design them with a different approach because you are not just designing things that are scary.”

THE HOBBIT: The Dragon SMAUG

On Smaug specifically:

“I think one of the designs I’m the proudest of is Smaug.

Early in production I came up with a very strong idea that would separate Smaug from every other dragon ever made. The problem was implementing that idea. But I think we’ve nailed it.”

Read the entire interview HERE.

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Halloween has officially arrived.  Whats my Halloween tradition? Watching Hocus Pocus(1993) on repeat until I am too sick to continue eating pumpkin oriented sweets, candy apples and Kit-Kats. Currently I am basking in the bright light that has since gone dim of the Hocus Pocus B-cast. As a result, I have decided to do a very quick where are they now?

1. Vinessa Shaw (Allison)- As the resident Babe, Vinessa was responsible for Max lighting the virgin candle. She has had perhaps the best Pocus after-life, starring in Two Lovers, 3:10 to Yuma, Melinda and Melinda, The Hills Have Eyes and T.V. mini series the ‘70s.

2. Jody Rivera (Emily Binx)- Little Emily Binx had the smallest role in the movie and now the least successful career post Pocus. She has written directed and starred in The Princess Chronicles, but other than that she has found a home in her YouTube fans. IMDB says Rivera is currently the number one most subscribed female of all time on YouTube. But I have tried to watch them and they are way to bad for that to be true.

3. Larry Bagby (ICE), You remember him as the bully with the stolen sneakers and a buzz cut of his name on the back of his head. Ice has been in various series throughout the early millennia in JAG, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and most recently The Young and the Restless. Also, he has a Band.

4. Sean Murray (Zachary Binx)- Currently starring in CBS’ Navy NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service as Timothy McGee, Murray seemed to have used Nepotism to gain his role, his stepfather is the producer.

5. Doug Jones (Billy Butcherson)-Billy looks surprisingly equally creepy in real life as he does with the pounds of decaying skin and long yellow nails, it must be his creepy long neck or baggy skin. Currently he seems to have a bunch of “extra” type status roles as non-humans in movies like Lady in the Water, Hellboy, Stuck on You, Quarantine, Pans Labyrinth, and most recently The Hobbit.

Hocus Pocus has-beens, I miss your face-Shassie

John Rhys Davies, who played Gimli from “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy will not be appearing in “The Hobbit”, which is being directed by Guillermo Del Toro (Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth) and produced by Peter Jackson.Gimli does not appear in “The Hobbit”, however, it was rumored he would play Gimli’s father or another dwarf. “The Hobbit” and its sequel is based on the novel by J.R.R. Tolkien. What do you think?

Lukas Eggen

GIMLI and his Real Earth counter-part JOHN RHYS DAVIES

Other LOTR alumni who have been confirmed to be making a return in Guillermo del Toro’s ‘THE HOBBIT’ include; Andy Serkis (Gollum), Ian McKellen (Gandalf), and Hugo Weaving (Elrond). More info on that can be found HERE.

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