Dreams Of Noise

You can choose your own ending here, or -- because the site is a bit slow -- watch first the version with the "Dwarves" ending, and then the other four endings.

Lego set for The Hobbit. Bag end, Bilbo, Gandalf, Dwalin, Balin, Bofur, Bombur. And a little map of the trip.

Animated "adaptation" from 1966. Makes Leonard Nimoy's "Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" look like canon.

I kinda like it, though.

Lego Lord of the Rings.

On this date in 1892.

Been awhile since we discussed it, so: What are some of your favorite scenes from any of the books, or any of the various media adaptations? Yeah, I know, I know. I could just say "pretty much everything" and not be far off. But:

• In The Hobbit, I really love:
  • the dwarven-song at The Unexpected Party, especially in Nicol Williamson's incredible reading
  • Gandalf tricking the trolls
  • Every version of the Riddle Game
  • The goblin attack, with "Fifteen Birds In Five Bird-Trees", in the Rankin-Bass animated adaptation
  • Bilbo rescuing the dwarves from the Mirkwood spiders
  • the death of Thorin and the aftermath of the Battle of the Five Armies
  • And I've always had a very specific welcome party scene in my head when they get to Rivendell "and [find] its doors flung wide."
• And in The Lord of the Rings:
  • That one beautiful, beautiful shot in the movie, the first time we see Bag End -- I was holding my breath for that one, the same way we all did in The Princess Bride hoping they didn't screw up the fight on the Cliffs of Insanity, and when I saw that lovely hill with the beautiful bright green door, I started crying with relief and pleasure
  • The one plot point I truly feel the Peter Jackson movies seriously improved -- Gandalf didn't wait seventeen years before figuring out that Bilbo's ring, now given to Frodo, was indeed Sauron's Ring of Power -- he hied his ass to Minas Tirith, pulled an all-nighter, and got back to Frodo as quickly as possible
  • Again, in the movie, the reunion of Frodo and Bilbo in Rivendell touched my heart
  • The Moria sequence, book and movie
  • The betrayal and redemption of Boromir
  • the Dead Marshes
  • Grima seducing/menacing Eowyn in the movie
  • Gandalf freeing Theoden from Wormtongue's influence
  • the lighting of the beacons -- it hardly registers in the book, but it's a huge, dramatic, way cool thing in the movie
  • And I'm leaving out so many scenes that it really does come down to "pretty much everything", including my absolute favorite, "The Scouring of the Shire".

So maybe I'll just go watch the Rankin-Bass Hobbit and the LOTR Trilogy once more.

You may have been aware that there's a new take on Alice this Sunday night on SyFy. You may not have been aware that there's The Hero of Time, a new fan movie based on The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, that will be available for online viewing or free download on Dec. 14.

There's also a very cool teaser making the rounds for Buck Rogers.

There's a silent film of The Call of Cthulhu (trailer here).

And leave us not forget the other two recent fan film opi, Horrible Turn and The Hunt For Gollum.

Any cool fan vid we should know about? Really good AMVs (anime music videos) count.

ETA: And, not too long after I posted this we got RtRNRi30S(aR-EbB).

ETA2: Re: release of The Hero of Time -- I cannot brain, I have the dumb. It's Dec. 14. Fixed.

Thanks to eleri for linking up to the official page for what could be a fan-film phenomenon. The trailers look fantastic, and the official HD premiere online is next Sunday.

Any other good fan films we need to know about? New ones, or classics we haven't discussed in awhile (such as my two favorites, Grayson and World's Finest).

So sorry for not posting the past few days, but I've been busy. Very very busy.

Physical therapy is going well -- as far as Adlai is concerned, I've met all the goals. Heck, I was just supposed to be walking. I'm taking stairs, doing car transfers.... I'm still very damn tired after lugging myself around... but that was the case before the injury, and I'm going a bit further now (albeit with the walker). (As an aside, I have to rejoin Bally. I adore the NuStep recumbent walker, and they're too damn expensive. [Although the company that makes them is actually in Ann Arbor. Maybe I can just go look at 'em for an hour three times a week.])

I will find out later this morning if I have a new place. Frickin' credit check to see if I'll pay their lot rent on time. I think I'm fine and dandy. But I don't know what my credit score is, and these things can come back and bite you.

All praise and thanks and designer chocolate to huskiebear for shlepping me around three counties. Stuff is getting done, and I hope I'll be out of here next week. (Can't be too soon. Got a new roomie last night. All I'll say: "Frito sighed. It was going to be a long epic.")

How's your week going? And, what's your favorite quote from Harvard Lampoon's Bored Of The Rings?

ETA: Fixed from National Lampoon to Harvard Lampoon. I've been making that mistake since I was a li'l boggie.

As everybody and their left aunt has reported, Peter Jackson is once more involved in the filming of The Hobbit. No decision yet as to who will direct, but obviously I'm holding out for PJ his own bad self.

Now then. Sir Ian Holm as Bilbo; Sir Ian McKellan as Gandalf; Andy Serkis as Gollum; Hugo Weaving as Elrond; most likely John Rhys-Davies as Gloin (as in Gimli Son Of). Who else would you cast? We've got a bunch of dwarves, three trolls, Beorn, the Elven King, Bard, the Master of Laketown, and probably Dain. Most specifically, who for Thorin and the voice of Smaug?