Gee, Sir Peter Jackson, Did You Hate “The Hobbit” Source Material So Much That You Had To Change It Almost Entirely?

And Gandalf should have passed on this movie till they got the script right.

I hate to say that and to do this since I was so looking forward to the movie version of “The Hobbit.” It was a major letdown. I will try to do as few spoilers as possible but let's just say, DON'T READ THE BOOK BEFORE SEEING THE MOVIE! Please don't get me wrong, the casting, the cinematography and all that was great. The music was alright but it was basically recycled Lord of the Rings (LOTR) music. They could have tried a little more originality there. The biggest problem was in interpreting the book to the screen. It was the SCRIPT.

The basic story is the same, a Hobbit names Bilbo Baggins is requited to be a burglar (even though he has never stolen anything in his life) and help the wizard, Gandalf the Grey, and 13 dwarves regain their mountain home and treasure from the dragon, Smaug. Yes, they did take some source information from the Silmarillion since they wanted to expand it to three movies ($$$) and that is fine. But they also changed things that made little sense except maybe to dumb it down.

There are changes in character motivation, many extra action scenes, they even brought back an evil Orc character who is supposed to die because having enemies such as a dragon and goblins was not enough. They even had to make Bilbo much more of a hero than he is in that part of the book. It is like they did not even trust the original story. I would like to say overall it is “LOOSELY” based on The Hobbit and when they stayed loyal to the book, the movie was great. I had two examples which happen to be my favorite scenes in the book:

First is the Troll scene. A fine bit of comedy in the book, too subtle of comedy to the writers, as to what they turned it into. It was almost completely changed to add more needless action. And let me say, if 13 dwarves cannot take down at least one Troll, they will not regain the Lonely Mountain. At least they ended it the way it was supposed to but I was looking forward to a little ventriloquism by Gandalf.

The riddle scene with Gollum and Bilbo is my other favorite scene in the book. The beginning was not even close to the book (it was not even slightly dark and Bilbo is supposed to not even see the ring, just feel it and pick it up, you can see how they change it in the movie). But the actual riddle scene is done quite well, since they actually followed the book. Shocking how following the source material can improve on a movie.

I am just a mild fan girl, but made the mistake of actually reading the book again and then reading up to the part with Gollum a second time. Other fans could be quite upset. I have a friend who totally wanted one scene in “The Fellowship of the Ring” completely redone because he did not like how it was done. I read the scene and saw the movie and did not really see the problem.

I know there are some über fans out there that are already moaning about a “female elf” that has a more prominent role in the later movies. They also did that with LOTR for a love story. I can understand that, it is almost a requirement that there be a love story. Yes, in LOTR they added the scene where Frodo is “saved” by Arwen (so she could be introduced) when he should have been on the horse on his own and the elves and Gandalf all save him by creating a raging river. Frankly, the scene in the book is much better than the movie. So, I guess they had to have Lady Galadriel show up for the Hobbit (even though she is not in the book) I think that was to add some of her intense elf estrogen to even out the sausage factory. I hope my friend did not see “The Hobbit” or could take it for what it is: crappy fan fiction where the fan thinks they can improve upon the author.

Christopher Tolkien agrees. He said the book was “eviscerated” when made into this movie. And he was the son for whom J.R.R. Tolkien wrote these books. It is a shame really since they had such a wonderful source with a fine story. Tolkien created an entire world for these stories, it was a rich full world already, no “improvement” needed. The condensation of LOTR could be understood. They had a huge amount of material (1000 pages plus appendices) to condense into three movies. Now they have a 300 page book that they are expanding to three and could not even follow it well.

I don't think my hubby and and I are going to even bother with seeing the next two movies, except on DVD from Redbox. Why give them more money, it will just encourage them, and Peter Jackson's ego is already the size of Middle Earth. Although my irritation about this will probably have gone down by a year from now, and my curiosity will be up for how it is changed. DAMN YOU CURIOSITY!

Lastly, I do have a conspiracy theory from my hubby that makes sense in Hollywood today. He thinks they did so many changes so that there could be a reboot. MORE MONEY! As long as Peter Jackson is not involved. He has gone full on George Lucas.

But “The Hobbit” was a thumbs down. :( From sharocity.com

So sorry but that had to be said. I am not the greatest writer, but if you gave me millions of dollars to write the script, I think I would have had more respect for the story Tolkien created.

Happy Holidays everyone. Have a great new year as well and there are more blogs are coming in 2013!

We Have Finally Entered The Modern Age...

My hubby and I got smart phones for Christmas. But being hypocritical parents who cannot wait till Christmas day we started our new service last week. Our reasoning is that we will start saving money the sooner we port our numbers to our new provider.

Our new provider? We went with the AARP crowd and signed onto Consumer Cellular. Who are they? Well they do a no contract, fairly inexpensive cellular service. My hubby found out about this not because he is a member of AARP but from Consumer Reports. We were not using many of our minutes with Verizon, and that was just voice service and frankly, it sucked. Dropped calls was the norm. Now part of this is the fun of living in Tucson, which is the 6th worst city for cellular coverage. But if you try to use your wifi at home (or at Starbucks, etc.) with a Google number the reception is much better and the call is free in the USA!

We went with a fairly bare bones in minutes and data to see if we would last the month and if not they upgrade your account easily with out any extra charges. The amazing thing is that even if we did upgrade a level or even two, we will still be paying less per month than with just voice on Verizon.

We went with an Android (just like Picard ;) basic smart phone with a gingerbread operating system. It is kind of slow but if we wanted fast we would put up the dough that we don't have.

So we have finally entered the modern age. Now, how to get rid of this AARP app...

Grover Norquist Is The REAL Bond Villain

Meghan McCain did a brave thing a few weeks ago. She called Karl Rove a “Bond Villain.” And it is true, especially for her family. It was his plan to smear Senator McCain by a whispering campaign with leaflets that McCain fathered an illegitimate black child, which was completely untrue. This tactic along with others showed “the battle between Bush and McCain for South Carolina has entered American political lore as one of the nastiest, dirtiest, and most brutal ever.” It is good for the country that his time is over. For at least four years. In the world of James Bond there is always another villain and there are those in reality and just like the real villain Rove, is is Grover Norquist. Or if you like, the Wizard of OZ, with nothing but a silver tongue and a flashy show that sounds great to Republicans.

This is the guy who makes politicians sign “suicide pacts” to NEVER EVER vote to raise taxes. Oh sure, that makes total sense when we have a huge debt and deficit and let's just cut the government spending and that will fix everything...NOT! Not even close.

Lets take a look at the person who has had the GOP by the short and curlies. He went to Harvard – and got an MBA! Wow, according to Harvard, he is a master of business. Does he have a degree in Economics or Political Science? Nope. Has he ran for office? Nope. He is the head lobbyist and founder for Americans for Tax Reform. That is it. Yet he has the whole GOP doing anything and everything to not raise taxes on the top 2% of earners in this country. And guess who is paying Grover's salary? They happen to be billionaires.

If ANYONE can afford a tax hike it is the top 2%. They are the ultimate example of the American dream. Shouldn't that dream, like our freedom have to come at a cost? The cost of World War II got us fully out of the Great Depression and boosted our economy to some of the best days for our country. Maybe that is why people get nostalgic for the 1950's. It is not for the oppression of women and minorities, but for the feeling of optimism we had because our economy was kicking butt. What was the tax rate for the top earners? It was 91%, today it is 34.5%. Back then it was their PATRIOTIC DUTY to pay taxes. President Eisenhower made them proud to pay for their American dream. Now they seem to think the dream is free. Especially people like Mitt Romney who only get income from dividends and only pay about 15% in taxes. Back in the 1950s it was between 34 and 55% depending upon how rich you were.

I am not advocating returning to those huge tax rates. Just to return to the Clinton Era tax rates. Which would be 39% for the top earners, and an increase to say at least 20% on dividends. It just makes sense.

You can listen to Mr. Norquist pontificate all day long about how raising taxes ruined Gorge H.W. Bush's chance at reelection, even though I think his move helped us to have a wonderful 1990's. You can hear him blab on and on about spending cuts, even when he will not say that those spending cuts will put people out of work and increase our unemployment rate. That will not help our economy.

This man is a hot air balloon of reasons for rich people to feel better about not paying taxes. Mr. Norquist and Karl Rove are the Bond villains to most Americans. Heck, Mr. Norquist even sounds like a Bond villain when he says: