Wow. That was something. I can imagine that for folks who don't know the book well, it was probably a pretty entertaining movie. But, well, is it a bad sign for a serious epic fantasy story that I spent a fair bit of the film laughing ( Read more... )

I saw The Hobbit a few days ago, and I enjoyed it. I started to write up some brief comments on the movie to post here, but they got a bit out of hand, so I've posted them on my Tolkien website instead. For those who are interested, have a look at my full review; comments are welcome!

In thinking about The Hobbit today, I've hit a guess as to the proximate reason that Jackson decided he wanted three films. (The studio's reason is clearly "more money".) I think it may be significant that nobody has ever said a word about where Jackson planned to split the story into two films. My guess is that after watching a rough cut of most ( Read more... )

Peter Jackson confirmed today that he will make The Hobbit into three movies, rather than two as formerly planned. To my eye, this is a spectacularly bad idea. Why, you ask?
( Good question... )

I finished reading Cryoburn, the latest Miles Vorkosigan novel, not that long ago. It was... fine. But in the end, the thought that came to my mind after reading it was this:

I did begin a story placed about 100 years after the Downfall, but it proved both sinister and depressing. ... I found that even so early there was an outcrop of ( Read more... )

A few months ago, a newsgroup conversation inspired one of the biggest shifts in my perspective on Middle-earth since I first started reading Tolkien. I figure at least a few people here might be interested, so I'm finally taking the time to share ( Read more... )

This weekend, Kim and I are going to Penguicon, a "Science Fiction and Open Source Software Convention" near Detroit. I've never actually been to a con before, so it should be a fun experience. This one's a little unusual with its "open source" aspect, but Kim figures that's a plus for me: if there's a time when the sci-fi side of things doesn't ( Read more... )

Via ukelele, here's a video that I have to pass along ( Read more... )

Utúlie'n aurë! Aiya Eldalië ar Atanatári, utúlie'n aurë!

I've been cleaning out my desk today in preparation for classes next week (I've avoided it pretty much literally as long as I could). I'm finding a lot of useful things along the way ("Look! A stack of handouts I didn't have time to use in class last year. Guess what my students will be doing in week 2?"), but probably the central theme of the ( Read more... )