lol of the rings
I rewatched The Lord of the Rings! Apparently that warrants commentary and picspamming! BECAUSE OBVIOUSLY NOBODY TALKED ABOUT THIS SHIT FIVE TO SEVEN YEARS AGO? ...Yeah i have like fifty current tv shows to catch up on and i was still in the middle of Doctor Who nerding out and this is what i do instead. HEY HI HI HEY I'M RELEVANT HI
Things that are totally fucking awesome: dudes with hooded cloaks and bows and arrows. (HI FARAMIR'S FIRST APPEARANCE, HI!) Bows and arrows are the most badass of all fantasy weapons. That is a truth fact. I'm not even really into Narnia and have only seen the first movie anyway, but when Susan starts kicking ass with that shit, all bets are off. BADASSEST. ...Swords are awesome too, though. XD
...A warning: that right there is as deep as these comments are going to get. HMMM, BOWS AND ARROWS: AWESOME. SWORDS: ALSO AWESOME. HOT DUDES: AWESOME AS WELL. ASSKICKING: ADDITIONALLY AWESOME. I could write a thesis!
So like, i don't even give half a shit about Aragorn/Arwen, BUT the imagined future wherein she stands at his grave is really pretty and sad. FUN FACT: THERE IS LOTS OF PRETTY AND SAD STUFF IN LOTR. Also: their reunion kiss in RotK is super great. Otherwise, snooze.
I know LOTR fandom is pretty much synonymous with slash, but jeez, i didn't even remember how much Aragorn/Legolas there is in Two Towers. I was always too preoccupied with shipping Legolas with myself. :O HE IS A FANCY LAD! ...But for real, every one of his asskicking moments still turns me into a giddy teenage girl. So... basically the way i normally am. But AGILITY and MARKSMANSHIP and swinging onto that horse like a pimp and sliding down the defeated oliphaunt's trunk like a pimp and shit son stabbing an orc with an arrow and then shooting another orc with the same arrow and two arrows at once and three arrows at once and SO DREAMY CAN I BRUSH YOUR HAIR.
I really love dark Frodo. It's so creepy when he gets all possessed; seeing his little wide-eyed baby face turn evil is so effective because it's just so wrong. One of my favorite moments of TT is when he's facing the Ringwraith at Osgiliath. So cool, so unsettling. And i really super love the everpresent thread that Gollum is what Frodo would have become were it not for Sam (i even made fanart of it approximately nine thousand years ago!). Gollum actually makes me want to cry, his story is so tragic, and the fact that he had beaten his evil personality until Frodo betrayed him is just... friggin awful. I have always loved Gollum's Song over the TT end credits, it's such a melancholy but lovely end note that still leaves a huge impression on me. Ugh, so sad, so sad.
Then again, Gollum also makes me crack up like 70% of the time. I know it's so fucking old in internet time, but "what's taters, precious?" still makes me laugh so hard. PO-TAY-TOES!
As happy as the series ending is (still shockingly happy considering i had expected EVERYONE TO DIE when i read it) the destruction of the Ring is really not happy at aaaaalllll. Because Frodo DID succumb, he took it for himself and it is a horrible awful heartbreaking (awesome) moment, and the only reason the Ring actually gets destroyed is BY ACCIDENT. Which i mean you can argue that it was the many times Gollum's life was spared that really saved the world, which was not by accident, but man. Frodo couldn't overcome the Ring's hold on him by his own will and that is so depressing.
As much as i love Eowyn, i love her killing the Witch-king more in the book. Because it's a SURPRISE that it's Eowyn! The movie is just like, hey, it's Eowyn. (which, granted, is the only way it could be done, BUT STILL.) Anyway in whatever form it's still super badass. EOWYN. I kind of do ship her with Aragorn, more now than i did in the past (and even moreso in the extended edition- the terrible soup she made! Aragorn adjusting her blanket while she's sleeping! tending to her in the Houses of Healing! aw. I LOVE THEIR UNREQUITED WARTIME SEXUAL TENSION and when Aragorn is fighting through the battle at Minas Tirith and getting closer to Eowyn it makes me wish that they could have some back-to-back swordfighting/battlefield bonding fun times but alas Eowyn is severely injured and trying to get to dying Theoden so, none. sigh). ANYWAY given the choice between Aragorn/Arwen and Aragorn/Eowyn, Eowyn wins by a miiiiiiiiile. The shoehorning of Arwen into the story always kind of aggravated me, but i suppose it works to expand her role in the movies in order to give Aragorn/Arwen more of an... existence, and also simply because it is not a bad thing to expand a female role in the sausagefest that is LOTR. Even though after her cool initial appearance she just mopes around boringly.
You know, it seems like i bitch about book-to-movie translations all the time, or maybe it's just that the really important ones usually end up being so so much less than their literary counterparts (YES I AM STILL UPSET ABOUT THE GOLDEN COMPASS AND ALSO WHY IS HARRY POTTER SO LAME AND YET STILL SO EXCITING IN TRAILER FORM), but i tend to forget about LOTR because it rocks and therefore i cannot include it in my bitching about always getting things wrong. They did such an amazing job of capturing its huge scale and mythic themes and not making people with pointy ears look super lame, and it was a damn stroke of genius to film it all at once so it really truly works as one bajillion-hour-long movie that maintains the same tone throughout. It's not perfect, certainly, but it's awesome. Watching it without remembering so many details from the books really helps to see how well it works independently in movie form without nitpicking all the changes. And i'm really glad the extended editions exist because they flow even better than the theatrical versions, especially in terms of Faramir's characterization, and in the case of RotK in which Saruman is actually given an ending instead of just disappearing and Eowyn/Faramir is included for more than a split second! YAY. The fifty endings are still a bit much, but i dunno, it works a lot better after watching all three movies at once because going back to the Shire makes it feel very much like it's come full circle.
LOL i went back to read my old moronic thoughts on RotK and re: Eowyn/Faramir i didn't even REMEMBER this: One of my favorite things between them is when they're holding hands and looking out of the city toward the east, and i had this great shot pictured in my head. And that exact shot IS in the extended edition! Awww. EOWYN/FARAMIR, OH YOU GUYS. No longer unloved second bests. :*(
Now that it's over i just want to watch it again. I don't know, man! It appeals to something deep within my basic nerdy essence. I've always considered myself way more of a sci-fi nerd than a fantasy nerd, but i suppose if it needs a label what i'm really a nerd for is epic journeys and reluctant heroes and ADVENTURE.
I've started reading The Hobbit, because for some stupid lazy reason i never have. (i remember always seeing it on the bookshelf at home as a kid and i always imagined a hobbit as some sort of troll creature. that was the extent of my LOTR knowledge before the movies got made. LOL GEEK CRED: I HAVE NONE.) It's so exciting that the movie of it is in the works, and that there are rumors- whether unfounded or not- of James McAvoy as Bilbo. To that i give a hearty YES PLEASE. Nevermind that he was already in Narnia! He's very hobbity. Aw. In the first chapter Bilbo is constantly FLUMMOXED and that is probably the most adorable thing i can think of, a flummoxed hobbity James McAvoy. PLEASE LET IT COME TRUE, UNIVERSE.
I can think of someone else i'd like to see appear in The Hobbit!
I also rewatched the relevant episode of Flight of the Conchords, FOR OBVIOUS REASONS. I love Mel more than a lot of things.
PICSPAM TIME.
Things that are totally fucking awesome: dudes with hooded cloaks and bows and arrows. (HI FARAMIR'S FIRST APPEARANCE, HI!) Bows and arrows are the most badass of all fantasy weapons. That is a truth fact. I'm not even really into Narnia and have only seen the first movie anyway, but when Susan starts kicking ass with that shit, all bets are off. BADASSEST. ...Swords are awesome too, though. XD
...A warning: that right there is as deep as these comments are going to get. HMMM, BOWS AND ARROWS: AWESOME. SWORDS: ALSO AWESOME. HOT DUDES: AWESOME AS WELL. ASSKICKING: ADDITIONALLY AWESOME. I could write a thesis!
So like, i don't even give half a shit about Aragorn/Arwen, BUT the imagined future wherein she stands at his grave is really pretty and sad. FUN FACT: THERE IS LOTS OF PRETTY AND SAD STUFF IN LOTR. Also: their reunion kiss in RotK is super great. Otherwise, snooze.
I know LOTR fandom is pretty much synonymous with slash, but jeez, i didn't even remember how much Aragorn/Legolas there is in Two Towers. I was always too preoccupied with shipping Legolas with myself. :O HE IS A FANCY LAD! ...But for real, every one of his asskicking moments still turns me into a giddy teenage girl. So... basically the way i normally am. But AGILITY and MARKSMANSHIP and swinging onto that horse like a pimp and sliding down the defeated oliphaunt's trunk like a pimp and shit son stabbing an orc with an arrow and then shooting another orc with the same arrow and two arrows at once and three arrows at once and SO DREAMY CAN I BRUSH YOUR HAIR.
I really love dark Frodo. It's so creepy when he gets all possessed; seeing his little wide-eyed baby face turn evil is so effective because it's just so wrong. One of my favorite moments of TT is when he's facing the Ringwraith at Osgiliath. So cool, so unsettling. And i really super love the everpresent thread that Gollum is what Frodo would have become were it not for Sam (i even made fanart of it approximately nine thousand years ago!). Gollum actually makes me want to cry, his story is so tragic, and the fact that he had beaten his evil personality until Frodo betrayed him is just... friggin awful. I have always loved Gollum's Song over the TT end credits, it's such a melancholy but lovely end note that still leaves a huge impression on me. Ugh, so sad, so sad.
Then again, Gollum also makes me crack up like 70% of the time. I know it's so fucking old in internet time, but "what's taters, precious?" still makes me laugh so hard. PO-TAY-TOES!
As happy as the series ending is (still shockingly happy considering i had expected EVERYONE TO DIE when i read it) the destruction of the Ring is really not happy at aaaaalllll. Because Frodo DID succumb, he took it for himself and it is a horrible awful heartbreaking (awesome) moment, and the only reason the Ring actually gets destroyed is BY ACCIDENT. Which i mean you can argue that it was the many times Gollum's life was spared that really saved the world, which was not by accident, but man. Frodo couldn't overcome the Ring's hold on him by his own will and that is so depressing.
As much as i love Eowyn, i love her killing the Witch-king more in the book. Because it's a SURPRISE that it's Eowyn! The movie is just like, hey, it's Eowyn. (which, granted, is the only way it could be done, BUT STILL.) Anyway in whatever form it's still super badass. EOWYN. I kind of do ship her with Aragorn, more now than i did in the past (and even moreso in the extended edition- the terrible soup she made! Aragorn adjusting her blanket while she's sleeping! tending to her in the Houses of Healing! aw. I LOVE THEIR UNREQUITED WARTIME SEXUAL TENSION and when Aragorn is fighting through the battle at Minas Tirith and getting closer to Eowyn it makes me wish that they could have some back-to-back swordfighting/battlefield bonding fun times but alas Eowyn is severely injured and trying to get to dying Theoden so, none. sigh). ANYWAY given the choice between Aragorn/Arwen and Aragorn/Eowyn, Eowyn wins by a miiiiiiiiile. The shoehorning of Arwen into the story always kind of aggravated me, but i suppose it works to expand her role in the movies in order to give Aragorn/Arwen more of an... existence, and also simply because it is not a bad thing to expand a female role in the sausagefest that is LOTR. Even though after her cool initial appearance she just mopes around boringly.
You know, it seems like i bitch about book-to-movie translations all the time, or maybe it's just that the really important ones usually end up being so so much less than their literary counterparts (YES I AM STILL UPSET ABOUT THE GOLDEN COMPASS AND ALSO WHY IS HARRY POTTER SO LAME AND YET STILL SO EXCITING IN TRAILER FORM), but i tend to forget about LOTR because it rocks and therefore i cannot include it in my bitching about always getting things wrong. They did such an amazing job of capturing its huge scale and mythic themes and not making people with pointy ears look super lame, and it was a damn stroke of genius to film it all at once so it really truly works as one bajillion-hour-long movie that maintains the same tone throughout. It's not perfect, certainly, but it's awesome. Watching it without remembering so many details from the books really helps to see how well it works independently in movie form without nitpicking all the changes. And i'm really glad the extended editions exist because they flow even better than the theatrical versions, especially in terms of Faramir's characterization, and in the case of RotK in which Saruman is actually given an ending instead of just disappearing and Eowyn/Faramir is included for more than a split second! YAY. The fifty endings are still a bit much, but i dunno, it works a lot better after watching all three movies at once because going back to the Shire makes it feel very much like it's come full circle.
LOL i went back to read my old moronic thoughts on RotK and re: Eowyn/Faramir i didn't even REMEMBER this: One of my favorite things between them is when they're holding hands and looking out of the city toward the east, and i had this great shot pictured in my head. And that exact shot IS in the extended edition! Awww. EOWYN/FARAMIR, OH YOU GUYS. No longer unloved second bests. :*(
Now that it's over i just want to watch it again. I don't know, man! It appeals to something deep within my basic nerdy essence. I've always considered myself way more of a sci-fi nerd than a fantasy nerd, but i suppose if it needs a label what i'm really a nerd for is epic journeys and reluctant heroes and ADVENTURE.
I've started reading The Hobbit, because for some stupid lazy reason i never have. (i remember always seeing it on the bookshelf at home as a kid and i always imagined a hobbit as some sort of troll creature. that was the extent of my LOTR knowledge before the movies got made. LOL GEEK CRED: I HAVE NONE.) It's so exciting that the movie of it is in the works, and that there are rumors- whether unfounded or not- of James McAvoy as Bilbo. To that i give a hearty YES PLEASE. Nevermind that he was already in Narnia! He's very hobbity. Aw. In the first chapter Bilbo is constantly FLUMMOXED and that is probably the most adorable thing i can think of, a flummoxed hobbity James McAvoy. PLEASE LET IT COME TRUE, UNIVERSE.
I can think of someone else i'd like to see appear in The Hobbit!
I also rewatched the relevant episode of Flight of the Conchords, FOR OBVIOUS REASONS. I love Mel more than a lot of things.
PICSPAM TIME.