Continuing Adventures in Geekdom

The latest (and surprisingly expensive) project has been to extensively revise and actually print my past writing projects, which so far has amounted to nearly 900 pages.  Printer toner can run into money.  Unfortunately, since my mind seems only to conceive multi-part epics, my past writing projects are also my current projects, which just complicates the issue considering our current unreliable tech situation.  I have very distinct ideas about which fonts I want to use for the text and chapter titles, and those fonts currently only exist on my geriatric laptop.  I would download them onto the desktop, but because it is primarily a gaming computer it was not equipped with a word processor, and the fonts available on Google Docs just don't cut it.  So, I'm hoping I can somehow finish the last approximately thirty chapters of this Thranduil saga I started TWELVE YEARS ago before the laptop finally gives up the ghost for good and takes all my formatting with it.  That's the goal.  We'll see if Miss JoJo will deign to give me enough free time to make it happen.

In that vein, since it's been so long already and because I'm not likely to stop being a fanatical self-proclaimed Thranduil expert in the future, I've decided to actually spend money on it.  I think my family might disown me if I opted for a tattoo, but I found someone who makes customizable Tengwar rings on Etsy and I think I have to have one.  I'll get it somehow, even if I have to live on potatoes and oatmeal until I accumulate enough budget points.  Fortunately for the dog, I'm not selfish enough to dip into her knee surgery fund.

While we're on the subject, here's some fan art by ItanHimitsu I think is worth showcasing, even though it also features Tauriel.  He looks generally tired and worn down, as you would expect after everything he's had to put up with.

.

Nerd Moment: Fan-art Win

While the substance of "The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" was initially a colossal disappointment, in the ensuing weeks I've at least managed to appreciate the scenery, soundtrack, and almost every clip of Legolas.  I've been trying to imagine Thranduil's cavern palace for years.  Also, just hearing them say some of the token Sindarin words I've been using in fanfiction since I was eighteen was fabulous.

Meanwhile, considering myself an unauthorized authority on all things Thranduil, I wasn't thrilled with Lee Pace's incarnation of the character.  I do approve his voice, if he could just speak without the affected zombie cadence Peter Jackson's ruling Elves seem to favor.  Just spit it out already.

The upside is that the new movies have inspired scads of fan-art online, most of which is blah, some of which is humorous, and a very few of which are absolute gems.

This was the first and only decent artist rendering of Thranduil I could find, meeting Celeborn in Greenwood after the War of the Ring.  No idea who the artist actually is.  The fact that it doesn't show his face just made it less problematic.  Though, it would be nice to not have to imagine Thranduil's face all the time, and Lee Pace just doesn't cut it.

Huzzah!  An idle internet search turned up this beauty by NaSyu, which for all intents and purposes looks like somebody printed my mental image on canvas.  If I could just learn to draw faces, we wouldn't have these problems.  In the meantime, I have this, which I open on my laptop whenever I attempt to write these days.

Now for the bonus round!  Last night I actually found an exceptionally good young Thranduil by Brilcrist.  And his eyes are actually green!  SCORE!  I'll have to keep periodically checking Google Images for further developments.

Add this just because it's cute.  ^_^

Thranduil Update

Ok, I will admit I do rather enjoy that voice.  Kudos to Lee Pace for that.  Leaving aside the CGI and the canned one-liners, the Mirkwood Elves look rather interesting as well.  We shall see.




Also, I've found a new favorite piece of fan art.   I like this one because it's an uncanny composite of the movie version and my own mental image.

The Hobbit: A Lazy Review

Went to see the long-anticipated The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey yesterday, and honestly my overall feeling is disappointment.  For the record, I was indeed expecting The Hobbit, which admittedly isn't quite the same caliber as Lord of the Rings, but it seemed to suffer from a worse case of "prequelitis" than I expected.  Some of it was unavoidable, some of it was just sloppy.  I could probably go on about it for quite a while, but unfortunately time is limited.

1)  Do we really have to keep using the Wilhelm scream?  Really?

2)  Can we please stop with the angsty close-ups of important characters screaming "NOOOOO!!!" when we all know nobody is really going to die?

3)  Can we stop dangling over cliffs for entirely too long waiting for "the nick of time?"

4)  Do excessively comical bad guys have to make slapstick comments right before they die?

5)  Why are there no obvious injuries after our heros fall from cartoonish heights?

6)  Why in the world is Thranduil riding an ELK?

Maybe it could have been cool, but at the time it was just jarring.  Will we ever live it down?  That remains to be seen.

By the way, Bilbo was awesome, Elrond was bad@$$, and Gollum was brilliant.

Oh, the Suspense!

It's no secret, my favorite Tolkien character of all time is Elvenking Thranduil.  I've been looking forward to The Hobbit movies for their own sakes, but I was particularly interested in (worried about?) how they would adapt his character.  I've been trolling around on Google for a while looking for sneak peeks.  Lo and behold, there are finally a few to be had.

? ? ?

Ok, I'm not sure how I feel about it.  Maybe it will grow on me.  No offense to Lee Pace, but I personally had another type in mind . . .

And, of course, he had to have a voice like Josh Groban.

ANYWAY, I'm more than a little sorry we might still have to wait until next year to see the Mirkwood Elves.  I will do my best to endure with quiet dignity and grace.  In the meantime, here's my favorite bit of fan art, plucked from the vast expanse of the internet:

That's the sort of bow I expect Elvenking Thranduil Oropherion to carry.  I suppose that's Celeborn with him having a bad@$$ Sindarin family reunion.  It makes me want to write fanfiction again.