anyone who has read The Lord of the Rings knows that once you have finished reading the third book, there are still many pages of Appendices to wade through. They continue to fill out the story. For instance, the Main Arwen/Aragorn love story is only touched on a bit in the main books, while the bulk of it found in the appendices.
The story of Aragorn's hunt for Gollum is never found in full, but it is laid out within the "Tale of Years" as well as some mentions in the main text. It appears that some fans are working on a 30 minute film that focuses on that hunt, and below you will find a trailer. Those people who are only a fan of the movies will probably balk at the sight of different people playing well known roles such as Gandalf and Aragorn, but for an independently made film, this looks like it will be of very good quality, with a healthy devotion and admiration of the books to guide it.
The website says it will probably be released after February, so we will see how well they did then!
THE HUNT FOR GOLLUM - FULL Trailer 1 from Chris Bouchard on Vimeo.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
The Hunt for Gollum
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
Lord of the Rings Conquest, and working creatively with an existing IP
Lord of the Rings games are a mixed bag, especially the ones based primarily on the movies, but this one looks interesting. You can play as either good or evil, and rather than the evil campaign mirroring the actual plot of the book, it asks the question "What if Frodo failed?" and goes on from there. If it had mirrored the book, I feel my reaction would be "But that never happened!" over and over. By starting from a premise that flatly says it is not part of the story, we avoid the cognitive dissonance for the most part. Honestly this sounds much more intriguing to me because it won't be confining itself to the story everyone knows.
There is only so much a game can do when working with an already existing story to keep it engaging for the player. Especially when it is a property that has been mined for gaming experiences many times before. I have been playing Lord of the Rings Online for almost a year now, and they too have found an interesting way to involve players. It would be impossible for an MMO to allow everybody to play as the main characters, so instead they have crafted a narrative that runs parallel to the LOTR plot. In many ways, this serves to enhance the story in ways the books Appendices do by fleshing out some of the details. One of my favorites in the latest expansion, is that you have a small quest to help escort Bill the Pony away from the Mines of Moria after Sam must leave him behind at the black pool. It is not of much consequence, and not terribly epic, but it does make this Tolkien fanboy smile.
And on that note, it is time to dig out my copies of the History of The LOTR for the rest of the evening....
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
In lieu of a Baby It's Cold outside video...
Here is Martin and Sinatra doing "It's a Marshmallow World in the Winter"
Baby It's Cold Outside
I was sad to come up empty in a search for Dean Martin singing this on his show, I would have thought he would have done so at some point. There is a newer version that they cut in Martina McBride for a duet, but I went and found an original duet, that is at least labled as Martin singing with Doris Day. Not totally sure how accurate that is though. Regardless, Enjoy!
Saturday, December 06, 2008
"Wish On My Star"
So I just got my first speeding ticket in 10 years. I have been stopped and warned a couple times, and have received a ticket for expired tags, but have managed to go w/out an actual speeding ticket that whole time. Aside from the normal heart pumping anxiety that comes with any time I get pulled over, I am not really all that upset. See, my tags are currently expired again. When I moved to California, it was on expired Ohio plates, and when I moved back here to Northern KY, it has been on expired California plates. I know I need to do it, but I either don't have the money budgeted, or I put it off and it is just one of those things that I am horrible at keeping up on. But that is not my point. Somehow, the cap who pulled me over must have been off his game, because if he were he should have seen how badly expired my tags were. Anyway, he did not even mention it. He just gave my ID back to me, and was actually very nice about the whole time- something his California counterparts could stand to learn how to be.
But as a way to distract me I thought I would actually do one of those silly quiz type thingies. I saw this on Natalie Myers Facebook page when I got in and itt seemed worth a chuckle or two.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Put your Zune or other music player on shuffle…Ok, Ok, iPod for most of you.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS!
4. Tag friends who might enjoy doing this as well as the person you got this from.
***
IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY?
"Stop Draggin' my Car Around" Weird Al Yankovic
WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
"Lectio 1" King's Singers
WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
"Mr. Wu's a Window Cleaner Now" George Formby
WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
"Zhaoderen Nana" Hanggai Band - No idea what this means in English
WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
"Ye Banks and Braes" - Great Big Scottish Songbook
WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
"Sexbomb" Tom Jones (Oh Yeah.....)
WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
"Six People Isn't Convincing" Mitch Hedberg
WHAT IS 2+2?
"Shake Away" Lila Downs
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
"I'm Yours" Jason Mraz
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
"In the Army Kid" Of Montreal
WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
"I Know There's a Word" Amiee Mann
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
"Act of Remembrance" Proclaimers
WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
"Last Night" Over the Rhine
WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
"I Felt my Size" The Microphones
WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
"Whither's Rocking Hymn" Vancouver Chamber Choir
WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
"Psalm 114: When Israel Came Out of Egypt" Choir of Westminster Abbey
WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
"Down in the City" The Sea and Cake
WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
"Medicine Girl" The Everybodyfields
WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
"Light of the World" Apollo Sunshine
WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
"Rough Design" Inara George
WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
"Let's Spend the Night Together" Rolling Stones
WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
"Florida Beach" The Microphones
WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
"Sportif" Youssou N'Dour
WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
"Killing Lies" The Strokes
WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
"Questions" Lach
DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
"Sway" Puppini Sisters
IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
"Alone at Christmastime" Rosie Thomas
WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
"Truth in Your Words" They Might Be Giants
WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
"Wish on My Star" Jake Shimabukuro
Monday, December 01, 2008
BBC Christmas is just like Christmas!
So the official BBC youtube page has made these videos only available to people from the UK, but that seems pretty stupid since anyone can re-post them, as has clearly happened.
BBC Drama- Doctor Who, Jonathan Creek = Happy Richie
Comedy- Gavin & Stacy, BlackAdder reunion = Happy Richie
