I love The Hobbit. I always have, and I always will. I grew up watching the Rankin/Bass adaptation, and indeed, just finished watching it for the second time this year. I’m re-reading the book at current, which was the inspiration to pop it on and try to coax the little one to watch it with me. It didn’t do anything for her yet (understandable – she’s not yet 2), but I hope it has the same impact on her tiny soul as it had on mine. It opened me up to fantasy and fiction and grand adventure, and even all the epic fantasy sagas that I’ve read over the years can’t fill me with longing and excitement as much as this simple children’s book.

Okay, I know - wrong Sting. I can't help it!

Having said that, I have yet to date been able to stand anything past The Hobbit. I’ve tried to read Fellowship at least half a dozen times; they get to a garden gate, and I zone out. I’ve never managed to stay awake through any of the adaptations (Bakshi, Jackson – same snooze), and unsurprisingly, I get a lot of flack from (frankly) assholes who insist that I’m somehow deficient because I found the books and films incredibly dull.

I want to be excited by them, I want to pay a loving reading homage to that which paved the way for pretty much everything else I’ve read. So I find myself, once again, preparing to try a read through… but I think I might have better luck this time… because of a video game. Thank you, Lord of the Rings Online, ha ha ha. I guess having a place where I can explore the world at length without a storyline necessarily thrust upon it, and doing my own reading on the who’s who of the world have whet my appetite enough to think there might be half a chance of pulling it off. That, or maybe I’m just a lot more patient than I used to be…

Anyways, back to the Hobbit, and my mild reservations about the forthcoming films. I do like what casting I’ve heard of – I think that Martin Freeman will make a brilliant Bilbo, and I have no qualms with Sir Ian McKellan continuing his role as Gandalf. I don’t know most of the rest of the people being cast (film is a medium I general despise due to overweening CGI so ‘perfect’ as to be boring and terrible to be forced to see; this would prevent me from knowing many actors). Nor have I quite processed the why of it being two films; I get the cartoon left bits out, but I wouldn’t call it enough to warrant a second film. And even if they only focused on what else is going on in the world… *shakes head* Sounds a mess.

Still, if the get the songs ‘right’, I guess I’ll likely shut hole and watch. ‘Right’ being the way that they were done in the Rankin/Bass adaptation – I think they were solid and added strongly to the ache in my soul, and I very much fear that they’ll be ignored instead of embraced… but I guess we shall see in time.

Have a nice Friday and whatnot!