[Movies] The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

As much as most folks like or at least respect the Lord of the Rings movies as being fun fantasy romps, I think we're all in agreement that The Hobbit movies have been dragging a bit. There's a fair amount of extraneous elements introduced into the story in order to help expand the thing into a full trilogy of movies despite the source material having been positioned as something for younger audiences. And while it's still fun to see the various characters adventuring across Middle Earth, it has required viewers to sit through a LOT of filler materials.

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies was meant to wrap up this second foray into Middle Earth, which may also be the last adventure with all these familiar faces. And while there's a lot of prequel material out there, I'm actually kind of hoping that we leave things as they are and have the folks involved quit while they're ahead.

But who knows, really. We sort of thought that everything was done and over with given the first trilogy and the fan hopes of a Hobbit movie were modest aspirations as best. But everything turned around and we ended up with a heck of a lot more movie material than we had bargained for.

[Movies] The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

Like most geeks, I remain a huge fan of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Ring movies. They were quite the masterful adaptation of the original books in manner that made the franchise a lot more accessible to a wider audience. And while there are those purists who have a number of complaints about the movies when it boils down to certain details, on the whole you can't really argue the fact that the movies were a lot of fun.

Naturally fans of the movies all wondered if Peter Jackson would ever get around to adapting The Hobbit, the rather child-friendly prequel to the core trilogy that centered on Bilbo Baggins. Initially hew as pretty adamant that he would not be involved but over the years the arguments went all back and forth until we did end up with Peter Jackson not just producing the movie but also directing it as well.

Did we really need this movie to be made? Well, maybe, since we all love Peter Jackson's vision of Middle-Earth. Did we need more than one movie based on a single book? Perhaps, but only because no single movie can perfectly adapt every part of any book. But did we need for this movie to be a trilogy? Now there I definitely draw the line and say that's just going way overboard for this franchise.

[Holidays] Hobbit Day

While I hate myself for missing Talk Like a Pirate Day last September 19th, at least I can redeem some geek points by commemorating this Geeky Holiday - Hobbit Day!

September 22 is traditionally celebrated as Hobbit Day, the alleged birthday of Tolkien's very famous hobbits, Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. While they were born years apart - Bilbo in 2890 and Frodo in 2968.

This even can be celebrated by hosting a large party with feasting, fireworks and fun much like how the The Fellowship of the Ring started. Other ways of celebrating including walking around barefoot the whole day as hobbits would.

Happy Hobbit Day everyone!