Velox

Tolkien's version is fantastic (it just came out a couple years ago thanks to his son)--I definitely second that. It's cool because it's also prose rather than the usual epic poem style, and considering Tolkien's style of prose it reads incredibly beautifully IMO. I recently took a class on Old English (which also included Beowulf, both in the original and a translated version), and I didn't really like the translation we read (by Kevin Crossley-Holland, I believe), but I asked my professor if I could use Tolkien's translation for the paper and fortunately she allowed it, which I definitely much preferred. I usually love epic poetry but just wasn't the biggest fan of Crossley's Beowulf, so Tolkien's prose was a nice relief (then again I'm biased as he's my favorite author).

I still really want to read Heaney's version too, as I love his original poetry, but just haven't gotten around to it. And besides reading some random version that I don't remember about ten years ago, those are the only two translations I've read so far--I'm definitely interested to check out both translations you mentioned. 

@Sumiki--Yeah, I debated including it or not . . . it’s one of those books that I really liked when I first read it, but as time has gone on, I've started to like it less and less. Ultimately I decided to go with my initial impression, which was simply that I really enjoyed it, even if it wasn’t one of the greatest books. I sort of doubt I’d like it as much if I read it again, but who knows. Either way, it's certainly not as good as the other books there, even if I did initially enjoy it.

@V1P2--Definitely--that's the Tolkien book I plan on reading next (though I've already read a bit of it here and there before, but I'm looking forward to reading it cover to cover). 

@Protalgift--Yep! I've been so excited ever since I heard it was in production a few months ago. I'm most excited for Liam Neeson voicing the Monster, which I think is perfect. It'll be really interesting to see how they do it, regardless...the art is so fantastic I can't imagine seeing it another way, so here's hoping it looks all right.

@TMD--After watching the trailer a few more times I'm actually a little more excited for it. Not sure if I'll see it in theaters or not (just because I really don't see all that many films in theaters), but I'll definitely see it at some point. Agreed about Sam Jackson and Kingsman--tbh it'd probably be worth it just to see it for him haha, but the rest looks really great too.

@V1P2--Yeah I'm definitely interested to see what they do with Aquaman regardless, story-wise. 

@ TMD--Yeah, I guess it's a mix of just not being a huge fan of the second two Matrix films, and not being completely blown away from the trailer (plus it having to be pushed back and whatnot just makes me worry slightly, but that could be nothing). I mean, the trailer looks good, but just not amazing (it does look visually stunning, though, and Eddie Redmayne is awesome). So I am excited and hopeful, just not as much as I wish I was. =P But you're right, given the fact it's their first completely original project since The Matrix is a really good sign.

@V1P2--I really need to see his other two films, but yeah, Mud was just amazing. There's also a rumor going around that he could potentially direct the upcoming Aquaman film with Jason Momoa, which I think would be great because one thing I loved about Mud was the atmosphere and setting (very visually poetic), which makes me think he could do an amazing job with an underwater setting. 

Yeah I'm not really a horror fan, but The Babadook just looks great. Glad to hear it's so highly recommended--I'll definitely be checking it out when I can.

This is awesome. I love Sandman, particularly because of all the mythological elements like you mentioned (that's actually kinda why Gaiman is just one of my favorite authors period--American Gods is his very obvious mythology-filled novel, but pretty much all of his work that I've read has mythological/fairy tale elements, and I love that). 

Anyway, really great job on the mosaic--it's incredibly accurate to that picture you're using. I don't really have any technical comments/criticisms/etc., but just as a fan of the character, it's fantastic and looks amazing. (Awesome job with the Silent too, btw)

Well that's great to hear. I have to say, I'm even more looking forward to reading the next book now, as I was a little afraid it would be like this for all the gazillion books. =P Who knows when I'll get around to it, though, but if I ever want to get through the whole series I guess I can't wait too long between books, haha.

Dude I'm so jealous. I really need to hang out with both you and 5s again (...come to los angeles, yeah? =P). Sounds like you guys had fun! (and it's awesome that this was the same day as free comic book day haha)

Happy birthday!

-S. by J J Abrams--I'm 100 pages into this too.

Just curious, how'd you decided to read it? I started by going page-by-page, but after I finished the introduction I decided to follow the advice of someone's review on Amazon, and read a chapter at a time, then went back and read the notes in the margins (the black/blue ones, anyway); once I finished the whole book, I went back and read the green/orange and red/purple ones. But that's really one of the things I love about this book, 'cause it's completely up to you how you read it, and there's no real "right" way.

-Return of the King and the Hobbit--Because I should have read these by now. (I read the Hobbit for 9th grade, but want to again before the third movie. But first I need to read King; I just finished The Two Towers in December.)

Nice! I'm pretty sure I'd have to call King my favorite of the trilogy, as there's a couple pages specifically that just really stood out to me.

-Good Omens by Neil Gaiman--I'm making my way through Neil Gaiman's bibliography, and I plan on reading this with a friend.

Haha, same here @ making your way through his bibliography. I'm really looking forward to reading Fortunately, The Milk; and Sandman vol. 1 (as you know) soon, as I recently acquired them...and of course all his others at some point, too. =P

-Dresden Files--I should really start this series soon.

Yes! I always fear overselling things, but...that series is really amazing haha. Hope you enjoy it!

-The Millennium Trilogy by Stieg Larsson--I own all three. Hopefully I'll read them all in one month. Soon.

Planning to do the same! My sister had two of them and I found the third a few weeks ago, so I should really get around to reading them. Hoping it lives up to all the hype, haha.

-The Harry Potter series--It's about time I reread these. I'll probably buy the movies and watch each one as I finish a volume. (I haven't read books 3, 4, or 5 again since they first came out.)

I want to do this too...I was going to re-read them last semester, but my sister stole the third book and took it to Chicago with her. =P Then again, it's probably good that I didn't, since there's so many other books I need to read...hope to reread them at some point soonish though.

As for me...I'm mostly just hoping to make a good dent in my to-read pile without adding too many more to it. =P Specifically, there are a few I'm definitely looking forward to, though...Skin Game, by Jim Butcher, when it comes out is by far the book I'm most excited for. I also hope to finally start the Wheel of Time series, as I've had the first book since Summerish. Also hoping to make a significant dent in the complete Sherlock Holmes stories.

Best Actor: Martin Freeman (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug)
Best Actress: Amy Acker (Much Ado About Nothing)
Best Supporting Actor: Benedict Cumberbatch (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug)
Best Supporting Actress: Jena Malone (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire)
Best Director: Peter Jackson (The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug)
Best Soundtrack/Score: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Best Writing: The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

Here's an article about how there may be a Christmas Special...sounds like that means there'll be a 3-episode season shortly after that, too? That'd be sweet. Even if it just means the new season starts on Christmas, I'd take that. =P I'm just hoping this ends up being true.

@ Brickeens ~ Yeah, to each his own. I'm just not really a fan of that type of prologue in general. I'm much more interested if the world can be built by using the plot (and I'd consider this a form of world building, since a lot is different and needs to be told--I mean, it did take like 17 minutes after all), and so when it just throws in everything at the beginning, it's just not my favorite form of storytelling. Though there are exceptions. And I also absolutely love prologues that don't set up the world, but are just awesome sequences on their own (the bank robbery at the beginning of The Dark Knight, for example, or the plane crashing for TDKR). So I don't think that much (or anything) needs to be taken out necessarily, but just spread out and told differently. But maybe that's just me.

I dunno, but I remember seeing a lot of reviews praising its intelligence for being such an action-packed robots vs. monsters film. Which I mean, compared to something like Transformers, sure (I mean, the Mako characterization was pretty cool, though ultimately disappointing that there wasn't more to it, as it had such potential), but that still wouldn't be something I'd praise.

Maybe we just read different reviews. =P I haven't read many recently, but I was browsing a few when it first came out like on IMDb and various blogs and such. But yeah, definitely the most praised thing is for the visuals/sense of fun, which is a valid praise. =P

Definitely--that episode was amazing.

And actually we may not have to wait that long. I've heard they're planning to get the next season out sooner, which would be really nice if so.

Yeah, definitely a great film--and TV show. Really one of my favorites, as it has amazing characterization, acting, writing...

Anyway, yeah, valid critique. I wished that had been done better, but oh well.

@ Sumi -- lol, thanks? I say it a lot in conversation, so it fits for more informal things I think--don't really care about how it looks haha. *shrug*

@ V1P2 -- You know, I've actually never seen anything by Aronofsky, surprisingly, but yeah, I'm just hesitantly optimistic. And yeah, as much as I really want to see films like, say, Iron Man 3, because I love superhero movies, or Lone Survivor because of Mark Wahlberg and the fact that the story is interesting, or Gravity and Frozen because of how much acclaim they've received...I'm probably most disappointed that I haven't seen The Book Thief yet, simply because it is one of my favorite books. Ah, well. I will eventually.

@ TNTOS -- Oh, definitely agreed. And I think I like him as Smaug better too. But I think he was still basically the best part of that film. =P

As for Catching Fire, definitely! I was really surprised at how accurate it was, especially because I didn't think The Hunger Games was all that bad (not a perfect adaptation by any means, but still, not horrible or anything), and yet somehow this managed to be so much better.

@ iBrow -- 3&4. Yeah, I mean if I were to rate these films as objectively as possible, I'm almost certain they would be lower (at the very least, AUJ would be), but...like I said, I just really love Middle-Earth. =P And so I really, really enjoyed both.

5. Yeah, I dunno--I've actually never seen Wrath of Khan, unfortunately, so I'm not sure if I'll feel differently once I do.

8. Here I probably agree with you...this was definitely one of the harder ones to place, as I saw it most recent and hadn't seen some of the other films in a while. It may actually be before Into Darkness...ah well. The main thing was just that it got on my top ten list, as it definitely was an amazing film.

9. Yeah, there does seem to be a lot of criticism about it. Some of it very warranted, but even so I did end up enjoying it, even if not as much as I would've liked.

10. Yeah, same here...I mostly listed it because I thought it was better than Olympus has Fallen, and there weren't any pre-2013 films that were screaming out to me. I really want to see all the films I listed above and then see how this list would be different. Maybe some day. But anyway, definitely agreed this one is debatable to have on a top ten list.

And here in California we're complaining about 55 degree weather...

 

Get some hot chocolate and stay warm!

Dude I wish we could have 55 degree weather here in Los Angeles. =P (but yeah, Californians are weak haha)

But yeah, my sister lives in Chicago and they're having the coldest weather that they've had in 40 years apparently. Though she's lucky 'cause she's been with us for a few weeks and things are supposed to warm up a little before she flies back on Thursday.

@V1P2--well, sure, it's debatable if all that was a good idea. =P My point was just that he wanted to add a bunch of extra stuff in, vs. just stretching out The Hobbit itself. But yeah, the whole love triangle in general was really poorly done, I thought, though I loved the inclusion of Tauriel overall--she had the potential to be (and indeed, was, with the exception of the love triangle thing) a really awesome character.

But yeah, I'd agree with the Goblin Town escape (that really was just pretty over the top, even for a fantasy movie, though I don't think it was horrible either), but personally I really liked the barrel ride scene.

Personally, I'm not against having a trilogy at all--more time in Jackson's adaptation of Middle-Earth, which I love. ^^ It's not the book exactly, but I do still enjoy seeing his adaptation. Here's hoping the third impresses...

Well, the film wasn't supposed to be just a stretched-out Hobbit. If they had done that, it would've been pretty terrible. But Jackson filled it with a lot of other stuff like from the Appendices of Return of the King, for example. It's expanding the whole world, and tying things into LotR more (completely agreed that it doesn't match the LotR films, though). So it's definitely not The Hobbit, not perfectly, but it's that plus a lot added--debatable whether that's a good thing or bad thing. =P

But yeah, definitely better than An Unexpected Journey. And Smaug was just absolutely amazing--every moment he was on the screen was great. Benedict Cumberbatch was really the perfect choice for the voice, I thought.

@ Ben--Cool, thanks for your thoughts/recommendations! I'll definitely be checking those out, and adding them to my ever-growing list of books to acquire. =P And at the Millennium Trilogy, yeah, I've heard the same. Though I've also had a couple people tell me they're a little hard to get through...not sure if that was because of content or writing style, but either way I do plan to read them eventually (probably once I find the third book for really cheap? In case they are really good, I don't want to have to wait to read the third one =P).

But yeah, still haven't gotten around to reading many graphic novels. >_< I'll definitely be messaging you then, thanks! I think part of the problem is that a lot of good graphic novels are part of a series, and with all the other books/series I "need" to read...haha. Plus, graphic novels are generally a lot more expensive, because they don't usually have ones I'm interested in at used bookstores (at least, not ones that I know I'm interested in haha), and I don't buy many books new. Anyway, I do hope to read a bunch eventually, it's just the when that's the question. =P

Niiice, some awesome books here. American Gods, Ocean at the End of the Lane, The Night Circus (and yeah, definitely so much great imagination in that book!)...all books I also read this year and loved. American Gods -may- have just barely missed the top 10 list for me (I'm still in the process of writing up a list/thinking about it), but even if it did, it was a fantastic read, I thought. Though I did love Ocean much more. As I told you before, I'm super jealous you got to meet Patrick Ness--I recently picked up More Than This, and though I haven't read it yet, it's the book I'm most excited to read this year. =P Also cannot wait for his short story in 11 Doctors, 11 Stories! Seriously, that book is going to be amazing. Ness, Colfer, Gaiman...and Doctor Who on top of that. XD

Books on this list that I reaaallllyyyyy need to read, and have been meaning to, but haven't: Sandman, Ready Player One, and something by Rainbow Rowell (been hearing a lot about Fangirl--may start with that just because of how much it's being talked about now). I've heard those are all amazing, so I'm glad to see you think so too. Will definitely have to look into those other books, too.

Well as I told you before, that Night Circus hardback really is beautiful--such an awesome find! Also that Steampunk: an Illustrated History looks really awesome--I saw it in B&N one day and just started flipping through it for a while. I'll definitely have to pick that up sometime. And the Dr Who book two books away looks cool...have you heard of 11 Doctors, 11 Stories? I'm super excited for its release (never read a Who book before, but considering this has Gaiman, Ness, and Colfer...figured it's a pretty darn good place to start =P).

Serenity graphic novel! (and all your graphic novels/comics in general...that's one genre/medium that I'm sorely missing, since I only have Walking Dead: Days Gone Bye and stuff like Calvin and Hobbes, etc. but I don't really count those under that category since they're newspaper comics not comic comics). And Firefly: Still Flying! How is that one?

I'm curious if you've read any of the following, and if so, what were your thoughts on them? Wizard of Earthsea (I have the third book in the series for this one, but am trying to find the other books at a used bookstore somewhere), The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (have this but haven't read it yet--I feel like everyone I ask has a different opinion on it haha), and Boneshaker (don't have this but my friend does and it looks cool. Plus, y'know, Steampunk).

Also Dresden Files! ^^ You'll definitely have to let me know when you get around to reading Storm Front!

Anyway, looks super awesome! I really gotta get my hands on more Gaiman haha.

First episode of season nine (and most of season eight, tbh) that really had that classic HIMYM vibe, imo. It almost felt like I was back in season 2, and it really reminded me of why I fell in love with this show in the first place. If the rest of this season is more like this episode than the preceding ones, I'll be ecstatic.

Yeah, I really like what we've seen so far of this season. Really hoping it keeps up.

You're beginning to remind me of a certain someone who writes essays, not rants.

 

But anyway, I still don't have that much of a desire to watch it. I still want to get through every season of Roseanne someday, which I truly consider the crème de la crème of sitcoms.

 

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Lol, I think it might be the bolding of certain sentences, which I've seen done a lot. It's actually really nice to read an essay/rant like that, because you can kinda skim the bolded parts and read the paragraph(s) around them when one sentence interests you. Decided to start doing that for certain things, as I personally prefer reading that way.

Eh, I'd have to say I Love Lucy is the best sit-com. Now that's a fantastic show. Then again, I haven't even heard of Roseanne, so. =P

Thank you, everyone. ='] Everything you guys said means a lot.