Tag: Lord of the Rings

Wes Anderson gets centered

This is fun. I think. Though Wes Anderson is a pretty polarising film maker in the Campbell household.

 

I love this explanation of his approach to film making. There are some not quite PG scenes in here.

 

And here, for good measure, is Lord Of The Rings, as directed by Wes Anderson…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7BDdHEMFiw#t=17

Lord of the Muppets

Tumblrweed: Broship of the Rings: Lord of the Rings vaguely retold hipster style…

A Nazgul on a fixie…

Hipster Hobbits…

More here.

Lord of the Rings as a loser’s history

The task of writing history goes to the victors – so we can be sure Lord of the Rings is full of pro-Gandalf bias and pretty much dismiss anything it says about hobbits, wizards or elves. They’re the real bad guys. The invaders and the oppressors of Middle Earth. What you’ve read is just propaganda. So here’s the alternative history – written by a Russian named Kirill Eskov, this guy named ymarkov wrote an English translation (here’s a PDF).

Ring-Wraiths
Image Credit: Flickr
Here’s an excerpt.

“Should our reader be minimally acquainted with analysis of major military campaigns and examine the map of Middle Earth, he would easily ascertain that all actions of both new coalitions (Mordor-Isengard and Gondor-Rohan) were dictated by merciless strategic logic, undergirded by Mordor’s dread of being cut off from its food sources. Through Gandalf’s efforts the center of Middle Earth turned into a highly unstable geopolitical “sandwich” with Mordor and Isengard the bread and Gondor and Rohan the bacon. Most ironic was the fact that the Mordor coalition, which wanted nothing but the preservation of the status quo, was in an ideal position for an offensive war (whereby it could immediately force its opponents to fight on two fronts), but in a highly unfavorable one for a defensive war (when the united opponents could conduct a blitzkrieg, crushing foes one by one).”

Salon.com has a review of the book.

The elves are the bad guys. Gandalf is basically Hitler. Here’s some more from the book.

“To make a long story short: the situation was highly unfavorable, but we have managed, at the cost of all those sacrifices, to shield the Mordorian civilization, and it had made it out of the crib. Another fifty, maybe seventy years, and you would have completed the industrial revolution, and then no one would’ve been able to touch you. From that point on the Elves would’ve dwelled quietly in their Enchanted Forests, not getting in anyone’s way, while the rest of Middle Earth would’ve by and large gotten onto your path. And so, realizing that they were about to lose the contest, the wizards of the White Council decided on a monstrous move: to unleash a war of total destruction against Mordor, to involve the Elves directly, and to pay them with the Mirror.”

“They paid the Elves with the Mirror?!”

“Yes. It was absolute madness; the head of the White Council himself, Saruman, a foresighted and prudent man, fought this plan to the last, and quit the Council when it was adopted after all. The Council is now headed by Gandalf, the architect of the ‘final solution to the Mordorian problem.’”

“Wait, which Saruman is that? The king of Isengard?”

“The same. He formed a temporary alliance with us, since he understood right away what those games with the denizens of the Enchanted Forests mean to Middle Earth. He used to warn the White Council for the longest time: ‘Using the Elves in our struggle against Mordor is akin to burning down the house to get rid of roaches.’ And that’s exactly how it came out. Mordor lies in ruins, and the Mirror is in Lórien, with the Elvish Queen Galadriel; soon the Elves will brush the White Council away like crumbs off the table and rule Middle Earth as they see fit.”

Matchstick Tirith

You know you’ve got too much time on your hands if you can recreate an incredibly complex structure from a piece of fiction entirely out of matchsticks. But if you go to the trouble your work kind of deserves the international attention it garners on blogs around the world.

From a website called matchstick marvels, which is as awesome as it sounds.

“Iowa artist Patrick Acton has glued over 3 million ordinary wooden matchsticks into more than 60 incredibly detailed scale models of life-like sculptures, complex machines, and world renown architecture. Acton has used the tiny 2 inch long sticks to build huge models like his 13-foot long true-to-scale model of the battleship USS Iowa, and a 12-foot lighted model of the United States capitol. The Matchstick Marvels display has drawn visitors from all over the United States and dozens of foreign countries. “

YouTube Tuesday: Fellowship of the bvvvrrrrrrr

This is the latest YouTube Tuesday ever… “bvvvrrrr” is the noise I reckon the Vuvuzela makes. It has no vowels. This video is funny.

Via Tim’s blog.

Anna blogs LOTR

Anna at Goannatree sat through a Lord of the Rings marathon yesterday. She blogged it.

Check out the series. It’s good.

I propose a Godfather marathon before we leave Townsville – anyone interested?

Here are the links and intro paragraphs as they appear in the final post.

Seeing Lord of the Rings in a new light

The hearts of men are easily corrupted History became legend, and legend became mythOn this inimical Scottish day,  with seven others, I have embarked on a Lord of the Rings maratho…more

Lord of the Rings Marathon Post #2
For those who have asked – we are watching the British extended edition. Apparently the only difference to the US version are the Easter eggs (the UK version doesn’t contain the Jack Black parody f…more

Lord of the Rings Marathon Post #3: On Saruman v Voldemort

So things are getting really interesting – 1.5 movies down! We are halfway through Two Towers. There have been walking trees and lots of ugly folk and the people (like Frodo and Gandalf) who die bu…more

Lord of the Rings Marathon Post # 4: The Logic of Merry

The closer I am to danger the further I am from harmThis is one of Merry’s aphorisms in Two Towers. It is a corker and it’s strange logic is worth teasing out. The harm of which Merry speaks cannot…more

Lord of the Rings Marathon #5: The endurance of the battle and a little humour

My marathon enduring abilities are somewhat less than they used to be but I am hanging in there – proud to say that I’ve seen all thus far.A friend informed me that he has not only done a LOTR mara…more

Map with character

If you thought yesterday’s movie map was confusing here’s a breath of fresh air from XKCD.

It tracks character arcs and interactions in a bunch of popular movies. And two I’ve never watched or heard of.