Film Reviews: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Quite a risky film to make, this one.   Tolkien has a huge number of fans, as does the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.   There was always going to be a huge amount of pressure on this movie to be good.   It was also a risky decision to split the film into three.   Was it really necessary?   The film follows Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit, who is reluctantly sent off on a quest with 13 dwarves to go and claim back their old kingdom from Smaug the dragon.   They set out, battle trolls and goblins and get help from elves and eagles and wizards.   Personally, I enjoyed the film, but it's far from perfect.   I very much liked the casting choices.   Martin Freeman is a great choice for Bilbo.   He very much looks the part of a hobbit, and is a very believable young version of Ian Holm (Bilbo in the Lord of the Rings).   I liked the dwarves too and how they all have their own distinctive looks and styles.   In the book there wasn't very much character development for them at all.   They were pretty much just The Dwarves.   The film itself looks great too.   Really pretty and detailed, and with some very funny moments.   And i liked the touch of not seeing Smaug in the film.   All we see is one eye.   Keeping what he looks like as a surprise for a later film makes him more scary.   Nice!   I did feel the film was a bit drawn out though.   I could have understood the decision to split the film into two, as so many films seem to be doing, but I think three was a bit much.   There are plenty of bits that could have been cut.   I'm not talking about Radagast the wizard.   I think it was cool how much screen time he got.   I thought Peter Jackson did a really good job of taking a very minor character and really developing him into something the audience could really love.   But there was a lot of time spent messing about in Rivendell with the elves and wizards holding council that was just delaying the story in really getting going.   I doubt the scene would even have been made if the Lord of the Rings hadn't been made first.   Though I must admit it was bloody impressive how they managed to make all the actors look the same age as they did in Lord of the Rings.   I felt there were some really over the top moments as well, like the dwarves throwing plates around Bilbo's kitchen, and somehow I don't think the Great Goblin would be very likely to just say "That'll do it" when someone runs him through with a sword.   Oh, and the Great Goblin's voice just didn't go well with his body either.   No.   Still, despite all this the film works pretty well, and retains a lot of the same magic and magnificence that made us all love the Lord of the Rings films so much, and I remain a big Peter Jackson fan.  

        

The Book of General Ignorance: What Colour is Water?

"The usual answer is that it isn't any colour; it's "clear" or "transparant" and the sea only appears blue because of the reflection of the sky.

Wrong.   Water really is blue.   It's an incredibly faint shade, but it is blue.   You can see this in nature when you look into a deep hole in the snow, or through the thick ice of a frozen waterfall.   If you took a very large, very deep white pool, filled it with water and looked straight down through it, the water would be blue.  

This faint blue tinge does not explain why water sometimes takes on a strikingly blue appearance when we look at it rather than through it.   Reflected colour from the sky obviously plays an important part.  The sea doesn't look particularly blue on an overcast day.  

But not all the light we see is reflected from the surface of the water; some of it is coming from under the surface.   The more impure the water, the more colour it will reflect.

In large bodies of water like seas and lakes the water will usually contain a high concentration of microscopic plants and algae.   Rivers and ponds will have a high concentration of soil and other solids in suspension.  

All these particles reflect and scatter the light as it returns to the surface, creating huge variation in the colours we see.   It explains why you sometimes see a brilliant green Mediterranean sea under a bright blue sky."

Music: Favorite Covers, Part 2

Continuing on from this post, I thought I'd carry on telling you all about a few more of my favorite covers of songs.   First, the Shins version of We Will Become Silhouettes.   It was originally by the Postal Service.   The Shins have slowed it down, used lots of guitar instead of synthetic stuff and made the lyrics more distinct and understandable.   Great job!

Next, The Scissor Sisters version of Comfortably Numb.   It was of course, a Pink Floyd song.   Their version is almost unrecognisable!   It's much faster, more synthetic and sung in their usual falsetto tones.   The only way I could tell it was the same song was the lyrics!   But the way they've done it really suits the psychedelic aspects of the song.   Great stuff!

  




Next Tom Traubert's Blues by Tom Waits.   I suppose it isn't strictly speaking a cover.   More of a re-imagining of a song.   It's sort of very loosely based on Waltzing Matilda, but very different.   The tune is a bit different, the lyrics are different and it's much slower and grittier.   It's wonderful.

Another great one is the My Chemical Romance version of Bob Dylan's Desolation Row.   It was on the Watchmen soundtrack.   It's much faster, rockier and considerably shorter than the original Dylan one.   It works really well, even though they have totally changed the tone of the song.

And, well, because I am slightly obsessed with Pitch Perfect (no really, I have a serious problem!) I'm going to finish off with not one, not two, but three songs from the film.   Kelly Clarkson's Since U Been Gone, Miley Cyrus's Party in the USA, and Bruno Mars's Just the Way You Are.   All three are great!   Obviously the biggest changes are the complete lack of instruments.   A capella awesomeness!   And they've added some totally gorgeous harmonies!   Party in the USA actually sounds like not-a-rubbish song the way they've done it!   Quite a feat! 

Music: Favorite Covers, Part 1

Ok, so most of the time covers of songs are completely pointless and you wonder why the band even bothered.   The original was better!   Leave it alone!   But just occasionally someone comes up with something that's genius.   They either improve the original song, or do something really clever that makes you see the original song in a completely different light.   So without further ado, here are some of my favorite cover songs and the reasons I like them. 


To start us off, I chose William Shatner singing Pulp's Common People.   Mostly because it's hilarious.   But I do also genuinely like his version, even if it's hardly different from the original.   Here it is:

Next, Big Yellow Taxi by Counting Crows.   The original was written by Joni Mitchell, but I like the Counting Crows version better.   It's sadder, with the slower guitar, and I think the song is better suited to a male voice.

Another one I really like is Me First and the Gimme Gimmes version of My Boyfriend's Back.   Me First and the Gimme Gimmes are a great cover band.   They do some awesome versions of loads of songs.   My Boyfriend's Back was originally sung by the Angels.   Me First and the Gimme Gimmes is a lot faster and less whiny and a lot more rocky.   It's got so much more energy.   Love it!

Speaking of Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, their version of Wild World is also very good.   The original Cat Stevens song has got the same treatment: faster, rockier, less whiny.   Awesome! 

Another good one is Michael Cera and Ellen Page's version of Anyone Else but you.   It's on the Juno soundtrack and featured in the film.   It's hard to pin down what I like about this cover.   Not a lot has really changed.   The guitar is pretty much the same, and it's still a duet.   The song has been shortened and the verses rearranged a bit.   I think it must be the voices that make the change for me, which I suppose isn't too surprising, considering what a simple little song it is.   All it really has after all is the guitar and the voices.  

Next, Kid Harpoon's version of First We Take Manhatten.   This was originally recorded by Jennifer Warnes.   I like Kid Harpoon's version more because there's a lot more guitar and a lot less synthetic stuff.   It's also faster and has more energy.   Apologies for not really being able to find a good video for it though!

Next, the kings of cover artists, Walk Off The Earth.   I've blogged about them before.   I really love their cover of Gotye's Somebody I Used to Know.   Gorgeous song.   I'm sure most people have already seen the video I'm about to post, doing the rounds on Teh Interwebz, but what makes it genius is that it's played by five people on one guitar.   Amazing!   The song doesn't sound all that different really, but it really suits all the band members' voices and the harmonies are gorgeous.

Another great one is Kirsty MacColl's Version of A New England.   Not that I don't like the original Billy Bragg version!   I just like what she's done with it.   With her voice and less of the aggressive guitar it sounds softer and a bit more sophisticated.

And finally, Rufus Wainwright's version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah.   I like it because it's a little bit faster and smoother.   And I love Rufus Wainwright's voice.

That's enough to be getting one with for now!   More soon!