The Cast of DoS

Tomorrow, people. Tomorrow. I'm counting down the hours.

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Hobbit Group Shots!

First up, the Durins smiling (yep, all three of 'em!):

And now for some others:

Okay, oops, more Durins.

Can we take a moment to appreciate just how much Fili looks like Thorin here?

And everyone is happy. :)

Thanks for posting it, Luke Evans (Bard). I just love how messy Martin and Benedict both look.

I've run out of group shots, but here's an awesome gif of Thranduil cutting down orcs:

He uses double swords like his son uses double daggers. I seriously love whoever came up with that idea.

And, as a parting note, here is a gif of Thorin laughing:

I can't even bring myself to commentate on this one.

*flees*

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Smaug Behind-the-Scenes!

These pictures, courtesy of TheOneRing.net, appear to be from an upcoming video blog. Cannot wait for it! We get a sneak peek of Smaug behind-the-scenes, although it's probably not what you think it is.

It's Benedict Cumberbatch doing motion-capture.

How they managed to mo-cap a dragon off of a human, I'm not sure, but I am equally sure that the wizards at WETA are up to the challenge. What would have greatly helped them is if they did decide to make Smaug only four-limbed instead of six-limbed - i.e., with his wings and forelegs put together. While I would prefer a six-limbed dragon, the four-limbed layout has its scientific appeal: after all, there are no known vertebrates with six limbs.

I guess we'll find out.

Like Martin Freeman, Benedict Cumberbatch should win some sort of award for his facial expressions. Someone a while back on TORn started a thread about how *evil* and snake-like some of his expressions in Star Trek: Into Darkness were, and how perfect his Smaug is going to be. I agree whole-heartedly. He can be very scary when he wishes.

See?

That is, of course, provided you ignore the gray dots and red "REC" flashing at the top of the screen, LOL.

How do you mo-cap breathing fire? Hmm. Oh... Hey, WETA! Now I *really*, *really* want to see diagrams of Smaug's innards in your next book. Because I want to know what sort of biological processes you have theorized would lead up to his ability to breathe fire. In the trailer it looks like you can see some sort of 'pilot light' in the back of Smaug's mouth. Come on, I know you've given thought to this!!! ENLIGHTEN US!!!

Okay, not in the die-a-fiery-death way.

Now for a sane picture (cue fangirls squeeing):

I'd say he got off easy. He doesn't appear to be wearing the skin-tight suit that Andy Serkis had to wear to play Gollum ("complete with obligatory matching underpants", as one vlog from LOTR said). That, or they didn't want to release pictures of that lest fangirls across the world suddenly develop severe nosebleeds.

...You know, I'm not sure whether I was sarcastic or sincere with that last comment. Ah, well. Fangirls will be fangirls.

As for me, I'm just repeating my mantra: "Smaug is gonna be awesome. We've got a dragon, we've got a dragon, we've got the best dragon in cinematic history..."

Only 51 days!

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

An Admission

Okay, okay, you win, Internet. Especially you, Tumblr.

I give up. I admit defeat. I have caved in to the enormous pressure of your pictures and gifs, your video clips and constant barrage of fangirl propaganda.

I ADMIT IT! BENEDICT CUMBERBATCH IS NOT AS UNATTRACTIVE AS I FIRST DEEMED HIM WHEN I JOINED THIS FANDOM! THERE! ARE YOU HAPPY NOW??

*goes off to try and regain sanity*

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

P. S. I still prefer John Watson.

I'm a Few Days Late About This

...but Martin Freeman has officially finished his work on the set of The Hobbit. He has completed his work as Bilbo.

It is the end of an era.

Goodbye, Mr. Bilbo.

Bilbo Watson and Smauglock

Graham McTavish said on Twitter: "So sad to say farewell to Martin after two and a half years. It was time for a very big hug and a fair few tears... Travel safely, brother."

Meanwhile, Luke Evans (Bard) finished up as well. Apparently, he is now off to go play Dracula in something. O.o

We still have the Dwarves, though. Let's postpone the panicking and the hyperventilating until all the Dwarves are gone. Then... we break out the ice cream and sob shamelessly.

Bonus: Dwarves squashed into Peter's tent to review some footage:

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

Can They Make A Movie Out Of This? Please?

Another movie, I mean. A modern day version of The Hobbit - pretty much "The Sons of Durin" on the big screen, only without the Bagginshield twist. It would be so amazing. It would be the best thing ever, second only to The Hobbit itself, of course.

Surely the fans can cobble something together, at least.

Oh, wait, they just did.

But it's only gifs! *wails and flails*

In Pace Christi,

Elyse

So, I Found Some More Pictures

...Sigh... I really don't need to explain myself any more, do I? It's a very simple process. I go on Pinterest. I find funny / cute / cool pictures. I post them.

That's all there is to it.

I mean, it's not as if anything interesting is happening in my life right now (other than we did go to a major league ball game, and the drunk guy sitting in front of us actually got the wave going, which was fun XD).

I did mean to look up and post pictures from that ball game, but I have no idea what website it is that my sister is always showing me stuff from. You'd think I would glance up at the web address a time or two. Apparently not. So I haven't. Oh, well.

Doesn't c'est la vie mean 'such is life' in French? I'm not a fan of French, as I am a German sort of person, but the phrase seems appropriate here. Anyway, enough chitchat, I'm sure that's not what you're here for, anyway...

PICTURES!! OOH, SHINY!!

Thranduil in armor. YES, PRECIOUS, YESSSSS...

If you don't get the joke behind this, you need to go to YouTube and look up the channel 'Happy Hobbits'. It's run by two girls, Kelly and Alex, who call themselves Kili and Fili and teach you how to be a 'happy hobbit' on a farm by taking care of animals and doing little craft things. Anyway, they videoed their reaction to the Desolation of Smaug trailer and posted it.

Of all things, PETER JACKSON HIMSELF found their reaction video, PUT IT ON HIS FACEBOOK PAGE, and then showed it to the actors above - Evangeline Lily (Tauriel), Orlando Bloom (Legolas) and Lee Pace (Thranduil). THEN he filmed their reactions and posted that video!

IN RESPONSE to that, the Happy Hobbit girls filmed their reactions to the cast reacting to the video of their reactions, and posted THAT.

Yes.

Yes, precious.

This is amazing. That is why the Tolkien fandom is one of the best fandoms.

They're bascially calling it Hobbitception now.

I love this cast, okay?

*rolls on the floor with hysterical laughter* Okay, okay, okay. *starts laughing again*

Aidan, you at least can carry off the evil werewolf look. (Why would you want to? I like you as a Dwarf much better.) Dean... hahahaha... Dean... you're barely trying. You're not meant to be a werewolf. Go back to majesty-in-training.

...Egads, just noticed how much Dean's beard looks like Thorin's in its general shape... egads...

MIND. BLOWN.

I wish I could find out who did this. It didn't link back to a Tumblr page, at least not to one that I, with my limited technological savviness, could find.

It's hysterical, though.

This was done by ramida-r on Tumblr. It's quite lovely. The blues of the sky contrast with the qhite clouds especially well.

I've noticed that a lot of fan artists are drawing the Dwarves' hair longer than it really is, but I ain't complaining.

Ooh, look, here's another one that's equally beautiful but also funny!

And, ooh, look, MORE!

I am SO not sorry. Not one bit. Not at all.

I doubt the artist is sorry either.

We're an unashamedly unapologetic fandom, aren't we? Haha. But I love the madness.

Oh, and apparently someone caught on to something in the TH:DOS trailer:

Hahaha. I don't actually want there to be a scene like that, because... well... I've long since decided Fili has better blond braids than Legolas... but, on the other hand... I'm having a lot of fun imagining that scene.

Hopefully, you are, too. ;)

And now I have the perfect reply to anyone who is trying to get me to do something stupid. Thank you, Mr. Armitage. Your amazingness just keeps increasing. XD

AHAHAHAHA.

Um, so when did this post turn into an RA tribute. I promise, that was not my intent!

However, I am not sorry. So not sorry.

Oh, look, something not RA-centric!

There's a reason TheOneRing.net is selling t-shirts that say "Peter's Dragon". Lol.

Martin, what are you doing?

"Sam, we're still in the Shire. What could possibly happen?"

Ridiculously Lovely Bofur

Accurate.

Heck, yeah.

I'll be back with more... soon... *grins evilly*

In Pace Christi,

Elyse