If you all haven't heard yet, The Hobbit has been greenlighted for production. Peter Jackson will be producing, but Guillermo Del Toro is the director. Supposedly, unless something goes horribly awry, Sir Ian McKellen is coming back (as are many other original cast members) for the part of Gandalf. I wasn't planning on seeing it because Peter Jackson wasn't doing the actual directing, but I have been won over. I am in love with Sir Ian McKellen, as much in love with an old gay man as you possibly can be. Gandalf is up and close to my favorite character in the LotR movies. In my imagination, I like to pretend he is Dumbledore too. Wouldn't he make a great Dumbledore?
Anyway, the point is, I have to go read The Hobbit now. Yes, shoot me if you must, but I've never actually read the book. I found it rather boring in the first couple of pages as a kid. So I'm going to try again.
Also on my list of books to be read: His Dark Materials series (The Golden Compass, The Subtle Knife, and The Amber Spyglass). Greenconverses read and recommended it. This is another series that I started and found dull in the beginning. But if it gets better, I'm willing to give it another chance.
Speaking of greenconverses, the newest PJO battle is up. The Battle of Mount Olympus has begun. I think I have at least a few people reading who might be interested in getting their Percy Jackson fanfiction on. Participants put up prompts. Participants write prompt-based stories. Pretty easy. Pretty fun. I'm pumped. It's a struggle for me to write off prompts, but it's good practice and I always feel accomplished when I finish a piece.
This is unrelated, but on October 2 (coming up soon!), the IOC votes on the Olympic host city for 2012. Go Chi-town! It's running up against some stiff competition. I guess my second choice would be Rio de Janeiro, because I don't think Brazil has had a chance to host yet.
In personal accomplishment news, on Tuesday, I wrote 1,000 words. Yay! I'm still not pleased with this portion of the story. It's already gone through two rewrites, but I'll let it be. No doubt, it will undergo several more by the time the novel is completely finished.
I've been slacking on my personal reading. I've let several books sit in the middle, not having finished them. Hopefully, this weekend, I'll read Beloved by Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison and finish Troy (Adele Geras) and UnLunDun (China Mieville). Yes, I still haven't finished UnLunDun yet. It's a good book so far. I've just been reading a couple pages before bed at night and well...clearly that's not fast enough.
Also, if any of you guys are historical fiction fans, Philippa Gregory's newest novel The White Queen about Elizabeth Woodville released on August 18th. I've noticed that for her last couple of books, Ms. Gregory has shifted to using present tense, a shift that I like very much.
Question of the day: What is the proper balance between dialogue and exposition?
I loved the Lord of the Rings movies, so I'll definitely watch The Hobbit. It will be interesting to see a different director's take on it. Peter Jackson did such a phenomenal job. Have a great weekend! (and congrats on your word count)
ReplyDeleteOkay, bang! You should be shot for not reading the Hobbit. Okay, maybe I'm a little biased since I truly love the book. I was won over by Del Toro's other film Pan's Labyrinth, which I found masterful, so I am really looking forward to what he can do with The Hobbit.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your writing achievement. Thats awesome. And the proper balance between dialogue and exposition is whether you are pulling the reader out of the story or not. If you are halting the story so someone can stand on a soapbox, it's probably too much exposition (IMHO).