Day 23 - 31 Day Film Challenge

Favorite Trilogy

My King

My Hero

The Hobbit Trilogy

and

The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

My favorite Six-logy

(what is the term for a set of six movies?)

Hexalogy?

My favorite Hexalogy

Voices - LOTR Memories: John Noble and Bernard Hill

Here is another of my occasional Voices posts. Today I'm featuring two actors I first got to know in the Lord of the Rings films and have since seen in other roles: Bernard Hill and John Noble. I sometimes wander if I had seen them on screen before getting to know them as Denethor and Theoden. Great character actors sometimes pass through our lives and we don't stop to find out a bit more about them. 


John Noble

I first saw John Noble as Denethor, father of Boromir and Faramir,  in The Lord of the Rings films. Now I watch John Noble every Monday when Sleepy Hollow is on.  He plays the evil Henry Parrish, son of darling Ichabod Crane (Tom Mison) and annoying witch Katrina (Katia Winter).

John Noble is an Australian actor and theater director. He’s directed more than 80 plays in his career, including plays in London’s West End.  He was Head of Drama at the Brent St. School of Arts in Sydney, Australia from 1997-2000.  

Daughter Samantha Noble is also an actor/actress.


Below are two examples of John Noble’s work. 

A Noble family produced/directed film starring John Noble:





My favorite scene from LOTR Extended Edition - Osgiliath

Bernard Hill

I first remember seeing Bernard Hill as Theoden, King of Rohan, in the LOTR films.  

Bernard Hill was born in Manchester and is a film, stage, and television actor.  Hill graduated with a diploma in theater from Manchester Polytechnic School of Drama.

He became well known in the UK for playing Yosser Hughes in the 1980’s TV dramas The Blackstuff and  Boys from the Blackstuff. The British Film Institute described it as a "seminal drama series... a warm, humorous but ultimately tragic look at the way economics affect ordinary people...”


Since then Hill has worked in several popular films, including Titanic and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy.


Below is Bernard Hill reading a poem by Shelley:






A bit of fun behind the scenes during LOTR filming with Bernard Hill and a glimpse of John Noble:






(Info thanks to Wikipedia, IMDB, YouTube)

(Disclaimer: Shelley's poem are not necessarily my views or indeed even Mr Hill's)

I Remember

I've been toying with a post about a new (well, new for me) international mystery series I'm watching, but my mind and heart right now is with Thorin, Kili, and Fili, and my Dwarves, and BOTFA. 

RA just tweeted this video and watching it I'm remembering all the years I've followed these films and the movie magic of Peter Jackson.  For me it all started with Sean Bean when he was first cast as Boromir.  I don't believe if not for Sean that I would have followed these films as I have. I wasn't a Tolkien reader at that point either. So I thank Sean with all my heart for leading me, not for the first or last time, to a world I have since followed and love.

Sean Bean during the filming of LOTR - Don't remember source of photo

I still remember following the making and the constant postponement of The Hobbit before a certain someone was cast in the film. As a fan of LOTR I was curious, and I thought Guillermo del Toro was an interesting choice for director.  I'm not a follower of all his films, but I would include his film Pan's Labyrinth on my favorite fantasy/political films list. So it was for that reason that I found myself joining a live online fan Q&A session with Peter Jackson and Guillermo del Toro about plans for The Hobbit.  This must have been when del Toro was first in New Zealand making plans. I think that must be at least five or six years now if not more? 

I remember somewhere in there, maybe after del Toro dropped out and Peter Jackson opted in to direct The Hobbit, voting or posting my agreement, or comments, to fan casting lists that had Richard Armitage on it for the role of Bard. Think I voted on several of these fan cast lists that had Richard as Bard. Looking at all the characters in the book, I thought the one role Richard was perfect for was Bard. 

I have never been so wrong in all my life. 

Thanks to RichardArmitageNet.com

That's why Peter Jackson is a genius and I'm not. Thank you Peter Jackson for having the vision to know that Richard Armitage is Thorin Oakenshield.  No one else but Richard could have brought Thorin to life as majestically and made the character so real to so many. He created such a vivid character in Thorin that he exists to me as a separate "person" (or separate dwarf), from the actor I know and love, Richard Armitage. No matter how many times I've seen AUJ and DOS now, a few seconds after the movies start, I am totally invested in Thorin's quest. Armitage brought the story of the Heirs of Durin into our hearts, together with Aidan Turner and Dean O'Gorman, and now many of us are emotional about what is to come in BOTFA. 

I'm in love with all thirteen of them, my dear Dwarves. 

Mi Corazon - Mi Tierra Media

My Two Beautiful Men

and 

My Love for Middle-earth

are joined together

Forever 

I'm so happy that Billy Boyd is singing the song 

(thanks to TheOneRing.net for the video)

A Bit of Background on "The Edge of Night" Song in The Hobbit: BOTFA Teaser Trailer

The Road Goes Ever On

Roads go ever, ever on 

Under cloud and under star,

Yet feet that wandering have gone

Turn at last to home afar,

Eyes that fire and sword have seen

And horror in the halls of stone

 Bilbo Baggins

From The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Read by J.R.R. Tolkien

"The Edge of Night" sung by Billy Boyd in The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King which has lyrics from the last verse of "A Walking Song"  (From Wikipedia)

A Walking Song

Upon the hearth the fire is red,
Beneath the roof there is a bed;
But not yet weary are our feet,
Still round the corner we may meet
A suden tree or standing stone
That none have seen but we alone.
Tree and flower and leaf and grass,
Let them pass! Let them pass!
Hill and water under sky,
Pass them by! Pass them by!

Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And though we pass them by today,
Tomorrow we may come this way
And take the hidden paths that run
Towards the Moon or to the Sun.
Apple, thorn, and nut and sloe,
Let them go! Let them go!
Sand and stone and pool and dell,
Fare you well! Fare you well!

Home is behind the world ahead,
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadows to the edge of night,
Until the stars are all alight.
Then world behind and home ahead,
We'll wander back to home and bed.
Mist and twilight, cloud and shade,
Away shall fade! Away shall fade!
Fire and lamp, and meat and bread,
And then to bed! And then to bed!


Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate,
And though I oft have passed them by,
A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun.

From The Lord of the Rings

By J.R.R. Tolkien 

(http://home.agh.edu.pl/~szymon/Tolkien/?fn=2)

Will Peter Jackson do for Dwarves what he did for Elves in our Imagination?

Cómo se hizo 'El Hobbit': Diseñando las razas y culturas de la película

• Cómo se hizo 'El Hobbit': Diseñando las razas y culturas de la película

• 
  

After the first Hobbit movie, what comes to your mind when someone mentions the dwarves?

Yes, I do see them in a different way, even different from Gimli who was heroic, but who was the "comic foil" for the other members of the Fellowship in Jackson's LOTR films. 

After seeing the first Hobbit film, the dwarves are now my heroes, my champions, my heart and soul. 

From Richard Armitage France 

¡Ay de mí! 

¡Oh! si tú hubieras nacido

en una tierra que existe

lejos, lejos de aquí,

entonces hubieras sabido

por qué estoy siempre triste,

¡ay de mí! ¡ay de mí!

En vano busco consuelo

y bálsamo a mis enojos

cerca, cerca de ti,

porque me hace falta un cielo

aún más azul que tus ojos...

¡Ay de mí! ¡ay de mí!

(Juan Clemente Zenea)

In English Translation:

Alas! 

Oh! if you were born

in a land that exists

far, far from here,

then you would have known

why I'm always sad,

Alas! Alas!

In vain for consolation

and salve to my anger

close, close to you,

because I need a sky

even bluer than your eyes ...

Alas! Alas!

(Video from AUJ Extended Edition thanks to El Fenomeno and RTVE Spain)

LOTR 30 Day Challenge - Question #16: Favorite Female Character

Have you guessed who it is?

My favorite female character in LOTR is

Eowyn

She is a leader to her people

She had her heart broken

She broke the Middle-earth glass ceiling

and found true love 

Thank you to Fanpop and Google Images

LOTR 30 Day Challenge- Question #9: Favorite Hobbit

This is a difficult question. I love all the hobbits of Middle-earth, especially our brave and intrepid fabulous four and dear old Bilbo.

But there is one among them who volunteers to take the One Ring to its destruction in the fires of Mount Doom. 

Frodo Baggins

Is my Favorite Hobbit

LOTR 30 Day Challenge - Day 6: Ugliest Orc

Welcome back citizens of Middle-earth to the LOTR

Ugliest Orc Pageant

Once again, here is our host, Gandalf the White

Gandalf:

Dear viewers, we've enjoyed the Orc evening gown competition, and all our finalists have answered the special question "Why I'm interested in Middle-earth domination?" 

and now the judges have turned in their final votes 

But, before we announce our lucky winner, lets introduce once more our illustrious panel of judges:

Thranduil

Elven King of the Woodland Realm

and Tiara Connoisseur

Arwen

Fashion Icon and Royal Personage

Tim Gunn

Fashion Guru 

Gollum

Riddle Master and Jewelry Collector

Thank you Judges!

I've been handed the judges final decision

The Ugliest Orc is

SHARKU

thanks to lotr.wikia.com

LOTR 30 Day Challenge - Day 4: Scene that Makes you Cry

I'm going to cheat a bit on today's challenge and post two scenes instead of one. There's the scene that brings tears to my eyes every time I see it, even after seeing it dozens or more times...and you might guess which one it is....

Then there's this scene in the video just below that never made me cry before last year, but now makes me cry just like Gimli.

(SPOILERS for those that have only seen the first Hobbit film and have not seen the LOTR films, or read Tolkien's work)

Yes, that Balin, is our Balin:

and the skeleton next to him with the big book in his hands is:

The second scene that always makes me cry - Aragorn and Boromir

LOTR 30 Day Challenge - Day 3: Favorite Character

My favorite character is Boromir

I don't think I would have followed the LOTR films as closely if it had not been for Sean Bean. The fact he was cast as Boromir led to my initial interest, but after watching the first film in the trilogy, I was hooked on the rest. 

Through Rohan over fen and field where the long grass grows 

The West Wind comes walking, and about the walls it goes. 

'What news from the West, O wandering wind, do you bring me tonight? 

Have you seen Boromir the Tall by moon or by starlight?' 

'I saw him ride over seven streams, over waters wide and grey; 

I saw him walk in empty lands, until he passed away 

Into the shadows of the North. I saw him then no more. 

The North Wind may have heard the horn of the son of Denethor.'

'O Boromir! From the high walls westward I looked afar, 

But you came not from the empty lands where no men are.

From the mouths of the Sea the South Wind flies, from the sand hills and the stones; 

The wailing of the gulls it bears, and at the gate it moans.

'What news from the South, O sighing wind, do you bring me at eve? 

Where now is Boromir the Fair? He tarries and I grieve.'

'Ask not of me where he doth dwell – so many bones there lie 

On the white shores and the dark shores under the stormy sky; 

So many have passed down Anduin to find the flowing Sea. 

Ask of the North Wind news of them the North Wind sends to me!' 

'O Boromir! Beyond the gate the seaward road runs south, 

But you came not with the wailing gulls from the grey sea’s mouth.'

From the Gate of Kings the North Wind rides, and past the roaring falls; 

And clear and cold about the tower its loud horn calls. 

'What news from the North, O mighty wind, do you bring me today? 

What news of Boromir the Bold? For he is long away.'

'Beneath Amon Hen I heard his cry, there many foes he fought. 

His cloven shield, his broken sword, they to the water brought. 

His head so proud, his face so fair, his limbs they laid to rest; 

And Rauros, golden Rauros-falls, bore him upon its breast.'

'O Boromir! The Tower of Guard shall ever northward gaze 

To Raurors, golden Rauros-falls, until the end of days.'

http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Boromir