SQM – The Hobbit

Hobbit-Movie-Poster-570x842The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was hyped from the moment the last LOTR movie finished filming.  It was inevitable.  Of course, I am happy Peter Jackson committed to this project.  He’s sees Middle Earth like no other.

The movie was beautiful. The scene filmed on New Zealand country side were epic and Jackson utilized the natural beauty so well in the movie.

It was comforting to see some cameo’s from LOTR such as Old Bilbo, Saruman, Galadriel, Elrond and the greatness that is Frodo.

I liked the movie more because of the franchise and some residual good vibes from the LOTR, but it was slow at times.  But, from the moment Gollum makes an appearance, until the end, the movie is amazing.

My favorite scene in the movie was the same as in the book; the riddle scene between Bilbo and Gollum.

A contest alert:  Guess the answers to the riddles? Leave the answers in the comments.  Whoever answers the most correct, wins a $10 Amazon gift card from me. 

1.  What has roots as nobody sees,
Is taller than trees,
Up, up it goes,
And yet never grows?

2.  Thirty white horses on a red hill,
First they champ,
Then they stamp,
Then they stand still.

3.  Voiceless it cries,
Wingless flutters,
toothless bites,
Mouthless mutters.

4.  An eye in a blue face
Saw an eye in a green face.
“That eye is like to this eye”
Said the first eye,
“but in low place
Not in high place.”

5.  It cannot be seen, cannot be felt,
Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt.
It lies behind stars and under hills,
And empty holes it fills.
It comes first and follows after,
Ends life, kills laughter.

6.  A box without hinges, key, or lid,
yet golden treasure inside is hid.

7.  Alive without breath,
As cold as death;
Never thirsty, ever drinking,
All in mail never clinking.

8.  No-legs lay on one-leg,
Two-legs sat near on three-legs,
Four-legs got some.

9.  This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel;
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.

Come back on Sunday for the answers.  And, go see the movie and read the book.   

hobbit-poster-gollum-andy-serkis

I leave you with the desperate, sad, and pathetic words from Gollum, “Thief, thief, thief…! Baggins! We hates it, we hates it, we hates it forever!” – Poor Gollum

 

 

Related Post: 

The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey (2012) by My Filmviews
CinematiCaptions: The Hobbit Edition by My Filmviews
What’s it got in its pocketses? by Today I Watched a Movie
The Hobbit Lives Up to the Hype by Love Your Movies
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012) Review by Tim’s Film Reviews
“The Hobbit”: More Complicated than Some Critics have Acknowledged by The Living Notebook
The Hobbit (12/12/21) by Andy Watches Movies
Characters from ‘LOTR’ who appear in ‘The Hobbit’

My Weekly Update – Touched Me

imagesI watched The Word last night.  The movie was strange, but as  a writer, it was interesting and it touched me. It made me rethink what I was doing and why I was doing it. Some of the lines that made me think:

“I’m not who I thought I was and I’m terrified that I never will be.”
“Words ruin everything.”
“I wanted so badly for it to come from me.”
“I loved words more than the women who inspired me to write.”
“At some point you’ll have to choose between life and fiction.  The two are very close, but they never actually touch.  They’re 2 very, very different things.”

Have you seen it? Have you ever thought what if it doesn’t happen for you? Why do you write? 

Editing

I have on my list to edit my first novel. My issue, I can’t get started. Now I think I know why. I am too focused on what I hope it’s supposed to look like.  Really, I mean what if I waste all this time editing and the book still isn’t good enough.

Reading

As writers, we are supposed to read, and I love to read. Lately, reading has been an emotional freeway for me.  There are times when I read something so amazing, it inspires me. Then other times, I read something and am totally defeated.  No way will I ever be that good. I finished The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien and Gabriel’s Redemption by Steve Umstead.  Highly recommend them both.

You might be surprised about which one made me feel what?  Have a guess? 

Site Changes

I added a few new pages. Check them out and let me know what you think.

    • Sydney Reads – my reading list and reviews of the books I’ve read in 2013.
    • Sydney Watches – my list of movies seen in 2013
    • Sydney Edits – my goal is to record a daily edit journal under this tab.

This change was inspired by Angi Black’s post – The Break-up – Angi writers a letter to herself.  The letter starts – “Dear Old Me, I’m sorry darling. You have to go.” Good stuff, give it a read.

Post to Revisit

Passive vs. Active Voice – The Most Effective Tip I’ve Ever Read – Me, too.  My CP tells me to watch my passive all the time. These tips helped me identify my passive’s better.
New Look and Balancing Life – I am job hunting and have to much time on my hands, but when I do find a job these are good tips to finding the balance.
All Things in Moderation – Even Writing Advice – I am trying to focus the writing advice I am acquiring. If that makes sense.  That is why I am so excited with the Progressive Book Club.  It’s a book club were to discuss writing books.
New Followers
My Side of the Story
The Art of Storytelling by Leslie I. Benson
Debra’s Written Words
Lufira
Amicia Rai
 

Next Week’s Schedule

I’ve got two Blog Tour Post coming up created by The Masquerade Crew.

A Court Room Drama Blog Tour – The Homicide Chronicles by Ralph Shamas
A Post Apocalyptic Blog Tour – Since Tomorrow by Morgan Nyberg

100books

Here’s another blog challenge I’ve joined for 2013.  I hope it’s ok to join more then one.  Whatever motivates me, right?

How was your week?  Anything you’re looking forward to in the coming weeks? 

My Weekly Update – Books and Movies

“Better to have a little experience and a lot of imagination than vice versa.”The Daily Writer

The Hobbit

hobbitpostersI try not to see the movie until I have read the book. So, I spent the week reading the book and then I saw the movie. I wish someone had told me I didn’t need to read the whole thing, the movie covers only 1/3 of the book.  It was a good read. The movie, on the other hand, didn’t really start until Gollum made an appearance. It was all visually beautiful, but it didn’t move until two hours in.

I was pleased to discover that my favorite part of the book was also my favorite scene in the movie; The riddle contest between Bilbo Baggins and Gollum in the Troll Kingdom.  Both book and movie version were laugh out loud funny.  Come back later this week and read my SQM post on The Hobbit.

I also saw Skyfalls.  I went to the movies with my parents and then at dinner learned their first date was a James Bond movie.  How romantic.  My mom informed me that my dad had taken 2 other girls to see the movie, as well.  But, she married him anyway.

What movies have you seen lately?  Did you see The Hobbit?  What did you think? 

Post to Review

Fess Up Friday:  I Like Wearing Old Lady Shoes by Cynthia at Read is the New Black – Have you found your niche when it comes to writing?
What Writing Step Are You Afraid Of?  by Jami Gold – I am afraid of Writing Query Letters, but I think my reasons are off base, how about you?
17 Signs You’re Actually, gasp, an ADULT by Paul Angone at All Groan Up – I am living #3 right now. But, I haven’t seen it in 5 years.
Appreciating Art by Tasha Seegmiller – Have you ever taken a scene from your favorite piece of art and wrote a scene? I wrote a scene that took place in Van Gogh’s Iris in a Field. It turned out pretty good. Give it a try.
New Followers
Vanessa Wester Writer
Young Hungry and Restless
Shannon Thompson
M.L. Swift
Ciucela . . . 
John Lucas Hargis
 

Next Weeks Highlights

mlswift.blogspot.comJanuary 16th is the first meeting of the Progressive Book Club.  An online book club hosted by M.L. Swift.  Click on the badge for more information.

 

 

sylmion.blogspot.comMy First Book: Announces The Word Master Challenge.  Every month, Misha will present a theme.  This month’s Theme:

HOW NOT TO WRITE A NOVEL BEGINNING.

In less than 300 words, I want to see your idea of the WORST beginning you can possibly write. The funnier and more creative you are, the better. To make it easier for me, you have the WHOLE of January to enter, but you must please enter the SPECIFIC entry link into the linky list below. For information, click on the badge.

Both events will occur every month and you can join anytime.

2013 Goals – Reading, Writing and Arithmetic

Happy New Year

READING

2013EbookChallengeA couple of months ago, I read a great post with a great title, The Best Ever Top 50 List in the World Ever by Michael J. Holley.  How could resist a great title like that?

Anyway, in the post, Michael includes the list of the top 50 most popular books and the top 50 most popular films.    I have a full length post planned for this topic, but needless to say, I need to read more.  So, in 2013, that is what I am going to do. I have signed up for the 2013 Ebook Challenge.  My plan is the read the following books over the course of 2013:

  1. The Hobbit
  2. A Tale of Two Cities
  3. Kane & Abel
  4. To Kill a Mockingbird
  5. The Lord of the Rings
  6. Anna Karenina
  7. The Great Gatsby
  8. The Sportswriter
  9. Tropic of Cancer
  10. Wuthering Heights
  11. To the Lighthouse
  12. The Eagle has Landed

I will be keeping track of my reads on the 2013 Reading Challenge tab. And you can see the current book I am reading in the side bar.  I figure once I finish my book each month, then I can return to reading my chick lit, horror and crime thrillers.

Have you read any of these books? Let me know, which one you enjoyed the most?  

WRITING

Blog – The blog schedule will change to 3 times a week at least. Now, this coming week, I will be posting 5 days a weeks, hence the, at least.

Sunday Post – My Weekly Update – Review of my week, Posts to Share, Recognition of New Followers and Special Features coming up such has blog hops or book tours for the following week.
Tuesday Post/Wednesday Post – I will alternate Tattoo Tuesday and Sydney Quotes the Movies (SQM) every other week.
Friday Post – Random Blog Post

Short Stories – I love a good, well written short story and have read many last year. Sevastian Winters has some amazing stories for sale on his site and they inspired me to give it a try.  I am committing to writing a short story a month. And, to add an extra incentive, I have joined, 2 short story contest. I figured why not.  They offer feedback whether you win or not. That can’t be a bad thing, can it?

WriMo – I will participate in JuNoWriMo and NaNoWriMo this year for the novel length fans in my life.  The ideas keep coming and it worked for me in the past. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Editing – I really enjoyed my WriMo Diaries (how is that for a great title, Uhmmm). My goal is to create a Editing Diary to correspond with the editing process of my three novels.  I will begin editing in  January and will continue, I guess, until . . . who knows. But, that’s ok.

Publishing – WriMo Diaries, Editing Diaries, Short Story Anthology, Novel #1, #2, #3 – I would be pleased with anyone of these happening this year. But, definitely, all three and more in my life time.

What are your writing goals this year? Do yo have a word count goal, books written goal or a just a goal to get published this year? 

ARITHMETIC

Ok, had the finish the saying with Arithmetic. This might be a stretch, but I need a goal relating to numbers.  Maybe I could work on sticking to my Amazon/iBook monthly budget.  Kind of disregarded that more times then I should in the past. Well, if my blog idols would stop publishing, I wouldn’t buy so many book; Emily, A.E., Becca, D.C., Karen,      Donna, and Chris. Yes, I’m talking to you.

I could focus on increasing my Social Media presence, but I my pleased with those numbers growing as they are.

There is always the views/clicks stats, but you can’t really control that, can you?

Ok, I have a good one, I will meet/connect/friend/read/follow/support more people on the web this year.

Also, a million dollar advance check would be nice. It could happen.

What numbers will you be focusing on this year? 

I wish everyone a Happy and Productive New Year. 

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