Author: Joshua S. MacDougall

Did I just…? A story about getting hit by car.

/ Joshua S. MacDougall / 1 Comment
This is story based on a true one that my friend Chris and I went through a year ago today. Obviously writing a story in hindsight will be slightly exaggerated especially considering the events. However, this story is based upon what I immediately wrote down upon arriving at the hospital which I wanted to do to preserve everything that I had remember about the accident. This is the story from my perspective about how we were hit by a car.


I remember seeing my breath in front of me, rising towards my glasses before it dispersed. Chris and I were walking to our twice a week tradition of pizza, coffee, and writing. His stride was slightly faster than mine, his breathing less heavy. It didn’t help I was glaring down at my feet as we walked. Despite these Doc Marten boots being the most comfortable ones I ever owned they didn’t possess a supernatural ability to give my feet the arch needed to walk long distances. My poor flat feet ached at every step.
I should have been an old hand at lugging my laptop bag around. I did it every day on college campus but it always weighed more than it needed to. A symptom of being over-prepared inherited from my mother’s side of the family.
As we crossed Jefferson Street another pedestrian passed on our left, his eyes focused on us, our eyes returned the favor. Being New Yorkers we were naturally suspicious of each other. I craned my neck behind me to watch the stranger reach the other side of the street before continuing our conversation about President Obama’s reelection. I felt it was a private conversation, and the frigid air of Nesconsett was not a place I wished to have a public debate with an opinionated stranger. It wouldn’t matter in a few seconds.
I faced forward in time to witness the left headlight blinding my sight. Before I knew what was happening my right arm securing the bag was in front of my body bracing for impact.
“Holy shit,” I yelled, using the arm securing my bag against my hip to take first impact. My hand felt like it was trying to catching an object too heavy too be caught, at a speed no reaction time was fast enough for. The car ignored my hand as it pressed into my side where my bag hung as I was pushed clean and hard away from the pathway of the SUV, my glasses and hat flown from my face leaving me practically blind to scan my surroundings. All I heard was the sound of a body hitting the concrete road.
Adrenaline rushed through me as I tried to focus on what had happened. Did I just get hit by a car? At the time, there was no anger at the driver, no concern for injuries I might have sustained even though my hand was now throbbing, and I understood audible words were being said to me from Chris but was unable to respond. I was in shock, my brain could not believe the messages the other parts of my body were trying to tell it. The message read, you were just hit by a car and for an incalculable amount of time I couldn’t give credence to it.  Unable to see, the only other thought I could muster up was Where are my glasses?
I heard the driver getting out of the car. “Oh god, oh fuck, oh shit, are you guys okay?” His throat choking back fear at the realization of what he had just done. His voice sounded young, but I couldn’t be sure of his age. I could see the blurry figure heading towards me, asking me again if I was okay.
“Where are my glasses?” I spurted out, to which the blur frantically searched the ground eventually handing me my hat and glasses. I instinctively put my glasses on, then the hat. He once again asked if I was okay. I looked down at my hand seeing blood fill the surface layer of skin on my thumb, my pinky and ring finger hurt to bend. I just got hit by a car and I didn’t know if I was okay.
“I don’t know,” I told him. While all this was happening, the pedestrian who narrowly escaped getting struck himself was racing over hollering about seeing the whole thing, proceeded by a 9-1-1 call on his cell phone. With my glasses on my face once again, and the shock beginning to wane I took notice that Chris was laid out on the ground in front of the car, asking for me. I was strangely calm as I walked over. I saw no crushed extremities or blood but I couldn’t be sure of anything until I was right over him.
“Oh thank god,” he said. “I heard you yell and thought you were taken under the car.”
“Are you alright?” I asked. He scanned his body from his position laying down. “I think so, I just don’t want to move in case something is actually wrong.” That was quick thinking, it didn’t occur to me not to move but then again I wasn’t thrown to the ground. That fact still surprised me, as did the realization I had at that moment that I was hit by a car and I didn’t fall.  In the distance down Jefferson Street headlights popped on. “That’ll be my dad,” the driver said. I turned to him now, really seeing him for the first time since I put my glasses on. Taking in what he just said, hearing his voice, and finally getting a long look at him I knew he was definitely still in high school.
The father’s SUV headed towards the scene of the accident as the sound of sirens began to reach our ears. Knowing Chris was uninjured, at least as far as both of us knew, I desperately wanted to sit down. Plopping myself down on the nearest curb, I rested my arms on my legs, my face in my hands and just waited there. I can recall looking up at Chris.
“Chris…”
“Yeah?”
“We just got hit by a car…” I said.
“I know. I can’t fucking believe it,” he responded, with a bit of humor in his tone but no laughter.
The driver’s father arrived, followed by the police and the ambulance. The exchange of information was a blur of spoken words, nothing but bare bones facts of the whole scenario. I was able to discern Chris rising from the ground with the help of EMT’s. My hand shook as the police officer handed both our I.D.’s to me, which I instantly dropped unable to grip them in my right hand. The officer either didn’t notice, or apologized because he understood what I was going through.
Chris was on a gurney by the time I approached to return his license. I made the instinctual decision to go to the same hospital as Chris stepping into the ambulance first. As I sat down, the onset of worry began to weigh down on me. A million questions appeared in my mind, of the extent of my injuries, the condition of my laptop and the writing it contained, and the issues of money that came with broken body parts and broken property.

I was hit by a car.

Spoiled by Digital Music While Traveling

/ Joshua S. MacDougall / Leave a comment

     

     I don’t listen to the radio. I haven’t for years. I got my driver’s license in spring of ’03 and my car stereo with a CD player that Christmas. 
     Then in ’06 my family surprised me with an iPod nano and I quickly looked for a way to get it working in my car. By the time I bought one of those receivers that plugs into the cigarette lighter I had dropped the iPod nano at school, essentially breaking it.
     Come April ’06 I managed to scrap the money together to buy an iPod Video, an iPod would have until it finally crashed and burned in April of 2012.
     In January of 2011 my car was destroyed in a car accident. The car I was given and still drive was not as good as the car I had owned but it had one advantage over my former car. It had a line in. No longer was I bound by shoddy radio signal to pick up my iPod on it nor was I bound by the eighty minute limit of CD’s. 
     In April of 2012 that iPod Video finally stopped working. I went on to replace that with an iPod classic and then replaced my Droid X with an iPhone 4S. In hindsight, I should of replaced my iPod Video with a larger iPhone instead of buying a smaller iPhone 4S and an iPod Classic. I honestly did not think I would love my iPhone as much as I do now.
     This brings us to last week when we discovered my car had a leak of brake fluid and I had to use my father’s car to get around. He had a audiobook in his stereo in the exact spot he left off so I did not want to remove the CD. Instead I pressed the function button to the radio.
     I want to make this clear. Yes, I’ve heard the radio in other people’s cars but in the time since I owned a car, a car stereo, an iPod, and a smart phone I never turn the radio on.
     I also want to make it clear, I’m not stupid, I know how a radio works. I didn’t look at this machine and I think “How do I work this device?” like a luddite. I had in fact, been in the passenger seat for years trying to wrestle control over the radio from my father just as my sister did before me.
     Also, we’re talking about analog radio not any kind of satellite radio. So when I turned the radio on, searching the station for something to listen to I was blown away how terrible it was.
     They just play the same songs over and over again, I thought. Why would anyone choose to listen to the radio when they could play music of their own choosing on so many devices.  Don’t even get me started about the quality. I was better off turning off the radio and just placing my iPhone in a cupholder playing music.
     I did just that. Which led me to conclusions that I’ve been spoiled by digital music. Sure, some people have even better car stereo that have USB slot to plug their devices in but there are probably still people driving around listening to analog radio.
      I’m sure too, that there are great radio stations out there in areas with great reception but it’s not anywhere I live. Some people wanting to hear the same songs over and over again, browsing the stations for their favorite songs. Sometimes too many choices, which digital music can give you, is overwhelming so why not let someone else be in control?
     Think about it. iTunes, Last.FM, Pandora, Amazon… I’m sure there are others I can’t think of right now. For someone like my mother, who has difficulty with technology that can be mindblowing. Turning on the radio? Simple, hasn’t changed in years. I, however, like a choice and quality music while I drive. The Radio is not for me.
     Don’t even get me started with talk radio. Google “top” or “best” with “podcasts” and tell me to listened to talk radio. I’m covered. 

A Story about Three Other Stories

/ Joshua S. MacDougall / 1 Comment
     Sitting outside in my parent’s backyard, I’ve just finished reading for the second time The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss when I realize it was the first book of a trilogy of books I had completely about twenty days ago with The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch.
     Along with Elantris by Brandon Sanderson, these three books were all bought at the Smith Haven Mall’s Barnes & Noble. Since about 2007 my friend Keri and I have had a tradition where I pick her up from her house, we go to Barnes & Noble hunting down books to purchase, and then grab a bite to eat. All along the way, except for the moments when we’re hunting down books, we catch up on what’s going on in our lives.
     I can’t say we’re close friends but I also can’t say we’re not. We both have our own group of friends, jobs, and schools that keep our lives busy. I’ve been mulling it over as I drafted this blog entry on a legal pad, and I would compare our friendship to getting to hang out with that cousin at the big family barbecue, that cousin you have the most in common with but don’t get to see that often. You’re relieved to finally be able to talk to someone on a similar wavelength as you. Plus, with the amount of books she reads and the number of years she’s been writing I have always a new book she can recommend to me. Which is exactly what she did in this story.
     The stories goes, in I believe the summer of 2008 when we went on one of the trips to Barnes & Noble I was looking for something new in the genre of Fantasy. This was after I had absorbed The Lord of the Rings into my being, was heavily read in Science Fiction, was too smug with my Literature Major classes to read Harry Potter (I have since read 1-6 and highly enjoyed them) and had yet the foreknowledge to try George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire.
     So simply, I asked her “I’m looking for some fantasy books, more modern authors, something new.” We were standing in the fantasy section, and without much thought, she pointed out the three books I mentioned earlier, relatively near each other. “Patrick Rothfuss has been getting a lot of buzz, same with that book The Lies of Locke Lamora. Elantris is a good start for Brandon Sanderson.”
     With that, I bought all three of those books that day but I had a bad habit of buying more books than I could read. A habit that has only started slowly waning this year. Those three books sat o the shelves as I pushed them aside for other books I had bought before them.
     It wasn’t until 2011 that I finally said fuck it and picked up my copy of The Name of the Wind. I can’t count on my hands the amount of books that have engrossed me into their world that quickly. The Lord of the Rings is my absolute favorite books but even I struggled with the Tom Bombadil chapters the first time through. This book I couldn’t put down and finished it in a couple days.
     It just so happened at the time that a guy named Nick Fletcher at my job happened to be a big fan of the book. I don’t know if I’m recalling it correctly but I remember asking him if he had read it and he immediately told me it was one of his favorite books, and that the second book had just come out. After the lengthy conversation, we had about the first book, which I do think made us better friends, I took out my phone, opened the Amazon app and order The Wise Man’s Fear as fast as I could.
     I didn’t read it as soon as it came, though. I have this strange habit when reading. Like when you let the wine breathe for a bit I need to give a novel, especially one part of a series, time to breathe. I have enormous difficulty reading a book series back to back. I like coming back to it later when I’ve read some other books in between. When I do come back to the series it’s like a flood of memories comes rushing back like meeting up with an old friend, catching up while you go to Barnes & Noble.
     So in Summer of 2012 after I finished The Wise Man’s Fear I picked up another one of those three books I had bought, Elantris by Brandon Sanderson. Again, another good book, not a favorite like The Name of the Wind was at that point but I still loved it. I’d later be disappointed by Sanderson’s second Mistborn novel, The Well of Ascension, after highly enjoying Mistborn: The Final Empire. I think partially the reason I didn’t enjoy it was because I forced myself to read the second one right after finishing the first one in a reading competition with my friend, the big The Name of the Wind fan.
     I wouldn’t complete this trilogy of books until July 9th of this year when I finished The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch which almost engrossed me as much as Rothfuss’s The Kingkiller Chronicle.
     Lesson learn. Trust the Keri. Read the books she recommends to you right away as some of them might become one of your favorite books. 

My Go-To Book Recomendations

/ Joshua S. MacDougall / Leave a comment

     I haven’t posted in awhile, mostly because I was thinking of this exact post. It started off with me writing a legal pad books I would recommend to people, or have recommended, until it was so long I had to break it down into genre. Then breaking it down into genre I gave a detailed paragraph of why I recommended it. 
     All in all, what started off as a fun blog post became more work, and not the fun kind of work writing a novel might be. So here is, straight off the top of the dome as no kids are saying ever, my go-to book recommendations that first come to mind in order of which I say most often. 
     To readers, these may seem obvious but most of the people who ask me for recommendations are non-reader and/or looking to become readers. I tried to limit to one book per author.

American Gods by Neil Gaiman
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
Sandman Slim by Richard Kadrey
The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks
Embassytown by China Mieville
Dune by Frank Herbert
Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis
Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Phillip K. Dick
Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro
Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl

     Since I used to be a huge comic book nerd, I have a choice select comic books/ graphic novels that I recommend as well in same order of how often I recommend them.

Green Lantern: Sinestro Corps War by Geoff Johns
Planetary by Warren Ellis
Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis
Green Lantern: Rebirth by Geoff Johns
Kingdom Come by Grant Morrison
Sandman by Neil Gaiman
The Killing Joke by Alan Moore
The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke
Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O’Malley
V for Vendetta by Alan Moore
Watchmen by Alan Moore
Gotham Central by Greg Rucka and Ed Brubaker
Planet Hulk by Greg Pak
100 Bullets by Brian Azzarello

The Problem with Storytelling in Ongoing Comic Books

/ Joshua S. MacDougall / Leave a comment

     This thought has been lumbering around in my head since the announcement of the “Before Watchmen” limited series by DC Comics and was reminded of it again at the end of Geoff Johns’s run on Green Lantern with issue #20.

     There’s a problem with ongoing superhero comics from a storytelling perspective, they never really end. It’s different with novels and limited series, those have a beginning and an end, then the story is over. Not with ongoing comics, and I find this problematic. The problem is great stories from great writer’s usually sell really well and thus the companies that publish them, usually owning all rights to the characters, want to make more. I am not dismissing the quality of Before Watchmen but The Watchmen didn’t need anymore than what it already was. It has a beginning and an end and everything in between is really fantastic.
     Spoiler alert for issue #20 of Green Lantern. At the end of that Geoff John’s caps off with a glimpse into the future of all the Earthborn Green Lantern but the problem is there is still going to be an issue #21 and that writer is going to want to put his own spin on the mythos, changing what has been established and essentially either relegate that story to meaninglessness or tarnish it with half concocted plots. I am not insult Robert Venditti who is taking over Green Lantern but making an implication of all future writers of an ongoing series that takeover for another writer.
     Transmetropolitan by Warren Ellis is another series that ran for a good 60 issues but it had a proper ending that Warren Ellis wanted to tell and then it ended. The same goes for Neil Gaiman’s run on The Sandman for 75 issues. I’m sure with his new Sandman series he has written he has a set limit of issues he needs to tell his story because he knows stories need an end.
     The problem is with writers on runs of company icons like Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Spider-Man and etc. that no matter how good of a run you have on that series, someone else is eventually going to take over and undo basically everything you’ve done.
     Great characters can be ruining in comic books with oversaturation when they gain popularity. Wolverine had some of best comics in the past but now is in every Marvel book from the Avengers, to the X-Men to his own solo series. For the longest time Green Lantern had only one ongoing, then two, then three, now there are five ongoing comics related to the Green Lantern universe. All because a good writer wrote a good story and that sold a good amount of comics.
     It’s never enough with superhero comics to say that’s the end and be done with it. It’s part of the reason death in comic books has become so meaningless. Killing off a character sells comics, bringing them back from the dead sells comics and new characters are hardly given the chance because we won’t let the old character’s stories be over with. Sometimes it’s okay to say “The end” and move on and as along as comic books keep ongoing the stories of the past will become less and less meaningful.

What We Are Given, What Is Left Behind.

/ Joshua S. MacDougall / Leave a comment

     This has been on my mind for about three or so weeks, about what people give to us. Not physical objects like gifts or presents on our birthday but the taste in things we like.

     I think of it whenever one of these things stir my memory. Like when I am searching the music on my iTunes library I’m reminded of who these bands came from, which person from my past or present told me “Hey, you should listen to this. I think you would like it.” There are even some bands that I didn’t like when I was knew the person, but who I like now or they double up where one person got me to casually listen to a band but another person got me really into it. 

     For awhile I just thought of this in terms of music but the same can be said for television, movies, and books. One of my favorite movies Hot Fuzz I saw the premiere with someone I dated who I haven’t heard from in years and it just so happens that it’s one of my closest friend’s favorite movie as well. Game of Thrones will forever be linked to this group of friends I have now even though the future of that group watching it together may not be certain.
     With books this concept bears much more weight, being an avid reader. There are books and authors forever linked to people who I’ve either had long discussions about, read with at the same time, or either recommended or had recommended to me. One friend is linked just to the process of buying the books. I would pick her up from her house, drive to the nearest Barnes & Noble, buy a ridiculous amount of books, then go grab something for dinner. That experience will be linked to certain books every time I look at them.
     There are people in my past who I no longer speak to or think fondly of but will be reminded of them in a positive way by the impressions they had on my taste. I guess this is why I sometimes see on a musician’s or author’s webpage comment section you’ll see comments like “Your creative-thing-you-made got me through a hard time in my life” even when that said creative-thing-they-made is not linked to whatever problem they had whatsoever. It’s just a thought.

Living in Books More Than Anywhere Else – Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane.

/ Joshua S. MacDougall / Leave a comment

     On Wednesday, June 19th, 2013 I received my copy of Neil Gaiman’s new book, The Ocean at the End of the Lane at Symphony Space in New York, right after hearing Erin Morgenstern (author of The Night Circus, which I have never read but may pick up in the future) do a little interview with the author himself, followed by two readings from the novel and a little Q&A.

     I met the author, as in, I approached the author afterward to sign my copy of the new book, sign my copy of American Gods, and thank him for all the writing advice he gives on his blog, to which he responded something very humble along the lines of least I could do, just doing my part to help, I like to help anyway I can. I was honestly so tired and my feet and back were so ache filled that I can’t remember exactly what he said.
     Immediately on the train ride home I began reading the novel, and then proceeded to finish it over the next two mornings.
     The Ocean at the End of the Lane is definitely a Neil Gaiman novel, and by that I mean it is a great novel. Every time I read a Neil Gaiman novel I think to myself This is THE Neil Gaiman novel. Really everyone of his novels is THE Neil Gaiman novel and so is this one. If you don’t like Neil Gaiman novels I am not sure this one will convince you otherwise. I’ll try to avoid spoilers but be warned I want to talk about this book so I may not try very hard.
     When I think of writing about this novel it’s not actually about the novel itself, but what it makes me remember about childhood. On stage at Symphony Space Neil Gaiman referred to the “indignities of being a child” and “being able to enjoy the small things” and that is this novel evoke, memories of childhood. I remember telling a teacher I was being picked on in 1st grade to the response of having to “deal with it”, when my father used to take me to McDonalds after religion class for the Halloween toys they had in their Happy Meals, of my sister telling me that voting in the Kids Presidential Election by calling into Nickelodeon didn’t actually help elect the President of the United States, of how delicious it was when I’d eat two slice of pizza with Garlic Salt on it while my family ate Chinese food because all I would eat as a kid was Pizza and Steak for dinner.
     It shouldn’t be a surprise that the book evokes memory, as it is about memory. The unnamed narrator is retelling a story of his childhood, filled with books, making new friends, fears of getting in trouble, delicious food, magic, monsters, and whimsy that only Neil Gaiman wizard-like use of language can summon. This is definitely an adult novel, but not necessarily only for adults. It’s themes definitely carries with it something a child would not understand, nor would a teenager maybe fully appreciate it. 
     I shouldn’t say that, what I mean is, as a teenager I probably wouldn’t appreciate it. You know how it is, petty problems, thinking you’re invincible. I don’t think teenage me would quite know what to do with this book.
     A fear I had as a kid that Neil Gaiman writes so well is the fear of getting into trouble, of not being believed because you were a kid, of being told you’re lying when you’re telling the truth. When I was young I was good as much as I possibly could because I always thought I would be yelled at. Something about yelling as a kid filled me with fright and I don’t even think I was yelled at that much. What I would see is my sister being yelled, being the rebellious teenager she was, by my mother and thinking there is no way I ever want that to happen to me. I used to defend my sister on car rides with my parents in hope that she would get yelled at less as well, thinking it had to be the worst thing that could happen to you. When teachers yelled at me, I became a mess, thinking oh no, they’re going to tell my parents which will lead to more yelling.
     There’s nothing more stressful for a kid then when you tell the truth and no one will listen, and the narrator of The Ocean… goes through that as well as I did. I remember my cousin cursing when he was three years old, which at five I was always taught was very bad to do so of course I told my parents. He immediately said that I was in fact the one cursing and that I was just trying to get him in trouble before he could get me in trouble. I could still see the look on my mom and aunt’s eyes deciding on who to believe even though I was the one telling the truth. Like me, but not like me, the narrator tries to tell his parents the truth about what is happening around him only to find himself in deeper and more dire trouble as the novel progresses.
     There’s quote in the novel about myths, it goes like this…

“I liked myths. They weren’t adult stories and they weren’t children’s stories. They were better than that. They just *were*.” 

 and like myths, all the magic in the book doesn’t need to be explained, it just is and it works perfectly. You just accept it for what it is, you become convinced that there is indeed an ocean at the end of the lane where the narrator lived growing up. 
     Enjoying the small things in the book isn’t just about food, it’s about a certain part of your bedroom made just for you, that small crack of light in your open door that let you read past your bedtime, that secret way through your backyard that you think only you are aware of, but also it’s about food.
     Now, this is coming from a guy who has no complaints about George R.R. Martin’s description of food in his A Song of Ice and Fire series but the food in The Ocean… is quite different from a kids perspective. There’s such a joy with every little thing the narrator eats that you sometimes forget as an adult. You’re not thinking about calories, fat content, or worry you’re eating too much or too little. It’s just a matter of being hungry, and then enjoying the food you’re given whether it’s good or not. 
     This is definitely THE Neil Gaiman book, and so are the rest of them. If you don’t like Neil Gaiman books then this isn’t the book for you. If you’ve never read a Neil Gaiman book and can remember what it is like to be a child or want to remember then I highly suggest picking this book up. If you’re not interested then…


An Experiment in Willpower – Not Previewing Anything

/ Joshua S. MacDougall / Leave a comment

     On the April 22nd edition of The Indoor Kids podcast with Kumail Nanjiani and Emily Gordon they discuss Bioshock Infinite. One of their guest Film Crit Hulk on the discussion of spoilers planted in my brain this radical idea that he’s been doing. The idea is that he doesn’t watch or read previews for television, movies, or video games.

     I tried this with Edgar Wright, Nick Frost, and Simon Pegg’s new film The World’s End trailer only to give in within hours of it being posted online. Similarly when I saw on Reddit that the trailer was going to be posted for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug on the following Tuesday I am pretty sure a noise came out of my mouth that registered a lot of happiness. This was for a trailer, not the movie itself. That’s kind of sad, though honestly if it was the movie itself I probably would of made the same squee sound.
      After hearing this random guy talk about avoiding trailers and how it changed his excitement and reevaluated the idea of watching trailers at all.
     It’s somehow easier for books because there’s no real videos and I am not a fan of reading online. I know there’s preview chapters of Neil Gaiman’s new book, The Ocean at the End of the Lane and that George R.R. Martin has posted preview chapters for The Winds of Winter but they’re easier to avoid. Some previews are unavoidable with the websites I visit. Just for an example, there is a new Super Smash Bros. in development for Wii U. I don’t own a Wii U yet because there hasn’t been any software that’s really caught my eye. It’ll be impossible for me to visit Tumblr, IGN, or Twitter without hearing of a character included in the game but I can avoid any video previewing what they’re like. I’ll apply this to other websites as wlel. Some of the subreddits I am subscribe to will have to be unsubscribed to I am sure.
      Unrelated but sort of related is something I realized about this year in movies. This year has been the least amount of times I’ve been to the movies than any year I can remember. So far this year I’ve seen the horror movie Mama and Star Trek Into Darkness. I think that’s about it. I didn’t see Iron Man 3 or The Great Gatsby and I probably won’t see Man of Steel. 
     The only movies I know I will 100% go see is The World’s End and The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug. I definitely have interest in Pacific Rim, Elysium, Anchorman 2, Thor: The Dark World, Ender’s Game, Oldboy, and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For but I was interested in those other three film I didn’t go see and I don’t know if I will be compelled to see these in the theater either.

A box without hinges, key, or lid – The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Part 2

/ Joshua S. MacDougall / Leave a comment

     If you read my last post about 2012’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey then you know the jist of what this one was about. Also, I suggest reading my posts about adapting books to movies for my views on that sort of thing. Let’s get right to it.


Parts of the book I was glad wasn’t in the film.

The bits of children’s magic – I can honestly say I didn’t miss the mentioning of the Old Took’s magic studs that never came undone and fastened themselves. Nor did I miss William’s mischievous purse that Bilbo tries to steal, alerting the trolls to Bilbo’s presence when the hobbit tries to prove himself as a burglar.

The bit with the hoods – In the book, everyone of the dwarves has their own uniquely colored hood that distinguishes them from each other with eventually loaning Bilbo one that is too big for him. Instead of using brightly colored hoods to make them look different the movies give them different personalities, clothing, speech, appearance and ways of fighting. 

Parts of the book I was surprised to find in the film.

Good morning! – The banter between Gandalf and Bilbo in the beginning just screams “I don’t advance the plot! Cut me!” so I was highly surprised it wasn’t cut.

The Songs – Although changed a little bit, I was highly surprised to find any of Tolkien’s songs in the movie at all. Of course Blunt the Knives is on my top 100 songs played on my iTunes now. I’m wondering if there will be any songs in the next two films, who knows?

This turned out a lot shorter than I thought it would, so I’ll post it shortly after Part I.

More like a grocer than a burglar – The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Part I

/ Joshua S. MacDougall / Leave a comment

     Last year’s adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit was met with mixed reviews ranging from people who were either expecting the book, or people who were expecting The Lord of the Rings films. I, on the other hand, loved it. I saw it three times in the theater and about eight times repeatedly on blu-ray. The movie is a strange case for movie adaptations because it takes a lot of liberties with the story of the book, but it manages to keep in little aspects of the book that you’d think would be cut day one for a movie script. What else it manages to do is keep to key themes Tolkien often included in his books.

      Let’s get the negative out of the way first.

Three changes from the books I disliked.

Grocer vs. Burglar – I want to note the distinction really quickly that I used “dislike” instead of “hate”, two very different meanings. In the film when the line “He looks more like a grocer than a burglar” is delivered by Thorin, everyone has a nice laugh and Bilbo looks at Thorin and then to Gandalf in confusion, as he has yet to be informed he’s to be hired for burglarious activities. The entire dinner scene after Thorin’s arrival has Bilbo basically trying to get out of whatever adventure Gandalf is planning. 
     Switching the line from Gloin after hearing the details of the adventure to when Thorin makes his entrance not only takes away a good line from one of the secondary dwares of the film but makes the line seem more cliche movie-like. By that I mean, “hey Thorin’s the main dwarf so he gets the best lines as soon as he makes his entrance.” My bigger problem though is Bilbo’s reaction, and this might be one of those changes that without the inner monologue the screenwriter’s felt it would be hard to convey. In the book, we see Bilbo’s inner conflict with the two sides of him, the bookish Baggins side and the adventurous Took side. In the film there’s is no conflict at all until the argument between Gandalf and Bilbo in his sitting room where the family line is mentioned. We don’t get any visual confirmation of Bilbo’s inner conflict until the brief scene of Bilbo awake in his bedroom listening to the dwarves singing Thorin’s song. I have no doubt that Martin Freeman would have been able to give a performance to show this inner conflict beforehand as someone else said “Martin Freeman might be the best hobbit who ever hobbited.“

Azog’s Hand – I honestly don’t mind Azog the Defiler not being killed off and his son taking his place. This might confuse moviegoers who didn’t see the difference between Saruman’s orcs and Sauron’s orcs with how they created, given the scene with the Uruk-hai basically being born from mud and slime of the ground, the question of how orcs reproduce would come into question. The scene I bring into question is the flashback to the Battle of Moria, in which Thorin Oakenshield earns his nickname. It’s all fine and good until Thorin cuts off Azog’s hand. I get what they’re trying to do, link the evil of Azog to the evil of Sauron, raising the unexpected villain up to the level of the Dark Lord and foreboding the darkness settling in on Middle-Earth. The problem is, it seems rehashed more than repeating thematic and not only does it not raise up Azog as a villain, but lessens the scene in the Fellowship prologue with Isildur and Sauron, putting Sauron on the same level as an orc.

Bilbo’s Sword – This one stems from my study of Corey Olsen, The Tolkien Professor’s criticism of The Hobbit but has been so ingrained into my understanding of the book now that I can’t shy away from it. In the book, Bilbo’s discover the knife he would later call Sting on his own in the Troll’s cave along with Gandalf taking Glamdring and Thorin taking Orcrist while in the film Gandalf discovers Sting on his own, handing it to Bilbo with a bit of exposition and how it’ll glow blue. Gandalf’s explanation takes away from the development of Bilbo later on in what Corey Olsen and I believe is the turning point for Bilbo.

But in slapping all his pockets and feeling all round himself for matches his hand came on the hilt of his little sword – the little dagger that he got from the trolls, and that he had quite forgotten; nor fortunately had the goblins noticed it; as he wore it inside his breeches. Now he drew it out. It shone pale and dim before his eyes. “So it is an elvish blade, too,” he thought; “and goblins are not very near, and yet not far enough.” But somehow he was comforted. It was rather splendid to be wearing a blade made in Gondolin for the goblin-wars of which so many songs had sung; and also he had noticed that such weapons made a great impression on goblins that came upon them suddenly.

The scene in the film yet again establishes Bilbo as a humble hobbit and not an adventurer or someone who intends to use a sword, setting up the scene in which he shows Gollum mercy, but it takes this turning point away from Bilbo in the film. It’s after he realizes his sword is the stuff of legends that he decides there’s no going back. It’s an important moment for him, on his own, without Gandalf or the dwarves to help him when he encounters Gollum. Sting is just as important to Bilbo’s development as is the One Ring and the film sort of fails to establish this.

Additions to the film I enjoyed.

Radagast the Brown – Even though he does a terrible job of drawing off the Wargs and Orcs the addition of Radagast the Brown imbeds An Unexpected Journey with a theme very familiar to Tolkien’s work that the Lord of the Rings film trilogy failed to realize at times. The theme of nature and the natural world being affected by the dark power infected Dol Guldur as well as the theme Gandalf mentions to Galadriel later in the film.

Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.

His addition also brings a lighter tone to the film that I believe is refreshing.

Dol Guldur, The Necromancer, The Witch-king of Angmar and the Morgul Blade –  While everyone was complaining that they turned the Hobbit into three films, I got excited because this meant everything only mentioned in the appendix of The Lord of the Rings would come to fruition in these movies. In the book Gandalf just disappears for a bit, says he took care of the Necromancer and wanders back into story. Now in these films we have Sauron in his Necromancer body bringing back the Nazgul, including the Witch-king of Angmar who I believe was underused in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and Gandalf and the White Council basically on their own side-quest that will have grave repercussions for The Lord of the Rings. I really hope we get to see the Necromancer in the two films, as we know Benedict Cumberbatch did some acting for it.

Everything changed about the dwarves (so far)- Until the very end of the Hobbit, after Smaug has been taken down the dwarves are kind of goofy, falling over each other, getting captured by trolls, orcs, and elves. None of them are very distinctive at all except with a line or two here and there until later on when Thorin becomes infected with dragon-sickness. In the films, they’re much more unique with drastically different physical appearances, personalities, speech patterns and motivations though sometimes subtle. In the film you can see Balin and Bofur taking a liking to Bilbo, and how Fili and Kili are young warriors trying to prove themselves to their Uncle Thorin, with a bit of youthful mischief still in them. You can see Ori as the baby of the group, a bit more naive than the rest of them and Balin is the eldest, wise grandpa dwarf, friendly but a bit cynical and cantankerous.
     Then there is Thorin Oakenshield, the tragic king of the likes of Hamlet or Macbeth as compared to Aragorn’s King Arthur. Thorin is kingly but filled with anger and mistrust, unable to discern friend from foe, easily holding grudges against those who have wronged him. His progression from dismissing Bilbo to embracing him was great for this story and I am even more excited to see his development in the next two movies.
     Keep reading for Part 2 in which I discuss what I am glad they left out from the books and what I was surprised to find they put in.