Smaug's Sexy Voice

I watched The Desolation of Smaug today!!

FINALLY!

I'm going to say right now that this post if not a review or anything, just me typing out my thoughts. It's going to take a few more times of watching the entire thing before I can even think of a proper review because there's just so much going on!

So here it is, my first impressions:

1. It's an exciting movie. So much happens in those almost-three hours. We see the dwarves and Biblo encounter Beorn. They escape spiders, get captured by Elves, run away into Lake Town, steal into Erebor and finally, chase out Smaug the Stupendous.
2. If you were expecting a spectacular movie that stays true to the book then you will most definitely be disappointed. However, as a stand alone film, I'd say it's pretty good. I ooh'd and ahh'd when I was supposed to, I laughed and even almost cried. It was a good experience.
3. There were so many beautiful people in this movie. SO MANY THAT I DID NOT KNOW WHO TO FOCUS ON! I'm going to watch it over an over again just so I can focus on one person each time.
4. Thorin had so many majestic close ups. Richard Armitage was glorious. 
5. Right, I might as well include a list of those beautiful people (in no particular order):
• Richard Armitage as Thorin. All those close ups and majestic speeches
• Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins. THIS MAN IS AMAZING. There's a scene where he loses the ring for a minute. Then he sees it on the ground and reaches for it but then a spider comes up and blocks his way and Bilbo just slaughters it, picks up the ring and says, "Mine". Then he sits back, gives it a beat and suddenly realised what just happened. It was incredible. The switch between being totally entranced by the ring and being a normal, gentle hobbit again was just ergh
• Aiden Turner as Kili. He's adorable as ever but a little bit pale on account of being poisoned. 
• Dean O'Gorman as Fili. He constantly looked like Middle Earth's heartthrob of the century. And when he decided to stay with Kili at Lake Town, it made me tear up. 
• Adam Brown as Ori. HE WAS SO ADORABLE OMG I JUST WANTED TO WRAP HIM IN  A BLANKEt AND PRoteCT HIM From the WORLD
• Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug & Sauron. His voice has me wishing Smaug was real because holy terrors he was amazing. You could only hear a hint of Benedict beneath those growls and he did a lot of that on his own. 
• Luke Evans as Bard. He was broody, sly, brave and just everything. I cannot wait to see him kill Smaug in the next one.
• Orlando Bloom as Legolas. Bluest eyes to ever blue. He looked a little different in this one, in my opinion, but no less beautiful. His hair is shorter and he's definitely a little less refined than he was in LOTR. And I absolutely love the faces he makes when he's fighting!
• Lee Pace as Thranduil. The most beautiful he-Elf I have ever seen in my life. Sorry Legolas, your dad is King.
6. Now that's done, lets talk about what I did not quite like:
• The whole Tauriel romance thing doesn't sit well with me. I think Peter Jackson could have implied romance instead of shoving it in our faces. This line, "I wonder if she could have loved me?", that was completely unnecessary. I don't mind a Dwarf-Elf relationship but I do mind it being portrayed like some cheesy action romance.
• Beorn was all wrong! He's supposed to be a gracious host, laughing and eating and not giving much away in terms of information. It was all wrong and I did not like it.
• Kili being poisoned. What was that?? All the dwarves were supposed to go to Erebor. ALL OF THEM.
7. Here's what I absolutely adored (not everything la, just a few because listing everything would take too long):
• THRANDUIL!! He was incredible! All mighty and kingly and majestic. The way he walked and talked and just about everything, sensational.
• Tauriel. I was a little skeptical about her at first seeing as she isn't in the books but now I love her. He hair is impossibly long and well maintained (it's a wig, I know), she's sassy and beautiful and everything you'd want of a modern leading lady. She saved the day so many times I just stopped counting. 
• Lake Town. It didn't look as I had imagined it but it was pretty darn good. When the Master of Lake Town was talking to his right hand man, I almost forgot that we were watching a story about dwarves and a hobbit. I kind of wish there could be a spin off about Lake Town.
• Erebor. Treasure everywhere! And I love how Thorin covered Smaug in molten gold. It was a good attempt. And an incredible scene.
• The way Smaugs belly glowed red just before he breathes fire. That was a good touch. Smart animating.  
8. It looked to me like Legolas' eyes are much bluer than they are in LOTR. It looked a little fake but in the right angles, mesmerizing. Orlando Bloom ages pretty well.

Ok, I think that's about it. All things considered, it was a good movie. It doesn't quite measure up to LOTR, granted, but it's stands strong in it's own right. I would definitely watch it again and again just so I can file it away as a pretty good stand-alone movie. And of course, so I can enjoy the beautiful male presence. Seriously, even Dwalin had his moment of majestic posing.

Let's hope I'm better at being 22 than I was at being 26

I wonder why the new year is such a big deal? Fireworks, parties, resolutions. I see why it may be a big deal for school going people since a new year usually means new subjects, perhaps new teachers. But what about working adults? The first day of this year was a Wednesday. A normal Wednesday. They didn't go to work. But then they did on Thursday. So what's the fuss? I don't know, man, but I sure as hell was excited about it!

For me, new year means a new semester at university. The second semester of my second year. In about a year and a half, I'll be done with this. Incredible. I remember starting out and thinking to myself that three years is a hell of a long time to be studying again. I was wrong.

The new year also makes me think of my impending birthday anniversary. 22 years ago (minus about a months and a half), I was born. Imagine that. Or maybe don't. I get really nervous every time my birthday approaches. Honestly, I spent at least half my waking hours yesterday feeling all nauseous and anxious over turning 22.

It's always struck me as odd that I feel nervous. I mean, why wouldn't I be excited? I'm getting older, people are more likely to take me seriously. Also, the older I get, the more control I have over my own life and my decisions. I should be happy, excited. Instead, I'm happy and anxious. All that responsibility.

Also, I can't seem to imagine myself being any age other than what I am right now. Questions like, "Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years?" don't work with my brain because I don't see it as me, aged 5 years older and in the future. What I see when I try to answer the question is me right now time travelling to five years in the future, pretending to know what I'm doing and behaving in the exact way me-right-now would.

I don't know what I'd be like in five years. I don't even know if I'll be alive or have the same number of limbs; how am I supposed to know what I'd be doing with my life in that time?

So yea, birthdays make me nervous. Mostly because I have no idea what the next year of my life will bring me or how I'll will have changed by the end of it. Actually, now that I think of it, I'm also nervous because of the whole responsibility thing. I mean, c'mon, who thought it'd be a good idea to let me grow up and have a set of my own car keys and control of my own bank account?

I want to be able to handle myself well. But I also want to never let go or forget the little kid inside of me. Birthdays are just another way of celebrating the addition of another horrendously boring and routine layer of adulthood over the fun and simplicity of childhood. I have to make sure I build in a giant doorway into those layers so I can access the fun whenever I want to.

Anyways, Happy New Year :)