I highly recommend this series. Janny Wurts is a must read.
These prices are also reflected at other ebook retailers, including Barnes & Noble.
Author: Jon Moss
Movie Review: The Hobbit ~ An Unexpected Journey (2012)
The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)
4 out of 5 stars
I waited until the last possible moment to decide to watch The Hobbit ~ An Unexpected Journey this past weekend. If I plan to spend the money to watch a movie in a theater, I do it opening weekend, because then most of the money goes back to the studio, which in turns means more movies that I like being produced. In other words, I vote with my money. And, Terry and I prefer to watch movies from the VIP seating on the balcony of Theater 7 at the Legends. Well worth the climb up the stairs to the third floor Saturday afternoon. We arrived with eight minutes to spare and sat through an amazing number of previews, but not any advertisements, which was a change for the better.
My most recent reading of The Hobbit occurred three years ago, when it was chosen as the book of the month for November 2009 for the Fantasy Book Club at GoodReads. While I like The Hobbit, I’m not really the target audience for the book, since Tolkien wrote it for children. But as with most well written children’s tales, there is much to be gleaned and learned by the adult reader. I’m excited to re-read The Silmarillion next month for the same book club. In fact, I may read it as an ebook and also listen to it as an audiobook.
I loved the increased frame rate speed used to film The Hobbit. I’ve been screaming for smoother sharper filming for years. Really, there’s no excuse not to. My eyes can drink in more than just 24 frames per second so please flood me with clean, crisp imaging.
I felt the focus of the story shifted away from Bilbo almost too much, and became Thorin’s story with Bilbo relegated to comedic sidekick. My foggy memory of reading The Hobbit three years ago recalls an older Thorin, still prideful to the point of arrogance, but not this brooding barely middle-aged dwarf, a veteran of many hard-fought battles. I came away thinking Peter Jackson tried to turn Thorin into a darker, shorter Aragorn.
And the whole albino orc and warg subplot is just a bit much. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t conceived in Tolkien’s mind.
Overall, I’m satisfied with the first installment of the drawn-out film trilogy adaptation of Tolkien’s The Hobbit. If you haven’t seen it yet, I’d encourage you to catch it on a big screen near you soon.
A Dozen Quintupled
Just because it’s all the rage today, being the 12th day of the 12th month of the 12th year of the second millennium*, I’m publishing a short blog post at exactly twelve seconds after noon (Central time zone). I did a similar timed pasting last year for Veterans Day.
Five twelves. Not quite a gross, not even halfway, but I do my best.
Thirteen days until the Twelve Days of Christmas begin!
Ciao, Jon
* Although that last bit is probably not completely accurate as I believe there was some debate back during the Y2K craze about when the millennium officially began. Oh, and originally December was the 10th month (see my post back in October explaining this).
Protected: Moss Family Christmas eLetter for 2012
Orion Rising
I went outside Wednesday evening to photograph our exterior Christmas lighting decorations. As I walked down the front steps, I could see most of Orion rising in the east. The Hunter seemed to be reclining in a dreamy, wispy, foggy pose. I couldn’t resist taking a couple of photos, the best of which is displayed below:
The Story Board Ep. 5 – “Life Online: Putting the Meme in Memoir”
The Story Board Ep. 5 – “Life Online: Putting the Meme in Memoir”.
About ninety minutes long. Some good points and tips about ‘modern memoirs’ from some long time bloggers, who also happen to be authors.
Venus Dives Past Saturn
Twelve degrees Fahrenheit this morning as I setup the tripod and camera for the third pre-dawn photo shoot of Saturn and Venus. Completely calm, unlike yesterday morning, so no jiggles to the camera, beyond my fumbling numb fingers. I opted for longer exposures (three or four seconds), so I ended up with some trails, especially when using the telephoto lens. Otherwise, much the same as before, with the exception of the planetary dance partners.
I don’t plan on repeating this for a fourth time tomorrow morning, but I do plan on trying to capture the full moon as it approaches Jupiter tomorrow night. There also happens to be a penumbral lunar eclipse occurring Wednesday evening.
Wednesday, November 28
Full Moon arrives at 9:46 a.m. EST. It appears against the background stars of Taurus the Bull before dawn this morning, approximately midway between the Pleiades and Hyades star clusters and below brilliant Jupiter. (The Moon will slide within 1° of the planet after sunset tonight.) But the Moon has a lot more going for it today. First, it passes through the outer part of Earth’s shadow. This penumbral lunar eclipse will slightly darken the Moon’s northern half. People in much of North America can see the eclipse’s early stages, which begin at 7:15 a.m. EST. (Those in Australia, eastern Asia, and the Pacific islands have the best views of the event.) Second, this Full Moon is the smallest (29.4′ in diameter) of 2012. Our satellite’s relatively diminutive size arises because it reaches the farthest point in its orbit around Earth at 2:37 p.m. EST today, when it lies 252,501 miles (406,362 kilometers) from Earth’s center. (Astronomy.com ‘The Sky This Week – November 23 – December 2, 2012’)
unHappy unHolidays
I walked into my building’s lobby yesterday morning, returning from more than a week of vacation in Texas, completely oblivious to the unHoliday decorations sprouting around me. That is until I stood idly waiting for an elevator to arrive to whisk me vertically to my floor and found this assaulting my eyes:
I must admit, compared to last year’s lobby largesse, this year’s decorations are a slight improvement, but seem to be a return to the first year (being 2010) metal montage. Then the building launched it’s crusade to snuff out any resemblance to traditional Christmas heraldry.
Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the last three years worth of unholiday spirit on display in the building lobby:
All I can say is at least this year’s metallic monstrosity matches the color scheme near the garage access elevators:
Thank goodness for my two daily stops at Hallmark, where I can bask in the warmth of a more traditional Christmas spirit on display, spreading Peace, Love and Joy indiscriminately.
Saturn Squeezing Venus
I went to bed Sunday night lamenting the end of my longest vacation in over a decade. I double-checked and triple-checked my return-to-work checklist (security badge, laptop, cell phone, sunglasses, lunch bag, work clothes and shoes, etc.) before nodding off. I woke up fifteen minutes before my alarm went off at five o’clock. I jumped out of bed and had myself dressed and ready to go before half past five. I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss this morning’s Saturn-Venus photo opportunity.
I got everything, including the camera and tripod, packed into the back of the van and drove up the hill, squinting through the frosty windshield, to the library parking lot. I left the van running with the defroster on half-blast, but turned off the headlights. I setup the tripod and camera on the sidewalk, but quickly became concerned by the slight breeze from the north, which could (and did) jiggle the camera during the longer exposures necessitated by the pre-dawn darkness.
I changed lenses on the camera back to my normal lens and took a couple of wide angle shots to begin with:
I adjusted the brightness (something I rarely do since I don’t own Photoshop and need to learn how to use Gimp) to make the horizon a bit more visible.
Shortly after six o’clock, I observed Mercury and took a photo in portrait orientation (vertical) to include all three planets and the star Spica:
Because I needed to begin the commute to work at a quarter past six, I had to stop taking photos early. A good thing, too, since my batteries, which I had just put in before yesterday morning’s photo session, had already depleted due to the cold temperatures and long exposure times. I did take the time to switch back to my telephoto lens to zoom in on several of the prime targets.
I managed to snatch a closeup of Venus and Saturn and of Mercury and Alpha Librae before I packed up the equipment and left for work:
Tomorrow morning, weather permitting clear skies, I will attempt to capture Saturn as it slips past and above Venus.
Begining of the End
I learned last night at the November general meeting of the Astronomical Society of Kansas City that we have just fifty days (forty-nine as I write this blog) until the end of a Mayan age (the 13th Bak’tun). More commonly known to us as the Winter Solstice on December 21, 2012 (12/21/12 or 21/12/12 depending on your longitude). I had a lot on my mind as I drifted off to sleep last night, but when I woke to clear skies and a newly risen Venus blinking at me through the bare branches of trees along my eastern horizon, I shook off the last vestiges of ancient doom and gloom and braved the brisk late fall pre-dawn environs with my tripod and camera.
Armed with new tips and techniques garnered from Tom Martinez’s astrophotography presentation during the club’s Astro 101 session, I attempted a long exposure (ten seconds long) of the Big Dipper using my normal lens:
I was gratified to discover that my camera can take even longer exposures without the necessity of a handheld remote. Not that I don’t plan to purchase a remote for it soon though.
I didn’t attempt to capture Canis Major or Orion in a long exposure since I would have been shooting west over the well-lit parking lot of City Hall. Instead, I turned my camera towards the southeast and bright shining Venus and the slightly dimmer Saturn.
I knew Mercury had risen shortly after six o’clock, but I couldn’t see it clearly until about a quarter after.
Later, I accidentally captured not only Mercury, but a passing plane, as it took off from KCI (northeast of my location).
When I got back to my laptop and downloaded the photos, I also double-checked and compared them to the alignment at the time they were taken using the Star Dome Plus java applet at Astronomy.com:
A short successful photo shoot this morning. I didn’t hang around for the sunrise, since I judged it wouldn’t be as pretty as the one I captured Saturday morning.
Weather permitting, I’ll be repeating this activity for the next two or three mornings. I’m excited to see Venus and Saturn pass each other in the night (or very early morning).
And next week I’m going to wish I was visiting Egypt to witness a once in 2,737 years event involving these same three planets and the Great Pyramids at Giza.
