I try to start every blog post with an introductory
paragraph or something, but I couldn’t think of anything to say that ties in
the three sub-headings. I’m writing this part last, after I’ve already written
the rest of the blog. Everything that follows this paragraph is older than this
paragraph, not newer. So if you’re reading this, it’s almost like you’re time travelling.
The Voice
My
Advanced Composition class looks like it’s going to be one of my favorite
classes this semester. In this class we are studying the essay in all its
forms. This may sound boring to a non-English major, but it’s actually not. One
thing I like about this class is that we have the freedom to write however we
want. Now obviously there are some restraints; like we can’t write anything
explicit, and we probably can’t write essays on how to make a bomb or
something. But what I love about this class is that the teacher is allowing us
to develop our writing voice. A writer’s voice is like their writing style;
what they sound like in the head of the reader. This is something I’m hoping to
work on with this blog. Every writer has a voice, and I think the mark of a
good writer is having a voice that’s unique. Now, in this class we are allowed
to quote other works without using proper MLA citations or anything, which is
really freeing. We’re not plagiarizing, just quoting them, as if we were
talking to someone in person. If you’re repeating a funny movie line to a
friend, you don’t then say “The Princess
Bride was made in 1987, was directed by Rob Reiner, and distributed by 20th
Century Fox.” Instead, you simply say “You keep using that word. I do not think
it means what you think it means.”
I
believe a good writing voice is found the moment the words seem more like
talking than an essay. Of course, I could be wrong; I haven’t finished my
bachelor’s degree in English yet.
We also
learned in Advanced Composition that in finding a writing voice, we can steal
from other authors. Now I know the speaker in chapel today spoke on Exodus 20:15, “You shall not steal,” but what we are
doing is more like adapting. We find an author or writer whose voice we admire,
and we take some of their writing styles and make them our own. One author that
I believe has greatly influenced my writing is C. S. Lewis. In his essays and
books on theology and apologetics, he takes complicated material and explains
it in a way that seemingly anyone could understand it. But what I like about C.
S. Lewis is that in addition to this he also does a great job narrating his Chronicles of Narnia. In Lewis’ narration I feel like he is a
grandfather telling me a story, which is how anyone would feel reading those
stories. It takes people back to the time when they had stories read to them.
It makes them feel young again.
The Hobbit
Speaking
of stories, I just recently finished re-reading J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit. I had forgotten how good it
is. I believe the last time I read it was in high school, so it had been a
while. I wanted to read it again before the final film was released this
December. I didn’t remember exactly what happens after [SPOILERS] Smaug is
defeated, but now I know. I also read some of the appendices at the end of Return of the King, specifically the
ones dealing with the events of The
Hobbit. So now I know what’s going to happen in The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, or rather, what is supposed to happen.
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| Teaser poster for The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies |
While
reading the book it was fun to see where the films split it up. The first film,
An Unexpected Journey, adapts the
first 111 pages of The Hobbit while
also adapting a large portion of the appendices at the end of Return of the King. The main events
taken from the appendices are the backstory of how Thorin Oakenshield got his
name, and how Azog killed Thorin’s grandfather Thror. The name of this film is
taken from the title of the first chapter, “An Unexpected Party.”
The
second hobbit movie, The Desolation of
Smaug, covers the events from chapter 7, “Queer Lodgings,” to about the end
of chapter 12, “Inside Information.” This section is 121 pages long, just about
the same as the first film. As many of you probably know, The Hobbit was originally just going to be a two-part adaptation.
The first was called An Unexpected Journey,
and the second would have been called There
and Back Again. The first film would have ended right after Bilbo and the
dwarves escaped Mirkwood in the barrels. Why it was expanded to a trilogy I’m
not too sure. Possibly because Peter Jackson couldn’t fit everything he wanted
in just two films. But since it was expanded, a third title was needed, thus
the second film was called The Desolation
of Smaug, which is the name of the area Smaug destroyed, and can be found
on the map found in the book.
 |
| Map from The Hobbit |
For a
while, most people expected the title of the third film to stay There and Back Again, but by the end of
the second film, Thorin and Company are already There. Since Back Again
would be a boring title for the third film, they decided to change it to The Battle of the Five Armies, after the
eponymous battle that takes place at the end of the book. The third film covers
71 pages worth of material and is likely to be almost three hours long, just
like the other films. All that’s left in the story really is Smaug’s demise,
The Battle of Five Armies, and Bilbo’s short return journey. The only other
thing that will be in the final movie is a section where Gandalf and the White
Council attack Dol Guldur and drive out the Necromancer, causing him to flee to
Mordor and eventually become Sauron. This is only referenced in the book, but
explained a bit in the appendices at the end of Return of the King. It will be cool to see the end of this movie
tie in to the beginning of The Fellowship
of the Ring, but I’m not sure if I’m ready to experience the feels. This
will, after all, be the last adaptation of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth. Right, Peter
Jackson?
…
…Right?
The Guitar
I’m
taking this last section to give a quick update on life events. The only major
thing to report right now? I have a guitar!
 |
| My new guitar and I. Should I name it? Do people name guitars? |
As I’ve
before mentioned, I learned guitar this summer. While working at Sequoia, I got
used to practicing at least once a day, but since coming out to Cedarville, I
had only practiced a few times, and it was killing me. I needed to play guitar, but even more I needed to get my own guitar
so that I wouldn’t have to keep borrowing my friends’ guitars. I had set aside
some money from working so that I could buy my own. So when I finally had
enough free time and access to a car, I went to Guitar Center. I looked at a
few guitars, but when I saw the one that would eventually be mine, I had pretty
much already decided it was the one. The guitar I got is a purple-ish colored
Ibanez acoustic/electric. It was normally $400, but because of the Labor Day
sale I got it for $330. While there I also got myself I hard guitar case, a
capo, and an extra set of strings. It totaled to about $450, which was only $50
more than I had intended to spend, so not too bad in my opinion. And when I got
back to campus my awesome former roommate (now R.A.) gave me a couple picks and
a guitar strap he didn’t use any more.
So why
purple? Because it’s unique. I didn’t want one of the boring guitars that all
looked the same. You know, the wood-colored guitars that you picture when
someone says guitar. An ordinary guitar would just seem plain; but people
remember a purple guitar when they see it. Also, the neck on it really pretty,
and the tuning pegs are gold-colored. It also had a built-in tuner along with
places to adjust sound settings if it’s plugged into an amp, of which there are
two different outlets.
Altogether,
I’m happy with my purchase, and I hope I get enough free time this semester to
practice and play. But even if I don’t, this is something that I’ll keep with
me wherever I go in the future. If it lasts, it could be something I let my
possible future kids play so they can learn, just like I learned on my dad’s
guitar.
In an
unrelated note, I’ve been watching Parks
and Recreation, and I now have a new OTP: Andy and April. For the
uninitiated, OTP is a tumblr term. Spend enough time on there and you’ll
understand. Though be cautioned: prolonged exposure to tumblr can cause severe
cases of feels. Of course, the BBC also excels at that.
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