Hobbit here, Hobbit there! Oh look, a dragon!

            I meant to post a blog Friday, but after getting to bed at six am, it kind of became the last thing on my mind. A group of friends and I went to the midnight premiere of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. We had a good, home cooked meal beforehand, prepared by none other than the Maestro and desert by the Frog Queen. After dinner, it was the festival of lights. Waiting in a long line in a vehicle filled to the max can be interesting, but as always in our case, it was a lot of fun. Lots of laughs.

            So the six of us managed to turn The Hobbit into an all evening event, arriving at the theater a little after ten o’clock. Part of the charm of midnight premieres is the environment itself. Like the guy who came in and yelled “I have a boner” as he went to his seat. There were some chuckles, some eye rolling. Then it seemed odd that we were shown a preview of the movie we’d paid to see, only it made sense when they started to run Catching Fire. There were some chuckles, some eye rolling. Probably some guy in the projection room muttering “shit shit shit shit” under his breath. They got it sorted out and we got our movie. Maestro wanted to sit through another round of previews, saying that we’d been cheated out of some. I say he’s crazy.

            Smaug was awe-inspiring. The tales did not do him justice and Peter Jackson set a standard for every fantasy movie with a dragon to follow. How Game of Thrones will measure up when Daenerys’ dragons are grown, we will have to see. Oh, and if you were wondering how they were going to drag it out into three movies, the ending of The Desolation of Smaug left me with one single thought: And we have to wait a whole year to get the rest? Insert wide eyed expression. I don’t think it will be an issue.

            I jumped at all the right parts, laughed at the antics, and generally enjoyed it. It was worth the time and money, just as the last one was. Plus, it was my first IMAX experience. Complete immersion in clown glasses! How can you go wrong?

            Just one more movie to go, and we have to wait until the end of 2014 to get it. In the meantime, we have the end of 2013 to deal with and as much as I like the number thirteen, I am glad to see this year laid to rest.

            Have a good Monday y’all!