Viggo Mortensen -- being Aragorn. Again!

I'm in a Viggo mood today, and there's plenty to be in a mood about! You probably know that The Hobbit is in serious, serious preproduction. I blogged a little about it here, when Dominic Monaghan was talking about the very real possibility that he, Billy and Elijah would be in the movie. (It was Elijah Wood's birthday at the time...)

I still don't know how those talks have turned out, but I can tell you this much: now the company is talking to Viggo about coming back to be Aragorn again!! Here's the news: Viggo Mortensen talks the Hobbit. This is so cool, it gives you shivers.



Now, the problem is that Aragorn wasn't in the book of The Hobbit -- any more than Pip, Merry and Frodo were in it. However, if Aragorn was 87 y.o. in Two Towers, then he sure as heck was there, temporally speaking at least, when the story of The Hobbit was actually happening. So was Legloas. And Elrond and Arwen.


So potentially you could have Aragorn and Legolas, and Elrond and Arwen, at least as "guest stars" along the way. You could also have Gimli, but remember that he'd never met Aragorn and Legolas before the Council of Elrond.

James McAvoy is being whispered about as the actor to play the younger Bilbo. (I blogged about this too, right here. With succulent pictures.)

You could even write in a part for Saruman, who was still sane at the time. Send for Christopher Lee ... and if Ian McKellen doesn't play Gandalf, not only will I not blog about it, I won't even go and see it!

Same goes for Orlando Bloom, who looks far more gorgeous now than he did 10 years ago, and if they get anybody else in the cosmos to play Legolas ...!!!



Which leaves Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan and Elijah Wood kind of "dangling" ... and I just can't figure out how their characters are going to get into the picture.

Anyway, while I'm in a Viggo mood, let's have some pictures...




I'm STILL in a Viggo mood, so I'll be posting again shortly, with more news...

We demand video!

Much as I love Australia, there's times when you wish you were in North America: living downunder you get a terrible case of Bandwidth Envy. Down here? You pay top dollar for a squeezy-wheezy little bit of bandwidth, and when you're over your limit, ZAP -- they revert you to dialup speeds.

Meanwhile, in the USA (where else?) you can sign up with Netflix for US$9-a-month and get access to streaming video on the teev ... any movie, anytime, with a catalog of 12,000 titles to choose from right now, and growing all the time.

Wanna read the whole story that just popped up on the Star Tribune this morning: here it is!

'Scuze me now while I go gnash my teeth. Aus doesn't have the bandwidth available, and what with the internet filtering (filleting) that's due to start very soon, we're likely to lose the internet altogether -- imagine this: the internet is taken down!!! There's been talk about it. (Mel Keegan has blogged loads about this in the last few months. What you need to do it go over to The World According to Mel and click on the "Save the Internet!" label, and get ready to be appalled.

Okay -- that's the news -- where's the eye candy???

How about James McAvoy -- blond!


How's about luscious Gerard Butler looking -- well, like this:


Or are you in the mood for Christian Bale in the shower? Here goes:


And for those who are loony for Cloony, here's Gorgeous George, plus pooch:


And to round it off, how's about Mark Wahlberg, complete with tattoo:


Nice dose of eye candy!

A hobbit one gets into ... hey, that's James McAvoy!

First, an apology to everyone: I haven't posted in a couple of days. The reason is, THE HEAT. You might not be aware of this, but we were at 115F the other day, and it's only 95F overnight! I'm a grease spot, melted into the carpet, and somebody trod on me this morning. So, the reason I haven't posted is ... I reckon I'm lucky to be alive. AND this heatwave is going to continue on for another week --!! I'm starting to wish I were in Wellington --

And speaking of Wellington ... as in New Zealand ... as in Middle Earth ... let's get down to business! The last time I was able to post, I was talking about the new movie of The Hobbit, and then I had to take a rather nasty hiatus. So let me get back to where I was, and start there!

The movie is no only ON, it's been doubled. My info is that they're doing it in two movies. Th director has been set and alas it isn't Peter Jackson. However, it's somebody PJ knows and respects, and PK is going to produce, so ... good enough. The big question uppermost in everybody's mind is ... who's going to play Bilbo Baggins?

I'd have liked to see Iam Holm again. He says he's too old, but he probably isn't. The first time Gandalf meets him again in Fellowship, he (Gandalf) says, "You haven't aged a day," which means that Bilbo wasn't any spring chicken when he and the dwarfs went chasing Smaug. Gandalf reckons he looks the same. Anyway, there's my reasoning, but --

New Line (and they're probably right) seem to think the part ought to be played by a Young and Beautiful actor, probably to put bums on seats at the movie house! The last I looked at this half of the story, everybody was talking about James McAvoy.

You probably know him best from the movie he made half naked with his knees on backwards: Narnia. Yep, he was Tumnus the faun, who was seriously cute. But Tumnus is not the extent of James's potential (with or without his knees on the right way around). For your consideration, I present the photographic evidence:






...and based on that evidence, you'd kinda have to agree with New Line!

Parting shot: the Photoshop Fiends are at it again. The mock-poster I started with, and the Saruman I'm closing with, are not down to me -- I have no idea where they came from, but they're a good chuckle. If anyone knows source and credit, let me know -- I'd love to put them on...