It’s that time of year again: time to get in line for a midnight showing from the land of Tolkien-and-Jackson.  It’s been twelve years since that first midnight movie in Dallas.  Time flies, as Gollum or Bilbo might guess.

And so tonight it’s Bilbo and the dwarves in barrels.  I’m not sure why, but it’s one of my favorite images from The Hobbit.  There are lots of details of the story that I’ve mostly forgotten, but that image is strong.  I’m looking forward to seeing how Peter Jackson handles it.  I’m also quite excited that reviews for The Desolation of Smaug are quite good, especially when compared to An Unexpected Journey.

The denizens of Sesame Street recently got into a Tolkien mood.  Check out “The Lord of the Crumbs” below.  It’s got some nice moments, some quality nods to LOTR.  And its’s got a decent lesson-learned, too.

One of these days I’m going to have to research the fine line between Sesame Street and the Muppets.  Glad they both have a nice sense of humor and parody.