The morning after

I didn't go to this particular work party, but Panda and many other folk in the office were a little worse for wear this morning. We went en masse for chips 'n' beans at the local caff and it was tricky to get a seat, but the waitress found space for us. Controversially, I opted for a combination of waffles, maple syrup, chips, scrambled egg and mushrooms. Yum!

In the afternoon, as there was only three of us in the office at this point, we played a bit of jazz and had a tea dance, as you do. We also managed to get our work done, proving that jazz of an afternoon makes us quite productive.

In the evening, Fred and I went to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which I had low expectations for, mainly because I'm not a massive fan of that particular work of Tolkien and couldn't quite see how they could make three books from it. However, I had an inkling that I was going to be pleasantly surprised and I wasn't disappointed at all; quite the opposite. The story skilfully weaves in elements from The Lord of the Rings and histories of Middle Earth that appear in various appendices and other works. I read up on the Necromancer, digging out my Tolkien Encyclopedia with glee, when I returned home. The pale orc seems to be an amalgamation of a couple of named orcs in the histories - I need to do some more digging on him. My favourite scenes have to be the Riddle in the Dark with Bilbo and Gollum, the flight of the eagles, and that final scene with the dragon. I can't wait until the second film comes out. In the meantime, I'm going to see this film again, but at the faster frame speed to see if it makes a difference.