Saturday, December 24, 2011

Christmas Eve, The Hobbit, and Tea

It's Christmas Eve everybody! It's also the middle of Hanukkah everybody! I hope that all of you are safe and having lots of fun, what ever you're doing this weekend.

I know that this came out a couple of days ago, but I am so excited about the Hobbit trailer. If you haven't seen it already, you can view a really good version here. Why am I excited? First of all, The Hobbit is one of my most favorite books. I'm also excited because since the movie will be a two-part installment there's a high likelihood that there will actually a part of the movie with Beorn in it. All Hobbit adaptations that I have seen (okay, it was the cartoon, but still...) have neglected this character. It's pretty funny how Gandalf gets Beorn to let all fifteen of them to stay at his house for a couple of days, and he's not like Tom Bombadil (who can easily be neglected as a minor character). Beorn makes it possible for them to get into Mirkwood! Plus, along with seeing old faces like Ian Mckellan, Martin Freeman is playing Bilbo! Having seen him in many other roles, I feel that Freeman will be a fantastic Bilbo. Is anyone else excited yet? What if I said that Benedict Cumberbatch is voicing Smaug and the Necromancer (eg: Sauron)? Yup, another fantastic actor will be in The Hobbit and he will be voicing one of the best villains in literary history: Smaug.

Smaug is my favorite villain because he positively reeks of evilness and says one of my favorite speeches from The Hobbit, "Revenge! The King under the Mountain is dead and where are his kin that dare seek revenge? Girion Lord of Dale is dead, and I have eaten his people like a wolf among sheep, and where are his sons' sons that dare approach me? I kill where I wish and none dare resist." He says more, but I really like that part because it's so full of gloating and yet also the best threat ever.

On a less "OMGIT'SMYFAVORITEBOOKEVERMADEINTOAMOVIEYAY!!!" note, I discovered a couple of yummy teas this past week. The first one is a zhena's gypsy tea brand. It's called Chocolate Chai Herbal Red Tea. It's got all of the fantastic notes from chai (warm, spicy, sweet), plus a light chocolate flavor at the end. It's also Fair Trade, high in antioxidants, and has zero caffeine according to the package. The chocolate flavor comes from carob, so I will trust that it's actually caffeine free. Another good tea that I have discovered a couple of days ago with my mom is from the Republic of Tea brand. It's from their Cuppa Chocolate Tea line, called Coconut Cocoa. It seriously tastes like a sweet and coconutty hot chocolate. The ingredients include carob, barley, chicory, dates, and coconut and chocolate. Super yummy, super sweet (but no added sugar), and it's low in caffeine (as in less caffeine than white tea). However, I would suggest leaving the tea bag in for a lot longer than normal tea for a fuller chocolate flavor if you like a very strong flavor in your drink. I don't think that it hurts the flavor like it does with normal tea (for example, green tea gets bitter if brewed too long). I hope that if you try them you'll enjoy those teas as much as I do.

Here are a couple of presents from me:
Ormie the Pig, if you like ridiculously funny animation, and true happiness from a cat's perspective, if you like cute stuff like that.
Merry Christmas! Have a great weekend everybody!

No comments:

Post a Comment