TOW #13 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug' Review By Mick LaSalle

The latest movie in The Hobbit trilogy has seen critical reviews and many fans have praised the new movie. However there is one movie critic who believes otherwise. Mick LaSalle, a movie critic for the San Francisco Chronicle, believes that the movie is subpar and should not have been made. The Desolation of Smaug is the latest in director Peter Jackson's trilogy from the book The Hobbit, written by J.R.R. Tolkien. The book is a prequel to The Lord of the Rings and follows the story of Bilbo Baggins, the dwarves, and Gandalf the Grey. The author of this review wrote this article for the people who might not know a lot about The Hobbit.  He does this by taking generic moments in the movie and analyzing them so that someone who does not know anything about the The Hobbit might get interested in The Lord of the Rings. The author also wants as many people as possible agree with him on how the movie is a complete failure. The author comes off as a fan of The Lord of the Rings but not a fan of The Hobbit.  The author has three main points in his analysis of the movie. He believes that the movie falls short, losses balance and does not progress. Mick LaSalle believes that in the movie there are too many things that are emphasized leaving for nothing to be then emphasized. The movie losses balance, he says, by expanding on unnecessary moments in the book. Finally the author argues that this movie does not advance the plot enough from the story to be added into the new The Hobbit series. I believe that the author was able to successfully argue all of his points effectively. I do not agree with some of his points but I understand he may have is opinion.

TOW #12 War on Christmas By: John Cole

This is a political cartoon created by John Cole that was published in the Scranton Times-Tribune. The political cartoon has a title saying "A Season of Imagination." There are then two children thinking of Santa Claus and a reindeer. Next to them is Bill O'Reilly and Sarah Palin thinking about the anti-holiday people. The author's message in this political cartoon would be to enjoy the holidays and not think about the people who hate the holidays and have fun in your own way. The author is saying that he would rather have the people who are paid to bring up problems, let them do their jobs. While the rest of us have a happy holiday, as though we were a child. The author created this political cartoon for everyone because he wanted them to enjoy the holidays and not worry about the small things. Many people worry over the things that the Bill O'Reilly and Sarah Palin talk about when dome of them do not directly effect any of the people that are listening to them. The author's purpose was to try and tell the people who are reading his political cartoon to not worry about the world and the people who hate Christmas or New Years. The author does not want the people a bunch of angry and unhappy people on Christmas day. A device that the author uses to portray his purpose and convince the audience into not worrying about the small things is the juxtaposition of the two extremes of the holidays. He puts the children next to the extremist politicians creating a sense of silliness in the political cartoon. I believe that the author did a wonderful job at portraying two extremes and still getting an end result.