Awesome, Weird & Amazing Book Videos

There have been a few profound book series in my life that I would use to define myself as a reader. Books that I've picked up over and over again and reread.

Books that made me want to be a reader, a writer, an adventurer.

Books that have changed my life.

I'm talking about 3 series in particular; The Lord of the Rings, The Wheel of Time, and Harry Potter

I'm going to start with The Lord of the Rings, as it was the first series that I ever read and was the main reason that I got into the fantasy genre. 

I didn't think anything could ever be as good as it was. I read The Hobbit (or had it read to me) first, then The Rings, but I never picked up The Silmarillion, so I always felt that there were some things that I never quite understood. That is until I watched these videos by CGP Grey

Oh, okay. That cleared things up pretty well. 

Who knew? (probably Stephen Colbert)

Thinking nothing could top The Lord of the Rings, I got into a debate with a friend in high school about it and he disagreed with me, claiming The Wheel of Time was better. I didn't believe him.

I was wrong.

Tolkien may have been the father of fantasy, but Robert Jordan blew him out of the water. WOT to this day is still my favorite book series. In fact, I'm rereading them for the 3rd time. (Although I read all the chapter summaries over and over again every time a new book was released from 10 on, so really I've kind of read them more than that) 

It seems I'm not the only fan of WOT though. Billy Zane seems to be as well. He recently produced a pilot for a WOT TV show that aired on some channel called FXX. 

The first episode is called Winter Dragon and it is hilariously awful! If you've read Eye of the World, you will recognize this as the prologue, where Lews Therin Telamon and Ishamael (played by Zane) talk about the beginning of the Breaking of the World. Yes, this is the defining moment where Lew Therin goes crazy and creates Dragonmount.... or at least that's what's suppose to happen...

Where is Dragonmount, Billy Zane? How can the Dragon be reborn on it's slopes if you don't go crazy and start blowing things up?

Oh right... adaptation... an unauthorized one at that. 

“This morning brought startling news. A “pilot” for a Wheel of Time series, the “pilot” being called Winter Dragon, had appeared at 1:30 in the morning, East Coast time, on FXX TV, a channel somewhere in the 700s (founded to concentrate on comedy, according to the Washington Post).

It was made without my knowledge or cooperation. I never saw the script. No one associated with Bandersnatch Group, the successor-in-interest to James O. Rigney, was aware of this.

Bandersnatch has an existing contract with Universal Pictures that grants television rights to them until this Wednesday, February 11 – at which point these rights revert to Bandersnatch.

I see no mention of Universal in the “pilot”. Nor, I repeat, was Bandersnatch, or Robert Jordan’s estate, informed of this in any way.

I am dumbfounded by this occurrence, and am taking steps to prevent its reoccurrence.” - Harriet McDougal Rigney

In the back of my mind, I always hoped that they would make a WOT TV show and when Game of Thrones was actually done well, my hopes got a bit higher. But this is laughable. 

I know, not all adaptations are done well and even if they are, fans will always find fault in them. Just look at Harry Potter.

When Harry Potter first became popular I thought it was stupid. I know, I know. I jumped on the bandwagon with all the haters without knowing anything other than the fans seemed annoying. My mother borrowed the first couple of books from the neighbor's kid and read them. When I voiced my opinion on it, she handed me Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and told me only when I had read it was I allowed to have an opinion on it. I picked it up hoping to hate it just to prove her wrong and ended up falling in love with the series. It's sort of how I felt about Severus Snape through the books.

oh how my heart breaks....

I love you Alan Rickman... 

Books are wonderful things that take us on awesome, silly, strange and amazing adventures.
Thank goodness for books


(and thank goodness for Nerd Approved for all the awesome info)