Australian Adventure: Sydney

After we got through customs, Red got us week-long train/bus/ferry passes and we traveled to a suburb about an hour away from the city called Cambelltown.

I'm not partial to the suburban communities, but if I ever have to live in one I'd like to live the way our landlords did.

We stayed in a travel trailer in this back yard. But the backyard was also a garden with vegetables and other plants, a fountain, a grape arbor, a separate room that served as a meditation retreat, a small bathroom to the side and even a small chicken coop in the corner. (The only thing missing was a Koi Pond.)

Whenever I opened the door of the trailer it seemed like one of the couple's toy poodles was out there to see what I was up to.

Everything seemed to be overflowing with life. Its extremely difficult to get plants to grow that way where I am from. It was a peaceful setting and very beautiful.

All we did there was pretty much introduce ourselves and drop off our stuff, but the gentleman was nice enough to drive us back to the train station and advise us to be careful not to hang around the train station too long after dark.

After getting back to the city, Red decided we would walk through Hyde Park on our way to a place called Darling Point (at least I think that was what it was called, it was either that or The Rocks but they're nearby each other). But first we stopped by Coles and got food.

(Coles is not a clothes store, its a grocery store in AU)

We got fruit and I think stuff to make sandwiches (white bread and canned chicken are popular cuisine choices for Red).

Afterward we walked through the urban areas and I proceeded to get completely lost in the city.
(not in a good way)

I was completely disoriented as to which direction we were going. We would turn down a lane or cross a street and turn again. I was sure at several points we were going in circles. I felt out of control and I didn't like it.

Walking through Hyde Park, we stopped and went through the ANZAC Memorial.

(it's sideways because the computer won't let met turn it...Red took the picture.)

 Its for the soldiers from Australia and New Zealand Armies. Started during WWI, when troops from AU and NZ made a batallion to serve in the war. It was apparently a period of time that helped the country define its cultural identity: even though AU was originally a place for outcasts of the British empire, the people of Australia were eager to help the mother country in the war effort. The memorial is a patriotic icon.

It would have been really nice but the whole time we were exploring it we were also carrying these great sacks of food in our hands. It felt really out of place. Like going through the Lincolin Memorial with a shopping cart (which im sure people have done before but i don't think its a good idea)

(Nothing like exploring a war memorial with your groceries)

Then we ate lunch next to Capt. Cook :)

Red was trying to psych me up for this "really cool" thing that turned out to be an underground moving platform :-|

It was pretty long and the walls were painted with new-agey stuff. Red was trying to make the experience a suprise but it didn't work out the way she expected. When we got to the end there was a parking garage, we took an elevator to the open are where a whole bunch of people were standing around.

She said "OK just imagine all of these people aren't here and you can see a hill, the hill is actually the top of a parking garage."

(The hill/park is called "the domain".)

I didn't appreciate this 9th wonder of the world at the time because there were a whole bunch of people standing round us so I couldn't see the hill.

We walked past a bunch of other things (Like a prison and a fountain and a HUGE library and a few other things). Since we were carrying bags and I wasn't dressed nice I didn't want to go inside St Mary's Cathedral (We did go later Tho.)

Then we passed Circular Quay. (I kept pronouncing this place wrong Quay is pronounced like the thing you use to.start your car and pretty much means "a line" as in "to line boats up next to a dock" presumably "Circular Quay" refers to the fact that the dock is shaped in a half-circle, and the boats will have to "line up in a circle" in order to dock.)

Circular Quey is located RIGHT NEXT TO Darling Point. And there is a train station at Circular Quey. So we could have skipped walking through that expansive urban area if we'd we'd started from this point and gone to Hyde Park from here.

Dammit.

Then we found a nice comfy place on the pavement and sat there for the next 8 hours 30 minutes.
I was exhausted in body and mind. And since I'd stopped moving about I was starting to feel it.

I laid down for a while, but as the place started to get more crowded Red insisted I sit or stand.

"You shouldn't be tired, you slept on the plane."

(I should have prayed for the Lord to give me patience. But as it was, I didn't kill Red, so I guess it turned out OK.)

The fireworks came from all different directions: from the opera house in front of us, from the Sydney Harbor bridge to our left, and from some undetermined point behind us.

They had some go off at 9 pm and some people left after that. We got a little closer to the shoreline before things got really really crowded again.

Besides the fireworks, there was this really cool stunt airplane flying about the harbor early in the evening and this extremely annoying and repetitive beatbox music coming from an outdoor pub that persisted throughout the entire period of the time we were there.

The fireworks were pretty cool, but not something I'd ever do again.

On New Years Day we got to sleep and later went to the Sydney Eye. Red said it wasn't that cool, but it was important to me to try to get oriented to the city since I'd done a pretty bad job at it upon my arrival.

I wrote some postcards for my family (That I'd gotten at Woolworths, which is another supermarket there), but couldn't send them off at the highest freaking postbox in the southern hemisphere because when I asked if they sold international stamps they said no :(

It was about this time Red encouraged me to start sharing the experience on FB. I tried to make at least one post a day saying stuff about my trip. I also tried to keep a journal.

We also went to the Queen Victoria Building, which is a Mall right in the middle of a bunch of streets. The pedestrian traffic is so heavy there, they actually stop all four lanes of the intersection near the entrance so people coming from all different directions can get across.

Later we walked across the Harbor Bridge (The one you are allowed to walk across).

 And went to a place called Luna Park: Which is a legit 1930's style amusement park. I guess Red had been there a few times just people watching, but after seeing the anti-gravity one we decided to try a sampler of two of the rides.

The anti gravity one was like being spinned around the inside of a huge bucket so you stick to the walls and the floor beneath you drops. Red was a lot more courageous then i was. She was moving all about and I just wiggled my arms a bit. It was still really fun.

Afterwards we went on a ferris wheel and annoyed the whole world by yelling "Hi!" and waving to random people as if they were the long lost family member we'd been dying to see every time our gondola came down to earth.

One of the days on our way back on the train, we stopped at an outback steakhouse (just to see what it was like cuz you know, it's themed australian) and surprisingly enough they don't try very hard to convince you of that, it actually looks like a regular diner inside...

(In my home country, these would be labeled "mate" and "shelia")

We went along the Sydney Heritage Walk to a place called "the rocks" which is where all these really really old buildings are from when the convicts first came there and they built all their buildings out of...you guessed it

Rocks.

Next we went hiking at the Blue Mountians.  They look a lot like what I think the Grand Canyon might have looked thousands of years ago: covered gum and evergreen trees, a lovely temprate rainforest. And because the trees are so oily, there is a blue-haze when you look out into the distance ("That's why they're called the blue mountians!")

Its also my living vision for Mirkwood.

It was a pretty steep climb down (I was clinging to the side rail on account of my poor footing)

Luckily, we were able to ride a rail on the way back up. (We even lived dangerously and tilted the seats 'suicide'-style.)
Unfortunately I don't currently have any pictures of this leg of our journey because my camera decided to malfunction that day.

Sadness


We went to Manly Beach via ferry. It was pretty funny because we would walk past businesses there and they were called things like "Manly Beauty Parlour".

Gotta love australia and their hugely creative place-names! The beach was pretty crowded, but Red said it isn't most of the year (it is summer in December and January down there and also it was new years holiday)

(We didn't swim that day)

We also took the 'free tour' at the maritime museum (which pretty much consists of walking around the lobby, gift shop, and the haurbor lining it.) If we'd gotten there earlier in the day I would have paid to go inside because there was a Viking exhibit and I have another Ginger sister who loves Vikings and I'd have loved to tell her about it. As it was, I did get a few viking replica things in the gift shop. The historical boats.outside were pretty cool too. One of them was used as a refugee ship during WW2.

It was somewhere around this time that Sherlock Season 3: Episode 1 came out. Our And because I followed the right people on tumblr, my newsfeed was blasted with these glorious gifs of Benedict Cumberbatch long into the early, early, early hours of the morning.

Red and I are single, and virtually every time we walked past a male who in Red's eyes is reasonably attractive she would try to draw my attention to him.

Eventually the interactions would go something like this:

Red: "Hey, look at that cute boy over there!"

Ebster: "Is it Benedict Cumberbatch jumping through a window?"

Red: "No."

Ebster: "Then I DON'T CARE."

Over the weekend, our train had track service so travelers would have to get off and take a bus part of the way. This made he 1 hour trip wards of three hours. Gratefully, we'd decided to go camping on an island in the bay where they used to have a prison, make war ships, and had a school for girls...(not all at the same time, obviously)

It was a really pretty place, and you can do a lot of exploring of these huge old industrial buildings and prison ruins. I kept thinking that there are a lot of places like that in the states (Like the Russian River Fort in Northern California, which I was fortunate enough to see and explore...before it got locked up) But they are locked up and no one actually gets to explore them in the same way.

It was breeding season for the seabirds on Cockatoo Island, so they were super-aggressive and territorial, we got harassed by them several times. (Once at night, while Red and I were ghost-hunting, which was very very funny).

The next day we went to church. It was testimony meeting sunday, which is when members of the congregation are invited to the pulpit. Sometimes it is very uplifting, and people share a devotional, a scripture or a spiritual experience. Other times people use it as a way to introduce themselves whilst crying. This meeting was a little bit of both. We stayed for the whole three hours.

The church was in a tall city building, which was kinda cool and different from what I'm used to.


Afterward we went to the Botanical Gardens and the Opera House (which is actually peach colored-looking, I'd always thought it was silver/white).

The park on the way there is like a fourm set up for public display and debate. I met a guy who advocates the translation of english into a photonic (sound based) language. And saw a guy named Mr Bashful who didn't seem all that bashful at all.

 (They have this weird automatic bathroom thing.That was a bit freaky.)

There was also a display on the conversion of energy to matter using the egyption god horus: it showed how different symbols in his icon were meant to represent different steps in the process.

All very fascinating.

At the botanical guardens, there were these pools in the botanical guarden with fish and eels in them. The eels look like really long fish...like snake-fish...but their faces were pretty similar. I kept saying stupid things to Red, such as "Do you hear that, Highness? Those are the shrieking eels! They always make that sound when they're about to feed on human flesh!"

(But we fed them breadcrumbs from the ruined loaf of white bread instead).

The last day we went to Bondi (the last letter is pronounced like the letter itself, it does not take the place, or have the value of the letter Y. (Which I think is dumb).

And my camera broke (which was also dumb)

We also went to a bunch of other places along the coastline, including a place that is so notourios as a place to commit suicide that there are cameras set up along the cliffside walk. Very, very sad. But also fascinating, because I'm morbid like that.

The next day we flew to Melborne.

Edit: a few more pictures just cuz I want to..

 (St Mary's Cathedral)

(Red Punching a T-Rex during our "free tour" of a sydney museum)

A Lovely Cockatoo Island Sunset 

(This is the outside wall of a big, tall "green" building)

We also went to a cool art museum, but unfortunately it was illegal to take pictures there.

I learned about an art series called 100 aspects of the moon, it was beautiful and I loved the the asian folk tales behind each of the pieces I saw.

I also saw a big huge version of this touching picture:

(

Austrailian Adventure: The Aeroplane

At the end of last year and into January, I got to go to Australia on vacation to visit my big sister Red.

It was extraordinary and I've been meaning to blog about it, howevery computer is out of comission. It is harder to type on this little tablet and I'm not sure I can upload pictures. However I've decided to document the experience as best I can and add the pictures at a later date.

(Edit 11-14-14: I bought my little sister a computer and inherited her old one. I can now upload photos and silly gifs. YAY!)

Before we left, Red and I weren't getting along great. I'd been so happy to see her again and she seemed like seeing me and the rest of the family was an obligation more then a pleasure. I can't say I didn't resent that or that it didn't cause conflict. I had to prepare myself, to try to let that resentment go before we got on the plane.

I'm not sure exactly how successful I was, but we sat next to each other the whole 17 hours and I didn't die or kill her, so it must have turned out ok.

Truthfully, we got finally got back into our old communication patterns of banter and jest, and it set us up nicely for the trip. As I was silly enough to not program a cell phone to work in AU, this was a good thing.

We sat in the back section of the plane, A New Zealand Airlines jet (but not one of the Smaug ones :(
(Their flight safety video is awesome, if you've never seen it I suggest you look it up on youtube.)

Or, alternatively, you could watch it here:

The flight was overnight, so it was easier to sleep (not really restful, but still it staves off boredom). And we got to eat! Warm yummy food for dinner and breakfast, and because we switched flights at Auckland we got breakfast twice (SCORE!!!)

Or I guess you could say we got SECOND breakfast :P

There is also a small entertainment system on the back of the seat in front of every passenger, so you can monitor the progress of the flight, watch a movie or tv show, play a game (I played s type of diamond crush), or listen to music:

Things I listened to:

-The entire Linkin Park-Living Things album (x3) (because its awesome)

-The Greatest hits of that band that sings Mamma Mia (x1) (because they weren't that great)

-Love Never Dies (Phantom of the Opera sequel which was ok but they really made Raoul a forkface) (x1).

-Part of a Beatles album

Its nice time killer, after all that you only have 14 hours left to go!

(Whooot!)
Really though, once I got there it seemed like no time at all. It was New Years Eve, and we had a busy day ahead of us.

Sunday School Dialogue

Volunteer Reader: Moses 1: 12 And it came to pass that when Moses had said these words, behold, Satan came tempting him, saying: Moses, son of man, worship me.

Teacher: "OK..."

Teacher:"so..."

Teacher: "What did Satan want Moses to do?"

The Year I Decided to Not Shave My Legs (This one has pictures)

Octiber 2012, I decided I didn't want to shave my legs for a year. Mostly it was just for kicks, I'd been thinking about doing it for a while. There were a lot of factors in my life's experiences that contributed to this experiment, but mostly I wanted to see what it was like. I found out that most of the time I'm more self-consious about my legs themselves then the hairs on them. They're not even as impressive as I'd hoped they'd be.

This is what my lower legs look like after 14 months of not being shaved:

Not that impressive. I want more leg hairs! :( 

Oh, and I didn't shave my armpits either, but I haven't taken pictures of them ): 

I don't let a lot of people who look at my legs (even before I stopped shaving them). My mom said, "Well. It could have been a tattoo." I don't think dad noticed at all. I have a brother who noticed I was wearing leggings in summer (this was normal for me to do anyways). My sister rolled her eyes a few times, but that didn't bother me much. To me, unshaved legs are comfortable, and for the most part my family doesn't care either way. But if I go out into public, I will always cover up (the same way I did when I was very unhappy about my weight) because I don't want to deal with criticism of others. On Christmas Eve last year I shaved them.This is what it looked like afterward:

My niece (who was spending the night) noticed:

My niece: "What happened????"

Me: "Oh, I just shaved my legs and accidentally cut myself."

She went to the kitchen and soaked a tissue in water, and used it to clean the wound.

Me: "Oh, thank you!"

My niece: "Now you can ask my dad."

Me: "Um...your dad's not here right now."

My niece: "Well, when he comes tomorrow, he can help you. He's really good at shaving."

Later, she saw the front of my leg, and repeated the cleansing of my wounds.

My niece: "Now, if you keep on shaving, it will give you more boo boos."

That is the reaction I couldn't have dared to hope for! No more shaving for me!

Patriarchy and Misogyny

I and my sisters got into a discussion regarding "The Patriarchy" in organized religion, particularly that found within the Mormon faith.

It was a pretty deep discussion and we discussed a whole lot of issues that I couldn't hope to go over here but I did want to bring up one thing:

We observed that men in the church are often dismissive of women and women's opinions and observations. In the Mormon faith, the revelation a woman receives is not nearly as significant as that which a man receives.

Similarly, in church culture, discussions on things like doctrinal interpretation of scripture are often dominated by the male perspective. In general, women are "wrong" and need to be corrected whilst men are "not wrong".

(Note: I realize that discrimination and inequality do not have a gender, or color, or sexuality for that matter. There are many examples of men, of people of any color, or any sexual preference who have been unfairly treated, belittled, and silenced simply because another person didn't like their gender/color/sexuality etc OR thought they knew better.

However, I do believe that the patriarchy's domination in the faith culture is a form of misogyny. I have seen it manifested in the attitudes of men and women of all faiths and I think it is something we should be ashamed of.)

I believe it is ungodly, and I believe it persists within the 'Faith Culture', in part, because both men and women let it.

I also don't think it's an issue that's going to be resolved any time soon. How can it? When day after day women and men of faith don't have courage and do the right thing?

• When we argue amongst ourselves that objectification of females and female bodies is a good thing?
• When we say that women need to be week, that God wants them to be weak? Or that strength in women is somehow a threat to men?
• When we emphasize to our daughters the importance of purity and chastity, but not our sons???

We were in the middle of this conversation, and we were talking loudly. And then our dad came in...

A male, entering a group entirely composed of females... and illustrated perfectly the phenomena we'd been discussing...

And told us (among other things) that we couldn't talk about it anymore.

It was actually pretty funny, because we'd just been talking about how women get shut down by men...then he walked in and provided us with an excellent example of the phenomena!!

Because we couldn't talk about it anymore, my sister handed me a letter with her feelings, I thought it was significant, so I wanted to post it here.

 It's really why I made this whole post....

"I just think that it's a very worthy issue to attempt to discuss. As women, this is something that really and truely bothers us. We want to know our roles in life and understand the roles others play in our lives. And it's easy for dad to dismiss it as easily as he does because it doesn't bother him the same way it does us.

"I think we should really attempt to come up with a valid conclusion to that discussion about the roles of women and the patriarchy organization. And if we can't come to a conclusion then we know it's part of the mysteries of God that will be revealed to us "Line upon line" according to our faith.

"All I know is that God loves us and the Eternity He has planned for us will be completely fair and just, because He loves us enough to never let us ever be in any form of minority, because we are his beloved children.

God DOES NOT do that "Power over another" crap."

Another thing that was shared was that the only example we can really look to in faith or how we should treat one another is Jesus.

I really believe that to be true. I think about the way He listened to people and the ways He helped people (men and women) work thought their salvation. (I particularly like His example with the Canaanite woman). He helped us have faith...and he taught us to live that faith did not discriminate based on demographic factors.

He was not a bigot and there was no hate, or resentment, in his heart. He was teaching us a different way to live...a way in which we...as Christians...TWO-THOUSAND YEARS LATER...have not even grasped yet.

The Hobbit Stinks! (Part 2)

I've been wanting to write this post for a while, but you know...things come up at christmastime. I signed up for an ACLS class (that was a lot of fun, I should tell you about some stuff I learned there later...)

Anyway...I've been really, really wanting to share with my friends how badly the second movie in 'The Hobbit' franchise 'stinks'.

This is Part 2 of a post I wrote last year on 'The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey', which you can read here.

The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug

I was happy with a lot of the additions that seemed to upset a lot of other fans of the book. I think the storytellers adapting the book for film have a lot of freedom in this part of the story. The book is told through Bilbo's perspective, and Bilbo is a bit of an outsider experiencing an entirely new environment.

He wouldn't know, for example, what the King of the Wood-Elves' name was, he wouldn't know much about his back-story or why he is such a jerkface.

 He wouldn't have paid a whole lot of attention to the Captain of the Wood-Elf guard, or her opinion on Wood-Elf foreign policy.

And while it is likely that he did befriend Bard the Bowman/Boatman/Bargeman and he did care about the people of Laketown, he was not as privy to the political climate of Laketown as The Narrator was.

(Even if they didn't show how the Humans and Wood-Elves were real chums and not just business partners)

These were augmentations to the story line I welcomed because they were extensions of the plot in the book, not outright changes.

Now...
The Things That Stink About "The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug"

• Beorn

In this scene, we missed a wonderful opportunity to see Gandalf perform the best magic trick ever.

It's called:

"Transforming a complete stranger into a friend."

Bear in mind (pun intended!) Beorn has no clue who Gandalf is. And the only reason Gandalf knows who Beorn is, is because Radagast mentioned him.

(So to Bilbo, he's a friend of a friend...of a friend...you might say)

We would see the TACT and COMMUNICATION strategies that would have been invaluable to the Dwarves in their later adventures, after Gandalf abandon's the company.

Because it would be a bit to much to show that adventure is more then just running, and fighting, and breaking into complete stranger's houses (...you actually have to be nice to people)!

• Music

It is not a surprise that this part of the tale is short on musical numbers (PJ's elves don't sing, and everyone else doesn't get occasion to). I did enjoy Laketown's theme.

The song that plays during the credits has cheesy lyrics.

• Azog and Bolg, The Albino Goblins Who Magically Transformed Into Orcs...

This year, I had the opportunity to sit in on a panel with Manu Bennet (the motion capture and voice actor for Azog) (You can read about it here)

It was a very interesting experience, and Manu is a really cool guy. In the interview he revealed that Bolg would be a part of the story and gave a bit of the history of the father and son pair.

Afterwards I thought, "Oh, cool! They'll finally be developing these guys as corrupted sentient creatures and not soulless villains. They'll have a bit more personality this time around...."

No. They didn't.

It wasn't even mentioned that these two "Albino Goblins Who Magically Transformed Into Orcs" are related to each other. They hardly get any interaction, and they're pretty much interchangeable characters ('scept one has scars...

so you can tell the "difference").

BOOOOO!!!!

• Mirkwood 

Mirkwood of the book is 1100x better then Mirkwood in the movie in EVERY respect. This includes the moment when Bilbo rises above the depressive woodland, his mind clears, And he sees the beauty of the world around him.

(And that was a pretty good moment...even though they got the color of the butterflies wrong, and missed the fact that it was overcast that day so Bilbo COULDN'T see the Lonely Mountain or the Lake of Esgaroth. So basically, it was horrible...)

 Mirkwood in the book is vast, dark and mysterious

 and dangerous...

and not just because spiders live there

 (don't drink the water!)

(If you see light, don't go towards it!)

But it's also a place of wonder and indescribable beauty, even if The Company isn't in a position to appreciate it.

Movie-Mirkwood is reminiscent the Captain Jack Sparrow Afterlife Scene in Pirates of the Carribean: More silly then scary.

• Bilbo

Many of my fellow "Hobbit" fans have said that, in this movie, Martin Freeman "is" Bilbo...That he owns the role.

 No, he didn't.

And it's sad because I really think he could have. Mr Freeman is a decent actor (If you haven't seen him as John Watson in the new Sherlock series, I suggest you watch it)

But Bilbo is a more complex individual then he lets on. And Martin Freeman's portrayal of Bilbo simplifies Bilbo's character arc to such an extent that it's like hitting a single note when you could have heard the whole symphony. 

This is inexcusable. Esspecially when so much detail is given to characters, situations and events that have much less to do with "The Hobbit" story! 

Plus, it's NOT like this arc would have been difficult to convey in a the film medium!! In the book, BILBO'S CHARACTER TRANSFORMATION IS DEMONSTRATED IN HIS'S ACTIONS!!!

One example:

How Bilbo (in the book) Saves the Dwarves, a Step-by-Step Guide to Making Giant Spiders Angry

1. Put on ring, becoming invisible

2. Throw some stones at the spiders to get their attention

3. When spiders leave their nest, move (invisibly) to a different location

4. Sing song about how fat and stupid the spiders are

5. Throw more stones

6. Move to a new location

7. Sing taunting song

8. Repeat until all the spiders have left the nest

9. Run back to nest (silent and invisible)

10. Take off ring, cut down dwarves

(From http://sf-fantasy.suvudu.com/2012/09/tolkien-re-read-part-1-the-hobbit-chapters-8-10.html)

Now, PJ Would that have been so hard???? Would it??? WOULD IT???? WOULD IT?!?!??!?!

Instead we have Bilbo soullessly stabbing one spider, then killing this spider-crab thingy and vomiting in his mouth afterwards.

Really? COMON!!

No glee on his face?? No cackling laughter????? No mysterious smiles???  No taunting the spiders??????

Book-Bilbo is the type of guy who would lie to his friends...not because he's afraid, but because he's proud. He likes being impressive, and he enjoys being the "Burglar" of the Company...And "stinging" the spiders, outsmarting the Wood Elves, and taunting the dragon...

...Because he has this secret ring that makes him more powerful then any of them.

If you don't first show that Bilbo relishes his power, and that he CAN be a bit of a junkie...and he CAN be corrupted...it means a whole lot less when he rejects that power to do the RIGHT thing!!!!

In 100 years when they remake The Hobbit in ONE film (AS IT SHOULD BE!!!) Plz give Bilbo a PERSONALITY as he's gutting those spiders!

Movie-Bilbo didn't start out as pathetic as Book-Bilbo, but he doesn't grow to become as cool Book-Bilbo, either.

And Now...For Some Book-Movie Changes That Didn't Stink (as bad)

• The Arkenstone

Previous adaptions of The Hobbit into film have downplayed the significance of The Arkenstone to the plot. I was afraid that it's thematic similarities to the one ring would prevent it from becoming a part of this story; however, in this movie, it's significance is actually accentuated to an even greater degree then it was in the book.

This was helpful to the plot. Because it's clear that The Arkenstone is not just a novelty for Thorin, it's a symbol of his authority. If he gets it, people will take him seriously and support him, even if it means taking on a dragon. To me, this change makes perfect sense.

• Smaug Confrontation

The narrative of The Hobbit has a fantastic build up to the moment that Bilbo enters the Lonely Mountain alone. Everything you've read up to that point would suggest that the Bilbo/Smaug confrontation is going to be the climax of the book.

It's the most perfect buildup to the best psudo-climax in literary history, leading to the best climax in literary history (OK so that's just my opinion...)

The movie cannot have that same novelty, because if you are watching 'The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug', you've probably watched the LOTR. You already know that  Bilbo is going to survive the encounter.

But you don't know if the rest of The Company will.

For all the praise Ben Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman are receiving for their on screen chemistry during their face-off as Smaug and Bilbo, it's the Dwarves that really steal the show here.

Thorin and Co. are finally fighting an adversary in their native habitat. They're using strategies that ONLY Dwarves would think about because they know the environment and they understand the heart of the dragon.

AND THEY COULD DIE AT ANY MINUTE!!

It made the experience every bit the pseudo-climax I wished it could be.

• Elf/Dwarf antagonism-

In the book, the antagonism between Elves and Dwarves exists in a very mild degree, and doesn't cause much conflict in the story until the destitute Dwarves seek the help of the Wood Elves. The Elves misunderstand their intentions and are immediately suspicious of them, and lock them up. When Thorin and Co insist on maintaining the secrecy of their quest, the Elf King takes offense and locks them up indefinitely.

The whole conflict arose from a lack of trust, pride, and misunderstanding.

(What we got here is a failure to communicate)

I felt the movie did a pretty good job of demonstrating those concepts. Mostly due to the excellent acting on the part of Richard Armitage and whatever the guy's name is who plays Thranduil.

When Thorin and Thranduil first meet. The Elvenking is completely collected, he coolly suggests a deal that will benefit both of their people and fully expects Thorin to accept it.

Then Thorin gives the Wood Elf king a piece of his mind, Thranduil appears shocked. As if he genuinely had no idea that his actions in the first movie were perceived as a betrayal.

 But instead of softening, swallowing pride and apologizing, he becomes defensive about the issue.

It's not what happened in the book. It is, however, extremely true to the spirit of the book. And I loved it!

(As a footnote: Thorin later has the opportunity to let an orc kill Thranduil's son. Instead, he saves Legolas' life by killing the orc before he can strike. Again, this did not happen in the books, but still loved it.)

Elves and Dwarves are never really enemies, it just takes them a while to figure that out.

• Romantic Subplot

When fans of the book heard of the possibility of a romantic subplot added to the hobbit film...a romance that was probably between a Wood Elf and a Dwarf...most of us were outraged. I, however, was very, very happy about it (and not just because I'm a fangirl). 

I think it can help point out how petty the differences between the two races are, and how destructive it is to focus on the things that divide us rather then the things that unite us. 

(Starlight and Firemoon...If you watch the movie you'll get it.)

There is a particular quote from the third act of The Hobbit that I thought of, but I won't share it because it gives away the ending too much.

In conclusion: 

The movie was pretty good, but the things that made it good were not the things that made the book good. So, (as an adaption) it was bad.