Cellar door

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Zaarin
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Re: Cellar door

Post by Zaarin »

mèþru wrote:He definitely doesn't use IPA in his appendices, but those were written for lay people under the mistaken assumption that they would read the appendices.
Anyone who doesn't read the appendices deserves to have a private interview with Morgoth. :o I read LotR + appendices every year. I used to read The Silmarillion every year, too.
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Re: Cellar door

Post by mèþru »

So did I. But we are geeks/nerds.
ìtsanso, God In The Mountain, may our names inspire the deepest feelings of fear in urkos and all his ilk, for we have saved another man from his lies! I welcome back to the feast hall kal, who will never gamble again! May the eleven gods bless him!
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Re: Cellar door

Post by alynnidalar »

I didn't know there were appendices when I read LotR for the first time. It was this big collected edition, so I got to the end and was like, wait, what are all these other pages? And started flipping through them and got so excited. :-D
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Re: Cellar door

Post by Frislander »

I haven't yet read LotR (lay what curses you may have upon my head for not having done so), but we do have two separate editions in the house and I own a good number of ancilliary books. With one of them the publishers must have been drunk, because they left out the appendices altogether!
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Re: Cellar door

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Frislander wrote:I haven't yet read LotR (lay what curses you may have upon my head for not having done so)
Don't worry. I never have, either, nor do I have any intention of reading it. It's not something I consider a priority.

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Re: Cellar door

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Frislander wrote:I haven't yet read LotR (lay what curses you may have upon my head for not having done so), but we do have two separate editions in the house and I own a good number of ancilliary books. With one of them the publishers must have been drunk, because they left out the appendices altogether!
I have three versions of LotR (a leather-bound collector's edition, a collector's edition illustrated by Alan Lee, and an everyday edition), two of The Hobbit (a collector's edition and an Alan Lee-illustrated edition). I really want to find a collector's edition of The Silmarillion, but they're hard to come by in America. :( I wish they'd publish a version of The Silmarillion illustrated by Alan Lee (with no disrespect meant to Ted Nasmith, who is also a talented Middle-earth artist).
Vijay wrote:
Frislander wrote:I haven't yet read LotR (lay what curses you may have upon my head for not having done so)
Don't worry. I never have, either, nor do I have any intention of reading it. It's not something I consider a priority.
You should. IMO it's the most beautiful story ever told, and that's from a lit major.
"But if of ships I now should sing, what ship would come to me,
What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?”

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Re: Cellar door

Post by Vijay »

Zaarin wrote:
Vijay wrote:
Frislander wrote:I haven't yet read LotR (lay what curses you may have upon my head for not having done so)
Don't worry. I never have, either, nor do I have any intention of reading it. It's not something I consider a priority.
You should. IMO it's the most beautiful story ever told, and that's from a lit major.
A big part of what bothers me about things like LotR is precisely the fact that it seems like everybody and their dog has already read it. I'm not a fan of such things (and I don't just mean books); I find them overhyped, and that immediately puts me off them.

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Re: Cellar door

Post by mèþru »

I read Tolkien when I was 10. I never watched the movies before and had barely heard of him, so I didn't experience that kind of hype. (I have a similar experience to you regarding The Force Awakens, which would have been awesome as a crappy fanfic but not really good as part of the Star Wars canon.
ìtsanso, God In The Mountain, may our names inspire the deepest feelings of fear in urkos and all his ilk, for we have saved another man from his lies! I welcome back to the feast hall kal, who will never gamble again! May the eleven gods bless him!
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Re: Cellar door

Post by Travis B. »

I have not read anything by Tolkien, and at this point do not plan on reading any of it (of course, I do not plan on reading anything else either).
Dibotahamdn duthma jallni agaynni ra hgitn lakrhmi.
Amuhawr jalla vowa vta hlakrhi hdm duthmi xaja.
Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro.

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Re: Cellar door

Post by Zaarin »

Vijay wrote:
Zaarin wrote:
Vijay wrote:
Frislander wrote:I haven't yet read LotR (lay what curses you may have upon my head for not having done so)
Don't worry. I never have, either, nor do I have any intention of reading it. It's not something I consider a priority.
You should. IMO it's the most beautiful story ever told, and that's from a lit major.
A big part of what bothers me about things like LotR is precisely the fact that it seems like everybody and their dog has already read it. I'm not a fan of such things (and I don't just mean books); I find them overhyped, and that immediately puts me off them.
I'm only a hipster when it comes to music, coffee, and languages. :p
mèþru wrote:I read Tolkien when I was 10. I never watched the movies before and had barely heard of him, so I didn't experience that kind of hype. (I have a similar experience to you regarding The Force Awakens, which would have been awesome as a crappy fanfic but not really good as part of the Star Wars canon.
I've had a burning hatred of Star Wars for years (except KotOR2--mostly because it's such a fantastic deconstruction of SW), so TFA was actually considerably better than I expected it to be--which isn't saying much, since my expectations were rock bottom (all the more so since I wasn't impressed by JJ's reboot of Star Trek). ;) The LotR films are good films but poor adaptations; The Hobbit films are an abomination from either perspective. :(
"But if of ships I now should sing, what ship would come to me,
What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?”

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Re: Cellar door

Post by Travis B. »

Stuff like this is why I don't watch movies, except for kids' movies.
Dibotahamdn duthma jallni agaynni ra hgitn lakrhmi.
Amuhawr jalla vowa vta hlakrhi hdm duthmi xaja.
Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro.

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Re: Cellar door

Post by cromulant »

You know what's really overhyped? "Cellar door."

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Re: Cellar door

Post by Vijay »

Zaarin wrote:I'm only a hipster when it comes to music, coffee, and languages. :p
What even is a hipster? I've honestly never understood that.

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Re: Cellar door

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Vijay wrote:
Zaarin wrote:I'm only a hipster when it comes to music, coffee, and languages. :p
What even is a hipster? I've honestly never understood that.
It's a generally pejorative term (though you'll also find it used by people hailing the subject) for someone who likes things that are obscure or unpopular simply because they are obscure and unpopular, usually with an accompanying sense of pretentious elitism over the common masses who like the things that are popular. It's also associated with a certain sense of fashion that is deliberately designed to look old or cheap, an appreciation for local, organic, and fair trade products, indie music, and an appreciation for fine coffee and craft beer. In this case, I was simply making a joke about your hipster-sounding claim to dislike things that are popular. ;) I have unpopular tastes in many things, but I think languages are the only case where I'm explicitly attracted to something for no better reason than its obscurity (and even there I have to qualify that I'm not interested in every obscure language--I just tend to find obscure languages more interesting than more familiar languages).
"But if of ships I now should sing, what ship would come to me,
What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?”

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Re: Cellar door

Post by mèþru »

I just try my best to enjoy things. I like finding out about obscure stuff, but I don't think of myself as better for it. In fact, I am a bit inferior for this pursuit as all my time looking up obscure stuff when I was younger could have been used to build social skills and understanding of non-obscure things that are normal conversational pieces.
ìtsanso, God In The Mountain, may our names inspire the deepest feelings of fear in urkos and all his ilk, for we have saved another man from his lies! I welcome back to the feast hall kal, who will never gamble again! May the eleven gods bless him!
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Re: Cellar door

Post by Zaarin »

mèþru wrote:I just try my best to enjoy things. I like finding out about obscure stuff, but I don't think of myself as better for it. In fact, I am a bit inferior for this pursuit as all my time looking up obscure stuff when I was younger could have been used to build social skills and understanding of non-obscure things that are normal conversational pieces.
I'm on the spectrum, so I never had a chance with the social skills and conversations anyway. :P
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Re: Cellar door

Post by Axiem »

Zaarin wrote:The Hobbit films are an abomination from either perspective. :(
Huh? There's only one Hobbit movie, and from what I recall, is pretty decent. Though it's been at least a decade since I've watched it.

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Re: Cellar door

Post by hwhatting »

Did you spend the last part of that decade in a cave or under a rock? ;-)

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Re: Cellar door

Post by mèþru »

This conversation is extremely off-topic (look at the forum it's in).
ìtsanso, God In The Mountain, may our names inspire the deepest feelings of fear in urkos and all his ilk, for we have saved another man from his lies! I welcome back to the feast hall kal, who will never gamble again! May the eleven gods bless him!
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Re: Cellar door

Post by Ambermoore »

mèþru wrote:This conversation is extremely off-topic (look at the forum it's in).
Thread drift is fun that way.
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Re: Cellar door

Post by Jonlang »

As much as I love the LOTR films, they cast Aragorn all wrong... twice. Viggo Mortensen was much too young to play Aragorn and his character was all wrong - he was nowhere near "grim" enough.
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Re: Cellar door

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dyolf wrote:As much as I love the LOTR films, they cast Aragorn all wrong... twice. Viggo Mortensen was much too young to play Aragorn and his character was all wrong - he was nowhere near "grim" enough.
Agreed on both counts: there was nothing "reluctant hero" about Aragorn. Film Aragorn spends two-and-a-half films moping about not wanting to be king; book Aragorn spent his entire life preparing to be king, not only of Gondor but also of Arnor (I mean, it helps that his marriage with Arwen was conditional on becoming king of both kingdoms).

I make the same complaint about Théoden: Bernard Hill was much too young. Théoden was described as white-haired and very old--in the books, he wasn't under a spell that made him old; he was simply being convinced that his age made him an invalid. (I hate that whole "exorcism" scene, incidentally--nothing in the books suggests Théoden was under a spell, simply under bad advice from Grima.)

And while we're discussing characters who were cast too young, we can add Frodo, who was supposed to be heavy-set like all hobbits and a young-looking middle aged. But really I hate how the films portrayed the hobbits in general. They turned Merry and Pippin into comic relief, which is just offensive. :x
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Re: Cellar door

Post by mèþru »

I mainly ignored the Jackson LOTR films which were neither good nor bad (I agree with Zaarin and dyolf on their comments, but the biggest problem in the film, in my opinion, is the lack of Tom Bombadil). The Hobbit trilogy was much worse - they violated the whole spirit of the Hobbit by making it about all the characters equally and inventing/changing radically characters when the story is about the experiences of Bilbo in the journey.
ìtsanso, God In The Mountain, may our names inspire the deepest feelings of fear in urkos and all his ilk, for we have saved another man from his lies! I welcome back to the feast hall kal, who will never gamble again! May the eleven gods bless him!
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Re: Cellar door

Post by Frislander »

mèþru wrote:I mainly ignored the Jackson LOTR films which were neither good nor bad (I agree with Zaarin and dyolf on their comments, but the biggest problem in the film, in my opinion, is the lack of Tom Bombadil). The Hobbit trilogy was much worse - they violated the whole spirit of the Hobbit by making it about all the characters equally and inventing/changing radically characters when the story is about the experiences of Bilbo in the journey.
Yeah, who thought an elf-dwarf love story was a good idea, because they deserve a great big smack for it.
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Re: Cellar door

Post by Zaarin »

mèþru wrote:I mainly ignored the Jackson LOTR films which were neither good nor bad (I agree with Zaarin and dyolf on their comments, but the biggest problem in the film, in my opinion, is the lack of Tom Bombadil). The Hobbit trilogy was much worse - they violated the whole spirit of the Hobbit by making it about all the characters equally and inventing/changing radically characters when the story is about the experiences of Bilbo in the journey.
There was so much wrong with The Hobbit that I'd be hard pressed to name anything that was actually right, but among my biggest complaints would definitely be that Bilbo was turned into a sidekick in his own story. I disagree about Tom Bombadil, though. In the books Tom Bombadil and Barrow-downs are one of my favorite sections of FotR, but I do understand why that section would be removed from a film--I'm much more critical of the removal of both Merry's conspiracy and the scouring of the Shire.
Frislander wrote:Yeah, who thought an elf-dwarf love story was a good idea, because they deserve a great big smack for it.
Yeah, whoever thought that was a good idea doesn't understand anything about the history of Arda or the world views of the elves or dwarves. It would never happen--the elves even regarded the four Eldar-human pairings as strange.
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What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?”

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