Anyone who doesn't read the appendices deserves to have a private interview with Morgoth. I read LotR + appendices every year. I used to read The Silmarillion every year, too.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.
Cellar door
Re: Cellar door
"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?”
What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?”
Re: Cellar door
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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- alynnidalar
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Re: Cellar door
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.
I generally forget to say, so if it's relevant and I don't mention it--I'm from Southern Michigan and speak Inland North American English. Yes, I have the Northern Cities Vowel Shift; no, I don't have the cot-caught merger; and it is called pop.
- Frislander
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Re: Cellar door
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!
Re: Cellar door
Don't worry. I never have, either, nor do I have any intention of reading it. It's not something I consider a priority.Frislander wrote:I haven't yet read LotR (lay what curses you may have upon my head for not having done so)
Re: Cellar door
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).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!
You should. IMO it's the most beautiful story ever told, and that's from a lit major.Vijay wrote:Don't worry. I never have, either, nor do I have any intention of reading it. It's not something I consider a priority.Frislander wrote:I haven't yet read LotR (lay what curses you may have upon my head for not having done so)
"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?”
What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?”
Re: Cellar door
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.Zaarin wrote:You should. IMO it's the most beautiful story ever told, and that's from a lit major.Vijay wrote:Don't worry. I never have, either, nor do I have any intention of reading it. It's not something I consider a priority.Frislander wrote:I haven't yet read LotR (lay what curses you may have upon my head for not having done so)
Re: Cellar door
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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kårroť
Re: Cellar door
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.
Amuhawr jalla vowa vta hlakrhi hdm duthmi xaja.
Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro.
Re: Cellar door
I'm only a hipster when it comes to music, coffee, and languages. :pVijay wrote: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.Zaarin wrote:You should. IMO it's the most beautiful story ever told, and that's from a lit major.Vijay wrote:Don't worry. I never have, either, nor do I have any intention of reading it. It's not something I consider a priority.Frislander wrote:I haven't yet read LotR (lay what curses you may have upon my head for not having done so)
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.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.
"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?”
What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?”
Re: Cellar door
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.
Amuhawr jalla vowa vta hlakrhi hdm duthmi xaja.
Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro. Irdro.
Re: Cellar door
You know what's really overhyped? "Cellar door."
Re: Cellar door
What even is a hipster? I've honestly never understood that.Zaarin wrote:I'm only a hipster when it comes to music, coffee, and languages. :p
Re: Cellar door
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).Vijay wrote:What even is a hipster? I've honestly never understood that.Zaarin wrote:I'm only a hipster when it comes to music, coffee, and languages. :p
"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?”
What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?”
Re: Cellar door
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!
kårroť
kårroť
Re: Cellar door
I'm on the spectrum, so I never had a chance with the social skills and conversations anyway.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.
"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?”
What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?”
Re: Cellar door
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.Zaarin wrote:The Hobbit films are an abomination from either perspective.
Re: Cellar door
Did you spend the last part of that decade in a cave or under a rock?
Re: Cellar door
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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- Ambermoore
- Niš
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Re: Cellar door
Thread drift is fun that way.mèþru wrote:This conversation is extremely off-topic (look at the forum it's in).
Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist; children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children that dragons can be killed. ~Attributed by Neil Gaiman to GK Chesterton
Re: Cellar door
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.
My conlangery Twitter: @Jonlang_
Me? I'm just a lawn-mower; you can tell me by the way I walk.
Me? I'm just a lawn-mower; you can tell me by the way I walk.
Re: Cellar door
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).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.
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.
"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?”
What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?”
Re: Cellar door
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!
kårroť
kårroť
- Frislander
- Avisaru
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Re: Cellar door
Yeah, who thought an elf-dwarf love story was a good idea, because they deserve a great big smack for it.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.
Re: Cellar door
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.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, 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.Frislander wrote:Yeah, who thought an elf-dwarf love story was a good idea, because they deserve a great big smack for it.
"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?”
What ship would bear me ever back across so wide a Sea?”