Welcome and Introductions (Newbies, Please)

Don't mind the carrorbusiness... it has gone a little out of control.

carrorbusiness

sorry! CARROTBUSINESS!

Its a business? I thought it was just a series of double entrendes!

entre-what?
maybe not business, cult.

Well given my spelling in English Norc I have probably mispelt the French too- at least I'm consistent.

that was french

I think so- Im Scots, I can barely speak English what do you expect?

english.

Norc wrote:Don't mind the carrot business... it has gone a little out of control.

I'm not sure what you mean by this, Norc.

It might be fairer to say that some of us feel as strongly about carrots as others do about Sherlock.
{{BTW you ought to bug Eldo to get you a Sherlock smiley }}

Petty, of course it's a business! What do you think I do out here in the carrot patch all day? {{rhetorical question. Best not to answer.}}

And yes, welcome Yooper!

I'm suprised you havent been bought out by Odo then Dave. Lucky you dont grow jelly!

{{{Note to self: Carrot Jelly}}

David H wrote:

Norc wrote:Don't mind the carrot business... it has gone a little out of control.

I'm not sure what you mean by this, Norc.

It might be fairer to say that some of us feel as strongly about carrots as others do about Sherlock.
{{BTW you ought to bug Eldo to get you a Sherlock smiley }}

I'm not sure I am the one to explain what I mean about the carrot-business... it's quite obvious
why would I ever bug Eldo of a Sherlock smiley? I got so many Sherlock gifs which works pretty well as smileys

Norc wrote:
why would I ever bug Eldo of a Sherlock smiley? I got so many Sherlock gifs which works pretty well as smileys

Fair enough. Maybe I should start looking for carrot gifs

Norc wrote:

You guys are too much

Hello! A proper introduction now, apologies in advance if it ends up being awfully long-winded...

How did you first come across Tolkien? Mum read my younger brother and me the Hobbit when I was 6 (I could read chapter books by this stage but as we didn't have a TV, story reading sessions of a chapter or two a night were a bit of a family thing and we continued doing them til the final Harry Potter book). We then saw the Rankin & Bass Hobbit, along with the Bakshi Lord of the Rings a total of 6 times at this cinema that played old/cult films. Dad reckoned we were ready to handle Lord of the Rings and we desperately wanted to know what happened in the end, so Mum read the trilogy to us. I remember being really worried about Pippin, who was my favourite character, when the troll fell on him at the Black Gate and he "knew no more" or something like that - I thought he might be dead!

I've read TH and LOTR every year since, read The Silmarillion when I was 12, read The History of Middle Earth at 15, bought and read The Children of Hurin as soon as it came out and finally got my hands on a copy of Unfinished Tales last year. I've watched the extended trilogy countless times (more on that below) and have the BBC Radio Dramatisation on my mp3 player.

I spent years playing with my brothers at pretending we were in the Woody End being chased by Black Riders and having to camp out. Now I'm an adult...I tend to make-believe I'm Aragorn I designed and made the Ring of Barahir for my brother, set All That Is Gold and the song of Elbereth (Snow white! Snow white!) to music and have part-written an opera based on Beren and Luthien (I think the Children of Hurin would also make an awesome opera, and the earlier 'creation' parts of Sil would be brilliant as an oratorio). Thanks to Tolkien I also became obsessed with linguistics, etymology and in particular Anglo-Saxon, and also started unofficially studying the development of English mythology (Beowulf, Robin Hood and Arthurian) from its earliest mentions to modern adaptations and representations. So, yeah, I'm just a wee bit obsessed...


What do you think of the movies? I like them, I really do. I can understand most of the little cuts. I can understand the combining of some characters. I do appreciate the expansion of Arwen's role as I think it was done very tastefully (the Flight to the Ford excepted) and the scene where Elrond basically shows her the end of Aragorn's life and her own is really quite touching. BUT the majority of deviations I have a strong dislike for (especially the massive change in Faramir's character in TT theatrical, the 'death' of Aragorn and the sending home of Sam). Stylistically most of the visuals were close to my head!Middle Earth, script-wise not so much, and the occasional bit of Tolkien's original dialogue was very much appreciated. But I don't get angry watching them like Petty does (too exhausting) and I don't laugh like I do when watching Bakshi!LOTR (I loved it when I was little, on rewatching I just sniggered).

How did you pick your username? Does it have any meaning? It's my first name and my middle name. Ah, hippy parents. Still trying to work out if it's more suited to a superhero or a pr0nstar

Oh, yeah, and I have a big, dark, crazy, evil horse that may have been trained in Mordor...

Welcome, Meiko!

Tell me more about this horse of yours.

what a lovely introduction! I can't but love you! We seem to almost have the same opinion ^^ though I tend to laugh quite hard at the Bakshi version, but not because I hate it, I love it, but I didn't grow up with it, and I can see why you would love it as the scenery is really good I agree that some alteration were okay and some were maybe a good idea when making LOTR into a movie, like expanding Arwen's role, but I also don't get overly crabbit about the more or less pointless alterations. For that I have to great a love for the movies. I must however disagree about the death of Aragorn. I think it adds some tension to TT which it otherwise, not lack, but it gives it a little extra. I saw the movie with someone who had no relation to the book and it fitted very well. btw, I love your name.

hi there Meiko, if you write stories or songs, please see the Creative Corner, we would love to see them

Ooh thank you all! I like you too, Norc I guess I wasn't too keen on the similarity of Aragorn's supposed death to Gandalf's. But I do mentally play the gallopy music in the Breath of Life track when I'm riding :-P

David, he's a clever, lazy thing. Big dark bay Thoroughbred crossed with something heavier. His name is Brock (means badger in O.E. and he has white markings so I like that fact) and he tries to eat small children and dogs. Would probably eat hobbits too, if they weren't so shy and hidden away these days... Reminds me rather of tales of the Each Uisge and kelpies. Do you keep or ride horses?

I will, Mrs Figg! Job for tonight I think :-)

breath of life, isn't that Arwen's theme (or is that evenstar?).. i play one of them on violin, though the tuner thingies are a nightmare right now, they won't stay in place. So Arwen music on viola then

I remember I was riding a horse with my sister, she was the one who took care of it, and it was an icelandic horse, so not too big. And I rode without a saddle and I galloped and stuff. Then I was kind of like Legolas and jogged around pretending to shoot things with a bow and arrow