Re: The General Tolkien News Thread

[Bluebottle]

I think I have the underlying state of mind down pat, and the certain knowledge you can't do anything about it. Though somehow it doesn't leave me crabbit. Just numb and dissapointed in the world.

Is there sonething to this crabbit thing I'm missing?

[Pettytyrant101]

Yes- the point of crabbit is that nothing major will change- but the strength comes through trying to change it anyway through obstinate, wilful targeted anger- obviously there is no point trying to reason with an uncaring universe, so instead you point out and rail against everything that is wrong with it- in the hope that any small things you can change will improve the overall lot a tiny percent- if enough folk get their crabbit on, generation after generation the culminate effect can change the world.
But you probably wont live long enough to see the results- which of course is yet another thing to be extremely crabbit about.

[Bluebottle]

I guess the problem is.. I fail to reach the anger part. Everything else is all well and good..

Who knows, maybe I should try buckie.

[Pettytyrant101]

That does help, but you may wake up in a police cell, if you're lucky....

[Bluebottle]

I don't know. Buckie just makes me amiable and giggly.

I'm affraid I would make a poor scotsman.

Even if I have a scottish great-something-or-other.

[bungobaggins]

You Scots need to export Buckie to the states. We're waiting!

[Pettytyrant101]

Unless things have changed, as far as I know its illegal there, due to the high caffeine count mixed with the alcohol.
I tried to send Halfy a bottle a few years ago and was told I couldn't.

[David H]

Unless things have changed, as far as I know its illegal there, due to the high caffeine count mixed with the alcohol.
I tried to send Halfy a bottle a few years ago and was told I couldn't.

On the other hand, you seem to be able to buy these:  

http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/05/16/marijuana-k-cups-environment

Ever spark up a blunt while brewing a strong cup of coffee and think, “Man, I could shave minutes off my morning routine if these two processes were combined”? Fear not, stoner friend: Thanks to Uncle Ike’s Pot Shop and its cannabis-infused coffee pods, your wake-and-bake-and-brew will be more convenient than ever.

[azriel]

.................

[Bluebottle]

And if that doesn't work, there's always vodka. It might not be the solution, but it's worth a shot.

[malickfan]

Website dedicated to Tolkien's linguistic writings:

http://www.jrrvf.com/~glaemscrafu/english/index.html

[azriel]

Thats very entertaining, Ive read some & book marked it, I sometimes thought a few words were extracted from Welsh ? had that "ring" about it.

[Elthir]

A website with Elvish in it... looking at Tolkien's own Elvish? What's the world coming to? Note Tolkien's very late Elvish (Quenya section) about ambidexters... puts a slightly new spin on Maidros Maedhros Maedros Maedron... you know, Nelyafinwe Maitimo Russandol's hewn hand!

To quote the site with my emphasis: "Tolkien composed it apparently in 1969; there are seven successive versions, of which we here give the final one."

[Elthir]

I sometimes thought a few words were extracted from Welsh? had that "ring" about it.

Not that you didn't know, but Sindarin was invented (well, after Gnomish and Noldorin were invented) to sound sorta like Welsh, to put it very simply. And there are "grammatical reflections", so to speak, like some of the mutations. Tolkien might have lifted a few words even, I can't recall... anyway for example, I've heard Arwen even has a meaning in Welsh, although I've never heard this was intentional, and this idea sorta falls outside Tolkien's purpose.

Tolkien generally claims (not without annoyance) that even the more direct lifts of elements or wholesale words one might find (stuff lifted from real world languages, if they are not mere coincidences, that is) were lifted due to sound, and not meaning in the real world language. Old English earendel is an exception, for example.

Also there is a Welsh section on the website... but I assume you don't mean that section.

[Eldorion]

Hey Elthir, good to see you!

I know Tolkien mentioned coincidental sounds in the context of Quenya (initially based on Finnish). Atalante, meaning "the Downfallen", another name for Numenor, just happens to sound a lot like Atlantis, which was the inspiration for the Numenor story. But Tolkien said this was accidental.

[halfwise]

I always felt it was intentional. Surprising.

[Elthir]

Hi Eldo, good to see you (and others) too!

Good mention on Numenor. Backing up Tolkien's claim is that certain pertinent elements or words already existed in Qenya (early Quenya in an external sense) before the Numenor tale became part of Middle-earth! Of course one could still argue some sort of connection since he very arguably knew the word Atlantis before even this...

... but still!

[chris63]

The Hobbit first edition fetches £137,000 at auction

http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-33013144

[Bluebottle]

Damn, what wouldn't I give for a Hobbit first edition.. Well.. not £137,000..

[malickfan]

Damn, what wouldn't I give for a Hobbit first edition.. Well.. not £137,000..

There's always this to look forward to (though I'm rather doubtful it will even get published it was first announced in 2010...):

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hobbit-Facsimile-First-J-Tolkien/dp/0007440839/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1434897872&sr=1-1&keywords=hobbit+first+edition

I don't think it would have fetched 137k if it weren't for the films...

[Eldorion]

I don't think it would have fetched 137k if it weren't for the films...

Hard to say. I would think the Hobbit films helped raise the profile of the books but I doubt it did so as much as the LOTR films did, and of course both already had high profiles. The Hobbit was never quite as popular as the LOTR books but it was successful in its own right when it was first published and of course rode the success of LOTR to worldwide fame only slightly less than its sequel. And its sales might actually be higher than LOTR's if you were to combine all the three volume purchases.

[halfwise]

I would think the Hobbit would be more popular than the LotR taken as a set. Children's book, more often read. Many adults balk at LotR, never heard of an 11 year old balking at the Hobbit.

[Eldorion]

That would make sense to me.  Not sure if The Hobbit alone inspires quite the same passion (at least not as often), hence LOTR's greater footprint in fantasy literature, role-playing games, metal music, etc. But I could easily believe that more people have read The Hobbit.

[chris63]

New Tolkien book "The Story of Kullervo" to be published 27 August

HarperCollins have officially announced that J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Story of Kullervo will be released in an edition edited by Verlyn Flieger on 27th August this year.

[chris63]