I was terribly disappointed in The Two Towers, the second installation of the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy.  Perhaps it would be fine on its own, but in my humble opinion, it ripped out a great deal of what made the book not only interesting but also genuine. 

I understand the need for certain cuts for the sake of time, but I vehemently believe there is no reason at all to change the very essence of a character as it was written by Tolkien.  Take the Ents, for example. Part of what made them so cool in the book was that they had long memories and deeply hidden but powerful emotions.  In the movie, it’s made to seem as if their innate slowness hinders the action, and furthermore, that it is only a shallow device for concealing their cowardice – not true in the least!  This theme is carried on with the elves, as if Elrond considers himself too lofty to be burdened with aiding Middle Earth in its hour of need.  True, in the book an entire army of them never forms, and it’s worthwhile to question why they only send one or two at a time to fight, but it is also obvious that as a race their existence was tied to the destruction of Sauron and they couldn’t avoid getting caught up in mortal troubles even if they wanted to.

The greatest travesty is the terrible transformation of Faramir, Boromir’s brother.  The movie accurately depicts the feelings their father Denethor had toward the two (loved and admired Boromir, despised Faramir), but distorts their reactions to that love in a way that only Hollywood could.  They try to make it seem as though Boromir defended his brother and thought ill of his father’s forceful, conniving ways, when in reality, noble as he may have been, Boromir was very much like Denethor in his desire to be king and in thinking of the well-being of Gondor before all else.  I doubt he ever questioned anything his father may have thought.  By the same token, they give Faramir a very ugly edge: he wants nothing more than the love of his father and will do anything and everything to get it.  But in the book he very matter-of-factly rejects the ring – not because he doesn’t desire it mightily, but because he is GOOD.  This script needlessly creates “drama” when it should be extolling the occasionally achingly beautiful nature of humanity.

 Lastly, I’ll complain about a minor point.  Why did the movie-makers feel a need to make Theoden King a puppet, controlled entirely by magic?  I mean, come on, like there aren’t enough mystical things already going on in this story!  I think it should have been just fine to show that he was a  fallible human being who was manipulated by another.  Not to mention, even after the spell was broken they didn’t show him in a particularly positive light.  He was basically a quitter who kept needing to be prodded into action by Aragorn.  Boring!  Apparently Peter Jackson didn’t want to overwhelm the audience with too many heroes. [I'm so rolling my eyes right now.]

 There may indeed have been some very lovely aspects of this film, but I can’t remember any of them so I’m not going to go to the effort of trying to find some to talk about.  Anyway, no matter how wonderful they happened to be, for me they could not possibly redeem The Two Towers as a whole. End of story.

found this at SmeagolJr’s and thought i should share

THE HOBBIT

Mixes from JRR Tolkien’s Book Audio Recordings by: himself & others

Mixed with Music from: 311, Information Society, They Might Be Giants, Loreena McKennitt, Enya, Ozzy Osbourne, Deepforest, and Baka Beyond

Hobbit 01 Bilbo & Gandalf

Hobbit 02 Dwarves

Hobbit 03 Trolls

Hobbit 04 Rivendell

Hobbit 05 Misty Mountain Goblins / Gollum

Hobbit 06 Eagles / Beorn

Hobbit 07 Spiders

Hobbit 08 Wood Elves

Hobbit 09 Laketown / Lonely Mountain Dragon Smaug / Bard

Hobbit 10 Battle of Five Armies

*

THE LORD OF THE RINGS

Mixes from JRR Tolkien’s Book Audio Recordings by: himself & others

Mixed with Music from: Juno Reactor, Nine Inch Nails, Enya, Erwin Beekveld, Information Society, Maury Laws & Jules Bass, and Velvet Acid Christ

LOTR 01 Bilbo & Gandalf “Party Business”

LOTR 02 Frodo & Gandalf “Keep It Safe”

LOTR 03 Rivendell “Council of Elrond”

LOTR 04 Ringbearer & Sam “The Ring Is Enough”

LOTR 05 Moria Drums, Orcs, & Balrog “You Shall Not Pass”

LOTR 06 Isengard “They are Taking The Hobbits” Orc vs Uruk

LOTR 07 Ents, Treebeard / Enya “Memory of Entwives”

LOTR 08 Mordor Orcs Marching, Nazgul “Whip Way”

LOTR 09 Riders of Rohan & Minas Tirith “King Théoden & Aragorn”

LOTR 10 Frodo of the 9 Fingers & The Ring of Doom / VAC tk3

It’s like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn’t want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it’s only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand. I know now. Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn’t. They kept going. Because they were holding on to something.

What are we holding onto, Sam?

— J.R.R. Tolkien & Peter Jackson’s Film Adaptation: Screenplay for LOTR

Upon the hearth the fire is red
Beneath the roof there is a bed
But not yet weary are our feet
Still round the corner we may meet

A sudden tree or standing stone
That none have seen but we alone
Tree and flower and leaf and grass
Let them pass! Let them pass!

Hill and water under sky
Pass them by! Pass them by!
Still round the corner there may wait
A new road or a secret gate;
And though I oft have passed them by,

Home is behind the world ahead
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadows to the edge of night
Until the stars are all alight
Then world behind and home ahead
We’ll wander back to home and bed

A day will come at last when I
Shall take the hidden paths that run
West of the Moon, East of the Sun.

— J.R.R. Tolkien

We have come from God, and inevitably the myths woven by us, though they contain error, will also reflect a splintered fragment of the true light, the eternal truth that is with God. Indeed only by myth-making, only by becoming ’sub-creator’ and inventing stories, can Man aspire to the state of perfection that he knew before the Fall. Our myths may be misguided, but they steer however shakily towards the true harbour, while materialistic ‘progress’ leads only to a yawning abyss and the Iron Crown of the power of evil.

— J.R.R. Tolkien

… in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.

— J.R.R. Tolkien

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king.

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my discovery of the Incarnation Figure as an archetype in storytelling. There are obvious connections between this and the Christ Figure that w are so familiar with given that the Christ that the figures tend to emulate began being Christ through incarnation, the embodiment of something greater in than our world in our world. But the difference that I pointed out is that Christ Figures tend to have death and resurrection or sacrificial element to them and Incarnation Figures don’t always express that.
As intriguing and powerful as Christ Figures can be, I find them troublesome at times. I have seen too many Christians try to grade a story’s value on the presence or lack of Christ Figure. If it has one, it’s a good story, if not it fails. And this is whether the story is told well or the characters are believable or if there is any suspense to make us care what happens.
The other problem I frequently see is when a Christ figure is imposed in attempts to co-opt a story and make it a Christian tale. Take “The Matrix” for example. Certainly there is the element of sacrifice on Neo’s part as he stays behind to let the others escape. And there is something of death and resurrection. But did he really die? OR did he simply, finally understand the Matrix well enough to know that he didn’t have to die there? To me this story is more about faith and finding out what can happen when you truly believe more than it is about a Christ figure and the redemption that follows.
People often describe Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings as a Christ figure. Again there is a certain validity to that in terms of his death and resurrection. But as much as he is a Christ Figure, he is also an Odin Figure, at least up until the resurrection point. It’s almost as if Gandalf starts as Odin and finishes as Christ. And that’s not much a of a stretch given that Odin is a bit of Christ Figure himself, sacrificing himself unto himself.
But my favorite example of the failings of the overstressed Christ Figure is Hell Boy. In the second Hell Boy movie, the story follows the typical Christ Figure arch, as he sacrifices himself to save another, descends into the pits to eradicate the forces of evil and save all the Earth. Powerful stuff. But how many Christians stumble on this because he is a demon – and not just any demon, Satan’s son who’s true destiny is to bring ultimate destruction on the Earth? Is such a character an acceptable Christ Figure?
I think this is one of those examples that parallels the story of the Bronze Snake from scripture. God commanded Moses to make a bonze statue of a snake. This statue heals anyone that looks at it. The odd part is that most times that snakes appear in scripture, they are symbols of evil, demons or Satan himself. Jesus later tells us that the snake was an image of him. The image of evil expresses the ultimate good. Perhaps Hell Boy falls in this same category.

I’ve finally submitted my third article at Alltern8 about LARPing and Dating. It’s a constant thing to hear people mention how they can never meet a significant other during a LARP. While I’ve seen it happen countless times! To open some eyes about scoring a date at a LARP I’ve written:

Article:

LARPing and Dating… Not a Myth

LARPing is a social event. I know! Can you believe it? Being a social event there tends to be some social interaction between people. Usually awkward, not looking in each other’s eyes, shifting your weight from feet to feet, and you can’t remember what you talked about after you walk away. Did I even introduce myself? What class is she?
Yup, that about covers a conversation between two people that are use to interacting with a screen between themselves and humanity. But you are subjecting yourself to actual social event outside of your basement so that alone is something to be proud of.
Most players when they think about the stress of carrying on a conversation do not even think of forming a relationship with someone unless they can call to trade Magic cards. Furthest from their mind is starting a boyfriend/girlfriend relationship.
And yet when guys gather around to plan an outing to the local LARP just the mention of lady LARPers have them cheering each other on, slapping each others back and drawing up intensive plans of who is wingman. But they are usually the first ones to mumble a hello and hightail it out of there to the first girl LARPer they come in contact with.
There are many girls out there that have the same reaction! We plan on meeting a lot of guys but it becomes overwhelming when we finally arrive to the camp. If you don’t have the confidence of a movie star the reactions you receive are intimidating enough to send anyone running for cover. And if you have the confidence to actually receive and handle the attention accordingly you become ‘untouchable’ by the guys who are nervous around confident girls and the stuck up princess to the rest.

To continue reading please click here!

If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, you’ve probably realised that I’m a complete challenge addict. I adore them: from the time spent making the perfect reading list to adding them to my Current Challenge Page to reading the books and using the strike tag to reading the reviews of other participants, I think they’re marvelous. And they push me to read outside of my comfort zone! Anyway, this is the season when 2010 challenge begin surfacing, so I’ll probably be doing several of these style of posts until the end of the year. If you’re planning on hosting a challenge you think I should check out, definitely leave me a comment! And if you haven’t posted about yours yet, don’t panic-I’m leaving space for challenges that will be announced later. Oh, and this is just the first batch of challenges I’m joining, so if you don’t see yours here, that doesn’t mean I’m not in love with it-it just means I haven’t put my reading list together yet. Anyway, this is going to be a super-long post…I had thought about doing a separate post for each challenge and read-a-long, but that seemed excessive for one day. So, if you’re interested in a particular challenge or read-a-long, take advantage of the internal links:
Read-a-Longs
Moby Dick
Woolf in the Winter
The Lord of the Rings
Challenges
Christy Awards
GLBT 2010
World Religion 2010

The Moby Dick Read-a-Long
A group of bloggers led by Ti of Book Chatter have just begun reading Moby Dick together this past Monday. Since I recently acquired a copy, I was very tempted, and Jason convinced me on Twitter. After he and I finish Moby Dick, we’ll be reading Ahab’s Wife together as well-hurrah for seafaring adventures! I’m really excited, since I haven’t been able to participate in a read-a-long before because I get most of my books from the library, which doesn’t lend itself to leisurely reading. I don’t think there’s a hard deadline, so we’ll see how long it takes me to read…but I do have this quirk about finishing all books before midnight on the 31st. Will I manage that while also finishing up my other challenges and reading for pleasure? Turn in next month to find out… (Ok, obviously I’ve been spending too much time on the computer, since I’m getting kind of silly, lol.)

Woolf in Winter
Emily, Frances, Sarah, and Claire are co-hosting a Woolf extravaganza in January and February. Every two weeks they’ll be discussing a different Woolf novel: Mrs. Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, Orlando, and The Waves. I happen to love Woolf, and I’ve read and loved all four of these novels. But I want to get back into rereading, and she’s certainly an author whose books lend themselves to it. I’ll probably join in every discussion except To the Lighthouse, since I just read that one this year, so it feels a bit soon for a reread. If you want more information, each of the names are linked to their posts about it. And I highly recommend you try Woolf if you’ve never read her before; as long as you give in to her narrative flow, and don’t worry about focusing on every single word or even every single page, I think she’s simply delightful.

Lord of the Rings Read-a-Long
This one grew out of a Twitter conversation, as most things do. Myself, Teresa, and Maree were talking about much we wanted to reread Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, and pretty soon we had to decided to do a read-a-long at the beginning of the year. Then Clare volunteered to be the fourth host, made the lovely button, and we were in business! We’ll be reading one book a month, beginning with The Hobbit in January, then The Fellowship of the Ring in February, The Two Towers in March, and The Return of the King in April. That’s simply when the discussions will be held, though, so don’t feel obligated to follow that schedule if it doesn’t work for you. (I know myself, and I know there’s no way I keep myself from tearing through LOTR, because I love it so much.) Even though we’re all rereading it, feel free to join if it this is your first time! Teresa’s hosting the sign-up post if you’re interested.

Now on to the challenges, which is when the post is going to get ridiculously long.

Christy Awards Challenge
Amy, Shauna, and Deborah are hosting the Christy Awards Challenge, which asks participants to read Christian fiction books that have won a Christy award. It began November 1st (I’m silly and just assumed it would start in January, so sorry about the delayed post) and finishes on December 1st of next year. I’ve never read Christian fiction before, so I’m participating in the 2nd Tier, one of the Baby Steps options. That means I can mix 3-4 winners from any category:

• Passing by Samaria by Sharon Ewell Foster: this is set in 1919. Alena is sent from Alabama to Chicago after a lynching leaves her parents worried that she’ll speak out and bring trouble to herself. I picked it because I love that time period, and Chicago, and Foster the only POC author to win a Christy.
• The Road to Home by Vanessa Del Fabbro: this is set in the author’s native South Africa, this focuses on two women who strike up an unlikely friendship in a hospital. I picked it, because I’m a sucker for international authors.
• River Rising by Athol Dickson: this is set in small-town Louisiana in 1927 and is about a stranger who shakes up the town. I picked it for the time period and because I love the South!
• Madman by Tracy Groot: this is set in ancient Palestine and is about alchemy and Greek scholars and other such craziness. I picked it because who can resist a good alchemy story?

GLBT Challenge 2010
Amanda is back for the second round of the GLBT Challenge, now with its own dedicated blog and running from January 1st, 2010 to December 31st. I really enjoyed the first round, so I’m joining in at the Pink Triangle level, which has me reading eight books. I went a little overboard making the list, though. A note on it: as usual, my challenge lists are largely constrained by which books my library carries. There were a bunch of wonderful-sounding books I found that weren’t in my library’s catalogue, so they didn’t get included here. If you’re looking for POC or international authors, I highly recommend this encyclopedia, which has an incredible number of articles on various GLBT books and authors, sorted by nationality, genre, etc. Speaking of genre, I made an effort to make sure my list was diverse, so you’ll see historical, fantasy, mystery, YA (yes, I know it’s not really a genre), a couple classics, even a sci-fi book and a Wstern (genres I usually read) here. I think it’s pretty clear what falls into what category, but if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment. And as always, all titles are linked to Powell’s, so you can find out more about the books that interest you. I ended up with precisely 50 books, which wasn’t planned but which does amuse me! ETA: I don’t intend to read every book on this list. I just like having options!

Fiction:

• Down to the Bone by Mayra Lazara Dole: this was on my list last year, and I’ve carried it over. It’s a YA novel about a Cuban American girl who gets kicked out of Catholic school for being a lesbian.
• Dawn by Octavia Butler: I read Fledgling (a definite gender bending book) and loved it, so I want to read more by Butler and this first in a sci-fi trilogy has transgendered secondary characters according to GLBT Fantasy Fiction Resources.
• Edinburgh by Alexander Chee: a book about a young Korean American man who, upon realising he is gay, worries that it stems from a childhood trauma.
• Another Country by James Baldwin: I read Baldwin’s Go Tell It on the Mountain earlier this year and loved it. This one deals more explicitly with non-heterosexual sexuality.
• The Man Who Fell in Love With the Moon by Tom Spanbauer : the narrator is a half-Native American bisexual teenage boy living in the turn-of-the-century Midwest.
• The Last of the Menu Girls by Denise Chavez: about a girl in southern New Mexico who finds herself attracted to women.
• Passing by Nella Larsen: this features two light-skinned African American women in the 20s, one of whom has lesbian urgings.
• The Women of Brewster Place by Gloria Naylor: looks at seven strong African American women, and I read somewhere that at lest one of them is attracted to other women.
• Wounded: a Novel by Percival Everett: about an African American horse trainer in Wyoming who gets involved when the corpse of a gay man shows up.
• The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith: a crime classic about sociopathic bisexual young American.
• The Jolly Corner by Henry James: a novel by an author widely considered to be a repressed homosexual, featuring a narrator with similar issues.
• While England Sleeps by David Leavitt: a historical novel set in 30s England featuring gay men.
• Melusine by Sarah Monette: a fantasy novel featuring a gay male protragonist.
• Swimming in the Monsoon Sea by Shyam Selvadurai: a 14-year-old boy in Sri Lanka finds himself falling in love with a Candian boy visitor during the monsoons.
• Skin Folk by Nalo Hopkinson: a Caribbean short story collection, with some stories feauturing lesbians.
• Sugar Street by Naguib Mahfouz: apparently this third in a trilogy (I’ve already read the first two, beginning with Palace Walk) has some bisexuality tossed in.
• Leaving Tangier by Tahar Ben Jelloun: one of the main characters in this novel is a Moroccon boy who becomes a prostitute to an older Spanish man.
• Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman: a book by an Egyptian about a young man falling in love for the first time-with another man.
• Twinkle Twinkle by Kaori Ekuni: a Japanese couple are in a marriage of convenience, to hide the wife’s alcoholism and the husband’s homosexuality.
• Dearest Anne by Judith Katzir: this Israeli author has written a story of a school girl, her love affair with her older female teacher, and the consquences.
• Claudine Novels by Colette: I read the first in this quartet (Claudine at School) about a bisexual French girl for the ‘09 challenge, and it charmed me. So I’d love to read the other ones!
• The Clothes They Stood Up In by Alan Bennett: I really enjoyed The Uncommon Reader and the film version of his play “The History Boys,” so I’d love to read more by him. I don’t think this book has explicit GLBT themes, but Bennett himself is a gay author.
• At Swim, Two Boys by Jamie O’Neill: a book about two Irish boys who fall in love in 1915.
• Mary, and the Wrongs of Woman by Mary Wollstonecraft: a novel by the famous feminist-I’ve heard that the protagonist is bisexual.
• Life Mask by Emma Donoghue: set in late 18th century England, it centers around an upperclass English widow who feels ‘Sapphic longings.’
• As Meat Loves Salt by Maria McCann: about a gay man in 17th century England during the Civil War.
• The Last of the Wine by Mary Renault: about two gay youth in ancient Greece.
• Deadline for Murder by Val McDermid: one of a mystery series featuring a lesbian investigator.
• Enduring Love by Ian McEwan: a novel by one of my favourite authors, about a young man who begins stalking another.
• Troll: a Love Story by Johanna Sinisalo: a Finnish book described as a ‘modern day fairy tale’ featuring unconventional sexuality.
• The Cutting Room by Louise Welsh: a Glasgow mystery with a gay protagonist and dark feel to it.
• The Story of the Night by Colm Toibin: set in Argentina during the Falklands War, this novel features a gay man in the closet.
• Making History by Stephen Fry: I love Fry, and I can’t wait to read this novel about two gay men who travel back in time to kill Hitler.
• Across the Nightingale Floor by Lian Hearn: the first in a fantasy trilogy set in an alternate medieval Japan, it features a bisexual protagonist.
• Sing the Four Quarters by Tanya Huff: a fantasy novel that according to GLBT Fantasy Fiction Resources has lesbian and bisexual protagonists and a GLBT-friendly world.

Nonfiction (for most of these, the subtitle speak for themselves):

• Drifting Toward Love: Black, Brown, Gay, and Coming of Age on the Streets of New York by Kai Wright
• Created Equal: Why Gay Rights Matter to America by Michael Nava
• Sweet Tea: Black Gay Men of the South by E. Patrick Johnson
• Odd Girls and Twilight Lovers: A History of Lesbian Life in Twentieth-Century America by Lillian Faderman
• My Diva: 64 Gay Men on the Women Who Inspire Them ed. by Michael Montlack
• Dress Codes: Of Three Girlhoods-My Mother’s, My Father’s, and Mine by Noelle Howey: about growing up with a cross-dressing father.
• Art Objects by Jeanette Winterson: I don’t think this is specifically about GLBT themes, but Winterson is a lesbian author.
• Stonewall: The Riots That Sparked the Gay Revolution by David Carter
• The Last Closet: the Real Lives of Lesbian and Gay Teachers by Rita Kissen
• Something to Declare: Good Lesbian Travel Writing ed. Gillian Kendall
• Lesbian Widows: Invisible Grief by Vicky Whipple
• The Girls: Sappho Goes to Hollywood by Diana McLellan: about classic Hollywood actresses with inclinations towards women.
• The Red Rose Girls: an Uncommon Story of Art and Love by Alice Carter: about three Bohemian women artists who lived together and probably had intimate relationships.
• Whipping Girl: A Transsexual Woman on Sexism and the Scapegoating of Femininity by Julia Serano: another carry over from my ‘09 list.
• A Terrible Splendor by Marshall Jon Fisher: Three Extraordinary Men, a World Poised for War, and the Greatest Tennis Match Ever Played: about Wimbledon right before WWII when one of the players in the final was gay.

World Religion 2010
JT Oldfield is hosting the World Religion Challenge 2010, which as the name implies runs throughout next year. The idea is to read books about religion next year, which the name also makes pretty clear. Participants should take a cross-cultural approach, so make sure that you read about more than one religion. While both fiction and nonfiction can count, I’m going with all nonfiction. There are several ways to participate; I’m going with the Unshepherded Path which let’s me do whatever I want. Here’s my list divided by religion, in alphabetical order (I don’t want to be considered as playing favourites, lol). Oh, and I know that some religions have more books-it doesn’t mean anything, other than that not as many books in my library’s catalogue appealed to me. And of course, if you have any suggestions for the religions that don’t have many books beneath them, please share. Lately, I’ve been trying to become a Christian again (I was raised Catholic), but even if I manage that, I have the kind of Progressive leanings that make me feel that no religion has the monopoly on truth. ETA: I don’t intend to read every book on this list. I just like having options!

Buddhism

• The Heart of the World by Ian Baker: the author went on a pilgrimage to find the heart of Tibetan Buddhism.
• The Monk and the Philosopher by Jean-Francois Revel and Matthieu Ricard: a dialogue between an agnostic French father and his son, who became a Buddhist monk in Tibet.
• Old Path White Clouds by Thich Nhat Hanh: a retelling of Buddha’s life from a Vietnamese monk.
• No Beginning, No End by Jakusho Kwong: an introduction to Zen Buddhism by a Japanese practitioner.

Christianity

• Sabbath Keeping by Lynne Baab: a how-to guide for Christians who want to use the Sabbath to come closer to God.
• Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore: I’ve been wanting to read Moore for years. This is another how-to guide.
• A Jesuit Off-Broadway by James Martin: I really enjoyed another Martin book I read, My Life With the Saints, and this one sounds like just as much fun.
• Traveling Mercies by Anne Lamott: I enjoyed my fist Lamott book, Grace (Eventually).
• Saints Behaving Badly by Thomas Craughwell: a book about saints who led naughty lives before becoming saints later in life.
• Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis: a very different style of Christianity than the one I’m used to!
• Open Secrets by Richard Lischer: the memoirs of the first few years of a new minister’s service, when his liberal leanings clashed with his conservative, small Midwestern town congregation.
• The Close by Chloe Breyer: about Breyer’s first year at divinity school.

Hinduism

• Darsan: Seeing the Divine Image in India by Diana Eck: an explanation of the role vision plays in Hinduism.
• Essential Hinduism by Steven Rosen: a good basic introduction.
• Ganga: a Journey Down the Ganges River by Julian Crandall Hollick: a journalist travels along India’s holy river.
• The Sword and the Flute by David Kinsley: a look at Krishna and Kali.
• The Strides of Vishnu by Ariel Glucklich: another general book about Hinduism.
• My Family and Other Saints by Kirin Narayan: about Narayan’s childhood in Bombay with an older brother whose interest in enlightenment and gurus brings lots of Westerners to their house.
• Arrow of the Blue-Skinned God by Jonah Blank: Blank retraces the root of Rama, hero of a Sanskrit epic.

Islam

• No god but God by Reza Aslan: a general overview.
• The Story of the Qur’an by Ingrid Mattson: focuses on Islam’s holy book.
• In the Footsteps of the Prophet by Tariq Ramadan: a biographical look at Muhammad.
• Price of Honor by Jan Goodwin: I borrowed this from my women’s studies list-it’s about Muslim women’s opinions on the veil.
• The Sufis by Idries Shah: an overview of Sufism, which is a branch of Islam.
• The Crusades Through Arab Eyes by Amin Maalouf: I think the title is pretty self-explanatory. I’ve always been fascinated by the Crusades and that period of history.
• Children of Dust by Ali Eteraz: Eteraz’s memoir of growing up in Pakistan and later America, including his experiences at a madrassa.
• After the Prophet by Lesley Hazleton: a history book about the events that lead to the split between Shi’a and Sunni Muslims.
• An Illusion of Harmony by Taner Edis: Edis looks at the relationship between Islam and science throughout history.
• Journey Into Islam by Akbar Ahmed: a professor, Ahmed travelled with a group of American students throughout the Muslim world after 9/11.

Judaism

• The Talmud and the Internet by Jonathan Rosen: I’m always curious about the more scholarly, bookish aspects of Judaism, so this book sounds interesting.
• Mystics, Mavericks, and Merrymakers by Stephanie Levine and Carol Gilligan: a look at teenage Hasidic girls.
• Jewish Odyssey of George Eliot by Gertrude Himmelfarb: I read Daniel Deronda last year, and was definitely taken aback by the Jewish mysticism involved. So I’m curious as to where she came across that.
• Walking the Bible by Bruce Feiler: a travel book about Feiler following in Moses’ footsteps.
• Daily Kabbalah by Gershon Winkler: this sounds like a good overview of Kabbalah, but of course I’m not sure.
• The Sabbath by Abraham Joshua Heschel: a meditation on the importance of the Sabbath to Jewish practice.
• Jewish Women Pioneering the Frontier Trail by Jeanne Abrams: this just sounds interesting to me-it’s about Jewish women in the American West.
• Essential Judaism by George Robinson: an overview.
• I and Thou by Martin Buber: I read this in high school and loved it, so I wouldn’t mind a reread.

Other

• Black Elk Speaks by Nicholas Black Elk and John Neihardt: the autiobiography of a Lakota visionary man.
• The Spiral Dance by Starhawk: a book about neopaganism, which I loved in high school and which deserves a good reread.

Comparative Religion

• Her Voice, Her Faith ed. by Arvind Sharma: a collection of essays by eight women about their different faiths.
• Myths of Light by Joseph Campbell: a look at the Eastern religions, Hinduism and Buddhism.
• A History of God by Karen Armstrong: a look at the three religions centering around Jerusalem: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
• God Needs No Passport by Peggy Levitt: a look at the religions of American immigrants and how they’re affecting our society.
• The Faith Club by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver, and Prsciilla Warner: memoir by three women, one Jewish, one Muslim, one Christian, who met to discuss their faith.
• Encountering God by Diana Eck: a look at religions around the world and how being a religious scholar has affected Eck’s own Christian faith.
• The Search for God at Harvard by Ari Goldman: a look at Harvard Divinity School, and how it affects Goldman’s Jewish faith.
• The Jew in the Lotus by Rodger Kamenetz: a Jewish poet goes to an interfaith dialogue between Jewish and Tibet Buddhist leaders.

The One Ring (theonering.net) is a little concerned that Hellboy director Guillermo Del Toro could go kid-oriented when he directs the upcoming Hobbit movies. Personally, I don’t think anyone who’s seen The Devil’s Backbone, Pan’s Labyrinth or even Hellboy 1 or 2 would think Del Toro the type to go that way, so it’s clear TheOneRing is playing this one tongue-in-cheek, but the list it’s come up with is awesome. You can read the whole thing here, but here’s an excerpt…

3. Keep Leonard Nimoy Away From the Soundtrack!
Yes, Nimoy’s version of “Bilbo Baggins” is the greatest music video in history (except perhaps for the DaVinyls “I Touch Myself”). But it’s also exactly the wrong note for the new Hobbit movie.

This is exactly the light-hearted silliness that makes The Hobbit fun to read as a child, but hard to sit through in a feature-length film. Unless Nimoy plays Gandalf. No offense to Ian McKellen, but that would be awesome.

Naturally, they include this video as a chilling reminder…

And in other Hobbit news, remember those bones that were found a couple years back? Small and humanoid, they were dubbed ‘hobbits’ and had even archaeologists and their ilk scratching their heads. Well, a little bit of the mystery has been solved: They weren’t humans at all! The Mirror explains…

Hobbit-like creatures who lived 18,000 years ago were a lot less like us than we thought, say scientists.

Researchers have decided the 3ft 6ins tall tribe from the Indonesian island of Flores are an unknown sub-species of modern man. Their remains caused a sensation when unveiled five years ago and they were dubbed Hobbits after the elf-like creatures in JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.

Some researchers argued they were modern humans with a disorder called microcephaly accounting for their tiny brains.

But analysis of the most complete skeleton, of a female called Flo, suggests she was a different branch of human. Anthropologist Dr Karen Baab said: “Dwarfing syndromes and microcephaly bear no resemblance to the unique anatomy of Homo Floresiensis.”

It is thought the little folk were wiped out 12,000 years ago by a volcano.

And that’s all, it seems, for real-life Hobbit news and the fantasy Hobbit-news we’ll of course be keeping up on–especially when WETA starts sending out the merch! ‘Til then, we do have a wide selection of Lord of the Rings figures and collectibles still available, which of course feature a couple Hobbit/LOTR crossover characters. Look out for ‘em.

Left 4 Dead: The Battle for Helm’s Deep (New Custom Map)

Mike sent me this clip and, boy, does it reek of epic. Yes, I am aware that the second coming that is Left 4 Dead 2 is upon us. But this new custom survival map is just so over-the-top that it needs to be played. Recreating the LotR jizzfest that is the Battle of Helm’s Deep (see: The Two Towers), it brings the Survivors to Middle Earth in a glorious combination of awesome.

L4D owners (PC-only, duh): download the map here.

From BikeSnobNYC

If one were sitting on the toilet while perusing the artwork of Mike Giant only to find oneself out of toilet paper, one would not sit there shouting helplessly until a friend came to one’s aid with a roll of arcal and a 3wrencho; instead, one would simply do the logical thing and clean up after oneself using the Mike Giant art. I’ve found myself in a similar predicament many times while reading The New Yorker, and in each instance I was tremendously grateful for the work of Sasha Frere-Jones. I won’t go into too much detail, but I will say that while Frere-Jones’s writing may not be that engrossing from a literary standpoint, it is tremendously absorbing when it comes to personal hygiene. Sure, it’s kinda scratchy, but that’s nowhere near as irritating as actually trying to read it.

I feel the same way about Peter Schjeldahl. The difference is that reading SFJ is sitting at the Council of Elrond: there’s a lot of references to the old times that you don’t get, but the conversation eventually gets around to Isildur –> Déagol –> Sméagol –> Bilbo. Reading Schjeldahl is like being airdropped into the middle of The Silmarillion.

This one too, is about Boromir and Faramir.

The Return of the King, book three of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, is absolutely wonderful.  But if you read it, be prepared to be depressed. Overwhelming hopelessness is a not-so-subtle theme throughout the whole thing.  The beauty of it is that, for the most part, the characters keep striving on even when they know exactly how impossible are the tasks that they face.  It’s nice to read about straightforward heroes – and villains – in modern literature.

I enjoyed reading about the plight of Eowyn – at last, a female who actually does something! 

Although apparently the actions she takes are mostly of the suicidal variety, and Tolkien seems to indicate that her place is at home, doing “women’s work”, not out at battle.  I’m torn on that one.  On one hand, she did indeed have a responsibility to shepherd the people while the king was away, but personally, I wouldn’t have liked being patronized and told to go hide in a cave while all the cool people ran off to do heroic deeds, either.  Still, I appreciate the fact that all the men involved in this decision (Theoden King, Eomer, and Aragorn) truly wished only for her safety.

I was torn again when it came to her love story.  My first inclination was to delight in a happy, romantic ending.  However, angst makes for more interesting reading, generally.  I felt a lot more for her character while she was moping around like Eeyore than I did when she, in two pages, transformed into that la-di-dah Princess Sunbeam type character.  The ends got tied up just a bit too neatly for my taste.

I don’t feel the need to say much about the battles, other than that they were enthralling.

My heart was breaking for Sam and Frodo while they trudged through Mordor.  It was interesting to see Sam become more and more the hero of the story.  We have no way of knowing if Frodo could have succeeded without him in the end, but it certainly seems unlikely.  Gollum played his part well, too.  You have to pity the creature but always despise him at the same time.  I was a little disappointed that Frodo couldn’t destroy the ring of his own free will (guess hobbits aren’t quite as tough as they say!) but it absolutely worked out for the best to have Gollum give up his life for it.

All in all, it was an excellect conclusion to an excellent epic tale.

How do you pick up the threads of an old life? How do you go on, when in your heart you begin to understand there is no going back? There are some things time cannot mend. Some hurts that go too deep that have taken hold.  ~ Frodo Baggins

 

 

I found this awesome fanvid from LOTR about brothers Boromir and Faramir.

The Hobbit in his secret hole,

Unwillingly lets

The Fortune of the Ring unfold.

Then Begins

The story of adventure told.

~ Eyes searching the horizon

Clinching teeth, nibbling old rations,

Temporarily frozen passions

Flowing beneath leaden brows

Incredible sacrifice he knows. ~

Around his neck

The Destiny of Middle Earth he holds.

~ But thanks to the unsung henchman

(the friend to the end), and a certain guide;

Immortal peril and deep, dark evil on an epic scale

He Bolds. ~

Article:

It’s Time For Change – View from a US Larp

When I mention LARPing to someone, the response I usually get is “Excuse you”. Excuse me? No, excuse you good sir for I feel bad that you have not been able to experience the eye opening experience you could have LARPing. Most people when they hear about LARPing they instantly become condescending and judgmental. Funny thing is… I’m not getting the looks like I did five years ago.

LARP stands for Live Action Role Play. LARPing began in the 1970s and although no one can agree to where this term was coined or who exactly thought it up we do know that the first game recorded began in 1977 in Washington DC in the United States. Players who partake in a LARP call themselves LARPers. Eh, so what? I can easily find that on the LARPing wiki right? But read it again… LARPing has been around for 30+ years. This ‘idea’ has been around for a long period of time and this ‘idea’ has not been played around…

To continue reading my article please support me and Alltern8 by visiting the site by clicking here.

Siapa yang tidak tau film Lord of The Ring dan siapa juga yang tidak tau Game DoTa ? LOTR merupakan film sekuel kolosal yang sangat popular. Sedangkan DoTa merupakan game Online yang sedang ramai-ramai nya dimainkan dikalangan anak-anak remaja saat ini. Kedua nya membangkitkan Tokoh-tokoh dari zaman dahulu. Awalnya mungkin kita tidak akan menyadari kesamaan-kesamaan yang ada pada film dan game ini. Namun jika kita mau perhatikan dengan baik, ada beberapa kesamaan pada dua hal tersebut, entah kesamaan yang disengaja ataupun tidak. Saya bermain DoTa sudah cukup lama jadi saya sudah hafal tentang detail-detail pada game ini. Nah belum lama ini saya menonton film LOTR di TV. Saya nonton dari pertengahan sampai akhir. Dan saya mulai menyadari kesamaan-kesamaan tersebut :

1. Pada film LOTR ada beberapa RAS yaitu; Human, Elf, Orc,Dwarf. Nah pada game DoTa sebutan-sebutan ini juga ada.

2. Pada film LOTR ada tokoh yang bernama Gandalf, berjubah putih dan mengendarai kuda putih. Pada game DoTa ada Ezalor yang karakter nya hampir mirip dengan Gandalf.

3. Pada film LOTR ada Pohon-pohon raksasa yang disebut bangsa Ent. Bangsa Ent berpihak pada kebenaran. Di game DoTa pada sisi Sentinel dijaga oleh Pohon raksasa yang disebut AnciEnt Protector.

4. Pada film LOTR, sisi yang jahat dijaga oleh menara yang memiliki mata dan jika musuh terlihat oleh mata itu, mata itu akan segera menembak musuh tersebut meskipun jaraknya jauh. Pada game DoTa sisi Scourage dijaga oleh menara yang diatas nya memiliki lambang mata.

Ya, sejauh ini saya hanya menemukan persamaan-persamaan tersebut. Ini semua hanya pikiran saya saja, jadi entah apakah persamaan tersebut memang disengaja atau tidak, saya tidak tau. Hanya sekedar untuk bertukar pikiran saja dan jika ada yang menemukan persamaan lain, silakan berbagi dengan saya. Thanx..

Chapter One

He was about to leave when she walked into the store. She with the permanent Pink Eye and horrible stutter. He had been staring at the boobie magazines and had got the desired level of Boner. It was now time to head back and finish the job at “hand”.

Ya. So that is how far I have gotten. Something tells me that it is not really going to be finished anytime soon. I always had a problem with those essays/stories in school. You know the ones which are supposed to begin/end with a pre-decided line? I wish they would let you do your own thing. And let’s face it, most of those fukin things would end with “Oh and I woke up and realised it was a dream”. Oh thats so fukin unique!

If you really want to challenge someone’s creativity, you should give endings like “So they cleaned off the blood and the mucus and hid the elephant genitalia” or “And that is why pigs cannot shit in public” or something like that.

I don’t think it is “cool” to be abnormal or strange or weird. I cannot stand people who go out of their frikkin way to show how “so not like the others” they really are. Fuk you!

You are nothing more than a fancy, gift wrapped carbon copy of the next bar-coded yabber. You are the “2009 Special Edition” Corolla with the “redesigned ashtray” and “all new upholstery”. You are the Limited Edition Mickey Mouse key-chain. The one which is made in China. You are the  Crystal Edition Bottled Water which can only be bought by those with enough Frequent Flyer miles.

So fuk off and take that little Happy Meal Toy which you have been eyeing for so long.

Wow. It is surprisingly easy to launch into a tirade isn’t it? And it is not even that time of the month. Yet.

So The Kitchen is about to be inaugrated soon. Which means that “food” shall be elevated from Maggi and Bread to (perhaps) dal and rice. Which is a good thing but why the hell is there so much shopping involved. And how the hell am I supposed to know how much dal costs anyway.

Which kinda reminds me of the time when I was new here and was setting up home. Feels like it happend such a long time ago. The static nature of life is really a misnomer no? You know how some things move so slowly that you do not even realise it?

That is probably why I liked the Ents so much. It just made so much sense to me. Totally believable. Plus, earlier I had read this story by Roald Dahl about how this man makes a machine which allows him to hear trees. And when he steps outside, all he hears is the screams of trees and so he goes mad. Or deaf. Or one of the two. Or something like that.

Anyway, the point is that I like Ents. Always will.

]]> http://culturepursuit.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/hobbit/ Wed, 11 Nov 2009 17:13:03 +0000 trivialpursuitculture http://culturepursuit.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/hobbit/ http://shinbikkuri3.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/tolkien-talking/ Wed, 11 Nov 2009 07:15:17 +0000 びっくり http://shinbikkuri3.wordpress.com/2009/11/11/tolkien-talking/

Yesterday I mentioned visiting a farm in the countryside and relaxing. Actually I have known about the farm for sometime now, and have wanted to visit, but only knew the owner as a colleague. We would meet briefly about once a year and I didn’t have his contact information. Finally, an invite to a party came and I jumped at the chance.

He seems to have a serious and respectful, but relaxed outlook on life; enjoys education of himself and others; and keeps varied interests. What more could one ask for in a friend. During the summer I had heard about an event he held last year and on this trip I found he plans to do it annually. He gathers a group of interested parties together to read Tolkien. My understanding is that each member chooses some excerpt they particularly like and reads that.

Initial reactions of common people are similar to when they hear someone wants to act out issues of Naruto. When we discussed it, he was very clear that people should not come wearing elven cloaks. Just because one appreciates good writing, doesn’t mean they have to be fanatic.

Anyhow, I am now feeling a bit better, so I threw my LOTR volume into my backpack and have started reading again. For the last few years I have really wanted to re-read about the condition of the Shire after the wars. The recent movies have washed the remnants of the actual story from my memory: time to refresh.

My decision is to read from the beginning, so it will take some time to get there, but it will be fun. Practically every paragraph of his writing contains something quotable. I love the texture of his language, his humor, his observation of social behavior.

This morning’s fun discovery was the Hundred-weight Feast to celebrate a 112th birthday. I had completely forgotten that, only remembering the Eleventy-first birthday the year before.

This is brought to you by Strange Maps (again).

This is pretty darn cool.  It’s a representation of the events in the Lord of the Rings.  Tracing each character’s plot, I can see the events fold out as they did in the book (and the movie, now super imposed on my own images).

So, ok.  It’s not technically a map.  It’s still pretty cool.  See Strange Map’s original post for citation and a bigger version.

Later,

tmso

Pete and Tricia fire up the new flat screen TV.

Follow Pete’s Tweets (@pbickerson).