I think this might be a sneak peek of the other band I plan to create: XP

.

awesorm picture. :3

I recently re-read these books (well, listened to them on tape), and they were even better for the fourth time. they’re one of those books that completely takes you away from real life. The end always makes me cry, though.

Oh glorious day!!!

I WANT THAT FOR CHRISTMAS. AND I DON’T EVEN CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS. BUT STILL!

I still get some of the castle lego. Though I wish I had more orcs and orc-like beasts to fight against.

Pirate Lego was replaced with PotC lego.

Oh, yes. Just look at those new miner things. The Rock Raiders were soooooooo much better.

Puppet, I think that’s because they expect kids to not have any imagination these days. II don’t want Build-A-Specific-Unalterable-Thing, I want a Build-Whatever-You-Want bucket o’ bricks.

anyway, on topic:

I have to give props to John C Wright

That’s an excellent explanation of it, I’m glad someone’s taken the time to examine Tom’s role in the story, instead of merely glossing over him as irrelevant.

I had that huge pirate ship, the brown one, and then the little red one. Damn, I loved those things. The big one, as my interests progressed, became first an enormous Crimson Skies-style airplane with eight propellers, then an actual airship, then a spaceship, then an airship again…

Sorry, for derailing the thread but…

Puppet: You pretty much summed up LEGO nowadays. I do appreciate the heightened quality in the specific pieces, but it just removes so much of the creativity and the prices are just ridiculous. Tiny little sets that don’t even have proper buildings or anything are twenty bucks!

EDIT: Oh gosh, I just saw that ad. That kid is SO CREEPY.

EDIT TWO: Oh, this isn’t the totally random thread! On subject, LOTR legos will be pretty cool. On the subject of the books themselves… I began reading Fellowship a while back, and never got into it. Shrugs It’s really not my kind of book.

Is the sporking of LOTR on the main site serious, or is it just an April Fool’s joke?

April Fool’s, undoubtedly—otherwise it would’ve been posted on another date. Everyone knows that on April 1st nothing is true.

And this is just the kind of thing that would be put on this kind of site on April fools.

Yeah, but since it’s part one, it means more’s to follow. More sporks on LotR after April 1st. Unless the hint at continuity, as it is this way with other sporks, is part of the joke.

I hope it’s an April Fool’s joke…I know it’s a silly reaction, but just seeing the title made my heart cry out a little bit :((

Lego not Legos
It’s singular and plural
Dang Americans.
:)

Lego not Legos
It’s singular and plural
Dang Americans.
:)

Why are you even bothering to correct us? We’re American; we’ll never admit to being wrong.

No politics.
Just to be a forum etiquette Nazi.

No politics.
Just to be a forum etiquette Nazi.

No Nazis!
Just to be a forum etiquette Allied Force.

trollface

Someone actually read the FAQ?

I read the commentary thereof, does that count?

Someone should. Then people might actually read it.

Yeah, but if you did continue it, you’d have to deal with me ragefacing in the comments every time. :P

I should be more clear. I recognize LotR has points that can be criticized, but I didn’t really agree with any of the points in the spoof spork.

I don’t mind a tongue-in-cheek spoof or critique of Lord of the Rings. What really bothered me were the continual, over-the-top personal attacks (which is something I don’t really like about any spork, so we’re clear). The profanity and violence applied to a gentle, kind and friendly man who poured himself into his work just seemed in bad taste.

I’m aware it was a joke, but even as a joke I think it went a bit too far.

/0.02

On the other hand, LoTR could be the exception that proves the rule for some stuff. i.e. Tolkien could pull off an infodump, but it’s not usually a good idea.

I would still not appreciate anyone sporking it. To me, the problem with the sporkers’ mindset, apart from the spectacularly bad, like Twilight, or The Eye of Argon, is that it encourages people to look only for the worst in everything. I don’t believe that that mindset is ultimately good. I would rather see the good in a flawed work. The sporkers that I enjoyed, when criticizing a certain plot point or character, point out another story where it was done well.
Its easy to mock something, but after a while it feels kind of empty.
And it isn’t just Tolkien for me. There’s a number of other authors who I feel the same way about. They have been the sources of some of the best experiences of my life. I love books, and I don’t want to spend my life picking them apart. It’s just depressing.

A spork is written for entertainment and shouldn’t be confused with a serious or professional critique. I don’t think any book should be excused “just ‘cause it was written by Tolkien.” If the spork entertains me then I honestly don’t care how ridiculous the criticism is. The, “Everything Wrong With Eragon” spork by Lord Snow is a good example. Lord Snow wrote it as a joke, yet many Eragon fans still mistake it as a serious critique of the book.

A spork is written for entertainment. If you can’t take a joke you’re gonna have a bad time.

Yeah… I feel like sporking a decent, well-written book, is missing the entire point. Yeah, LOTR has flaws. But I’d be just as against sporking The Great Gatsby, or Harry Potter. Yeah, they may have some issues, and I may deeply, deeply loathe one of them, but they are still well written. Tearing down the great, if flawed work of others, just seems petty to me. Tearing down the pretentious, horrible writing of others is not the same thing.

Ahaha, I love the parts with the baby. They’re all like “what baby?” as they’re sitting on the baby or something.

But anyway, that is a fair point. I think there can be fun poked at something without it being, well, too much (which is why I liked the spork for April Fools’).

Here’s the comic in question, by the way.

That is pretty funny =D

I loved the ones about the Bronte sisters!
Did you see the ones about Wuthering Heights?

And with all those comics with Napoleon, she ought to do one with Josephine’s pug.

BODICES RIPPING
MEN TURNING GAY

So back on topic, what do you think of the charge that Tolkien was racist?
I came across a discussion of that online the other day, and it really annoyed me. There seems to be this tendency to . . . well, not allow for other times and places in their assessment. I just get annoyed by people who assume that if the author didn’t think like a 21st century American, he’s bad. Like 21st century Americans are always right about everything, and everyone else is right insofar as they agree with us. It kind of reminds me of what Lewis called “Chronological Snobbery.”

I don’t think his writings are racist. I was mainly remembering the scene where Sam sees the dead Southeron in Ithilien, and wonders if he really wanted to be in those battles at all, and if he wouldn’t have rather stayed at home. That moment seemed to humanize the enemy for me.

Eh, I don’t think Tolkien was racist at all. In general, Tolkien was very worried about portraying any group as entirely good or entirely evil (a result of his Christian beliefs), even the orcs. And even with the Southrons/Haradrim, there’s mentions in some of his other writings of how only some of them came to fight with Sauron and they were more mercenaries than evil through-and-through. In fact, he had some ideas that the “regular” Southrons/Haradrim didn’t show up because they were busy fighting civil wars at home between the “good” ones and those who came to fight with Sauron. And as for the white-skinned Numenoreans being all wondeful and whatnot… eh. Some were very noble and good. Some were not so noble and good. And the not-so-noble-and-good ones are the reason why many people in Rohan hate the Numenorean-influenced Gondorians, because some Numenoreans actually used their abilities and powers to rule as tyrants over the people in Middle-Earth.

As for whether he was anti-Semitic, this would be an excellent time to quote from my very favorite of Tolkien’s writings. Shortly before World War II, a German publisher wanted to publish a translation of The Hobbit. However, they first wrote to Tolkien to ask whether he was of Aryan origin. His remarks to his publisher:

I must say the enclosed letter from Rütten and Loening is a bit stiff. Do I suffer this impertinence because of the possession of a German name, or do their lunatic laws require a certificate of ‘arisch’ origin from all persons of all countries? ... I do not regard the (probable) absence of all Jewish blood as necessarily honourable; and I have many Jewish friends, and should regret giving any colour to the notion that I subscribed to the wholly pernicious and unscientific race-doctrine.

He then wrote two letters, one of which refused to answer any questions at all regarding race or ethnicity (the one that was probably sent), and the other of which was a brilliant, beautiful piece of writing, in which he points out just how stupid of a question that was and why you never, ever try to tell a linguist things about language.

I regret that I am not clear as to what you intend by ‘arisch’. I am not of Aryan extraction: that is Indo-Iranian; as far as I am aware none of my ancestors spoke Hindustani, Persian, Gypsy, or any related dialects. ... But if I am to understand that you are enquiring whether I am of Jewish origin, I can only reply that I regret that I appear to have no ancestors of that gifted people. ... I have been accustomed, nonetheless, to regard my German name with pride, and continued to do so throughout the period of the late regrettable war, in which I served in the English army. I cannot, however, forbear to comment that if impertinent and irrelevant inquiries of this sort are to become the rule in matters of literature, then the time is not far distant when a German name will no longer be a source of pride.

I think it goes without saying that Tolkien was not exactly fond of Nazis. He also called Hitler a “ruddy little ignoramus”, which is just funny in general.

I have to admit, I look for excuses to quote all of that stuff. It’s pretty much my favorite thing I’ve ever read ever.

Yeah I love those quotes. Tolkien sounds so baller as he’s considering which way to stick it to the Nazis.

Seconded. :)

.... bows that was one of the funniest put down letters that I’ve ever read. What was even funnier is that he managed to keep the polite tone, pointed out a major flaw in their ideals, and pointed out that he had fought against them once before all at the same time.

His essays are a lot like that. I’ve read a few of them. He erm…wasn’t amused by the idea that fantasy should be only for children, and really took one of the translators (Lang, the writer of the variously colored Fairy Books, which have some…silly translations in it) of world wide folklore to task for making it so simple and childish.