17 posts tagged “lotr”
As many of you know, I am involved in many fandoms. Not a terribly active member in most but I do enjoy discussing things with other fans or reading a good fanfic. I understand many of the native dialects and can enjoy a good flight of fancy where you discuss fandom as if it's of great importance. Yes, I can understand this. However, there is something that has continually left me puzzled.
That is when people cannot disconnect the STORY or CHARACTERS from the ACTORS. For example, you're discussing how Ivanova had such a funny relationship with Garibaldi in the Babylon 5 fandom.
And then someone replies, "well I heard Claudia Christian can barely stand Jerry Doyle. He's such a jerk."
Um, ok. I guess I could kind of get the crossover. I mean yeah, they had to act together so I guess that's remarking on how hard it must have been for Claudia Christian to make their characters' relationship seem happy but I thought we were discussing the story not the. -
Someone else replies, "Yeah, Garibaldi is such a jerk."
Wait, what? Oh, I see, it's one of those times where the Actor Is the Character, right? Huh, seems to happen a lot around these parts.
Or how about in the Lord of the Rings fandom for example.
Starting topic "Do you guys believe that there might be any goodness left in Gollum? Or did the ring just totally taken him over years ago? Do you have any sympathy for this character?"
Reply: "Well, Elijah said that Gollum was just evil incarnate. So really how could you have any sympathy for him?"
Oh great, now we've crossed the line even further. Not only the Actor is the Character but now he has secret knowledge of EVERYTHING. His word is law. You know what, if he says he always felt Elrond had a thing for his own daughter, well then that's canon, huh?
Is it so hard to differentiate between STORY and CHARACTER and PRODUCTION and ACTOR? When you are discussing the story and character, that does not mean you bring in production and actor. Vice-versa! No, I'm sorry, actors do not have secret knowledge into the workings of the fandom world. They are not their characters and even if they were, they wouldn't know all this shit. I can kind of see having this reaction to the writers since they created the story and characters but for some god-awful reason, in half the fandoms, they seem to forget there are writers entirely. For gods' sake, if you believe every actor put that much attention into his charactor nonetheless other characters, you are seriously mistaken people. And even then that would be one opinion on the story. Really, the actors opinion on the story or character has no more weight behind it than a fan's. In fact, it might have less because, show of hands how many people think the actors pay as much attention to this crap as the fans?If you have your hand up, I must ask how many actors you know. Most are more concerned with how their acting appears than the deeper workings of plot. Half of them only watch their shows/movies a couple times, if that, and believe me they are mostly just watching themselves. Actor friends, that is not meant as an insult, that is the reality of your job. An actors job is to convince the audience solely of his/her own performance. Once they start concerning themselves with more they're things like. . . directors and writers. You know, those people that generally don't exist.
Obviously, this is why I do not feel any urge to ever attend a con. Why? Because when I see the actors I do not believe I am seeing the characters. I'm not going to go up to them and ask for their signature meanwhile asking if they ever had any sort of "thing" with this other character. They are ACTORS, people. Actors. They might be good ones (sometimes) but no matter how good they are, they are not the CHARACTERS. And, you know what? I find it just a bit freaky that so many people have a problem understanding this concept.
"You know, it'd be really nice to have a discussion about Peter Pettigrew without just going off on how terrible he is. Yeah, he betrayed people but I think he'd be a really interesting character to discuss. Do you think that after the initial loss that he might have just given up? Maybe he went insane. Was there any sympathy to the character at all? I mean a guy just doesn't suddenly turn like that."
"Well, maybe there was more to it but he really is unforgivable. Daniel Radcliff said it too."
I give up.
*Clears Throat* "You know, I heard Hugo Weaving say that Elrond always had a thing for his own...."
(Yes, this is certainly inspired by something recent. No, it happened in none of the fandoms I mentioned though they have had their moments too. None of this dialogue was taken from anywhere. I made it up to make a point. No I don't believe Elrond had a thing for Arwen. Eww. No I don't believe everyone at Cons can't tell the difference between Fandom and RL. These are generalities.)
Where do you go to get away from it all?
Submitted by Hops.
Reading And Writing And My Own Imagination.
Here's some of the online stuff I read:
My only writing that can be publicly viewed online:
You can definitely see my growth as a writer through that. Thus, if you'd like to see my most current style, I'd recommend reading What Is Not Forgotten.
And my Imagination, well . . .
(Image barrowed from here.)
Today is my last day at home before I depart on the Quest of the Many Cities. I shall take a Giant Eagle many leagues from the Green Valley to the Land of Dens. There, I shall tackle a small labyrinth and wait to meet an A-moral Dragon who shall fly me to the Windy City. There, I shall meet with a healer and her guide.
Then, my journey shall truly begin.
Fabulous.
.....
Here's a great link sent to me by Angie that combined RPG and LOTR into a funny comic strip. It's much funnier if you're familiar with RPG.
It's very strange to think that in 24 hours, I'll be sitting in Denver waiting to make my next connection. I just hope that it all goes well. I don't think I'll have a cellphone with me. You know, it's strange but you don't realize how many payphones are gone until you don't have your cellphone on you anymore. Freaky. Same with clocks. Clocks and payphones are disappearing because of the assumption that everyone has a cellphone. How annoying.
I have mostly everything packed. Unfortunately, I can't have EVERYTHING packed until shortly before I leave. I'm sure I'm going to leave something. No matter how well packed one is, there is always something that you remembered thinking you needed to remember to bring but never do. I hope it's nothing important like the camera or my thyroid pills or something like that.
Over the last few days, I've been asking the people I know for any tips about flying. The last time I traveled by air (also the first) was when I was 11 and traveling with my family to my brother's wedding. This was definitely pre-9/11 and I was a decade younger and I had whole bunches of family navigating me. I have a feeling this shall all be a little different. I don't think it'll be bad though. I have everything worked out about what I'll take with me on the plane and what I'm putting in my main luggage. I have one piece of luggage and then as my carry-on I'm using my usual bag that I carry around my writing in. Nothing very big or bulky.
I have my outfit picked out:
One blue jogging suit with zip up jacket in light material
Blue short-sleeved shirt for underneath
Pair of sandles for easy on-off-I'm-no-terrorist-in-these-shoes action
In my carry-on, I'm bringing:
Camera (with all accompanying stuff)
Writing (Paper and Pens)
Reading (Easy read theorizing about Harry Potter Book seven)
my jewelry (no, I'm not bringing a lot but I am bringing a little)
my pills (thyroid hormone, benedryl, and Atarax. Nothing liquid.)
A ziplock bag with an extra pair of underwear and shirt (should they missplace my baggage)
Gum (*ChewChew* *POP* *Chew*)
Compact headphones (My dad has my compact cd player somewhere.....)
My Wallet (Duh)
Main Bag:
Clothes and everything else I'd need which isn't much. My bag is pretty much filled and I can lift it with one hand.
EVERYTHING ELSE:
I've emailed myself links that I may want during my trip.
I have an email account simply for archiving my writing so I will have that at my disposal.
My sleeping schedule has been very good the last few days. I'm sure it's going to be messed up by this but not as much as it could be. My anxiety level is running remarkably low. But I'm obviously not in the throes of mania. V. Good.
I have my flight info printed out so that I can then get my boarding pass.
My room is pretty much all cleaned up.
....
Seems like it's all going very well so far. I will be very upset if they lose my luggage though. I just don't have the resources to replace all that right now if they do. But I need the stuff I'm bringing. Luckily, everything of any value to anyone but myself is going to be in my carry-on.
Now there's pretty much just the waiting.
*Taps Fingers*
No, I'm not really going to list the ways. (Though, number 1 would be giving me benzodiazepines like this wikihow suggests. Let's just say they have a very different affect on me than normal people.) I simply couldn't think of a better title. I don't believe I've made a vox post about this yet. On Wednesday, I am flying out to Chicago to meet up with Rain On Your Skin. I'm really looking forward to it. I've also been researching for it.
Yes, I am a dork.
I think I may actually enjoy this show. They are just all so great. It's the best reality show following a family that I've seen. I'm sure I wouldn't be able to stand my partner fooling around like Gene Simmons. I think I'd prefer to have my partner have one or two long term partners other than me instead of having him/her just have SO many different lovers. Not only for STDs but also for pregnancies... Shannon Tweed is a saint.
Anyways, I am one of those people that feels a lot more comfortable when I have thought out everything before hand and know exactly what to expect. Control freak? No. I just appreciate the God of Control. I have a feeling that he's a twin of Ares, God of War.
Nice . . . I have looked up different WikiHows. Mainly to amuse myself. I've also asked all my friends about tips for making flying easier. I've decided that everything I think I can do without is pretty much going in my main bag. Everything I need (such as reading, writing, camera) is going in my small carry-on bag. I plan to have my bedroom all pulled together for my leaving tomorrow. On Tuesday, I plan to have myself pretty much all packed. Wednesday, I plan to have myself ready. Early. Of course, I much prefer early than to late. And I only have one connection in Colorado. Luckily, my sleeping and mood are doing pretty well. I'm hoping that my BP will be doing well.
I'm really looking forward to seeing Chicago and DC with everything in-between and after.
Here I'll try to make a ticker:
And here's Christy's:
I hate when it gets close enough to the day of travel that I get excited for the trip but long enough that I still need to wait. I'm guessing that it's just going to get even more annoying until I am out there. And then I'll be happy that I survived it. The two things that really have me nervous are SECURITY and my connection in Colorado. Overall, I'm sure this is going to be great.
Now, so that you know it's me, here are some great Youtube finds! Hahaha!
So, I think it's about that time of year again where I return to the HP fandom. Everyone who knows me should know I go through periods where I read from one fandom to another. There are some fandoms that I always return to every few months like HP, ST, and LOTR/Silmarillion. And there are other fandoms (think fanfic) that I return to after a longer period of time, like Labyrinth, E:FC, and X:WP.
I think it's about time for me to return to HP. Surely there are some new great Remus/Sirius and Draco/Ginny fic. I'd hope there'd be some new, good Snape fic. I wish the Shoebox Project would update soon. Anyone in the HP fandom have any recommendations for me?
In honor of it, here's a really great Marauders Fanvid:
Unfortunately, I haven't found a straight (edit: *Giggle*) Remus/Sirius fanvid that has really impressed me. There are some good ones, but nothing really great. I must blame this on the people who made the movies. They have not given us enough Sirius/Remus moments. For shame!
Instead, here are two great HP icons. Neither are mine but I had to share the greatness that is the Fandom.
(Gotta love how they left Morgoth out of that one and just used Sauron. Really, THE dark lord of Tolkien is Morgoth, people. Sauron was his henchman. Geeze, when will the public learn . . .)
In which fictional world/universe/land/city would you most like to live?
Submitted by glenn is the new chuck.
This is a rather hard question for me. It'd matter on the circumstance that I'd be there. I would never want to drop out of the sky (even if I fell onto a pile of feather mattresses or into the arms of a conveniently placed hunk) or to just suddenly wake up anywhere but where I'm supposed to be. However, should circumstances be fortuitous and the people I loved in this life were there? Meaning that everything was somehow fixed in some way I couldn't think up right now but would be covered there? Um . . . .well, how about I list some places? I'll even add pictures!
First stop: Middle-earth (Duh!)
The Elven Realms of course. You may be expecting some more obvious choices such as Lothlorian (a little too secretive for my tastes), Mirkwood (two words: GIANT SPIDERS!), or Imladris (Elrond does seem to court tragedy, dontcha think?) but I think the one I may be more tempted towards would be Lindon or Mithlond. The thing that would detract from Mithlond though is that I don't think I'd want to hang around with a whole bunch of Elves that are so sick of the world that they're taking ship to Valinor. So leaning more towards Lindon . . .or Beleriand. Wait, if I get to choose anywhere, does that mean I can choose Valinor?! Ooh, I think I choose Valinor. Yeah, I know living in the undying lands doesn't make you immortal but I don't want to be immortal. I just think it'd be a rather happy and beautiful place.
Now, see, it's kinda hard because most of the places that make great stories that I enjoy . . . well, they aren't exactly neat and clean places. Like Babylon 5 . . .It's a great story but I wouldn't want to be in that world . . . especially if I were on Earth. I mean, DAMN! First the Minbari try to kill them off, then you have President Clark and the civil war (not even counting the SHADOW WAR), and then the plague that would kill everything off in five years?! Damn! Or Xena: Warrior Princess. Fun to watch but I rather like having a toilet with running water, none the less have you seen all the people that get killed on that show? Then there's Star Trek. In some ways, I could see Star Trek as being ok. But I'd have to give up red as my favorite color because Red Shirts always DIE! Of course, I'd have to receive a promise that I'd become involved with a hot Vulcan that is perfectly to order. So . . . .Yeah, I think I'll just stick with what I have. Sounds good to me. Wow, look! I'm there!
What is one of your addictions?
Submitted by Paperheart.
Reading.
In this case, specifically fanfiction.
fanfiction sites (warning: some may have adult material. Do not read adult material if under legal age. Click at own risk):
Slashy Harry Potter with interesting pairings
Very good site to read some quality Harry Potter fanfic
Good Labyrinth Archive from a Good Labyrinth fanfic Author
Best LOTR fanfic. Amazing quality.
More Adult LOTR fanfic. The stuff I'd recommend would be by Eresse
Great fanfic writer website for true tolkienites
Probably my favorite Earth: Final Conflict fanfiction
Good Stargate fanfic (slash-ish) by a personal friend of mine.
Very good Star Trek fanfic writer. She also has Star Wars here
One of my favorite authors - Macedon. He wrote the best Vulcan characters I've ever read.
Best archive for Sarek/Amanda (spock's parents) fanfic.
Wonderful sequal to the Delicate Balance of In-between (Babylon 5)
Good Babylon 5 fanfic archive. Best for that show that I've come across
And of course a link to my own account through the infamous Fanfiction.net
Pretty much some vids that I'd recommend giving a looksie:
I love this song. I love this song so much.
This song is so insidious. It's great!
Still an genius even if disturbing vid:
Aragorn sure does kiss a lot of men, Christy:
I really like this song. Especially when they are yelling at each other:
LMAO. If you are a B5 fan, you have to laugh at this:
One of the MANY reasons Patrick Stewart is just awesome:
Too true:
This is my favorite song by Lisa Loeb:
Shakespeare translated by animaniacs:
GREAT music video:
Funny parody:
They start so young these days:
I really love this song:
Or insane. Your choice.
This is an absolute MUST-SEE:
Elijah Wood singing Spice Girls? Is anyone really surprised?
This is oddly disturbing and hypnotizing. Like a car crash. On acid.