1. I'm extra late this week. I wish I could say it was for a good reason, but it isn't. 2. My class finished reading The Hobbit this week (I pretty much gave two whole periods to almost nothing but reading because I'm realizing how little time is left in the first semester). As always, … Continue reading Saturday Flotsam: Mostly ‘The Hobbit’
Tolkien
Saturday Flotsam: ‘Virginian’ and Male-Written Romances
1. Had bad insomnia this week, which seems to have messed with my immune system and my cold is back just as the last symptoms were fading away. At least it seems to be pretty mild in its new bid for mastery, so I'm hoping it won't get in the way of anything, but it's … Continue reading Saturday Flotsam: ‘Virginian’ and Male-Written Romances
Poem – “The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon”
There is an inn, a merry old inn beneath an old grey hill,And there they brew a beer so brownThat the Man in the Moon himself came down one night to drink his fill. The ostler has a tipsy cat that plays a five-stringed fiddle;And up and down he saws his bowNow squeaking high, now … Continue reading Poem – “The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon”
Pilgrim’s Pass: Gollum as the Failed Man
I've mentioned this before, but Pilgrim's Pass is rapidly becoming one of my favorite YouTubers: he's very intelligent, well-read, has a fun sense of humor, and an interestingly fresh perspective that eschews the dying left-right dichotomy. His latest video (which follows others on Aragorn, Frodo, and Gandalf) deals with Gollum as an example of failed … Continue reading Pilgrim’s Pass: Gollum as the Failed Man
Friday Flotsam: Bl. Karl, Lasik, Tolkien, and Anime
1. First and foremost; today’s the feast of Bl. Karl of Austria, whose prayers we desperately need today as the wreckage of Christendom spirals ever more wildly out of control. Just learned of a quote of his that has immediately become one of my favorites: “We are bearers of culture even in the land of … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: Bl. Karl, Lasik, Tolkien, and Anime
Thought of the Day: Most Important Authors
My preliminary picks for the five most important authors of the 20th Century: -J.R.R. Tolkien-Edgar Rice Burroughs-Agatha Christie-Raymond Chandler-H.P. Lovecraft (A case could be made for H.G. Wells, except that his most important works were almost all written at the tail-end of the 19th century)
‘Mythopoeia’
To one [C.S. Lewis] who said that myths were lies and therefore worthless, even though 'breathed through silver'. Philomythus to Misomythus You look at trees and label them just so,(for trees are 'trees', and growing is 'to grow');you walk the earth and tread with solemn paceone of the many minor globes of Space:a star's a … Continue reading ‘Mythopoeia’
Friday Flotsam: On Professor Tolkien and Related(?) Matters
1. I have been reading the letters of Professor Tolkien lately, mostly straight through, though sometimes jumping about when I want to find his views on something specific. Mostly I read it because I enjoy his company, as it were, and I feel as though I am getting to know him personally as a man. … Continue reading Friday Flotsam: On Professor Tolkien and Related(?) Matters
Tolkien’s Answer Summarized
There is a famous story about what happened when Professor Tolkien was approached about the possibility of a German version of The Hobbit in 1938. Of course, this was when the criminal Nazi government was in charge of the nation, so before the German publisher would undertake a printing they, of course, had to inquire … Continue reading Tolkien’s Answer Summarized
Serpent's Den 