...all beautiful and some obviously magical...

[Stanley Anderson]

Last night we read A Conspiracy Unmasked aloud. How about thoughts on baths and bath songs or anything bath-related?

I much enjoy baths myself, though at 6 foot 3 inches, I find typical bathtubs to be rather confining -- I'd love to be able to get my whole body (aside from the breathing hole:-) under hot water at once, but alas, at least in the tub at our house, I have to resort to either legs or torso or some twisted combined portion of each at a time.

I like to get the water as hot as possible and then worm myself down into it (as opposed to getting into cooler water and warming it up with the hot water tap gradually -- though I'll take any method I can get:-). And what is it about the faucet handles that almost demand that you try to manipulate them with your toes? It never works anyway (at least not the old crusty ones at our house)

Here is a little spur-of-the-moment bath ditty that I am making up even as I type:

At six-foot-three just do the math --
displacement makes a near-full bath
arise and take an unwise path:
the end? a flooded aftermath.
And then to face the shaming wrath:
say wife and child, "Ridiculath!"

--Stanley

[A#minor]

I love your bath-poem!
Tolkien's bath poem is one of my favorite bits of poetry in all the Middle-earth writings.
I don't take many baths. We didn't have a bath-tub when I was growing up; just a shower, so I'm not in the habit really.

I love the story of how Tolkien wrote the poem that accompanies the Ring-
One ring to rule them all, etc...
It was composed while he was taking a bath, and later he said, "I still recall kicking the sponge out of the bath when I got to the last line, and I knew it all and jumped out."

[Stanley Anderson]

We read The Old Forest aloud Saturday night. Hmmm...what game-ish or reply-idea thing can I come up with for this chapter? It makes me tired just trying to think of one...*drifing off*...Oh! *snapping out of it* that's sort of what happened to the hobbits by Old Man Willow under his spell, isn't it?

Ok, where does that sort of thing most happen to you? For me it is always in an "important" meeting at work where some presentation is being conducted. It might even be fairly interesting, but when I get those heavy eyelids, it seems like almost nothing can snap me out of it. And yet, then something WILL pop me out of it and it is like I am suddenly refreshed. I'm sure there must be some kind of "chemical" thing happening. If only there was a sure-fire (but subtle for those sorts of settings) method of counter-acting that feeling.

By the way, the one episode of Mr. Bean where he is in a church service and trying not to fall asleep is a perfect comedic rendition of this situation.

Any others?

--Stanley

[A#minor]

[Stanley Anderson]

Last night we read aloud one of the very best chapters in the entire LotR -- In the House of Tom Bombadil. What I wouldn't give to be there on that rainy day with Tom and Goldberry and the hobbits. I'm almost glad they didn't put this part in the movie, as they then wouldn't have a chance to get it all wrong the way they did so many other parts in the book.

Sorry to harp on the movie again, but I did so purposely because my "chapter game" this time has to do with the movie in a way. Here it is:

How do you suppose Jackson and Co. would have messed up that part of the book had they decided to put it in? Would they distort Tom's character the way they did Faramir? Or exaggerate something to the extreme the way they did with Pippin dumping a whole clattering and clanging suit of armour down the hole in Moria instead of relying on the subtle intense buildup of horror that the book uses with a single pebble? Or add one more of the many Star Wars wannabe scenes like the light saber battle between Gandalf and Saruman, or the troll fight scene in Moria (straight out of RotJ when Luke fights the monster in Jabba's dungeon) or the Legolas Skywalker tackling of the Imperial Walker Oliphant scene at the battle of the the Pelennor Fields in RotK? Or change the tone of Tom's house from gaity and delight into dark and foreboding the way they did with the atmosphere of Lothlorien, or, oh well, what else?

For example, I suspect they would have had to make Tom either silly to the extreme -- perhaps a Pee-Wee Herman type. Or more likely, creepy and dark, perhaps even not just having him make the ring disappear for a moment but endlessly and mercilessly taunting Frodo before giving it back (after dumping over several tables and chairs and broken windows and such in an action-filled tussle for the ring).

I strongly suspect they would have been overcome by the politically correct urge and given Goldberry a much bigger role in the chapter and making her character more dominant and haughty (and possibly even making her become a tenth member of the company of the ring? -- Nah, I'm being mean now, they wouldn't go that far, I'm sure -- I think:-)

Any other distortions for Tom Bombadil's house you can think of that the movie might have engaged in?

(I'll try not to pound too much on the movie in future chapters -- I promise. Of course the definitions of "try" and "too much" is still open:-),
--Stanley

[Sarah N.]

I can't think of any distortions. I think they just did what they love to do, which is cut out the cute, hobbity moments, and the really beautiful things, "for the sake of time" so that they can spend more time with the fighting. . But it is probably better that they did. That's why I don't want PJ to make a movie of The Hobbit.

This thread is a good incentive to re-read LOTR, so I think I will. I'm in need of something long to read anyway.

[Stanley Anderson]

[A#minor]

[contra mundum]

[contra mundum]

[Sarah N.]

The consolation of fog- On of the first mornings I worked at my new job, which required me to get up far earlier than I am eager to do, I was biking to work and saw some mist on a field in front of a farm. It was such a beautiful picture (again, no camera) but it just made me glad to be awake at that time, just as the sun was beginning to rise. This only happened once or twice since then in the two months that I have worked there, but I always remember what it looked like and how peaceful it made me, and willing to get up at that time, just so I might see the mist again.

I suppose that isn't technically fog, so here's another one- While riding though North Dakota with my family and two good friends of ours, it was densely foggy the whole time. This led to two interesting events: first, mistaking a farm on a hill for the church we were aiming for (which was called St. Ann's, St. Ann's on the hill, surrounded by fog, for all you That Hideous Strength fans.) and driving up their driveway before discovering our mistake. And secondly, noticing on our way back, after the fog had cleared, that we had passed a field of giant windmills, right off the road, and we didn't see them at all on the way there.

[Stanley Anderson]

[A#minor]

Old Mother Hubbard
Went to the cupboard
To get her poor doggie a bone,
When she got there
The cupboard was bare
So the poor little doggie had none.

No doubt the old mother here is Mrs. Maggot, and her hardy sons had already eaten everything, so Old Farmer Maggots dogs had to go hungry. No wonder they are so vicious! Still... One cannot imagine Mrs. Maggots well-stocked cupboard going bare.

**********************

Itsy Bitsy spider climbing up the spout
Down came the rain and washed the spider out
Out came the sun and dried up all the rain
Now Itsy Bitsy spider went up the spout again!

This one was probably written by Bilbo to alleviate the fears of children after he had told them the horrific story of his adventures with the spiders of Mirkwood. He made the spiders itsy bitsy in his story so that the smaller children would not have nightmares or grow up with an arachnaphobia (sp?) complex.


*****************

Old King Cole was a merry old soul, and a merry old soul was he;
He called for his pipe in the middle of the night
And he called for his fiddlers three.
Every fiddler had a fine fiddle, and a very fine fiddle had he;
Oh there's none so rare as can compare
With King Cole and his fiddlers three.

A reference to King Theoden no doubt. Probably written by Merry while smoking his own pipe in remembrance of Theoden. The three fiddlers are probably Aragorn, Legolas, and Gandalf. Gimli not being included since dwarves are not known for their musical abilities.
It is said that many warriors of the time would sing during battle, hence the replacement of the word "warrior" with a musician's term for the fighting fiddler.

[Stanley Anderson]

[contra mundum]