The Hall of Fire

Afraid not... I had to pay for mine! He did sign it, though reluctantly. He really really has issues with Tolkien!

On a side note to this, Nicholas Williams (the translator) is my significant other's father and happens to loathe Tolkien...

Conspiracy alert! Twitter is being used by people who are planning violence at the moment, hence the police trawling twitter. It's a perfectly valid way of finding out where people are planning on looting. It doesn't mean that nobody is allowed to say or think anything about these riots at all. In a...

I saw it a while ago, in 3D. I found the 3D a little jarring and distracting. Any time I saw the obviously 3D bits, I thought 'oh, 3D!' Then remembered that I was actually watching a film with a storyline and so on. I'm going to see it again in 2D tomorrow. When it first came out, I genuinely didn't...

I'll admit that I don't know a HUGE amount about Israel, but an ex-lecturer of mine (one of Israel's leading musicologists) was from Israel, and he had a lot to say both for and against Israel, just as any truly patriotic person will have to say about their country. According to him, the prevailing ...

Frelga wrote:Crucifer!

*goes back to lurking*

1. The Eye of the World - Robert Jordan I read this, but only got halfway through the second one. I'm saving this for when I feel I can read the whole series through. Call me anal, but I can't take breaks... 2. The Fellowship of the Ring- J.R.R. Tolkien Never heard of it! 3. A Game of Thrones- Geor...

This is a fascinating debate. As an employee of a left-leaning, liberal church (Church of Ireland, Anglican), that allows anyone to become a priest, and to progress to any level of the clerical heirarchy, regardless of gender, sexuality or marital status (all you need are qualifications, experience ...

Fair enough! I wasn't around then, so I can only do my best with what modern editions I can afford.

I think that's what I really meant when I said 'visionary', Vison. Looking at contemporaneous sci-fi, it was as much fantasy as it was sci-fi. There was as much of the mythical and legendary in it as of the scientific. Clarke's science fiction, however, was about scientific theory. Obviously, Bowman...

I first experienced the books and the film somewhat simultaneously about three years ago, and I found that they complemented one another really well. It's true that at times the science can be a bit overwhelming, or the characters a bit flat in the books, but for me, the strength lies in the visiona...

Ah, I thought you were referring to when they find the slab on the moon! I need to watch it again, I don't remember the context of the one that teaches the apemen to use tools... vison, if I recall the book correctly, the slabs were literally massive computers, spaceships, homes and everything else ...

Well personally, I love it where it is. Then again, I'm a huge Ligeti fan... You see, it's the Kyrie from the Requiem, and to me, that implies that the Slab is either offering some form of redemption (as, indeed, it sort of does), or that the music is reflecting the innermost thoughts of every man a...

What, you mean the glorious Ligeti Requiem? That's one of the most significant and influential pieces of music of the 20th Century!

A long time ago, in the Shire,
There was a young hobbit for 'hire'.
With dwarves and a wizard,
Armed up to the gizzard,
He stole from a wyrm who breathed fire.

A bit stunted, and not technically LotR itself, but a welcome distraction from my dissertation. :p

The 1990 Solti recording with the London phil is the best I've come across personally, but I've heard good things about the 1997 Bernstein recording with the NY phil. The best way to enjoy opera is by watching it though, so for DVDs, I'd recommend the 2000 recording with Levine with the Metropolitan...

They are doing Mozart's Requiem this Friday there and I may go, if I am not too shattered by the end of the week. Music makes me feel very spiritually nourished. Oh! Who's conducting? This lent, I don't have time to do anything. I have 7 concerts in March, including the kick off to my independent s...

Well River got to that particular factoid ahead of me. Mankind has trashed this planet, Hal. Horribly. The amount of waste is staggering. Our landfills are overflowing. We throw plastic bottles around and they fill the rivers and oceans. We use up resources at an alarming rate. We tear down forests ...

The most damning bit is when Lucas, the producer, the editor and the senior crew have just watched a rough cut and you can tell they know it's bad. Then the editor starts explaining the problem with the ending, and just sort of trails off, because he knows there's nothing they can do to fix it at t...

I suppose "killing people to take their stuff is bad" could be seen as a political message. Not one much worth thinking about though. My point exactly. The 'politics' in this are nothing more than Montessori school lessons, or the song "The more we get together" from Barney. You...