The Hall of Fire

Athrabeth wrote:I already have my books waiting to be packed for our Mexican holiday next month: Le Carre's Constant Gardener,

Ath, I just stared reading The Constant Gardener and I like it very much.

Welcome, Samaranth. I know that it is probably getting old for people to hear me keep saying this, but I am so happy to see you here.

there can be times, particularly at climactic moments in the music, where you feel that it's not you at all, but something "playing through you." In essence, the volitional aspect of it drops out as you are swept up in the power of the music being created. I have heard many musicians desc...

I trust you.

VERY interesting, Jn. Particularly the story of your dream.

My dear vison, no one can tell you that your way of appreciating something is the wrong way. Not me, not yourself, and not Tolkien. I had probably read the LOTR 25 times before I ever read the Silmarillion (let alone the UT and the HoME). It had a profound effect on my spirit when Fëanor was nothing...

That's interesting, vison, because I have come to think that a big part of Tolkien's great brilliance was his ability to show the subtleties of evil. But you have to look at characters like Melkor, Fëanor, Thingol, Denethor, Boromir, Saruman, Túrin and Húrin to see that, not the orcs. His ability to...

Thanks, Al. You know, when this project was first announced, I was quite skeptical at the idea of capturing the LOTR in one musical. But I am very impressed with what I have seen. I now think that there is a good chance that it will be a worthy addition to the lore of Middle-earth.

Whatever else one may say, Mr. Rumsfeld has been entertaining. I love this 'poem' taken from one of his briefings: The Unknown As we know, There are known knowns. There are things we know we know. We also know There are known unknowns. That is to say We know there are some things We do not know. But...

W, that is one of the most remarkable pictures I have ever seen.

I somehow found this recent exchange between Defense Secretary Rumfeld and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff heartening. Its good to see that the head of the U.S. military is willing to stand up for what is right, even in the face of disagreement from his civilian boss. WASHINGTON -- The nat...

Listening to it now.

I like it. But I would never have guessed that that was David Bowie.

Mr. Ath is a lucky man.

Al, I am definitely up for that. I'm glad that you put it as "of some of the more interesting sections of the History of Middle Earth." I think that an attempt to do a linear study of the full ten volumes, in order, would bog down quickly. I'm much more interested in taking discrete sectio...

Sassy, its somewhere in Colorado. I don't know where.

That picture is SO Viggo. And again I mean that in the best possible sense.

Lovely post, Monika.

Welcome, Alandriel!

I've missed you greatly.

I had a long post eaten last night. :x I'm going to try to recapture a piece of it. The Shibboleth is a symbol of language as a divider. But language is how we communicate with each other, one way we bridge the gap. I really think there is something ... dismaying ... about language also being someth...

I too hope it will flourish here. Unfortunately, I won't be able to feed it any more here as there, not out of lack of interest but from lack of knowledge, but I will continue to read it regularly as I find it fascinating.