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February Fandom Fest 25
25 - Tolkien
Obviously, I'm a huge Tolkien-geek. I've read LotR for the first time in early January 2003 - some weeks after I've been dragged to watch "Two Towers" in cinema, where I didn't understand ANYTHING about the story, couldn't distinguish between the Hobbits at all (until I've read the books I thought there were just 2 short guys with curly hair in the movie *snorts*), and fell asleep bored halfway through. The only thing I noticed: a sexy as hell rugged guy wielding a sword, and a very beautiful blonde guy who had quite some skills with a bow.
Anyway - afterreading devouring all three books in slightly more than 48 hours, I've been hooked and things have just become more and more intense during the years to come :)
I've re-read LotR completely at least once every year since, and have selectively read parts of it again and again more often. These books never get boring.
And of course I've read quite a lot by Tolkien and about Tolkien ever since. He's just such an incredible writer and linguist all around. I'm always on the lookout for a new book by/about Tolkien and, fortunately, there's quite a steady stream of new things to discover.
Well, and then there are the films... There is so much additional literature to be had there. There is so much merch I love to bits and pieces. It's a dream for any film-student, let me tell you! ;)
There are quite a lot of scientific texts about both the movies as well as the books, which is another aspect about this fandom I love.
Anyway - while scrolling through the pics on my phone yesterday, I noticed that I snapped part of my Tolkien-collection for a friend of mine the last time I went through my books (I'm still trying to figure out a system to organize them... *sigh*). So I'll give you a glimpse into my craziness below the cut ;)
(Newspaper article about the wonderful night at the Oscars when RotK managed to win everything they were nominated for.)
(Two short interviews taken from a cinema-magazine. I particularly love the description "Party Animal" for Orlando *giggles*)
(If you're interested in Middle Earth and its origins and don't own this particular book yet - go out and buy it!!!!)
(Love that book endlessly. I've originally bought it because I was working on my -still unfinished- LotR fic and I needed to get a bit more background in weapons and war tactics in the movies, but after the first one or two pages I've been hooked by it for its own sake.)
(A few of my copies of LotR - with two Silmarillions (the sparkly blue book and the last of the black ones) and a Hobbit (the sparkly green one) thrown in). The three black LotRs are the first copy I've bought and the ones that ultimately started my obsession.)
(A "behind the scenes" book I got for one of my birthdays... This present made a class reunion more bearable, because I spent most of the evening reading it instead of socializing :D )
("The Atlas of Middle-Earth" http://www.amazon.com/The-Atlas-Middle-Earth-Revised-Edition/dp/0618126996 - Another book I've bought for my unfinished fic. I needed to figure out how long my main character would have travelled from Lothlorien to wherever I wanted to meet up with our heroes once again. I still have no idea about that, but I know a lot more about Middle Earth's geography anyway :) )
("The Art of The Two Towers" http://www.amazon.com/Art-Two-Towers-Lord-Rings/dp/0618331301/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456444246&sr=1-7&keywords=lord+of+the+rings+the+two+towers - I've actually got two copies of that one... I bought one myself and got another copy some time later for my birthday. Sadly I haven't bought the books for FotR and RotK then and by now I can't get my hands on them for a reasonable price *sigh*)
(A little leaflet taken from a cinema-magazine. It's a calendar and has some pics and film infos on the other side.)
(The article about the first broadcast of FotR on Austrian TV taken from a TV magazine. It's been aired during the Easter hols and I can still remember watching parts of it on a very old portable black and white TV while lying in a strawberry bubble bath :D)
(Programme of a symphonic performance of the movie score in Vienna 2007. It's been such an amazing evening! - And there was a guy in full-blown Ringwraith costume sitting three rows in front of me.)
(A theoretic/scientific book about the attraction and fascination of LotR as a pop-cultural phenomenon.)
("The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrun" http://www.amazon.com/Legend-Sigurd-Gudr%C3%BAn-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/0547273428/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456445003&sr=1-1&keywords=the+legend+of+sigurd+and+gudr%C3%BAn in a wonderful edition that has Tolkien's original and a German translation side by side. A present from Himself as far as I remember.)
("Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle Earth" http://www.amazon.com/Unfinished-Tales-Numenor-Middle-earth-Publisher/dp/B004UZEDAY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1456445210&sr=8-2&keywords=unfinished+tales+of+numenor+and+middle-earth I loved that book. Somehow I managed to read my way through that without complications, while I needed a few attempts to finish the Silmarillion.)
(A really small artsy book I stumbled upon by pure chance. It's a collection of artworks and little poems about Tolkien's works. A lovely find I cherish very much.)
(A movie-tie-in copy of the Hobbit my mum bought me for my birthday.)
(A silly parody of LotR loosely translated to "Lord of the Eye Bags" ... quite disappointing, really. I've heard it's an iconic parody in fan circles, but it's really just dumb and quite silly.)
(A collection of "Farmer Giles of Ham", "Smith of Wootton Major" and "Leaf by Niggle".)
(A language course for the elvish languages. Another birthday present.)
("Tolkien's World from A to Z" http://www.amazon.com/Tolkiens-World-Complete-Guide-Middle-Earth/dp/0345449762/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456446784&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+foster A very handy encyclopaedia - and the place where I found the perfect name for my OC main character in the LotR-fic I mentioned above.)
("There and Back Again: The Map of the Hobbit" http://www.amazon.com/There-Back-Again-Map-Hobbit/dp/0061055131/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1456447102&sr=8-3&keywords=brian+sibley+the+map+of - a lovely, informative map with great illustrations)
(Another edition of the Hobbit - this time a present from Himself's Sister who has had it for years and never read it.)
(An anthology where different writers talk about their experiences with the Hobbit, or share their own tributes. Loosely translated to "Tolkien's greatest heroes: How Hobbits conquered the world.")
("J.R.R. Tolkien The Man Who Created The Lord of the Rings" http://www.amazon.com/J-R-R-Tolkien-Man-Created-Lord-Rings/dp/0752261568/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1456447525&sr=8-3&keywords=michael+coren+tolkien A wonderful biography that made me cry at the end.)
("The Road to Middle-Earth: How J.R.R. Tolkien Created a New Mythology" http://www.amazon.com/Road-Middle-Earth-Tolkien-Created-Mythology/dp/0618257608/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1456447613&sr=8-2&keywords=tom+shippey+tolkien A must-have for anybody interested in the inspiration behind Tolkien's world.)
("The Science of Middle Earth" http://www.amazon.com/SCIENCE-MIDDLE-EARTH-Explaining-Greatest-ebook/dp/B00AMPHXBC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456447764&sr=8-1&keywords=henry+gee+tolkien Another scientific approach to Tolkien's world.)
(Loosely translated to "Myth of Middle Earth" - another one of my more scientific/academic books about Tolkien.)
(Loosely translated to "The Tolkien Reader" - a lovely collection of background texts about the development of Tolkien's stories. Containing letters to/by Tolkien that span his whole life.)
("Meditations on Middle Earth" http://www.amazon.com/Meditations-Middle-Earth-Writing-Tolkien-Pratchett-ebook/dp/B003G93YC8/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1456448247&sr=8-8&keywords=karen+haber A book I couldn't love more. Another collection of the thoughts and experiences of other authors with Tolkien's world. I can find myself so much in their stories, it's amazing!)
(A few of my collected DVDs of LotR (and the only Hobbit DVD I own). There are quite a lot more, but most of them fly around somewhere at Himself's shelves ;) )
(The collected ticket stubs of the LotR Triple-Feature I sat through on December 28th 2004. A lovely day spent at the cinema!)
(I couldn't walk away without buying this P.M. History edition. Sadly, the bit about Aragorn is exactly a single page long - and most of it is a picture. *sigh*)
(A pic ripped out from a magazine ... no idea where I got that one ;) )
(A promotional "newspaper" my bookstore created for the release of the "Hobbit" movies.)
(And finally - my most priced possession... not! *snorts* Okay, there's a story behind this purchase! So I was browsing at my most beloved bookstore and for some reasons I can't remember my brother was with me. He must have been about 13 by then, so he wasn't too pleased to be stuck in a bookshop of all places with his sister. After about half an hour of him grumbling and me ignoring him I happened upon this book and wanted to thumb through it there instead of spending money on it. But by then my brother has been thoroughly fed up with me and got really annoying. In order to avoid a scene I made a mental pact with myself: I would randomly open the book and depending on the sentence I saw first I would purchase the book or leave it in the store... so I opened the book, and nearly died laughing... I happened upon a chapter title with the subheading "respect your inner elf!" - well, since I respect all elves and most of all my inner elf I simply HAD to buy the book! And thus I am theproud shamefaced owner of a really bad Orlando Bloom biography...)
Obviously, I'm a huge Tolkien-geek. I've read LotR for the first time in early January 2003 - some weeks after I've been dragged to watch "Two Towers" in cinema, where I didn't understand ANYTHING about the story, couldn't distinguish between the Hobbits at all (until I've read the books I thought there were just 2 short guys with curly hair in the movie *snorts*), and fell asleep bored halfway through. The only thing I noticed: a sexy as hell rugged guy wielding a sword, and a very beautiful blonde guy who had quite some skills with a bow.
Anyway - after
I've re-read LotR completely at least once every year since, and have selectively read parts of it again and again more often. These books never get boring.
And of course I've read quite a lot by Tolkien and about Tolkien ever since. He's just such an incredible writer and linguist all around. I'm always on the lookout for a new book by/about Tolkien and, fortunately, there's quite a steady stream of new things to discover.
Well, and then there are the films... There is so much additional literature to be had there. There is so much merch I love to bits and pieces. It's a dream for any film-student, let me tell you! ;)
There are quite a lot of scientific texts about both the movies as well as the books, which is another aspect about this fandom I love.
Anyway - while scrolling through the pics on my phone yesterday, I noticed that I snapped part of my Tolkien-collection for a friend of mine the last time I went through my books (I'm still trying to figure out a system to organize them... *sigh*). So I'll give you a glimpse into my craziness below the cut ;)
(Newspaper article about the wonderful night at the Oscars when RotK managed to win everything they were nominated for.)
(Two short interviews taken from a cinema-magazine. I particularly love the description "Party Animal" for Orlando *giggles*)
(If you're interested in Middle Earth and its origins and don't own this particular book yet - go out and buy it!!!!)
(Love that book endlessly. I've originally bought it because I was working on my -still unfinished- LotR fic and I needed to get a bit more background in weapons and war tactics in the movies, but after the first one or two pages I've been hooked by it for its own sake.)
(A few of my copies of LotR - with two Silmarillions (the sparkly blue book and the last of the black ones) and a Hobbit (the sparkly green one) thrown in). The three black LotRs are the first copy I've bought and the ones that ultimately started my obsession.)
(A "behind the scenes" book I got for one of my birthdays... This present made a class reunion more bearable, because I spent most of the evening reading it instead of socializing :D )
("The Atlas of Middle-Earth" http://www.amazon.com/The-Atlas-Middle-Earth-Revised-Edition/dp/0618126996 - Another book I've bought for my unfinished fic. I needed to figure out how long my main character would have travelled from Lothlorien to wherever I wanted to meet up with our heroes once again. I still have no idea about that, but I know a lot more about Middle Earth's geography anyway :) )
("The Art of The Two Towers" http://www.amazon.com/Art-Two-Towers-Lord-Rings/dp/0618331301/ref=sr_1_7?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456444246&sr=1-7&keywords=lord+of+the+rings+the+two+towers - I've actually got two copies of that one... I bought one myself and got another copy some time later for my birthday. Sadly I haven't bought the books for FotR and RotK then and by now I can't get my hands on them for a reasonable price *sigh*)
(A little leaflet taken from a cinema-magazine. It's a calendar and has some pics and film infos on the other side.)
(The article about the first broadcast of FotR on Austrian TV taken from a TV magazine. It's been aired during the Easter hols and I can still remember watching parts of it on a very old portable black and white TV while lying in a strawberry bubble bath :D)
(Programme of a symphonic performance of the movie score in Vienna 2007. It's been such an amazing evening! - And there was a guy in full-blown Ringwraith costume sitting three rows in front of me.)
(A theoretic/scientific book about the attraction and fascination of LotR as a pop-cultural phenomenon.)
("The Legend of Sigurd & Gudrun" http://www.amazon.com/Legend-Sigurd-Gudr%C3%BAn-J-R-R-Tolkien/dp/0547273428/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1456445003&sr=1-1&keywords=the+legend+of+sigurd+and+gudr%C3%BAn in a wonderful edition that has Tolkien's original and a German translation side by side. A present from Himself as far as I remember.)
("Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle Earth" http://www.amazon.com/Unfinished-Tales-Numenor-Middle-earth-Publisher/dp/B004UZEDAY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1456445210&sr=8-2&keywords=unfinished+tales+of+numenor+and+middle-earth I loved that book. Somehow I managed to read my way through that without complications, while I needed a few attempts to finish the Silmarillion.)
(A really small artsy book I stumbled upon by pure chance. It's a collection of artworks and little poems about Tolkien's works. A lovely find I cherish very much.)
(A movie-tie-in copy of the Hobbit my mum bought me for my birthday.)
(A silly parody of LotR loosely translated to "Lord of the Eye Bags" ... quite disappointing, really. I've heard it's an iconic parody in fan circles, but it's really just dumb and quite silly.)
(A collection of "Farmer Giles of Ham", "Smith of Wootton Major" and "Leaf by Niggle".)
(A language course for the elvish languages. Another birthday present.)
("Tolkien's World from A to Z" http://www.amazon.com/Tolkiens-World-Complete-Guide-Middle-Earth/dp/0345449762/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456446784&sr=8-1&keywords=robert+foster A very handy encyclopaedia - and the place where I found the perfect name for my OC main character in the LotR-fic I mentioned above.)
("There and Back Again: The Map of the Hobbit" http://www.amazon.com/There-Back-Again-Map-Hobbit/dp/0061055131/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1456447102&sr=8-3&keywords=brian+sibley+the+map+of - a lovely, informative map with great illustrations)
(Another edition of the Hobbit - this time a present from Himself's Sister who has had it for years and never read it.)
(An anthology where different writers talk about their experiences with the Hobbit, or share their own tributes. Loosely translated to "Tolkien's greatest heroes: How Hobbits conquered the world.")
("J.R.R. Tolkien The Man Who Created The Lord of the Rings" http://www.amazon.com/J-R-R-Tolkien-Man-Created-Lord-Rings/dp/0752261568/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1456447525&sr=8-3&keywords=michael+coren+tolkien A wonderful biography that made me cry at the end.)
("The Road to Middle-Earth: How J.R.R. Tolkien Created a New Mythology" http://www.amazon.com/Road-Middle-Earth-Tolkien-Created-Mythology/dp/0618257608/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1456447613&sr=8-2&keywords=tom+shippey+tolkien A must-have for anybody interested in the inspiration behind Tolkien's world.)
("The Science of Middle Earth" http://www.amazon.com/SCIENCE-MIDDLE-EARTH-Explaining-Greatest-ebook/dp/B00AMPHXBC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1456447764&sr=8-1&keywords=henry+gee+tolkien Another scientific approach to Tolkien's world.)
(Loosely translated to "Myth of Middle Earth" - another one of my more scientific/academic books about Tolkien.)
(Loosely translated to "The Tolkien Reader" - a lovely collection of background texts about the development of Tolkien's stories. Containing letters to/by Tolkien that span his whole life.)
("Meditations on Middle Earth" http://www.amazon.com/Meditations-Middle-Earth-Writing-Tolkien-Pratchett-ebook/dp/B003G93YC8/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1456448247&sr=8-8&keywords=karen+haber A book I couldn't love more. Another collection of the thoughts and experiences of other authors with Tolkien's world. I can find myself so much in their stories, it's amazing!)
(A few of my collected DVDs of LotR (and the only Hobbit DVD I own). There are quite a lot more, but most of them fly around somewhere at Himself's shelves ;) )
(The collected ticket stubs of the LotR Triple-Feature I sat through on December 28th 2004. A lovely day spent at the cinema!)
(I couldn't walk away without buying this P.M. History edition. Sadly, the bit about Aragorn is exactly a single page long - and most of it is a picture. *sigh*)
(A pic ripped out from a magazine ... no idea where I got that one ;) )
(A promotional "newspaper" my bookstore created for the release of the "Hobbit" movies.)
(And finally - my most priced possession... not! *snorts* Okay, there's a story behind this purchase! So I was browsing at my most beloved bookstore and for some reasons I can't remember my brother was with me. He must have been about 13 by then, so he wasn't too pleased to be stuck in a bookshop of all places with his sister. After about half an hour of him grumbling and me ignoring him I happened upon this book and wanted to thumb through it there instead of spending money on it. But by then my brother has been thoroughly fed up with me and got really annoying. In order to avoid a scene I made a mental pact with myself: I would randomly open the book and depending on the sentence I saw first I would purchase the book or leave it in the store... so I opened the book, and nearly died laughing... I happened upon a chapter title with the subheading "respect your inner elf!" - well, since I respect all elves and most of all my inner elf I simply HAD to buy the book! And thus I am the