The Hobbit Hole VII - But not yet weary are our feet...

[Fedora]

Hmm--just got an idea: if we watch musicals, we could expand on the LotR musicals we started. . . :)

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

do you remember where you read that? I'm very interested in Tolkien's sub-creator theory.

I don't remember precisely where I read about their views on "fantasy" stories of the time... it may have been in one of the Daily Tolkien threads, posted a long time ago. Here's a link to all of the threads; a number of the articles deal with Numenor, and some comment on Tolkien's idea of "sub-creation".

BTW, the reason I put "fantasy" in quotes above is because JRRT and CSL considered the newly-minted genre of Science Fiction to be fantasy stories; tales of imaginary worlds and all that. Back then, there wasn't the sharp distinction between SF and fantasy that we see today.

I've never read any of the Conan stories, but I can see where there might be parallels to JRRT's Middle-Earth, as IIRC both series in their original concept were set in pre-historical Northern Europe.

[JenB]

Hmmm... suggest some musicals... not Oklahoma. I don't care for all R&H.

Ever see "Pirates of Penzance"? I'm not watching that tomorrow but it's filkable.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Rose and I used to be close to a writing group that got together to publish their own shared-world stories. It was a lot of fun, sort of a mini-fandom. Plus, we both liked their writing, so it wasn't just that we knew two of the four guys involved and were friendly with them. Anyway, I found their efforts inspiring at the time... sort of, "if this guy I know can write such good stuff, why shouldn't I try it?" Of course, each of them was a much better writer than I...

By the way, each year they participated in the 3-day Novel Contest. They web-published their stories as they were written, with commentary posted on their own message board. It was quite a lot of fun, waiting for parts to be posted and discussing the stories with other fans in more-or-less real time!

[JenB]

Three-day novels? Ouch. Hurts to even think about.

But that's really cool! I'd love to have writing pals in RL but no. Just online. Oh well.

[Fedora]

Thanks for the link!--didn't know about that, copied it and am looking forward to going through it.

I agree there was no sharp fantasy/SF distinction at that time--I think SF itself as a distinct genre didn't emerge until the late 1920s/early 1930s, and even then wasn't sharply distinct from fantasy until fantasy emerged into its own right with the post-60s popularity of LotR.

The first part of Howard's essay on the historical background to the Conan stories is online here:

The Hyborian Age, Part 1

My theory is that Tolkien may have read this and been influenced by it. Jen, I'm pinging you on this because I know you haven't read Conan yet and I thought you might also find this interesting. BTW, there's a map that goes with this essay, but unfortunately it's not on this page--I'll see if I can find a copy online. See this page, though, for a good supplementary guide to Howard's essay:

The Hyborian Age

[Fedora]

I was gonna say Oklahoma :) I have Sound of Music, too. But if you don't like R&H, I'd have to think of an alternative.

Never saw that Pirates movie--what's that about?

[Fedora]

3-day novels--whew!--that takes a lot of coffee, I bet! :)

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

It was a cool group, and they produced some good stories. But, after a couple of years they broke up and went their separate ways.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Heh, yes, as I recall from the discussion threads at the time, coffee and/or soft drinks played a large part in their ordeal.

The novel in question had to reach at least 30,000 words in length. Only one of the guys who accepted the challenge failed to finish his story in time; he did finish it later though, and published it. Rose and I have an autographed copy. :)

[SuziQ]

HEB Creamy Creations Java Chocolate Chunk. There IS no substitute!

Haven't had that one, but I just had some Edy's Double Fudge Brownie that was VEY good!

[JenB]

You've never seen Pirates of Penzance? Have you ever seen any Gilbert and Sullivan at all? They're only the greatest musical collaboration ever.

Couple of 19th century Englishmen who wrote comic operettas. Pirates, HMS Pinafore, The Mikado... others I'm too tired to think of. Ever heard the song "I am the very model of a modern major general"? That's from Pirates.

I'm going to bed now. See you tomorrow.

[JenB]

Did I miss the stats, or did we not have them today? Are we restarting the post counting because of the new thread?

[Fedora]

That does sound cool! Challenging, though :)

[Fedora]

No, haven't seen any Gilbert and Sullivan :(

See ya tomorrow, then--I think I'm getting to bed soon, too--feeling myself starting to drop off here. G'night all!

[Fedora]

One last post before I hit the hay--just found the map I was looking for:

http://hyboria.xoth.net/maps/hyboria.gif

G'night, then!

[Rose in RoseBear]

And I thought the headband was really dumb-looking.

It's not a headband ... it's a tiara, a symbol of her status on Themyscira as Queen Hippolyta's only daughter.

Er, and what exactly does she do? To me, she's just Another Generic Superhero.

Diana, in her current incarnation, is Themyscira's Ambassador to the rest of the world, charged with bringing understanding and peace to Man's world. To become said Ambassador, she had to prove herself the best Themyscira had to offer --- best warrior, best representative of the Amazonian spirit, best all around. She's trying to improve Man's World ... and that includes defending it from its enemies, hence her membership in the JLA. By definition, she has been gifted with power and weapons from the Grecian gods and goddesses:
· The power of the Earth by Demeter
· Power of flight and speed (Mach 2-3) by Hermes
· Beauty and a loving heart by Aphrodite
· Wisdom by Athena
· Eye of the hunter and unity with the beasts by Artemis
· Sisterhood with fire by Hestia
· The golden lasso of truth spun from the girdle of Gaea
· Nigh-unbreakable bracelets from Zeus' shield - the Aegis
· Body armor (includes a sword and a shield)
· The Sandals of Hermes and the Gauntlet of Atlas
· Morphing "nearly-invisible" vehicle

There have been times when Diana wasn't the Ambassador. Due to Hippolyta's fears, a second competition was called, one Diana was set up to fail. Artemis, a red-haired warrior from a tribe of Amazons banished from Themyscira, became the Ambassador:

This Wonder Woman, who was not raised in the high-minded halls of Themyscira, was hot-tempered and more than capable of killing. Eventually, Artemis was killed.

For a while, Diana was the Greek goddess of Truth, and lived with the Gods on Olympus; during that period, Hippolyta acted as Ambassador, and Wonder Woman:

Her friends know her as "Polly."

She's the first woman superhero. Ever. Every other heroic woman character you see in a comic book owes her existence to Wonder Woman. And she's managed to hold her own in Man's World, against alpha males like Superman and Batman and Green Lantern without losing her femininity. You were discussing female and male behaviors earlier in the week: Wonder Woman is a good case study of the differences.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

No stats yet, have been too tired with work and illness to put them together.

The stats will indicate the thread change, but just as a footnote. I'll keep the weekly count oriented to the same days, starting Thursday and ending Wednesday, mainly because Jan. 1 fell on a Thursday.

[SuziQ]

Acuff wore instead a gray, fur tube top and black briefs trimmed with fur. The fur was fake but the attention that the 6' 2" Acuff drew was very real.

Yeah, folks were prolly waiting to see if that thing was gonna get yanked down when she went over the bar! ;o)

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

Taking my sick self to bed here, as well... good night...