|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Lily Fairbairn
Half-elven
Jun 22 2015, 1:26pm
Post #1 of 12
(295 views)
Shortcut
|
|
Another June baby here!
|
Can't Post
|
|
Today I intend to celebrate my birthday with special magnificence---the first half of this year was pretty stressful. But I've come through, whew 
For my mathom I'm re-posting one I did many years ago, soon after the first trilogy came out.
Yes, today is my birthday. I'll draw a veil over just which birthday it is. Suffice it to say I'm one of the older people here---and it's very comforting to know there are others of my age here as well. The upside of being older is that I've known LotR for the majority of my life, which is all the richer for it. That LotR brought me to TORn is just one more enrichment!
So for your reading pleasure (or disgust, as the case may be), I present the stages of joy, or, an LotR book-lover's journey in learning to love the movies.
Shock/Denial: Gandalf, nooooo! We left none alive. He fell. My sons are spent! Frodo, nooooo!
No Bombadil. Arwen instead of Glorfindel. Warg attack. Faramir takes Frodo to Osgiliath. Arwen is dying. Frodo tells Sam to go home. Flaming Denethor. Radioactive scrubbing bubbles. No Houses of Healing. No scouring.
Anger: Now *that* was not courteous! He's a villain, Mr. Frodo! I will not bow to this ranger of the north.
PJ has walked into my house and taken my copies of LotR and thrown them on the floor and stomped on them with his big hobbit feet! How could he do this to me?
Bargaining: You need someone of intelligence on this mission, quest, thing. The closer you are to danger, the further you are from harm. Ride with me.
Well, you know, the book-Faramir did take the hobbits captive, and of course Theoden is going to be a little confused after what he went through, and some aspects of the story just wouldn't have worked for a movie audience, and I'll just put on my rose-colored glasses and hum lalalala when Gandalf whacks Denethor with his staff.
Depression: I wish the ring had never come to me. The fires of Isengard will spread. Go in or go back.
Why doesn't everyone agree with me? They're making cracks about nuclear Galadriel and I *liked* that scene, and I thought Aragorn's cliff dive was a cheap trick but other people *liked* that scene. And some of those nitpickers are *right* -- Elrond is a bit sour and Faramir is weaker and Sam would never have left Frodo.
My brain hurts.
Acceptance: I will take it. I'm glad I'm here with you at the end of all things.
Leave the analyzer behind and become the fan you were meant to be.
Ya know, PJ did a great job with the sets - Rivendell, Moria, Edoras, Minas Tirith - and the costumes are amazing, and the actors are excellent. Those New Zealand landscapes are perfect. To choose only two of many scenes from the book, the Ride of the Rohirrim and the Balrog are wonderfully realized. And PJ added some really good scenes, such as Boromir's death and Arwen's vision of her future. The music is breathtaking, Gollum is a CGI triumph, and, and.... It's my heart that hurts. But I will not say, do not cry, for not all tears are an evil.
Today, little Tornsibs, life is good!
Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing?
Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing?
Where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing?
Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing?
They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow;
The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow....
|
|
|
BlackFox
Half-elven
Jun 22 2015, 5:54pm
Post #2 of 12
(254 views)
Shortcut
|
And thank you for the lovely mathom. 
|
|
|
dormouse
Half-elven
Jun 22 2015, 7:37pm
Post #3 of 12
(241 views)
Shortcut
|
..from (ssh) another of the older people...
I love your mathom. Made me smile, and understand, and smile, and .....
Happy Birthday! May your presents be as meaningful as your mathoms
|
|
|
Kimi
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Jun 22 2015, 9:14pm
Post #4 of 12
(234 views)
Shortcut
|
|
Happy birthday, my solstice neighbour!
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
Enjoy your magnificent celebration - a well-earned one.
The Passing of Mistress Rose
My historical novels
Do we find happiness so often that we should turn it off the box when it happens to sit there?
- A Room With a View
|
|
|
Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Jun 22 2015, 10:30pm
Post #5 of 12
(233 views)
Shortcut
|
That mathom was fun, and brought back the old days. Yep, I had many of those same thoughts. On the balance, the movies were more good than bad. But what really made the journey worthwhile was the people I met here. You're one I'm very glad to have met!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
GNU Terry Pratchett
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"For DORA BAGGINS in memory of a LONG correspondence, with love from Bilbo; on a large wastebasket. Dora was Drogo's sister, and the eldest surviving female relative of Bilbo and Frodo; she was ninety-nine, and had written reams of good advice for more than half a century."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"A Chance Meeting at Rivendell" and other stories
leleni at hotmail dot com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
|
|
Brethil
Half-elven
Jun 23 2015, 12:26am
Post #6 of 12
(226 views)
Shortcut
|
Happy Birthday Lily!!!!!!!!!!!! //
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
|
|
|
Silverlode
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Jun 23 2015, 1:57am
Post #7 of 12
(223 views)
Shortcut
|
Hopefully you've gotten all the awfulness out of the way in the first half of the year and will get all the fun in the second half!
Thanks for the mathom, too. For my part, I was so horrified when I heard about the movies that nothing they changed held a candle to the awful possibilities I had once feared, and I came out rejoicing, no anger or bargaining stages required. There's occasionally some advantage in being a pessimist! 
Silverlode
Roads go ever ever on
Under cloud and under star
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green
And trees and hills they long have known.
|
|
|
dernwyn
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Jun 23 2015, 2:50am
Post #8 of 12
(222 views)
Shortcut
|
|
Many happy returns of the day, Lily!
[In reply to]
|
Can't Post
|
|
Not of the first part of this year, of course - but those surgeries are over and done with, and now you can gradually move on.
I do appreciate these "stages of grief" - somehow, it sounds like much of the stuff over on the Hobbit board! 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I desired dragons with a profound desire"
|
|
|
Kim
Valinor
Jun 23 2015, 3:24am
Post #10 of 12
(211 views)
Shortcut
|
I must admit that I never had to go through the stages of grief for any of the M-e movies - for me, they were all a joy to watch from the beginning. But I'm glad you found your way through to Acceptance!
|
|
|
NottaSackville
Valinor
Jun 23 2015, 12:19pm
Post #11 of 12
(197 views)
Shortcut
|
 Happiness: money matters, but less than we think and not in the way that we think. Family is important and so are friends, while envy is toxic -- and so is excessive thinking. Beaches are optional. Trust is not. Neither is gratitude. - The Geography of Bliss by Eric Weiner as summarized by Lily Fairbairn. And a bit of the Hobbit reading thrown in never hurts. - NottaSackville
|
|
|
|
|
