Podcast appearances and mentions of Christopher Tolkien

Christopher Tolkien explains that “the textual situation… is complex and hard to unravel.” Fortunately, the podcast situation is quite simple. Join The Man of the West and The Shieldmaiden of Rohan as we conclude our time with the Dwarves - and our time with Sara for this season - in an in-depth look at The Quest of Erebor, including bits of the story you've not likely read before. Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to witness Gimli getting a clue, Thorin's haughtiness forcing him to take a hobbit, and Balin revealing himself to be the King of Misunderstanding. Alan and Sara reminisce about pre-cloud data storage, wonder if it's foresight or are we merely crazed, and try to avoid speaking confidently without knowledge. Also, “old grey man” is a reference to Gandalf, not Alan. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How did Tolkien start writing his epic tale, “The Lord of the Rings”? Join Jude and Stef as they discuss the humble beginnings of the book that became the Fellowship of the Ring in this month's episode about volume six of the History of Middle-earth, The Return of the Shadow. We chat specifically about the Foreword by Christopher Tolkien, and dig deep into the first chapter, The Long-Expected Party! CitationsTolkien, J. R. R. The Return of the Shadow: The History of The Lord of the Rings, Part One. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 6. Unwin Hyman, London, 1988.

Hoy tenemos programa sobre la obra “EL FIN DE LA TERCERA EDAD” de J.R.R. Tolkien y Christopher Tolkien. En este diremos cosas sobre esta obra, tocaremos un poco fragmentos, recomendaremos clubes de lectura LOCUTOR Y DIRECTOR: Miguel A. Mateos Carreira GUION: Miguel A. Mateos Carreira y Club Aratar de Galicia (Miguel C. Gómez) MUSICA: GarageBand Este programa está libre de citas del libros salvo las referencias obvias y necesarias a los capítulos, secciones y similares. Para las referencias de las posibles citas explicamos como va el tema en la presentación, pero para los despistados se dirá el número de página de la edición que usamos (en este caso la de Minotauro de 1993) y si es preciso la línea o líneas y en caso de notas se dirá la Nota 1 de la página 239, por ejemplo.

We made it to the History of Middle-earth volume 5, “The Lost Road and Other Writings” in our Lesser-trod Histories series! This month we're chatting about the Etymologies, a list of stems and their derivatives upon which Tolkien's Elvish languages are built. Join us to learn about the Professor's interest in the process of language evolution throughout history!  Citations:Tolkien, J. R. R. The Lost Road and Other Writings. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 5. Unwin Hyman, London, 1987.Tolkien, J. R. R. Addenda and Corrigenda to the Etymologies — Part One. Ed. Carl F. Hostetter and Patrick H. Wynne, in Vinyar Tengwar, Number 45, November 2003 Wizard Way KrisLinktree: https://linktr.ee/WizardWayKrisWebsite: https://elf-boi.com/“‘What Light Do You Dream Under?'- An Elvish Metaphor for LGBTQIA2S+”: https://elf-boi.com/blogs/elvish-freebies/what-light-do-you-dream-under-an-elvish-metaphor-for-lgbtqia2s (Accessed March 30, 2025) Elvish language linguistic journals:Parma Eldalamberon: http://www.eldalamberon.com/ (Accessed March 30, 2025)Vinyar Tengwar: https://www.elvish.org/VT/ (Accessed March 30, 2025)Elvish language linguistic websites:Ardalambion: Of the Tongues of Arda, the invented world of J.R.R. Tolkien: https://ardalambion.net/ (Accessed March 30, 2025)Eldamo - An Elvish Lexicon: https://eldamo.org/ (Accessed March 30, 2025)Parf Edhellen: https://www.elfdict.com/ (Accessed March 30, 2025) Book mentioned by Jude:Salo, David. A Gateway to Sindarin: A Grammar of an Elvish Language from J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. University of Utah Press, 2004.  Upcoming eventsApril 22, 2025: The Carrock Northern California Smail second meeting is on Zoom on April 22, 2025 (Earth Day) from 8:00–9:00 PM Pacific time. Find us on Bluesky: thecarrocksmial.bsky.social or Instagram: thecarrocksmial Link for our Google Sign-up form: https://tinyurl.com/TheCarrockSignUpFormJoin the Carrock Discord server: https://discord.gg/8DxzAhvPVnMay 9-11, 2025: Tolkien Society: Westmoot 2025Join Jude and Stef in Kansas City, Missouri, at the National WWI Museum and Memorial. https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/westmoot-2025/ (Accessed March 4, 2025)July 5-6, 2025: Tolkien Society: Seminar 2025 – ‘Arda's Entangled Bodies and Environments'Run by Will Sherwood, Clare Moore and Journee Cottonhttps://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/seminar-2025/ (Accessed March 4, 2025)August 2-3, 2025: The Mythopoeic Society- Online MidSummer Seminar 2025: “More Perilous and Fair: Women and Gender in Mythopoeic Fantasy”: https://www.mythsoc.org/oms/oms-04.htm (Accessed Feb 23, 2025)September 4-7, 2025: Tolkien Society: OxonmootJoin Jude and Stef at St. Anne's College, Oxford and online! https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/oxonmoot-2025/ (Accessed March 4, 2025)

In this episode we go deep into the history books to discuss the deadliest maritime disaster we've covered up to this point. Sources: Elendil the Tall. Akallabêth. Barahir Books, 3321 SA.Tolkien, J.R.R.The Fall of Númenor. Edited by Brian Sibley, William Morrow, 2024. Tolkien, J.R.R. Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth. Edited by Christopher Tolkien, Mariner Books, 1980. Tyler, J.E.A. The Complete Tolkien Companion. Thomas Dunne Books, 1976.Support the show

Tendremos hoy el segundo programa de sobre la obra “La Guerra del Anillo” de J.R.R. Tolkien y Christopher Tolkien. En este diremos cosas sobre esta obra, tocaremos un poco fragmentos y no diremos citas en ninguna ocasión excepto a través de varios poemas. LOCUTOR Y DIRECTOR: Miguel A. Mateos Carreira GUION: Miguel A. Mateos Carreira y Club Aratar de Galicia (Miguel C. Gómez) MUSICA: GarageBand Este programa está libre de citas del libros salvo las referencias obvias y necesarias a los capítulos, secciones y similares. Para las referencias de las posibles citas explicamos como va el tema en la presentación, pero para los despistados se dirá el número de página de la edición que usamos (en este caso la de Minotauro de 1993) y si es preciso la línea o líneas y en caso de notas se dirá la Nota 1 de la página 239, por ejemplo. Citas autorizadas. 1. Por referencia a esta publicación orixinal en citas. Banyeres Lega, Elena (2023). "Haiku por Navidad". Sevilla. Hotaru. La Senda del Haiku.

Tendremos hoy un programa de sobre la obra “La Traición de Isengard” de J.R.R. Tolkien y Christopher Tolkien. En este diremos cosas sobre esta obra, tocaremos un poco fragmentos y no diremos citas en ninguna ocasión excepto a través de varios poemas. LOCUTOR Y DIRECTOR: Miguel A. Mateos Carreira GUION: Miguel A. Mateos Carreira y Club Aratar de Galicia (Miguel C. Gómez) MUSICA: GarageBand Este programa está libre de citas del libros salvo las referencias obvias y necesarias a los capítulos, secciones y similares. Para las referencias de las posibles citas explicamos como va el tema en la presentación, pero para los despistados se dirá el número de página de la edición que usamos (en este caso la de Minotauro de 1993) y si es preciso la línea o líneas y en caso de notas se dirá la Nota 1 de la página 239, por ejemplo. Citas autorizadas. 1. Por referencia a esta publicación orixinal en citas. Juliá, Eulalía y Müller, Maria Clarudia (2023). "Haiku por Navidad". Sevilla. Hotaru. La Senda del Haiku.

We're back to our Lesser-trod Histories series! This month, we are looking at the History of Middle-earth Volume 4, The Shaping of Middle-earth. Jude and Stef chat about the Dagor Dagorath (a.k.a. the Last Battle, or the Second Prophecy of Mandos) from its earliest stages in the Sketch of the Mythology through to the most recent version in The War of the Jewels. We discuss why a questionable Man is involved in slaying Arda's baddest baddie, and we discuss whether this story should have been included in the published Silmarillion. CitationsHistories Volume 4Tolkien, J. R. R. The Shaping of Middle-earth. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 4. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1986. Histories Volume 10Tolkien, J. R. R. Morgoth's Ring. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 10. HarperCollins, London, 1993. Histories Volume 11Tolkien, J. R. R. War of the Jewels. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 11. HarperCollins, London, 1994. Histories Volume 12Tolkien, J. R. R. The Peoples of Middle-earth. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 12. HarperCollins, London, 1996. The Silmarillion:Tolkien, J. R. R. The Silmarillion. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Apple Books edition.  (March 4, 2025)Tolkien And The Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earthGarth, John. Tolkien And The Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth. First Mariner Books edition 2005. eISBN 978-0-544-26372-7. V2.0519. (Accessed February 15, 2025)Upcoming eventsMarch 25, 2025: The Carrock Northern California Smail inaugural meeting is on Zoom on March 25 (Tolkien Reading Day) from 8:00–9:00 PM Pacific time. Find us on Bluesky: thecarrocksmial.bsky.social or Instagram: thecarrocksmial Link for our Google Sign-up form: https://tinyurl.com/TheCarrockSignUpFormJoin the Carrock Discord server: https://discord.gg/8DxzAhvPVnMay 9-11, 2025: Tolkien Society: Westmoot 2025Join Jude and Stef in Kansas City, Missouri, at the National WWI Museum and Memorial. https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/westmoot-2025/ (Accessed March 4, 2025)July 5-6, 2025: Tolkien Society: Seminar 2025 – ‘Arda's Entangled Bodies and Environments'Run by Will Sherwood, Clare Moore and Journee Cottonhttps://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/seminar-2025/ (Accessed March 4, 2025)August 2-3, 2025: The Mythopoeic Society- Online MidSummer Seminar 2025: “More Perilous and Fair: Women and Gender in Mythopoeic Fantasy”: https://www.mythsoc.org/oms/oms-04.htm (Accessed Feb 23, 2025)September 4-7, 2025: Tolkien Society: OxonmootJoin Jude and Stef at St. Anne's College, Oxford and online! https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/oxonmoot-2025/ (Accessed March 4, 2025)

Tendremos hoy un programa de sobre la obra “La Traición de Isengard” de J.R.R. Tolkien y Christopher Tolkien. En este diremos cosas sobre esta obra, tocaremos un poco fragmentos y no diremos citas en ninguna ocasión excepto a través de varios poemas. LOCUTOR Y DIRECTOR: Miguel A. Mateos Carreira GUION: Miguel A. Mateos Carreira y Club Aratar de Galicia (Miguel C. Gómez) MUSICA: GarageBand Este programa está libre de citas del libros salvo las referencias obvias y necesarias a los capítulos, secciones y similares. Para las referencias de las posibles citas explicamos como va el tema en la presentación, pero para los despistados se dirá el número de página de la edición que usamos (en este caso la de Minotauro de 1993) y si es preciso la línea o líneas y en caso de notas se dirá la Nota 1 de la página 239, por ejemplo.

Tendremos en el día de hoy en el que festejamos el nacimiento de J.R. R. tolkien un programa de la segunda parte de la obra “El Retorno de la Sombra” de J.R.R. Tolkien y Christopher Tolkien. En ella hablaremos inicialmente de algunas Notas que deberían haberse incluido en el programa anterior. Para bucear después en la segunda y tercera partes de la obra y llegar a "El Relato Continua" donde nuestro amigo Miguel C. Gómez nos ofrece un texto al respecto; después, al final en la despedida de este programa tocaremos un poco el tema de ilustración haremos un avance del programa sobre cine y nos despediremos de todos vosotros como siempre. LOCUTOR Y DIRECTOR: Miguel A. Mateos Carreira GUION: Miguel A. Mateos Carreira y Club Aratar de Galicia (Miguel C. Gómez) MUSICA: GarageBand Este programa está libre de citas del libros salvo las referencias obvias y necesarias a los capítulos, secciones y similares. Para las referencias de las posibles citas explicamos como va el tema en la presentación, pero para los despistados se dirá el número de página de la edición que usamos (en este caso la de Minotauro de 1993) y si es preciso la linea o líneas y en caso de notas se dira la Nota 1 de la página 239, por ejemplo.

Join us this month for a deep dive on Tolkien's bodacious baddie, the one and only Sauron. Tolkien scholar and Sauron expert, Cameron Bourquein, leads us down her lesser-trod path exploring Sauron's evolving nature, the meanings of his name, and his changing role in the legendarium throughout its development.  Citations: Thank you to our guest host, Cameron Bourquein! How to find Cameron's work:Website: https://cameronbourquein.com/Blog: https://theroadtoardahealed.substack.com/Website: https://sauronproject.com/Twitter: @CameronBorgQeenBluesky: cameronbourquein.bsky.socialBlog post with Cameron's Sauron citations:https://theroadtoardahealed.substack.com/p/a-sauron-bibliography Works referenced in this episode: Letter 66 (To Christopher Tolkien, May 6, 1944)From Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Ed. Humphrey Carpenter with Christopher Tolkien. HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd, London. Letter 131 (To Milton Waldman, undated- probably written in late 1951)From Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Ed. Humphrey Carpenter with Christopher Tolkien. HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd, London. Dr. Richard Eliot BlackwelderAs cited in Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull, The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion, London: HarperCollins, 2014, page xii.Link: https://harpercollins.co.uk/products/the-lord-of-the-rings-a-readers-companion-wayne-g-hammondchristina-scull?variant=32611676192846 A. R. Bossert“Surely You Don't Disbelieve”: Tolkien and Pius X: Anti-modernism in Middle-earthMythlore Vol. 25, No. 1, 2006Link: https://dc.swosu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1289&context=mythlore Cameron Bourquein and Nick PolkReading, Rending, and Queering the Web of Story: With the Lenses of "Con-creation" and Process [Conference Presentation]Presented at MythSoc OMS on Feb 10th, 2024 Link: https://substack.com/home/post/p-153238639 Stafford CaldecottThe Power of the Ring: The Spiritual Vision Behind the Lord of the Rings and The HobbitThe Crossroad Publishing Company, 2013Link: https://crossroadpublishing.com/product/the-power-of-the-ring/ John GarthIlu's Music: The Creation of Tolkien's Creation MythFrom Sub-creating Arda: World-building in J.R.R. Tolkien's Works, its Precursors, and Legacies, Dimitra Fimi and Thomas Honegger (editors), Cormarë Series No. 40Walking Tree Publishers, 2019Link: http://www.walking-tree.org/books/sub-creating_arda.php#h Gwenyth HoodSauron as Gorgon and BasiliskMarshall University, 1987Link: https://mds.marshall.edu/english_faculty/30/ Jonathan S. McIntoshThe Flame Imperishable: Tolkien, St. Thomas, and the Metaphysics of FaërieAngelico Press, 2017Link: https://angelicopress.com/products/the-flame-imperishable Brian RoseberryTolkien: A Cultural PhenomenonPalgrave Macmillan, 2003Link: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9780230599987 Elizabeth A. WhittinghamThe Evolution of Tolkien's Mythology: A Study of the History of Middle-earthMcFarland & Company, 2007Link: https://mcfarlandbooks.com/product/the-evolution-of-tolkiens-mythology/ The work of Mercury Natis, Tolkien ScholarLink: https://lushthemagicdragon.carrd.co/ The work of Robin A. Reid, Tolkien ScholarLink: https://tolkienists.org/robin-anne-reid/

Haremos hoy un programa de una primera parte de la obra “El Retorno de la Sombra” de J.R.R. Tolkien y Christopher Tolkien. Hablaremos un poco o mucho, depende de como se mire, de la obra. Para lanzarnos; después, al final en la despedida de este programa a hacer alguna puntualización sobre este programa, decir lo que se adelantará del siguiente e incluso hablar un poco de las críticas a "El Señor de los Anillos. La Guerra delos Rohirrim". LOCUTOR Y DIRECTOR: Miguel A. Mateos Carreira GUION: Miguel A. Mateos Carreira y Club Aratar de Galicia MUSICA: GarageBand

In this week's episode, I take a look back at the movies and TV shows I watched in Autumn 2024, and rate them from my least favorite to my favorite. TRANSCRIPT Hello, everyone. Welcome to episode 230 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is December the Sixth, 2024, and today we are looking at my movie/TV show roundup for Fall 2024. Before we get to that, we'll have an update on my current writing projects and then we will do Question of the Week.   First up, I'm pleased to report that the rough draft of Orc Hoard is done at 78,000 words, so it'll probably end up being about exactly the same length as Half-Orc Paladin, the previous book in the series. I've also written a short story called Commander's Wrath that newsletter subscribers will get a free ebook copy of when Orc Hoard comes out and hopefully we're on track to have that out before Christmas. I'm also 7,000 words into Shield of Deception, which will be the fourth book in The Shield War series and if all goes well, I'm hoping to have that out in January or February. In audiobook news, recording is currently underway for Cloak of Masks and that will probably be out towards the end of January or perhaps February, depending on how long processing takes.   00:01:02 Question of the Week   Question of the Week is designed to inspire enjoyable discussions of interesting topics. This week's question, what do you listen to while working: genre of music, audiobooks, podcast, nothing else so you can concentrate, et cetera. No wrong answers obviously, and we had quite a few answers.   David says: I listen to audiobooks and music. Music ranges from classical to country to pop, bands and soul artists to instrumental. No rap or heavy metal or dance music or I listen to music from YouTube channels. If I have to really focus on what I'm doing, I'll turn it low so it doesn't distract.   Justin says: video game music is my first choice. It can help you grind in real life just like it does in the game. If that isn't working for me, then rock or classical music with movie soundtracks at third.   Brooks says: I tend to gravitate towards hard rock/punk rock. I have to stay adrenalized. Outside work, I'll listen to almost anything.   Michael says: I find I can't listen to words or lyrics without getting distracted by them, so instrumental music is the way to go. Usually video game music too (the Stelara soundtrack is particularly epic), movie scores (Kingdom of Heaven is one of my favorites), or Dungeon Synth, an amazing music genre I only discovered recently.   Barbara says: sometimes I play music while writing, but most of the time I prefer the silence so I can better hear the voices in my head. Of course, I prefer very specific types of music that always end up coming back no matter how much I try to stray.   Jenny says: lots of EDM and techno if words would distract me or my solid nineties pop punk angsty mix. I also have a giant one I called “I heard it in a video game” for background music. John says: When I did/could work, I enjoyed outlaw country music, particularly that from Texas. Put me in a kick butt and take names kind of mood. When you're a plumber who gets paid by the work done, not the hour, that's where one wants to be.   (A different) John says: I only listen to music when I'm working in the kitchen. I'm eclectic. Sometimes classical music, sometimes ‘80s prog rock with Hawaiian music and occasionally jazz tossed in.   Juana says: I like rock and roll from many eras. I put my eclectic music on shuffle. I also listen to movie soundtracks: Star Wars, Star Trek, Harry Potter, Animal House, et al.   Brandy says: If I'm cooking, I listen to Pandora. There's a pop ‘90s - ‘20s station. I do have a few that are specifically listed, angry or sad, one more angry German metal or Mongolian throat metal, the other more goth and industrial. I read books instead of listening. If I'm proofing, I usually have something on in the background. Today it's Sanctuary Season One.   Morgan says: ADHD means I jump around a lot on what I'm listening to depending on the day, but audiobooks- usually fantasy or horror. Podcasts- Pathfinder actual play podcasts, horror podcasts, and wrestling/gaming news podcasts. Music, whatever artist/album I'm obsessing over at the time, but usually prog rock, metal, or rap.   Matthew says: I always have my iPad for background noise. If I'm particularly invested in getting chapters done, I'll put on something largely audible.   Gary says: audiobooks, podcasts, worship music, Christian hard rock.   Bob says: Retired now, but when I was working I didn't listen to anything-needed to concentrate on what I was doing. When paying bills, I sometimes have some Morse Code on in the background (one of my previous means of paying the bills). On long car trips, it's nice to have some distraction -whatever radio station I can find, preferably one with a story. In truck stops, we used to find some stories on disc that had the actors doing the voice of the characters and some of them were pretty good.   For myself, I almost always listen to music while I'm working and that genre is usually soundtracks and video games, movies, and TV shows (in that order) that I liked, which makes it difficult to discuss music with people, I have to admit. I do listen to podcasts when I'm working outside, so long as I'm not using a power tool that requires earplugs for safe operation (which sadly seems to be most of the time).   00:04:42 Main Topic: Autumn 2024 Movie/TV Review Roundup   Now on to our main topic, the review roundup of the movies and streaming shows I watched in Autumn 2024. I was going to do a combined Autumn/Winter 2024 one, but it was getting a bit too long, so Winter 2024/2025 will be its own post in a few months. I seemed to watch a lot of time travel movies this time around and quite a few with Space Magic. As ever, the grades are totally subjective and based on nothing more than my own thoughts and opinions. Now let's take a look at the movies and streaming shows from least favorite to most favorite.   First up is Escanaba in Da Moonlight, which came out in 2001 and it is a surrealist comedy about hunting traditions set in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. 42-year-old Reuben Sodi is the only man in his family who has never shot a buck, so when he complains about this to his Native American wife, she casts a spell to help Ruben bag his first buck, which results in a very bizarre nighttime journey/vision quest. This includes UFOs, visitations by nighttime spirits, and a Department of Natural Resources officer having a mental breakdown. This was a funny movie, but it was definitely very weird and even more specific. If you're at all familiar with the hunting culture of Upper American Midwest, you'll get the humor. If you're not familiar with it, this will be like watching a movie from another planet. Overall grade: C.   Next up is Looper, which came out in 2012. I didn't actually like this movie very much, but I respect how well done it was. Joseph Gordon Levitt plays Joe and is a type of assassin called a looper living in the US in 2044. About 30 years after 2044, time travel is invented but immediately outlawed. Since it's difficult to get away with murder in 2074 due to advanced technology, crime syndicates have taken to sending people they want eliminated back in time to 2044 where the loopers immediately execute the target in exchange for a big fat payout. Loopers can live like kings, but there's a price. Eventually the loop is closed and the looper's future self is sent back to be killed by his past self. Failure to comply results in an extremely grisly fate at the hands of the syndicate. Joe, being a hardened killer and drug addict, is fine with all this and even helps turn in a fellow looper who failed to close his own loop. Then Joe's future self arrives. Joe is about to kill Future Joe (played by Bruce Willis), but Future Joe escapes and Present Joe has to hunt down and kill Future Joe if he wants to survive.   In the process, Present Joe stumbles across the farm of a woman named Sarah (played by Emily Blunt) and her young son Sid. Present Joe realizes that future Joe has traveled back to kill the child, Sid, who will be responsible for the death of Future Joe's wife in the future. Despite everything he's done, Present Joe is not okay with this and gears up to help Sarah defend Sid from Future Joe. This movie was on the very dark side of noir filmmaking: no good characters, essentially only various degrees of bad people trying to navigate their way through the maze of time crimes. I did strongly dislike how fundamentally nihilistic the movie was and the addition of telekinesis did seem like kind of a plot crutch. There is also some unnecessary nudity. Rian Johnson is actually an excellent filmmaker. Knives Out and Glass Onion were both very good, but I cannot imagine how someone will watch Looper and think, hey, this guy is a good choice for a Star Wars movie. Overall Grade: B-   Next up is Agatha All Along, which came out in 2024. It was extremely well written and well-acted. You almost have to watch it twice just to admire how well put together the plot was. I wasn't expecting to like Agatha All Along, but it is an excellent example of writing a show with a villain protagonist and actually pulling it off. The show is also a good example of something I've talked about before on the podcast and the blog: characters can be likable, emotionally sympathetic, or both. It's sometimes tricky to write a character who's both, unlikable but emotionally sympathetic. By contrast, Agatha Harkness is an excellent example of a character who's both likable and highly, highly unsympathetic. Agatha All Along is indeed a show with a villain protagonist, but Agatha is charismatic enough to remain likable even though she's unquestionably an absolute monster who deserves every bit of suffering she endures.   Actress Kathryn Hahn deserves major credit for making someone as evil as Agatha so charismatic. Agatha retains just enough of a sliver of sympathy to keep the audience from turning on her, but even when she shows flashes of humanity, beneath that there are even more layers of monster. She also does a very sort of a modern Doctor Who/ Sherlock thing where she talks very fast and puts up a flippant and silly facade, but she's actually calculating things several steps in advance and manipulating everyone around her to her final goal. Anyway, the plot of Agatha All Along is that Agatha finally breaks free from the spell of the Scarlet Witch placed on here at the end of Wandavision. However, Agatha doesn't have any magic left, which is a major problem for her because she has very many enemies who very much want to see her dead as soon as possible, but then a mysterious teenager turns up and asks for Agatha's help. He wants to walk the legendary Witches' Road and it has said that someone who walks the road and survives to the end will receive their heart's desire. Since Agatha doesn't have any other options and she has some major enemies, she agrees. Agatha, the teenager, and the Witches' Road itself all have very dark secrets and their reveal makes for some major drama. As I mentioned, the show was very well written and acted. I suspect that may be the secret for movie or TV success in the 2020s economic climate: good actors, an excellent script, and keep your costs down. Overall grade: B   Our next movie is Field of Dreams, which came out in 1989. An Iowa farmer discovers he's a very specific kind of necromancer, like how sports medicine is a specific field of study. Maybe sports necromancy is a specific subclass for evil wizards or something. All joking aside, the main character is Ray Kinsella (played by Kevin Costner) and he's walking his cornfield one day and he hears a mysterious voice tell him “If you build it, he will come.” Ray builds a baseball field in one of his cornfields and began speaking to the ghost of Shoeless Joe, a popular baseball player who died in 1951. Soon a lot of other ghosts arrive and start playing baseball as well. The mysterious voice starts urging Ray to “ease his pain” and Ray concludes this must means Terrance Mann (played by James Earl Jones), an activist writer from the sixties who dropped out of the public eye and is living in seclusion. So Ray starts on a cross country trip to persuade Mann to come to his baseball field. This movie is really perhaps the ur-example of the Feel-Good Eighties Movies and maybe a Baby Boomer movie. The characters speak with near religious reverence for the ‘60s, baseball is the Great American Pastime, and Ray really wants to heal his relationship with the father he rebelled against back in the ‘60s. The best part of the movie was unquestionably James Earl Jones' character and his performance as he resigns himself to Ray's craziness and then starts to believe in it was pretty great. Overall grade: B Next up is Holiday, which came out in 1938. Holiday is a romantic comedy from the 1930s. Cary Grant plays Johnny Case, who has fallen in love with Julia Seton, the daughter of a wealthy New York banking family. However, his more individualistic outlook soon puts him at odds with Julia's more traditionalist family, though this draws the attention of Julia's elder sister Linda (played by Katharine Hepburn). It felt a bit like watching a play and a little research revealed that it was indeed based on a play from 1928, which may be why the film didn't do so well when it originally came out, though it is regarded as a classic today.   Viewers in the Great Depression era would probably find it difficult to sympathize with a man who wanted to turn down a well-paying job at a bank, not out of moral objections to the bank's business practices, but because he would feel constrained. The Seton family is played as eccentric and somewhat troubled, but not as buffoons or villains as rich people were often portrayed in other 1930s movies. Good performances and worth watching as a classic, though sound technology has improved quite a bit in the last 90 years, so you probably will want to watch it with the captions on. Overall grade: B   Next movie is Twisters, which came out in 2024. This is basically the same movie as Twister from back in 1995, but with some of the plot of Pride and Prejudice bolted on. Kate Carter (played by Daisy Edgar-Jones) is an Oklahoma storm chaser with her boyfriend and best friends. One day, one of their storm chases goes horribly wrong, killing Kate's boyfriend and most of their friends. Five years later, Kate is working for the National Weather Service in New York when her old friend Javi, the other survivor of that storm, asks for her help testing a new radar tracking system. Kate reluctantly agrees and they return to Oklahoma and crosses horns with storm YouTuber Tyler Owens (played by Glenn Powell) who makes videos of his truck shooting fireworks into tornadoes. Naturally, Kate and Tyler immediately misunderstand each other in the same way as in Pride and Prejudice but are forced to work together when it turns out that Javi's company might have ulterior motives. I thought this was a thoroughly enjoyable summer popcorn flick. Given how both Covid and the 2023 writers' strike hit this movie's production like two successive freight trains, it's astonishing it turned out so well. Overall grade: A-   Next up is The Rings of Power Season 2, which came out in 2024. I have the same attitude towards this as I do with Starfield. I really like it. In fact, my Xbox told me I played Starfield for 270 hours in 2024, but I get why some people do not. This show is essentially very elaborate fan fiction. The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy, despite the changes from the book, was still recognizably The Lord of the Rings. The Rings of Power is almost entirely its own thing. Nevertheless, I enjoyed this for a couple of reasons and hope it continues. First, it's nice to have an epic fantasy TV series that's not a nihilistic pornographic torture fest like Game of Thrones and House of the Dragon and is more competently executed than Disney's ill-fated Willow Series.   Second, all things must be taken in their context. What do I mean by this? Perhaps a food comparison will illustrate the point. The book the Lord of the Rings is like Kobe beef prepared by the finest chefs in the world, the sort of experience you get maybe once or twice in your life if fortune smiles upon you. The Lord of the Rings movie trilogy is like a high-quality supermarket steak grilled in the backyard by someone who's pretty good at it. The Rings of Power is like McDonald's, but there are times when you really want some McDonald's. In fact, I kind of want a Big Mac after saying all of that, but The Rings of Power is really good McDonald's, the kind of McDonald's you have after driving the car for 250 miles without stopping across one of America's flatter and less populous states. The only place to eat for like a hundred miles in any direction is this McDonald's in the same building as a gas station, so you stop and don't expect very much, but it turns out the fries are crispy and salty and the nuggets are just right.   I don't think it's surprising that The Rings of Power has had such a mixed reception. The Venn diagram of “enjoys Lord of the Rings” has some wildly divergent circles to it and that is a testament to the fact that the Lord of the Rings is such a great work of literature that so many people from so many very different ideological identity groups enjoy and identify with the book. Even ideological identity groups that are mortal foes agree on their approval of the Lord the Rings. So naturally each different group has its own strong opinion of what an adaptation should look like.   With that very long-winded introduction out of the way, I liked season two and I thought it was an improvement over Season One, a lot more narrative tension. Season One perhaps spent too much time setting the table and building context, but Season Two works well in making Season One better in hindsight. The Rings of Power version of Galadriel is improved in Season Two because she was one of the few characters in Season One able to throw off Sauron's mental domination and seduction. The highlight of the season was the toxic dynamic between Sauron and Celebrimbor.  Actors Charlie Vickers and Charles Edwards did an amazing job portraying the slow-moving disaster that Sauron and Celebrimbor's collaboration would create, two intellectual equals working together to create something great, but nonetheless, Sauron twists everything to his own ends. Their final scene together was just astonishingly good. The portrayal of Sauron is both very modern and true to Tolkien, a destructive narcissist who actually believes whatever lies he's speaking at any given moment. He really, truly believes he's going to heal Middle Earth, no matter how many people he has to kill to do it. The scenes with Prince Durin, his father, and one of the dwarven rings of power were great as well. It had the same sort of feel to it as an adult child watching with horror as a beloved parent succumbs to a drug addiction. The best new character the show created (in my opinion) is Adar, one of the progenitors of the orcs. Tolkien himself could never really decide on the origin of the orcs and came up with different thoughts throughout his lifetime. When editing The Silmarillion, Christopher Tolkien settled on the corrupted former elves version, which seems to be what his father had been leaning towards anyway. Rings of Power takes that to its logical conclusion. Adar wants his orcish progeny to live free of the dark lords Morgoth and Sauron, which makes sense because in the books, the orcs hated Morgoth and Sauron and only served them out of fear. Indeed, in The Lord of the Rings, Sauron seems to have secret police and informers among the orcs to keep track of their loyalties. Since the show displays how twisted and cruel Sauron really is, it makes sense that Adar is willing to go to any lengths to stop Sauron, no matter how extreme. The orcs are still monsters, including Adar himself, but they're monsters who want to be free of an even greater monster than themselves. If you've read The Silmarillion or The Lord of the Rings, you'll know all the characters' efforts are doomed to failure, especially Adar and Celebrimbor's, which lends an air of inevitable tragedy to everything that happens. I know some people were mad that Tom Bombadil was basically Wizard Yoda, but I thought it worked. Tom Bombadil is so inscrutable of a character that he can really do whatever he wants so long as he's inscrutable. It was also great how composer Bear McCreary wove a variation of Sauron's theme throughout the show. The soundtrack was A+ work in my opinion. Overall, I enjoyed the show and would like it to continue. If you know the difference between Fëanor, Finwë, Finrod, Felagund, Finarfin, Findulias, Fingon, and Fingolfin (without having to look it up), and in fact have everything about them from The Silmarillion memorized, you'll hate this show. But I think it's worth watching. Overall Grade: A-   Next up is Casa Bonita Mi Amor, which came out in 2024. Way back in the 1990s I saw an episode of Frasier where Frasier and his brother Niles decide to buy a restaurant. A series of hilarious cascading disasters result. At the time I decided I never wanted to own a restaurant and every piece of both factual information and fictional media I have consumed since has not changed this decision. Casa Bonita Mi Amor definitely will not challenge that decision. Apparently, Casa Bonita was a beloved theme restaurant in Colorado that went out of business during Covid. Trey Parker and Matt Stone, creators of South Park, decided to buy the restaurant themselves and reopen it. They budgeted $3.6 million for the restoration of the building. Costs soon swelled to $40 million and the problems were still only just beginning. This is an excellent and entertaining example of the “rich man buys restaurant, soon finds himself over his head” genre of documentary filmmaking. Overall grade: A   Finally, my two favorite things I saw in Autumn 2024 and the first of them is the movie Frequency, which came out in 2000. It's another variant on a time travel story, but I like this one considerably better than Looper. Frank Sullivan is a firefighter and devoted family man living in New York circa 1969. His son John is a police detective living in the house 30 years later in 1999 with emotional problems because he never got over his father's tragic death in a dangerous fire 30 years earlier in 1969.   When the son of a friend stumbles across his father's old ham radio, John lets the kid goof around with it. Later that night, John starts talking to someone on that radio and to his astonishment realizes he's talking to his father from 30 years ago on the same ham radio. Desperate, John tries to warn Frank about the fire that kills him and it works. Frank survives the fire and instead of dying 1969, instead dies in 1989 from lung cancer due to a pack a day habit. The scene where history changes and John suddenly realizes what has happened was pretty great, but this isn't the ending. We're only 40% of the way through the movie. John successfully managed to put right what once went wrong.   However, in doing so, he accidentally also put wrong what once went right. His mother is a nurse and in the original timeline was on bereavement leave the day after Frank's death. In the new timeline, Frank is okay, so she goes to work and saves a patient who otherwise would've died in medical error and the patient happens to be the deadly serial killer known as the Nightingale. To his horror, John realizes that The Nightingale is now free to continue his murder spree and his new target is John's mother and Frank's wife.   As I've mentioned numerous times before, I'm not really a fan of time travel stories, but this one was quite well done. Interestingly, the plot structure was similar to Avengers Endgame. The Avengers go back in time to steal the Infinity Stones to undo Thanos' Snap, but Past Thanos figures out what's going on and follows the Avengers back to the present and attempts to make things even worse than they already are. John manages to save Frank from the fire, but this means the Nightingale serial killer survives and might create a worse present than the one John already has, so that really adds an altogether excellent element of dramatic tension to the entire movie. As one amusing side note, this movie shared Field of Dream's reverence for baseball as the Great American Pastime and John manages to convince Frank he's telling the truth about their time travel radio by accurately predicting the outcome of baseball games. Overall grade: A Now the second favorite thing I watched in Autumn 2024, The Grand Tour: One for the Road, which came out in 2024. I admit that when I started self-publishing in 2011, I knew absolutely nothing about the contemporary United Kingdom, like I couldn't even told you whether the UK used the Pound or the Euro. When I started getting book royalties from Amazon UK, let's just say I learned about currency conversion rates really fast, but as UK book royalties fluctuated as they do, I started reading the UK news since when there's an election or major news event in the UK, book royalties tend to drop for a few days after the same way they do when something similar happens in the US. Because of that, I saw the news article when Jeremy Clarkson was fired from Top Gear in 2015 for punching out a producer. At the time, there were some seasons of Top Gear on Netflix, so I was curious and started watching and was thoroughly entertained.   When Grand Tour started on Amazon, I started watching that as well and I was also thoroughly entertained, but all good things must come to an end. Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May go on one last road trip adventure across Zimbabwe. The usual hijinks ensue for one last time, and it was a fitting end to Top Gear/The Grand Tour. I'll miss the show, but I am grateful for over a decade of entertainment from Top Gear/The Grand Tour and from the various spinoffs like Clarkson's Farm and James May's travel show. Overall grade: A   So that is it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A reminder that you can listen to all the back episodes on https://thepulpwritershow.com. If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave your review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week.

Programa del Podcast Annavalaina que está dedicado como todos aquellos que haga esta temporada vinculados a Númenor a los afectados por la DANA en Valencia. Hablaremos hoy de la obra “El Camino Perdido” de J.R.R. Tolkien y Christopher Tolkien. Hablaremos un poco o mucho, depende de como se mire, y en profundidad seguramente no de la obra, para lanzarnos; después, al final de este programa. LOCUTOR Y DIRECTOR: Miguel A. Mateos Carreira GUION: Miguel A. Mateos Carreira y Club Aratar de Galicia MUSICA: GarageBand

¡Vótame en los Premios iVoox 2024! Programa dedicado a la obra de Christopher Tolkien sobre los versos predecesores a "El Silmarillion" llamada "Las Baladas de Beleriand". Una maravillosa obra de la que se hablará siguiendo la línea iniciada un poco con "El Libro de los Cuentos Perdidos". Ambas obras están profundamente vinculadas entre si y con "El Silmarillion". Esperamos que os guste. LOCUTOR: Miguel A. Mateos Carreira GUION: Club Aratar de Galicia y Miguel A. Mateos Carreira MUSICA: GarageBand

In episode 75, Jude and Stef take you on a textual safari to explore the... let's be honest… very weird magic of Sauron. Jude connects the Ósanwe-kenta to how Sauron gets the title of Necromancer, and we have a SPIRITed (hah, see what we did there) discussion of explicit descriptions of his magic in The Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion. Come for the werewolves and stay for the vampires!Citations:Ósanwe-kenta:J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Morgoth's Ring, "Part Five. Myths Transformed", "X" Ósanwe-kenta:J.R.R. Tolkien, Carl F. Hostetter (ed.), The Nature of Middle-earth, "Part Two. Body, Mind and Spirit: IX. Ósanwe-kenta", pp. 205-216 Laws and Customs Among the Eldar:J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Morgoth's Ring, “Part Three. The Later Quenta Silmarillion”, “The Second Phase: Laws and Customs Among the Eldar" Notes on motives in the Silmarillion:J.R.R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien (ed.), Morgoth's Ring, "Part Five. Myths Transformed:, “VII” “Notes on motives in the Silmarillion (i)”.  Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Ed. Humphrey Carpenter with Christopher Tolkien. HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd, London. Apple Books Edition. Ebook Edition © 2012 ISBN: 9780007381234. Version 2019-03-07. Letter 131, letter 163, letter 257. (Accessed Sept 28, 2024) Tolkien, J. R. R. The Lord of the Rings. HarperCollins e-books. Apple Books edition. (Accessed Sept 28, 2024) Tolkien, J. R. R. The Silmarillion. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Apple Books edition.  (Accessed Sept 28, 2024) Tolkien Gateway entry for “Sauron”https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Sauron (Accessed Sept 28, 2024) Tolkien Society event “Christopher Tolkien Centenary Conference”November 23-24, 2024https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/christopher-tolkien-centenary-conference/ (Accessed Oct 1, 2024) Find us on the web at https://podcast.athrabeth.com/ Join the conversation on the Athrabeth discord! Athrabeth is a production of the Athrabeth Podcast Network

Citations: Tolkien, J. R. R. The Lays of Beleriand. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 3, George Allen and Unwin, London, 1985. Kindle edition, eISBN: 978-0-358-61268-1, Version 07182023KO v1.0421 (Accessed July 12, 2024)Tolkien, J. R. R. The Lord of the Rings. HarperCollins e-books. Apple Books edition. (Accessed July 12, 2024)Tolkien Gateway entry for “The Lays of Beleriand”https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_Lays_of_Beleriand (Accessed July 12, 2024)Tolkien Society - Oxonmoot 51: Thursday, August 29 - Sunday, September 1.Website: https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/oxonmoot-2024/

Citations: Garth, John. Tolkien And The Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth. First Mariner Books edition 2005. eISBN 978-0-544-26372-7. V2.0519. (Accessed June 30, 2024)Tolkien, J. R. R. The Book of Lost Tales, Part II. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 2. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1984. (Accessed June 30, 2024)Tolkien, J. R. R. The Silmarillion. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Apple Books edition. (Accessed June 30, 2024)Tolkien Gateway entry for Eärendil https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/E%C3%A4rendil (Accessed June 29, 2024)Tolkien Gateway entry for The Book of Lost Tales: Part Twohttps://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_Book_of_Lost_Tales:_Part_Two (Accessed June 29, 2024)Tolkien Gateway entry for The Tale of Eärendelhttps://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_Tale_of_E%C3%A4rendel (Accessed June 29, 2024)Join the Athrabeth Discord!https://discord.gg/x5UVB7M3Summer learning opportunities:Saturday July 6: Tolkien Society Summer Seminar - Tolkien's Romantic Resonanceshttps://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/the-tolkien-society-hybrid-seminar-2024-tolkiens-romantic-resonances/ (Accessed June 29, 2024)Sunday August 4: From the Politics and Prose bookstore - “Tolkien's “The Athrabeth” and “Myths Transformed” Presented by Tolkien scholar Verlyn Flieger. https://www.politics-prose.com/class/online-class-tolkiens-athrabeth-and-myths-transformed-2485 (Accessed June 29, 2024)Thank you to friend-of-the-show Clare Moore for alerting us to this class! Clare can be found on Twitter @claremoore94Thursday August 29- Sunday Sept. 1: Tolkien Society - Oxonmoot 51https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/oxonmoot-2024/ (Accessed June 29, 2024) 

CitationsTolkien, J. R. R. The Book of Lost Tales, Part I. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 1. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1983.Tolkien, J. R. R. The Book of Lost Tales, Part II. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 2. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1984. Takahashi, Dean. A new generation of J.R.R. Tolkien games is coming | Lee Guinchard exclusive interview. Venture Beat website.  https://venturebeat.com/games/a-new-generation-of-j-r-r-tolkien-games-is-coming-lee-guinchard-exclusive-interview/ (Accessed June 4, 2024)New York Tolkien Conference 2024https://nyctolkienconference.wordpress.com (Accessed June 4, 2024)Tolkien Society- Oxonmoot 2024https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/oxonmoot-2024/ (Accessed June 4, 2024)

After the “Hunt for Gollum” movie announcement, I notice more than one person asking why the Tolkien Estate hasn't sold the rights to the Silmarillion yet. It seems like a natural enough question following the death of Christopher Tolkien, but there are still plenty of obstacles to such a move. Want to know about that atrocious John Boorman LOTR script? Here are my videos on it: Part 1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HhKX7VdMiZU Part 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbxZU3mVRsc Part 3: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7BqeOwPcSE Part 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHGpbhTKq0w For good measure, here I talk about JRR Tolkien's comments on another script he hated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMLLIFb_Pe8 For my (very old) thoughts on how you might adapt the Silmarillion, check this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cliHCmfpj3M Other Links: Playeur (formerly Utreon): https://playeur.com/c/TolkienLorePodcast/ Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/c-355195 Odysee: https://odysee.com/@TolkienLore:f Twitter: https://twitter.com/jrrtlore Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/tolkiengeek Xero Shoes (affiliate link): https://xeroshoes.com/go/TolkienGeek Discord server invite link: https://discord.gg/EVKynAj2m9 (If link is expired contact me at tolkienloremaster@gmail.com and I'll send a fresh invite link). --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/joshua6469/support

"My father bestowed immense pains on the creation of The Lord of the Rings, and my intention has been that this record his first three years of work on it should reflect those pains." - Christopher Tolkien, Return of the Shadow, ForewordIn this episode of DO NOT BE HASTY, we undertake our inaugural MATHOMS episode as we explore heretofore neglected matters great and small from The Lord of the Rings Book 1, Chapter 1, A Long Expected Party.Join us!EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS:- Kaitlyn of Tea with Tolkien- John R- Melkor27- KG- SaberSystems- Jeremy DWATCH THE VIDEO » https://youtu.be/ZJGYEWzP94UWATCH AD-FREE » https://www.patreon.com/posts/ad-free-video-of-104879517LISTEN AD-FREE » https://www.patreon.com/posts/lord-of-rings-104927227FOLLOW & SUPPORT THE TOLKIEN ROAD:PATREON » SUPERFANS!TWITTERFACEBOOKINSTAGRAMLINKS & MATHOMS:- take 10% OFF Tolkien Road merch at True Myths Press » https://truemythspress.com/discount/TENOFF (enter code TENOFF at checkout)- listen to TOLKIEN'S WORKS for FREE » https://www.audibletrial.com/everon- buy Tolkien's Requiem » https://tolkiensrequiem.com/ - buy Tolkien's Overture » https://tolkiensoverture.com/SPECIAL THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING PATRONS:- John R- Kaitlyn of Tea with Tolkien- Melkor27- KG- SaberSystems- Jeremy D- Emilio P- Jonathan D- Richard K- Paul D- Julia- Werty- Chris B- Tuor91- Carolyn S- Emiel K- Brian O (the 2nd)- Jonathan R- Matthew W- Daniel D- Harrison C- Seb M- Willbo Baggins- Ms. Anonymous- Andrew T- Redhawk- Shannon S- Brian O (the 1st)- Zeke F- James L- Chris L- Asya V- Ish of the Hammer- Teresa C- David of Pints with Jack- Eric BAS WELL AS THOSE CELEBRATING THEIR PATRON ANNIVERSARY IN MAY OF 2024- Michael W- SaberSystems- Malcolm CThank you so much for sticking with us over the years!!!

Citations: Tolkien, J. R. R. The Book of Lost Tales, Part I. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 1. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1983.Tolkien Gateway entry for “The Music of the Ainur” https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/The_Music_of_the_Ainur (Accessed April 27, 2024)

Join Etienne in this episode as he interviews Allan Stewart, the lead engineer at SynkedUP, a groundbreaking startup focused on bridging the technological gaps in today's digital world. Together, they unravel the threads of storytelling in The Lord of the Rings, explore the implications of Conway's Law on organizational design and software development, and discuss coding challenges that leave even seasoned developers hesitant.Allan touches upon his lifelong journey with Tolkien's work, showcasing how the tales have influenced his personal and professional life, and his unique perspective illuminates the profound impact of literature on technological creativity and problem-solving. The conversation also dissects Conway's Law and its profound influence on the architecture of software systems, mirroring the communication patterns within organizations.Etienne and Allan also delve into a common dilemma in the tech world: the fear of modifying legacy code. Allan recounts tales from the trenches, revealing strategies to address the untouchable parts of a codebase that developers dread to alter. Their discussion serves as a critical reminder of the importance of fostering a culture that encourages innovation, transparency, and resilience in the face of technological challenges.Allan's insights offer a fresh perspective on the relationship between team dynamics and code quality, shedding light on how team structure can shape the final product, for better or worse. Whether you're a fan of Middle Earth, an aspiring engineer, and/or a seasoned CTO, this episode promises a treasure trove of wisdom and intriguing discussions that run the gamut of software development and beyond.Time Stamps:[1:43] - Allan discusses his love for The Lord of the Rings.[3:45] - Allan explores Middle-earth's history through Christopher Tolkien's posthumous works, finding it rewarding.[6:34] - Allan's reading habits are sporadic, recently focusing on the fifth volume of The History of Middle Earth.[8:45] - Conway's Law suggests team dynamics shape software, stressing the importance of communication in development.[10:58] - Software mirrors its development context, with team practices and incentives affecting the codebase's quality.[12:22] - Etienne argues that hasty incentives can lead to poor coding practices and duplicated work to meet deadlines.[14:07] - Financial motives of offshore teams often overlook comprehensive codebase care, highlighting the importance of aligning team incentives with quality goals.[16:58] - Allan values trust in software audits and reiterates the importance of aligning developer incentives with principal goals.[18:44] - Allan highlights how attitudes towards automated testing mirror Conway's Law, impacting developer confidence and code quality.[20:50] - Allan critiques the dynamics between QA and developers, leading to defensive coding and diminished collaboration.[24:39] - Understanding software complexity is challenging; relying on trusted opinions and monitoring development are important.[27:12] - Etienne observes prolonged development times, suggesting collaborative code reading sessions for improved quality.[29:14] - Allan emphasizes collaboration through pair and mob programming, involving all teams for active participation.[31:42] - Hear why Allan prioritizes principles such as collaboration and automated testing over vague "best practices."[33:46] - In large developer meetings, Allan points out, some may not speak up due to overcrowding, hindering valuable input.[35:50] - Effective collaboration doesn't require everyone to do the same tasks simultaneously but involves coordination and acknowledgment of specialties.[39:04] - Addressing fear and context changes requires transparency, incentives, and adaptable code structures.[42:02] - Etienne shares how his hackathon competition helped alleviate his developers' fears around touching code.We have 200+ CTOs in peer groups: Quick Testimonials VideoContact Etienne: Website / YouTube / LinkedIn / X / Instagram / The CTO Podcast WebsiteContact Allan: LinkedInSchedule a meeting with Etienne on CalendlySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Maverick and Philip continue to discuss the Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, and what made it stand out compared to other movies.Part 2 of a 2-part review. Find the first part here: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/maverick51411/episodes/2024-03-06T18_00_00-08_00----------Highlights:0:59 Stakes and Villains11:03 Ideals25:12 Biggest Problem With the Movies30:07 Heightened Tension39:46 The Ring is Mine49:51 Transformation and Themes54:45 Satisfaction!----------Show Notes:The 9 Point Rating System: https://www.alostplot.com/9-points/#lotr #lordoftherings #returnoftheking #alostplot #moviereview #peterjackson #billyboyd #viggomortenson #elijahwood #jrrtolkien #christophertolkien #bookadaptation #adaptation #staytrue #denethor #aragorn #gandalf #frodo #theonering #ringofpower #sauron #sauroman #eowyn #theoden #denethor #part2 

Maverick is joined by Philip to review the last of the series of the Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King. Taking a counter-stance, Philip argues passionately for the beauty of the books, and the failures of the movie, while Maverick defends the honor of Peter Jackson's work. Part 1 of a two part discussion.----------Highlights:0:00 "The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King" Introduction4:41 Opening with Sauroman18:46 Epic versus Narrative22:59 Staying True to the Books27:49 Main Characters37:12 Side Characters47:36 Denethor and Pelennor Fields1:00:43 Eowyn1:09:01 Eowyn and the Witch King----------Show Notes:9 Points Rating System: https://www.alostplot.com/9-points/Captain Marvel review: https://www.podomatic.com/podcasts/maverick51411/episodes/2023-11-01T06_00_00-07_00#lotr #lordoftherings #returnoftheking #alostplot #moviereview #peterjackson #billyboyd #viggomortenson #elijahwood #jrrtolkien #christophertolkien #bookadaptation #adaptation #staytrue #denethor #aragorn #gandalf #frodo #theonering #ringofpower #sauron #sauroman #eowyn #theoden #denethor #part1 

Citations: Tolkien, J. R. R. The Book of Lost Tales, Part 1. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 1. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1983.

Jared, Oriana and Ned discuss Jared's choice of topic: Beowulf. The famed Old English poem, the longest extant poetic work in general preserved in that language, almost accidentally survived over the years until it became more widely recognized in the 1700s, including surviving a fire. It has since become a cornerstone of studies of English literature, telling the story of a heroic Geat warrior who defeats two monstrous presences on a visit to an afflicted Danish kingdom, and who in later years as an aging king slays a dragon at the cost of his life and, it is strongly implied, his kingdom's. Tolkien knew the work thoroughly and regularly taught it in his academic career, leading to both a prose translation and various notes and commentaries that Christopher Tolkien presented and edited for a 2015 publication. But besides the notable connections that can be made between the poem and elements of his own legendarium, Tolkien has a further place in Beowulf scholarship thanks to his most famed academic work, the 1936 lecture “Beowulf: The Monsters and The Critics,” which single-handedly reframed the poem from being primarily seen as a historical document to being considered as a remarkable work of imagination. What are some of the key differences between Beowulf's world and ethos and Tolkien's own reworking of it into his legendarium, in terms of character, society and more? What points does Tolkien bring up in his lecture that provides a deeper insight into how he was not only arguing for the Beowulf poet – whoever it might be – but also placing his own work into that lineage? How do the portrayals of the various monsters Beowulf faces differ, and what in particular makes Grendel's mother such a fascinating character? And how many moments per episode are points raised and then suddenly realized to be maybe not accurate? (Sorry about that.)Show Notes.Jared's doodle. Gotta be careful with dragons.Ooooooh boy, the angst this Fellowship of Fans post unleashed in some corners when it came to Rings of Power rumors. (On a side note, RoP's Morfydd Clark is in the new two part Agatha Christie Murder is Easy adaptation on Britbox and is unsurprisingly really good!)The whole Matthew Weiner spoiler-war thing re Mad Men was a thing. Was it ever a thing. Here's a sample.Beowulf! You might have heard of it. Plenty of translations freely available, and of course there's Seamus Heaney and Maria Dahvana Headley and etc. And yes there's Tolkien's too.“HWAET!” (Tolkien allegedly really loved to get his students' attention by delivering this full on.)If you haven't read “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics,” we really do encourage this. (And picking up the full essay anthology too, key pieces like “A Secret Vice” and “On Fairy-Stories” are included among others.)Kennings are very cool. (But please avoid ‘whale road.')Imagining Tolkien delivering this to the other Beowulf critics is something wild to think about.There's a wide variety of pieces about the women of Beowulf out there; here's one that provides a general summary and consideration about them.If you'd like to see the Nowell Codex, head on over to the British Library, physically or virtually.We've mentioned E. R. Eddison before. Definitely NOT Tolkien.The full historical background that Beowulf draws on is definitely there, though treating the poem as a history itself is not the way to go. Here's a useful piece tackling the history as such.The Geats aren't around as such anymore, and there are reasons for that…It's not directly mentioned in the episode but Tolkien did write and lecture about one of the ‘side' stories in Beowulf, with the results published in the book Finn and Hengest.Did we mention we're not impressed with Silicon Valley's take on Tolkien?Grendel's mother is, no question, awesome.Kenneth Grahame's “The Reluctant Dragon” – definitely not Smaug.“Sellic Spell” really is interesting, and may be the most notable part of the volume it's published in.Michael Crichton's Eaters of the Dead! (But avoid The 13th Warrior.)A last little bonus: didn't bring it up in the episode but Ned remembered seeing Robert Macneil's 1986 documentary series on PBS The Story of English back when it first ran, and the second episode, “The Mother Tongue,” has a brief bit discussing Beowulf and how it might have been performed as a song, as well as a separate section on the impact of the Viking invasions on English as a language led by noted Tolkien scholar and academic descendant Tom Shippey.Support By-The-Bywater (and our network) on Patreon, and you can hang out with us in a friendly Discord.

Lift up your heart! And spend one last week in the Revised and Expanded edition of Tolkien's letters as we look at five shorter letters written to Christopher Tolkien over two months in 1943.

Citations:Berridge, Elizabeth. “Recent Fiction”. The Daily Telegraph. Friday, 2 December, 1983, Page 21. Accessed through Newspapers.com on January 27, 2024.Tolkien, J. R. R. The Book of Lost Tales, Part I. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 1. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1983.TolkienBooks.net “An Illustrated Tolkien Bibliography”https://tolkienbooks.net/php/home-contents.php#i (Accessed 2/6/24)

Jared, Oriana and Ned discuss Ned's choice of topic: The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. Following the publication of his official biography of Tolkien, Humphrey Carpenter worked with Christopher Tolkien to edit and present a selection of Tolkien's letters across the decades, originally appearing in 1981. Containing both a large swathe of personal detail about his life as an aspiring academic and young father, then an established professor and finally an increasingly popular author, it also presented a large amount of background information on Middle-earth via his exchanges with publishers, writers and readers, including some long letters that have remained touchstones of information on his creative process since. In late 2023, a new edition was published, which featured the entirety of the original selection that Carpenter and Christopher had created but had to trim down for initial publication, revealing various new facets of interest in particular about his own personal beliefs and philosophies across time. What areas of Tolkien's life remain relatively undiscussed or absent from the presented letters, and what can we deduce from the estate's choices to possibly not let that material be shared out? How do the ‘new' letters in particular fill out our understanding of Tolkien's Catholic beliefs, especially in the context of mass and creative culture? Is there something to be said in how Tolkien may have changed or otherwise introduced more nuance into some of his more sweeping statements about women in his private correspondence as he aged, especially in contrast to his fellow Inklings? And finally, who wouldn't want to be the fly on the wall for that conversation between Tolkien, Robert Graves and Ava Gardner?Show Notes.Jared's doodle. Something about a lovely start to a letter…Remember, join the Megaphonic Patreon! Listen to us and everyone else talk about the movie musical Scrooge! (Spoiler: we were not pleased.)Did we mention preordering Jared's book? Let's mention it again.Here's preorder info for that British Library talk on Twenty First Century Tolkien. Looks like it could be good!In which writing an unauthorized sequel to The Lord of the Rings further goes askew. Demetrious Polychron really, really does try. But.Our Dennis McKiernan/Silver Call duology episode. It really is better in comparison!Ah, cotillions. Look, you want them, have them, but maybe not around the Shire?AO3…waits.The letters! (New edition that is!) It is a very, very thick book.Letter 131 is a doozy! These days it's most often seen appended to the more recent edition of The Silmarillion.That withdrawn article on Edith Bratt, as much as remains in the journal listing. Who knows?Zero inbox, the blessed and unachievable state.Worth briefly noting The Tolkien Family Album, written and presented by John (the younger) and Priscilla Tolkien.Vatican II's impact is still very much with us…The Power Broker once again. (Consider our episode on evil.)Yeahhhhhh the Spanish Civil War. Not pretty at all.Tolkien and anarchism, there's a lot of talk about that out there. (Tolkien balancing out anarchism and monarchism? Somehow he did it…) As for the Shire as society and what it does or doesn't have, consider our episode (and the Gollum one with the murder mystery!)The Song of Bernadette! It really hit Tolkien hard, this film. (Vincent Price in fact played “Vital Dutour, Imperial Prosecutor” but he would have been a great Mary.) And hey if you ever want to visit Lourdes…Milton and Tolkien would have been at total odds in terms of religion but they absolutely agreed on the joy of sex. (Do a search for the line “This said unanimous, and other rites” and read further.)Our episode on Aldarion and Erendis. Still a remarkable story.Gloria Steinem as a Tolkien correspondent, that's a vision.C.S Lewis and women…well THAT'S a subject.The 1955 radio version of The Lord of the Rings is lost as noted but as the Wikipedia entry notes, the script itself survives at least. As for the 1968 radio Hobbit adaptation, indeed curious that there's nothing from Tolkien about it…Robert Graves! Was he a snack in his youth, Sigurd-like? Hey, you be the judge.Ava Gardner! Pretty awesome, really. (And she did live in the UK for the last decades of her life so why not attend an Oxford lecture?)One of John Scalzi's various posts talking about the idea of ‘convention famous.' Makes total sense!Again, consider supporting our network, Megaphonic, to help us make the show, and to join us on a friendly little Discord! Thank you if you do.

Citations: The Book of Lost Tales, part 1Tolkien, J. R. R. The Book of Lost Tales, Part I. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 1. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1983. (Accessed 10/26/23)Histories Volume 4Tolkien, J. R. R. The Shaping of Middle-earth. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 4. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1986. The HobbitTolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit: or There and Back Again. HarperCollins E-Books. ISBN 978-0-00-732260. Apple Books edition. (Accessed 10/26/23)The Lord of the RingsTolkien, J. R. R. The Lord of the Rings. HarperCollins e-books. Apple Books edition. (Accessed 10/26/23)The SilmarillionTolkien, J. R. R. The Silmarillion. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Apple Books edition. (Accessed 10/26/23)Tolkien Gateway entry for Back Doorhttps://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Back_Door (Accessed 10/26/23)Tolkien Gateway entry for Doors of Durin https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Doors_of_Durin (Accessed 10/26/23)Tolkien Gateway entry for Door of Nighthttps://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Door_of_Night (Accessed 10/26/23)Tolkien Gateway entry for Fen Hollenhttps://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Fen_Hollen (Accessed 10/26/23)Tolkien Gateway entry for Paths of the Deadhttps://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Paths_of_the_Dead (Accessed 10/26/23)Jude's other podcast: The Babylon Podject, https://babylonpod.page/, @babylonpodject In this episode Jude plugged DIE by Kieron Gillen: https://imagecomics.com/comics/series/die

The Man of the West opens up this new week of the TTT by actually finishing an answer he began last week. A close look at Christopher Tolkien's words reveals that bowing to necessity was a grief to the Professor.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5854727/advertisement

Con todo un manual sobre la rabia, Jorge Volpi llega a nuestro pódcast para contarnos acerca de su última obra, “Enrabiados”. En estos cuentos, Volpi muestra todo el enojo y la ira que se esconden en la sociedad, y los transforma en un impulso creativo para promover cambios sociales. Además, nos echamos un clavado en la swifteratura, ¡así que escucharemos nuestras letras favoritas de Taylor! Además, tenemos nuevas secciones para ti. En Horrores de Redactores, exploraremos las incorrecciones gramaticales más espantosas, y en Estante de Clásicos platicamos sobre Christopher Tolkien, el heredero del creador de la Tierra Media. Dale play ahora.

CitationsThe Tolkien Society- Oxonmoot 2023: https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/oxonmoot-2023/ (Accessed June 24, 2023)Tolkien Gateway entry for “Balrogs”https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Balrogs(Accessed July 7, 2023)Tolkien Gateway entry for “Gondolin”https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Gondolin(Accessed July 30, 2023)Tolkien Gateway entry for “Gothmog (balrog)”https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Gothmog_(balrog)(Accessed July 30, 2023)Tolkien Gateway entry for “Udûn (disambiguation)”https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Ud%C3%BBn_(disambiguation)(Accessed July 19, 2023)Allan, Jim. “A Flying Balrog”. Mallorn, issue 54, Spring 2013. pp. 43-44Harrison, Juliette “The 1950s Lord of the Rings Movie That J.R.R. Tolkien Absolutely Hated”Published June 5, 2023, Den of Geek websitehttps://www.denofgeek.com/movies/lord-of-the-rings-1950-movie-you-never-saw/ (Accessed July 23, 2023)Tierney, Alan. “Balrogs: Being and Becoming”. Mallorn, issue 49, Spring 2010. pp. 31-37Tolkien, J. R. R. The Book of Lost Tales, Part I. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 1. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1983. Apple Books edition. (Accessed June 24, 2023)Tolkien, J. R. R. The Book of Lost Tales, Part II. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 2. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1984. Apple Books edition. (Accessed June 24, 2023)Tolkien, J. R. R. The Fall of Gondolin. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. HarperCollins, London, 2018. Apple Books edition. (Accessed June 25, 2023)Tolkien, J. R. R. The Lays of Beleriand. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 3. HarperCollins, London, 1985. Tolkien, J. R. R. The Lord of the Rings. HarperCollins e-books. Apple Books edition. (Accessed June 24, 2023)Tolkien, J. R. R. The Silmarillion. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Apple Books edition. (Accessed June 24, 2023)Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Ed. Humphrey Carpenter with Christopher Tolkien. HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd, London. Apple Books Edition. Ebook Edition © 2012 ISBN: 9780007381234. Version 2019-03-07.  (Accessed June 24, 2023)SAG-AFTRA Strike FAQS for Podcastshttps://www.sagaftrastrike.org/podcaster-faqs (Accessed July 22, 2023)

Jared, Oriana and Ned discuss Jared's choice of topic: The Lost Road. In 1937, Tolkien agreed to C.S. Lewis's suggestion to try to write the kind of stories they enjoyed but didn't see good examples of to their liking. Lewis's efforts turned into what has been termed the Space Trilogy, starting with Out Of The Silent Planet. Tolkien's goal was a time travel story called The Lost Road, but outside of a few chapters and some potential outlines, it never got any further, with the success of The Hobbit and his resulting focus of attention being The Lord Of The Rings stopping any further development. It was eventually published in the Christopher Tolkien-edited series The History of Middle-earth, and was revealed to be a fascinating if very incomplete early conception of what Númenor was, including some of its key protagonists and antagonists at the time of its fall. How much does the story's self-evident autobiographical angle play into how we should regard the surviving chapters, and what do his choices about how to refocus or rewrite the story of his own life suggest in turn? What import do the specifically metaphysical elements of the story have for both Tolkien and his own conception of not only the legendarium but how he regarded language? Building off our previous discussion of the specifically Númenorean chapter in our episode on The Fall of Númenor, what is it about that sequence that is so unusual for Tolkien's general writing on Middle-earth, and how does it fit within the larger context of this story as it is told, or as much of it as we have? And finally, have you all pre-ordered Jared's book yet? Really, you should.Show Notes.Jared's doodle. I mean the whole skull thing is just plain rude.Jared's novel The West Passage is up for preorders! And you can see the cover art there as well, done by Kuri Huang – check out her work!Elliott Bay Book Company is indeed a great Seattle bookstore, check it out if you're ever there.Deadline's report about the rescheduled release of The War Of The Rohirrim, along with TheOneRing.net's further report also noting the potential production crunch that had been previously looming. (As a compare and contrast, here's Vulture's piece on the production nightmare of Spider-Man: Across The Spider-Verse and Screenrant's summary of a paywalled Insider article on the much more humane Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem production.)A summary of Embracer's money sillies. Well well well.The musical revival does seem to have landed rather well! Here's a fun little promo video, an engaging video review from an attendee, and TheOneRing.net's own report. (And of course, once more, here's our own episode on the original production.)The Lost Road! It's a curio, that's for sure, but an interesting one even in all its flaws and lacunae.C.S. Lewis's space trilogy. It's interesting…if a little uneven, let's say.As noted at various points, the Númenor chapter was already discussed on its own a bit in our episode on The Fall of Númenor. Want to know something about the Lombardic language? Well there's always Wikipedia…As for Middle-earth metaphysics, our episodes on The Nature of Middle-earth and the Valar are there for you!The Worm Ouroboros with the framing device with Lessingham. A common trope!Sycld Shefing! He got around.Corn? Maize? Here's a little more about it.So the actual Alboin was…not pleasant. And you better believe the skull thing was known by later artists.Kim Stanley Robinson's The Years of Rice and Salt, if you'd like to know more. (And then there's Harry Turtledove and then etc.)Our “A Secret Vice” episode, considering Tolkien's compulsion to create languages.Support By-The-Bywater and our network, Megaphonic. Thank you if you do.

Jared, Oriana and Ned discuss Oriana's choice of topic: land. By default the Middle-earth legendarium is about a place that never was, however rooted in the actual planet we live on, and the range of details from sweeping mountains and vast continents to small roads and fields evident throughout the cycle of stories is a key part of what has made Tolkien's work so vivid and loved. Both The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are specifically about journeys as the key plotline, where characters move into spaces that they'd only heard about dimly or not at all as they seek to fulfill their aims. That said, there's certainly more than this to how Tolkien considers and situates the geography of his creation, including the in-universe explanations of that creation to start with and Melkor's marring of it. How has Tolkien's grounding of Middle-earth in the feeling of Northern Europe in general shaped perceptions of fantasy worlds since, and what authors and traditions have worked against it? What are the senses of how layers of history have both informed and shaped the land and the peoples who were and are there in the legendarium, and how does that emerge along the way as the stories progress? Have the expectations and experiences of quick and easy travel shaped our reaction to understanding how slow journeys are, especially on foot, as was the case for most of human history? And did the stones of Eregion indeed actually speak?SHOW NOTES.Jared's doodle. And who wouldn't enjoy that view, we ask?The WGA strike is of course still happening. And you should still support it! And the actors too!And indeed, Andy Serkis's The Silmarillion reading is out!So yes, not only did a fan purchase the Magic: The Gathering The One Ring card by lucky chance, following the episode recording he sold it to hardcore MTG fan Post Malone. Truly this is a world we are in.The promo performance of “Now And For Always” from the revival of the LOTR musical is pretty nice! Performances did start soon after the episode recording and an initial Guardian review was quite complimentary. More promo photos are available, and again there's always our episode on the original production…The Rings of Power Emmy nominations. Of course, when the Emmys themselves will happen is another matter.The Society of American Archivists' announcement of William Fliss's award for his continuing work with the Marquette University Tolkien archive.We meant to mention that fellow Megaphonic podcast The Spouter-Inn discussed The Fellowship of the Ring as part of a cluster of books about land, and then had Oriana on as a guest.Much of the Christopher Tolkien-edited History of Middle-earth series is essentially about Tolkien's decades-long process of setting down what Middle-earth actually was. Among the key books in the series in this regard are The Shaping of Middle-earth and Morgoth's Ring.I suspect most of us had our own Oregon Trail experiences.No, we are not going to relitigate the Eagles. Just listen to our episode.The article on Tolkien and Aldo Leopold is Lucas Niiler's 1999 piece “Green Reading: Tolkien, Leopold and the Land Ethic.”Who wouldn't love the Glittering Caves? (And indeed, check out our dwarves episode as well as our Ghân-Buri-Ghân episode.)Colonialism/imperialism and environmental destruction? Who could guess there'd be a connection. (Enjoy this book for some other light reading.)Very light, but this piece on Roman ruins in the present day helps underscore this sense of persistence into the present Tolkien captures well. (In contrast, the Duwamish have had to fight erasure.)If you want to go to Three Rivers, learn a little more about it.A 2015 Vox piece on the invention and criminalization of jaywalking.Peter Jackson's vision of Isengard as industrial hellhole. (The tree being flung down is at 1:20.)Earthsea is always a vibe but as Jared notes, check out Annals of the Western Shore.A Thousand Thousand Islands is indeed no longer going, sadly, but you can get a taste of it here.Guy Gavriel Kay's had quite the career!And indeed some younger authors to check out who aren't doing Europe all over again include R. F. Kuang and Tasha Suri.Fonda Lee has the Green Bone Saga to check out, aka the ‘Jade' series.And indeed the fan film Born of Hope about Arathorn is on YouTube!Support us and our network on Patreon and you can join us to talk Tolkien (and more!) in our friendly Discord.

CitationsThe Tolkien Society- Oxonmoot 2023: https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/oxonmoot-2023/ (Accessed June 24, 2023)Tolkien Gateway entry for “Balrogs”https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Balrogs(Accessed July 7, 2023)Tolkien Gateway entry for “Gondolin”https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Gondolin(Accessed July 30, 2023)Tolkien Gateway entry for “Gothmog (balrog)”https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Gothmog_(balrog)(Accessed July 30, 2023)Tolkien Gateway entry for “Udûn (disambiguation)”https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Ud%C3%BBn_(disambiguation)(Accessed July 19, 2023)Allan, Jim. “A Flying Balrog”. Mallorn, issue 54, Spring 2013. pp. 43-44Harrison, Juliette “The 1950s Lord of the Rings Movie That J.R.R. Tolkien Absolutely Hated”Published June 5, 2023, Den of Geek websitehttps://www.denofgeek.com/movies/lord-of-the-rings-1950-movie-you-never-saw/ (Accessed July 23, 2023)Tierney, Alan. “Balrogs: Being and Becoming”. Mallorn, issue 49, Spring 2010. pp. 31-37Tolkien, J. R. R. The Book of Lost Tales, Part I. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 1. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1983. Apple Books edition. (Accessed June 24, 2023)Tolkien, J. R. R. The Book of Lost Tales, Part II. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 2. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1984. Apple Books edition. (Accessed June 24, 2023)Tolkien, J. R. R. The Fall of Gondolin. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. HarperCollins, London, 2018. Apple Books edition. (Accessed June 25, 2023)Tolkien, J. R. R. The Lays of Beleriand. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 3. HarperCollins, London, 1985. Tolkien, J. R. R. The Lord of the Rings. HarperCollins e-books. Apple Books edition. (Accessed June 24, 2023)Tolkien, J. R. R. The Silmarillion. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Apple Books edition. (Accessed June 24, 2023)Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien. Ed. Humphrey Carpenter with Christopher Tolkien. HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd, London. Apple Books Edition. Ebook Edition © 2012 ISBN: 9780007381234. Version 2019-03-07.  (Accessed June 24, 2023)SAG-AFTRA Strike FAQS for Podcastshttps://www.sagaftrastrike.org/podcaster-faqs (Accessed July 22, 2023)

Tonight, we see Christopher Tolkien working through the difficult tail end of the Elder Days.

Ted Nasmith has been creating visions of Middle-earth since the early 1970s when he decided to send JRR Tolkien one of his early pieces--and the professor responded with encouragement!  In addition to being the sole featured artist in 12 Tolkien calendars (2022 most recently), he worked closely with Christopher Tolkien to create the incredible illustrated Silmarillion in 1998. Michael and I had the privilege of discussing not just his inspiration and visions of Tolkien, but also: What kinds of paintings are the greatest challenge? Why he wasn't involved in Peter Jackson's films --and what he thinks of them! How will AI art impact artists like him? Then, join us in our extended episode (https://theonering.com/members) where we: Which place in Middle-earth inspires him most? What art styles inspire him? Who is HIS favorite Middle-earth artist? What's his take on upcoming War of the Rohirrim Film? And our infamous Confessions from the Comfy Chair, including: What level of Dante's Hell does The Rings of Power belong in? What's the nerdiest thing he's ever done? Who is his favorite Tolkien character? What cheesy movie or book does he like?

CitationsThe Tolkien Society- Summer Seminar, “Númenor, the Mighty and Frail”: https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/seminar-2023/ (Accessed June 24, 2023)The Tolkien Society- Oxonmoot 2023: https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/oxonmoot-2023/ (Accessed June 24, 2023)Tolkien, J. R. R. The Hobbit: or There and Back Again. HarperCollins E-Books. ISBN 978-0-00-732260. Apple Books edition. (Accessed June 20, 2023)Tolkien, J. R. R. The Lord of the Rings. HarperCollins e-books. Apple Books edition. (Accessed June 20, 2023)Tolkien, J. R. R. The Silmarillion. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Apple Books edition. (Accessed June 20, 2023)Tolkien, J. R. R. Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Apple Books edition. (Accessed June 20, 2023)Tolkien Gateway entry for Thranduilhttps://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Thranduil (Accessed June 20, 2023)Tolkien Gateway entry for Oropherhttps://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Oropher (Accessed June 20, 2023)Google Image Search for “Sexy Lee Pace Thranduil”https://images.google.com/ (Accessed June 20, 2023)

It turns out Aragorn has a LOT of names; it's good that none of them are Herbert or Alan and Sara would argue about the leading ‘h' for (h)ours. Join us as Gandalf threatens to show Ioreth the meaning of haste in the second of three episodes on The Houses of Healing. Imrahil wonders why Aragorn has such a vulgar name, but it's just one of a dozen; Ioreth's boss is just as verbose as she is, but with a sprinkle of mansplaining; and we get the first of three powerful healing scenes as Faramir wakes up to meet his new boss. Also: Gandalf runs out of spoons, Sara rolls her eyes, and Christopher Tolkien makes jokes about his father's handwriting.This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/4468251/advertisement

CitationsTolkien, J. R. R. The Book of Lost Tales, Part I. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 1. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1983. (Accessed May 20, 2023)Tolkien, J. R. R. The Book of Lost Tales, Part II. Ed. Christopher Tolkien. The History of Middle-earth: Vol. 2. George Allen and Unwin, London, 1984. (Accessed May 20, 2023)Tolkien, J. R. R. The Silmarillion. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Apple Books edition. (Accessed May 20, 2023)Tolkien, J. R. R. Unfinished Tales of Numenor and Middle-earth. Edited by Christopher Tolkien. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Apple Books edition. (Accessed May 20, 2023)Tolkien Gateway entry for Maiarhttps://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Maiar (Accessed May 20, 2023)Tolkien Gateway entry for Ossëhttps://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Oss%C3%AB (Accessed May 20, 2023)Tolkien Gateway entry for Uinenhttps://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Uinen (Accessed May 20, 2023)Tolkien Society Summer Seminar: Númenor, the Mighty and Frail- Sunday July 2, 2023https://www.tolkiensociety.org/events/seminar-2023/Clare Moore's Twitter name: @claremoore914

Jared, Oriana and Ned discuss Jared's choice of topic: Sir Orfeo. The Orpheus myth is one of the most mysterious ones in the open-ended collection of tales that make up what is termed ‘Greek mythology,' something that Tolkien would have learned about by default as part of his standard late Victorian/Edwardian education. But his particular exploration of that myth wasn't via one of those texts, but a translation of a Middle English poem by an anonymous author, itself based on a Breton source, that fused elements of the most famous Orpheus story – trying to win back the love of his life from the land of the dead – with elements of Celtic faery and myth as well as recent English history. Yet Tolkien's work is one of his most mysterious efforts in turn, first presented by Christopher Tolkien along with the translations of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight and Pearl, but, as the younger Tolkien explained, unaccompanied by any notes, introductory paragraphs or even an exact date of creation to determine what inspired him to make the translation or for what purpose it might have been intended. Can more be said about how old and familiar myths get reset and recontextualized across human history, reflecting the situations and biases of their times? Is there anything about the poem or the translation that stands out as uniquely or distinctly Tolkienian based on his other work? What about the land of the dead makes it such an unusual place all around, especially considering the fates of those who are there? And drawing on our separate news discussion about the continuing WGA strike and its impact on The Rings of Power season 2, how complicated is it to shoot a TV show anyway? (It's very complicated.)SHOW NOTES.Jared's doodle. Harps do have power in the right hands.Support the WGA strike! It'll help Oriana among many others. Lots of good pieces out there, including interviews with Michael Schur, David Simon and Hollywood Teamster leader Lindsay Dougherty, plus this barnburner of a piece from one of the striking writers, Ron Currie.The Rings of Power cast talk about things. Kinda vaguely, but anyway.So the WGA strike didn't deter Amazon from getting the second season of The Rings of Power done, apparently.Check out the Annecy International Animation Film Festival. Here's the page for The War of the Rohirrim.Sir Orfeo! Want to try and read along in the original? Here's one of the texts with some guidance as needed.The Orpheus myth is indeed pretty darned complex!David Graeber's Debt: The First 5000 Years? Well worth your time.The history of Winchester is a little involved…There's a fair amount out there about ‘the Greek tradition' and Victorians – have a read here for some more of that.As for the fairies/faery in Celtic tradition and the dead, there's a lot there too. Here's a starting point.Hadestown! It was and is a hit indeed. (And if you'd like to hear the original version.)Support By-The-Bywater and our network, Megaphonic. If you do, you can hang out with us in a members-only Discord and hear an exclusive interview with Jared.

This episode features highlight clips from episodes 50, 58, 60, and 66 of the Catholic Culture Podcast. 50: A Catholic Composer in Queen Elizabeth's Court, Pt. II – Kerry McCarthy https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-50a-catholic-composer-in-queen-elizabeths-court-pt-iikerry-mccarthy/ 58: A Hidden Life Film Review w/ James Majewski https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-58-hidden-life-film-review-w-james-majewski/ 60: Princeton Hosts Event Dedicated to St. Cecilia https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/episode-60-princeton-funds-catholic/ 66: Christopher Tolkien, 1924-2020 – John Garth https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/ep-66-christopher-tolkien-1924-2020-john-garth/ Donate to make this show possible! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio Go to Catholic Culture's website for tons of written content, including news, articles, liturgical year info, and a vast library of documents: https://www.catholicculture.org

David and John have finished their deep dive into the Second Age in preparation for Season 1 of the Rings of Power. Aron joins them to discuss recent news, answer listener feedback and to talk about what's next for the Lorehounds. BONUS Segment: David interviews Librarian Emeritus Marilyn R. Pukkila about Tolkien's fellowship with the TCBS. Questions? Comments? Wild speculation? Send us an email at secondage@baldmove.com and we'll get back to you in a future episode. Ad free versions of this and all other Bald Move podcasts can be yours by going to patreon.com/baldmove Find us on twitter @thelorehounds or join us for further discussion of all things Tolkien over on the Bald Move Discord server: https://discord.gg/baldmove Sources: Reddit Compilation of Complaints about LOTR Trilogy The Crist Poems: From wikipedia: Crist (Old English for Christ) is the title of any of three Old English religious poems in the Exeter Book. They were during the late 9th and early 10th centuries believed to be a three-part work by a single author, but more recent scholarship has determined that the works are of differing origins. Mythopoeia A poem by JRR Tolkien written in 1931. The word mythopoeia means myth-making, and the poem itself is largely seen as a sort of manifesto for Tolkien's literary efforts. Second Age Topics and Release Schedule Prologue: Tolkien the man and the lands and people of Middle Earth (Jul 11, 2022) Ch. 1: History of Tolkien's writings and the rise of Númenor (Jul 18, 2022) Ch. 2: History of film, tv, and radio adaptations and the fall of Númenor (Jul 25, 2022) Ch. 3: Tolkien's academic career and a breakdown of the Elves (Aug 1, 2022) Ch. 4: Tolkien's influence on modern fantasy and the creation of the Rings (Aug 8, 2022) Ch. 5: Tolkien's wartime experience and The Last Alliance of Men and Elves (Aug 15, 2022) Ch. 6: Christopher Tolkien and the Aftermath of the war with Sauron (Aug 22, 2022) Epilogue: Listener Q&A - email us and/or post in the discord (Aug 29, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David and John share their thoughts live on the Bald Move Discord server about the brand new Rings of Power Trailer! Watch the trailer on YouTube here. After the break, David walks John through a set of YouTube FanFic adaptations within Tolkien's universe. Don't forget to join The Lorehounds for an Instant Talk at 11:15 PM ET on September 1 on the Bald Move Discord server right after the premiere of The Rings of Power! Questions? Comments? Wild speculation? Send us an email at secondage@baldmove.com and we'll get back to you on our Epilogue podcast, which will air on August 29, 2022. Ad free versions of this and all other Bald Move podcasts can be yours by going to patreon.com/baldmove Find us on twitter @thelorehounds or join us for further discussion of all things Tolkien over on the Bald Move Discord server: https://discord.gg/baldmove Sources: Films inspired by JRR Tolkien by YouTube user @philmusicfiesta. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9B9B5160CCAA7D80 TL;DR for the 10 of the films listed on the playlist … Skip It Silmarillion concept film (2017) Troll Bridge (2019) Ainulindalë (2015) LARP in the Park Shadow of Mordor (2014) Rise of the Nazgul (2013) The Ranger (2019) Things you should watch … Hunt for Gollum (2019 Redux version) Born of Hope (2009) Horn of Gondor (2020) One Of The Seven (2021) Second Age Topics and Release Schedule Prologue: Tolkien the man and the lands and people of Middle Earth (Jul 11, 2022) Ch. 1: History of Tolkien's writings and the rise of Númenor (Jul 18, 2022) Ch. 2: History of film, tv, and radio adaptations and the fall of Númenor (Jul 25, 2022) Ch. 3: Tolkien's academic career and a breakdown of the Elves (Aug 1, 2022) Ch. 4: Tolkien's influence on modern fantasy and the creation of the Rings (Aug 8, 2022) Ch. 5: Tolkien's wartime experience and The Last Alliance of Men and Elves (Aug 15, 2022) Ch. 6: Christopher Tolkien and the Aftermath of the war with Sauron (Aug 22, 2022) Epilogue: Listener Q&A - email us and/or post in the discord (Aug 29, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David and John discuss Tolkien's son and literary executive, Christopher Tolkien, before wrapping up The Second Age and bringing us full circle to The Lord of the Rings. Join us to continue our deep dive into the lore behind Amazon's upcoming series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Questions? Comments? Wild speculation? Send us an email at secondage@baldmove.com and we'll get back to you on our Epilogue podcast, which will air on August 29, 2022. Ad free versions of this and all other Bald Move podcasts can be yours by going to patreon.com/baldmove Find us on twitter @thelorehounds or join us for further discussion of all things Tolkien over on the Bald Move Discord server: https://discord.gg/baldmove Sources: (1) J.R.R. Tolkien by Humphrey Carpenter; (2) The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien; (3) The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien; (4) Unfinished Tales of Númenor and Middle-earth by J.R.R. Tolkien. Second Age Upcoming Topics and Release Schedule Prologue: Tolkien the man and the lands and people of Middle Earth (Jul 11, 2022) Ch. 1: History of Tolkien's writings and the rise of Númenor (Jul 18, 2022) Ch. 2: History of film, tv, and radio adaptations and the fall of Númenor (Jul 25, 2022) Ch. 3: Tolkien's academic career and a breakdown of the Elves (Aug 1, 2022) Ch. 4: Tolkien's influence on modern fantasy and the creation of the Rings (Aug 8, 2022) Ch. 5: Tolkien's wartime experience and The Last Alliance of Men and Elves (Aug 15, 2022) Ch. 6: Christopher Tolkien and the Aftermath of the war with Sauron (Aug 22, 2022) Epilogue: Listener Q&A - email us and/or post in the discord (Aug 29, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David and John discuss Tolkien's experience in World War I before looking into the War of the Last Alliance of Men and Elves. Join us to continue our deep dive into the lore behind Amazon's upcoming series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Questions? Comments? Wild speculation? Send us an email at secondage@baldmove.com and we'll get back to you on our Epilogue podcast, which will air on August 29, 2022. Ad free versions of this and all other Bald Move podcasts can be yours by going to patreon.com/baldmove Find us on twitter @thelorehounds or join us for further discussion of all things Tolkien over on the Bald Move Discord server: https://discord.gg/baldmove Sources: (1) J.R.R. Tolkien by Humphrey Carpenter; (2) The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien; (3) The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Second Age Upcoming Topics and Release Schedule Prologue: Tolkien the man and the lands and people of Middle Earth (Jul 11, 2022) Ch. 1: History of Tolkien's writings and the rise of Númenor (Jul 18, 2022) Ch. 2: History of film, tv, and radio adaptations and the fall of Númenor (Jul 25, 2022) Ch. 3: Tolkien's academic career and a breakdown of the Elves (Aug 1, 2022) Ch. 4: Tolkien's influence on modern fantasy and the creation of the Rings (Aug 8, 2022) Ch. 5: Tolkien's wartime experience and The Last Alliance of Men and Elves (Aug 15, 2022) Ch. 6: Christopher Tolkien and the Aftermath of the war with Sauron (Aug 22, 2022) Epilogue: Listener Q&A - email us and/or post in the discord (Aug 29, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David and John discuss Tolkien's influence on modern fantasy before telling the story of the forging of the Rings of Power. Join us to continue our deep dive into the lore behind Amazon's upcoming series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Questions? Comments? Wild speculation? Send us an email at secondage@baldmove.com and we'll get back to you on our Epilogue podcast, which will air on August 29, 2022. Ad free versions of this and all other Bald Move podcasts can be yours by going to patreon.com/baldmove Find us on twitter @thelorehounds or join us for further discussion of all things Tolkien over on the Bald Move Discord server: https://discord.gg/baldmove Sources: (1) J.R.R. Tolkien by Humphrey Carpenter; (2) The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien; (3) The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. Second Age Upcoming Topics and Release Schedule Prologue: Tolkien the man and the lands and people of Middle Earth (Jul 11, 2022) Ch. 1: History of Tolkien's writings and the rise of Númenor (Jul 18, 2022) Ch. 2: History of film, tv, and radio adaptations and the fall of Númenor (Jul 25, 2022) Ch. 3: Tolkien's academic career and a breakdown of the Elves (Aug 1, 2022) Ch. 4: Tolkien's influence on modern fantasy and the creation of the Rings (Aug 8, 2022) Ch. 5: Tolkien's wartime experience and The Last Alliance of Men and Elves (Aug 15, 2022) Ch. 6: Christopher Tolkien and the Aftermath of the war with Sauron (Aug 22, 2022) Epilogue: Listener Q&A - email us and/or post in the discord (Aug 29, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David and John discuss Tolkien's academic career and obsession with language before breaking down the origin story and political factions of the Elves of Middle-earth. Join us to continue our deep dive into the lore behind Amazon's upcoming series, The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power. Questions? Comments? Wild speculation? Send us an email at secondage@baldmove.com and we'll get back to you on our Epilogue podcast, which will air on August 29, 2022. Ad free versions of this and all other Bald Move podcasts can be yours by going to patreon.com/baldmove Find us on twitter @thelorehounds or join us for further discussion of all things Tolkien over on the Bald Move Discord server: https://discord.gg/baldmove Sources: (1) J.R.R. Tolkien by Humphrey Carpenter; (2) The Silmarillion by J.R.R. Tolkien; (3) The Nature of Middle-earth by J.R.R. Tolkien Download John's custom flowchart showing the different groups of Elves during the Second Age: Elves_Chart.png Second Age Upcoming Topics and Release Schedule Prologue: Tolkien the man and the lands and people of Middle Earth (Jul 11, 2022) Ch. 1: History of Tolkien's writings and the rise of Númenor (Jul 18, 2022) Ch. 2: History of film, tv, and radio adaptations and the fall of Númenor (Jul 25, 2022) Ch. 3: Tolkien's academic career and a breakdown of the Elves (Aug 1, 2022) Ch. 4: Tolkien's influence on modern fantasy and the creation of the Rings (Aug 8, 2022) Ch. 5: Tolkien's wartime experience and The Last Alliance of Men and Elves (Aug 15, 2022) Ch. 6: Christopher Tolkien and the Aftermath of the war with Sauron (Aug 22, 2022) Epilogue: Listener Q&A - email us and/or post in the discord (Aug 29, 2022) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices