an empty ship

I finished the final chapter of my shortish story, 'The Maia and Aulendili.' I'm rather pleased with the story overall.

Summary of last chapter: Saruman sees Celebrimbor, and possibly wishes he hadn't.

Curumo: Can you not.
Huin: Sry.
Curumo: I doubt it.
Huin: I drew you?
Curumo: That does not begin to make up for any of this.

Soon I shall hopefully be remembering to make the 9pm toast to the Professor, on his birthday. This being so close to the new year, it seems a good occasion for reflection upon some fannish stuff.

- I have not been very good about supporting my fellow tertiary-world writers this past year. Some people probably know I had a sort of fannish meltdown closer to the start of 2014, right around the time I was also a B2MeM mod, didn't fulfill my B2MeM writing prompt and pulled only minimal moderatorly duties, etc. This general trend largely persisted throughout the year, due to a comination of RL and discovering what my limits are as far as attempting to participate in fandom outside of LJ and the SWG. It's too late to go back and amend that, but I hope to do a bit better in 2015.

- For almost as long as I can remember, I've had characters living in my head. Sometimes they have almost literally been all I had. They used to be my own characters invented from scratch. Since 2007, they've been my versions of Tolkien's (usually minor) characters. Though in a way these are still my own, my precious, and I'm sure I have used them in ways he would not always have condoned, I owe their existence to this now-deceased pipe-smoking philologist. Even though I haven't written much this year, they are always there, having adventures and mishaps I've yet to put down in words, grudingly channeling my interests and emotions in appropriate symbolic ways that help me to maintain my outward sanity, and sometimes offering instructive thoughts on how to better myself (or serving as unhappy exemplars of what not to do).

- I'm not precisely the hugest Jackson!film fan these days, but I have Peter Jackson's particular brand of fannishness and its results to even thank for the fact that I'm thanking the Professor now. I saw all three of the first trilogy in the theatres with an esrtwhile boyfriend. Thankfully, that philanderer is long gone from my life, but technically, the films are not, since they first prompted me to read the books (which I admittedly found to be very slow going the first time around). Due to Sir Lee's portrayal, the subtleties of which did not escape me, I was a Saruman sympathizer before I even read the books; to be perfectly frank, I'd found out about the character's pre-wizard history via the interwebs well before I even read up to the point where he actually appears in The Two Towers (I think I read TTT in 2005 or so). This probably explains, well, a lot, come to think of it.

If I understand correctly (based upon the really inadequate in-browser translations and my limited grasp of the orthography), a Russian entity at some point in the recent past--or possibly present--made a musical of the Russian fanfic The Black Book of Arda?
Just linking to my tumblr thing for simplicity's sake.

I have been cursing loudly in my intrigued befuddlement for the past hour or so.

bunn kindly apprised me of the existence of this Bombadil speculation.

Thoughts:

- Many of the respondents have taken this way too seriously (particularly Mr. Osborne on pg. 6).   I don't see any assertion on the author's part that this interpretation is the best one or even a tenable one; I just see a wonderfully creative and unique (albeit dark--but obviously that's why I like it) approach to Old Tom here.

- This seriously would make for an excellent "AU" story.  I'd read the h*ll out of it.

- An anon on pg 5 says: ( Doctor Who related commentary, cut for space )

- This caused me to (I think re-) read this one: "Who Is Tom Bombadil?"  So now I'm just going to say that "Tom and Goldberry are actually Aulë and Yavanna" makes least sense to me out of all the speculations.  Aulë?  I'll accept the "Tom is Eru" line before I accept a conflation of Aulë with Tom Bombadil.

- I just wrote a crack!thing.  It's not fancy, but it's the first thing I've written in weeks and it addresses my thoughts on the Aulë-as-Bombadil speculation more amusingly than a nonfiction rant would.
( Sauron and Saruman weigh in on Bombadil )

So this tower called "Perrott's Folly" is allegedly Tolkien's inspiration for Orthanc.  I'm...not sure I see it, other than that it's a tall, isolated tower, but okay. 

Then there's this article of questionable coherence, which claims the above, and also has a picture that proves the Mail must not have even the mildest Tolkien geek on staff.  How embarrassing for them.
( Curumo rants. )

I'm stupidly enthused about all the cute little fanart of the Dwarves from The Hobbit.  I'm going to give the film a couple more weeks to stew in my head before seeing it again, but I'm already looking forward to it.  Since I wasn't a Tolkien fan when the LotR films came out, whereas now I'm possibly a bit too immersed for my own good, this trying to reconcile my annoyance with my glee is new.  I think I'd do well to consider it as a big fancy AU, as I've noted some of you doing, although it's easier to accept AU in fanfic than in a blockbuster film already seen by millions of people and generating a new fanbase.

On a vaguely related note, have a picture of Richard Armitage as Angus in the Royal Shakespeare Company's 1999 production of Macbeth.
( ......... )

Also, I saw someone speculating on tumblr that Saruman
( minor spoiler for the current film )

Fandom-related:
- Did research for my LotR G-fic Yule exchange story.
- Read LotR appendices I had somehow managed to have never read before.
- Improved upon my heinous theory about the origins of hobbits.
- Inaugurated my AO3 account with the first of my Gríma drabble series.
- Wrote first drabble for second Gríma drabble series (yep, I've found someone new to pick on),
- Figured out what my take is on Saruman's Orc-breeding program, Uruk-hai, "goblin men," etc.

Other:
- Reloaded the laundry card.
- Read three pages of textbook.

... I don't know whether I feel accomplished or completely the opposite.

I've just finished going through my old youtube account to see what I should transfer to my better-organized new youtube account, and I ran into this clip.
1. I think Mr. Lee's short-term memory is a bit on the out?  Not that I'm judging, I'm like 1/3 his age and I left my keys in the front door the other day and a passing neighbor luckily alerted me instead of stealing them...
2. He mentions all five wizards BY NAME, you guys, even the Ithryn Luin.  Christopher Lee is the coolest Tolkien geek ever.
3. 1:25, when he says "Gandalf!" his expression is quite comical.
4. I love both Mr. Lee and the character he portrays, but I'm going to have to disagree with him about some points concerning Saruman:
  - Saruman was not "a good man" during the time of The Hobbit.  Not that he was necessarily "a bad man" either, but both statements would be oversimplifying things.
  - "Tolkien never explained, to the best of my knowledge, in any of the books, how it was that Saruman went [...] from good to evil."  Really?  Jealousy, power hunger, impatience, urge to prove himself, those all seem evident enough just from the trilogy, never mind the broader canon (not that I've given this more thought than a sane person would).

| I remarked in the last Tolkien_Weekly challenge about insufficient space to elaborate on an aspect of a drabble series I’d just wrapped. Dwimordene happened to set this bait: “False dawn light.” Thank you indeed for the prompt, Dwim; I found it a bit too ideal and ran down the street dragging it like a manic pit-bull until 1500 words of something quite distinct from the drabble series twitched in my wake. In token of appreciation, and because I’d have wanted to anyway, I’ve incorporated an element in which we seem to have a mutual interest. |

Wherein Sauron’s vexation is made manifest after Gandalf’s escape from Saruman’s roof. Alludes to Unfinished Tales, “The Hunt for the Ring” narrative C. Alludes also to Huinárian fanon, which includes spherical!Arda and imaginative (yet I’d like to think, not untenable) extrapolation of Saruman’s history. Since my predilections are untrammeled by word limits, one can expect general morbidness and philosophical brooding, vague descriptions of torment, a depressing happening, and a random shift in narrative perspective.

( Standard disclaimer and other notes. )

_____________________________________________________________

( Story. )

So aside from being a very good-looking, intelligent fellow and an awesome actor, Zachary Quinto stands up for good causes.

I've had a crush on this guy forever, and, incidentally, I cast him as Curumo in the casting-call-in-my-head almost as long ago. He's got pretty much the right look as I picture it, if one put really long, straight hair on him. I think he's got the right voice, too. I don't picture Saruman in his Valinorean days as having quite so deep as voice as in his Istar incarnation. And we know he could play the role, he did the whole character who's usually enigmatic and collected but sometimes can't control himself bit with young Spock. ^_^