I have returned
Yes, I have returned from my two weeks of family visitations. And what a greeting dear Frodo gave me! *smooch* Now I am ready for a holiday! I ate a great deal, drank mass quantities, shepherded our daughter through various family melt-downs and saw a few films, per my daughter’s choice. (Cinderella Man - excellent performances, very good film; Batman Begins -- many excellent performances in supporting roles in what I would say is the best of the “comic books” films; War of the Worlds very good performances in an uneven film -- some of it brilliant -- some not, but well-worth seeing.)
On hobbits portrayed as satyrs.
Again, I failed to write anything on vacation about this but did spend time imagining how fetching film Frodo would look shirtless, furry-legged and playing pan pipes. I also found some truly lurid drawings depicting satyrs with satyrs (and satyrs with centaurs) on Google Images, while looking for the cartoon satyrs from Fantasia (pictured second below).
Inspired, I decided to make a new "Frodo Art Travesty"manip staring Frodo as a satyr (see below).
Frodo as Pan comforting Psyche, courtesy of Edward Burne-Jones, c. 1874:
Two satyrs from Walt Disney's Fantasia:
On Frodo’s 'Elvishness'.
I am ashamed to report that I have not got far writing anything scintillating about
However, while in Washington, I did a bit of research downtown at the Archives and found this amazing image of what may be the ancestor who might have contributed to that elusive “Elvish something” about Frodo Baggins.
Below is a copy of a wall painting newly discovered in the recently unearthed rooms of Michel Delving's Mathom-house, dating from the Fourth Age. Shire historians involved in this dig believe this to be a portrait of none other than the half-Hobbit, half-Elf son that resulted from the union of the mysterious Baggins progenitor who purportedly took a “Fairy wife.” Was it just a colourful tale of family origins? Sweat and simple tools have produced an answer.
The name of the subject of this painting tells as much as the obvious family resemblance. Apparently named in honour or the Noldorian king of First Age Nargothrond, Finrod Felagund (he was also the first great Elven friend of Men), this painting has convinced experts at the dig that the hobbit portrayed is meant to be the Baggins forefather.
The alteration to the original name tends to confirm researcher's opinions that the hobbits were far more lively than the Elves. “Funrod Feelagood, Half-halfling” is the name inscribed in the plaster directly below the image in this wall painting.
Funrod Feelagood -- possible progenitor of Frodo Baggins of the Shire:
Now, on another note ...
I wanted to say that the tone of our family vacation altered dramatically when my mother, daughter and I returned from shopping to hear of the London bombings. I was glad the incidents weren’t worse, but they were bad enough! For those who died, they were as bad as bad can get. And, although they lived, I am sure there are many who have sustained horrific injuries.
My immediate worry was for the UK fans I have got to know in the Tolkien threads. I knew only some of them lived or worked in London, but England is a small place (compared to the U.S.). Everyone seems to go in and out of London at some point and most people have friends or relations there. With no internet, I had to wait till I got back here to check the threads and LJ’s to hear, happily, that no one I knew was harmed.
I wrote in K-D’s The Harem how impressed I was by the fortitude, pluck and humour displayed by the British people and its leadership. I was struck by the contrast with what probably would have been the response here, had these bombings happened to us.
If it had happened to the U.S. I would expect to see acts of bravery and generosity, yes, but these would immediately be made into media events. (Seriously -- how many months would it be before someone’s story became a TV miniseries?) I would expect massively hyped public angsting and hand-wringing, with armies of “grief counsellors” dispatched to the communities of the bomb sites followed by gaggles of TV interviewers pushing microphones into the faces of whomever was most willing to sob and shake for the “folks at home”.
Worse, I would expect an even greater shoring up of the U.S. mind against “the other” - that is, anyone not known personally. There would be even more promulgating of public fear and paranoia. More cancelled trips abroad, more installations of home alarm systems. More purchases of home weaponry, more stockpiling of non-perishables. And even more support for hawkish-yet-isolationist politicians. *big sigh*
So, I suppose I am saying I am very glad it didn’t happen here because we seem less able to take disasters and crises in a constructive way.
~ Mechtild
On hobbits portrayed as satyrs.
Again, I failed to write anything on vacation about this but did spend time imagining how fetching film Frodo would look shirtless, furry-legged and playing pan pipes. I also found some truly lurid drawings depicting satyrs with satyrs (and satyrs with centaurs) on Google Images, while looking for the cartoon satyrs from Fantasia (pictured second below).
Inspired, I decided to make a new "Frodo Art Travesty"manip staring Frodo as a satyr (see below).
Frodo as Pan comforting Psyche, courtesy of Edward Burne-Jones, c. 1874:
Two satyrs from Walt Disney's Fantasia:
On Frodo’s 'Elvishness'.
I am ashamed to report that I have not got far writing anything scintillating about
However, while in Washington, I did a bit of research downtown at the Archives and found this amazing image of what may be the ancestor who might have contributed to that elusive “Elvish something” about Frodo Baggins.
Below is a copy of a wall painting newly discovered in the recently unearthed rooms of Michel Delving's Mathom-house, dating from the Fourth Age. Shire historians involved in this dig believe this to be a portrait of none other than the half-Hobbit, half-Elf son that resulted from the union of the mysterious Baggins progenitor who purportedly took a “Fairy wife.” Was it just a colourful tale of family origins? Sweat and simple tools have produced an answer.
The name of the subject of this painting tells as much as the obvious family resemblance. Apparently named in honour or the Noldorian king of First Age Nargothrond, Finrod Felagund (he was also the first great Elven friend of Men), this painting has convinced experts at the dig that the hobbit portrayed is meant to be the Baggins forefather.
The alteration to the original name tends to confirm researcher's opinions that the hobbits were far more lively than the Elves. “Funrod Feelagood, Half-halfling” is the name inscribed in the plaster directly below the image in this wall painting.
Funrod Feelagood -- possible progenitor of Frodo Baggins of the Shire:
Now, on another note ...
I wanted to say that the tone of our family vacation altered dramatically when my mother, daughter and I returned from shopping to hear of the London bombings. I was glad the incidents weren’t worse, but they were bad enough! For those who died, they were as bad as bad can get. And, although they lived, I am sure there are many who have sustained horrific injuries.
My immediate worry was for the UK fans I have got to know in the Tolkien threads. I knew only some of them lived or worked in London, but England is a small place (compared to the U.S.). Everyone seems to go in and out of London at some point and most people have friends or relations there. With no internet, I had to wait till I got back here to check the threads and LJ’s to hear, happily, that no one I knew was harmed.
I wrote in K-D’s The Harem how impressed I was by the fortitude, pluck and humour displayed by the British people and its leadership. I was struck by the contrast with what probably would have been the response here, had these bombings happened to us.
If it had happened to the U.S. I would expect to see acts of bravery and generosity, yes, but these would immediately be made into media events. (Seriously -- how many months would it be before someone’s story became a TV miniseries?) I would expect massively hyped public angsting and hand-wringing, with armies of “grief counsellors” dispatched to the communities of the bomb sites followed by gaggles of TV interviewers pushing microphones into the faces of whomever was most willing to sob and shake for the “folks at home”.
Worse, I would expect an even greater shoring up of the U.S. mind against “the other” - that is, anyone not known personally. There would be even more promulgating of public fear and paranoia. More cancelled trips abroad, more installations of home alarm systems. More purchases of home weaponry, more stockpiling of non-perishables. And even more support for hawkish-yet-isolationist politicians. *big sigh*
So, I suppose I am saying I am very glad it didn’t happen here because we seem less able to take disasters and crises in a constructive way.
~ Mechtild