Happy geek land
jaseroque, the odds are I’ll see you in person before you see this post, but being as you were the one who went to considerable length to convince me to buy the *Original Tolkien Art* Lord of the Rings Calendar that is currently hanging on my wall, I owe you thanks. Lots of thanks. Possibly chocolate even.
*grin*
One of the things that’s always really made LotR is the *fantastic* level of attention to detail that went into it (or, for that matter, practically everything Tolkien’s ever done). The art’s not the most polished or gorgeous stuff I’ve seen - jaseroque was right when she pointed out that he does his best stuff when he sticks to landscapes and doesn’t try to include people - but there’s something about the style that fits the whole ancient myth feel of the story so much better than a lot of the fancy stuff you see from professional artists. Not to mention this is the *actual writer* drawing this stuff - this is as close to the creator’s vision of his own work as we’re ever going to get - plus: writer, linguist, attention to detail bordering on some sort of obsessive disorder *and* he can draw? Wow. Extra wow.
Anyway.
Those of you who haven’t got the trilogy practically memorised (read: hopefully most of you) may not remember, but there’s a scene in Moria in the first book where the fellowship find the burnt remains of a sort of diary left behind by the dwarves. Gandalf spends a while going through it and we get a thorough description of the parts he can find that are still legible - a lot of the words are missing; different hand writing where different people have written in it; bits in Elvish script and bits in Dwarvish script, etc etc.
The centre page of the calendar pictures three torn and burnt pages covered in script in Tolkien’s languages. Two are in Dwarvish runes, one in Elvish script, you can see where the handwriting changes, and according to the translations underneath, the words that are and aren’t legible fit into all the right places. Apparently Tolkien had hoped they could be included at the start of book two, but there was too much colour required for survive the transition to black and white. The guy made, wrote out then half-destroyed those pages himself.
Did I mention wow?
Final fact: Did you know the first editions of LotR were published with his artwork on the covers? What are the odds they’d let a writer do that these days?
It’s definitely been too long since I reread the trilogy. I shall have to remedy this.
While I’m here, did any of the rest of you watch Carnivale? If so, can I interest any of you in storming the ABC headquarters for misleading us into thinking that a) It was only a six episode series, and we’d have a conclusion by the end of January, and b) That we weren’t probably going to have to wait at least a *year* before we’d get to see season two.
I know I’ve said wow a lot under that cut already, but Carnivale? Is in a whole wow category of its own. One of the ones best described using a lot of swear words and looks of abject shock. I am seriously considering buying this series when it comes out on DVD, though largely just so that way I’ve got it where I can see it.
*grin*
One of the things that’s always really made LotR is the *fantastic* level of attention to detail that went into it (or, for that matter, practically everything Tolkien’s ever done). The art’s not the most polished or gorgeous stuff I’ve seen - jaseroque was right when she pointed out that he does his best stuff when he sticks to landscapes and doesn’t try to include people - but there’s something about the style that fits the whole ancient myth feel of the story so much better than a lot of the fancy stuff you see from professional artists. Not to mention this is the *actual writer* drawing this stuff - this is as close to the creator’s vision of his own work as we’re ever going to get - plus: writer, linguist, attention to detail bordering on some sort of obsessive disorder *and* he can draw? Wow. Extra wow.
Anyway.
Those of you who haven’t got the trilogy practically memorised (read: hopefully most of you) may not remember, but there’s a scene in Moria in the first book where the fellowship find the burnt remains of a sort of diary left behind by the dwarves. Gandalf spends a while going through it and we get a thorough description of the parts he can find that are still legible - a lot of the words are missing; different hand writing where different people have written in it; bits in Elvish script and bits in Dwarvish script, etc etc.
The centre page of the calendar pictures three torn and burnt pages covered in script in Tolkien’s languages. Two are in Dwarvish runes, one in Elvish script, you can see where the handwriting changes, and according to the translations underneath, the words that are and aren’t legible fit into all the right places. Apparently Tolkien had hoped they could be included at the start of book two, but there was too much colour required for survive the transition to black and white. The guy made, wrote out then half-destroyed those pages himself.
Did I mention wow?
Final fact: Did you know the first editions of LotR were published with his artwork on the covers? What are the odds they’d let a writer do that these days?
It’s definitely been too long since I reread the trilogy. I shall have to remedy this.
While I’m here, did any of the rest of you watch Carnivale? If so, can I interest any of you in storming the ABC headquarters for misleading us into thinking that a) It was only a six episode series, and we’d have a conclusion by the end of January, and b) That we weren’t probably going to have to wait at least a *year* before we’d get to see season two.
I know I’ve said wow a lot under that cut already, but Carnivale? Is in a whole wow category of its own. One of the ones best described using a lot of swear words and looks of abject shock. I am seriously considering buying this series when it comes out on DVD, though largely just so that way I’ve got it where I can see it.