True story: I have listened to the Misty Mountains song at least three dozen times in the past day.

(Yes. I'm talking about The Hobbit again.)

Considering that this rendition is a mere two verses of Tolkien's original text, this may be a little pathetic. But they're Tolkien's words, sung in thirteen-part harmony, and I think I've been waiting ( Read more... )

We all went to see THE HOBBIT tonight, which was certainly fun, although I remain dubious about Peter Jackson's directorial and screen writing decisions. (Orc side story? Not impressive ( Read more... )

I came across this photoessay on Salon.com, and its heading, "Wonders of the medieval world", naturally caught my eye.

Medieval Europe is often portrayed as a dark time of pestilence, filth, violence, intolerance and ignorance -- a disconnect between the splendor of the Roman empire and the cultural explosion of humanism during the Renaissance. ( Read more... )