The Hall of Fire

Modern stuff—I actually learned to appreciate it through playing it. The professor who conducted our college orchestra was a composer, and we premiered a couple of his pieces, which sounded like noise the first time through but were music by the middle of the second week. My high school band had a ...

I've listened to and performed classical music for most of my life. I played the flute from age 9 through my early 20s. I eventually became a vocalist, and earned a Bachelor of Music Degree in Vocal Performance. My dad has quite eclectic musical tastes. A large part of his record collection, however...

I first read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings in 1973, I believe, probably after Tolkien passed. Each year at Christmas during the mid-70s I received the calendars by the Brothers Hildebrandt. I liked them and still do...very much. I guess I'm a product of the '70s. ;) Now I won't say I like all...

Voronwë_the_Faithful wrote:Hopefully you can find a place on your display cabinet, Al.

What would be great is to have a large Gollum figure to place the birthday hats on.

Me? Listen to you! I now know why stats like WHIP is probably better than ERA for pitchers ( though a low ERA, more for starters than relievers who more often inherit or leave runners, possibly does show a guy that can sometimes work out of a jam, even if his WHIP shows he creates a lot of them. And...

Baseball is run by a bunch of idiots. I think most baseball fans have known that for a very long time, at least since the mid-1970s when free agency first came about. I've been pretty quiet about the exploits of the Oakland A's thus far this season. There's are two pretty good reasons for that. Reas...

...one of the more unusual pieces I have is a large coffee table edition of The Hobbit with illustrations from the Rankin-Bass made-for-TV movie. Here's the front cover of the aforementioned edition of The Hobbit : http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v702/OldTomBombadil/Rankin-Bass/TheHobbit.jpg It's...

Oh, dear Eru. Elrond with stars whirling round his head... ...and don't forget the stylish beard. :D http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v702/OldTomBombadil/Rankin-Bass/Elrond_RB.jpg I think all the folks attending the SF Moot in September should learn "Where there's a whip there's a way" s...

I quite like the Rankin Bass Hobbit, and my kids love it. Rankin Bass Return of the King, however, is like watching a car wreck. Its painful, but you just can't look away. I just received that Master Replicas Sting Tom! Looks very nice, but the display stand is a bit disappointing... Addiction is a...

If I could have anything film-related, I'd want Sting, I think. I'm not sure why. It's just pleasing and hobbity and relates to Frodo and Sam's quest, which is the heart of LotR to me. Edit: There was one other thing—the same little company that made the fabric for the film's Elven-cloaks used to s...

Prim's namesake was, of course, also only a Baggins by marriage, being by birth a Brandybuck (a daughter of old Master Gorbadoc) and a Took on her mother's side (her mother Mirabella being the youngest daughter of the Old Took). True, true. So what's with the Baggins boys marrying all these cleptos...

If I were ever to visit your house, I advise you to make me turn out my pockets and purse before I leave. :P And her umbrella. =:) Curses! Foiled by Voronwë's profound knowledge of Tolkien! :x I see that Bilbo isn't the only burglar in the Baggins family. ;) (Lobelia, who seems to have a fancy for ...

I wonder, wonder who, who-oo-ooh, who
Who wrote the Silmarillion?

Tell me, tell me, tell me
Oh, who wrote the Silmarillion?
I've got to know the answer
Was it someone from a cotillion?

Ainulindalë is a Quenya word, right? And Quenya is phonetically based on Finnish? How would the Finnish pronounce Ainulindalë ? :scratch: I think the "German 'e'" that Hobby is referring to is called a schwa . It's an unaccented vowel sound, and is usually shown in dictionaries as an upsi...

Eruname wrote:Especially the one about gay hobbits.

I haven't seen that one. I agree, that wouldn't be too funny.

Eruname wrote:TTT was on TBS tonight and as there wasn't anything better on TV after Desperate Housewives , I left it on...

I didn't watch the TBS broadcast, but I have seen some of their commercials. This one was hiliarious!

It sucks to be Frodo

Alatar wrote:Hey Tom, how much you wanna bet you got cut again?

No thanks, Al. Old Tom will hold onto his silver pennies.

Like I said, I'm going to write and perform a one-man Tom Bombadil show to make up for all these omissions.

Ack!

I think I'll stick to recordings by The Tolkien Ensemble.

Wasn't it Treebeard who said that Saruman had a mind of metal and wheels? This Treebeard sculpture's entire body is made of metal!

I think a natural-looking material would be more appropriate.

The A's put up a 5-spot in the 8th inning to defeat the Yankees 9-4. It's good to see they're not letting that opening night blowout get them down. :D Milton Bradley and Big Frank Thomas look like they'll be fine additions to this year's club, giving them more sock in the lineup and some added depth...