35 Burst results for "Tolkien"
Awards Chatter
A highlight from 15 Authors of Titles on THR's List of the 100 Greatest Film Books of All Time
"Please welcome to the stage President and CEO of the American Film Institute, Bob Guzzale. Phone rings. It's Scott Feinberg from The Hollywood Reporter. He has an idea. And he's thinking about celebrating the 100 greatest film books of all time. I am immediately offended because top 100 movie lists are the AFI's real estate. But I did not say that to him. And the truth is I was just jealous because it was such and is such a good idea. And I thought anything AFI can do to help shine a proper light on this imperative work, well, we're in. But I did say to Scott, it's got to be A plus. It's no fake in this one. You have to have the most informed, the smartest jury. And he said, I got this. And he did. And today is a moment to celebrate that effort and the inspired writers who have brought history to life. Here to take his bow and to moderate the discussion, the executive editor of The Hollywood Reporter, Scott Feinberg. Now Scott is going to bring out the honorees today, but he has given me the gift of introducing you to the first. For he is the founder of the American Film Institute. He was there in the White House Rose Garden when President Lyndon Johnson first announced the creation of AFI. He was there to write the very words that define the Institute's national mandate. And he was there to lead the organization through its early years. And it was then that he planted the seeds for the AFI Center for Film Studies, now the AFI Conservatory. And it was then that he instituted the Harold Lloyd Master Seminar Series at AFI, so named because the seminar's first guest was Harold Lloyd. Across 50 years, these seminars have proved a rich historical record of the art form and have inspired several books on THR's 100 greatest list, including two of his. Conversations with the great movie makers of Hollywood's golden age and conversations at the American Film Institute with the great movie makers the next generation. Please welcome George Stevens Jr. Welcome George Stevens Jr. and we are excited to hear from you in just a second. Now joining you up here, please welcome the author of 2020's The Big Goodbye Chinatown and the Last Years of Hollywood and with Janine Basinger, 2022's Hollywood The Oral History, Sam Wasson. Next up is the author of 2016's Powerhouse, The Untold Story of Hollywood's Creative Artists Agency, James Andrew Miller. Next up, we are going to have two authors coming to the stage because they are the co -authors of 1996's Hit and Run, How John Peters and Peter Goober Took Sony for a Ride in Hollywood. Please welcome Nancy Griffin and Kim Masters. Next up, he is, as you will guess from the title, his name. He is from 1969 and for many years thereafter the author of Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide. Please welcome Leonard Maltin. Here we are. Welcome. Next, we have the author of 1998's The Last Mogul, Lou Osterman, MCA and the Hidden History of Hollywood, Dennis McDougall. Next, we have the author of 1977's The Making of the Wizard of Oz, Movie Magic and Studio Power in the Prime of MGM and the Miracle of Production number 1060. Please welcome Algene Harmetz. Next, he is the Czar of Noire, the author of Dark City, The Lost World of Film Noire from 1998. Please welcome Eddie Muller. He is the author of the 1996 book Spike, Mike, Slackers and Dykes, a guided tour across a decade of independent American cinema, John Pearson. From 1988, the book The Player. Please welcome Michael Tolkien. From 1989, the author of Goldwyn, a Biography, A. Scott Berg. She is the author of the 2006 book A Killer Life, How an Independent Film Producer Survives Deals and Disasters in Hollywood and Beyond, Christine Vachon. We're going to give an extra warm welcome to this gentleman because it is his birthday. Please join us in welcoming George Harrell's Hollywood Glamour Portraits 1925 to 1992 author from 2013, Mark A. Vieira. From 1999, the book Conversations with Wilder, the author Cameron Crowe. Ladies and gentlemen, take it in because this has never been seen before and I don't know if anyone will be lucky enough to gather this amazing group again in one place. I'm so grateful to all of you for making the time to be here. Many of you came from great distances and congratulations on your work being on this list chosen by 322 people from the industry. We're talking about filmmakers like Steven Spielberg, executives, David Zaslav and many others, authors including just about everybody up here plus many others, academics. You can see the whole list online but the point is it is a cross -section of the business. There have been versions of this list that were chosen by film critics. There have been versions by other constituencies but this reflects the taste of our global film community. So thank you again for being here and I want to also just quickly thank Bob Guzzale, Julie Goodwin and everyone at AFI not only for going through all the efforts to make today possible but also for their other lists that Bob referenced because were it not for the original AFI Top 100 list. I don't think I would be here in a career as a film journalist because that really made me fall in love with the movies in the way that I hope this list inspires many other people to check out these books and the others on the list. So thank you to them and to the folks at The Hollywood Reporter for supporting the list and Terry Press for helping us put everything together and all of you for being here. So the way this is going to work is we are going to go down this line a few minutes with each author about the origin and impact and revelations of their book and then we are going to have a looser group conversation afterwards but we're going to begin with Mr. Stevens Jr. These two books that you wrote drawing from the seminars that Bob referenced are you know just fascinating looks at generations of filmmakers who have spoken to students at the AFI, what you know they've shared about their lives, their careers, tips for filmmaking. I wonder if you can just talk about how early on, well again just a little bit more actually about how those seminars started because you were there at the beginning and when it occurred to you that they might make good books.
Discerning Hearts - Catholic Podcasts
A highlight from Episode 14 The Drama of Atheist Humanism Fr. Joseph Fessio S.J., Vivian Dudro, and Joseph Pearce FBC Podcast
"Welcome to the Foreman's Book Club. We continue to discuss the drama of atheism by Fr. Andrew Brubach. We are on chapter one of the part on Dostoevsky, and this is called comparison with Nietzsche. And we are on the second section, the torment of God. Of course, is that a subjective or an objective judgment? That is to say, is God being tormented or is someone being tormented by God? We'll find out. Joseph, you're our leader. Well, yes, I have nothing highlighted actually until 291, so I'm guessing that one of you is going to jump ahead of me. Oh, I definitely saw you right away, because Dostoevsky is going to write a book, The Life of a Great Sinner in Five Parts, on page 286. At the bottom of that quote in the text, he says, in the course of his life, that is, a sinner's life, the hero will be now an atheist, now a believer, now a fanatic, now a heresiarch, and then an atheist once more. But he's sort of talking about his own autobiographical experiences, he's had all these experiences, he wants to write about them. Well, the very first line of this section, God has tormented me all my life, so says Kirilov in The Possessed, but Dlubak is arguing that it's Dostoevsky's own cry, right? So he is the guy struggling with God, and then showing, being able to show in these characters, he creates all of the ways this struggle is manifest in a man's life. It's interesting, because maybe I didn't understand you, Father, what you said before, when you read from that quote in 286, because if this is autobiographical, Dostoevsky doesn't end as an atheist, he ends as an autobiographical believer. So, you know, I think it's a small fiction, novelists inject autobiographical elements into their stories, I mean, of course, because they've got to draw from experience, but I think we have to be a little bit careful sort of making a direct mirror, this is Dostoevsky, this is Dostoevsky, when it's one of his characters. I'm only quoting Dlubak. Right, and Dlubak makes the point later on, anticipating your comment, Joseph, that yes, we do have to be careful when we're reading fiction to not read into every character, that this is how the author thinks or feels or believes, but Dlubak makes the point somewhere that Dostoevsky, I wish I could find a quote now, is actually quite deliberate in making these mouthpieces characters of much of his own experience, and you're right, he doesn't end as an atheist, I mean, not that we know of, we don't know how he actually ended, but we can have hope that he didn't end that way, given that he became a profound believer, but there is a point where Dlubak says, in his case, we are in fact seeing Dostoevsky speaking of his own experience in a sequential, because what he says in 286 is, if he dreamed of writing a comprehensive work split up into five novels, which would recount the life of a great sinner and contain everything for which he himself will contain it, doesn't mean it follows the sequence of his life. Right, yes, yes, good point. And, you know, I remember early on, when we first read Dostoevsky, really enjoying the novels and being a little puzzled a bit and being confused because all the Russian names and the same person has six different names, whatever, but I can see now, especially with Dlubak as a guide, that the reason his novels are so powerful is that he did think about these things, he did live through them, he was sympathetic with others, he did anguish through the doubts of the sinner and so on. Well, he did go to prison an atheist and came out a believer, which is exactly what Raskolnikov does, and he even had some woman handed him a gospel on his way to prison, which he did read, just like Raskolnikov does. So, there are some uncanny resemblances here that, and he did live a tormented life in so many ways, not only being epileptic, which one biographer says that epilepsy began after he was put before a firing squad for being part of an anti -zar demonstration and he was arrested and they were going to, they put him before a firing squad, but when they fired the guns, they were empty. So, he lived, but he lived, but a broken man and then was sent to prison and then, you know, I mean, this man's experiences were intense. Yeah, and it's, but I agree with Joseph also. In fact, I think it might be somewhat analogous to the distinction you make with Tolkien between allegory and what is it, attribution or allegory and applicability. So, you know, these stories are an allegory of the life of Dostoevsky, but there's an applicability there going both ways, you know. Oh, here's the quote I was thinking of on 295 from de Lubac now. This is obviously his theory and we can try to argue with him. He knows more about it than I do though, but he says, through the characters of his novels, this is the bottom of 295, who all have something of himself in them. He delivers himself from his temptations and by this we know that though he has not been insensible to the power of denial, that power has not conquered him. Yeah, but then at the top of the page there, you know, he's quoting from the Brothers Karamazov and then he says that again is Dostoevsky! at the top of the next page. Again, you know, it's a little bit stark and blunt to say that is the author when you're actually quoting from the novel because it's not quite, as Father said, it's not formally allegorical, even if it is obviously applicable. And it's another image I have from Lord of the Rings because, you know, when I first read that just, you know, without stopping almost as I was in Germany and trying to work on my doctorate and it was very boring work, but I would read Lord of the Rings on the way to and the way back from the library and I thought to myself, this, he's got to be a character. I knew nothing about him. This is 1970. He's got to be a Catholic, you know, and of course he says in his letter to Father Robert Murray yesterday that he's Catholic entirely, but I liken it to a kaleidoscope. You take a kaleidoscope, it's like taking the sacraments and the Trinity incarnation and breaking them up in little fragments and you put the kaleidoscope, it makes a pattern, but you don't see the Trinity there or the incarnation or the sacraments whole, but you see all these fragments and reorganize in a way that nourishes the story. In fact, I proposed this conversation, what you just said about that quote from Tolkien to Father Robert Murray, the Jesuit, when he says the Lord of the Rings is of course a fundamentally religious and Catholic work, but he then says, unconsciously at first, consciously in the revision. So that's exactly the process, right? Just because he is a Catholic, this sort of morality, this Catholic worldview is going to be subsumed within the story unconsciously, subconsciously, irrespective, but then he went back and if you like, crossed the T's and dotted the I's with specific Catholic allegorical connections. Well, I think Dostoevsky's work is a little bit different from that and look at the quote from himself about his own novel, Brothers Karamazov on the bottom of 296. So this is Dostoevsky talking, Thus it is not like a child that I believe in Christ and confess him. My Hosanna has come forth from the crucible of doubt. Beautiful isn't it? Yep, that's actually also, it's beautiful, beautiful, it's beautiful phraseology there. Can we go back because we've seen that, we've seen that I've leapfrogged over my first reference. Oh yes, of course. 291. We went to fast forward. So I just wanted to, on page 291, there's this sentence by the Lubach, Christ did not come to explain suffering or solve the problem of evil. He took evil upon his own shoulders to deliver us from it. And I think that this is another aspect of Dostoevsky's novels. He's allowing for mystery. He's allowing for doubt. It's not a work of apologetics or an explication moral of philosophy. He's not trying to get to grips with the mystery of suffering and trying to understand it as a consequence of love or all of those things which he could do because he's a novelist, right? So basically he's leaving room for mystery. He's leaving room for doubt. The point is that Christ took evil upon himself for our sake. That's the fact that animates it. He's not trying to solve why suffering. That's a different question, right? Which is not something he's dealing with. He's leaving room for the mystery. But it's an apologetic and I think a deeper sense in that through his characters he is showing what happens when you think this way about yourself or about God or about the world. You know, we'll see more of that later but his characters are credible. Why are they credible? Because he's showing dramatically in a narrative the logical consequences of certain trains of thought.
Cinemavino
A highlight from Trollhunter
"And welcome back to cinema vino, but it's good to have you guys here with us. That's good to be here. We got Sean Jordan, but it's your boy. And my name is Todd Wofford. And it's good to be here. Summer chaos continues. We're down on our home stretch wrapping it up. We just got a couple more movies to go. Yeah, we don't have long to go. We're almost at the Labor Day weekend. It's almost through September. It's time. Put away all my white outfits and just move on with life. So yeah. Do you put away the white album too? Do you stop listening to it? I do. I go for the gray album after Labor Day. So I go with Jay -Z. DJ Danger Mouse. I go Black Album. DJ Danger Mouse. DJ Danger Mouse. DJ Danger Mouse. Jame Judy Dench. Jame Judy Dench. If I hear Yamo be there one more time. So beautiful Michael McDonald. That's a great baritone by the way. Grace Baritone and all the rock. You know all the words. I hate Michael McDonald. Yeah. What about the Doobie Brothers? I like the Doobie Brothers pre Michael McDonald. Okay. I had like the best of Doobie Brothers CD and like disc one. Awesome. Disc two. Awful. Yeah. Okay. So anyway, so we are drinking Riesling and we're talking about Troll Hunter. Oh, this is lovely Riesling. Yeah. German Riesling. Yeah. It's just German. Couldn't find a Swedish Riesling? They're out there somewhere, I'm sure. Norwegian. So obviously Summer Chaos to bring guys up to speed. We spin a random wheel or we picked random movies and then we spin a random wheel and pick a random wine to go with them. So this is all just. Or spirit. Or spirit or beer. It's willy nilly. Anything goes. Or Todd gets bored and just makes it some seven sevens that are like oddly strong. We don't actually see the process of Todd picking booze. So sometimes it's just like you guys are drinking rum. Sometimes you're not meant to see how the sausage gets made. I think he definitely has put like a finger in every single drink that he's given to me. A hundred percent. More than one. Smells like a sweaty hot dog. Yeah. Sometimes I go full bowling ball in there. So it adds to the three fingers. Three finger profile. That's a bad name. Tastes like Todd's fingers. We all three finger profile. Tastes like what Todd's fingers have been in. That's going to be the first line of my autobiography. It's the terroir. It is the terroir. So we're going to talk about the wine a little bit from the start. I got my notes right here all ready for you. Riesling is known primarily as a German rattle but you'll see it grown in a lot of other places such as Australia, France, the US and Canada. Australia is actually your second biggest rower of Riesling. Rieslings have a reputation as a sweet white wine but you actually got a pretty good wide variety of between dry and off dry. Pretty much any kind of flavor profile of white wine there's a Riesling in that range somewhere. Alsatian wines tend to be on very dry side from France. And then... This one's a little off dry, right? Yeah. This one definitely falls kind of in the between area. And then you go all the way up to Trokenberne Auslese which is going to be just sticky sweet. I mean just like... Hot sticky sweet. Yeah. I'm hot. Sticky sweet. From my hand to my feet. Yeah. Like Todd's fingers. So for food pairings you're going to put this with Asian foods, Indian foods, any kind of spicy dish. With the sugary sweetness of the wine will definitely kind of balance things out for you. Rieslings are coming usually at a good price point. They can be anywhere from $10 to $25. They don't tend to be crazy expensive. You drink them obviously very chilled but any kind of a bold spicy dish you can do a Riesling with. But you can also do them with holiday meals, kind of lighter cuisine. So like... You're actually going to get to do a Riesling tasting in Germany in November. Ooh. That's right. You're going across the pond. That's right. Pinkies up. Pinkies up. That's going to be fun. Yeah. I'll be able to taste it straight off the vine. You have to take lots of pictures. Yeah. Lots of pictures of Zavino. If I come back with Wiederhosen I'm going to be so happy. I would be disappointed if you don't. Yeah. In a big old box of shrooms. So this is going to be... Let me see if I can pronounce this correctly. Correctly. This is A .C. Chrisman, Faltz Riesling. Yes. I'm working on my like great escape like Nazi Gestapo for... accent Sandre. It's really about Bono. Weingutzeit. Yeah. Weingutzeit. That's like the quality. This is like a high quality Riesling. I think in German that literally translates to wine good. Yeah. Good wine. Yeah. It's like this is one of the top quality Rieslings that you can get. So about 25 bucks. And yeah. This one's going to be definitely kind of in between off dries where I put this one. It's definitely not sticky sweet. It's definitely not bone dry. But yeah. A little scale for you. If you're shopping for Rieslings from dry to sweet, you've got cabinet, which is K -A -B -I -N -E -T -T, spätlese, auslese, berna auslese, trocken berna auslese, and eiswein. So that's what you're looking at on the shelf. That's from dry to sweet. And this one's trocken, right? Yeah. Well, yeah. This is going to be... Well, that's a trocken berna auslese. So this is going to be kind of in between. So this is not quite the berna auslese. So this is going to be more towards the cabinet spätlese side of sweetness. This will be... So go for cabinet if you're looking for dry. Go for auslese if you're looking for pretty sweet. And then once you get up to berna auslese, it's going to be just hummingbird feed sweet. So this one definitely has some good solid like sugar to it. But I do give Riesling to my hummingbirds. They fly sideways. And then they have a great afternoon. Those wings slow wading. When they get drunk really fast and then they also sober up equally as fast. It's that heartbeat that just goes 100 miles a minute. But they can't hit that feeder once they get drunk. They can't get that beak in there. They self -regulate, you know? Yeah. Well, nature does that for them. They flap one wing at a time. They just got to... They're going to leave edibles out for the squirrels. Oh, that's great. Don't give me ideas. So Trollhunter, a little background on this one. This is your pick, Drat, right? Yeah. Sadly, I didn't know I was coming tonight. So I never got... Long story short, I'm watching my niece this week. She's two and a half. And I woke up at 5 .15 today. So that's, you know... Where am I? Yeah. So sadly, I didn't get to watch this again before this, but I've seen it twice. Lovely young lady. Yeah. I can't remember what happens at the end. I was going to say, when was the last time you watched it? Not too terribly long ago. So this may be... It's educational for you. In the last two years, I want to say. Okay. So a little bit about Trollhunter. This was released October 29th, 2010. So long ago. That was almost 13 years ago. Gross. Yeah. Actually, I got to say, I think I watched this probably in 2011, 2012. So it had to have been pretty recently after it came out. Because this was a magnet release, which they did a lot of straight to DVD stuff, picked up stuff that was on the film festival rotation. I don't think this ever had a theatrical release. I mean, I'd heard about it. Well, stateside maybe, right? Yeah, probably. But I mean, if it's small enough, it probably had film festival releases with no actual theatrical. I'd say that's probably why the worldwide box office gross. I couldn't find it. It probably wasn't there. That's why. There you go. Budget of 3 .5 million. I don't know if that's in Norwegian money, and I don't know what Norwegian money even looks like. So it's called a skribu. Two very different answers. Did you make that up? No. Run that about me one more time. What was that? Skribu. That's very Swedish chef -esque. So on IMDb, it has opening weekend of $5 ,585 in the US. That's US dollar. Okay. That's probably like 40 or 50 million in Norwegian. And the budget was 19 .9 million nock, which I think is Norwegian kroner. That's beads. That's the larger denomination, but the lower denomination is skribu. Skribu. So it's like cents. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. This grossed over 2 ,000 matroska dolls or whatever. Well, it's like two cents. Yeah. They did a good box office in those little dolls that you get another doll inside and another doll inside. It brought in a lot of those. You got dinks, then you got skribus, and then you got sickles, and then you got nuts, and then you got galleons. That might be Harry Potter. So 515 is doing you real good, isn't it? We just lost our Norwegian listener base. Now, I like that guy. He's got good comments. I can never read them, but they're great. Yeah. They're all related to skribu. Well, I Google translate all of them, so I get the gist. So this had a budget of 3 .5 million skribu. This a is found footage fantasy horror film. Vaguely in the similar vein as Blair Witch Project. That's the vibe I got a lot of, a little bit of Cloverfield, that kind of vibe too. Found footage. Yeah. It has some elements of Jaws. It also has some dark humor, moments of dark humor. I mean, very dry humor. This has become a cult hit over time. So very simple plot, has two film students and their camera person trailing a man they believe to be responsible for bear poaching in the mountainous Norwegian countryside. He is Hans, played by Norwegian comedian Otto Jespersen. Otto Jespersen. He is part Quint from Jaws, part Ahab, part Unabomber. Yes person? Maybe. Yes person. It's like having a yes man. You got a yes person. Now I'm going to have to work on my Norwegian. I don't know. I don't know nothing about that. In their attempt at fledgling expose journalism, the students stumble onto a wild story that Hans is actually a troll hunter who attempts to manage and contain the troll population all while also participating in a government project to keep the story buried from the general public. He's more like a troll ranger, really. He's like a park ranger for trolls. Yeah, because he obviously has, and I have like a kind of a weird shambling respect for the trolls, like he has a weird, you know, healthy fear of them. Respect your enemy. Yeah. Well, it's more like a, you know, a naturalist who, yeah, you don't want to contend with bears, but you respect that bears are a living thing that deserve to coexist. But you don't want them to get in your Mazda 6. No. No. Is that a car? That's a Mazda. Yeah. That's a smaller, it's a sporty, very small, I don't think a bear could fit in there. I don't think I could fit in there. Good mileage, though. The Mazda 6? Yeah. I think you're going to get high 20s, and that's not bad for a... The red ones are faster. Yeah, for a sportier sedan, especially because they have that rotary engine that gives you good speed. So... Yeah, that's right. You have a Mazda now. That's right. You're a Mazda. We're part of the Mazda. You know all the specs. Positive traction. Exactly. You've got quadraphonic. Hans hunts the trolls with a massive UV apparatus, which exposes them to their greatest weakness, which is sunlight, either real or artificial sunlight. This either turns them to stone, or it detonates them into a big, hairy pond of goo. The two students attempt to document Hans' story before they either get eaten alive, or the government confiscates their footage or silences them altogether. So that's what I've got for description. So, Trav, this was your pick. Yeah, I'm going to let Sean go first. It's been a while since I've seen this. It's been a while. I love this movie because it is so off the wall. It starts off kind of slow, and it's sort of a slow burn early on, but then it ramps up pretty fast, and you just get into it. For the budget that it was, it's a very good movie. Good -looking movie. Good -looking movie? I mean, with a budget of $19 .9 million, you know, you've got to have some assets being put into it. But the nice thing about doing the found footage is you don't have to dedicate resources to good writing and editing. You can just sort of have these real shoddy jump cuts and things just kind of go all over the place. You don't have to actually end it that well. Spoilers, because you wanted to remember how it ends. Basically, the main reporter guy ends up getting rabies, finds out he got rabies from the trolls, and then ends up running away with the footage. Takes the cameras because the government folks are coming to take the footage. Which the government folks are not like dudes in suits with sunglasses. It's just like a guy in a parka. Oh yeah, we're going to take your footage, okay? Hey, you can't have footage? I'm going to take that from you? We'll give you 4 ,000 scuba for your footage. We've got to put that joke to bed, guys. I'm sorry. You opened that can of worms. You created a monster. I apologize to all Norwegians. But, I mean, it just sort of ends. It just sort of like he runs away with the camera and then there's, you know, some text on a black screen of exposition of this is what we think happened. This is unsubstantiated. Faux exposition. Yeah, faux exposition. Multiple experts have analyzed this footage and determined it's authentic. It's like, okay. But it's fun. It's a fun movie. It's goofy. It's a little, I wouldn't even say like sci -fi or horror. Dark comedy? Yeah, I get a lot of comments about that. I guess. Yeah, because there are really comedic moments, right? Like they hired the Muslim camerawoman and they're talking about whether or not her fact that she's a Muslim will attract - Does she believe in God? Is she? It's Christians? I don't know. We'll find out. Whatever. Yeah. It's a little bit like Gremlins 2. Like, wait a minute. They can't eat after midnight. I mean, it's always midnight somewhere and it pops out. It reminds me of the scene in Clue where they find the dead body again after finding so many dead bodies and they're just like, go to the other room, see the dead body. It's like, she's Muslim. Does that count? We'll find out. We'll see. We'll see how hungry they are. We'll do it for science. But yeah, I just love, I love the lore building of like the trolls are, they follow all these old rules. Like he's putting tires under bridges because trolls live under bridges, obviously. Yeah. Yeah. You know, and it's like, oh, they eat the bones of, or they smell the blood of a Christian man. It's like that's what sets them off. And then he comes walking into the big, like the, the bear suit that's like a suit of armor. I think, yeah, when he's under the, yes, because he has to take the blood from the troll. And so to do that, he has this giant, ridiculous syringe. Yeah. Just goofy. Yeah. Just goofy. I can tell they had a lot of fun making the movie, but it's, it's good. It's a romp. Yeah, it is. And yeah, it hits on all those, to me, I mean, I put the word Tolkien -esque in my notes of like, it hits the Tolkien -esque tropes. I mean, obviously it goes further than that, further back from that, like folk tales of trolls, but you also, I got to put like the Hobbit vibe, you know, the trolls turning into stone. Turning into stone. Yeah. But with like a tinge of bureaucracy. Yeah. There's a little bit of like that sort of, I don't know, pseudo X -Files thing of like, we've got to cover this up, you know, the government's got to step in and never happened. But, you know, of course that's exactly what it would look like if the government did have a troll hunting agency is he would have to fill out this form of like troll extermination. Yeah. But yeah, it's not some guys in some bad -ass car in black suits, it's like some guy in a Saab with a vest on like, oh yeah, let me see your footage over there. I'm going to have to delete your camera. It also reminded me somewhat of Blade where they're like fighting some old, you know, folkloric beast with like all the tech of today. It was just like, but on a shoestring budget, like Blade and Whistler where they're like, we're not exactly the March of Dimes or Hellboy. Yeah. We're just grabbing stuff. Well, no, Hellboy had a whole, you know, like a group behind him. I don't know, Blade had some cool tech though. Blade did. And a bad -ass car. But they were, you know, just a shoestring budget trying to, they're upset that their department doesn't get more funding. Right. They're like, this is what we got. He's just, he's like, I'm tired. I don't get vacation. Like, I just, I don't care. Yeah, you can film me. I don't care. I go where I'm needed. Great weather. I have that in my notes. I was like, I feel like Travis. I'm watching Sun and like in for my like rating, it's like, this is good weather. This is like good, foggy, rainy weather. I love it. And you know, they cut to like the mountains and the kind of cool, misty, you know, again, like Lord of the Rings vibe, the cool, misty mountains. And it's like good weather, you know? Yeah. I felt right at home in this flick. And I love, like you said that. Yeah, I've been saying that for years. You said like Quint from Jaws. That's exactly what I was thinking, too, is that when they have to, when they were filming him from afar, you know, found footage films are kind of difficult to do ever since what Blair Witch Project, obviously quintessential. Cloverfield also did it well. I love a giant kaiju monster. Paranormal activity? I have never seen any of the paranormals. Well, maybe I'm kind of a giant pussy. Come on. OK, well, hey, we got October coming up. That's true. But I think there's oh, I might have seen the end of quarantine, the one where there's like zombies. There's like a fire or something and news crew goes in there and they have to close. They have to quarantine the building or something. They're like, shit, there's something in here with us. I think I've seen that. Maybe. So I've heard good things about that. And it was a remake of a foreign film, I think. But those Quarantinos. Yes. But I hadn't seen a found footage from Robert Rodriguez's band. Yeah, I hadn't seen a found footage film in a while. And this one was actually the reason I got Netflix, because I was stealing my brother's Netflix. He was trying to watch something at the same time. And I was like, ah, fuck it. Fine, I'm going to buy it. So I watched this whenever it was on Netflix and I had heard good things about it. Which it's not anymore. Yeah, it's not. Couldn't find that anywhere. Bastards. Yeah, but I love the the fact that, you know, with not a huge budget, they're able to do more with less. I mean, all their money obviously went into the special effects and the trolls, which looked damn good. They looked really good. Yeah. You would think with this on paper, you're like, this is not going to be great. But it. Yeah, it looked lovely. It's a huge, giant fucking Godzilla troll at the end. First of all, where the fuck is he sleeping? Like how is he in the mountains? He's in the mountains. Yeah. But God, that thing's dick as big as a 40 foot long school bus. I don't know. I'm at school. I just said bus. I don't know why I said school bus. But yeah, I loved Hans in it. He was just fed up and was like, fuck this. But I was very pleasantly surprised when I saw it. And then there's a pseudo, not a sequel exactly, but kind of along the same vein, a movie named Just Troll came out in 2022.
Woz Happening!!!!
A highlight from The Lord Of The Rings Verus The Rings Of Power
"What's happening world? I'm your host The Wizard of Woz, Benji Wozniak, and this week me and Kara are going to switch up and I'm going to be lead mic and we have special guest Dorvins who was on before. He's the movie producer. So what we're going to talk about this week is everything Lord of the Rings. Dorvins has a certain thing he wants to start out with so Dorvins take it away. Okay, so I think that the Rings of Power is utter and total garbage. It's the most generic thing on the face of the planet. It doesn't do anything in terms of inspiring you or providing anything of interest when it comes to the genre of fantasy. Which again, we all understand that Tolkien has had a very large mark on the fantasy genre. So the fact that this show based off of his material is so generic and so bland and so devoid of life is actually an achievement for Amazon Studios to achieve. Because they've sucked any kind of individuality out of this show. That's sort of what I think about the Rings of Power to start off with. Ben? Okay, so I actually thought the season one was just, it was okay. It was good. I mean, you needed to have this descriptive situation of the different races and how the Rings came about and the building of Sauron. And you needed this to continue like the first six movies. So you go back in time to figure out how this all came about, how he tricked humans, dwarves and elves to wear the rings and basically come under his manipulation. So I thought it was okay. I just think that it was a decent beginning. It was a season one. So basically you're looking at the introductions, the tellings of the tales. So yeah, it wasn't jumping off the screen like, Oh my God, this is amazing. But it was good enough to get to season two. Okay, look, Ben, this is not really the best kind of selling point you're trying to do here. You're saying that we would have to watch, what is it, eight hours of this show to get to the good stuff in season two? I mean, that's just not, I mean, most people are not going to commit that much time just for the hope or the possibility that the later seasons are going to be better. Like, no one's going to be doing that. And I mean, again, another show that released during the same period is set in a fantasy world with medieval culture and society as its backdrop, right? House of the Dragon had the same kind of issues. And you could probably say more issues leading into its release than the Rings of Power did because House of the Dragon was coming off of the heels of horrible finales for that entire series because season seven and season eight were not the best seasons of that entire show. And there is a large portion of the fan base was not happy how the show ended. House of the Dragon had an uphill battle. But I would say that House of the Dragon did a better job of introducing characters, giving you compelling drama, giving you incredible backdrops to layer on the scenes and just everything you would want in terms of good storytelling, visual storytelling, right? Because in the Rings of Power, besides all the other crap that they were doing, they were doing a lot of telling you rather than showing you what this show was supposed to be about. Because aesthetically, the show looked like a bunch of video game cut scenes and not that great cut scenes either. It just looked like it was just a hoshposh of a bunch of different elements and things put into one show to make it seem epic or to make it seem like it's that it has more gravitas than it does. Now, for me personally, I'm more of a Middle Earth fan than I am a Westeros fan personally. But when you compare House of the Dragon and the Rings of Power, honestly, there's just no comparing the two because House of the Dragon beats it wholeheartedly. Now, on another hand, what Rings of Power tried to do in order to hold on to the meagre viewers that it had towards the end of it is that the show constantly tried to mirror certain scenes and certain moments in the original trilogy and did it poorly. Now, there is a number of scenes that I can list here, right? But the things that are coming to mind initially is the things like with Isildur essentially having a voice in his head when we first meet him, sort of alluding to how, you know, the ring is whispering to him and trying to get him to do things that he doesn't want to do. And there's just a whole bunch of other things littered throughout the series that do that constantly where it's like, ooh, let me dangle this Easter egg or this moment that you're familiar with from the original trilogy without giving you anything of actual substance. It's like junk food, and it's not even that great junk food. It's bad junk food. That's essentially what the show is. No, it did. I think a lot of it was them thinking, all right, you should know who these people are already. Like by watching the other trilogies, you should know who Gladriel is. You should know who Sauron is. You should know who Gandalf. You should know these characters. I mean, Gandalf, of course, they haven't actually said it's Gandalf, but it's Gandalf. Right. But this is the thing. Even though this is a popular IP, a lot of the point of the show is to introduce this to either a newer generation of viewers to this particular show or this particular world, and also to appeal to anyone else who isn't familiar with the story itself. You're trying to get newer viewers because you know, I mean, they spent all this money to acquire the rights to this popular IP. So they know that those particular people are going to be almost guaranteed viewers to this, at least the first episode. Right. So the whole appeal is to attract new viewers because that's the same thing that Game of Thrones did when it came out. It didn't just rely on the core fan base of the books. It also had to attract outside viewers and spectators to the show. That's what made it a very popular show at the time. So the same principle applies to the Rings of Power. They can't sit there and assume that everyone knows what this particular show and what this particular series is about. There isn't a single IP out there that has that kind of totality appeal to everyone. You can say that there's probably a number of them, and I would say the Lord of the Rings is probably one of them, where it's like there's a mass appeal, as in there's a lot of people who know sort of what the story is about -ish. But going into the show, assuming that your viewers know what you're talking about, especially if you're trying to get newer viewers and newer subscribers to your subscription service, then you have to do the work of making sure that you cover those bases. Because I know it's shocking, but there are people out there who have no idea what the story of the Lord of the Rings is. And again, the show made it so obvious it hurts when it comes to the things like with the wizard that fell from the sky. Because again, we all know he's a wizard, okay? Whether he's Gandalf or not, or if he's some blue wizard, we all understand that he is most likely a wizard because he's coming off like a wizard. He has a beard, he has a like, I'm the old wise person, right? Even though he has amnesia or whatever. That stuff is totally obvious. And the other thing that's also obvious is how much we all knew that Howard Brand was Sauron. They made that so abundantly clear from the get -go, it hurt. It was like, you don't need to slap us that hard with that piece of information. At least make us work for it. Because everything with him coincidentally meeting Galadriel in the middle of the ocean, when they arrived in Numenor, him walking by a blacksmith area and you see the suspicious music playing in the background as he passes that. Because we all know that Sauron is very skilled in the art of crafts and craft making, obviously, because he did the ring. So when we see him pass by there, we're like, okay, now I can put two and two together. What you're trying to do with this guy? Either he is Sauron or he is a very close associate of Sauron. Someone we're very familiar with, right? So those kind of things were very, very obvious. Even if you don't know anything about the story of the Lord of the Rings in general, you know that this guy is most likely either not who he claims to be and is either going to be evil or is going to be turned into evil. But we know that he's going to go down a dark path. Like that was clear and obvious as anything could ever be. So that wasn't an issue. And oh man, and I blame you for this, Ben, because I had to watch the show again and I watched it on double speed and it did not help. But oh my God, the show felt like it went on forever. Everything just felt a sludgy mess that I had to crawl my way out of just to get out and away from a scene. It just took forever for anything to happen. And as an audience member, you should not be feeling that, especially with a story this familiar. You shouldn't have to feel like you're wasting your time in your life watching the show because things just did not happen. And I watched it again at double speed and it did not help. Well, I mean, of course it helped because I got through the episodes quicker, but it still felt longer than it should be. And that's just May I ask, it sounds like this series is chalked up to a lot of like poor writing and adapting from the original source material. Do you find if there was a different team behind it, it would have been better? Or do you think that these this story this prequel story that they're trying to tell is so lackluster that it doesn't matter? Honestly, it's going to sound like a bit of a cop out, but I think it's a little bit of both because the production itself had a lot of issues behind the scenes with a bunch of different creatives going in and out of the project. And usually when things like that happen, especially in big budget productions, it's generally going to harm the continuity of the story being told. There were so many people who either were let go or decided to move on because they can kind of sense and feel that the show that they're trying to tell isn't going to be faithful to the source material. And again, for me, I'm not like super hardcore about being super faithful to the source material. I'd like it to be as close as possible because generally you would tell a better story because we can see this mirrored again. I'm going to keep bringing up Game of Thrones as an example of this. Right. People notice that the better seasons of the show was when George RR Martin was involved in the show. Right. Because, again, he is also involved in the first season of House of the Dragon. Right. And it made a difference because you're sticking closer to the story of the creator of this world. Now, are we all realistically expecting them to do everything verbatim? The original trilogy didn't do that. It didn't do everything verbatim. But you get the initial story and the themes, the plot, the characters, all of those key things were intact for the most part. That's what's going to keep the attention of those who are fans of the books and will keep the attention of those who know nothing about this world that they're trying to create. With their production of this popular IP, they're going to put their own spin on it. Right. Now, people are going to be more open to the spin if it stays faithful to the core idea and principles of the story being told. Because if they don't, then why even buy the property and try and make a show out of it? If you're just going to change it into something else, it kind of defeats the purpose of what's happening here. In short, yes. I think it's both. Do you have any thoughts about that then? So I see what you're saying. I really do. I've heard numerous things about the production of this movie, this show. I heard that it was thrown together because a lot of people were saying that the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit series was basically predominantly a white, non -female lead. They were like, oh, everybody in there is white. Everybody in there, the leads are women. So we're going to do this thing where it's going to hit that demographic of viewers. And I see what you're saying. It was thrown around and then other people jumped in and out. And I think they might have had a vision at first of how they wanted to do it. And then they felt pressured with all these things thrown at them. Like, well, wait a minute. We have to hit this demographic of people, this demographic of people. And it kind of got away from the original story, whereas they're more focused on like, let's have, you know, Gladriel is the star and then let's have this elf as the star. And you don't really know who's the star because it just bounces back and forth about who's the lead in this series. Of course it's Gladriel, but it didn't seem like it because I was more interested in the elf story than I was in hers, if that makes any sense. You know, like him being a ranger and being stuck on the plane, having to watch over Mordor and wait for the coming of the evil and, you know, watching the people that were Sauron's minions. Basically, they were people that fought with Sauron. So he had to watch them, but he ended up falling in love with the girl and the people. And then the people end up basically doing exactly what they thought they were going to do and go to Sauron's side. So I just thought that that was more of a story I was more interested in than Gladriel's brother dying and her wanting vengeance. And they kind of made her out to be like this not nice person I couldn't get behind. I was like, oh, you know, she's kind of like whiny, complaining. And she was supposed to be like this general of like the elves and like this really great leader. And then all of a sudden they get her like by herself and she's just like kind of wishy washy. OK. OK. Finally, there's something we can agree on, because I think that the portrayal of Gladriel was just it felt nothing like the original character. She wasn't ethereal. She didn't command the room when she walked into it. She was very bland and boring and very whiny, very entitled to think. The thing that I keep going back to and keep thinking about is how in the very same time period, House of the Dragon came out. They had similar issues where they were, you know, changing the ethnicities or the backgrounds of certain characters, right? Generally, people stopped caring about any of that kind of stuff, because, again, when you make drastic changes like that, they have to be justified. You can't just do it because you want to please a certain section of the audience. So House of the Dragon faced the same issues as the Rings of Power in a lot of ways. They managed to deal with those issues in a captivating and interesting way for the viewer, because who was it? The Valyrian? I forget his name, but his character was changed, right? It only added to the story because it made it very clear that Rhaenys, Rhaenys, Rhaena, Rhaenys, whichever one of the Rs, the daughter of the king, it made it even more clear to the people of Westeros that she had been unfaithful to her husband, right? Because she's about to be the queen of the Seven Kingdoms when her father dies, right? So it was an interesting addition. It made the plot and the themes that they were going for in the series a little bit more compelling and a little bit more clear for the characters within the show and for, of course, us watching the show. So it added to the story is what I'm trying to get, is the point I'm trying to get at here, right? Those changes to the story add something to the story. They don't just exist for existency. When you make certain changes like that in a story that are superficial changes, people are going to notice and people are going to be reacting to that because you're changing the story, A, and the changes that you're making to the story aren't really enhancing the story you're trying to tell. So naturally, people are going to be angry about that, because if you're not going to tell the story that you purchased all this money to tell, then when you make changes that do not work, just be ready for criticism. So, yeah, I mean, that's essentially what I have to say about that. And the thing is, is that all of these points that we're talking about, we only start seeing these things and start noticing these things and start nitpicking at these things when the story that is being told is not engaging. If your story isn't engaging, then you're doing something fundamentally wrong, especially if you have this ginormous budget at your disposal. If you're going to ask questions like, what's wrong with you? And where's the leadership in this thing? No, as a reader of the books, I see where you're coming from. I do. I see how they're supposed to be portrayed and how they were portrayed in the show. So as far as my take on the Fellowship of the Rings, so for me, I didn't like it. I know everybody's shocked at this. I didn't like it. I just I didn't like it. And I think there's a part of me that didn't like it because I was ruined on the Fellowship of the Rings years and years before when I went and watched this awful, awful Lord of the Rings movie where they had like it was animation and animation, like the screen in the background where they have the people walking behind it. So it just ruined me for this. And then there was a part in the Fellowship of the Rings where Frodo dances and it looked just like that part from the from the fellow the Lord of the Rings movie I saw. And then after that, I just couldn't get into it. I was like, I just can't. I just can't get into this movie because it seemed like they followed suit to that. And if you watch the Lord of the Rings cartoon that I'm talking about, Frodo looks exactly like the character he is now. So it was like they took the the cartoon person and they pictured someone to do it, Elijah Wood, and they just were like here. And they made him look exactly like they did on the cartoon. And it just it just ruined it. OK, I'm going to I'm going to do some pushback on this because I don't really see what you're talking about when it comes to Frodo looking like the animation animation cartoon. Although I will agree that Peter Jackson himself said this, that he was inspired by that film, can actually see certain scenes that he sort of expanded on in the trilogy itself. But to say that Elijah Wood looks like that cartoon, I just don't see the comparison there. Listen, he looks exactly like him down to the hair. If you Google him, if you Google him, you'll be like, oh, I see what you're talking about. He looks just like Elijah Wood. You know, I'm going to have you talk. Yes. So for me, the comparison doesn't hit all that well. I mean, obviously it's the same character being portrayed, but I would definitely think that Elijah Wood's Frodo was definitely much better than the animated version. Because, again, I can obviously understand the similarities in terms of some of the scenes you might see. And because I was watching them back to back, not back to back, but at the same time, you can kind of see the similarities in the scene structures. But yeah, I just I don't see when you say that Frodo is essentially like, I don't know, like a carbon copy of the animation version. I just don't I don't see that. I'm talking about the look, the hair, the dress. I thought it was like he just looked and said, all right, I'm going to get this guy to look just like this character from the from the cartoon and I'm going to put him in the lead. Fine. Let's just say that you're right about that. That the look is what is putting you off to the character, which I don't get because I would still look at the performance of the actor and the performance that he has in totality in the entire series and base my opinion off of that. But I'm just thinking, where's your criticism of that when it comes to the rings of power? I mean, every characterization down to how they're dressed, how they look was completely different from what we understand of the characters in the source material in the legendarium. They are literally night and day comparisons. So I don't get Elijah Wood's Frodo in the trilogy is comparable. Well, OK, I guess on the look fine, but I don't get how that is a major hindrance to to the Fellowship of the Ring. It's like, where's the criticism about how the elves are portrayed in the series? Galadriel, for instance, why is she not a ethereal? Why doesn't she feel like a being from another world? Why isn't she six foot? Why is it that the Numenoreans and their armor looks like it's some 3D printed crap attached to them? It's like, where's the criticism about that? Instead, you're going back and criticizing what I would almost say is a near perfect. It's probably going to be the best version of that trilogy that we get going back to the original trilogy and criticizing those minor, minute things. You know, these kind of criticisms I would have about the rings of power, mainly because their story isn't all that interesting. So I would go around nitpicking all this stuff because there is anything of interest in the story that's being told. So, of course, I would go back and nitpick on that. But with a near perfect adaptation of the series, the best around hands down, I find it hard to go back and criticize a manimation cartoon that came out in the late 80s or whatever and try and compare that to the to Elijah Wood's performance.
Simply Bitcoin
A highlight from Gary Gensler Delays Spot Bitcoin ETF Until 2024 | EP 804
"It's all going to zero against Bitcoin. It's going up forever more. Yo! Good morning, everybody. It's your boy Opti, and this is Simply Bitcoin. Welcome. It is August 16th. It is a Wednesday, and we're back for another episode of Simply Bitcoin. We are your number one source for the peaceful Bitcoin revolution. We cover breaking news culture and memetic warfare, and we bring on Bitcoiners from all around the world, from the biggest names to the everyday Bitcoiner. We got them all. And we will be your guide through the separation of money and state. And apparently, we are seeing more and more signs of the separation of money and state, as you guys can tell from the YouTube title. The SEC apparently is delaying their ETF approvals till 2024. So we got a video coming out of Squawk Box. We got some takes from Bitcoiners. It's very interesting to see the unelected officials out there continuing to delay Bitcoin adoption. But it doesn't matter for you guys out here. You guys just keep stacking, making sure you're staying humble, stacking stats, and staying solvent. But also, the other news that came out yesterday, which is interesting because there is another delay to 2024, and is the news this morning that PayPal is apparently stopping Bitcoin and cryptos from being purchased on their platform in the UK until 2024. So we'll get into all of that today. And it just really makes you wonder why there are so many delays until next year. But maybe this is all just bullish sauce to line up perfectly with the halving in, I think right now, we're still in April of 2024. So will this tee up to be a magnificent halving? Obviously, it will. But only time will tell to see what is going on coming out from the federal level, from the bureaucratic state. And we shall see how everything lines up. Is this just the classic FUD Bitcoin delay, Bitcoin adoption, so you can pack your bags and then finally, once your bags are packed, you come out and say, oh, we love Bitcoin. I don't know. I think we're all kind of wondering if this is the case. It really does seem like that is the case if you're asking me. But all things aside, TikTok next block, Bitcoin adoption will happen with or without you guys. So it's only a matter of time until you guys all get Bitcoin. What's the meme? You get Bitcoin at the price you deserve. Well, it seems like this is where we are. But for the average person out there, if you are watching simply Bitcoin right now in 2023, you are ahead of the game. You have more asymmetric knowledge than the average person out there. And this is the opportunity to be stacking. Yes, we kind of are in this in -between phase of a bear market, bull market, like which one are we? Are we crab marketing for the end of the year? Who knows? But this is a time to stack, to make sure your cash flows are up, to make sure you are getting as many sets under your control as possible. As always, the meme, stay humble, stack, set, stay solvent is the prescient way to move forward going into the halving. And this is where we are. We're just watching as the separation of money and state happens in real time. And of course, I'm not alone today. I do have a co -host today. And of course, it is Dow, the funky hodl sapien. He's got a very interesting, interesting story today. We're changing places today. I'm going to do the news and the numbers. And Dell wanted to handle something special in the culture. So, Dell, maybe you can tee people up or maybe just tease them until the culture. Well, if you have, hmm, how can I, you're going to need to shake yourselves off because we're going to be talking about some popular culture stuff and culture segment. It's hopium, not even in the Bitcoin sense. I'm going to tie it to Bitcoin, but it's hopium in the humanity sense, hope for humanity. There is a light here. Okay, Samwise Gamgee's got some good words that I'm going to be reading to you or I guess Tolkien, but through the mouth of Samwise Gamgee. And yeah, there is good. It might seem like things are down in the dumps. It might seem like we're crab walking along into a land of despair, the boggy marshes of no man's land. But there is a good, there is good here because you have to remember the price of Bitcoin. This is just real short here, Opti. The price of Bitcoin does not matter. One Bitcoin equals one Bitcoin. The price of fiat, like you can look around the world. If you want the price of Bitcoin to crazy things and to see a God candle, go look and see what it's doing in Argentina. If you want it to be a little bit more stable, look in USA. So it's all that doesn't matter. But the price of Bitcoin is relative to where you're looking at it through what lens, what currency lens. So just look at it for what it is. It's Bitcoin. Learn more about what Bitcoin is and then the fiat noise won't matter.
The Eric Metaxas Show
A highlight from Thomas Howard (Encore Continued)
"Did you ever hear the expression, if life gives you lemons, make lemonade? Well, when Eric Metaxas was little, he had his own lemonade stand. And he sold so much lemonade, he became rich beyond his wildest dreams. Now he's able to do whatever he wants, and he's now the host of a big -time radio show. Welcome the guy who's oh so lemony sweet, Eric Metaxas! I am right now going to air an interview I did with my friend Tom Howard about one of the best books I have ever read in my life. It's called Chance of the Dance. He wrote it, and this is my Socrates in the City conversation with the great Tom Howard at his home. Do not miss it. Welcome to another Socrates in the City event here at the home of Thomas Howard, the great author and, I'm happy to say, my dear friend. He has written many books. In part one of this Socrates in the City interview with him, we talked principally about his book, Chance of the Dance, which I could rave and rave about and typically do. hour, In this I want to talk to him about lots of other things. My conversations with him over the years have been so fascinating that I really just wanted to share some of that with my Socrates in the City audience so that you could also get a taste of Tom and of his mind and be intrigued to want to read his books. So we're here without a studio audience. You're the audience, and so hold your applause. But I do have to say that it means so much to me that Tom and his dear wife Loveless have led us into their home with all these cameras and microphones and things, but it's a privilege for me, and I hope you'll enjoy it nearly as much as I do, so stay tuned. Tom, let me start with this in the second part of our conversation. You know that I love you, and I can say that to you because you have an understanding of that word. My understanding of that word comes from things I've read by you and C .S. Lewis. But you know that I love you, and it's such a joy to be with you that, as I think I said before, I could almost talk to you about anything because I enjoy talking to you. That's mutual, I have to say. I hope that doesn't embarrass you too much. But I revel in you and your emails and your letters and things. And actually, maybe a good place to start would be, we were talking before about your relationship with Lewis, and I asked you whether you'd kept any of the correspondence with him, and you said you thought it was in the Wade Center at Wheaton College, and you were at least slightly incorrect because in the other room, I just happened to find a framed letter from C .S. Lewis to Tom Howard. I think you're the Tom Howard in the letter. Dear Mr. Howard, Maudlin College, Cambridge. Oh, Cambridge, this was in 1958. He said both. And when I read this to you earlier, you almost memorized it. I just can't believe, first of all, his handwriting. What the heck? Amazing. It's beautiful. Right? Legible. It's legible. Dear Mr. Howard, oh, but believe me, you are still only paddling in the glorious sea of Tolkien. Go in for the hobbit at once. Go on from the hobbit. Go on from the hobbit at once to the Lord of the Rings. Semicolon. Three volumes and nearly as long as the Bible, but not a word too long. Three volumes and nearly as long as the Bible and not a word too long, parentheses, except for the first chapter. Which is a botch. Which is a botch. Don't be put off by it. This is hilarious. Is this in Walter Hooper's volumes of his letter in there? I don't know. I mean, the idea that, it's just delicious, that Lewis is calling the first chapter of Lord of the Rings a botch. A botch. But he loves the rest of it as much as anything. Then he says, the hobbit is merely a fragment of his myth, detached and adapted for children. And losing much by the adaptation. And losing much by the adaptation. The Lord of the Rings is the real stuff. Thanks for all the nice things you say about my own little efforts. Little efforts. Yours sincerely, C .S. Lewis. This is, how much can I pay you for this? Would you take, would you take a, no? What do you say? That's, I mean, you, look, I neglected to say this in the first hour. You taught at Gordon College for a long time. So you were a professor at the college level for a long time. And maybe I assume people know that, but many wouldn't. You taught English literature. Did you teach Tolkien? The English syllabus, I had to follow it. And I'm not sure that I ever actually did formally get the section, which I would have loved. But isn't it because when you were teaching college, maybe they wouldn't have thought of Tolkien as being worthy yet of being part of the canon. Yeah, I'm not sure. Right? I mean, that's my guess. Maybe they even think of Lewis as being worthy of being part of the canon. Even in a Christian college like Gordon. But I think I could have made it worthy of the canon. I mean, I think they would have, you know, eaten up if you really unpack what the Lord of the Rings is all about. Well, okay, then what is the Lord of the Rings all about? Is this where I get to admit that I've not read it? Yes, but you can still get into heaven, possibly. I've read Chance of the Dance many times. Just by being Eric, yeah. So what is the fascinating, I mean, there are many people that rave and rave about Tolkien. And there are many people that are unaware of Tolkien. I've heard people rave about him. I feel like I know lots about him. I know that he was instrumental in leading C .S. Lewis to faith in Jesus, which is an outrageous and amazing thing. But what is it about Tolkien for you? Well, I think he does an almost incredible job, piece of work, by opening out for us deprived, benighted moderns. Opening out the world of myth, of saga, of the ancient glory of narrative. I think that's what, you know, his work is, I would suspect, is unique in the modern epoch. Yeah. I am struck, very struck, by reading this letter, the way Lewis writes about the Lord of the Rings. I confess that I wasn't aware of his admiration for it at that level. Yeah, yeah. What do you think it is about Tolkien that Lewis so loved and admired? I think it's a tribute to Tolkien's own capacity of soul to see and love magnificence, which one is drawn into in the saga of the Lord of the Rings. Do you remember when you read the so -called space trilogy, when you read those books? You mean Lewis's... Lewis's The Anselm and the Paralandra and That Hideous Strength? It must have been while I was still in school. I'm not sure whether I had gone on to college by that time. I was a slow starter. Yeah. I often think that Paralandra is maybe Lewis's best book. I've never heard anyone share my opinion, but I think that well of it. Well, I couldn't disagree with you. I mean, it's a terribly hard choice, you know. What's Lewis's best word? Right. Well, there are passages toward the end of Paralandra which are just flights of beautiful language like I've never read. I mean, people crave about Gabriel Garcia Marquez or, you know, I've never read anything better than some of the passages there. But even the idea behind Paralandra, I mean, I think of it as I assume you taught Milton over the years. Yes, yes. So I think of Paralandra as his response to Paradise Lost and it ought to be taught in classes. In tandem with that, yeah.
The Charlie Kirk Show
The Immortal C.S. Lewis With Dr. Jerry Root
"This hour is going to really be focused on things that are eternal. In nature, and they're much more important than politics, politics is critical, obviously. We talk about it all the time. The politics is only part of a broader picture, we're going to talk about morality and religion, and eternity. Joining us now is doctor Jerry root. He's professor emeritus from Wheaton university. We could talk about that, but definitely want to talk about more importantly. His book, the neglected C. S. Lewis, and doctor root is with us. Now, doctor, welcome to the program. Thank you, Charlie. I'm grateful. Wonderful. So doctor root, I have personally been blessed by reading and studying C. S. Lewis. I've only really touched on 6 or 7 of his books, but I've enjoyed them thoroughly. I mean, he was prolific. But let me just start with a rather general question who was C. S. Lewis and why does he matter? C. S. Lewis taught at Oxford university for 20 9 years. He also taught at Cambridge University for 9. He grew up in Northern Ireland, and he was a guy who lost his mother when he was 9 years old and became an atheist as a result of that. And slowly he worked his way back to faith. And there was largely due to a conversation that he had with J.R.R. Tolkien is very close friend. But he had these longings that drove him and prompted him. He also had not only the longings of the heart, he also had a very sharp mind, and he needed to get over these intellectual barriers in order to come to fully embrace his faith. He was a prolific author. There are actually 73 titles under his name right now. He wrote 56 of them while he was living and the others he wrote after he died. No, they're actually collections of essays, letters that he wrote and so on that flush out the 73 volumes.
AP News Radio
Caregivers: Returning orca Lolita to Northwest is risky
"A plan announced last week to return a killer whale held captive for more than a half century to her home waters in Washington's puget sound as generated joy and concern. I Norman hall. Lolita of 57 year old orca also known as toki has spent more than a half century in captivity at the Miami seaquarium. The plan for her release pleases advocates who want to see the 5000 pound creature in the open ocean, not in an 80 by 35 foot tank, but her potential freedom brings to mind the release of Keiko, the star of the movie free Willy, Howard Garrett of the orca network says Keiko's return wasn't handled properly. They decided that they would turn their backs on him and force him if he wants any company at all to go out and find some whale companions. Keiko much younger than Tolkien died 5 years later. I Norman hall
CoinJar
Onchain Exploiting the exploiter, new L2 in town, and tokengating on Spotify
"10 p.m. Wednesday March 1st, 2023. On Shane exploiting the exploiter, new L two in town, and Tolkien gating on Spotify. The Chicago trading firm appears to have recovered the 120,000 ether stolen. Coinbase, one of the biggest centralized exchanges has announced its building its own blockchain called base. Spotify is starting to give NFTs utility
Coinpedia
Do You Want to Start Trading Crypto Create a Tokex Account Now
"2 p.m. Sunday February 19th, 2023. Do you want to start trading crypto create a Tolkien's account now? The post do you want to start trading crypto create a toolkits account now appeared first on Cohen PDF FinTech news. Is a centralized cryptocurrency exchange where you can buy, sell, and trade a wide range of digital assets. This trading platform boasts security, efficiency, multiple features, AML, and KYC compliance, and a user friendly interface. In addition, users can pay through card and wire transfer, access staking pools, crypto loans, and many more services. Tolkien
Coingape
Is Arbitrums Rising Transactions A Hint Towards Token Launch
"2 a.m. Monday, February 20th, 2023 is our bedrooms rising transactions, a hint towards Tolkien launch arbitrum has seen a tremendous surge in its user base in recent times as a direct result of the exponential growth recorded in its transaction volume. Recent reports have increased TVL and defy activity have sparked renewed interest in the Ethereum's layer two solution, which has also raised the possibility of a token launch for the post is our bitters rising transactions, a hint towards token launch appeared first on coin gape.
The Hugh Hewitt Show: Highly Concentrated
Peter Thiel on the Threat Posed by Communist China
"I've got to explain for the audience Tom bombadil is a particularly unique character in Tolkien. And you and I are both Tolkien fans. You've probably read it, double the number of times I have. But early in the book, Frodo and his couple of hobbits go off and they're worn by Tom bombadil, this ageless character who's sort of a God figure, but I'm not really sure who he is. He says, you'll be fine. Don't go near me. He said, don't go near these mounds. Don't go into those because if you do, you're gonna be in trouble. And the first thing to do, they, of course, they end up doing exactly what they've been warned about. So you just gave a very nuanced answer. Don't do the wrong thing and we'll be fine. But there are 330 million Americans who can do whatever they want. There's Google. There's Microsoft. There are a lot of smart people who are not responsible. So if you take the worst actors and the best AI, what happens? Well, well, I think look, I think there's a. I don't know if we really always need to be careful not to overstate and exaggerate these kinds of things. But probably the worst actors are something like, you know, the Chinese Communist Party. Yes. And what does China do with it? How does it how does it how does it relate, how does it relate to the U.S.? How does it relate as a weapons system?
TheCoinsPost
Shopify Launches Blockchain Tools for Merchants
"9 p.m. Sunday, February 12th, 2023. Shopify launches blockchain tools for merchants. Shopify, the leading ecommerce platform has unveiled its latest suite of blockchain products aimed at enhancing the user experience for merchants using web three based stores hosted on the platform. With these new offerings, merchants can now benefit from Tolkien gating and access and expanded wallet ecosystem, which includes cutting edge features. Shopify's blockchain team designer took the post Shopify launches blockchain tools for merchants appeared first on the coin's post
She Podcasts
"tolkien" Discussed on She Podcasts
"It is over once you're done, you're done. Okay. It's one of the best shows I've ever seen. Annie Murphy is in it. I'm from Schitt's Creek. She's the wife, and some dipshit is the husband. I don't know. I'm sure he's a lovely guy. He's the guy who played Shrek on Broadway. Whoever he is. So those two shows, what about you? What are you watching? All the ones that everybody else is watching right now. Like there are rings of power no, I haven't gotten into that. And then do you like it? The Game of Thrones one? I can't get into that either. Too much incest. I can't take it anymore. So yeah, I've been watching that. I love the rings of power. But as a family, we watch it together and I never really actually read the books, Randy did read all the books. He's a Tolkien superfan. So he knew all of the things, but he really allowed himself to just experience this. But it seems like a lot of Tolkien fans are not too keen on it, simply because it really does deviate from the canon, like big time. So, and a lot of people who really love that don't jive with anything different, right? So there's that. But we did really enjoy it. We enjoyed it a lot. And I'm the only one that's been watching the, what is the new House of the dragon? I watched that all by myself, like that nobody watched it. I was on board when it was Cersei and Jamie because I don't have a brother, so maybe you could fall in love with your brother if you shared a womb. I don't know. But I'm not down with making with making it with your uncle. That's not okay with me. As soon as I saw that they were having looks at each other, I was like, we are out, okay? 'cause I've got four uncles. And no. In a thousand years, I couldn't. I couldn't even look at my uncle's sideways. Like, I couldn't even like the thought is inconceivable. Yeah. How? How do they function? I don't know. And they're genuinely seem to attracted to each other like that's a normal thing. That's not biologically awkward. Yeah. Who here?
Woz Happening!!!!
"tolkien" Discussed on Woz Happening!!!!
"Especially knowing that she's a sorcerer supreme. It's kind of weird. That's a very politically correct way of saying that, yeah. It's for me, for me, personally, it's always going to be compared to the lord. Can't do it. It's always going to be compared to it. Even The Hobbit. It's actually making The Hobbit look a little bit better. That's shocking. Yes. Because fellowship was terrible. Yeah, I didn't like it. The first one. Oh, no, sorry. That's the Lord of the Rings. The Hobbit was all right. You don't like the Fellowship of the Ring? No, I didn't. What? I thought it was drawn out. I didn't like it. I just didn't. Feel betrayed. Listen, I like the two towers. I love the last, I didn't like the first one. Shocked. I didn't like it. My thing was that the very beginning and you say that the rings of power is what again? Listen, the very first Lord of the Rings. No, no, no, no. Listen, when Frodo's dancing, it looks so fake. It was so nice. Stop. So terrible. The CGI is awful. We're gonna say the dancing of the first. I was terrible. It got better. It got better. I mean, I like when they're inside and let me guess you watch the theatrical versions and not the extended version. You have to watch the extended version. I'll lend you out my subscription. Listen, I have a podcast. Guys, listen up. We're doing Lord of the Rings in depth. We're going to do a live viewing of them, and we're going to convince them that they are great filters. I love the movie. I love two towers. I love the king. I just return to the king. I just didn't like the first movie. I mean, it started off with great action to reel you in. And then you got to the hobbits and then you say the rings of power is okay, it's good. It's great. Okay, wow. Listen, my opinion. That's no, it's definitely your opinion. Ben, everyone is entitled to their wrong opinion. Why did the last hours too? I hated the last Star Wars. Those were crap. Okay, I'm not a Star Wars head. We want to talk about Star Wars. But Lord of the Rings didn't like sir. I love the books. Hey, token was incredible books. That's true. I'm actually getting through some of them at the moment. Yeah. And I think it's great that C. S. Lewis and him were best friends. And you could see that the combination between the two and tokens influence. So I'm a big fan of Tolkien I'm a big fan of C. S. Lewis. I just wasn't a fan of the first movie. Okay. I feel like a betrayal has happened today. I think it was our home from now on. And the year happening. I don't know. Do you like the first hobbit better than you like the Fellowship of the Ring? No, I didn't like the first time I did that. At all? Okay. I would like to say that I watched animated films as a child when they're singing and stuff. And I really enjoyed those. I love those. I thought those were great. And then my expectations going into them was basically, so I might be biased because it's basically off those cartoons. And in the cartoons, it was really fun. Smash that dishes, crack their plates. That's what Bilbo baggins hates. That stuff was awesome. To me, that was great. And it was rhyming and 15 birds and 5 for a tree. I mean, if you watch the cartoons, you'll appreciate that. I mean, they made a musical out of it, and it was really fun. I mean, okay, yeah, fine. I mean, even Christopher Tolkien didn't really like The Lord of the Rings all had my style. It was just a big action thing or whatever. But you know, it's just the comparing it to the rings of power. If you can just, if you could just admit that the rings of power is not as great. No, it's not, but it's better than the Targaryens. As it put on the red light rock Santa. All right guys, so back to most of McCarthy. Melissa McCarthy has nothing to do with lord of the and she's happy. She's happy. It's all good, guys. Thanks so much for tuning in this week and we have some more fun things on the horizon, some more good movies where heading into spooky season. As you know, the best season will be covering some old and new horror. So fun things to be excited for. Anything else? Yeah. All right, so I'm so shocked. You know? I have traumatized the dorms. Thank you. All right, everyone. So thanks for listening and please tune in next time to what was happening.
The Dork Forest
"tolkien" Discussed on The Dork Forest
"I do. Wow, that is gutsy stuff. People should know there's absolutely no editing of the dork forest. Patrick Brady, who does the audio. He cleans it up. That's what we're looking for. We're looking for a nice wave. We're looking for the intro, the outro, and then I like him to clip out a nice teaser clip in the middle so that we can all at least get an idea of how fun the show's gonna be. So yeah, that was my methodology. So another show on the network that is currently on hiatus is called Shakespeare, it is a round tape, a round table about the classics, but originally it was a round table about going through all of the works of Shakespeare, which we did. Everything except the sonnets and potentially unsubstantiated works. So you did not go through the sonnets, which there are hundreds of I'm told. Exactly, which is part of the reason why we didn't, there's a lot of sonnets and there's only so much meat on those bones. But we did, we did every Shakespeare. We did. We did king John. We did Troy listen cressida. Wow, that's a lot of B sides. A lot of bees. And you know what? Some of the B sides are pretty good. That's cool though. Time and of Athens, surprisingly relevant today. You know, interesting to me, 'cause it's one way to get yourself to know about these things. I don't know if you've ever the Tolkien professor. I don't know if you've ever listened to him. The best, it's essentially it's a guy who used to teach Tolkien at a university. And now he has a tiny Tolkien empire of mythos and enjoying the movies and such, but the best series that he's been on the dark forest a couple of times that he's great. Okay. But he is my favorite series that he did was he broke down the silmarillion.
National Day Calendar
"tolkien" Discussed on National Day Calendar
"Welcome to March 25th, 2022 in the national day calendar. Today we celebrate strange new worlds and acts of bravery. To say that J.R.R. Tolkien had an impact on popular culture is an understatement. Without The Lord of the Rings, we might never have experienced Harry Potter or played Dungeons and Dragons. Before he wrote anything about a hobbit, Tolkien was a Professor of old English literature and a student of language. So when he created middle earth, he came up with an entire history for his fictional world and wrote not one, but 5 different languages, exclusively for the books. Quite the perfectionist. On national Tolkien reading day celebrate your favorite escape into a perfectly curated world. The medal of honors bestowed upon our military for extraordinary acts of service. In the case of Teddy Roosevelt, it was awarded for his acts of apparent defiance during the Spanish-American War, but not until many decades later. Colonel Roosevelt grew impatient as progress was stalled on a charge of the San Juan hill. He managed to convince his immediate supervisor to allow his rough riders to push ahead. With only four or 5 men, teddy was the first American to arrive in the Spanish trenches. This brave act turned the tide of the entire battle. Roosevelt was nominated for a Medal of Honor during his life, but wasn't awarded it until 2001, 82 years after his death, on national Medal of Honor day, we remember the more than 3500 souls who have received this award by going above and beyond the Call of Duty. That's an amazing story. It really is. There really all amazing stories. One that has always stuck with me is a marine who won his Medal of Honor during the boxer rebellion in China. Okay, and now I want to hear that on another show. Yes. I managed to appear. I'm Marlo Anderson. Thanks for joining us as we celebrate every day. See you tomorrow.
Breaking the Glass Slipper: Women in science fiction, fantasy, and horror
"tolkien" Discussed on Breaking the Glass Slipper: Women in science fiction, fantasy, and horror
"Never completely know what's meaningful about them now, you know, like obviously there are a lot of people who are much smarter than me who have kind of doing their best to get as much information as possible out of some fragment of a minoan inscription or what have you. But you know, we're never actually going to be able to reclaim all of the context there. And I think there's something really interesting in melancholy about what can you know about the past. And so that's kind of why I wanted to have our introduction to merely be in this kind of grave world where it's all about trying to uncover the relics of the dead relics of the past and what can we learn from them? When you said they were inspired by places you've been, I just thought of the mountain with all the revenants and went where you could work. But I'm guessing they were less revenant when you went. Yeah, I think that's fair to say. I have never been in a horde of zombies in my life. Which is a relief to me because I'm not very fast and nor do I have any combat skills, I like to write about people being in situations of physical extremity because I know that if I was ever there, I would immediately fall down and die. I did quite like how much your characters blacked out. I'm like, that's the proper response for you punched in the face. That's right. It is. It is. Well, that's part of what made writing so I fun because she's very resilient and kind of competent and confined her way around anywhere and so on and whereas it kind of in real life like I'm very dyspraxic and I don't have binocular vision so the physical realm is a maze of traps for me. So it's sort of quite escapist in a way to have someone have someone dexterous as a protagonist. When we're talking about drawing inspiration from other places. Obviously, when I was reading it, there are quite a lot of similarities between some of your characters and some of the fantasy trip characters that we've come to know and love from Tolkien. So let me get this right. The L face pronounced talent office they definitely looked selfish because you made a big thing about that is and how they twitched and flash gets ahead when they were happy and things. And so and her kind will have tusks and I was just thinking about how we've got all these traditional tropes from Tolkien. And Tolkien's ox in particular have a lot to answer for..
The Fashademix Podcast
"tolkien" Discussed on The Fashademix Podcast
"As most loads browns have gone burst into administration and the browns being brought by the so much negativity and our worry that students will think armah got a call. I don't want to go fashions. Don't have i don't need to go. Parents thinking oh. I'm not going to send my son or daughter to government steady fashion because it's the so much negative stuff in the press at the moment but i think one thing that we really believe that the fashion industry is here and will never go away and we all need clothing and i think if if i even think back to when i was applying university i remember my dad saying god love madonna. I don't i'm not going to pay for it. I mean degrees a lot. Cheaper when i did my degree. I'm not gonna pay for you to go to university study fashion. Although what an actually. When he came to the open days he realize how big this century monster of an industry yes. It's competitive but oh my god. There is so many jobs at so much open so much opportunity. So what kind of hovering on the line. not. I'm going to apply and we're going to go in september. What you think a serve. I couldn't agree more with what you said. I think violates valid about staff industry the eight munti stinking and you know of Tolkien in the press did not just fashion festival. That news media in general about the so called death the high street. I agree with that. I don't think he suggested the history. I just think that the the highest in the way was shopping and is changing eight. Change a snow. It's not a decline and out of that change of options. His will come on obt this. There's lots of emerging new jobs and moles as brands line. I think we're gonna see a lot more starter. Brands lot more smaller brands and saw That she should be nervous. Said serve will always been close. People are always going to be interested in fashion. It's just where the by from an industry side and the way. The consumers buying a changing a lot more votes in the candle the digital czar things stability and ethical side of things in jokes in supply because the way that we're buying from factories is changing with buying from changing. So i think that if students interested in fashionable thinking about applying but should the industry is a search going to see a comeback. It's having a bit of a struggle at the mini special because of the pandemic. well exactly exactly There's just gonna be lots of exciting of on the horizon. And that's why i think students keeping themselves today. I think that's why it's important. We as lectures and academics. We ourselves flexible in up today. Yeah interesting there's gonna be lots of exciting things come on woods. Our set up in a Still industry said surf is still a massive industry is just the changing industry and change can be seen as a really good thing. Absolutely thank you mike. That's absolutely brilliant. I completely agree with you that sometimes you know when one door closes another one will open and there are going to be you know new jobs neil patel unity's for all students and but thank you so much for joining us on a podcast. We love having you if loved catching up and learning more about your career. Bits that we didn't know about say thank you so much by the bc. Box all together regain. Oh parts together. Virtually thank you mike. Thank you songs. Girls have been great. Thanks.
The Catholic Culture Podcast
"tolkien" Discussed on The Catholic Culture Podcast
"That treebeard is in league with sarah on this idea. Of course it's not what comes to pass and it's marion pippen who meet treebeard. Who is of course a force for good rather than evil and there are aspects. In tolkien's plan as the fellowship fractures and the narrative for lord of the rings gets very chronologically and geographically complex token started creating a graph timelines for all the different characters. And what they were doing on the same day specific days so that he could keep the chronological rhapsody intact and so there are think about over. A dozen of these sort of charts planning out The narrative so that on you know the same given day he knows where is marian. Pippen era gorn legalists gimle and Frodo and sam as well as the orcs you know all the different characters so that particularly for important for salmon For salmon photo they look up and see you know the phase of the moon at night. It's the same one. That era gorn is looking up from ministerial to see. It's that sort of that. Deep truth to the world that he was planning out to maintain you know at a very. I mean in some ways superficial but very basic level the complete veracity of that world it is for him a real world and so that kind of truth had to be maintained the maps that he has that we have in the show and that he produced for lord of the rings are all done to scale they have a grid line over them with demarcations of the square squares. Being one hundred mile square two hundred miles square to keep track even of like the actual amount of distance that any character could travel on a given day and he states that he never made any character travel more than he physically could and tries to work out exactly. How far hobbit could travel if they are half the size of a man you go down to lake the hobbit measurements of from a toenail up to a hobbit mile. How big are these things when he says you know that salmon photo have to travel x amount in a day..
The Catholic Culture Podcast
"tolkien" Discussed on The Catholic Culture Podcast
"Literary vision they're all historians and artworks played in his family life and perhaps surprising to many view token as a conservative fuddy-duddy his willingness to drawn and collected range of sources including distinctly modern ones to enhance his creative expression. So these two clips. You'll hear john mcquillan. Talking about tolkien's surprising visual influences. As well as the importance he placed on developing the geography of his fictional world. Those early watercolours tolkein's are so different from his later work and they're often quite tricky. Do you have any sense of where that was coming from. Our what influences you may have had i mean they. They're much more sort of avangard than you might expect from someone who's known as kind of a study traditionalist indeed. I think a lot of people will be surprised to see how how modern they are in their color combinations in the abstract design tolkien as modernist has not really a topic. That is soon to be covered. But i think it shows you know someone who was very much of his day. He was not an antiquated a thinker or dreamer. He very much slipped in his time. Later on. and some of the the hobbit illustrations. You see clear references to sort of you know art nouveau. A tiffany esque patterns but not direct coach. Necessarily he's not his journal. Patterns there are elements that he draws from published sources the the great eagle illustration of the hobbit the eagle is taken directly from a natural history book an illustration of an eagle in that but then other elements he kind of cobbled together from his own interest in patterns in design landforms plant very indeed platforms. He was he was I think if not an english philology would have been a botanist. He was so interested in the natural world. John there's quite an immaterial in the exhibit related to sort of the practical logistics of putting together a work as complex Geographically and chronologically as lord of the rings. There's a number of ways that tolkien organized that and with things like maps and timelines. So can you talk about that. A bit talking was always very clear in his practice particularly or maybe especially only so for lord of the rings and stated that he began with a map and made the story fit middle earth and lord of the rings is not a narrative that creates space it was a physical space that had narratives within it and so the geography is always always first and foremost to tolkien in the creation of middle earth. The story originally lord of the rings was supposed to be a sequel to the hobbit another of bilbo's adventures called the magic ring This very quickly changed as talking. Started writing and it became what we know to be but his process was not necessarily linear. He did not have the ending planned out when he started writing. He wasn't completely sure where the characters were going or what this story was going to become and his process writing was sort of one more of discovery than authorities intent in a way he was surprised to find airborne sitting in end at bree he was neither sure what breed was nor who aragon was. He didn't know who fair amir was when he turned a corner and ran into salmon photo. It's a very surprising type of composition. And i think people are many many readers especially are unaware of sort of in some ways. Tolkien discovering the story along with the reader as he produced it. But that that being said there are elements of sort of plan in his process. He had ideas of the end treebeard early on and so there are notes and we have a page exhibition. That shows this where fro meets treebeard and his surprised when he leans against a tree and the tree moves but is is hasn't yet discovered..
The Catholic Culture Podcast
"tolkien" Discussed on The Catholic Culture Podcast
"This the shirt of artists. This some he pottery that has the story inscribed on it. It's really the thing that kicks off the plots and he went to great lengths to make a realistic actual It's so realistic. Apparently at fooled so people into thinking that it was an actual ancient artifact And a this is reproduced as a frontispiece in she in the early editions. It's in color. It's very risk realistically done. It's intended to be You know meta textually convincing that that oh it really it really existed really happened And there's a lot of similarity between this and what tolkien does with the with the muzzle because that's mentioned in the lord of the rings. It's the book that recounts what happens to belan When in morea and the fellowship find this book and they look through the pages will token originally wanted to have some pages from that book included as you know images and he went to great lengths to produce these artifacts pieces of paper that he that he wrote on but then he also punctured the edges as if they were sewn in a book he burned the edges so that they looked realistically damaged by fire. Went to great lengths to produce this this artifact. It's very similar kind of technique to what haggard did with shard And i think that there's a very good case to be made. That haggard gave token some ideas about how this could work and how these artifacts could be used to enhance the kind of believability of the story. And as he does this with maps as well with king solomon's mines and the maps that we have with a with zoran and company in in the habit and the so those those pages from the book of bizarre ball. How have now banana. They were unable to be published at the time. But in at least in the box set from harpercollins. I want to say from starting in two thousand fourteen or two thousand fifteen They've added those those sort of facsimile fake facsimiles or whatever they are And that yeah. It's really nice to have those finally. Are there any plot elements from she that may have influenced talking probably not And you know one of the things that i found in this research was that very seldom was tolkien. Inspired by plot that he got from his sources Sometimes there's a little bit For instance we know that he adapted a scene from sr crockett's adventure story the black douglas for the habits. We know this because he says so he identifies the scene Talk about that in the book. But for the most part what i observed the tolkien does is he. Picks up smaller elements like names or images characters and then he transforms them I think because he has such a transformative imagination that plot plot digested and broken apart. And we don't think really see much of that in terms of influence When we look at how he engages with his on his literary sources. I see so. Let's move on to a book. Nobody ever heard of and yet it's the first book you mentioned in the book. john england. This is a book that was apparently very very popular and much discussed At a certain point and now has been almost completely forgotten until kane even sad You know later in life. I think he said few now. Find it possible to read or something like that But this was.
The Catholic Culture Podcast
"tolkien" Discussed on The Catholic Culture Podcast
"Lot of tolkien fans a lot of scholars out there who are not in sympathy with his his moral his religious his political views And i've certainly noticed that especially with you know today. A fantasy or scifi writers of today. There have been a number who i mean. Obviously there's that famous michael moore cock essay. Criticizing tokens worldview. But you know also people like china vel if that's how you pronounce his name and others So you can see that clearly. And i and. I suspect that that's at a partly of why it's easy for a lot of people to just accept that characterization but of course humphrey carpenter's biography. It's it's the family approved biography and and has formed the basis a lot of token scholarship. Going forward so that in itself is very impactful to help people Think of him. Because it's it's really you know. 'cause john garth's book doesn't cover the whole of his life. You know so. It's really the the still kind of outstanding biography of token so far. Yeah we need. We need these other perspectives. Because as you know. John garth's spoke in the great war is essential. Reading for tolkien's Early years and our experience and garth is excellent scholar and he goes and does original research and brings it to light without these via season. Preconceptions and buyer did a similar thing. With regard to england's as she challenged comfort carpenter on that 'cause carpenter at said that the inklings had no influence on each other and she proved definitively that this isn't the case In her book company they keep so we can see that whenever we look at the at the actual evidence clearly angle looking for more evidence. Rather than just settling with okay. We got the biography. Done we get a much richer picture. And i wanna i wanna say. I think it's important. We said about people making conclusions of is political views. 'cause a lot of times you find. I think that people draw conclusions. That tolkien must have been those dangerous. Words must have been you know x. Reactionary view in politics because of course he was reactionary in general of course he hid maternity et cetera. Et cetera and a lot of assumptions are happening at a pretty basic level When in fact you know he. He was certainly a devout catholic and he was conservative. Theologically and in a sense evaluate tradition. But he doesn't fit especially doesn't fit into a neat political category of american ideas of conservatism. And i could see that in his commentary on world war two even in the collected letters. Yeah it's very very clear and you mentioned as is oppositions early opposition to apartheid in in the book and and things like that Before we before we move onto what token red. I should've mentioned this earlier. This is the first book published by word on fire academic and So i want to congratulate you and them for that because this is a very significant addition to tolkien scholarship. So i hope that they continue to publish work of this caliber. Because it's a really excellent start to this series for them thanks..
The Catholic Culture Podcast
"tolkien" Discussed on The Catholic Culture Podcast
"He would think it was pretty cool. Do you think that carpenters. Bias effect affected the editing of the collected. Letters as well very much so on and the letters are very curious thing One of the things that was interesting to discover is that tolkien was actually a massive letter writer. He wrote thousands of letters over his lifetime. Thousands there are only three hundred fifty four in that volume and most of them are presented in a kind of truncated away. Some of them. We only have a single paragraph and it's really frustrating to be reading the letters in seeing you have this one paragraph out of context. What came before what came after. What has what has carpet or left out and a few times. I was even able to discover in a published elsewhere. The full text of a letter that tolkien had written from which carpenter had only put extracts. And it's very interesting to see the way that it shapes how he comes across for instance. There's one letter were token his ass to give some graphical details and the bit that carpenter quotes starts off very abruptly. I don't like to give details about myself. And then he goes on details and it just ends will in fact the full council letter starts out with him warmly saying how happy is to get the letter how he sorry. He missed talking to that person in person And and kind of apologetically saying. You know i'm happy to help you out. But i don't really like to give details about myself. And the closes thanking this writer for her interest and those initial bits that kind of cordial introduction and the m you know conclusion that's full appreciation totally changed the tone. They make him into someone who's actually quite willing to engage but with a kind of english self-deprecation kind of like wow. I don't really like giving details about myself by a and that's a very different tone. A very different picture. We get of tolkien. The writer token in the person than we get from this kind of cold abrupt boom boom..
The Catholic Culture Podcast
"tolkien" Discussed on The Catholic Culture Podcast
"He thought it was deservedly popular any even had the narnia chronicles on his bookshelf and gave those copies to his granddaughter. Joanna when she came over to visit so he obviously had a positive enough you that he had the books available for his grandchildren and he doted his grandchildren so clearly. Not a case of him seeking that the narnia books were just rubbish is what you would think from carpets book. The inklings so a lot of what. I was trying to do in. This was to clear the decks and say okay. Let's not take anything for granted. let's look at. What did token actually read. What'd tolkien himself. Say about these works and not relying on carpenter for any interpretation. The only i draw from carpenter. Our you know things like direct quotes from tolkien or factual statements That's seemed to be neutral. We can more or less count on but no interpretation whatsoever because the facts are the facts are enough to show that the pictures very very different than what's carpenter lays out and i think it matters because it really reshapes view of tolkien. He wasn't stuck in the past. He was clearly. He loved medieval literature. He loved tradition. He was very interested in the past. Obviously of course but he wasn't just backward looking. He was also very much engaged with his own time. And i think that if we missed that we miss a hugely important part of everything that tokens doing. And we kind of flatten them out and we need to recover this angle. You know it's not. It's not the main thing of his of his life for his writings by any means. But it's a really important bit that has gotten completely pretty much overlooked. The book focuses on literature. But you you make a point in the first chapter of saying that one of the other problems is is just for trails of tolkien's personal attitude towards various things current current events for example technology. People kind of assume that you can take talking and lewis together and assume that if lewis thought something talking that as well so you point out. Lewis didn't read newspapers talking said in an interview which i read yesterday because it was headed in your book that he that he subscribed to three different newspapers and took a great interest in what was going on and signed petitions and all that sort of thing so we don't to dwell on that you know it's worth it's worth pointing out as well. Yeah i think one of the interesting things that turned up as i was doing research. This book Obviously i'm focusing on what he read of modern literature. But that led me in just naturally into looking at how to tolkien engage with modern culture And i have full a fair bit of that into the book as a way to help kind of frame and understand what he's thinking about these these works of literature so for instance With regard to news as you noted he he followed the news closely throughout his whole life. unlike louis And with provided technology. I was really surprised to find when i began working on the science fiction chapter. I have a whole chapter science fiction on that. He enjoyed the john john greatly and he actually had a fairly positive view of science. And technology again. Which you wouldn't necessarily expect. He was very interested in science. Particularly botany and astronomy he Actually folding quite a law astronomy into the father..
The Catholic Culture Podcast
"tolkien" Discussed on The Catholic Culture Podcast
"Unacceptable back carpenter carpenter knocked out the most egregious bits in a week or so and then it was published so we had that kind of slapdash approach and then carpenters on record in other interviews. Saying things like He said that he originally approached. Doing tokens biography treating tolkien as a kind of slapstick figure. Slapstick is carpenters word He said he had uptight upbringing. He considered tokens upbringing to me. Lover's eye typically too uptight pauline values. Yeah he was. He considered that the catholic Way schulkin have been raised by father. Francis was just weird uptight and carpenter myself was the son of the anglican bishop of oxford but by the time he was twenty one had become an atheist so he had a big ship in his shoulder about not just oxford but also about christian faith and i think we see that in some of his he makes them very hostile comments about father francis for instance that really have no basis in fact He says for instance that father francis was a man of limited that he was basically dolon and not particularly intelligent but in fact Father francis had a whole room full of books that he used to lend the young token and he had been the personal secretary to cardinal francis. Newman and that's hardly a job. You get if you're a dullard so we have not john. Henry newman. this is different. Yeah newman so father. Francis francis newman. Sorry sorry i father francis was. the was secretary to cardinal john. Henry newman yeah. So i was confused. yeah sorry about that so anyway we we see this that carpenter just kind of has a negative attitude about tokens catholic. Ethos in general he goes on to comments that's His attitude towards writing biographies is that he enjoys. This is carpenter's words. He enjoys trying to tarnish the reputation so he can upset. The oil fans He he enjoys that he calls it aggression and he adds also this again. This is carpenter himself in an interview saying that he felt that bog refer could right up two totally different biographies based on the same material depending on what he felt like so obviously not a big commitment to objectivity and he adds that he felt the every. Biography is really about the biographer. Golly yes so it's all shocking so basically what this reveal. It's worse than. I thought. Not certainly worse than i thought i thought it was. I mean there's a lot of interesting stuff in there but i just didn't realize how slanted it was. Yeah and the the problem is that it is full of interesting things. Carpenters a great writer. He's he's a very skillful writer he makes flow. It's very engaging because he doesn't cite any sources we can't really know what bits our interpretation and what bits are really based on the evidence even some of the things that he quotes are so out of context in his group. The inklings he absolutely butchers tokens attitude towards narnia. Totally misrepresented puts him as absolutely hating narnia detesting at loathing having it be the basis of his cooling off her friendship lewis talk wash. That wasn't the case at all token actually had sort of mild reaction to narnia. Didn't care for it. But ultimately he called it token eventually called narnia. Deservedly very popular. He was glad when people read it. Even though he didn't particularly himself.
The Catholic Culture Podcast
"tolkien" Discussed on The Catholic Culture Podcast
"And i've actually been working on this this book which i have not finally finished obviously for ten years And and it took so long mainly because i kept finding so much stuff and what i started out thinking that i would have a hard time even finding enough to write a book about and ended up with over over two hundred individual titles almost hundred and fifty specific authors that he knew engaged with and that he definitely knew you have evidence for him knowing. This is just similarities or hypotheses this is evidence and so a good after accumulating all this material and seeing just how seriously tolkien was in fact engaging with the literature of his time. I stopped nas myself. How on earth did we not realize this before because it really is the general consensus that talking Barely didn't read anything. Pass chaucer You know there's this sense in the in the recent bio pic token. He's he's depicted as completely ignoring anything. Modern he's depicted as a light is a lot of popular biographies even a lot of academic biographies just pickup. That line of you know. He also critical works on token or the inklings. Just take it as a given that. He wasn't interested in modern literature. The hated modern culture that he was firmly stuck in the middle ages. So where did that come from Now i wanna know that certain elite tolkien scholars have noted various instances of of him reading modern literature but not realize that there was a pattern because everyone assuming that he didn't read moderniser. The anyone book was an exception. So that was what got me asking the question. Why why did we get this. And i think exhibit a carpenter statements in the authorized biography that says token read very little modern fiction and took no serious notice of it. Boom there is his authorized biographers saying that he took no serious notice of of modern literature and that is just simply factually incorrect. It's just not the case. So i started asking myself how you know. What is this based on and turns out the carpenter is not as reliable source buyer graphically speaking as we might have thought that he was So he was pretty upfront about the way that he was able to write this biography and also the kind of the approach. He took towards in his attitude towards writing biographies. In general right. Yeah this was. This was actually shocking. Because i i started out suming as one does that. As the authorized biographer. He'd been carefully checked out how to track record of publications cetera and that he'd been really intentionally chosen. None of that is the case I discovered that he had just kind of wangled his way into the project he had originally been picked to help out to write captions for the book that eventually became the tolkien family album and he had been working for bbc radio and the publisher rayner unwin. Who is involved with this project. Thought as he wrote later about this he said well it doesn't take much talent experiences right caption so sure bringing this carpenter guy and carpenter just enmeshed himself in the project. And then i started tracking down interviews. The carpenter given and carpenter himself was asked straight up one interview. How were you chosen by the tolkien estate. And he says will. I wasn't chosen. I rather forced myself upon them. He says that. I forced myself upon them. He went round to individual members of the family. He says and said well. At least i know oxford a little bit. At least i at least did met. Your father knew a little bit. You better pick me or somebody. Worse will come along. So that's he had no published books. He had this was his first book length. Biography he just kind of pushed himself as a great project have wrote the book in under two years on the book was then Eviscerated draft but christopher tolkien ripped it to shreds Found it completely..
The Catholic Culture Podcast
"tolkien" Discussed on The Catholic Culture Podcast
"Everybody welcome back to the catholic culture podcast. Today we're doing other token episode. This is our first in maybe a couple dozen episodes. So we're overdue. And this time we have a recurring guest who i last spoke with an episode thirty back. When i went to the morgan library and museum in new york city to discuss with her and a curator at that museum the tolkien exhibit. They had on his his visual artistic output. Her name is. Holly ordway is the fellow of faith and culture at the word on fire institute. She's also visiting professor of apologetic at houston baptist university. She's a published. Poet and academic work focuses on imaginative apologetic and on the writings of talking. We're here today to talk about her. New book from word on fire academic tolkein's modern reading middle earth beyond the middle ages. A book which challenges popularly accepted notions about tolkien's Lack of interest in lack of reading of and lack of influence by modern works of literature. Holly welcome back to the show. Well it's a pleasure to be back on. So yeah we. We touched on this topic back when we were at the morgan discussing this exhibit partially. Because some of tolkien's visual art especially the stuff that didn't get published in his books during his lifetime. does have a distinctly kind of modern or or more kind of experimental flavor to it that you might not expect so it's nice to be able to come back to this. Yeah i mean that exhibit already gave a bit of a of a glimpse into the way that token is much more i think. Multifaceted complex figure creatively than we probably realise. Do so there. A number of reasons why people have this image of tolkien as like a total reactionary. Total anti-modern which you know there's some obviously some degree of earth truly be ridiculous to deny that there's some element of truth in that and that trail but It's definitely overblown. But one of the big reasons you cite in your book and devote your first chapter two criticizing is the as of now kind of well. The the approved official biography by by humphrey carpenter. Which is the biography. Most people have rat and he also edited tolkein's collected letters. So maybe we can start off talking about that. I found chapter one of this book on. Humphrey free carpenters biography. Very very valuable in reconfiguring. My assump- some of my own assumptions about token and certainly about the trustworthiness of that book right. Because you know. Basically the po-point of tokens moderating is to look at. What talking read In literature which i mark eighteen fifty onward. And what did you think about it. And how do you engage with it..
MinddogTV Your Mind's Best Friend
Meet The Author, Shane Wilson, Realistic Fantasy With A Sharp Edge
"To the big program as i mentioned. It's a an episode of meet the author. Shane wilson is storytelling. No matter the medium. The emphasis of his work is on the magical act of the story and how the stories we tell immortalize us and give us give voice to the abstractions of the human experience. Ladies and gentlemen please open the ears open minds and help me welcome in whoop. Waco shane wilson to the my duck pakistan. Welcome thank you so much. Thanks for being here. Now it's a pleasure so get get me hip two way our way are you are 'cause i'm not sure i know you're a southern guy. Are you giorgia I'm curly in north carolina. You know what i said. That and i don't know why i said that last night but then i was questioning myself. This is why. I asked you this at first up last night. I said it was raised in georgia. Sir right. I read your bio that you i believe born in alabama raising in georgia but i said last night on the air i said i. It's north carolina guy. And then i looked it up today and i was like no. I'm wrong. he's not where they get those carolina from now you just said it. So where did i get it from. It's not online anywhere that fact. I'm getting it actually. You might be psychic. In which case mybookie dot com is definitely a place for you but yeah i mean i feel like somewhere in the bio somewhere in all of the information out there. It probably says that. I teach college in north carolina which is true. Well i did not see. I wasn't aware of that. So you're you what are you. Teaching kalki teach english literature music. I teach composition creative writing that kind of thing very cool stuff so Tell me a little bit about yourself. How how when you kind of got the author bug. We'll start with the author stuff. Then we'll come back to the music little later on but tell me when you when you first realized the way that it should be thing Because i think i've been writing forever I i'd be hard pressed to find a moment in in my life. At least i actually remember when i wasn't writing I remember my parents buying me. An old typewriter When i was just a little kid. And i remember like i would practice spelling on it. i would ask my mom to spell for me like the the most complex words i can think of a kid it was stuff like rhinoceros right and i would ask you to spell it and then i would like pick it out and so i was practicing already getting kind of the bug and then i remember like second grade. I would write these short stories and just handwriting out. I'd put them in a one of those three prong folders and then i would draw cover and glue it on the front Like saw i was already thinking about book design and stuff even though i wasn't cognizant of that right and so yeah like from the from the jump right in has been a part of me and the through. I think the evolution is pretty similar to a lotta guys that are that are writers in that you know middle. School comes along. And now i'm writing poetry in order to hit on girls And the same kind of thing in high school. And then you get when i got into college. The academic spirit kind of squashed some of that creativity as it will do And then on the other side of college. I slowly started to chip away that published some poetry some short stories and then accidentally wrote a novel while There's a lot to respond to their. But i i'm i'm smiling because i thought i'm going to say this now even though i wanted to say this for a little bit later in the conversation but I thought when i saw romance and fantasy stuff betsy kinda stuff that either A guy who's a player trying to impress women or gate would well you know The the romance stuff is is very light. In in most of what i write every now and then i will dip a toe into that sandbox. Because i think and and i don't write traditional romance. When i do that i write stuff that kind of turns genre upside down or i try to. Because ultimately i think romance is kind of trite and empty void of a genre So when i when. I do play over there. I like to to try to get in. Turn it in on itself. A little bit But for the most part the fantasy stuff is it comes from The my academic focus. When i was at school. I studied a ton of magical realism. I had a professor who is very into that genre and sir My master's thesis was on salman rushdie and midnight's children And all that stuff so yeah so like i was reading a ton of magical realism. And so i don't write. What would be considered hard. Fantasy like tolkien. And those guys right fantasy this grounded in our reality but there are magical elements at play.
The Social Hotelier
What are the key factors in executing the digital marketing for tourism and hospitality
"For the last two episodes we have had a very vivid discussion about though wise. And what and today. of course it's going to be a little fun. Talk about the how part. I am with my guest on his head of eat. Tourism research at the university of eastern finland. So welcome you come again. High gripe to be here. This is the last episode. And i'm i'm really excited to get the opportunity to discuss these things about digital marketing with you again. It's it's been great so far. I'm really looking forward all of this episode. Well it's been a great learning experience for me. Also we are sort of. All of us are students because things are changing. If it's minute by minute but so quickly that we have to be able to be nimble and reactive on. What's happening around us. And i think that's where this how part of our feet series comes into the question so let's stocked with them. The point maybe the digital marketing tourism start from motto. Sora help us understand what are the first steps to consider. And and i think this episode bills quite nicely on top of the previous two episodes so we gone through how how the company mission the strategy actually should drive digital marketing. So all the decisions that you do in digital marketing should be. You should be able to connect them with your strategy and your mission and what you're doing bought it to say that it's also possible to do great business without that much thinking abou- strategies and missions. And if you are just able to provide a great customer experience and you are really good at sales and marketing you have all the possibilities to do fantastic basis and and being being able to be a successful With being really good at understanding your business model. But i think everything starts with the customer. So if you don't understand your customer and if you don't have this custom perspective on your own business Then it's it's getting really difficult to be to be successful. Doodoo business that that succeeds and think many times that that is a major issue with with businesses that they are so focused on what they have and how they can sail that while they have instead of looking at customers and understanding the customers one than what the customers need in. How else can be resold or hail wave. What will the company has a not just what we have at this moment but also thinking outside the box and looking at different ways to better serve the needs of of of a customer not alone and not relying just on what we have but also looking for new partnerships and new kind of marketing channels and and all different kinds of options. If you have this customer perspective on your business in are able to put yourself in in customers shoes. I think that's. That's the first. I've where wherever everything about marketing should should be built upon when when we are starting to think the channels and the messages and everything being able to put yourself in in the customer's shoes is fantastic skill to have and also is it so the two should be very specific about to your audiences and who you are. Who are you. Why are you servicing. I have noticed that people tend to get limit wide. They want to go all over the place rather than kind of laser focused on this. And then as you mentioned that the solving the problem i always is only interested in that. Solve the problem that they have not about your product right now so people are typically not interested about companies. People are interested in themselves and watson there for mia and businesses have to figure this out. That's how they tolkien communicate with customers. In last episode we talked about focusing on the benefits that the customer receives instead of the attributes of all we are a whole that will be our restaurant or or who we are as as a destination
Sci-Fi Talk Indie Film
"tolkien" Discussed on Sci-Fi Talk Indie Film
"I've had some films in america in distibuted And but it's not not of course you know Conquered america like vikings along cook columbus day. But i would say that it. It story that needed to be told in english. So you know and whether my next door will be an english i think it's always the story defines the language I'm also a family man to kids. And what might that might mean. I need to do my next to finish initial it can be closer to my family For a while. There's a lot of traveling with this one or then the story coming look story that i really wanna show next is something i need to tell it in english or depending on the action. Perhaps even a small suburban american story. And i don't know yet you never you never you know where. You're just under was just very thankful. I think i've had had so many friends in my life that you know. They're alive so they ended too early. And so thankful that actually experienced tolkien to a person. Like you unexperienced Like you said you know princeton. Sitting on monday with more clarify actively you can heal and the gospel or the laughs or from the reactions from the audience. Something i think that that's that's gonna rewards me very much you know in all. I really appreciate your time. Best of luck. I think this is going to do really well. And we need something besides the avengers out there anyway. So i wish you the best of luck again and take care of their film tolkien and wanna thank you and fox searchlight for making this interview happen really appreciated and best wishes. Thank you much have a nice day. Okay to sir take care now. Tolkien is playing at the near you. This is tony tomato. Thanks so much for listening shane. One apple take two..
Sci-Fi Talk Indie Film
"tolkien" Discussed on Sci-Fi Talk Indie Film
"Sees feel is like an instrument. Or i've watched over sound that it later ads on these themes that was that was idea and cashing nicholas. Who's a phenomenal actor. What did what did you think brought to the part. It's always that when if you doing six totally fictional character that we can you know that even you know just something surprising you can bring a common little bit tied into the real life character. Course even though it's a you know featuring entry. But when i met nicole us in the top of our way and he was you know i thought okay. Let's do nicholas chris meeting. I was surprised. I had seen work. And i knew was knocked. Blossoming i the knocked at the moment. what. I was surprised me what what's his personality. This is intellect to this with his very far And warmth and a bit of a goofiness a playfulness in all those pre trade felt the toll teen had so i think he brought a lot of his own character into it and i said doesn't blossoming at this age as act team leader. Living me loving the camera enjoying during the writer was as we often say You can know that you can build upon that. And i think after i met him feel like it has to be nicholas. He can't be anybody else and then just become. Actually the biggest worry that i had was that can we get him away from x. men because she shooting time and speaking of blossoming you also have lily collins and who's also on her way up as an actor and playing his love interest I mean she's another great find for this part as well. Yes and i think like many. I've seen i've seen in an ethics group film quote to the bone which is about Eating disorders and she's been very open about being a part of her life. And i found it very courageous when actress or an actor kind of open about their own passed on and does a role that is so close themselves on their own experiences and and i was very intrigued to talk to her about the role needed when you know we had to do. We have to do it. True skype because helping dishes in england and she was in los angeles this explosive warmth in her which i felt like the mind. You know you kind of have to go back to that again that thirteen me having my first crush on the elven princess then then how does tolkien see his eating. You know who basically inspired them princes and lucy and especially the first one and when when watching limits felt like that would be the woman who used as we strengthen her there is an added layer intelligent woman in the film somehow their level submitted that i think we've yet seen i think she truly truly Explode as an actress. I'll have more of my conversation with the director of tolkien in just a moment back with more on john. Ra- making on the sci fi. Talk indie podcast. Save one apple.
Artificial Intelligence (AI Podcast) with Lex Fridman
Dmitri Dolgov: Waymo and the Future of Self-Driving Cars
"When did you first fall in love with robotics or even computer science more general computer science. I at a fairly young age. Robotics happened much later. I think my first interesting introduction to computers was in the late eighty s When we got our first computer. I think it was an an. Ibm i think ibm at. Remember those things that had like a turbo button in the frontier precedent. You'll make make the thing goes faster. Did they already have floppy disks. Yeah the the the five point four inch once. I think there's a bigger inch so good when something than five inches and three inches. I that was five. Maybe before that was the giant plates than it didn't get that but it was definitely not the not the three inch ones anyway so that you know we got that computer. I spent the first Few months just know playing video games as you would expect. I got bored of that So i started messing around and trying to figure out how to make the thing. Do other stuff got into Exploring programming and a couple of years later. It got to a point where i actually wrote a game. A lot of games and game developer japanese developer actually offered to buy it from me for a few hundred bucks. But you know for for a kid in russia. The big deal. It's a big deal. Yeah i do not think the deal well integrity. Yeah i instead Pity use those not the most acute financial move that i made my life looking back at it now. I i the reason i put it online. was what would you call. It was freeware. think right. it was not open source. But you could upload the binary that would put the game online idea was that people like it and then they you know contributing to send you a little donations rate so quick math of forcing them thousands and millions of people are gonna play my game couple of bucks a piece. You know definitely do that as i said not. Not the best way to raise about business models remember. What language was programming that was scale which what pascal pasco and had a graphical component did text based. It was like I think there are three hundred twenty by two hundred whatever it was. I think the early resume resume. And i actually think the reason why this company wanted to buy does not like the fancy graphics or the limitation. Those maybe the idea Of actual game but the idea the campaign one of the things i. It's so funny. I used to play this game. Called golden axe and the simplicity of the graphics and something about simplicity of music. Like it's still haunts me. I don't know if that's a childhood thing. I don't know if that's the same thing for call of duty these days for young kids but i still think that the games are simple. That simple purity makes four allows your imagination takeover and thereby creating a more magical experience like now with better graphics. It feels like your imagination doesn't get to Create worlds which is kind of interesting I it could be just an old man approach waving kids these days. That have no respect. But i still think that graphics almost get in the way of the experience i dunno flippered letter. I don't know the case closed. I don't yet but that that's more games at up like it's more like tetris. World where they optimally masterfully create a fun short term dopamine experience versus a more referring to like role playing games. Where there's like a story you can live in it for months or years. like There's an elder scrolls series which is probably my favorite settled games thousand magical experience that the graphics terrible the characters were all randomly generated It pulls you in. There's a story. It's like an interactive version of an elder scrolls. Tolkien world
Unconfirmed: Insights and Analysis From the Top Minds in Crypto
Beeple on How He Raked In $3.5 Million
"Today's guest is mike winkelmann a beagle. Welcome mike great nice to have you so you're a digital artist and you've worked with apple. Louis vitton nike justin bieber and katy perry even producing one digital artwork a day for over thirteen years. How did you get into crypto So a bunch of people just started telling me you should check out this. Nfc stuff and so really only like two months ago. I looked into the space a bit closer and saw a bunch of names that i recognize. You know in my certified design area. And so as i go there definitely seems like there's some here and so i like dole van and i have a computer science degree you know. I'm not a programmer. But you know that piece of it really started like interested me so it. Just the possibilities. I thought were just endless. There was just a bunch of things people by try and get it. I thought sounded really really finally. Try and you ended up having a big digital art sale last weekend that rakes in three point. Five million dollars. Congratulations thank you. Yeah it was crazy the to see. But i also think like it truly is like sort of the start of people really like collecting the I think you know the the the physical tolkien paired with the the annettee. I think email makes it something. People can really understand and sort of like speaks to their inner sort of like collecting voice. And i think it's just the system that you know will be a the future of sort of like you know collecting artwork sieve. Tell us more of the details about that sale. What did you offer. How did you offer it and what happened. Sure saw the biggest thing that i think is different from this sale than previous sales. Is that each of the pieces. Included a physical token you know a digital screen that was very closely tied to the like blockchain. Though it wasn't sort of like you know cries that could be separated easily from the nfl at something. That's very sort of meant to be looked at as one piece And so i. I made you know people ask collect dot com which sort of like houses the collection and then You know there was an open edition For those on sale for just five minutes and then you know which also includes physical token twenty one auction throat. The weekend Sold single edition You know sort of pieces to the highest bidder and so that was sort of like the components of the draft. So you know all weekend. We sold six hundred thousand dollars worth of the open edition five minutes and then you know the everyday's themselves the auction we're going over one hundred thousand dollars on average at last piece went for seven hundred seventy seven thousand dollars so i think it just shows that there's like a huge appetite for you know a tightly sort of connected digital and physical sort of like
Bald Move TV
‘Lord of the Rings’ Series at Amazon Adds 20 Actors to Cast
"Before we say goodbye to lord of the rings amazon has bought the rights to lord of the rings on television streaming or whatever and they're producing something. How much do you know about the project. And what do you think of that project as a big lord of the rings fan. I in nervous. Because i think they're i don't know because i've i've seen in read a bunch of things because the i thought is going to be essentially like Tales from the second age. Like you know like What happened in the prologue of fellowship was essentially going to be that this this franchises climax last war elves and men. You know yes this war say will like there. Weren't you know elves kind of helm's deep didn't happen to book. This is all man's deal like l. july. We don't got the strength anymore. This other thing is like you're supposed to understand that this was a world war just like tolkien fought That liked to reason dwarves and elves and other because this was happening like the dwarfs are being attacked under mountains galadriel hanging onto her forest realm with with only her personal might and her ring of power. she's able to withstand like i. Everything's being like you're like what's happening. Administrator this happening all over the world simultaneously But then i heard that like well it's going to be these random pills from some million then i heard it was going to be like a reimagining of actually the lord of the rings. That's feels like really stupid. Who i don't know it's a i will say this it's fascinating world with a lot of really cool stories And there's a lot the mind there but it all comes down like peter. Jackson couldn't capture this magic twice dune the hobbit broke him you know like like An and patting it out and making it bigger and more commercial and all that kind of stuff. I don't know like it extended they stick to some of the cool stuff that's in the similar million and some of the lost books and details and stuff. That that tolkien's estate is kind of manicured throughout the years like it. It'll probably be pretty good But i don't. I don't know i really don't i have dance. It's the it's they're filming it in new zealand. So that's Something