Is anyone else here a fan of Tolkien? I have seen a few pictures of him smoking a tobacco pipe, and I do know that some people including me are big fans of the LOTR clay pipes and church wardens.
Tolkien
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Nope. Didn't care for the movies, never ever read the books, and haven't even watched the Hobbit. Plus I don't care for clay pipes and I think church warden pipes are cumbersome. If there was a rule, I'm the exception to it. :mrgreen:
Star Wars > LOTR :nana:
Star Wars > LOTR :nana:
I like reading Tolkien's source material these days - Icelandic sagas, the Poetic Edda (the names of the entire party of dwarves in "The Hobbit" were lifted wholesale from "The Catalogue of the Dwarves"...), Anglo-Saxon history, etc.
I think slogging through "The Silmarillion" in high school burned me out for a while. Still enjoy LOTR, and I've seen all of the movies so far, but it will be a while before I feel like re-reading.
I think slogging through "The Silmarillion" in high school burned me out for a while. Still enjoy LOTR, and I've seen all of the movies so far, but it will be a while before I feel like re-reading.
I've read the Hobbit more times than I have fingers and toes. LOTR a half dozen times, all three books. The Silmarillion, only once, and that was too much. Yes, I'm a fan, but not the reason I smoke a pipe.
The Silmarillion was published after his death, and written, or compiled, from JRRs notes. It was not really meant to be a novel.
The Silmarillion was published after his death, and written, or compiled, from JRRs notes. It was not really meant to be a novel.
Big fan. Read everything in the lord of the rings series including Hobbit, Silmarrilion and Children of Turin more than once. Only time I stood in line for a movie opening day was the first film. Now more a sci-fi guy. Currently reading a lot of Niven.
I read it just to say I read it.
I am excited about the second part of The Hobbit coming out this winter.
I am excited about the second part of The Hobbit coming out this winter.
I'm firmly convinced that The Lord of the Rings will go down in literary history as one of the greatest works of the 20th century. Not the reason I smoke pipes; I first read LOTR back in junior high, over 40 years ago. I re-read it every few years. The movies too, are quite good; Peter Jackson did a marvelous job of adapting Tolkien to film.
I'm a fan of anything Tolkien. It's hard not to be when your wife was a English/Literature major. She even took a Tolkien class!
I am the biggest Tolkien fan out there. Have read The Hobbit and LOTR maybe twelve times, The Silmarillion maybe three times. I believe they are one of the greatest works of fiction ever written. I memorized (the second half of) the tale of Beren and Luthien and can trot it out at a moments notice. I learned to write in Elvish script, and would write to a buddy in Oklahoma. Sometimes I couldn't figure out what he had written because he would write with an American accent.
Another of my Tolkien buddys took a jewelry class. He asked all of us to secretly write one word describing each other, then he made each of us a silver ring. When we got them, he said look and see if you can see any writing on them. We couldn't. He then carefully warmed one in the fireplace, and elvish letters appeared on the outside and inside. On the outside was our Dungeons and Dragons name, and on the inside was the word the others had used to describe us. It only worked the once, and after that the letters were permanent, but still pretty damn cool.
Tolkien is actually the reason I started smoking pipes.
As for the movies, if you accept the fact that they have little in common with the books, they're good movies, but I just got done re-watching Return of the King and am halfway through Two Towers (4 hour movies!). That didn't happen, that whole scene was made up, he didn't say that, that character didn't even exist, another scene totally made up etc. The pipe Merry gave Gimli in the ruins of Isengard was a small pipe, with a wide, flattened bowl. Not a churchwarden.
Another of my Tolkien buddys took a jewelry class. He asked all of us to secretly write one word describing each other, then he made each of us a silver ring. When we got them, he said look and see if you can see any writing on them. We couldn't. He then carefully warmed one in the fireplace, and elvish letters appeared on the outside and inside. On the outside was our Dungeons and Dragons name, and on the inside was the word the others had used to describe us. It only worked the once, and after that the letters were permanent, but still pretty damn cool.
Tolkien is actually the reason I started smoking pipes.
As for the movies, if you accept the fact that they have little in common with the books, they're good movies, but I just got done re-watching Return of the King and am halfway through Two Towers (4 hour movies!). That didn't happen, that whole scene was made up, he didn't say that, that character didn't even exist, another scene totally made up etc. The pipe Merry gave Gimli in the ruins of Isengard was a small pipe, with a wide, flattened bowl. Not a churchwarden.
I must admit that it was after reading the hobbit and lord of the rings that I got my first pipe.
Love Tolkien.
My dad picked up a book on vinyl of the Hobbit in the early '70s read by Nichol Nicholson (Merlin from the 80's film: "Excalibur"). listened to it a billion times and still have it on all my ipods/phones/etc.
First read the Hobbit when I was 7. Didn't get through LOTR til I was 11. Silmarillion at 14. Read them more often than I can count. For a while it was an annual occurance to go through the whole set.
I was NOT able, for several years, to forgive Peter Jackson for what he did to Tolkien's story. Understanding his need to trim down the story did not justify his character assassination of Frodo, Faramir, and Théoden nor his meandering through the plot.
I walked out of the two towers in the theater and never saw the return of the king (in theatres).
I was forced to watch Bakshi's Lord of the Rings (Which was WAAY more true to the story) many times while people around me chortled about the new gollum and whatnot.
I have gotten over it and now consider the movies to be something else. They are Jackson's vehicle, not at all Tolkien's.
Love his pipe smoking pics, but he isn't the reason I smoke.
My dad picked up a book on vinyl of the Hobbit in the early '70s read by Nichol Nicholson (Merlin from the 80's film: "Excalibur"). listened to it a billion times and still have it on all my ipods/phones/etc.
First read the Hobbit when I was 7. Didn't get through LOTR til I was 11. Silmarillion at 14. Read them more often than I can count. For a while it was an annual occurance to go through the whole set.
I was NOT able, for several years, to forgive Peter Jackson for what he did to Tolkien's story. Understanding his need to trim down the story did not justify his character assassination of Frodo, Faramir, and Théoden nor his meandering through the plot.
I walked out of the two towers in the theater and never saw the return of the king (in theatres).
I was forced to watch Bakshi's Lord of the Rings (Which was WAAY more true to the story) many times while people around me chortled about the new gollum and whatnot.
I have gotten over it and now consider the movies to be something else. They are Jackson's vehicle, not at all Tolkien's.
Love his pipe smoking pics, but he isn't the reason I smoke.
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