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S. Lewis</category><category>tea China</category><category>tea plant</category><category>tengwar</category><category>the Tolkien Professor</category><category>the election</category><category>the rules</category><category>tobacco</category><category>tolkien recordings</category><category>torture</category><category>train</category><category>transcripts</category><category>tree beavers</category><category>treebeard</category><category>trolls</category><category>ubiquity</category><category>vacation photos</category><category>walking the cats</category><category>wars</category><category>whales</category><category>work in progress</category><category>zombies</category><category>zoos</category><title>Sacnoth's Scriptorium</title><description></description><link>http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/</link><managingEditor>noreply@blogger.com (John D. Rateliff)</managingEditor><generator>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>2452</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-3900159041155769325</guid><pubDate>Thu, 07 Dec 2023 04:47:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-12-06T20:47:57.255-08:00</atom:updated><title>Tolkien's Little List</title><description><p>So, the &nbsp;previous post on Tolkien's brief correspondence with the great folklorist Katharine Briggs reminded me of something I'd come across a while back about Tolkien's connection with Briggs.</p><p>In Scull &amp; Hammond's excellent CHRONOLOGY, they give an entry mentioning a list of people Tolkien wanted sent an author's complementary copy of SMITH OF WOOTTON MAJOR (ten in England and three more in America), then move on to give a second list of ten names "to whom future publications should be sent, since he owes them 'a considerable amount for help, encouragement, and gifts . . .'&nbsp;</p><p><b><span>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;</span>Simonne d'Ardenne</b></p><p><b><span>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;</span>George Sayer</b></p><p><b><span>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;</span>Austin and Katharine Farrar</b></p><p><b><span>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;</span>the Reverend Mother Prioress of Oulton Abbey</b></p><p><b><span>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;</span><span style="color: red;">K. M. Briggs</span></b></p><p><b><span>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;</span>Professor P. N. U. Harting of Amsterday</b></p><p><b><span>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;</span>the Earl of Halsbury,</b></p><p><b><span>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;</span>Professor Clyde Kilby</b></p><p><b><span>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;</span>Edmund Fuller,</b></p><p><b><span>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;</span>and W. H. Auden"</b></p><p><b><span><span>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<span>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;<span>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;</span></span></span>&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;</span>[S&amp;H.Chr.747]</b></p><p><br /></p><p>It was just their bad luck that Tolkien published v. little during those final years, but the list remains a marker that he held a high opinion of each of these ten --some of them names familiar to any Tolkien scholar, some I confess to never having heard of before (the Reverend Mother and the Dutch Professor).&nbsp;</p><p>--John R.</p><p>--current reading:&nbsp;A STRANGER IN OLONDRIA.</p></description><link>http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2023/12/tolkiens-little-list.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (John D. Rateliff)</author><thr:total>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-302849606746655454</guid><pubDate>Thu, 07 Dec 2023 04:43:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-12-06T20:43:38.485-08:00</atom:updated><title>A Little Following Up</title><description><p>So, the great Kent internet blackout of 2023 is now over, after essentially what was a long, long day. Nobody physically hurt so far as I've been able to tell, but with massive disruption of people's daily lives. It's sobering sometimes to be reminded how much we depend on our devices, and how vulnerable the system is. Of various reports I found, the Kent Reporter did the best job in reporting facts.</p><p><a href="https://www.kentreporter.com/news/thousands-in-kent-lose-comcast-service-after-vandals-damage-cable-lines/">https://www.kentreporter.com/news/thousands-in-kent-lose-comcast-service-after-vandals-damage-cable-lines/</a></p><p>As a personal note, we have friends who live about three blocks down the same street where the sabotage took place, just a few blocks off a busy (4-lane) street, in an area where patches of rural Renton &amp; Kent can still be found here and there. It's by no means a remote area. I suspect the timing of the attack (about 5 am) had a lot to do with how they got away with it.</p><p>--John R.</p></description><link>http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2023/12/a-little-following-up.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (John D. Rateliff)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-1246917494879577515</guid><pubDate>Fri, 01 Dec 2023 08:13:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-12-01T00:13:52.202-08:00</atom:updated><title>The Day Without the Internet</title><description><p>So, sometime last night or this morning some vandal(s) decided to cut the cables that provides our internet connection.</p><p>&nbsp;They've just gors our re-connected. More when I know more --this is one story, which (as the phrase goes) really gets us where we live.</p><p>--John R.</p></description><link>http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-day-without-internet.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (John D. Rateliff)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-6813597234902072014</guid><pubDate>Thu, 30 Nov 2023 02:50:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-11-29T18:50:16.666-08:00</atom:updated><title>Briggs and Tolkien</title><description><p>So, it feels good to read a case of persistence paying off. Thanks to researcher Katy Makin's willingness to sort through bundles of letters and documents, she found a real treasure: a letter from J. R. R. Tolkien to renowned folklore scholar and fellow author Katharine Briggs. Taken together with two letters in the Bodleian, this letter in the Folklore Society Archive at University College London forms a brief correspondence: &nbsp;</p><p>Briggs to Tolkien, October 11th 1954. &nbsp;[Bodleian]</p><p>Tolkien's reply, 13th October. &nbsp;[Folklore Society Archive]</p><p>Briggs' follow-up, 21st October. &nbsp;[Bodleian]</p><p>This thus falls in the brief period between the publication of THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (29th July) and that of THE TWO TOWERS (November 11th). The brief excerpt from Tolkien's letter accompanying this articles reveals that Briggs had two specific critiques. First, she zeroed in on the changes made to try to bring the the Gollum chapter in THE HOBBIT into line w. the new account of those events in the new book (something that did not get satisfactorily resolved until the changes of 1944/47). And second she found it hard to believe that anyone wd run with his hands in his pockets as Bilbo is said to have done.</p><p>Regarding Gollum she replies <b>'I hope you will approve of my treatment of his unhappy psychology'</b>.&nbsp;</p><p>In addition to the gollum scene she alludes briefly to the return of the king: 'hope this is Aragorn' --a reminded that the third volume's title is more ambiguous than some wd have it.&nbsp;</p><p>I'm particularly glad to learn of Makin's discovery because I've long been certain some correspondence existed between K.M.B. and J. R. R. Tolkien but have never managed to make any sort of methodical search for it. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p><div>The timing of Tolkien's and Brigg's exchange is significant. The first of Brigg's two masterpieces --the novel HOBBERDY DICK (1955)* -- was not yet out, while the other, her best-known work, AN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF FAIRES (1976)**, &nbsp;wd not come out until a few years after Tolkien's death. In addition to warm praise of Tolkien's work, Brigg's ENCYCLOPEDIA marked the re-discovery of THE DENHAM TRACTS, with its appearance of <b>Hobbits</b> in the work of a folklore collector in the 1850s.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>&nbsp;&nbsp;TSR clearly used Brigg's DICTIONARY as a major resource for folklore creatures in the D&amp;D roleplaying game.*** The same is true of Wizards of the Coast for Magic: the Gathering; a copy of Brigg's book was in WotC's games library of resource and reference materials.<b>&nbsp;&nbsp;</b></div><div><br /></div><div>Here's the article about Makin's discovery:</div><div><a href="https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/special-collections/2023/11/23/an-unexpected-discovery/">https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/special-collections/2023/11/23/an-unexpected-discovery/</a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div>--John R.</div><div><br /></div><div><div>*We know that CSL read HOBBERDY DICK, though rather condescendingly</div><div><br /></div><div>**also known as A DICTIONARY OF FAIRIES</div></div><div><div><br /></div><div>***My own copy is starting to disintegrate; a note inside tells me this was a gift from Charles Noad, a detail I had forgotten.</div></div><div><br /></div></description><link>http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2023/11/briggs-and-tolkien.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (John D. Rateliff)</author><thr:total>3</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-6472138214707945016</guid><pubDate>Sat, 25 Nov 2023 05:12:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-11-24T21:12:34.386-08:00</atom:updated><title>Italy and Tolkienians</title><description><p>So, sometimes admirers of Tolkien find themselves amid surprising company. I was recently reminded of how reception to his work can differ strongly from country to country. For example, while in the U.S. Tolkien's work by and large was embraced by liberals of a hippy/ counterculture cast, in Italy Tolkien was much admired by conservatives (including arch-conservatives). That dichotomy persists, as witnessed to by a major exhibition in honor of his life and works:&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align: center;">TOLKIEN: MAN, PROFESSOR, AUTHOR</p><p>I strongly became aware of this when I attended a small Tolkien conference Robin Reid organized in Commerce, Texas in about 2014 or thereabouts. There I was a panelist with Doug Anderson and an Italian Tolkien scholar whose name I have forgotten, and first heard about right-wing youth camps like 'Camp Hobbit'.&nbsp;</p><p>Looking back at this now, in conjunction with the big new Italian exhibit, this interests me most as yet another piece of evidence about Tolkien having worked himself into the mainstream, even if it's paradoxically slightly different mainstreams. Rather than small displays on college campuses, the past few years have seen high-profile exhibits in Oxford, Paris, New York City, and now Rome. Or as the museum's curator put it, <i>The show,</i> he said<i>, was a watershed moment. 'It has been legitimized' .</i>" This point is driven home by the name-dropping: attendees to the Rome event include the prime minister, the minister of culture, and the economy minister, some of whom got private tours.</p><p>An odd moment comes with mention of a wall displaying blurbs praising Tolkien, including one from Ringo (who is not so surprising) and another from Obama, which is. At least I've never heard before anything to indicate that Obama was a fan of Tolkien. Here's the quote:</p><p><i>Mr. Obama was quoted in the exhibit as saying he had moved on from the Hardy Boys</i></p><p>In a second quote, from an interview with student journalists, Obama is reported to have said</p><p><i>. . . that when he was about 13 years old, he started reading 'more serious books' like </i>To Kill a Mockingbird, <i>that made you think a little bit more. They weren't just kind of adventure stories, but they were also, you know, stories that taught me about social problems</i>'</p><p>I have to say the part that attracted me most while reading the piece is the news that a photo from Tolkien's Italian costal cruise, of JRRT "posing in a monastery on vacation in Italy" was apparently included --that is if I'm reading the captions rightly. I assume that image is behind the paywall. Pity.</p><p>Thanks to Andrew H for the link to the New York Times article</p><p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/17/world/europe/italy-tolkien-exhibition-meloni.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/17/world/europe/italy-tolkien-exhibition-meloni.html</a>&nbsp;</p><p>Those who want to pursue the issue in more depth, including information on the 240 page catalogue (<b>TOLKIEN: UOMO, PROFESSORE, AUTORE</b>) &nbsp;can find it at the Tolkien Collectors website:&nbsp;</p><p><a href="https://www.tolkienguide.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=53075#:~:text=Man%2C%20Professor%2C%20Author%20sets%20out,above%20all%20a%20modern%20mythmaker.">https://www.tolkienguide.com/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?post_id=53075#:~:text=Man%2C%20Professor%2C%20Author%20sets%20out,above%20all%20a%20modern%20mythmaker.</a></p><p>--John R.</p><h1 id="forumpost52868" style="background-color: white; caret-color: rgb(39, 39, 39); color: #272727; font-family: Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 0.1em; margin-top: 0.1em;"></h1><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></description><link>http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2023/11/italy-and-tolkienians.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (John D. Rateliff)</author><thr:total>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-3552205316925876863</guid><pubDate>Thu, 23 Nov 2023 02:13:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-11-22T18:13:28.706-08:00</atom:updated><title>Tolkien Coin</title><description><p>So, I found out about this from a friend, and then managed to get a copy through the help of another friend. Many thanks to both.</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEim8dkRRHg0XjFnQhE-xjxN4F5IhzTw4HOWUQ3z1bakj7OcJW8WZB24NVfCBaDJSxFDBKHxxnMG4wA5G7joDEy663o5CUVVupvos_GpSAZ3obKxIkbrrc9Q6Ljp4D7mTEtnwauzTBPqfYyjhYZozq5i7CXvT2ZrDdGCyuKRNrr3er063lPa09tiuT2GeUSF" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="1200" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEim8dkRRHg0XjFnQhE-xjxN4F5IhzTw4HOWUQ3z1bakj7OcJW8WZB24NVfCBaDJSxFDBKHxxnMG4wA5G7joDEy663o5CUVVupvos_GpSAZ3obKxIkbrrc9Q6Ljp4D7mTEtnwauzTBPqfYyjhYZozq5i7CXvT2ZrDdGCyuKRNrr3er063lPa09tiuT2GeUSF" width="320" /></a></div><br />This new commemorative (actual money value: two pounds) shows Tolkien's iconic initial on one side and King Charles on the other (the first coin I've seen showing the new monarch). Three words describing Tolkien appear near the bottom, and their choice is interesting:&nbsp;<p></p><p style="text-align: center;">Writer</p><p style="text-align: center;">Poet</p><p style="text-align: center;">Scholar</p><p><br /></p><p>I don't think anyone wd disagree with the first,* and the third is equally appropriate. It's interesting, therefore, to note, that in the accompanying folder that holds the coin Tolkien is described as a Philologist. I suspect the replacement of "Philologist" by "Scholar" on the coin itself is due to the fact that most people don't know what a philologist is.&nbsp;</p><p>The middle term, Poet, is also an interesting choice, and the one I think wd surprise Tolkien the most (albeit pleasantly so).&nbsp;</p><p>https://www.royalmint.com/shop/limited-editions/tolkien/&nbsp;</p><p><br /></p><p>There's said to be another inscription on the rim of the coin, but since I can't get the coin out of its holder without damaging the latter, I'll have to take this on faith. The rim-inscription is said to read &nbsp;<i>Not all those who wander are lost</i>, Bilbo's riddle about Strider, which has become the iconic Tokien quote these days.&nbsp;</p><p>Based on some of the descriptions I saw online I originally thought the coin had tengwar on it, but now that I can take a closer look at it I have to say this seems not to be the case. Pity: to have an invented language/script appearing on a real-world coin wd have introduced an interaction between real-world and secondary world.</p><p><br /></p><p>--John R.</p><p>--current reading: Thr Secret Commonwealth</p><p>*Unless they disapprove of Tolkien altogether. Some do.</p><p><br /></p></description><link>http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2023/11/tolkien-coin.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (John D. Rateliff)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEim8dkRRHg0XjFnQhE-xjxN4F5IhzTw4HOWUQ3z1bakj7OcJW8WZB24NVfCBaDJSxFDBKHxxnMG4wA5G7joDEy663o5CUVVupvos_GpSAZ3obKxIkbrrc9Q6Ljp4D7mTEtnwauzTBPqfYyjhYZozq5i7CXvT2ZrDdGCyuKRNrr3er063lPa09tiuT2GeUSF=s72-c" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-8690298226809063689</guid><pubDate>Sun, 19 Nov 2023 04:29:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-11-18T20:29:14.258-08:00</atom:updated><title>THE LETTERS OF JRRT (expanded edition)</title><description><p>So, the big news among Tolk folk this week is the release of the revised and expanded edition of <b>THE LETTERS OF J. R. R. TOLKIEN</b>. The original book came out in 1981 and ran to 462 pages; this new volume passes the seven hundred page mark (708 to be exact). The new material comes &nbsp;from restoration of previously abridged passages; I'll particularly be interested in additions of previously unknown or uncollected letters.*</p><p>I expect like its predecessor it'll be the most detailed and insightful source for 'Tolkien on Tolkien', both in what Tolkien says about his works in letters to his readers and in autobiographical passages. &nbsp;</p><p>Of course this is not a <b>Complete Letters</b> -- that's probably still a good thirty years off. But the original LETTERS is probably, along with OFS, the work by Tolkien I most frequently consult. And I don't expect that to change.</p><p>So, a good day for a major resource to be enhanced and re-released.</p><p>I know I'll be working my way through it for weeks to come.</p><p>--John R.</p><p>*I assume any letter that appeared in the 1981 version will be grandfathered in</p></description><link>http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2023/11/the-letters-of-jrrt-expanded-edition.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (John D. Rateliff)</author><thr:total>2</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-4869780580312410065</guid><pubDate>Sun, 19 Nov 2023 00:29:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-11-18T16:29:03.527-08:00</atom:updated><title>Holding a Grudge</title><description><p>So, the most interesting thing I found in the Stoker biography was not about Stoker himself but Sir Henry Irving, whom Stoker served as right-hand man, manager, fixer, and all around alter ego.&nbsp;</p><p>It was Irving's lifelong ambition to be knighted, not so much for the personal honor but to demonstrate that acting was an art on par with writing poetry, composing music, and the like. But when he died, his estranged wife tried to prevent his being buried in Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey. &nbsp;Now that I call holding a grudge.*</p><p>--John R.</p><p>--current reading: THE SECRET COMMONWEALTH by Phillip Pullman.</p><p>*she failed, by the way</p></description><link>http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2023/11/holding-grudge.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (John D. Rateliff)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-107017006371009904</guid><pubDate>Thu, 16 Nov 2023 04:10:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-11-18T16:34:10.195-08:00</atom:updated><title>This can't be good</title><description><p>So, have you ever had that experience where you're reading a book and realize halfway through that you've read it before? I had something of the sort happened to me last week, only slightly weirder.</p><p>I'd been reading two books, going back and forth between them, when I lost track of where I was in one book. It was the denser of the two but &nbsp;you think &nbsp;I'd be able to skim around in it and find where I'd been, but this turned out not to be the case. I eventually picked a spot I felt reasonably certain about, and read on from that point--better to overread than underread, I decided.</p><p>In my defense, the book I got lost in is Timothy S. Murphy's new detailed, dense, and complex study of WILLIAM HOPE HODGSON AND THE RISE OF THE WEIRD: POSSIBILITIES OF THE DARK.* I'm glad to see the case made for Hodgson being one of the greats, but I found it a difficult book to unpack. Murphy is capable of committing a sentence like&nbsp;</p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>We might say that <i>The House on the Borderlands</i>&nbsp;</b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>(1908) presents&nbsp;a fantastically accelerated&nbsp;</b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>diachronic overview of deep cosmological</b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b>time's abyss as Hodgson imagines it. </b>(Murphy .132)**</p><p><br /></p><p>The other book, by the way, is BRAM STOKER: A BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR OF DRACULA by Barbara Belford (1996), which does a good job of showing how Stoker was linked to contemporaries like Wilde, Shaw, Gilbert, and, more surprisingly, Whitman and Twain. Unfortunately Belford has A Theory*** she keeps dragging in without ever really making a case for. Pity.</p><p>--John R.</p><p>--current reading: resting the brain with the newest Murderbot book, just out on Kindle.</p><p><br /></p><p>*As a connoisseur of footnotes, I have to say I admire Murphy's ability to pack so much into his title, which essentially consists of title, subtitle, and sub-subtitle.</p><p>**I shd note that his book is part of the series Perspectives on Fantasy (2023)</p><div>***briefly, that Stoker had a female side he sought to find expression for.</div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>UPDATE</b></div><div>Thanks, Andrew.</div><div>If that's the case, wish Belford had been more forthright about that side of Stoker</div><div>--JDR</div></description><link>http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2023/11/this-cant-be-good.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (John D. Rateliff)</author><thr:total>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-806416123805363929</guid><pubDate>Wed, 08 Nov 2023 02:06:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-11-07T18:06:36.313-08:00</atom:updated><title>Cat Communication</title><description><p>So, thanks to Janice for this one.&nbsp;</p><p>A study by animal behavior researchers in Batesville* shows that cats are expressive. By which they don't means half a dozen expressions but more like 276. A good example of scientists 'discovering' something pretty much all cat-lovers already knew.</p><p>The main gap in this project is that they didn't expand it to include cat interacting w. people</p><p>Here's the link.</p><p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/11/07/cats-facial-expressions-study-meaning/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/11/07/cats-facial-expressions-study-meaning/</a></p><p>--John R.</p><p>*(in the NE corner of Arkansas, within about an hour's drive of Memphis; we lived near here in Jonesburo for about a year when I was growing up)</p></description><link>http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2023/11/cat-communication.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (John D. Rateliff)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-8814738442027649048</guid><pubDate>Thu, 02 Nov 2023 02:14:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-11-01T19:14:08.305-07:00</atom:updated><title>Now & Then</title><description><p>&nbsp;</p>So, this will be interesting.<div><br /><div>This week they're releasing what's being billed as the last Beatles song. It began life as a poor-quality cassette recording by John from 1979 upon which he'd written "for Paul". Yoko, in an admirable show of generosity, passed it on to Paul, who got together with George and Ringo to see what they cd do. &nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>This was meant to be the third of three Lennon songs that were featured on THE BEATLES ANTHOLOGY part one (the mediocre "Free as a Bird") and part two (the haunting "Real Love"). But when the three surviving Beatles listened to this third song, the sound quality was too poor to be usable; the song was abandoned, and the third volume left with a v. obvious hole in it.&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>It was not until recently that Sir Peter Jackson offered up software his people had developed that cd separate John's voice from the piano. Add in some guitar recorded by George in the mid-nineties intended for the third ANTHOLOGY album (circa 1996) along with new material by Ringo and Paul, and&nbsp;</div><div><br /></div><div>Here's a twelve-minute documentary account of the story behind the song. It will be of no interest to anyone not deeply interested in The Beatles, but shd be of a lot of interest to those who are. Here's the link:<br /><div><br /></div><div><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APJAQoSCwuA">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=APJAQoSCwuA</a></div><div><br /></div><div>--John R.</div></div></div></description><link>http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2023/11/now-then.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (John D. Rateliff)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-1434193220814795207</guid><pubDate>Tue, 31 Oct 2023 04:48:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-10-30T21:48:04.952-07:00</atom:updated><title>Hodgson vs. Lovecraft (style)</title><description><p>&nbsp;<span style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;">&nbsp;</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">So, recently I've been re-reading Lovecraft's THE DUNWICH HORROR, which reminded me of a post I made about this story a good decade or so back. My parody was a bit unfair, as parodies often are, but I think it makes a valid point: that Lovecraft suffers as a writer of horror because he's too easily frightened. Here's the link:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">&nbsp;http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2014/03/lovecraft-was-easily-scared.html<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">A particular feature that stands out for me this time is Lovecraft's prose style. Lovecraft criticizes Wm Hope Hodgson for his prose, while committing eccentricities of style himself.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">Here's what Lovecraft had to say about Hodgson' prose style:<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><i>. . . seriously marred by painful verboseness, repetitiousness, artificial and nauseously sticky romantic sentimentality, and an attempt at archaic language even more grotesque and absurd [than in WHH's earlier book&nbsp;</i>THE BOATS OF THE "GLEN CARRIG"<i>].*<o:p></o:p></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">So let's compare Hodgson's invented dialect, which succeeds in distancing his tale into a late 17th through early 18th century framework<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><i>And surely I sped forever through the dreadful hours, and went neither to the right nor to the left, neither did I strive to hide in the bushes nor to evade aught, for I knew that the Maid died slowly in mine arms, and there to be no more gain in life, save by speed, that I have her swift to the Mighty Pyramid to the care of the Doctors. And a great and despairing madness grew ever within me **<o:p></o:p></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">with Lovecraft's painful attempt to capture yankee hillbilly dialect<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><i>Up that in the rudbeyont the glen, Mis' Corey -- they'ssuthin' ben thar! It smells like thunder, an all the bushes an' little trees is pushed back from the rud like they'd a haouse ben moved along it. An'that ain't the wust, nuther. They's prints in the rud, Mis' Corey -- great raound prints as big as barrel-heads, all sunk daown deep like an elephant had ben along,&nbsp;</i>only they's a sight more nor four feet could make.<i>&nbsp;&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">[Kindle text]<i><o:p></o:p></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">Whatever these two texts' merits or otherwise in authenticity,*** I wd suggest that Hodgson's is far more readable.&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">And then there's Lovecraft's fondness for a few obscure words, such as eldritch, which have achieved the status of self-parody.</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">--John R.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">current reading: Stoker biography.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><i>*&nbsp;</i>[SUPERNATURAL HORROR IN LITERATURE, pages 59-60]<i><o:p></o:p></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">**[THE NIGHT LAND, THE COLLECTED FICTION OF [WHH] Volume Four page 365]<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">***Lovecraft did a much better job with the 18th century diction in THE CASE OF CHARLES DEXTER WARD, the best of all his 'antiquarian' tales<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p></description><link>http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2023/10/hodgson-vs-lovecraft-style.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (John D. Rateliff)</author><thr:total>3</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-5310118486889817199</guid><pubDate>Fri, 20 Oct 2023 02:43:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-10-19T19:43:13.366-07:00</atom:updated><title>A Saharan Tortoise in the Spinich</title><description><p>&nbsp;So, here's an odd story about someone who went out to check her garden and found huge tortoise eating her spinach. Clearly someone not given to panic, she contacted her local animal rescue, who have taken it in until it can be rehoused. Here's the link:</p><p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/18/frank-tank-tortoise-needs-home-canada">https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/18/frank-tank-tortoise-needs-home-canada</a></p><p>--John R.</p></description><link>http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2023/10/a-saharan-tortoise-in-spinich.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (John D. Rateliff)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-7657592571705868758</guid><pubDate>Sun, 15 Oct 2023 22:17:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-10-15T18:09:49.698-07:00</atom:updated><title>Giving Agency to Words</title><description><p>&nbsp;So, this caught my eye in Friday's WASHINGTON POST, and I thought I'd share:</p><p><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/10/13/word-but-satire-petri/">https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/10/13/word-but-satire-petri/</a></p><p>--John R.</p><p>--current re-readings: THE MARTIAN by Weir and THE NIGHT LAND by Hodgson</p></description><link>http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2023/10/giving-agency-to-words.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (John D. Rateliff)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-4005570613843061802</guid><pubDate>Thu, 12 Oct 2023 03:34:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-10-11T20:34:10.280-07:00</atom:updated><title>An Odd Little Election</title><description><p>So, as I've occasionally commented on before, Washington State elections are purely by mail these days. This makes it easier to vote. All you have to do is take the voter's pamphlet that comes in the mail, read over the candidates' statements of qualifications and endorsements, mark your choices on the official ballot sheet, and mail it in. There's even time to go online and see which candidates have their own websites or look at the flyers different campaigns have put out; sometimes I vote against a candidate based on the toxicity of his or her supporters.</p><p>But no system is perfect, and democracy as practiced here sometimes has its absurd aspects. For example. the most recent voter pamphlet, arriving today, listing all the candidates and their pitches reveals that this election only has three races. All judicial, and all unopposed. The state seems to have made the deliberate decision to hold elections often, presumably to get people used to voting often, I worry that having a stream of little elections dilutes the impact having one or two big election wd have.</p><p>Here's hoping Washington has an engaged but undramatic election(s) over this next year</p><p>--John R.</p><p><br /></p></description><link>http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2023/10/an-odd-little-election.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (John D. Rateliff)</author><thr:total>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-7009539661860305679</guid><pubDate>Wed, 11 Oct 2023 00:57:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-10-10T17:57:33.988-07:00</atom:updated><title>Seattle's Antiquarian Book Fair (October 14th & 15th)</title><description><p>&nbsp;So, it's that time of year again when booksellers of old, rare, or unusual books gather down at the Seattle Center to offer up for sale everything from historical documents (e.g., signed letters from presidents and authors*), pulp magazines (need to fill out missing issues of Weird Tales?), and of course old books or those with regional connections.&nbsp;</p><p>In past visits I've found such items as early books by Leiber, Hodgson's CARNACKI THE GHOST FINDER, &nbsp;and several Arkham House collections by Clark Ashton Smith.&nbsp;</p><p>Perhaps best of all is the discovery of books I didn't know about before running across them at some dealer's display. We're having a busy October of it so far and may not make it this year, but if we do I know that in a few hours of exploring the offerings I'll find more books than I can afford or find space for. We'll see how it goes, esp. &nbsp;with my current resolve to balance the number of books coming in with that of those going out.&nbsp;</p><p>Here's the link.</p><p><a href="http://www.seattlebookfair.com">http://www.seattlebookfair.com</a></p><p>--John R.</p><p><br /></p><p>*It's where we bought our Tolkien letter years ago, before the price shot up</p><p><br /></p></description><link>http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2023/10/seattles-antiquarian-book-fair-october.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (John D. Rateliff)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-129141619557998228</guid><pubDate>Tue, 10 Oct 2023 19:40:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-10-10T12:40:47.888-07:00</atom:updated><title>Sir Philip wins the Bodley Medal</title><description><p>&nbsp;So, fans of Sir Philip Pullman's work will be glad to learn that he is being awarded The Bodley Medal next month. This is the same award given to Christopher Tolkien in 1916. Once again, it's good to see his work in fantasy particularly called out for recognition.</p><p>Here's the link describing the event (schduled for November 9th):</p><p><span style="caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 238); color: #0000ee; text-decoration: underline;">https://visit.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/event/bodley-medal-philip-pullman?utm_source=Bodleian+Libraries&amp;utm_campaign=1a4dbc9f07-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2023_10_06_11_25&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_term=0_-1a4dbc9f07-%5BLIST_EMAIL_ID%5D&amp;mc_cid=1a4dbc9f07&amp;mc_eid=b7cf1fcbb8</span></p><p><br /></p><p>And here's a short piece listing previous honorees.</p><p><a href="https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/about/libraries/bodley-medal">https://www.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/about/libraries/bodley-medal</a></p><p>--John R.</p><p><br /></p></description><link>http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2023/10/sir-philip-wins-bodley-medal.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (John D. Rateliff)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-8699296093051586583</guid><pubDate>Tue, 10 Oct 2023 00:47:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-10-09T17:47:45.902-07:00</atom:updated><title>TSR R&D Staff, Lake Geneva, 1996</title><description><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjX5_a6cw6iMkzCBXDUND7z4ICT2RiRvao-IjyNtEEXSg7TDxPF7s1To_pqO1syAYrq14rpr8gJropdkwQriDCGVKF41fQQ8XzQwA2qlV7nciRKh0_zu-fxuobEzBIy2qTLPqFMucoUuP5PakVbr2OuSe0vFKETnChfeYstuFTmHkDpwYwubQbjtoj2cBMJ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1854" data-original-width="1465" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjX5_a6cw6iMkzCBXDUND7z4ICT2RiRvao-IjyNtEEXSg7TDxPF7s1To_pqO1syAYrq14rpr8gJropdkwQriDCGVKF41fQQ8XzQwA2qlV7nciRKh0_zu-fxuobEzBIy2qTLPqFMucoUuP5PakVbr2OuSe0vFKETnChfeYstuFTmHkDpwYwubQbjtoj2cBMJ" width="191" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>So, the slow sorting continues to turn up items of interest from my years at TSR, Wizards of the Coast, and even (to go further back) Marquette. The latest such is the routing list that circulated among the R&amp;D department (all the game designers and editors). This particular copy was inserted in the May/June copy of PYRAMID (TSR's creatives being interested in the industry as a whole, though management was not). Consider it a snapshot of who was working there at a specific place and time.&nbsp;</p><p>Looking over it now highlights a number of things about the department that didn't get much attention at the time but are striking in retrospect.</p><p><b>First, the department was 100% white. </b>An occasional freelancer might work on a project, but even this was rare.</p><p><b>Second, there were quite a few women</b> who worked as designers and editors (mostly editors) and product group leaders (our lowest level of management, pretty much all of whom had been promoted out of editor positions &nbsp;--definitely a minority but nevertheless a force to be felt within the department.</p><p><b>Third, this list is not comprehensive</b>: some folks were not interested and had their name taken off the list, like Andria Hayday.</p><p>A quick count to the names listed here shows <b>thirty-nine names,</b> the last five of which are RPGA, a sort of mini-department, like books and magazines (DRAGON, DUNGEON). That leaves <b>thirty-four</b>. By my count there are eight women on the list, which makes it <b>25%</b>. My memory made it about one-third, but I'm glad to see I wasn't too far off.</p><p>Given the chaos surrounding TSR's final days, looking back it's hard to keep track over who got laid off in The Great Reckoning (like myself), who survived the Passover Event (December 1996) but chose to stay behind in the Midwest (e.g. Anne Brown, Bill Connors, &amp;c), who was already out in Renton, having survived WotC's initial forays into rpgs, like Jonathan Tweet (Primal Order, Everway, Ars Magica), those who were rehired after the department was reconstituted in Renton (like myself).&nbsp;</p><p>Of these, a number were women: names I can come up with without researching the topic include</p><p>Lisa Stevens, Penny Williams, Sue Cook, Julia Martin, Miranda Horner, Michele Carter, Cindi Rice, Gwendolyn Kestrel, Kij Johnson, Jennifer Clark Wilkes*</p><p>Given Wizards of the Coast's reputation as more hip and happening than the old guard in Lake Geneva, you'd expect the percentage of women working as D&amp;D designers and editors to rise dramatically. And while I think this was initially the case, it's my impression that their numbers declined steadily throughout the post reboot years. I don't have any documentation for this, simply anecdotal observation from the time, and wd be interested in anyone who can supply a corrective.</p><p>--John R.</p><div><br /></div><div><p>*Of these I think JCW was the longest survivor, having preceded the arrival of the folks from Old TSR and I think outlasted the last veteran from Lake Geneva days.</p></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><p><br /></p></description><link>http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2023/10/tsr-r-staff-lake-geneva-1996.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (John D. Rateliff)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjX5_a6cw6iMkzCBXDUND7z4ICT2RiRvao-IjyNtEEXSg7TDxPF7s1To_pqO1syAYrq14rpr8gJropdkwQriDCGVKF41fQQ8XzQwA2qlV7nciRKh0_zu-fxuobEzBIy2qTLPqFMucoUuP5PakVbr2OuSe0vFKETnChfeYstuFTmHkDpwYwubQbjtoj2cBMJ=s72-c" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-6589659498922465487</guid><pubDate>Thu, 05 Oct 2023 21:37:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-10-05T14:37:33.430-07:00</atom:updated><title>I Buy Dice</title><description><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEinB1QLciYe8CsnOMSGXZW_wan2t2Uz99oV_XlrN27pt56rMCPvgTrvhG8KCaQit3oMFo_Gyefm294nBGq-rmDjUQcdXdKU7x2whtJ8zr_rgp31fFzjTpqGSiYetDbyZMKtcwt9PX7IP2wE65rTDu7XJXdCunLqWt4Y051Ef4u_3yMUObeOwooh6fzFfCcg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1831" data-original-width="1679" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEinB1QLciYe8CsnOMSGXZW_wan2t2Uz99oV_XlrN27pt56rMCPvgTrvhG8KCaQit3oMFo_Gyefm294nBGq-rmDjUQcdXdKU7x2whtJ8zr_rgp31fFzjTpqGSiYetDbyZMKtcwt9PX7IP2wE65rTDu7XJXdCunLqWt4Y051Ef4u_3yMUObeOwooh6fzFfCcg" width="220" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p>[OLD DICE (17)]</p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjlkgwtlz2WQlcOEsrXtUbyM5jjGgCXyDfq3g-EeTHLN7mfBAa2PZ5fBjWLmbHHiowr4Tg7RZDWYMq_mH2DAgy2QZ9OIxdB8p4_LHiXI2MD4GACzxAsIBmfMzT8UYEhxcKd4WbmhP2RI89unQ7zi-3bjcvc87MIKWVLp-nKhmyFn-ifTF8cOV_IfiReRV_M" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1701" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjlkgwtlz2WQlcOEsrXtUbyM5jjGgCXyDfq3g-EeTHLN7mfBAa2PZ5fBjWLmbHHiowr4Tg7RZDWYMq_mH2DAgy2QZ9OIxdB8p4_LHiXI2MD4GACzxAsIBmfMzT8UYEhxcKd4WbmhP2RI89unQ7zi-3bjcvc87MIKWVLp-nKhmyFn-ifTF8cOV_IfiReRV_M" width="256" /></a></div><br />[NEW DICE (13)]<p></p><p>So, the last time I was played an rpg in person (CALL OF CTHUHU, Saturday night)* I had so much trouble reading the dice that I've &nbsp;had to face up: I need to buy new dice. The dice I regularly use, some of which I've been playing with on a regular basis since before we moved out here to the Renton / Kent area (twenty-six years ago now), just aren't visible enough with my aging eyes. &nbsp;</p><p>I've always been a proponent of the school of thought whereby I use uninked dice, primarily black, eliminating the need for a DM screen. But I only rarely DM these days, and then it's usually a one-shot (I'm particularly fond of adapting solitaire scenarios, like ALONE AGAINST THE WENDIGO or GRIMROCK ISLAND) for small groups.&nbsp;</p><p>So, &nbsp;I used the new dice for the first time Monday night (the last of September), and I'm glad to report they performed magnificently. They're easy to read. The color scheme is one I like (yellow). They rolled purposefully and got on with it, not hesitating as is the case with some dice. For the superstitious among us, they delivered high roles when I wanted them, meaning that I can think of them as lucky dice. I even got to support a local business by buying them in a local game shop in downtown Kent.</p><p>So, an all around success.&nbsp;</p><div>--John R.</div><p>*as opposed to our weekly D&amp;D Fifth edition game, which is on Discord / Roll 20</p><p><br /></p></description><link>http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2023/10/i-buy-dice.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (John D. Rateliff)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEinB1QLciYe8CsnOMSGXZW_wan2t2Uz99oV_XlrN27pt56rMCPvgTrvhG8KCaQit3oMFo_Gyefm294nBGq-rmDjUQcdXdKU7x2whtJ8zr_rgp31fFzjTpqGSiYetDbyZMKtcwt9PX7IP2wE65rTDu7XJXdCunLqWt4Y051Ef4u_3yMUObeOwooh6fzFfCcg=s72-c" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-5876530693494387060</guid><pubDate>Thu, 05 Oct 2023 04:53:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-10-04T21:53:20.482-07:00</atom:updated><title>Ten New Books</title><description><p>&nbsp;So, I love to buy books. And even though I've cut way back I still buy them at the rate of about a book a month. Try to balance this by giving away or otherwise parting with books that have been on my shelves a while and are easy to replace, unlikely for me to use in any project I'm likely to work on at this stage, or that I've had for years without reading yet.&nbsp;</p><p>Here's a list of my most recent book buys, starting from around the beginning of this year, with two more on the way.*</p><p>Now to find their proper place of where each shd go on the shelves.</p><p>-</p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Ten New Books<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><i>How to Misunderstand Tolkien: The Critics and the Fantasy Master</i>&nbsp;—Bruno Bacelli [McFarland 2022]<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">The Mythopoeic Code of Tolkien: A Christian Platonic Reading of the Legendarium —Jyrki Korpula (McFarland 2021)&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[series: Critical Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy #75, ed Palumbo &amp; Sullivan]<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><i>The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes</i>&nbsp;—Jackson Crawford&nbsp;&nbsp;[Hackett, 2015]<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><i>Two Sagas of Mythical Heroes</i>&nbsp;—Jackson Crawford&nbsp;&nbsp;[Hackett, 2021]<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>Hervor and Heidreks<o:p></o:p></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><i>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Hr</i><i>ólf Kraki and His Champions<o:p></o:p></i></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">J. R. R. TOLKIEN —<i>The Battle of Maldon</i>, with&nbsp;<i>The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth</i>&nbsp;— edited by Peter Grybauskas (Harper Collins, 2023)&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><i>Imagining the Celtic Past in Modern Fantasy</i>&nbsp;—ed. Dimitra Fimi &amp; Alistair J. P. Sims&nbsp;&nbsp;[Bloomsbury Academic, 2023]&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;[series: Perspectives on Fantasy]&nbsp;<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><i>Creator of Gods and Men: Lord Dunsany and Fantasy Fiction</i>&nbsp;— S. T. Joshi&nbsp;&nbsp;(Sarnoth Press, 2019)<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">Gifted Amateurs and Other Essays on Tolkien, the Inklings, and Fantasy Literature—David Bratman (Mythopoeic Press, 2023)<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">Beowulf. —tr. Tom Shippey.&nbsp;&nbsp;ed. Leonard Neidorf&nbsp;&nbsp;(Uppsala Books, 2023)<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;">Wm Hope Hodgson and the Rise of the Weird: Possibilities of the Dark —Timothy S Murphy&nbsp;&nbsp;(Bloomsbury Academic, 2023). [series: Perspectives in Fantasy]<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>&nbsp;</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>--John R.</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>--current reading: THE NIGHT LAND</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p><br /></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>*P.S.: This does not count books read on Kindle</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>**or manga</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>***or manga read on Kindle</o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"><o:p>****or audiobooks</o:p></p></description><link>http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2023/10/ten-new-books.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (John D. Rateliff)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-8247345896674633885</guid><pubDate>Sun, 01 Oct 2023 23:35:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-10-03T15:02:14.784-07:00</atom:updated><title>Earthworks in SeaTac </title><description><p>&nbsp;So, I knew about Earthworks Park in Kent, which incorporates the remnants of the original Mill Creek that once ran off East Hill and across the valley floor &nbsp;And a few years back I discovered the standing stones of Tukwila (or possibly Renton), near the remnants of the old Black River (now a riparian forest). But until Janice &nbsp;took me there I today I'd never so much as heard of Robert Morris Earthworks park.&nbsp;</p><p><a href="https://www.seattlesouthside.com/blog/the-story-behind-the-robert-morris-earthwork/">https://www.seattlesouthside.com/blog/the-story-behind-the-robert-morris-earthwork/</a></p><p><br /></p><p>An old gravel pit converted into grassy tiers evocative of Machu Picchu, or perhaps an inverted ziggurat, it's immanently walkable, so long as you don't mind choices restricted to (a) down and (b) up. You can even see Mt Rainier from the rim.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaYLspPWX6giFOXldgVOynmVJDL0PXEIb9itKkXEYTOXqHKlG3ITvJo2a4gB99gIo-pZHFB7gAZEdmPmLKrVVyufQgHiFmMkDUvay3JAZy0W5K5qYp-EpwNEe3FzSnRNjVFl8MyYWoChFKlkJDy3FoyZYnQn37vCQDjStJGeLTEU91VgRYfhWC5thB95Wr/s4896/96BFF9C8-EE48-4E06-814F-813DE2BB8776_1_201_a.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3672" data-original-width="4896" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaYLspPWX6giFOXldgVOynmVJDL0PXEIb9itKkXEYTOXqHKlG3ITvJo2a4gB99gIo-pZHFB7gAZEdmPmLKrVVyufQgHiFmMkDUvay3JAZy0W5K5qYp-EpwNEe3FzSnRNjVFl8MyYWoChFKlkJDy3FoyZYnQn37vCQDjStJGeLTEU91VgRYfhWC5thB95Wr/s320/96BFF9C8-EE48-4E06-814F-813DE2BB8776_1_201_a.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>I'd definitely go there again.</p><p>--John R.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p></description><link>http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2023/10/earthworks-in-seatac.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (John D. Rateliff)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgaYLspPWX6giFOXldgVOynmVJDL0PXEIb9itKkXEYTOXqHKlG3ITvJo2a4gB99gIo-pZHFB7gAZEdmPmLKrVVyufQgHiFmMkDUvay3JAZy0W5K5qYp-EpwNEe3FzSnRNjVFl8MyYWoChFKlkJDy3FoyZYnQn37vCQDjStJGeLTEU91VgRYfhWC5thB95Wr/s72-c/96BFF9C8-EE48-4E06-814F-813DE2BB8776_1_201_a.jpeg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-463572309102765724</guid><pubDate>Tue, 26 Sep 2023 22:38:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-09-27T15:25:15.230-07:00</atom:updated><title></title><description><p>&nbsp;So, for those interested in fantasy as a whole rather than Tolkien's expression of it, &nbsp;the <b>Centre for Fantasy and the Fantastic</b> is hosting an event on Thursday October 5th you might want to check out. I'll certainly be going (online) unless something unexpected pops up on the schedule.</p><p>Brian Attebery and Matthew Sangster --authors of <b>FANTASY: HOW IT WORKS</b> and <b>AN INTRODUCTION TO FANTASY,</b> respectively-- "discuss the affordances of Fantasy".&nbsp;</p><p>I don't have nor have read either book. Which is a pity given how they're right up my alley so far as &nbsp;topic goes.</p><p>Here's the link:</p><p><a href="https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/framing-fantasy-brian-attebery-and-matthew-sangster-in-dialogue-tickets-707445026117?aff=ebdsoporgprofile">https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/framing-fantasy-brian-attebery-and-matthew-sangster-in-dialogue-tickets-707445026117?aff=ebdsoporgprofile</a></p><p><br /></p><p><b>Also&nbsp;</b>I'm looking forward to the talks and presentations from Oxonmoot being made available online. It's always nice to see one of my pieces be published, but soon I'll be able to see papers by other speakers I cdn't see at the time. I'm really looking forward to that. &nbsp;--JDR</p><p><br /></p><p>will be good to see my piece up and for anyone who missed the in-person even buy still wants to hear the piece.</p><p>--John R.</p></description><link>http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2023/09/for-those-interested-in-fantasy-as.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (John D. Rateliff)</author><thr:total>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-3132887595959724782</guid><pubDate>Tue, 26 Sep 2023 01:33:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-09-25T18:33:04.897-07:00</atom:updated><title>Holly Ordway at the Wade</title><description><p>&nbsp;So, for those interested in JRRT's faith, Holly Ordway (author of TOLKIEN'S MODERN READING, 2021) has a new book out. This time she focuses on Tolkien's spiritual life (with a number of side-steps into CSL). For a quick way to get an overview of the whole book, check out the hour-long talk she gave today at the Wade Center:&nbsp;</p><p></p><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnBoxedTextBlock" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; color: black; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-width: 100%; width: 100%;"><tbody class="mcnBoxedTextBlockOuter"><tr><td class="mcnBoxedTextBlockInner" valign="top"><table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnBoxedTextContentContainer" style="border-collapse: collapse; min-width: 100%; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td style="padding: 9px 18px;"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnTextContentContainer" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 1px none; min-width: 100%; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td class="mcnTextContent" style="color: #2c5234; font-family: Georgia, Times, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif; font-size: 30px; line-height: 30px; padding: 18px; text-align: center; word-break: break-word;" valign="top"><h1 class="null" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 28px;"><span style="font-family: georgia, times, &quot;times new roman&quot;, serif;"><span style="color: red;">Lecture&nbsp;&amp; Book Signing</span></span></span></h1></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnImageGroupBlock" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; width: 100%;"><tbody class="mcnImageGroupBlockOuter"><tr><td class="mcnImageGroupBlockInner" style="padding: 9px;" valign="top"><table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnImageGroupContentContainer" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 273px;"><tbody><tr><td class="mcnImageGroupContent" style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 9px; padding-top: 0px;" valign="top"><span style="color: red;"><img alt="" class="mcnImage" src="https://mcusercontent.com/b55d4bf027ae6c0253c1fe0af/images/1227136c-a9a2-9b7f-6485-04215c64b1ef.jpg" style="border: 0px; height: auto; max-width: 1200px; outline: none; padding-bottom: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="264" /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><table align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnImageGroupContentContainer" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 273px;"><tbody><tr><td class="mcnImageGroupContent" style="padding-bottom: 0px; padding-right: 9px; padding-top: 0px;" valign="top"><span style="color: red;"><img alt="" class="mcnImage" src="https://mcusercontent.com/b55d4bf027ae6c0253c1fe0af/images/735ec990-0826-bd92-faac-f729d616cdfb.jpg" style="border: 0px; height: auto; max-width: 333px; outline: none; padding-bottom: 0px; vertical-align: bottom;" width="264" /></span></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnTextBlock" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-width: 100%; width: 100%;"><tbody class="mcnTextBlockOuter"><tr><td class="mcnTextBlockInner" style="padding-top: 9px;" valign="top"><table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnTextContentContainer" style="border-collapse: collapse; max-width: 100%; min-width: 100%; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td class="mcnTextContent" style="font-family: Arial, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px; padding: 0px 18px 9px; word-break: break-word;" valign="top"><div><span style="color: red;"><strong>"A Hard-Won Faith: Tolkien's Spiritual Journey"</strong><br />&nbsp;</span></div><div><span style="color: red;">Lecturer &amp; Author: Holly Ordway, Ph.D.<br /><br /><strong>Monday, September 25, 2023 | 7:00 PM</strong><br />Bakke Auditorium, Marion E. Wade Center</span></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnTextBlock" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-width: 100%; width: 100%;"><tbody class="mcnTextBlockOuter"><tr><td class="mcnTextBlockInner" style="padding-top: 9px;" valign="top"><table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnTextContentContainer" style="border-collapse: collapse; max-width: 100%; min-width: 100%; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td class="mcnTextContent" style="font-family: Arial, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px; padding: 0px 18px 9px; word-break: break-word;" valign="top"><span style="color: red;">Tolkien is well known as a Christian, but what is less well known is that the story of his spiritual development reveals a dramatic tale of a hard-won faith, involving sorrow and suffering as well as joys and consolations. A devout Catholic, Tolkien also had a deep spiritual friendship with the Anglican C.S. Lewis. Both of these aspects of Tolkien’s faith provide insight into how Christians today can grow in their own spiritual lives.<br /><br />Join us in-person after the lecture for the book signing.&nbsp;<em>Tolkien's Faith</em>&nbsp;will be available for purchase at the Wade Bookshop.<br /><br /><span style="font-family: arial, &quot;helvetica neue&quot;, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong style="font-family: georgia, times, &quot;times new roman&quot;, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"><em>Sponsored by the Stephen and Marjorie Mead Endowment for Spiritual Formation.</em></span></strong></span></span></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnButtonBlock" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; color: black; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-width: 100%; width: 100%;"><tbody class="mcnButtonBlockOuter"><tr><td align="center" class="mcnButtonBlockInner" style="padding: 0px 18px 18px;" valign="top"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnButtonContentContainer" style="background-color: #2c5234; border-radius: 4px;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" class="mcnButtonContent" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; padding: 18px;" valign="middle"><a class="mcnButton " href="https://wheaton.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b55d4bf027ae6c0253c1fe0af&amp;id=480ca156b1&amp;e=4ad885d989" style="color: white; display: block; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Join Live Stream"><span style="color: red;">Join Live Stream</span></a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnDividerBlock" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; color: black; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-width: 100%; table-layout: fixed !important; width: 100%;"><tbody class="mcnDividerBlockOuter"><tr></tr></tbody></table><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>And if you want more, Ordway gives a second lecture, again at the Wade, tomorrow:</p><p><br /></p><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnButtonBlock" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; color: black; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-width: 100%; width: 100%;"><tbody class="mcnButtonBlockOuter"><tr><td align="center" class="mcnButtonBlockInner" style="padding: 0px 18px 18px;" valign="top"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnButtonContentContainer" style="background-color: #2c5234; border-radius: 4px;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" class="mcnButtonContent" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; padding: 18px;" valign="middle"><a class="mcnButton " href="https://wheaton.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b55d4bf027ae6c0253c1fe0af&amp;id=480ca156b1&amp;e=4ad885d989" style="color: white; display: block; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Join Live Stream">Join Live Stream</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnDividerBlock" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; color: black; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-width: 100%; table-layout: fixed !important; width: 100%;"><tbody class="mcnDividerBlockOuter"><tr><td class="mcnDividerBlockInner" style="min-width: 100%; padding: 18px;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnDividerContent" style="border-collapse: collapse; border-top-color: rgb(126, 121, 121); border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 2px; min-width: 100%; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnBoxedTextBlock" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-width: 100%; width: 100%;"><tbody class="mcnBoxedTextBlockOuter"><tr><td class="mcnBoxedTextBlockInner" valign="top"><table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnBoxedTextContentContainer" style="border-collapse: collapse; min-width: 100%; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td style="padding: 9px 18px;"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnTextContentContainer" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 1px none; min-width: 100%; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td class="mcnTextContent" style="font-family: Georgia, Times, &quot;Times New Roman&quot;, serif; font-size: 30px; line-height: 30px; padding: 18px; text-align: center; word-break: break-word;" valign="top"><h1 class="null" style="font-family: Arial, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17.5px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: 28px;"><span style="font-family: georgia, times, &quot;times new roman&quot;, serif;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Afternoon Lecture</span></span></span></h1></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnTextBlock" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-width: 100%; width: 100%;"><tbody class="mcnTextBlockOuter"><tr><td class="mcnTextBlockInner" style="padding-top: 9px;" valign="top"><table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnTextContentContainer" style="border-collapse: collapse; max-width: 100%; min-width: 100%; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td class="mcnTextContent" style="font-family: Arial, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px; padding: 0px 18px 9px; word-break: break-word;" valign="top"><div><span style="color: #38761d;"><strong>"Tolkien's Faith and&nbsp;</strong><strong>the</strong><strong>&nbsp;Formation of Middle-earth"</strong><br /><br />Lecturer &amp; Author: Holly Ordway, Ph.D.</span></div><div><span style="color: #38761d;"><br /><strong>Tuesday, September 26, 2023 | 4:00 PM</strong><br />Bakke Auditorium, Marion E. Wade Center</span></div></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnTextBlock" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-width: 100%; width: 100%;"><tbody class="mcnTextBlockOuter"><tr><td class="mcnTextBlockInner" style="padding-top: 9px;" valign="top"><table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnTextContentContainer" style="border-collapse: collapse; max-width: 100%; min-width: 100%; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><td class="mcnTextContent" style="font-family: Arial, &quot;Helvetica Neue&quot;, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17.5px; padding: 0px 18px 9px; word-break: break-word;" valign="top"><p style="line-height: 17.5px; margin: 10px 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="color: #38761d;">Tolkien declared, “I am a Christian (which can be deduced from my stories).” His writings were not allegories, so how, then, were his faith and his fiction related? We will explore this question biographically, looking at some of the ways that Tolkien’s dramatic life story, including his being raised by a Catholic priest at the Birmingham Oratory, and his experiences in the Great War, shaped his faith and found their way – in a subtle and complex manner – into his writings.&nbsp;</span></p><span style="color: #38761d;"><br /><em><span style="font-family: georgia, times, &quot;times new roman&quot;, serif; font-size: 12px;"><strong>Co-</strong></span><span style="font-family: georgia, times, times new roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"><strong>sponsored</strong></span></span><span style="font-family: georgia, times, &quot;times new roman&quot;, serif; font-size: 12px;"><strong>&nbsp;by the&nbsp;</strong></span></em><span style="font-family: arial, &quot;helvetica neue&quot;, helvetica, sans-serif;"><strong style="font-family: georgia, times, &quot;times new roman&quot;, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"><em>Stephen and Marjorie Mead Endowment for Spiritual Formation</em></span></strong></span><em><span style="font-family: georgia, times, &quot;times new roman&quot;, serif; font-size: 12px;"><strong>&nbsp;and Wheaton College Tolkien Society.</strong></span></em></span></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnButtonBlock" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-width: 100%; width: 100%;"><tbody class="mcnButtonBlockOuter"><tr><td align="center" class="mcnButtonBlockInner" style="padding: 0px 18px 18px;" valign="top"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnButtonContentContainer" style="background-color: #2c5234; border-radius: 4px;"><tbody><tr><td align="center" class="mcnButtonContent" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 16px; padding: 18px;" valign="middle"><a class="mcnButton " href="https://wheaton.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b55d4bf027ae6c0253c1fe0af&amp;id=782b2a4067&amp;e=4ad885d989" style="display: block; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank" title="Join Live Stream"><span style="color: #38761d;">Join Live Stream</span></a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="mcnDividerBlock" style="background-color: white; border-collapse: collapse; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; min-width: 100%; table-layout: fixed !important; width: 100%;"><tbody class="mcnDividerBlockOuter"><tr></tr></tbody></table><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>--John R.</p><p>--current reading: still THE NIGHT LAND.</p><p><br /></p></description><link>http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2023/09/holly-ordway-at-wade.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (John D. Rateliff)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-5876320552094058879</guid><pubDate>Mon, 18 Sep 2023 23:50:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-09-18T16:50:45.543-07:00</atom:updated><title>2023 Calendar</title><description><p>&nbsp;So, having learned my lesson, one year waiting to order my next year's Tolkien Calendar and having a scramble to find out, this time I've gone ahead and gotten the 2024 calendar well ahead of time.</p><p>The art is by Alan Lee, who over the years has become if not the official artist of Tolkien's estate and publisher then certainly their preferred one. His somber landscapes have become the standard by which Tolkien art is judged. And if I occasionally feel wistful for a lighter pallet, I think back on the day when the Brothers H. represented JRRT's world and am grateful for how lucky we are.</p><p>As for the calendar itself, the theme this year* is Numenor and the Fall of Numenor, with accompanying text provided by Brian Sibley (who goes back in Tolkien studies as far as the 1981 BBC Radio adaptation). And I have to say that it was good to see brighter images in the pictures for March (Aldarion sets forth) and, ironically enough, June (Moria)--the later having the ambiance of old stained glass made up of patterns, not images.</p><p>All in all, I'd call this calendar has few surprises but stands as a worthy continuation in its series.</p><p>--John R.</p><p>--current reading: THE NIGHT LAND</p><p><br /></p><p>*a good idea to have, by the way</p></description><link>http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2023/09/2023-calendar.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (John D. Rateliff)</author><thr:total>1</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2239062544101975016.post-2710311719712307305</guid><pubDate>Sat, 16 Sep 2023 00:30:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-09-15T17:30:08.204-07:00</atom:updated><title>The Cat Report (Sept 15th)</title><description><p><br /></p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEipANVBcqJoXQUebPYlSwi2pVgcWmoCCGJXLXwlaZ8t9Ym-TwH8hSosw0Y-2RnNjFvMxb-HhHp4FlQ9oEDcMEG0ccIdtCok1ST5CsaP6V4c9Y8jqXr7pF85wsM9wQiAjNWkonmXSxlgrrZNsSAn3eW5hIW4ReS9GwWktSC6YbHOvrWZQsx13iRuWy6IrRPf" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="480" data-original-width="640" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEipANVBcqJoXQUebPYlSwi2pVgcWmoCCGJXLXwlaZ8t9Ym-TwH8hSosw0Y-2RnNjFvMxb-HhHp4FlQ9oEDcMEG0ccIdtCok1ST5CsaP6V4c9Y8jqXr7pF85wsM9wQiAjNWkonmXSxlgrrZNsSAn3eW5hIW4ReS9GwWktSC6YbHOvrWZQsx13iRuWy6IrRPf" width="320" /></a></div><br />&nbsp;So, there's been a complete turnover in the cats in the Renton cat room since this time last week. Farewell to R<b>OCKET</b>, our skilled walking cat, and <b>ANA</b> his sister (who desperately wanted out of the room to explore the store but cd never bear to have harness or even collar-and-leash in-room on her).&nbsp;<p></p><p>&nbsp;Today we were expecting to find two adult cats and five kittens: <b>JOHNNY</b> (orange two-year-old) and <b>SEAN</b> (Siamese) with the younger generation: <b>SHERBET</b>, <b>MOUSSE</b>, <b>SORBET</b>, <b>BROWNIE</b>, and <b>S'MORES </b>(all four-and-a-half month old kittens). I got these thoroughly confused in my head, not to mention this report, as to who was who.</p><p>One kitten, a white calico, was already adopted and gone without our ever seeing her. Sean, the other adult cat (not sure his age, but assuming it was about the same as Johnny's , i.e. two years) was also off to his new home.</p><p><b>Johnny</b> was terribly shy. We tried letting him out first, made cat burritos, tried to interest him in games, and generally give him some socialization, with little success. Looking at his paperwork it sounds like he was originally a stray, and he acts like one when forced into a situation outside his own territory where he doesn't know where he is or what's going to happen to him. There was a lot of defensive growling but no nips or swats. And no games; he just wasn't interested.</p><p>Janice rigged up a cat-blanket around three sides of Johnny's cage to give him a little privacy and Safe Place. We also sprayed down his cage with some Feliway. I shd mention that he was sitting in his dirt box when we arrived and under his small in-cage kuranda when we left, which counts as some progress. And while he was on his own he got an impressive amount of his cat-litter scooped out of his dirt box and onto the floors of both parts of his cage. He's learned how to get under the cat litter cupboard in the corner, which is pretty impressive given his size. &nbsp;</p><p>Well, it turns out the kittens must have been watching from their cage from the far end of the room, since three of the four of them got under there today despite our efforts to block it up.</p><p>When it was the kittens' turn they made the most of it. One seemed less energetic than the rest and a touch shyer too, and retreated to the topmost shelf of their tall cage, coming down to join in games once in a while when a game attracted his attention. The other three played pretty much non-stop for their entire turn (about an hour and a half). &nbsp; &nbsp;</p><p>And before I forget to put this down: the little orange kitten several times engaged in defensive purring. It was adorable.</p><p>--John R.</p><p><br /></p></description><link>http://sacnoths.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-cat-report-sept-15th.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (John D. Rateliff)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEipANVBcqJoXQUebPYlSwi2pVgcWmoCCGJXLXwlaZ8t9Ym-TwH8hSosw0Y-2RnNjFvMxb-HhHp4FlQ9oEDcMEG0ccIdtCok1ST5CsaP6V4c9Y8jqXr7pF85wsM9wQiAjNWkonmXSxlgrrZNsSAn3eW5hIW4ReS9GwWktSC6YbHOvrWZQsx13iRuWy6IrRPf=s72-c" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item></channel></rss>

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