Zixar

No, it's the same problem we were having last week, it looks like. Secret Signature of the Day==v "You think you hate it now, but wait till you drive it..."

If Wierwille said, "God told me He would teach me the Word as it has not been known since the first century," and yet lifted whole passages verbatim from Leonard and Stiles in his books, that means that either God lied to Wierwille (i.e., Leonard and Stiles knew it before Wierwille) or Wierwille misrepresented God Himself. (i.e., false prophecy.) Either way, it's extremely damaging to VPW's integrity and credibility. As for it being inspired by God, I don't think even B.G. Leonard would claim that God told him to name his fictitious characters "Maggie Muggins" and "Henry Boloko". No, research works by men are fine for what they are, but "divine revelation" doesn't really apply to shield them from plagiarism charges. Secret Signature of the Day==v "You think you hate it now, but wait till you drive it..."

Hope: Yes, Merry and Pippin are cousins, as well as Frodo's distant kinsmen. (kinshobbits?) Aragorn, eh? I would have figured you more for the Legolas Estrogen Brigade, but what do I know? It's not like there was a big menu of babes for us guys to adjust our scabbards for, but I think Eowyn would get my vote. Apart from that one scene in FOTR, Arwen was sort of a boring time-filler in the films. As for the Scouring of the Shire, it makes sense to have it that way in the books, since the whole War of the Ring really came and went without moving west of Rohan. No one in the Shire would have believed the four hobbits had saved all of Middle Earth if they weren't somehow touched by the conflict. Cinematically, though, you'd need to have spent more time in the Shire at the beginning of FOTR (more even than the Ext.Ed.) to drive the point home. In the book, remember, FIFTY YEARS passes between Bilbo's eleventy-first party and Gandalf revealing the Ring to Frodo. Secret Signature of the Day==v "You think you hate it now, but wait till you drive it..."

Rocky: Well, since my ISP censored the last two pix, I can't really say. On the first, though, one wonders why she bothered with the bathing suit at all. Dot: I'm afraid I can't place the pic of your current lust-boy. Is it the singer from Matchbox-20? Anyway, since the semi-anonymity of the internet tends to loosen people up about discussing sex, it's often surprising what you find out about people. Especially since for the most part you're only reacting to the mental image of the person you've built up from their posts. Here's a quickie for you--describe the first sexual experience that pops into your head. It won't necessarily be the first time, nor the most recent, just the one that springs to mind first. For me, the one that came up first was a quick shag with a girlfriend on the floor of her supervisor's office. (The desk was too cluttered...) Don't know why that one leapt out in front, but there you go. Fast--what's the first one that comes to mind? Secret Signature of the Day==v "You think you hate it now, but wait till you drive it..."

Garth: Okay, I'll put your response down as "in desperate need of some." :D--> But, no, I'm not kidding with this thread. I just figured with the recent BDSM thread that people are certainly going to talk about sex here, so we might as well not surprise anyone. Secret Signature of the Day==v "You think you hate it now, but wait till you drive it..."

Since it seems to keep popping up, I thought we might as well have a dedicated thread with an unambiguous title. If the title didn't warn you off, don't come complaining to me. Last chance to leave before we start... ... ... ... All righty, then. Sex. All things considered, I'm in favor of it. Comments? Secret Signature of the Day==v "You think you hate it now, but wait till you drive it..."

Yes, Rafael, we've all read the parodies. Twice. Move along... Besides, if you haven't read the original parody, Harvard Lampoon's Bored of the Rings, you can't call yourself a true Tolkien geek. Then again, you HAVEN'T EVEN READ THE FREAKIN' BOOKS, so that epithet is a long way from being apropos anyway. Secret Signature of the Day==v "You think you hate it now, but wait till you drive it..."

It's sad that we've fallen so far in our collective morals that we see any display of affection between members of the same gender as homosexual. Tolkien's manuscript is pretty much just as "gooey" between the members of the Fellowship, but remember that he originally wrote the tale for his son Christopher while he was away at war. The bond between two soldiers can save both of their lives, so of course Tolkien would emphasize camaraderie in the face of incredible danger. If you'll read the appendices in ROTK, all of the hobbits later married and had children, save Frodo. (Which leaves the only really gay couple as Legolas and Gimli... :D--> ) Secret Signature of the Day==v "You think you hate it now, but wait till you drive it..."

Hope: The Ent-draught scene appeared only in the Extended DVD of TTT, so those moviegoers who hadn't seen that version would only be confused if the other characters commented on Merry & Pippin's growth spurt. I think that it was a good decision to leave out the whole Scouring of the Shire episode. If you think about it, what was the whole point of the journey, if their home was going to be sacked and burnt in the end anyway? Sure, it sets up for the hobbits to be made the local leadership to rebuild, but it would have been a cinematic downer to have to go through all that after the climax at Mount Doom. Just my 40% of a nickel, Zix Secret Signature of the Day==v "You think you hate it now, but wait till you drive it..."

Pirate: D'oh! Of course, you're right... Secret Signature of the Day==v "You think you hate it now, but wait till you drive it..."

That got me thinking... Apart from LOTR: Return of the King, what was the best "3" movie? My choice would have to be Goldfinger, with honorable mention to Star Trek III and Return of the Jedi. Have any other second-sequels been worth watching? Secret Signature of the Day==v "You think you hate it now, but wait till you drive it..."

Looks like they forgot Aliens... ;)--> Secret Signature of the Day==v "You think you hate it now, but wait till you drive it..."

FOTR is the talkiest if the three, fortunately. Why it takes them a couple hundred pages to get from The Shire to Rivendell is beyond me, but since Tolkien wrote them to entertain his son while he was away at war, I suppose it might have been intentional to stretch things out a bit. The good thing about The Hobbit is that it's a self-contained story--plus, what fantasy epic would be complete without at least ONE dragon in it? ;)--> (And a badass dragon, at that. Smaug could wipe the floor with every other literary dragon.) If you don't watch out, you'll (heavens forfend!) start playing Dungeons & Dragons... muhahahahaha! Secret Signature of the Day==v "You think you hate it now, but wait till you drive it..."

Raf: So when are you , like, going to read the books, already??? :D--> (p.s. Start with The Hobbit. Tolkien takes a little getting used to.) Secret Signature of the Day==v "You think you hate it now, but wait till you drive it..."

Hopefull: Matinee. ;)--> Secret Signature of the Day==v "You think you hate it now, but wait till you drive it..."

The odds against the Men aren't nearly so great as appear on the screen. Minas Tirith was beleaguered, but when the Rohirrim arrive they even out the fight quite a bit. Elrond doesn't visit Aragorn in Rohan to give him the sword Anduril. Aragorn gets Anduril before the Fellowship leaves Rivendell in book 1. Elrond's son Elrohir visits Aragorn in Rohan to remind him of the Paths of the Dead. Legolas does not kick nearly as much a$$ in the books as he does in the film, and Gimli is hardly comic relief. Sam wants to go with Frodo at the Grey Havens, but is told he did not bear the Ring long enough to have to go. In the appendices, we find that after Rosie's death from old age, Sam finally gives the Red Book to his daughter Elanor and takes the ship to join the other Ringbearers. Merry, at age 102, visits King Eomer for a while before Eomer's death, and Merry and Pippin both are interred next to King Aragorn when they all die, some 120 years after the end of the story. Upon the King's death, Legolas builds a ship and Gimli acompanies him down the River Anduin and out over the sea, the last of the Fellowship. Secret Signature of the Day==v Would you buy a used computer from this man?

Rafael: Yes-- "Three rings for the Elven Kings" They were the three untainted by Sauron, who made all the others, the seven Dwarf-rings (all destroyed) and the nine Man-rings. (worn by the Nazgul) Secret Signature of the Day==v Would you buy a used computer from this man?

I keep forgetting you didn't know what was going to happen... ;)--> Secret Signature of the Day==v Would you buy a used computer from this man?

Okay, so I goofed on this one, too. Cirdan was the original owner of Narya, the third Elf ring, but Cirdan gave it to Gandalf, who wore it throughout the One Ring saga. Secret Signature of the Day==v Would you buy a used computer from this man?

Rafael: You can use the white-on-white trick for spoiler coverage: <table bgcolor="ffffff"> <tr> <td> <font color="FFFFFF">Spoiler text goes here. </font> </td> </tr> </table> Which looks like: Spoiler text goes here. Secret Signature of the Day==v Would you buy a used computer from this man?

I would have gone to a marathon but I didn't want to fight over a good seat. If you haven't seen ROTK yet, you might wish to watch the Extended (Red-Box) Edition of Two Towers first. It includes a vital scene cut from the theatrical version that fleshes out the relationship between Denethor, Boromir, and Faramir. Secret Signature of the Day==v NOTE: Private Topics aren't nearly so private as you think they are...

Hmmm...I wonder if that will show up in the promotional material for the DVD versions: "Return Of The King--It's Blasphemin' Good!" Secret Signature of the Day==v NOTE: Private Topics aren't nearly so private as you think they are...

It was amazing, a stellar capstone to a filmmaking landmark. The only minor quibble was the cuts to black between the ending vignettes, leading some to think the movie had ended six times, only to have another loose end of the story addressed two seconds later. Perhaps a bit of tie-together narration by Galadriel a la the opening of FOTR would have helped that. People were cheering, dead-silent, sniffling, and applauding all throughout our screening. Films that can evoke that much emotion from today's jaded filmgoers are few and far between. Peter Jackson has to get the Oscar this year in recognition for the whole trilogy. And adding Andy Serkis in real-face as Smeagol to the opening should finally let him be nominated for Best Supporting Actor to make up for last year's slight. (After all, now the live-action and CGI Gollums are the same character...) Easily the best film I've seen this year. Secret Signature of the Day==v NOTE: Private Topics aren't nearly so private as you think they are...

HBO has also reached an agreement with David Chase for a sixth season of The Sopranos... YES! Secret Signature of the Day==v NOTE: Private Topics aren't nearly so private as you think they are...

Fortunately, Saturn moves so slowly around the Sun that viewing it will be good for the next few months. It's easy to find if you can find Orion. Find Orion's three belt stars in the southeastern sky about 9pm local time. The bright star below them and to the right is Rigel. Start at Rigel and draw an imaginary line up and to the left through the middle star in Orion's belt. Continue this line past the bright red Betelgeuse in Orion's shoulder until you come to a yellowish star about as bright as Betelgeuse. That's Saturn, currently in southern Gemini. Binoculars won't show the rings, unfortunately, unless you have a huge 15x70 pair. Any small telescope will pop them right out at you, though. It's the one sight that no one can mistake for anything else through a telescope, and one that no one should miss seeing at least once in their lives. Secret Signature of the Day==v The Illuminati--Someone you trust is one of US...