vivdunstan

Finally arrived, my hardback copy of The Hobbit translated into Scottish Gaelic. Looks superb, and includes Tolkien’s original full page illustrations.

The printing/delivery was slow. I ordered two weeks ago. But finally have it! There's no way I can read the text consistently yet. My Gaelic learning is still much too rudimentary. But viewing it as a life goal!

Had fun at my first go playing the Fellowship of the Ring trick-taking card game in solo mode. It's about 40 years since I've played a trick-taking card game ... Didn't score well enough to pass the opening chapter of the game, but happy getting more fluent with the cards. Great for a Tolkien/LOTR/card game fan.

One big relief with the card game try was my neurological illness hands were cooperating today! And my new folding table was big enough - just! - to accommodate the cards. Also very pleased with my William Morris designed tablecloth, which provided a good surface to play on, and a sturdy weight too.

Have booked me an online ticket for Oxonmoot 2025 in September. Buying early because I can get a chunky early bird discount. I also get a discounted online ticket as a Tolkien Society member. I have been watching Oxonmoot online, mostly on catchup after, since they offered streaming in 2020. They are very very good at doing the technology side of things, and it works extremely smoothly. And there is always a fascinating range of talks and events to enjoy, even at a distance, and even if like me watching it potentially months later! Anyway booked.

Watching the rules for my next card game to try, The Fellowship of the Ring: Trick-Taking Game. This is going to take a while to get my head around! But should be fun. You don't have to play it right through all the way. I'd hope to manage a chapter at a time (there are 18 chapters).

Note there are spoilers in this post. Scroll past if you don't want to know some quite specific details.

Earlier this year I mentioned here that I was intending to watch some of the animated Tolkien films from 1977-1980 soon. As I said then I'd never seen The Hobbit (1977) or The Return of the King (1980), though I have seen the doesn't-tell-the-whole-story The Lord of the Rings (1978), which I watched on Channel 4 one afternoon before Christmas in 1988 ...

It's taken us a while to get started. But first up last night was The Hobbit (1977), which I'd sourced a Spanish-released DVD copy of. After changing the settings to English language audio and no subtitles we were good to go with the 77 minutes long animated movie.

I knew going in that it was an extremely condensed retelling of the story. But I was honestly surprised by how much they packed into the running time. And the opening sections charmed me, with the pre titles sequence where Bilbo meets the dwarves and Gandalf, and the rather nice folk-inspired song "The Greatest Adventure". The other songs were more of a miss for me though. The dwarves are introduced phenomenally quickly, but that wasn't a problem for me. I find the original book overly long on this, never mind Peter Jackson's take on it.

The character design choices are a mix of good or curious to downright strange. Gandalf is as you would expect. Bilbo perhaps a bit Disney. The dwarves are a mix, some rather disturbing. Trolls ok. Elrond has a beard. Mmmm. Though I was pleased they managed to include that portion - I thought they'd skip it. Goblins suitably disturbing. Gollum very strange, but it sort of works. Wargs awesome. Ditto eagles. Mirkwood spiders suitably terrifying. Wood elves very very strange, and more scary looking than the goblins. Not sure about the Lake-town men. And Smaug looks more like a big cat (I've seen "bobcat" used to describe him) than a dragon, at least in facial features. Nice thrush though. The animation is generally good, with some particularly impressive visual moments. The animation work was done by a Japanese company linked to the future Studio Ghibli.

The voice acting is variable. Bilbo and Gandalf are fine. Gollum suitably disturbing. I liked Elrond's voice. But why does the elven king have an Austrian accent? And Smaug sounds strange. I wasn't familiar with the actor voices already, so didn't make connections with other roles. But just responded to how they sounded.

As I said I was impressed by how much they fitted in, including the trolls section, Rivendell and Elrond, the Misty Mountains and goblins and Gollum and riddles (good allowance of time for this key bit), then wargs (but no Beorn), Mirkwood spiders, the wood elves and barrel escape (to be fair that's phenomenally condensed into a couple of minutes), Lake-town, Lonely Mountain and Smaug, death of Smaug, Battle of the Five Armies, and Bilbo's return. The Battle bit was the only bit that dragged for me. I suppose after the hasty earlier sections its slightly more leisurely pace felt too slow. They also made a curious choice to depict some of the battle using dots viewed from overhead moving around. Which might be how someone at a distance - in this case Bilbo - might see things. But wasn't entirely successful.

They certainly missed other parts of the story, including some key moments, like Bilbo deciding not to kill Gollum. Nor did he steal the Arkenstone, and the emotional ending with Thorin was reduced as a result. Much was there though, just accelerated/edited hugely. And I'm still stunned by how much they did cover in the time.

The thing I liked least about the film is the ending, where Gandalf says some words to Bilbo, hinting that the ring he found is important, and in the future there will be more adventures involving other members of his family. Mmmmm. I can see why they did that. It's a quaint nod to them hopefully continuing the story (which the same team sort of did with The Return of the King animated movie in 1980). But to suggest that Gandalf has an awareness of or even hint of the importance of this ring at this time, never mind other foresight about its future, just feels so very wrong for this viewer/Tolkien fan at least.

However overall I enjoyed it. I think they got more things right than wrong. And I would far, far prefer to watch this 77 minutes version than the nearly 9 hours of Hobbit movies from Peter Jackson ...

Some real treats, from independent shops (Hampton Hobbies and Games, Toppings and The Bookhouse in Broughty Ferry). Will mainly play Forbidden Island in solo mode. The Tolkien and Lewis graphic novel looks astonishing. And the signed (!) Susanna Clarke is a read for my book group.

Many more books finished since last time, so I need to do a catch up! Luckily easy for me to do, since I note the books I've read, plus a rating, in Goodreads.

I'd been slowly reading the Sisto and Marchese Middle Earth book, and finally finished. An absolutely brilliant book, for both the newcomer to Tolkien's worlds, and old timers. So much useful reference material I even bought myself a print copy after finishing the Kindle version.

I continue to adore the Insomniacs After School manga series. It probably helps that one of the lead characters looks uncannily like a schoolboy version of my husband! But it's a charming and gentle slice of life, including hefty astronomy elements. I expect to read all of this.

I learned about Intellect Books' Fan Phenomena range of books from the Glasgow Worldcon dealers' room, which I was browsing from a distance. The Lord of the Rings book is very out of print sadly. But I've got the Doctor Who one to read, and first read a bargain copy (£3) Game of Thrones one I picked up secondhand. A huge range of essays exploring different perspectives of fandom. Worked even for me who has never properly read or watched Game of Thrones.

A Darker Shade of Magic got better and better for me as I read it, after a slightly rocky start. I expect to complete the trilogy. And probably go onto the sequel trilogy that is newly starting.

The Phantasmagoria magazines/books were things I'd picked up a while back. Print on demand books from Amazon, large format, collecting a huge range of articles, art work, reflections, and fiction by and about the subjects. The MR James one was a solid 5/5 stars for me. I am keeping it.

The Girl From The Other Side manga wasn't a hit for me. Just too strange, though it got more interesting on the way through.

( earlier books )
1. Why We Love Middle-earth: An Enthusiast’s Book about Tolkien, Middle-earth & the LOTR Fandom by Alan Sisto and Shawn Marchese
2. Insomniacs After School (manga) volume 3 by Makoto Ojiro
3. Fan Phenomena: Game of Thrones edited by Kavita Mudan Finn
4. A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab
5. Phantasmagoria Special Edition Series #3: M.R. James
6. Phantasmagoria Special Edition Series #2: The Lovecraft Squad
7. The Girl From the Other Side: Siúil, a Rún (manga) volume 1 by Nagabe

The books I'm currently reading. A mix of fiction (historical and fantasy), history, architecture/religion, Tolkien and space/astronomy.

I'm continuing my reread of The Fellowship of the Ring. And the party have just got through Moria. But I was struggling hugely to visualise in my mind the different rooms and levels that the party were going through, especially later on in their time in Moria. But I can remember a time when I could visualise them clearly. For many years. So this seems to be something I've lost since, or can't do now anyway. It's not that I'm not remembering the Peter Jackson movie version. But my image of the journey through Moria was memorably different from the movie I saw in 2001. I remember clearly having "thoughts" about the film's depiction of Moria, and how different it was from how I imagined it looked ever since I'd started reading the book for the first time as a young child. But now I can't really visualise any geography at all as I read.

Relatively recently I tried an aphantasia online test. And scored highly. Which would fit with my struggles to visualise things in my mind now. Including faces. Even very close family! But I'm now wondering after this LOTR rereading experience if it's something that I've developed more in recent years. Perhaps as a result of my progressive neurological illness.

When I was young I could visualise things, and draw from images in my mind. However when my neurological illness started in 1994 at age 22 I quickly noticed my ability to think abstractly diminishing. Rather a big problem for a computer science PhD student needing to program. I quickly lost the ability to program effectively in lots of languages. Though at the time I just coped as best as I could. It's more distressing looking back.

So yup, I wonder if visualisation is another loss with time, perhaps due to my long term illness. It's partly also why I dreaded designing cover art for my latest IFComp game. But hey, got there!

Curiouser and curiouser anyway. I am enjoying my LOTR reread despite this. Next up Lothlorien.

I'm rereading Lord of the Rings, starting with Fellowship. And gobbling it up. Until I got to the Council of Elrond chapter, which was estimated by my Kindle to take 45 minutes of reading. To be fair I was extra sedated at the time, so this was even more of a mountain to climb than usual. But I can also remember young me, e.g. teenage years and earlier, boggling at this lengthy over-wordy section of the book.

I'm now nearly through it, and will press on quickly with the rest. At the same time, I'm looking forward to Oxonmoot in a few weeks, the Tolkien Society annual convention in Oxford. In recent years it has offered online viewing too, watching live as things happen, and later on catchup through Christmas. I sleep through most live talks, so find catchup invaluable. And yes, I have another online viewing ticket, bought very early on, when it was extra low cost, helped by my Tolkien Society member discount.

After Worldcon I have also been picking up a few treat things, as substitutes for not being in the Dealers' Hall in person this time! Today I picked up a low cost ebook version for my Kindle of Luna Press Publishing's Adapting Tolkien collection of essays from a Tolkien Society seminar. Some while ago I picked up a print copy of their Translating and Illustrating Tolkien collection of another Tolkien Society seminar’s essays.

I'd also like to pick up something decorative in my not-at-Worldcon catchup. Must resist a plush dragon, though the call is strong, and not for any dragon in particular! I may wait to see what's on offer from the dealers at Oxonmoot, and possibly pick up something Tolkien-y. Though going to browse the Weta Workshop site just now might not have been my best move! Not just Lord of the Rings and Hobbit stuff, like a balrog, Smaug and even Radagast* (I'm telling my husband, very unsubtly, about that last one, given my birthday soon!). But they also sell other great things, including a scene from the Escher-like castle, and Sir Didymus and Ambrosius, all from The Labyrinth movie. Also Hoggle and Ludo figures ...

* I greatly disliked the Hobbit films of Peter Jackson. But Sylvester McCoy's Radagast was fab.