ok mark thanks for the knowledge
I wonder if Tolken had a midget fetish.
I was going to ask,“What on earth makes you think that?” But then I realised what a stupid question it was. 
Fluff
I recently viewed the Peter Jackson films again, for the umpteenth time. After a decade, they really hold up. The language, the scenery, the acting and cutting are all exemplary. Rarely in our age of dross do we see high romanticism paired with gross realism, especially in the battle scenes and Orc makeup. (My favorite is general Gothmog; his face resembles a scarred oak, its bark growing over an old wound.) tinyurl.com/4c96swy
In the extended DVD version, the last disc reveals how Jackson’s company used New Zealand landscapes to create Middle Earth, and how the writers adapted Tolkien to suit movie narration. They cut chapters, built up characters and story lines, and even rearranged chapters for brevity or clarity. Their prose also improves on Tolkien, who can be wordy and awkward at times. Yet they are fair to his vision and do much to preserve his legacy as a writer of rare distinction. The story of his troubles in getting published and reviewed is a lesson to us all: never despair, if there’s a W. H. Auden around. tinyurl.com/6xcg8f3
On a trip to NZ a few years ago, I lectured on the books/films, mainly focusing on history and landscape. My conclusions, not very original, is that the series is a brilliant allegory about the rise of fascism during the interval of WW I & II, and that Middle Earth is the UK…but inverted, with Scotland in the south. Off to the west is Arnor, a region shaped like the British isles, with the Shire in the approximate location of Cornwall. See the map at bigthink.com/ideas/21172
You should read the Klingonian original.
Or, wait … am I confusing something now? 
Now why does it come as no surprise, that you’re a lover of, and expert on, the likes of feckin orcs’n’balrogs!! Jeezzz!! tch!tch!
Fool of a Took! 
Listen, you old pseudo thaumaturge, y’re teetering on the edge of the Abyss here. Even Sauron avoided screwing around with, The Supreme Grand Master of the Ancient and Noble Order of Hairy Arsed Welders of Condor. Watch it pal!
Mr Mark & MS/Mr ReadCentral, perhaps this may be of use: youtube.com/watch?v=-yyEz_cR … re=related
Take care,
Fluff
I rather think, dear Fluff — may your fur be ever more luxurious! — that henceforth we would be wise to ignore Ms/Mr ReadCentral. And when it comes my poor self, being here in the Land of the Great Firewall means that such delights are not available to this insignificant being.
With every respect.
Mark
Mr Mark,
Tis nought but an Audio-book of The Silmarillion, read by he of the dulcet toned voice, Mr Martin Shaw.
Take care
Fluff
Probably an illustration of the tale’s realism. Tolkien was a signal officer in the trenches of WWI and, if I remember right, participated in the horrors of the Somme. After a battle, those who were part of it typically talk about tobacco, tea, coffee or the like. The battle itself is too grim and painful to bring up. It’s those who weren’t dodging bullets who talk tactics.
I just read a book written during WWII by one of three Navy aviators who survived over a month on a raft in the Pacific. As they drifted, they talked constantly about food and particularly coffee.
–Michael W. Perry, author of Untangling Tolkien (LOTR chronology)