#prime examples are dwarves

[intergalacticmuffinman]

Everyone must commit one small act of chaos every now and again or else their chaos gland will swell with to much energy and kill them

This is why smaller people are more chaotic

They have less space to accommodate their chaos gland and therefore must commit more chaos than the average person

[thedwarrowscholar]

Hello, Scholar! I'm not very familiar with dwarven customs, something I'm trying to fix, and I find myself needing some guidance. I've looked through your articles and asks already but I haven't found this topic answered yet (my bad if you already talked about it!). I was wondering if there are any particular custom dwarves follow when they have children. Do they celebrate the birth like humans do? Is there any rite they follow? Thanks for you hard work!

Well met!

Thank you for your kind words, and for taking the time to delve deeper into Dwarven culture — a journey well worth undertaking, if I may say so.

And worry not — the mountain holds many hidden halls, and even I sometimes lose track of what’s buried where. This question, while touched on here and there, deserves a dedicated response. So let’s set our lanterns to the wall and explore it together.

👶 Birth Among the Dwarves To understand Dwarven birth customs, one must first appreciate just how rare and treasured Dwarven children truly are.

As noted in earlier writings, only about a third of Dwarves are female, and even fewer of those choose to marry or have children. It is not uncommon for entire generations to pass with only a handful of births (hence the decline in Dwarven numbers by the end of the Third Age). When a child is born, it is seen as a monumental blessing — a gift from Mahal (Aulë) himself, and a cause for deep reverence and guarded joy.

🔒 Private, Not Public Unlike the boisterous and public birth celebrations of Men, Dwarven customs tend toward privacy and solemnity. A child’s birth is not shouted from the mountaintops — rather, it is whispered through the stone. The family, close kin, and members of their House or Hall may gather in quiet observance, but even then, such gatherings are likely modest, reverent, and very much closed to outsiders.

Dwarves do not take life lightly, and the birth of a new Dwarrow is treated with a sense of sacred duty.

🛠️ Rituals and Rites While Tolkien didn’t describe specific Dwarven birth rituals, we can make educated assumptions based on the two major cultural inspirations behind Dwarves: Hebrew tradition and Old Norse custom.

From the Hebrew side, one might imagine something akin to:

A naming rite, possibly held on the seventh day after birth

A blessing spoken over the child, invoking Mahal’s protection and wisdom

The presentation of the inner-name, known only to the parents and the child's name guardians — a name never spoken aloud beyond these very closest of kin.

From the Old Norse side, we might envision:

The child being presented to the ancestral forge

The forging or gifting of a symbolic item: a small pendant, a rune-stone, or even the first tool to be used in training

Possibly a ritual touch of stone, linking the child to the enduring strength of the earth

Dwarvish child (with beard, naturally) being presented to the ancestral forge

🧱 The Role of Clan and Hall While the birth remains a private family affair, the clan and hall often take a formal interest, particularly if the child is of noble blood, or if the population of the hold is modest. In such cases, the elders may offer formal recognition, or record the birth in the family scrolls — the genealogical ledgers kept within each Hold. Note as well that females were often omitted from ledgers (unless they gave birth to Lords, Kings or Princes) - Dís being a prime example of the only female noted in Dwarvish genealogical information given to us by Tolkien. Reason for this is not a form of discrimination toward female Dwarves, but rather the added secrecy and protection of females. They were so valued that even their names would be hidden (both in spoken and written form).

🍼 Gender and Names As with other aspects of Dwarven life, discretion reigns supreme. The child’s gender is not usually discussed beyond kin, and their inner-name is kept secret. Only the outer-name is eventually revealed — sometimes not until years later — especially if the child will be trained in another Hold or away from their clan.

Names are not chosen lightly. Often they are inherited, or carefully crafted using ancestral root sounds to honour forebears. (For instance, Óin and Glóin being the sons of Gróin, is a deliberate echo of ancestry, not mere coincidence.)

🧡 In Summary:

Births are rare and deeply cherished among the Dwarves

Celebrations are private, solemn, and reverent — not public festivals

Inspired by Hebrew and Norse traditions, rites may involve blessings, naming ceremonies, symbolic objects, and ancestral rituals

The inner-name is sacred and rarely spoken

Clan records may preserve the birth, though much remains unspoken to outsiders

So yes — Dwarves do celebrate births, though perhaps not as Men do. In their own quiet, stone-bound way, they honour the miracle of new life with all the weight and reverence their culture demands. And to them, that is enough.

Ever at your service, The Dwarrow Scholar

[gingersnaptaff]

Peredur and Cai, or why I think these two are each other's foils within Peredur ap Efrawg (March Mabinogion Madness 1)

(The opening lines of 'Peredur' from The Red Book of Hergest.)

With thanks to @nekomaidmordred for letting me chew his ear off about this as well as @dullyn and @gwalch-mei for being like 'no, this is good actually.'

Cai and Peredur. You know them, you love them, they are the definition of tol on smol violence within the pages of The Mabinogion. And I'm here to yap at you about the fact they're foils because this idea wouldn't leave me alone.

(I had this idea of the bus, okay? Thank you Cynan Jones' book 'Blood, Bird, Snow' cuz it made it so explicit that it knocked my teeth out.)

For a start, Peredur is consistently kind. For example, when he first comes to Arthur's court he meets the two dwarves that once belonged to his father he is courteous to them. This is in sharp contrast to Cai who treats them poorly and strikes them. This haughtiness of his is arguably what pisses off Peredur the most - but it's also, arguably, Cai's greatest asset and the thing we all know and love about him. He gets so pissed off in 'Culhwch ac Olwen' when Arthur sings his dumbass englyn that he ups and leaves and that's the last we hear from him.

Furthermore, they can also be contrasted with how they battle. Cai is, perhaps, far more rash in how he deals with Peredur whereas Peredur has some level of cunning. This hot-headedness of Cai's results in his unknown assailant (Obvs Peredur, but Cai doesn't recognise him) giving him a broken arm and, I'm certain of this, Arthur despairing at one of his greatest warriors' antics. I am gonna go out on a limb and say this could be an allegory for a formerly Welsh figure (Cai) being used as a stand-in for colonialism, considering he has taken on much more of his French romance role as a gruff, boorish knight, while Peredur is the oppressed Welsh but I will not be kicking that particular hornet's nest today.

Cai is a sulky, sulky bastard and it shows after Peredur breaks his arm. 'And Cai sulked and spoke angry, jealous words. "Gwalchmai," he said, "I am certain you would lead him [Peredur] back by his reins. However little praise and honour will you get from overcoming the exhausted Knight,'"' But, in some way, it's kinda cute. Plus, I'd say both Cai and Peredur are loved by Arthur and Gwalchmai respectively and are treated kindly by them. Both are taken to their bestie's pavilions either after they're injured (Cai) or once they've made their identity known (Peredur.) Furthermore, in sharp contrast to his ribbing of him in 'Culhwch ac Olwen,' Arthur here is genuinely worried for Cai and is 'sorry for the pain Cai had received for he loved him greatly.' Meanwhile, Gwalchmai treats Peredur with respect, as does Owain, when the trio first meet in the woods before Peredur becomes a Knight, and, thereafter, throughout the tale whenever they cross paths. Plus, it's interesting that Peredur is seen as the 'flower of chivalry' or, at least, the Welsh version of it in sharp contrast to Cai. He'd been postponed as perhaps the central antagonist or the one who holds the most memorable scene. He's a gadfly to Peredur and the dwarves. Churlish, contemptuous, and contumelious all in one, that's our Cai.

But this isn't to say that Cai is evil or is disrespected. Arthur cares greatly about him. Nobody ever says Cai is vindictive within the text or elsewhere. He is, presumably, Arthur's distain - a steward, arguably one with the powers of a modern-day Prime Minister - within the text of Peredur, and therefore it's his job to run the court. Once Peredur arrives at Arthur's court he feels he must turn him away for '[his] weapons are untidy' and he doesn't want Arthur's court to be brought in disrepute. As well as this, you must take into account how highly regarded hospitality was amongst the Welsh when talking about Cai's actions towards the dwarves. Gerald of Wales writes in his 'Journey Through Wales': 'They [The Welsh] consider liberality and hospitality among the first virtues' and that 'so much does hospitality rejoice in communication' that it makes sense as to why Cai gives the dwarves a 'clout on the ear' after they've spoken to Peredur. They've flouted the rules of hospitality and Arthur's court by 'staying dumb for a year.' Welsh culture was built on conversation - as are many other cultures, including other Celtic ones - and to remain silent at a lord's table, particularly one who has sheltered you, as Arthur has to the dwarves, was seen as a great offence. We can extrapolate that this follows a throughline in The Mabinogion where hospitality is either broken - Pwyll's dogs slaying the stag Arawn's hounds had chased, Efnisien's butchery of Matholwch's horses, Pwyll and Rhiannon's badger-in-the sack game with Gwawl in Branch 1 being the impetus for Llwyd's magic desolation of Dyfed in Branch 3, or Gwydion's whole deal with stealing Pryderi's pigs in Branch four and Blodeuwedd's hosting of Gronw Pebyr at her husband's court leading to them murdering him - or restored in some way (Branch giving Matholwch the Cauldron of Rebirth in recompense for Efnisien, Manawydan threatening to hang Llwyd's wife who has shapeshifted into a mouse, Pwyll defeating Hafgan in Arawn's form, Lleu ultimately slaying Gronw and Gwydion turning Blodeuwedd into an owl).

Personally, I find it incredibly intriguing how it's Cai Peredur faces off against considering Cai was seen as the ideal of Wslsh warriorhood before Peredur. In 'Culhwch ac Olwen' much is made of Cai's prowess in battle and powers, as well as his lineage. He hails from 'Y Hen Ogledd' or 'The Old North.'

It's Yorkshire (Elmet), Northern England, and the Scottish Lowlands. Y Hen Ogledd is where Y Gododdin is situated and where Rheged - and Owain and Urien - hail from. It's seen as being an extension of Wales essentially, for they considered themselves to be the same and they spoke Brittonic. Both were even referred to as Cymry or 'fellow-countrymen.'

Anyways, I'm bringing this up because Peredur's lineage is connected to there. His father, Efrawg's, name is literally York which connects him to Elmet. Plus, he dies in battle which connects him to Y Goddoddin/The Battle of Catraeth of which Anierin writes 'Men went to Catraeth at morn/Their high spirits lessened their life-span.' Furthermore, another Arthurian hero, Cynon ap Clydno, was reputed to've fought at Catraeth and perished there. (Cynon was lord of Eidyn or modern-day Edinburgh.) Also, let us not forget Peredur's namesake, Peredur ap Eliffer was legit first cousins with Urien Rheged.

Cai, meanwhile, is connected to the princes/kings of Dyfed through his dad, Cynyr Ceinfargog (forkbeard). Cynyr was the father of Saint Non who was the patron saint of both rated women and Pelynt, a village in Cornwall. She's also the mother of Dewi Sant, otherwise known as St. David, Wales' patron saint! Cai would be Saint David's UNCLE. Through these lineages, both Peredur and Cai would be connected to an age of great deeds, which would further heighten their, y'know, whole Greatest Warrior Lads In Wales vibe.

Finally, both are later downgraded within the corpus of stories that came after or even at the same time. (Percival's treatment in Chretien stands out and then he's later bodied by Galahad out of his position as Finder of Big Holy Cup, whereas Cai is arguably superseded by Gwalchmai and thereafter Gawain as Arthuriana's Best Boi.)

Anyways, that's my ramble. That's it. Since Saint David's Day is March 1st, I want u all to think about Cai and him being a proud uncle to his nephew. Or Peredur breaking Cai's arm. Whatever floats your boat.

[katurdayss]

It’s been a full week since the finale of Rings of Power and every time I've sat down to try to write my S2 review I see a new take and start rethinking. I eventually circle back to the same ideas tho, so fuck it, here are my thoughts in no particular order.

Season 2 was a lot better than Season 1. This is true for most shows, as S1 is usually a 'lets find our footing' scenario, but also these seasons are SHORT. Which leads me to...

This show would benefit GREATLY from seasons longer than 8 episodes. The way they've structured it means they juggle a LOT of storylines at once. Sometimes this is great, other times it feels like storylines suffer because they're just planting seeds for the future and it doesn't really have an impact on the Main Storyline for the season. For me, Arondir was one of these. His started with this great potential for how an immortal would understand the concept of grieving the forever loss of a loved one. Unfortunately that was really watered down into tracking down Adar to kill him, full stop. Which brings us to...

What.the.fuck.is.the.timeline? How much time has passed? S1 and S2 feel like they happened in a month. I don’t care if the timeline is compressed, I still want to feel time passing other than noticing Annatar's/Sauron’s hair magically grew like 4 inches in one episode.

Speaking of Annatar, I feel like what the show did really well was creating original dialogue/moments (even with canon things) instead of what I would call fan/studio service. The parts that I have loved the most were the more original moments: like anything involving the dwarves, the development of Miriel and Elendil, the Ents, and Cirdan. The parts that I felt were weakest were when the show relied too heavily or used dialogue from the Jackson movies. I didn't want the Stranger to be Gandalf, not because it isn't canon, but because Peter Jackson already did that. I don't need multiple call backs to his movies (I love those movies too). I'm here for NEW STUFF. Expand my Tolkien universe, show me shit I've never seen before that will make my head explode. That weird nameless thing Arondir killed? Imagine the Cardi B 'What is that' meme and that was me. Fucking great. I don't want to be constantly reminded of the Jackson version of shit, I'm here to see Prime's version.

That brings me to the idea of consistency. I have yet to figure out what the methodology the showrunners/writers have when choosing to follow or not follow canon. Example, they included that little orc family but didn't make Elrond an elf lord? WHY? His lineage is like royal af. Even when not following canon, I feel like the writing can be really inconsistent. The Numenor storyline is a great example of this. Sometimes it's awesome, but the dialogue for the Kings Men characters are often really cringy, and not because what they're saying is fascist. Galadriel is another one for me. Do I need to like her, no, but her character is also used as a studio catch all for every woman character archetype possible. She's single-minded and driven, she's soft and caring, she's thoughtful and wise, every dude apparently is in love with her and it swings WILDLY from episode to episode. You need space to build in these changes to make them believable, which see points 2 & 3.

And finally, on the subject of romance/shipping, for the love of god a story can be great without all the fan service romantic tension editing and teasing. People can exist without romantic partners. People exist without romance. I literally do it every day. I'm not saying you need to make characters asxeual or anything either. Just you know, let people be people. Did The Kiss bother me? No, but you also could of written Elrond slipping Galadriel a lock pick numerous other ways. Is Sauron obsessed with Galadriel? Sure, but maybe its because her hair shines with the light of the west or something and not this tired trope of 'bE mY qUeeN'.

There are other things I would personally change, but I thoroughly enjoyed this season. It made me do a whole lot of reckoning with the ideas of canon representation vs just good storytelling for the audience, which is a really good thing. But it also showed me the folly in treating every media property the same, because Tolkien is not Marvel is not GOT is not The Witcher. You can't be like, 8 episodes works for X so it should work for this too, or x worked for GOT so we'll use that here as well. Maybe it's the Graphic Designer in me but just because Pepsi and Coca Cola are brand soda's doesn't mean the design language and marketing is the same, ya know?

[saurongorthaur9]

Do you think there are any parallels between eru unwilling to destroy morgoth because he is his own firstborn and later granting aule mercy when he created hos own dwarves as he sees some parallels there?

Yes, I could certainly see some parallels between the two. I think it also ties into Tolkien's view of Creation and sub-creation from his essay "On Fairy Stories". Essentially, Tolkien's view, as a Christian, was that creation is the act that brings us closest to God, that taps into the part of us that is "made in the image of God." When we create (music, art, writing, etc), we become sub-creators, mimicking as children the act of Creation of God.

Both Melkor and Aule are creators, following in their All-Father's footsteps of desiring to create things of their own being, which in Tolkien's view, was a good and beautiful thing. The difference of course is that Melkor's acts of creation are done reactively in mockery and hatred of others' creations (the orcs being the prime example) while Aule's act of creation was done in genuine (if misguided) love of creating for its own sake. However, both are using their Eru-given drive to be sub-creators and I think that is where a lot of Eru's mercy towards both of them stems from.

[paulisded]

The Ledge #600: Hudson's Best Of 2023

Choosing my favorite records of the year is always a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it's great fun for a music nerd like me to revisit the hundreds of releases I've checked out the last twelve months. But it's also frustrating trying to thin down those picks into a list that truly represents the past year. Many records that initially seemed a lock are suddenly eclipsed by new records that I simply can't ignore. Other albums that I had prematurely set aside have revealed themselves to be chock full of fabulous tunes that I can't imagine living without. 

Overall, this is another great year for music. I'll never understand the mindset of people, especially those around my age, that complain how there's no great bands or records these days. Sure, the pop charts are primarily filled with garbage, and one does have to spend more time than ever finding new artists. But the search has always been a great part of the fun of being a collector, and my main reason I've now put together 600 episodes of this show is to share my findings with others. I'm always thrilled when I hear that someone has bought a record due to my recommendation. So please let me know your thoughts on this countdown of my picks for the 40 best records of the year!

39. Hotline TNT, Cartwheel/Dion Lunadon, Systems Edge. (tie) It’s only fitting that the list ends with the two most recent discoveries. Hotline TNT is the latest project of Weed leader Will Anderson, and it’s a prime example of the modern era’s version of what was described as shoegaze years ago. Dion Lunadon is a veteran rocker who got his start in The D4, which put out two albums on Flying Nun Records, and also spent time in A Place To Bury Strangers. His third solo album of glam-influenced rock and roll probably would have charted higher in this year’s list if I had heard it a few weeks earlier.

38. The Blips, Again. A few years ago, the leaders of four bands convened in an Atlanta studio and put together a great rootsy rock and roll album. These four songwriters have reconvened and their second album is as strong as their debut.

37. Dwarves, Concept Album. A happy Dwarves album? Is that possible? Well, sort of. The snark is still there from He Who Shall Not Be Named and the rest of these masked marvels.

36. Jagger Holly, Rivoltella. Forced with a second lockdown in his Austria home, Jagger Holly’s Jay Dee sat down and started writing…and writing more. As he states on his bandcamp, “If 1 record is nice....2 records has to be better right?” The result is indeed two records of what pop-punk should sound like instead of the whiny vocal styles that plague the records that generally are described as such.

35. Local Drags, Mess Of Everything. Let’s take a little bit of The Shoes, mix it with early Tom Petty along with Wilco at their poppiest, and you have this rock and roll gem.

34. The Smashing Times, This Sporting Life. We all need a little jangle in our lives, and we have The Smashing Times to give us this year’s shimmering guitars.

33. JJ & The Real Jerks, Rat Beach. Our friends at Rum Bar Records released a ton of great music this year, but the highlight is quite possibly by these grizzled rockers. Take a little bit of Ramones, more than a couple of pinches of Dead Boys, and quite a bit of any other “loud fast rules” bands, and you have these wonderful jerks.

32. The Men, New York City. After a few albums that saw this veteran band attempt to expand their sound, this record is a true back to basics that, to quote Pitchfork, “wears its analogue heart on flannel-clad sleeves”.

31. Country Westerns, Forgive the City. Great band, terrible name. But with great garage rock such as this I’ll forgive the sin.

30. Kevin Morby, More Photographs (A Continuum). Technically, this record is a set of leftovers from last year’s This Is a Photograph album, but these aren’t second rate rejects. Instead, these are songs that lyrically or sonically just didn’t fit that album but deserved to be released.

29. Waco Brothers, The Men That God Forgot. A personal note here. I created a yearlong theme for my podcast, The Ledge, where I’ve been playing a cover of The Undertones’ “Teenage Kicks” on each and every one of my shows this year. I was obviously thrilled when I first saw a tracklist of the latest by these veteran “Clash meets Cash’ rockers and “Teenage Kicks” was the lone cover on their first set of original songs since 2016.

28. Bory, Who’s a Good Boy. Bory is the project by Portland newcomer Brenden Ramirez, and is produced by power pop maestro Mo Troper. This was a late addition, and I can’t wait to fully immerse myself into multiple plays of this catchy record.

27. Iggy Pop, Every Loser. It certainly seems like 2023 was a year for legends to return to the spotlight. Pop set the tone with this album that came out the first Friday of this year. Like the Stones album, Pop was reenergized by young producer Andrew Watt, which resulted in quite possibly the most varied Iggy album in decades.

26. Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Future Is Your Past. Thirty years after their very first release, Anton Newcombe’s latest collection of songs is his 20th album to date. The latest is an extension of last year’s Fire Doesn’t Grow On Tree, where Anton set a goal to record one new song a day for 70 days. I guess we’ll have a few more records from these sessions in the next few years.

25. Guided By Voices, Nowhere To Go But Up. Another year, another three albums by Robert Pollard and friends. So which one do I pick for this list? Honestly, I’m going to go with recency bias and choose the most recent record. But all three feature the typical three minute blasts of pop/rock bliss that Pollard has completely perfected since he stabilized his most recent lineup a decade or so ago.

24. Night Beats, Rajan. It may not sound correct, but I can’t help but think this wild mix of psych and Western genres would make it the perfect soundtrack for a remake of a 60’s spaghetti western.

23. Yo La Tengo, This Stupid World. Shortly before COVID hit, Yo La Tengo began recording jam sessions in their practice space. They reconvened a few months later, and started experimenting with these tapes they had previously recorded. The result is one of the veteran band’s more interesting albums they have put out in their almost 40 year career.

22. Graham Parker & The Goldtops, Last Chance To Learn The Twist. It’s always a great year when we see a new Graham Parker album, and this year is no exception. His first in five years, Parker’s latest combines his usual snark with a wry sense of humor, along with his love of classic soul and barroom rock.

20. Lucinda Williams, Stories From a Rock N Roll Heart/Pretenders, Relentless. (tie) Two legendary rock and roll women who have nothing to prove return with some of their best music ever, and they do it on their own terms. Chrissie Hynde’s latest Pretenders album rocks as hard as her band’s greatest moments, but it’s not a retread of her first two albums. Williams, who recently recovered from a stroke, combines barroom rockers with her patented grizzled folky ballads.

19. Cut Worms, S/T. Max Clarke’s third album as Cut Worms is a weird fever dream where Brian Wilson in his 1966 prime suddenly records an Americana album that would fit right in with 1999-era Jayhawks, Wilco, or Whiskeytown. Does that make sense? 

18. Frankie and the Witch Fingers, Data Doom. Let’s just let the bandcamp page describe this album, as it’s better than anything I could possibly write - “on…Data Doom the band hurtles the listener head first into the wood-chipper of technological dystopia, systemic rot, creeping fascism, the military-industrial profit mill, and a near-constant erosion of humanity that peels away the soul bit by bit. With a fuse lit by these modern-day monstrosities the band seeks to find salvation through a thousand watt wake-up of rock n’ roll exfoliation.” Are you as exhausted as me?

17. Osees, Intercepted Message. It’s insane to think that this is the 28th studio album by John Dwyer and Company, under quite possibly the tenth or so variation of their band name. What’s even more insane is that, with few exceptions, none of these albums sound the same. This record could be described as their “party record”, with synths leading the way. But that’s not saying this is an OMD album, as the garage-punk aggression is still present.

16. King Tuff, Smalltown Stardust. Kyle Thomas, aka King Tuff, has always mixed a wide range of influences into his records. On this record, Thomas adds quite a bit of 70’s singer/songwriter, along with a bit of early Wings, merged with the fuzzier sounds of Dinosaur Jr., Ty Segall, and many others.

15. The Rolling Stones, Hackney Diamonds. There’s absolutely no reason why a 2023 album by The Rolling Stones could be anything better than middling. A tour souvenir, maybe. Or something only for the devoted fan. Yet, this record works. The band sounds like they mean it, man. It may be prototypical Mick and Kieth, but there’s also a modern edge to it thanks to producer Andrew Watt.

14. Lydia Loveless, Nothing’s Gonna Stand in My Way. Lydia’s lyrics have always seemed like a direct path to her soul, and that’s never been more true than on this record. Yes, she’s been through a lot of heartbreak, but there’s also a feeling that she knows she’s going to make it and won’t let anybody get in her way.

13. The Exbats, Song Machine. Everyone’s favorite father/daughter band has now fleshed out their sound with the addition of two additional band members, and their new record is sort of a love note to the history of pop music. There’s some songs reminiscent of Phil Spector’s great girl groups of the 60’s. Other tunes seem to come straight from the Brill Building or whatever production team created the Partridge Family records of the 70s. Yet these syrupy tunes mix with the darker influences of bands like the Velvet Underground and the Ramones.

12. Sparklehorse, Bird Machine. As a rule, posthumous records don’t make my lists. But I can’t help but include this final Sparklehorse record. One year before he took his life, Mark Linkous spent a few weeks in the studio with producer Steve Albini, bashing out a bunch of simpler than usual tunes for a project that was never finished. Over a decade later, Linkous’ brother and his wife fleshed out these recordings, resulting in a fitting final chapter for a brilliant career that should have been bigger than it was.

11. Tommy Stinson’s Cowboys In the Campfire, Wronger. The former Replacements bassist has long promised this side project with buddy Chip Roberts, and it’s a wonderful departure from the great Bash and Pop album of a few years ago. This record is chock full of laid back Americana, and certainly showcases Stinson’s love of the likes of Johnny Cash, Dave Alvin, and John Doe (who makes a guest appearance).

10. Bar Italia, The Twits. This wonderful London trio released two records this year, but this second one was arguably the better of the pair. Their sound is chock full of many classic and contemporary bands - a bit of Sonic Youth, a midge of Dry Cleaning, among many others. What’s most interesting is that on most songs the three members each trade off on vocal lines, which journalist Skye Butchard says “(takes) songs in new directions, reveling in the tension where their individual ideas intersect"

9. Wreckless Eric, Leisureland. How does one describe a modern day Wreckless Eric album? It’s not easy. The melodic pop skills of his early days are still present, but he surrounds these tunes with landscapes of various sounds. This particular record flows best as one long piece of music. Well, two pieces, actually, if you’re listening via vinyl, as god intended.

8. Purling Hiss, Drag On Girard. Purling Hiss began as a one-man project of Philadelphia guitarist Mike Polizze. Now a full-fledged band, this is the record for fans of fuzzed up garage rock.

7. Wilco, Cousin. After last year’s somewhat overrated country-ish Cruel Country, it’s nice to see the band back to experimentation. For the first time ever, they even reached out to an outside producer, Cate Le Bon. The results are one of those “creeper” albums that takes a few spins to unveil its charms.

5. Brad Marino, Grin & Bear It/Geoff Palmer, An Otherwise Negative Situation. (tie) it may not be fair to either Marino or Palmer, but it’s hard for me to think of one without the other. They’re friends that regularly play on each other’s albums, and they both tend to put out records around the same time. They’re pretty much the power pop/punk/rock version of Rockpile’s Dave Edmonds and Nick Lowe.

4. Paint Fumes, Real Romancer. The veteran garage/punk rockers’ fourth album is quite possibly their best. Their bandcamp site states it’s for fans of the Nerves, Ramones, and Gun Club, and I can’t think of a better description.

3. Civic, Taken By Force. Asked to describe their second album, the Melbourne-based five piece responded with “1984 meets Endless Summer”. A head scratcher, to be sure, but yet it weirdly is apt. Noisy, explosive proto-punk guitars meets singalong choruses, aptly produced by Radio Birdman’s Rob Younger.

2. The Whiffs, Scratch ‘N’ Sniff. What I just wrote about Uni Boys also fits with this fabulous Kansas City band, which made their short tour together this year a dream lineup.

1. Uni Boys, Buy This Now! Power pop was back in a big way in 2023, but it’s an evolved form of the genre. “Power” is the key word. Yes, the pop melodies are full of the giant hooks we expect from these sorts of bands, but they’re intermixed with louder guitars and faster tempos. These bands are forging their own visions instead of simply following the past. This L.A. foursome grew up at Burger Records shows, and you can tell.

Tonight's show also sees the conclusion of a yearlong project that has been great fun - the "52 Weeks of Teenage Kicks" series. I had originally planned on just playing a demo version of The Undertones' original track, but I received a surprising email just a couple of days ago. "Hey it's Krusty, longtime caller first time listener", it read. "Procrastinated my way through almost the whole year on this one (its pretty easy when you suck at drums!). Usually I am playing with my band Fashionkill, but this is my first effort at playing everything involved! Like the metallica blecccchh album, this is definitely more studio tricks than actual musicianship! Drums on Thursday, Everything else on Monday. Mixed on Tuesday. Sent today. Keep up the good stuff!" Thank you, Krusty, and thanks to all of the others who participated in this series!

Here are the tracks I aired to represent all 40 selections (aired in reverse, "countdown" order, of course):

1. Uni Boys, Down To The City.

2. The Whiffs, It’s Not Over.

3. Civic, Blood Rushes.

4. Paint Fumes, Starting Over.

5. Brad Marino, Lucy.

6. Geoff Palmer, Surfin’ Nebraska.

7. Wilco, Cousin.

8. Purling Hiss, Something In My Basement.

9. Wreckless Eric, Standing Water.

10. Bar Italia, World’s Greatest Emoter.

11. Tommy Stinson’s Cowboys In the Campfire, Mr. Wrong.

12. Sparklehorse, I Fucked It Up.

13. The Exbats, Himbo.

14. Lydia Loveless, Poor Boy.

15. The Rolling Stones, Whole Wide World.

16. King Tuff, Smalltown Stardust.

17. Osees, Intercepted Message. 1

18. Frankie and the Witch Fingers, Syster System.

19. Cut Worms, Take It and Smile.

20. Lucinda Williams, Rock N Roll Heart. 

21. Pretenders, Losing My Sense Of Taste.

22. Graham Parker & The Goldtops, The Music Of the Devil.

23. Yo La Tengo, Sinatra Drive Breakdown.

24. Night Beats, Motion Picture.

25. Guided By Voices, Puncher’s Parade.

26. The Brian Jonestown Massacre, Do Rainbows Have Ends.

27. Iggy Pop, Strung Out Johnny.

28. Bory, Feel the Burn.

29. The Waco brothers, Teenage Kicks.

30. Kevin Morby, This Is a Photograph II.

31. Country Westerns, Grapefruit.

32. The Men, God Bless the USA.

33. JJ & The Real Jerks, Girl I Want My Money Back.

34. The Smashing Times, Lets’ Be Nice With Johnny.

35. Local Drags, Heard About It.

36. Jagger Holly, Don’t Bore Us (Get to the Chorus).

37. The Dwarves, Feeling Great.

38. The Blips,, Who Took My Baby Away.

39. Hotline TNT, History Channel.

40. Dion Lunadon, Diamond Sea.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE SHOW!

[toaarcan]

My Take on Vampires

Alright I got inspired by some earlier posts I saw about how weaksauce vampires are in modern pop culture, so I thought I'd write down my own take on the standard sexy monster.

This is mainly for use in the D&D setting I'm very slowly putting together, so I'll refer to things like non-human mortals, wizards, divine magic, etcetera.

Vampires have ashen, dull skin, piercing eyes, and sharpened teeth and claws. Their eyes glow blood red while using their powers, or when they're in states of heightened emotion. Their teeth can grow longer and sharper during feeding, and their jaws can open unnaturally wide.

Vampires are capable of shapeshifting (more on this later), with bats being among their usual forms. They can also sprout their bat wings while in humanoid form.

The only ways a vampire can die are being burned to ash by light, or by being staked through the heart with sanctified oak wood and decapitated afterwards.

If a vampire is not decapitated after being staked, it will merely pin them in place, paralyzing them. While in this state, the vampire will remain fully conscious.

While in direct sunlight, a vampire will not immediately die. They will first lose all of their powers, and experience extreme physical discomfort. Eventually, their skin will begin to burn, blister, and peel, before igniting and burning away to ash. The exact length of time this takes depends on the individual.

A vampire's powers and weaknesses are tied directly to each other. As a vampire's power grows, so too does their susceptibility to their weaknesses. For example, a freshly-made vampire who has yet to drink blood from another person would be almost indistinguishable from a mortal. They would be able to walk in the sunlight with ease, and would be unbothered by holy symbols, but they also wouldn't be much faster or stronger than a mortal, and would have no extra powers. However, a vampire lord who had devoured thousands of people would be much, much stronger, but would light up like a Christmas tree in a matter of minutes of being exposed to the sun.

Concentrated beams and blasts of light kill vampires much faster.

Vampires are somewhat vulnerable to silver, albeit less so than werewolves. The most curious way this manifests is that silver-backed mirrors won't reflect a vampire's image. Mirrors that use no silver in their construction can reflect a vampire, however.

Vampires feed exclusively on the blood of the living. Mortal food and drink always taste vile to them, and give them no nutrition.

Different blood types taste different to a vampire. Which tastes better depends on the individual.

Different species also taste different. Tieflings are spicy, and dwarves have a more metallic taste. Elven blood is akin to alcohol, but Drow specifically are toxic to vampires, and will make them sick.

Vampires can feed on non-sapient life, but it's not good for them. It weakens them, and will eventually reduce them to a withered, bestial state.

Vampires gain no actual nutrition from their meals, as they are not alive anymore. Instead, the blood is a means to transfer and consume the soul of their victim. This soul then fuels the unholy magic that keeps the vampire animate.

A vampire turned before reaching their physical prime will continue to grow until they reach that level.

If a victim were to freely offer their blood and soul to the vampire, then the vampire would become significantly more powerful.

As long as they keep drinking, they will remain at that state.

A vampire that doesn't drink will weaken, and age at an accelerated rate. Resuming feeding will gradually restore their youth and vitality.

Someone drained by a vampire doesn't automatically become one. The soul-drained remains will typically become a shambling husk, like a zombie. The corpse must be fed the blood of a vampire to rise as one.

Because the victim's soul is devoured by their killer, and then replaced with a part of them, it takes enormous mental strength to retain one's sense of self after vampirisation. A freshly-made vampire will usually be a completely different person to who they were before.

If a victim is fed vampire blood before dying, they will become a vampire without dying, and retain their normal self. They will be mentally linked to the vampire until the vampire is killed, however.

As is expected, vampires are supernaturally strong, fast, and have enhanced senses, including superior smell and hearing, night vision, and a sort of X-ray vision that allows them to see another person's circulatory system specifically.

As mentioned above, vampires can shapeshift. The most common alternate form is a bat, but they can also become wolves, rats, and other animals perceived as frightening by the society they were part of before death. So if someone from a culture that viewed hamsters as terrifying became a vampire, they'd be able to turn into a hamster.

They can also become swarms of small animals, though this is risky, as this swarm being separated or partially destroyed can leave the vampire's mind incomplete, missing memories or personality traits.

Mist forms are also common, typically red, black, or green in colouration.

Vampires are fully capable of casting aside all semblance of humanity and assuming the form of a humanoid bat monster.

Perhaps the most sinister aspect of a vampire's shapeshifting ability is the capacity to take the form of any of their previous victims, using the soul they consumed as a disguise.

As stated above, only light and the stake/decapitation combo can kill a vampire. In other cases, they will simply regenerate their form from any injury, growing back limbs and even their head.

Silver weapons can hinder a vampire's ability to heal, but won't stop it entirely.

Of course, vampires are also capable of hypnotising their prey.

As far as weaknesses go, light, oak, and silver have already been mentioned. The other most famous one is holy symbols, which prevent vampires from approaching any who wield them. However, the holy symbol of a god that likes vampires won't do anything to them.

More esoteric weaknesses like being unable to cross running water only apply to the more powerful vampires.

Requiring an invite to enter someone's place of residence only applies to those of equal or greater social standing to the vampire. They are, after all, an aristrocratic monster.

Vampires that don't feed as much can struggle with intimacy, ironically enough. After all, if you feed on blood, and have enhanced senses, then someone blushing is just going to make you hungry.

Lacking a true soul of their own, vampires aren't particularly inclined with normal mortal magic forms. However, they are by far the best practitioners of blood magic, appropriately enough.

So yeah that's basically how they work. I've probably forgotten some stuff or skipped things over, so feel free to ask about more details.

Also have some vampires.

[thetoxicgamer]

Baldur’s Gate 3 really wants you to toss your teammates

The astonishingly rich and deep RPG Baldur's Gate 3 promises a great deal of player freedom and innovation in how you approach situations. However, if you were to listen to the lead developers on Baldur's Gate 3 at Larian Studios discuss it, you could get the impression that they simply want to physically throw everyone around as soon as possible. The Larian crew talks about the numerous playable races in Baldur's Gate 3 and what each adds to the table. Speaking to GameSpot, Larian head and Baldur’s Gate 3 game director Swen Vincke is joined by lead writer Adam Smith and lead systems designer Nick Pechenin as the trio talk a little about each race you can bring to the table. There are some great tidbits that we’ll dig into shortly, but I couldn’t help but be struck by one recurring theme – how throwable each of them is. “A cool thing about being a Halfling Barbarian,” Pechenin explains, “is that if you have other friends who are Halfling Barbarians, you can throw each other like this ball of rage, because you have enough strength. It’s a ‘cannonball’ build that I really recommend.” “I always think of Lord of the Rings,” Vincke adds with a laugh. Unlike the famous scene from The Two Towers, however, the squarish, stocky Dwarves of Baldur’s Gate 3 are not well-primed for tossing. “They’re heavier than they should be,” Vincke sighs, disappointment in his eyes, “when you’re not that strong and you try to throw them around, it doesn’t work.” Gnomes, on the other hand? “Very throwable.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kECU5FCStsk That’s not all the video reveals, as the team also notes that Elves and Half-Elves have been the most-picked races through early access, with Tieflings close behind. Being rather long-lived, Smith explains, Elves tend to reflect on things with much more far-sightedness, while the Humans are comparatively short-lived compared to other races and their views tend to reflect that. Half-Elves, then, make a rather fitting blend between the pair, with Vincke chuckling, “They’re probably even more popular than the elves.” Pechenin says, “Players find it easy to connect to the Half-Elf: it’s a bit of fantasy, but it’s also relatable enough that you see yourself being a bit of a Half-Elf.” It probably doesn’t hurt that they have some fantastic stats at their disposal, especially if Baldur’s Gate 3 racial bonuses let you reassign them as previews have suggested. Interestingly, Smith picks out the Tieflings and Gnomes as very central to the plot. “A lot of Tieflings are fleeing, they’re some of the first refugees because of the events that have already happened in the world – they’re outsiders, outcasts even.” He points to popular origin character Karlach as one great example. The Gnomes, meanwhile, also play a key role, with the natural inventors spread across several distinct factions. The team also discusses the reactive ways NPCs will respond to your chosen character type – races such as Drow and Dragonborn are likely to elicit more negative or cautious reactions, for example. “Nobody’s aghast to see ,” Smith remarks, “but people do find you unusual; they’re not the most common race.” He’s certainly won over though: “You just have to look at them, they’re the most gorgeous race I’ve ever seen in a videogame – they’re incredible.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TmGocqpY0Y The introduction of the Half-Orcs is great news for all players, whether you’re interested in being one or not. That’s because, as Pechenin explains, “The Half-Orcs really incentivized us to include these strong body types – I think if we hadn’t had Half-Orcs we might not have shipped it , but now thanks to Half-Orcs everybody can be buff – as buff as you want.” Smith also confirms that beards aren’t restricted to the likes of Dwarves – even the Elves can have them. With so many great options on the table, what’s the game’s lead planning to start with? While Vincke ponders that the Githyanki are “my favorites, most likely, because they’re the ‘aliens’ of this world” – with some even having access to the Astral Plane, where they hunt the tentacle-faced Mindflayers – his actual answer is different. It’s those gorgeous Dragonborn again. “Definitely what I’m going to play. They’re the most badass characters that we have. They’re just really, really cool. A Sorcerer Dragonborn with Dragon Blood has this special sheen of his ancestors inside of him – it’s fantastic,” he closes with a smile. Now you know. Once you’ve decided on a race, you’ll want to study all the Baldur’s Gate 3 classes to round out your character sheet. You’ll also want to make sure you’ve checked in with the Baldur’s Gate 3 system requirements, and that you’ve cleared out your calendar – if you haven’t yet asked about the whopping Baldur’s Gate 3 length, you should probably take note. Read the full article

[particularly-stupid-angel]

I'd argue that it's not that the Shire is anti-magic, exactly, and more like there's an inherent Smallness to it. There are bad things in the Shire, but they're petty tyrants at most.

Bilbo at the beginning of the Hobbit is a prime example. He's the exact same sort of creature as Smaug is - He really just wants to sit on his horde and do absolutely nothing of anything else, forever. It's just that Bilbo's horde is made up of teacups and comfortable chairs, not dwarves-gold.

Even when it's under occupation by Saruman/Sharky, there's still an inherent Smallness to the Shire. Saruman is still doing all the same sorts of things he did in Isengard, but Small. He's polluting rivers and digging up singular important trees.

Something about the Shire reigns in ambition, it makes folk Small. It's hardly a perfect shield against evil, but it is a sort of balm.

Basically: Nothing of importance happens in the Shire, because nothing of importance happens in the Shire. The height of most hobbits ambitions is a comfortable hole and enough meals to last a lifetime.

Can I please ask for your top five theories on why the Ringwraiths become so much more powerful over the course of the LotR trilogy? By the end of the books a single Ringwraith holds an army of 6000 men in paralysing dread from a height of a mile, they're dismaying hosts of men, etc. And in the beginning, they're easily defeated by "jumping behind a tree," "pretending to be in a different room," "getting on a little boat," "man with a stick on fire," etc.

hmm ok

1) their power depends on how physically close they are to sauron/mordor

2) they consciously weren’t unleashing their full power early in Fellowship bcos it didn’t seem worth it when they were just dealing w hobbits

3) they just woke up from a REALLY long nap and it takes them a while to fully come ‘online’

4) their power just waxes & wanes sometimes

5) hobbits are their One Weakness 

[raven-at-the-writing-desk]

I don’t really understand?are the twst boys Humans or not?

Hi, I think you might have been confused by the lore being explained in this post?

The Ramshackle Ghosts make mention of race, which means that human is only one of many races in Twisted Wonderland. Only 1 in 10 humans are capable of using magic; this statistic is different for other races (so magic may be more or less common for others).

A majority of the cast is human, but some of the characters are clearly referred to as being a different race. For example:

Leona, Jack, and Ruggie are beastmen. (Presumably, so are Chenya and Cheka.)

Azul, Floyd, and Jade are merfolk. Azul is an octopus merman, whereas the twins are moray eel mermen.

Malleus and Lilia are fairies. Malleus is, more specifically, some kind of (western) dragon fairy. In Fairy Gala If, Lilia is referred to as a “dark fairy”.

Sebek is half human (on his father’s side) and half nocturnal fae (on his mother’s side). Note that a lot of fan art likes to portray Sebek as part crocodile, but he is not said to be a “crocodile fairy” in canon.

However!! In-universe, “human” can refer to any non-fae. This means merfolk, beastmen, and humans fall under the “human” umbrella, whereas fae are their own separate thing.

Something else I’d like to add is that though the game version of TWST tends to portray beastmen as being entirely in Savanaclaw, the manga adaptation and various voice lines seem to indicate that the dorms are actually mixed. For example, in multiple panels of the Episode of Heartslabyul, we see many beastmen among the humans.

It may be more difficult to pinpoint which students are mermen (as they look no different from humans after transforming to gain legs) or fae, but based on the lore, it’s likely that these two races are less likely to mingle with humans and thus the population of merfolk/fairies at school is relatively low compared to the number of humans. Floyd says in his Beans Camo vignettes that it’s rare for merfolk to want to come up to the surface, though he doesn’t state any statistics. This made it easy for him, Azul, and Jade to sign up for a boot camp that prepares merpeople for life on land.

As for fairies, it’s been implied multiple times that they can be very isolated from others and don’t like it when their territory is encroached on. Recall that many smaller fairies attacked the boys during their camping trips, and the fairies of Fairy Gala were about to accost the students as well. The Briar Valley is a prime example of fairy isolationism and aversion to change (Sebek’s mother received social scorn for her decision to marry a human). This seems to imply that not many fairies go out of their way to interact with humans, which leads me to believe that there aren’t many fairy students attending NRC either. Plus, unlike merfolk, fairies would be easier to spot since they seem to have a shared physical trait of pointy ears (regardless of fairy subspecies). The only NPCs I can think of that are fairies are the Seven Dwarves at RSA, which are implied one of Yuu’s dialogue choices to be a short species of fairy.

[elmendea]

much ado about Finrod, or, how I learned to stop worrying and love the Legendarium multiverse concept

While I was watching the first episode of RoP yesterday, it hit me as to why they presented Finrod’s death as they did -- because they don’t have the rights to The Silmarillion, thusly Lúthien and Beren’s tale can’t be told, so...what do you do for narrative coherency when something is legally unfilmable?

You make like Peter Jackson did for what was cinematically unfilmable and tweak a few details, thus creating a coherent complementary narrative.

The idea that there can be happily coexisting canons for different forms of The Lord of the Rings kind of settled as just the accepted thing in fandom around about early ‘04, after RotK’s release, and honestly? I think it’s the best way to think. There’s book-canon, movie-canon, and now show-canon, and that’s all okay. It just makes the scope of the Legendarium even wider: it turns a universe into a multiverse.

And people are going to say “that’s disrespectful to Tolkien!”, but I hasten to remind you that Tolkien himself was forever making lore changes and going back and forth on what is and isn’t canon. (See lady dwarves as a prime example!) And that is in no way a criticism of the Professor -- it’s a compliment. This is, for lack of a better term, a living mythology. A mythology with as many brilliant facets as a Fëanorian-made gem, seen through a myriad different windows. We as fans have a choice as to which of those windows we want to peek through.

Anyone who says this “ruins Tolkien’s legacy” makes me want to roll my eyes. Let’s do an experiment: go pick up your copy of The Lord of the Rings or The Silmarillion and point out to me exactly where the existence of the show or the movies or the musical or anything has erased or changed any of the words in those amazing books. The books are and always will be the ‘base’ canon. The books are what we look to first, the books are where all adaptions spring from. Nothing changes that. Not PJ, not Amazon, nothing.

If you honestly think so little of Tolkien’s amazing stories that you believe an adaption, however good or bad, can ruin them...

[twopoppies]

I don’t mean to be a Debbie downer, but I keep seeing people celebrate DWD being “a flop” and Olivia not getting paid that much, and I feel the need to correct this notion bc people are gonna be disappointed when this sort of thing keeps happening (her getting hired, Harry used to stunt). Because the truth is the controversy and the stunt paid off big time.

35m is the extended budget for production. Including marketing costs worldwide, AT MOST the movie doubled its budget. WB is virtually broke and the promo for this movie was extremely lean. We are all very embedded into every single thing that’s happening so I understand thinking the promotion was big, but it really really wasn’t. There were some ads scattered around on TV, which weren’t on prime time so they’re not that costly, some social media ads, some billboards. Obviously marketing includes trailers and everything they involve, plus the first line of actors involved in promotion often get paid for their presence (unless stipulated in their initial contract but unless it’s a tent pole that’s rare, acting is a flat rate and then promo goes above it, cause it can fluctuate according to context). Flo had minimal involvement and aside from Harry, she was the highest profile. Harry probably got paid good bucks for flying all the way to Venice and stuff but he also did very little. Chris and Gemma did less than Harry. The only actors who did a little bit more promo were Nick Kroll and Kate Berlant, and their budget was probably minimal. Olivia handled the heavy load so she either got a huge check for that or she didn’t because she’s waiting for her payday on another front, either way she wins in that regard.

You don’t pay for showing in festivals, and other than that you have the NYC premiere which was very lean, and a couple of q&a which were also very lean and required minimal organization. You also don’t pay shows and magazines for interviews (it’s against regulations), though the studio can be charged for the cost of the person being interviewed traveling + accommodations + team to get them ready and whatever they have to wear, etc. But in the grand scheme of things, of millions, this amounts to very little.

I’d be super surprised if the entire budget for production WW crossed 20m. I’m leaning more towards 15, but since it’s harder for me to estimate costs in Europe and Australia, I’ll stretch it to 20.

That leaves the entire budget at 55m. You can even round it up to 60m and the profit of this movie is still above 20m, which is A LOT for a thriller released in September, especially one that’s not an IP. That’s MAJOR. Not only are we seeing a lot of movies absolutely flop at the box office (Woman King is faring a lot worse, for instance, Amsterdam has got to be one of the biggest miscalculations I’ve seen in recent years), but also, in general, marketing costs are so high that the profit is truly minimal. DWD is a rare beast that coasted on its controversy, most movies get A TON more promo.

Take Dunkirk for example. Its budget is presented as 100-150m, that’s a big gap, lol, but let’s go with it. Box office was 527m it sounds like a resounding success – and it is! But it’s not as big as those isolated numbers would make it look. Dunkirk is one of those movies that truly doubled its budget in promo. It had 3 premieres (one of them shutting down Leicester Square), long winded press junkets (you have to hire catering and staff plus the venue). It had a stellar cast that fully participated in its promo. It had A TON of ads that ran in prime time worldwide (including China!). It had whole ass buildings painted. On the low end, the movie cost 200m and on the high end it cost 300m, which dwarves the profit from a perceived $427m to a much more modest $327m or even $227m, and the truth most likely lies somewhere in the middle.

From what I heard, Harry got paid a flat fee + a % from box office and it’s likely the whole cast of big names had the same deal, which is a lot of % to shave off profit as well. All in all, the movie probs ended making about 85% to 90% of its budget. And this is a Christopher Nolan high profile movie released in the summer with a stellar cast and PG-13. DWD made around 40-45% (so far), for a fall movie with a small budget, a second time director and R rated… that’s FANTASTIC. I truly can’t imagine anyone expected more money from this movie. And I’m not saying this with glee, I truly hate that woman, but as many hits as she took in terms of her reputation and personal life, she didn’t take a financial one, and maybe for someone like her that’s enough.

(For the record I work in this specific area and I’m not talking out of my ass).

Also, you have to remember that they’re now selling and renting the movie on VOD, that it’ll go on streaming soon, that they sold vinyls, and there’ll likely be DVDs and Blu-Rays. The studio is probably foaming at the mouth at the amount of money they made, truly the only winners (and they needed the win after the year they had).

Hi love. Thank you for sharing all of your insight. This is super interesting.

There are a couple of things I have a question about. I get what you’re saying about about the promo being “lean”, but while they may not have bought the most expensive ad space, did you not feel that the amount of promo was excessive? Multiple trailers, posters all over the place, Social media ads, bus ads, the endless paparazzi, etc. It felt like such overkill and that so many people were sick of hearing about it before it opened. In contrast, I barely heard or saw a thing about WB’s other movie, Black Adam.

And what people had said previously on this subject is that theaters take 50% of the box office, so if the movie cost $60M including promo, the box office would have to be $120M in order to break even. Is that not actually true?

I think there are many people saying it’s a flop, and from my POV there are different angles to look at. For me, it’s a flop because it was initially expected to do huge numbers, there was talk of it getting Oscar nominations, her reputation as a director seemed to be riding on this film doing well—not just financially, but critically, as well. Absolutely none of that happened.

But I do totally get what you’re saying about the genre, the initial budget, the amount it’s made so far etc. all being very big wins in terms of how the movie studio views it.

[fellowshipofthefics]

Hey Fellowship of the Fics! Please welcome @the-girl-with-the-algebra-book​ !! 👏🥳 Mattie decided to share her thoughts and impressions on their fic: A Tussle at Turuhalmë.

Question 1: Is this a fic you would recommend to someone who has never read your work? Why or why not?  

Yes, I would! I feel that it is a good example of my writing. On the surface level, it's a very funny, fluffy read. However, there is also a deeper layer to it in which I take a deep dive into the character and how they interact with the world around them. This fic is a prime example of that, and the content in it is not as angsty of some of my others - a good way to dip your toes in!

Question 2: What small detail are you super proud of?  

The nod towards my favorite pairing, Glorfindel and Erestor! I couldn't possibly write a fic set in Imladris without those two being together. :)

Question 3: What is a worldbuilding fact about this work that didn't make it into the fic itself?        

In this fic, Legolas and Gimli are debating who actually started the tradition, but I don't give a definitive answer until the end notes. It was, in fact, the dwarves who started the tradition of Mistlefoe, and Oropher and his people were taught it by the dwarves of Gundabad.

Question 4:  What made you want to write this fic?     

There is a popular Tumblr post that talks about fighting under the mistletoe instead of kissing under it, and like I do with everything nowadays, I looked at it and said, "Yup, I wanna turn this into a fanfic!" And so I did, that very same day!    

Question 5: What is something you wished we had asked you about this fic? (And then please answer it.)        

"Will there ever be another installment of the mistlefoe series?" Yes! I have an alternate version involving the Hobbits being the ones to celebrate Mistlefoe instead of the Elves and Dwarves. Make sure to keep an eye out for that fic this holiday season to see what hijinks Sam and Pippin get up to...

If you haven’t read this story yet, go back up to the top and be sure to click the link. Also if you haven’t seen Mattie’s works before, here are some other fics that they have done that are worth checking out as well:

Turn of the Season

The Second in Arda

Watch You Sleep

If you would like to get you and your story featured in Monday Mentions, please click the Application Link! If you have any questions/concerns with the form, please feel free to leave an ask or DM one of us! Questions will be updated each month so repeat writers and stories are welcome. New writers will be prioritized.

[gloriousonemahanon]

Making Leliana the new Divine is honestly the reason why I don't feel completely gross by the fact that the game basically strong-arms you into reestablishing the Chantry. Honestly, given their complete incompetence in both DAI and DA2, I see no reason to help them. That's not including their discrimination against mages, elves, qunari, dwarves, and nevermind other beliefs, including alternative forms of Maker and Andraste worship.

Elthina is probably the prime example of the Chantry’s self-interest and refusal to deal with problems until after it's too late, however. The fact is that she knew that there were zealots abusing her seal to torture qunari soldiers, a group Templars wanted to make all mages Tranquil (there's even a goddamn Holocaust reference), and that mages were being abused daily. And what did she do about any of this? Not a damned thing, unless you count the incredibly vague references to a 'compromise'. Knowing that these horrible acts are occurring is not 'neutrality'. At best, it's apathy. At worst, it's approval.

[armenelols]

@secondageweek day 7 - Freeform

I dug into Elrond's history a bit - and by that I mean his origin as the figure he is in the story and his place in it rather than the happenings of his life.

Looking through Tolkien's books, I've noticed a mould - if one may call it as such - into which Elrond fits; by which I mean there are stable characteristics of him that remain through all the drafts.

Their son (Elrond) who is half-mortal and half-elfin,* a child, was saved however by Maidros. When later the Elves return to the West, bound by his mortal half he elects to stay on earth. Through him the blood of Húrin (his great-uncle) and of the Elves is yet among Men, and is seen yet in valour and in beauty and in poetry.

*sentence changed to '... who is part mortal and part elfin and part of the race of Valar'

- HoME 4th, The Shaping of Middle Earth

All of the early drafts of The Silmarillion (at least in the books I own) have several things in common:

Through all of them, Elrond is the son of Eärendil and Elwing

He is half-elven

He ends up with Maedhros and/or Maglor after losing his parents

The Choice of half-elves is a bit confusing: I am not entirely sure how early-on it is present, but it is a fairly old concept nonetheless (as for my uncertainty, it is either due to me misreading the text because of the language barrier, because I didn't read through the entire books so I might have missed something, or because Tolkien wasn't clear enough - but Elrond is said to be 'bound by his mortal half', so I am not sure if that means he chose to be mortal or was mortal without a choice)

However there are a few major differences, mainly in Elrond being mortal and in some versions being the first king of Númenor; as well as the obvious absence of Elros (referred to for example in the paragraphs beneath).

The new element is the appearance of Elrond as the minstrel and counsellor of Gil-galad (in FN II §2 Elrond was the first King of Númenor, and a mortal; a conception now of course abandoned, with the emergence of Elros his brother, V. 332, §28).

- HoME 6th, The Return of the Shadow

And here, together with some of the points mentioned above:

At this stage there is no mention of a first and founder king of Numenor. Elrond was still the only child of Earendel and Elwing; his brother Elros has appeared only in late additions to the text of Q (IV. 155), which were inserted after the Numenorean legend had begun to develop. In the oldest conception in the Sketch of the Mythology (IV. 38) Elrond 'bound by his mortal half elects to stay on earth' (i.e. in the Great Lands), and in Q (IV. 158) he 'elected to remain, being bound by his mortal blood in love of those of the younger race', see my remarks on the Choice of the Half-elven, IV. 70. Elrond is here, as it seems, a leader of the Elves of Beleriand, in alliance with Amroth, predecessor of Elendil. The Last Alliance leading to the overthrow of Thu is seen as the last intervention of the Elves in the affairs of the World of Men, in itself hastening their inevitable fading.

- HoME 5th, The Lost Road and Other Writings

From what I've gathered after searching for the mentions of Elrond in several books, I understand that the major change in his character came with The Hobbit and was further developed with LotR.

From The Hobbit are also derived the matter of the Dwarves, Durin their prime ancestor, and Moria; and Elrond. The passage in Ch. iii relating him to the Half-elven of the mythology was a fortunate accident, due to the difficulty of constantly inventing good names for new characters. I gave him the name Elrond casually, but as this came from the mythology (Elros and Elrond the two sons of Eärendel) I made him half-elven. Only in The Lord was he identified with the son of Eärendel, and so the great-grandson of Lúthien and Beren, a great power and a Ringholder.

- The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien

What I find interesting is that despite using Elrond's name and some of his defining traits in The Hobbit, he still remains a different character to the one we know from later on - and just how many of those descriptions remain in The Hobbit even after Tolkien edits it to fit into his wider mythology.

For comparison:

The master of the house was an elf-friend—one of those people whos fathers came into strange stories before the beginning of History, the wars of the evil goblins and the elves and the first men in the North. In those days of our tale there were still some people who had both elves and heroes of the North for ancestors, and Elrond the master of the house was their chief.

He was as noble and fair in face as an elf-lord, as strong as a warrior, as venerable as a king of dwarves, and as kind as summer. He comes into many tales, but his part in the story of Bilbo's great adventure is only a small one, though important, as you will see, if we ever get to the end of it.

- The Hobbit, A Short Rest

And here:

The master of the house was an elf-friend – one of those people whose fathers came into strange stories of the beginning of history and the wars of the Elves and goblins, and the brave men of the North. There were still some people in those days [who were >] who had both elves and heroes of the North for ancestors, and Elrond the master of the house was one. He was as good to look at (almost) as an elf-lord, as strong as a warrior, as wise as a wizard, as venerable as a king of dwarves, and as kind as Christmas.

- The History of The Hobbit

(This point is nothing specifically Elrond-related, but I find it interesting that both descriptions talk about half-elves as if they used to be more common than they actually were)

He is called an elf-friend - which, if we look further into the books, isn't something elves are usually called. Thranduil names Bilbo an elf-friend and Gildor calls Frodo the same, and they are both hobbits; and there is also a quote by Elrond in which he specifically mentions only Men.

‘But it is a heavy burden. So heavy that none could lay it on another. I do not lay it on you. But if you take it freely, I will say that your choice is right; and though all the mighty Elf-friends of old, Hador, and Húrin, and Túrin, and Beren himself were assembled together, your seat should be among them.’

For Elrond to be called an elf-friend implies he himself is not an elf, rather associating him with mortals - which he is not, but once was and the remains of it still echo in the text.

The remaining part of the description is the most well-known one, and if one looks closer into it, there is a pattern to it: fair as an elf-lord. Strong as a warrior. Venerable as a king of dwarves. Wise as a wizard. But Elrond is not those things, is he?

Starting with the most obvious ones: king of dwarves, a wizard. He is specifically said to have qualities of people he is not. The next one is a bit of a stretch since Elrond fought in quite a few wars, but outside of this description, he is rarely referred to as a warrior. Herald, master of Rivendell, healer, loremaster; but not a warrior. It's not how Elrond sees himself; it's not like he presents himself. He is a warrior, but to him, it's less of an important part of himself and more as something he has to do from time to time so he can return to his usual interests. Even Boromir says the strength of Elrond lies in wisdom and not in arms - for all of Elrond's experience, he lacks both an army and an interest in participating in battle (though he does so if needed).

Then the most important part: He was as noble and fair in face as an elf-lord / He was as good to look at (almost) as an elf-lord. Both of these lines imply that he looks like an elf-lord (or very close to one) - but considering all of the other previously mentioned comparisons compared his traits to something he is not, it is fair to assume that's what's going on here as well. Not because he is not an elf-lord; but because at a time when the original version of the story was written, Elrond was still mortal - and even when that was changed, I presume Tolkien left it there due to his half-elven heritage. Elrond was never fully an elf.

Elrond is hardly ever grouped with other elves; instead, despite choosing to be of the Eldar, he is more often than not linked with Men (Númenoreans in particular) - and other than his heritage and obvious connection to them through Elros, I think that his previous state of mortality and being the king of Númenor in his brother's absence might be a remnant of that as well. A similar thing happens with Elladan and Elrohir, who are more often than not their own thing instead of Elves or Men.

If we look further into The Lord of the Rings, Elrond's connection with Men remains. There are quite a few examples of this: remarks by several characters, the closeness of him to Isildur's line, the connection between Elladan and Elrohir and the rangers.

'Would that Elrond were here, for he is the eldest of all our race, and has the greater power.'

This line is spoken by Aragorn in The Houses of Healing - and he speaks of Elrond as being of his race - Dúnedain, Númenoreans, Humans.

[familiasworn]

Side note: I mean like they tend to take on a 'better-than-you' personality. From what I could see, some Elves are more subtle about it, and some don't care AS much?

Luvis seems to be an exception. Though he might have a disdain for Dwarves--but from what the Light Novels tell me is Dormul(a Dwarf)was actively his rival for Eina's love lmao.

SO he has a reason for not liking Dormul, at least. XD;;

Hedin looks like a prime example of that Elitism.

Hogni is just a bundle of anxiety and doesn't want to be judged as he had been in the past. His blade(Victim Abyss) doesn't discriminate.

Everywhere I was looking, people were saying the Elves of Danmachi were racist(not like our kind, but they thought they were better than the other races in the series. (like humans, prums, dwarves, animal people, etc))

I think it's more equated to...Elitism? That's how I view it.

Elves and Fairies are the oldest races in this series, so they view themselves as better because of that. Their magical capabilities are also stronger too, I think. If I remember correctly.