beetleandfox

[beetleandfox]

Okay, so we all know that iconic scene in Two Towers where Gimli and Legolas compare their kill counts from the battle (THAT STILL ONLY COUNTS AS ONE). But in my not so humble opinion, the book to movie transfer just did not capture some of their best moments in this saga and I am here to rectify this tragedy. 

So naturally, Gimli’s the one who starts it:

Legolas responds dramatically and patronizing, as usual “Two? Sure, not bad. I mean, I’ve got 20, but who’s counting, right?” Oh Legolas

Gimli comes back later with exactly one kill count over Legolas’ previous score and you cannot convince me that that was not out of sheer pettiness. Meanwhile, Legolas has been racking up points fruit ninja style but…he’s only killed like 4 more? Two dozen is 24 right? And he had at least 20 earlier? I really want him to just have thought that there was no way Gimli could’ve caught up to him, then he saw that Gimli was definitely catching up and oh shit better kills some more to stay in the lead and he barely scraps by 21-24, but of course acts a though that was the plan all along. 

After this there’s a break, until Legolas comes looking for Aragorn because he can’t find Gimli to brag about his new high score (39). I love that Aragorn thinks Legolas is looking for Gimli because he’s worried about him and tries to reassure him that Gimli is a strong dwarf and probably find wherever he is, and Legolas is just, woah, what, no, I just wanted to brag. Who cares that they are in the middle of a battle right now. Nope, Legolas is just like gotta find Gimli and tell him I am KICKING HIS ASS. 

honestly these two

AND THE IRONY when he DOES find Gimli, Gimli’s in the lead 42-39. I like that Legolas has killed two more in this time. I can’t help but hope they were ‘Grrrr I can’t find my dwarf where is he’ passive aggressive killings, like two orcs who just happened to get in his way mid-rant. Because of course, we all know that he actually was worried about Gimli in all of this. 

So, Gimli wins. 

BUT THEN

We get THIS GEM

When Treebeard isn’t sure about letting Gimli into Fangorn, Legolas freaking uses Gimli’s high score to brag about his dwarf to impress Treebeard and it works. 

Legolas just proudly proclaiming Gimli’s victory to Treebeard to validate his presence in Fangorn feeds my soul and I love this so much

So there’s my take on the REAL reasons behind their friendly casualty count. God I love these two so much 

[beetleandfox]

Every time I see these bird pins - I cannot resist posting them, perhaps their history, with its fragility and strength, attracts me again and again. 

Bird pins (brooches) made out of scrap materials by Japanese Americans held in internment camps during World War II.From The Art of Gaman: Arts & Crafts from the Japanese American Internment Camps 1942-1946 by Delphine Hirasuna (Ten Speed Press, 2005).

Gaman is a Japanese term of Zen Buddhist origin which means “enduring the seemingly unbearable with patience and dignity”.

[beetleandfox]

😭😭

[beetleandfox]

 Shell Guide ~ November

Edith and Rowland Hilder

[beetleandfox]

My tour of sadness through Megacon.

[beetleandfox]

[beetleandfox]

wirt from otgw really is one of the best written teenage characters ever i think. like. he's 15-16-ish and wants people to take him seriously SO badly, but he also struggles to take responsibility for most things. he's dripping with anxiety. he overcomplicates everything in his mind but sometimes he has lapses of impulse. he can be surprisingly blunt when he's angry. he can't help but hate his little half-brother (and stepdad) out of spite and it takes both of them nearly dying for him to start working through those feelings. he's really creative but he keeps his interests in poetry and the clarinet a secret because he thinks it's fucking embarrassing. he reads real estate magazines and knows a lot about architecture and interior design, which is such a random little detail but i love it. he's self-conscious and lowkey suicidial and always assumes the worst in other people's view of him, but BASICALLY EVERYONE BACK HOME LIKES HIM, including the girl he has a massive crush on, and he just can't see it because he never makes an effort to reach out. every minor stepback feels like the end of the world to him. he has no idea who he is or what he wants.

[beetleandfox]

Eric Ravilious

[beetleandfox]

I saw this mentioned as a bit of an aside on another post but since it was a little bit besides the point of that post decided to make my own post about it instead of derailing that one.

It IS very interesting how in Lord of The Rings orcs are the soldiers of a (compared to the rest of the world) highly industrialized and technologically advanced military force, yet pretty much every high fantasy media that has borrowed the concept of orcs since then has instead given them the "tribal savages" treatment, and i don't know how I failed to realize that difference until I saw someone else bring it up.

Like of course this is not saying that the depiction of orcs in LoTR is not problematic for a lot of different reasons (there have been years of discussions unpacking that) but it IS an interesting change and I think a pretty ideologically loaded one.

Thinking about it makes me remember this article I read a few years ago about how, regardless of genre trappings, a lot of high fantasy (especially in ttrpgs and videogames) actually has a lot more in common narratively and thematically with wild west ""cowboys vs indians"" films and shows than it has with its aesthetic inspirations. Like once you look at it with that lense in mind it becomes really conspicuous how much these works like giving the "tribal savages" treatment to any sapient creature that exists for the heroes to fight.

[beetleandfox]

also WHY does every american lit or american history or w/ever course contain the entire history and writings of england & greater europe up until the colonies but NO documentation of the oral histories and stories from actual native american tribes and look at how that influenced and was influenced by european traditions to create the “american” story. like i KNOW why but christ

[beetleandfox]

hobbies include: close reading the Redwall series to answer my most burning questions. such as:

- can I replicate any of these delicious-sounding foodstuffs and would they in fact be delicious if I was able to

- corollary to the above: are we just supposed to read “oat cream” and “nut cheese” every time we see the words “cream” and “cheese”? I think so. bc if not, what tha hell are their livestock animals

- what is Society like? I don’t think we ever see a Mouse City or even Mouse Town though we do see castles and obviously an abbey. are we supposed to believe that most creatures are either in wandering bands or these societies based around a single structure (castle/abbey?)

- they appear to have an idea of what currency is (the bad guys always want treasure — maybe just to have, not to sell? but less ambiguous is some dialogue I just read, “acorn for your thoughts?” “you can have them for free”) but again, we never see anyone using money or making goods for the market. is this after the fall of Mouse Capitalism? are the bad guys (the idea of rat pirates gives me a headache, vis a vis the political/economic systems needed to power piracy) raiding preindustrial mouse societies for treasure/meat?

- corollary to the above: the abbey creatures have oats and wheat but we don’t see anybody farming or trading for farm goods on a large enough scale. is the abbey “orchard” really a like an indigenous forest farm of mixed foodstuffs? is that possible if you live in the same place the whole year or only if you travel each season? I have to do some googling

- both the lack of mixed-species families and the idea of mixed-species families give me a headache. has a squirrel never fallen for a handsome otter? what is the culture shock like if you marry into a subterranean mole family?

- this is the least “important” question but this read through I’ve been desperately trying to figure out What Size Everything Else Is. i’ve come to the conclusion that everything other than animals are at mouse scale, given that they can make seaworthy vessels their own size (a mouse sized vessel with real-world-sized waves seems impossible) and pick and eat apples and plums. but so far it seems like they’ve avoided mentioning how tall trees are — like a person compared to a tree or a mouse compared to a tree?

[beetleandfox]

wanted to try making a cover for my favourite rote book.....for fun....

[beetleandfox]

more biblically accurate post fool's fate beloved

[beetleandfox]

i don't really mean this as criticism but every They Might Be Giants song i've ever heard all share this same ultra particular vibe i can only describe as "this sounds like something a programmer started spontaneously singing around the house at like two in the morning because he was trying to annoy his girlfriend's cat"

[beetleandfox]

You show up for your first day at Copyright-Free Magic School. As you're going through orientation, you're informed that all new students get a school-assigned familiar that they are responsible for housing and maintaining. The staff member assures you that your assigned familiar is appropriately chosen and reflects you in some way.

Spin this to find out yours. (Remember, you are responsible for maintaining this familiar in your dorm room.)

[beetleandfox]

my white ass is not immune to the nostalgia of viva la vida by coldplay

[beetleandfox]

Egon Schiele, House with bell tower (1912).