#joy not elitism

[bleakcinema]

On Loving Tolkien Responsibly and Leaving Room at the Table

I'm on a Tolkien tear and still thinking about the malleability of his world (IE: at the time of his death Tolkien still hadn't fully decided on his own world, as evident in the volume "The Fall of Gondolin" which contains two to three versions of the same history). It still bothers me that some people try so hard to be 'purists' of his work for one simple reason:

Tolkien himself wasn't a purist. Not in all things.

I've found that there's an urge to read his work as if it were a straightforward fantasy, written and plotted like one with an unswaying lore. I think too many people forget that Tolkien wrote Middle Earth like a man discovering it bit by bit rather than plotting with an intent to set in stone. This is fitting for a linguist and historian.

That isn't to say there isn't a firm-ish lore with a more-or-less immoveable timeline. That's taking the point too far. But then again, I think people who lose themselves in the detail are taking thing too far in the opposite direction. There are certainly fixed points in any discussion of Tolkien. However, I feel like there are too many people who forget that much was unspoken, undecided, or undocumented in the nigh on 727,045 years of Arda (according to the conversion rate Tolkien considered later in life....which is another point! Tolkien was still debating time conversions)!

Remember, we originally had Valian years which were around 9.5, then the Solar years, which were congruent to our years (which places it closer to 54,000), and THEN a new conversion method which was never fully worked out.

The main things to recall with Tolkien if you're not ready to plunge into the TEXTBOOK HISTORY of a beautiful realm...is hope. Hope, brotherhood, and courage. Keep that in your heart and you're doing okay. Maybe remember some names. Not all of them. That way lies madness.

My fellow Tolkien nerds would also do well to remember this when speaking to new, happy, enthusiastic fans rather than icing them out over how many more details you can obsess over. Delight in sharing the knowledge you have rather than crouching over it like a dragon sick Dwarf. Embrace those who come for the journey rather than judging where they left home behind. The world lies ahead and YOU determine whether it is a warm or unkind one. I'll leave you with a quote from Tolkien scholar, Tom Emanuel that brings me joy: "I mean this affectionately: eavesdropping on the Silmarillion fandom is like running into an esoteric band of Rosicrucians. We share many of the same foundational texts, but to be honest I haven't a clue what's going on here. The real loremasters of Middle-earth aren't the scholars or the self-appointed Tolkien Defenders. They're the 21-year-old transmasc sociology students hopped up on Panera Charged Lemonade and 50,000 words deep into a Dead Dove fic about the Sons of Curufinwë."

[k-wame]

IVÁN & JOEL ÉLITƎ Series 7 · EP03 · dir. Menna Fité

[redthemarten]

Pokemon was my first real fandom and it will forever hold a special place in my heart uwu therefore, I committed a little crossover again

[kogglyuffs]

this took a bit more effort than it should

og image:

[the-kipsabian]

[730spitz]

Random late night post, but random thought anyone else despise the like gladiator type shit of aew and wwe, like people fuckin suck because like if you love aew and some WWE fan knows you're getting shit on. And the other way around and yet it's mostly WWE fans, it doesn't help Tony Khan has made his tweets, but even then it's odd when you're like an avid watcher of both and other promotions. I watch aew, wwe, tna, roh, and sometimes tune into random shit in Japan various promotions. It's always weird being on the sidelines of people hating on them bc even if aew has it's moments so does WWE, I feel neither are free of criticism but also neither are 24/7 deserving of constant hate and criticism when both companies have good talent. Idk just let me be happy and watch my shit, I didn't fucking ask for your 5 paragraph long message on why aew eats shit, from someone who doesn't even fucking watches it. Literally why can't we just fuck off, and just mind our own shit. Literally both are not free of criticism, and some WWE fans piss me off so badly because they keep acting like the company is holy and does no wrong, and every storyline is good. But honestly they complain more than aew. Aew fans do but not like WWE. And I'm not saying EVERY fan is like this, it's mostly other platforms having this shit, I don't see it really here and stuff rarely I do.

[rikaspotting]

Paldean Wooper hatches from an egg

Nurse Joy: We will have to give him some shots.

Rika: Fuck yeah pour 'em, it's his birthday.

[tomatoluvr69]

Sure I’m glad (mostly) that YA is the booming juggernaut it is today because it’s cool that 14 year olds can have stories for them. Sure. More books is always better. That’s fun— thoughts on book influencer culture and grown-ups and literature as soulless and ever-churning product aside. It’s cool to walk into any tiny neighborhood library branch and see a dedicated space for teenagers. When I was a young teenager there were a couple of small shelves in between adult audiobooks and the biographical section where you walked in and your choices were either Twilight, Eragon, or some candy-pink Sex And The City-lite dishy little book like the one that has got some reason come rushing unbidden to the forefront of my memory this morning called “Vegan Virgin Valentine” which I never wound up reading but was always compelled by through a mixture of intrigue and condescension. The YA landscape pre-Hunger Games mania was like…here’s a super scandalous book about anorexia or teen pregnancy written in verse. Or a pandering Book For Boys about combat or fart humor. Or a twilight knock-off about a girl who has sex with a ghost. So while any glimpse of the bloated realm of teen publishing makes me feel exhausted on account of the feverish adult fans who populate it it’s probably full of important stories for teenagers. But like truly Kids These Days have no idea what it’s like to have your only option be called “The Earth, My Butt, And Other Big Round Things” (real) or “Everlost: Soulfyre Book 3” (fabricated poorly for effect)

[noctis-ibis]

Aw man, Napola will be on German television in a few days and I won't be able to watch it...

[maranull]

i missed her

[mywordstovictor]

I love my biology class so so much. Day one I got to share an on topic whale fact, the prof keeps name dropping my favorite organisms and today I learned why they make testosterone medications the way they do (hormones are mostly fats, so they suspend them in other fats to get them to disperse, which I think is pretty cool.) Also, she’s willing to get sidetracked to answer my related-but-somewhat-outside-the-scope-of-the-discussion questions. Today for example, she was talking about how some proteins our bodies can’t make are pretty rare outside of animal fats so vegetarians should talk to their doctors about supplementing them, and I asked about religious vegetarianism that long predates supplements and she explained how ways to get those nutrients are culturally transmitted. Definitely a side tangent, but she seemed pretty happy to answer anyway and I learned cool shit and have some solid lines of inquiry to follow for further research.

Anyway, yeah university as an institution is elitist and ableist, racist, queerphobic and misogynistic and creates unnecessary barriers to knowledge and the advancement of knowledge, and yeah it’s notoriously terrible for student mental health, but y’know, fun facts are pretty fun and there are a lot of experts who are over the moon when you corner them for a why loop. Also external academic validation sustains me so,

[chushanye]

"my interpretation is more meaningful than yours" this "___ piece of media is objectively bad" that. yeah, well have you considered I'm having fun? 🤨 have you considered that I strive to be joyful rather than striving to prove the worth of my opinions? 🙄

[roboyomo]

if you were to dissect all of the sins crew members' deals to their core, it would all just be "i wanted to be loved" to some degree. Like tucking them all into bed all nice and cozy would help them at least a bit Me thinks

[raviniaraven]

Every time I see someone talking about a book/game/movie/anything and they say "how can it be deep it's a (something about the genre or age demographic)" I just think of Elite Beat Agents. Because it was fun silly rhythm game of fixing problems through DANCE! but it also has the single most depressingly sad level of any video game I have ever played through

You can spot people that have played this game by blasting "You're The Inspiration" and seeing who breaks down in tears

[the-kipsabian]

[talestoshowcase]

My first Pokemon team portrait, using a trainer design I had rattling around in my head for a while