“The human race is a monotonous affair. Most people spend the greatest part of their time working in order to live, and what little freedom remains so fills them with fear that they seek out any and every means to be rid of it.”
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, The Sorrows of Young Werther
Feb 28
January 2024 – Quote of the Month
Jan 21
Thunderdome for the Poor
I saw this posted on Facebook: “Homeless Servicemen Should Come Before Any Refugee”.
This is an example of a The False Dilemma Fallacy. A False Dilemma Fallacy is defined as:
This common fallacy misleads by presenting complex issues in terms of two inherently opposed sides. Instead of acknowledging that most (if not all) issues can be thought of on a spectrum of possibilities and stances, the false dilemma fallacy asserts that there are only two mutually exclusive outcomes.
This fallacy is particularly problematic because it can lend false credence to extreme stances, ignoring opportunities for compromise or chances to re-frame the issue in a new way.
At the heart of this meme is the conceit that the choice is between helping refugees or helping homeless servicemen. If I was to propose an update to this virtual patch, mine might say, ‘Help for those in need should come before tax breaks for the wealthy‘.
Dec 31
Waiting on a Sunny Day
I’ve been fighting a flu here at year’s end. So this last post of 2023 is a quickie.
2023 was a, ‘challenging’ year (to put it mildly). And the sallow, grey, late fall and winter light has been draining.
I took this photo at a local fair, July 3, 2010.
I chose this image, not because it is exceptional. (In fact I’ve done little in the way of serious post-processing, so it is rather rough around the edges.)
I opted to feature this photo now, because for all of its limitations, the image does capture some of the light of summer. One can hear the carnival sounds, smell the concession stand foods, see the great wheels turn – just from a still image.
This photo then is a reminder of sunny days past and the whispered promise of sunny days to come.
It’s raining, but there ain’t a cloud in the sky
~ Waitin’ on a Sunny Day,
Must have been a tear from your eye
Everything will be okay
Yeah, funny, I thought I felt a sweet summer breeze
Must have been you sighing so deep
Don’t worry, we’re gonna find a way
Bruce Springsteen
Nov 30
Adobe Glitch
Had a decent October and November. I shouldn’t feel pressed for things to say, but here at the end of the month I’m feeling the (self-imposed) deadline crunch manifesting as low enthusiasm. But for just such occasions: I have a digital note I use to keep track of blog ideas. But many of these ideas require me to capture images, etc. and my Adobe software is acting up – presenting me with bogus messages that I’m not using, ‘genuine Adobe apps’. (I most certainly am.)
So, today’s entry will be comprised of complaining. Afterall, there aren’t enough complaints on the internet yet and I feel I need to do my part.
I’ve already spent a number of hours on a call with Adobe Tech Support, some months ago. The woman was helpful and the problem was resolved. – At last temporarily. It resurfaced again a couple of months ago and I tried their chat service. That support agent wasn’t helpful at all and said that they’d file a ticket and in about five days I’d hear from someone.
Some days latter I got an email telling me that my case was open. When I didn’t reply that day (it was around the holidays) I got another email saying that my case would soon be closed. I replied with my specifics and received a notice that they email wasn’t being monitored. And they presented me links again, ‘chat with an agent’ (i.e. starting the process over from the already fruitless beginning.)
I’ve lost some number of weeks to use the software I’m very much paying for and I’ve spent hours actively troubleshooting.
So, we can all thank Adobe for this lackluster post. If my software was working: this entry would have been truly a marvel!
Nov 27
October 2023 – Quote of the Month
“You don’t waste October sunshine. Soon the old autumn sun would bed down in cloud blankets, and there would be weeks of gray before it finally decided to snow.”
~ Katherine Arden, Small Spaces
Oct 24
September 2023 – Quote of the Month
“The blues don’t jump right on you. They come creeping.”
~ Bruce Springsteen, Born to Run (Autobiography)
Oct 22
Hell Hitler
The King James version of the Bible has a fair amount to say about Hell. A single case in point:
“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
~ Revelation 20:14
Some people report to believe that Hell is ‘removal from God’ or simply a form of being ‘extinguished’ from existence. But I’m not writing to try and interpret any particular verse or version of ‘The Bible’ and certainly not to pretend that one version or the other is ‘right’.
I will note, however that according to a Pew Research Survey, 62% of U.S. Adults believe in Hell. Of those 50%++ don’t have such an apologist version of Hell where the damned are simply snuffed out. – Rather, their belief in Hell is of the fire and brimstone variety. Indeed: 53% believe that those in Hell have ‘psychological suffering’ and 51% believe that the damned have, ‘physical suffering’.
Stated simply: over 50% of Americans think that Hell is a place of torment and suffering. Many of these people believe that this torture is eternal. E T E R N A L.
Let’s think about that through the example of Adolf Hitler. (Even if you can name someone you think is worse, I assume that the reader will concede that Hitler is going to be in the top ten list of immoral, vile people for almost everyone who isn’t themselves a racist, xenophobe and/or authoritarian advocate and/or psychopath.)
Let’s try and quantify Hitler’s crimes in terms of human anguish. And I’ll try and calculate those crimes through the harshest numbers I can think to apply.
For starters, (although I’m confident that there are probably a variety of different numbers for the dead and and wounded of World War 2), the National World War II Museum puts the figures at:
- Battle Deaths: 15,000,000
- Battle Wounded: 25,000,000
- Civilian Deaths: 45,000,000 to 95,000,000 (We’ll reference the higher number of 95 million.)
That is 135 million people directly, physically impacted by WWII.
Let’s assume that of those 135 million, each had a circle of people who were also adversely affected. This is very hard to quantify, but instead of using a conservative number (such as the average 1940’s family size of 3.19) we’ll look at the much more expansive Dunbar number which says that humans can comfortably maintain 150 stable relationships. We’ll assume that these 150 people also had some indirect suffering. – Maybe they had to sacrifice something or provided support or even just felt a little sad for those who were affected directly. But because such impact is impossible to calculate, we’ll treat the least inconvenienced as equal to the most devastated. (Analogous to saying that someone who was a little sad by the War, suffered as much as someone who had a prolonged, painful death.) Furthermore, we’ll assume that those 150 people who suffered indirectly can be counted more than once in their suffering. In other words: someone who lost a sister and an uncle in World War 2 will be counted twice in calculation of suffering.
Therefore, we’ll take the number 135 million and multiple it by 150 putting our number at 20,250,000,000. – That is twenty billion, two-hundred-million people. (For context, please note that at the time of this writing the current world population is ‘only’ 8.1 billion people [and one source indicated that the entire history of humanity on earth was around 117 billion people].) Still, let’s bump our number up to 30 billion so that we’re dealing with a rounder number and then double it to 60 billion to account for untold animal suffering, environmental impact and all around historical ramifications.
Of these 60 billion ‘units’ of suffering lives, some will have endured pain or loss measured in time from birth to old age. In other words: some will have paid a toll of loss measured in less than a minute and others will have paid with the totality of their lives. Again, it is impossible to calculate so I’ll apply a bias in the direction of assuming the ‘worst-case’ time span of 100 years of wasted life for each life impacted (great and small).
That calculation is 60 billion lives x 100 years for 6,000,000,000,000 years representing some level of loss. That is 6 Trillion years!
Now let’s lay 100% of that responsibility directly at the feet of Adolf Hitler. What punishment does that deserve?
Virtually no human civilization that we’d call deserving of the title ‘civilization’ believes in torture. Certainly less so: a lifetime of torture. I think that based on the human measure of justice the majority of humanity has decided that as punishment a person may be executed or imprisoned in a small box for the entirety of their lives for the murder of just one person or similar heinous crime. Of course, many people are given multiple life-sentences for their crimes but because we don’t have the ability to extend lives much past the age of 100, those sentences are both symbolic and judicial ‘cover’ in the event that the guilty manages to free themselves of one or more of the verdicts.
But even if we had a means in which to artificially extend the life of the guilty, or a ‘Phantom Zone‘ in which to imprison him, I wonder at what measure of time we’d say, ‘enough’ to the worst of all crimes. If we were capable, would humanity really lock Hitler in a box of pain for 6 trillion years? – Again, for context: the very Universe itself is estimated to be about 13.8 billion years old. (And in a vain attempt to try and encapsulate such absurdly large timeframes consider that 6 trillion years is 434 x the age of the universe.)
I acknowledge that my attempts at quantifying the atrocities of Hitler into units of times is trite, but I posit that if there was such a mechanism to allow it, even those who suffered the worst at Hitler’s hands would, given a thousand, or million, or billion, or trillian years eventually say: ok, Hitler has paid for his crime. Because, at what point (measured in time and/or torture) could humanity itself be called, ‘evil’ in our bloodlust and vengeance?
And yet, according to those who believe in Hell and Eternal Damnation their benevolent, all knowing, all powerful, (merciful?) God will condemn Hitler to some form of torment for all of time. If there is an eternity, than 6 Trillion Years is an infinitely small number. And it must be underscored that in the beliefs of so many, this punishment of Hell isn’t ‘just’ imprisonment, it is TORTURE for ALL OF TIME.
But remember: this entire analysis is based on the worst of the worst: Adolf Freaking Hitler: mass murderer and war criminal! When really, these same Biblical True Believers also subscribe to the notion that many millions or billion of their fellow humans have committed ‘sins’ against god and are equally deserving the same eternal Hell as Hitler.
“But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation.“
~ Mark 3:22–29
I believe (or hope) that even the supporters of this philosophy of eternal damnation would change their belief if they truly considered and grasped the meaning of what they promote as ‘good’.
Or as one might say:
“Vindicate me, O God, and plead my case against an ungodly nation; O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man!”
~ Psalm 43:1
Sep 28
This Means Something – This is Important
I found myself rewatching Close Encounters of the Third Kind this week. It’s been a while since I last saw it. Like many, I thought of the movie as slow paced but on rewatching it I was reminded how truly brilliant it is. The movie falls at an interesting intersection of movie making from the late 60s, early 70s to the transformation of style and substance that was taking place in the late 70s and early 80s. It really feels like the best of the two eras.
Released in November 1977, it is amazing how well the special effects hold up 46 years later! I know more than my fair share about FX and at one time or the other, I’ve probably read or watched a background piece on virtually any of the FX shots. Still, enough time has passed that I’m no longer confident on how they were all achieved. CGI is cool, and I admire the work that goes into those CG but I still find that I hanker for some old-school FX not only because they offered a greater diversity of solutions but because so many of them hold up as good or better than today’s typical CG.
The movie deserves a dissertation but today I’ll only note a few quick observations. (Needless to say: there are some spoilers. If for some reason you haven’t seen the movie, stop reading and do yourself a favor and watch it.)
- Unless I missed it, they movie never once says the word, ‘Aliens’ (or extraterrestrials).
- Of the people who were ‘invited’ by the aliens, only three escape being held prisoners from the government: Roy Neary (the main protagonist), Jillian Guiler and Larry Butler. Larry doesn’t have much backstory. He just happens to be one of the three who escape and makes their way over the rock features of Devil’s Tower. Alas for poor Larry: he gets tuckered out and for some reason doesn’t duck behind a rock like the other two as the government helicopter flies overhead and gasses him. Larry observes that the helicopters are ‘just crop dusting’ as they fly overhead spraying something. I can’t imagine why Larry would suddenly think that the helicopters that have been chasing them for some time are now innocuously crop dusting (on a rocky mountain side)! And even if he really thought it was just crop dusting – why he’d allow himself to be bathed in some pesticides. I feel for Larry. So close and yet so far.
- When the Mothership comes over Devil’s Tower it apparently is flying upside down because as it comes over the government’s facility it rotates 180 degrees and eventually lowers a ramp for people (and extraterrestrials) to come and go. I can accept the idea that these aliens can control the gravity within their own ship, but does that mean that some percentage of the inhabitants are upside down as they touch down? Or do they all scramble to change the surface that they are standing on as the ship rotates? ‘Quick! We’re flipping! Run to the ceiling!‘
- For as warm and fuzzy as the movie makes you want to feel, the aliens are kind of assholes.
– When they take the little boy from his mother, they do so just about as dramatically as they could: with massive bright lights beaming through the house, all manner of appliances turning on and off – rattling and running while something apparently attempts to come down the chimney and up from the basement before being blocked. – The kid takes it in stride but the mother is understandably traumatized.
– They also abduct people from their own era (at least the 30s and 40s) and don’t bring them home until the 1980s (or, ‘present day’ as the movie titles indicate.) Yeah, they’ve not aged because of Special Relativity, but their lives and loved ones as they knew them are over / old or dead. And when the people wander off the ship, they sure as hell looked stunned and none-to-happy. Maybe there was some ‘probing’ going on?
Sep 19
August 2023 – Quote of the Month
“His grief he will not forget; but it will not darken his heart, it will teach him wisdom.”
~J.R.R. Tolkien, (Aragorn), The Return of the King
Aug 22
July 2023 – Quote of the Month
“Americans used to be ‘citizens.’ Now we are ‘consumers.”
~Vicki Robin, Your Money or Your Life
Jul 18
I buy civilization
I saw Mister Silverado on the road a number of days ago. Full disclosure: I didn’t actually see the driver, but I’m highy confident it was indeed a, ‘Mister’. The window sticker, ‘TAXATION IS THEFT‘ is what made the encounter noteworthy.
There are some trivial times in one’s life that a person fantasizes about having a magic wand. As I was driving behind this guy, I wish I could magically have pulled back a veil to show him life without the items and services that his taxes procured for his ignorant benefit.
- Poof! The road he is on either disappears or becomes a private road that requires tolls.
- Poof! The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration disappears and it is anyone’s guess if his tires are safe for highway speeds.
- Poof! With the disappearance of the Environmental Protection Agency the yellow smog makes it hard to see the road.
- Poof! In a society without law enforcement, a Mad-Max style driver swerves in front of him with a cobbled together tank that has treads bigger than his entire Silverado.
- Poof! The Silverado is no longer manufactured by an American company because the lack of basic public education has resulted in a workforce too untrained to assemble it.
- Poof! The United States is no more. Without a public government and armed forces, the lands are a warlord-run style state.
- Poof! Without the Food and Drug Administration the driver ate a fecal and poison laden meal that results in traumatic sickness. He could try and take medication for his illness but there is no mechanism to monitor or studies carried out on the drug and there is a good chance he’ll have an adverse reaction to his other meds causing his dumb-ass self to black-out whereupon he and his truck are prayed upon by the local pirates. If the barbarians opt to burn his body, no one will put out the fire because there isn’t a fire department.
I could go on. But either you get it or you don’t. Taxation is not theft: either legally or morally. Can taxation be more equitably shared and put to better use? Absolutely.
Few of us cheerfully pay them but taxes are still part of the contract of our society and I shiver at the notion of losing the boon that they have bought to this country. And Mister Silverado? Well, he literally got nowhere in this world without the benefits of taxes.
“I like to pay taxes. With them, I buy civilization.”
~ Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.
Jul 09
June 2023 – Quote of the Month
“Nothing is permanent in this wicked world, not even our troubles.”
~ Charlie Chaplin
Jun 29
Homunculus
It has been many years (measured in decades) since I first became aware of the concept of ‘Homunculus’. The concept of Homunculus apparently was first documented in the late 1400s. The rough Latin translation is, ‘Little Person’. From a quick bit of reading, one can learn that Homunculus were historically thought of as an artificial (alchemist) creation as well as what constituted sperm.
I actually learned about it first as the latter day concept of the distorted-looking image of a person in which the he body’s parts are enlarged to reflect the relative size of the areas of the brain.
Male version a sensory cortical homunculus.
As I was doing some quick searches to write this post I learned of some counter-arguments to the models. One article I read stated that, ‘the models oversimplify how the body’s sensorimotor signals are actually processed in the brain’. – Interesting and worth reading but outside the scope of what I’m writing today.
Rather: last night I was laying in bed thinking about the Homunculus and the models I’d seen so many years ago. I can’t argue about the scientific merits of the models but from an experiential perspective: they generally seem realistic to me. – Which is to say that from a purely touch sensory perspective: my tongue, lips, hands, etc. ‘feel’ (or seem) larger than say, my legs or torso.
This got me to think: what is the experience of a person who has been blind from birth? – A person who doesn’t have visuals to give proportions outside of what they feel. It made me wonder if they have a mental picture of themselves and their fellow humans that is close to that of a Homunculus model.
In the end, I concluded that the mental model of a Homunculus (that I presume most of us feel), would probably quickly adapt upon touching (ahem) one’s own body. (Or the bodies of others.)
Still: I was briefly intrigued by the notion and even now, I wonder if a blind from birth person’s perceptions don’t error towards some mental distortions of body imagery.
May 30
Kili Nature Call
This photo was taken on December 30, 2021 on Tanzania’s Kilimanjaro.
These crude public toilets sit at campsites. They are nothing more than ‘long drop’ pits surrounded by crude wooden structures. – There are no commodes. One places their feet on either side of a hole and squat. Not surprisingly: not everyone who uses them has good aim and so, they aren’t pretty inside.
When not in camp and nature calls on the trail, one is to go off trail and find a rock or a bush do do one’s business. Given the number of visitors to the mountain, this is a problem.
For our part, we paid the extra money to our guide service (the excellent and highly recommended African Scenic Safaris) for private privies. These are toilets, placed in tents and reserved exclusively for your group. When hiring a guide service to climb Kili, if one has a choice between adding a private toilet or not: spend the extra money and you’ll thank yourself to your dying day.
May 15
May 2023 – Quote of the Month
“When the world wearies and society fails to satisfy, there is always the garden.”
~ Minnie Aumonier
Apr 28
The Last Number Exchange
Spam is an evil thing as evidenced by the drag it places on our digital lives as well as the genuine bad intentions behind most of it.
I received this text spam a week or two ago. Its crafty. I can well imagine many people being fooled into responding: perhaps to tell them that they have the wrong number; perhaps because they are genuinely confused about which contact of theirs is reaching out to them.
But my first thought was: this text could spell a lot of danger for many a relationship. How many jealous ‘significant others’ see a message like this pop up on their partner’s phone and immediately go ape-shit? Of course, such a knee-jerk response should be telling of the nature of the relationship in the first place, but a text like this could be gasoline on a match.
I have every expectation that the dawning AI revolution while make this look like child’s play.
Apr 27
April 2023 – Quote of the Month
“If you are not willing to own a stock for 10 years, do not even think about owning it for 10 minutes.”
~Warren Buffet
Apr 26
March 2023 – Quote of the Month
“None are so old as those who have outlived enthusiasm.”
~Henry David Thoreau
Mar 26
Pretty in Pink
March’s perfunctory post is again from December 25, 2021. (On our Tanzania trip, we shot over 9,800+ photos and videos, so I can go to this source for a long time when I’m feeling short on posting enthusiasm.)
Lake Natron is a remote, surreal landscape. The lake is hyper saline and super alkaline with temperatures that range from 40˚ (104f) to 60˚C (140f).
The lakes chemistry provides a home for a halophilic microorganisms called cyanobacteria that turns the lake red. The lake is inhospitable or outright deadly to most other organisms but more than 2.5 million endangered Lesser Flamingos breed here. – Seventy-five percent of the world’s population are born on its shores. Since the flamingos have no predators to contend with they feed on the algae and cyanobacteria in relative peace: probably only bothered by camera wielding tourists like myself.
Mar 26
February 2023 – Quote of the Month
“That which isn’t good for the hive, isn’t good for the bee.”
~Marcus Aurelius
Feb 26
Beware of Doctor Bellfield
When one thinks of the Brady Bunch, they probably conjure storylines depicting wholesome family values. Odd then when Alice doesn’t call the authorities to report their neighbor as quite probably a pedophile.
At least there were boundaries. – Apparently Carol and Mike need to approve any and all, ‘X-rated swimming pools.’
Trivia: This scene where Bobby and Cindy are contemplating skinny dipping is cut on some airings.
Feb 26
January 2023 – Quote of the Month
“Whenever you are about to find fault with someone, ask yourself the following question: What fault of mine most nearly resembles the one I am about to criticize?
~Marcus Aurelius
Jan 30
Color Corrected Killer Kitties
This being another challenging month, I’m just sharing a photo from January 7, 2022 taken in Tanzania’s Tarangire National Park. But I thought, for a change of pace I’d share the raw, uncolor corrected image compared to post color correction and sharpening. All color correction was done in Adobe Lightroom and the sharpening was done with Topaz Sharpen AI. Pushing the colors around as much as I had to in order to restore the sky and bring out the kitties resulted in a lot of noise. Fortunately Topaz Sharpen AI has good options to mitigate exacerbating noise upon sharpening.
That’s about as creative as I can get this month. Also, now I think that Topaz should sponsor my website.
Jan 30
December 2022 – Quote of the Month
“Nobody can bring you peace but yourself.”
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Dec 26
Dreaming of Giraffes
The last month has been chaos and trouble and I won’t relate it here. But in spite of some serious mental exhaustion, I’ll fulfill my monthly posting duties and leave this year with a fond recollection of where I was last year in December.
Dec 26
November 2022 – Quote of the Month
“I think it’s perfectly possible to explain how the universe came about without bringing God into it, but I don’t know everything, and there may well be a God somewhere, hiding away. Actually, if he is keeping out of sight, it’s because he’s ashamed of his followers and all the cruelty and ignorance they’re responsible for promoting in his name. If I were him, I’d want nothing to do with them.”
~ Philip Pullman
Nov 29
Breaking News
Even though news is no not nearly so soul crushing like it was while Trump was in office, I still find myself burned out on all of it. I’ve often advocated that a democracy depends on a well-informed electorate, so I’ve felt that its almost akin to a patriotic duty to follow the news.
But increasingly, I’m trying to step away from news that is likely not to impact me or the nation / world. That might sound self-centered, but by way of example I’m talking about stories of some Woman who drowns herself and her kids in Texas.
Maybe there is an underpinning in the story about depression, drugs or abuse that is relevant outside of her community. But reading such tragedies takes something of a mental toll.
And then there are the endless celebrity fluff pieces or the speculative news articles of something that might happen e.g. Apple might buy Disney based on Rumors.
Still, I tune into big global news like Russia’s war on Ukraine. And I enjoy positive happenings like the Artemis program.
But with our phones in hand, it’s so easy to occupy an idyll minute while on hold with a support desk or waiting for a friend to meet. It becomes a twitch.
I have those bored moments and am likely not going to step away from using my phone to kill time when there is nothing else to do, but increasingly asking myself when I read a headline, “How will this help me?” “What will I get out of this?” The answer is usually, “It won’t” or “Nothing much”. When you start looking at news this way, then one observes that 98% of it is passable noise.
I think I need to start carrying a good old fashioned paperback book with me everywhere.
Nov 19
October 2022 – Quote of the Month
“There is a child in every one of us who is still a trick-or-treater looking for a brightly-lit front porch.”
~Robert Brault
Oct 31
Happy Halloween Kids
Here’s hoping that I never outgrow Halloween. So far… So good…
Oct 20
September 2022 – Quote of the Month
“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”
~Neil Gaiman, Coraline
Sep 29
A Murder of Bats
Instead of world news commentary, here is a piece of inane trivia that I observed one evening while watching a rerun of Columbo.
From season 9, episode 6 entitled, ‘Murder in Malibu‘ which was released in May 14, 1990:
I wonder how much time was spent looking through stock film before the producers said, ‘Ah, screw it! Let’s use bats instead. Nobody will notice or care.‘
Sep 27
August 2022 – Quote of the Month
“Fantasy, if it’s really convincing, can’t become dated, for the simple reason that it represents a flight into a dimension that lies beyond the reach of time.”
~Walt Disney
Aug 30
Firestarter of Oldupai Emanyata
Taken at a Massai Boma in Oldupai Emanyata, Tanzania on January 12 2022.
With another villager’s help, this man started a fire with friction in less than a minute. A humbling exposure to another culture, another way of life.
Jul 30
Still Putting on Shoes
I recently saw a Facebook post from a really sweet guy I know. (I’ve redacted his name.) He is a very compassionate individual. The kind of man who is sensitive and cries at life’s tragedy. He also happens to have an advanced degree (Doctorate) and has a career that requires constant education.
And yet, this objectively well educated, good guy drinks deeply from the well of misinformation.
In the early days of the internet, this smart, kind person reflexively forwarded every joke or meme that came into his email inbox. (He was a one man spammer.) Now, in the age of social media, in spite of his good character and quantifiable education, he continues to consume and propagate easily falsifiable bullshit. – All of which is far right leaning.
It’s exhausting and feels like a losing battle. It doesn’t take much work to investigate a claim, but for most people it’s still too much effort and doesn’t come with the dopamine release of bias confirmation. I believe that there are real world consequences of this mindset to our country and world.
Often, when I see these posts and have time to spare, I’ll provide evidence refuting the meme. But it all seems so futile. By the time I see the posts, there are invariable already a series of ‘Likes’ and affirming comments. And when I do post the evidence, he (and his followers) never addresses my remarks. Instead, like the mass-forwarding days of yore, he’s already moved on and posted more junk. (I suspect that he posts and never looks back.)
I’m reminded of the saying:
A Lie Can Travel Halfway Around the World While the Truth Is Putting On Its Shoes
~ Attribution Uncertain
Here is one of the more recent posts he shared on Facebook:
I immediately sensed the dubious nature of this meme and did a quick search to check the validity. With the super simple entry of the words (lifted directly from the post), ‘A gas powered van, towing a diesel generator, charging an electric car‘ into Google, the first results returned debunked the meme: No, that’s not a van towing a diesel generator to charge an electric car.
But that’s not the punch line.
I intended to share this information to his post by pasting the link into the comment section, but upon doing so, I saw a series of Facebook auto-generated links that also disproved the validity of the post as the header to the comments.
The punchline is: someone named, ‘Jill’, went to the same comment section as I did and ignored the FOUR fact checking links provided by Facebook. ‘Jill’ went on to write, “Yep, can’t fix stupid!“
Maybe Jill… Maybe… Or perhaps you can’t fix confirmation bias.
Jul 01
June 2022 – Quote of the Month
“You cannot run away from weakness; you must some time fight it out or perish; and if that be so, why not now, and where you stand?”
~ Robert Louis Stevenson
Jun 26
Power Begets Power
The people protesting the overturn of Roe v Wade outside of the Supreme Court are wasting their time. That battle has been lost at the federal level… (for now.) The American Taliban (formally known as the GOP) have sufficiently packed courts to ensure the enforcement of their crusade. (Grand Wizard Trump appointed one quarter of the federal bench – for life!) And regardless, the courts aren’t even the right branch to protest. Those lifelong appointees people aren’t reactive to your votes.
For all of the people expressing their anger on Facebook with Handmaid’s Tale memes: I understand the instinct. But there should be equal or greater anger and engagement over the January 6 attempted coup by a sitting president. (Probably only nuclear missiles raining down on our cities would be as an immediate of a crisis for our democracy.) But we mostly yawn through the attempted overthrow of our government… We are amused to death. What’s next on Netflix streaming?
So, while you’re understandably angry and venting about the loss of women’s reproductive rights, keep an eye on the wizard behind the current’s other hand: other levers are being pulled. With courts packed, the American Taliban are working VERY hard now to hack our voting systems. Even now, at the state level, the machinery is being set in place to ensure that the will of the majority are again not represented in the next election.
Once those levers are thrown, and the scales weighted even further, the American Taliban Party will becoming for your other rights until we’re living in a theocratic / plutocratic nation. All hail America!
Don’t like the Roe v Wade decision? Here’s what’s next on the docket…
Don’t assume that the ‘pendulum’ is going to swing in the other direction. As Bill Maher says, ‘It’s like being in an arm wrestling contest. You can comeback from here, (gestures 10 degrees deficit). It’s almost impossible to come back from here’ (gestures 80 degrees deficit).
The top fights to concentrate on are voter’s rights and the dismantling of the American Taliban propaganda machine.
“Falsehood flies, and truth comes limping after it, so that when men come to be undeceived, it is too late; the jest is over, and the tale hath had its effect: like a man, who hath thought of a good repartee when the discourse is changed, or the company parted; or like a physician, who hath found out an infallible medicine, after the patient is dead.”
~ Jonathan Swift
Jun 01
May 2022 – Quote of the Month
“Think of the life you have lived until now as over and, as a dead man, see what’s left as a bonus and live it according to Nature.”
~Marcus Aurelius
May 27
Gun Defense In Memoriam
There is something seriously broken about the United States. It goes deep to the bone.
A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.
~ Second Amendment to the United States Constitution
There are various readings of the 2nd amendment. But I believe, that it is fair to say that there are generally three significant schools of thought: 1) That the amendment was in reference to a militia or 2) That the amendment is an absolute right for citizens to bear arms wholly unrestricted. 3) To various degrees, guns should be legal but controlled and regulated.
I’ve done some reading on the subject, but I can’t claim to be a scholar. I’m also not a ‘gun person’: I am not hunter or a gun collector or marksmen. I’ve had some fun firing a gun for target practice but if I never did it again, I’d not miss it for a second. But where I’m less neutral is in my understanding that the evidence shows that citizens are far more likely to be killed or injured by gun ownership than saved by guns.
That said, just because I’m not into something doesn’t mean that I casually dismiss the argument that Americans have the right to own guns. I’m very, very cautions about the idea of removing citizens rights. But I also don’t think that just because it is currently a constitutional amendment that such a debate is off the table. (There is the case of at least another amendment having been repealed. [The 18th]).
When you compare the United States to other countries that also have high-gun ownership, you find that we are a far higher rate of gun related homicides.
Nor can these deaths be waved aside as a matter of mental illness nor is it violent video games and movies. Other countries have all of those things in equal proportions.
And guns are now the leading cause of children’s deaths in the US. That is INSANE.
Through there lack of action, it is evident that there is one party who has clearly defended these deaths as an acceptable norm (in spite of their ‘thoughts and prayers’). The Trumpkin MAGA Party (formerly known as the GOP) uses guns (and other tactics) to distract and inflame their base while they pilfer the nation. If the Republican leaders really believed all of the bullshit that they said about how secure guns make everyone, then they would allow them in their conventions and rallies but they don’t, because they know the truth.
Since the latest school shooting at the Texas Robb Elementary School, I’ve seen conservative social media posts like this one:
From the supposed party of ‘law and order’, this sudden abdication of responsibility is almost funny if it weren’t for the deadly ramifications. But one wonders where such logic should stop? Does this only apply to laws meant to curb gun violence, or should we throw in the towel on all evil acts since evil, ‘does not obey laws’? It sounds as if they are setting the groundwork for The Purge.
Honestly, I could keep going and going with supporting statistics and logic, but facts seem to be out of favor with much of the population. I don’t have the energy for throwing my heart at that wall of willful stupidity.
We are a fearful nation. A nation that fetishizes guns. There is something broken in the spirit of this country. Something that we seem unresolved to correct.
Not counting the wounded, and not counting the emotionally devastated, I leave this post with the faces of those killed this week in the Uvalde, Texas school shooting.
May 19
April 2022 – Quote of the Month
“I should like to save the Shire, if I could – though there have been times when I thought the inhabitants too stupid and dull for words, and have felt that an earthquake or an invasion of dragons might be good for them. But I don’t feel like that now. I feel that as long as the Shire lies behind, safe and comfortable, I shall find wandering more bearable: I shall know that somewhere there is a firm foothold, even if my feet cannot stand there again.”
~J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Shadow of the Past
Apr 28
More Arbitrary Amazon Parcel Packaging
Got nothing witty to say here. The picture says it all: just another remarkable example of Amazon packaging failure.
Apr 28
March 2022 – Quote of the Month
“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”
~Albert Einstein
Mar 31
Not Always
Given current affairs, especially with Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, I’ve seen this quote circulating a lot:
There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they can seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it–always.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
Sadly, it simply isn’t true.
Two quick examples of long lived tyrant murders include, Joseph Stalin, dead at 74 of a stroke while in power. Kim Jong-Il died at age 69 of a heart attack while in power. And it’s not just in the past. Many are still going to this very day.
From this article: Kim Jong-Il’s Natural Death Typical for Dictators, “The death by natural causes of Kim Jong-Il highlights a possibly unpleasant truth about repressive dictators: Many, if not most, end up living long lives and dying peacefully. Those who live by the sword don’t necessarily die by it, according to “The Great Big Book of Horrible Things: The Definitive Chronicle of History’s 100 Worst Atrocities” (W. W. Norton & Company, 2011). In it, Matthew White tracked the fates of the leaders most responsible for the 100-deadliest human events. A majority, he found, lived out their natural life spans in peace. “About 60 percent of the individual oppressors and warmongers who were most responsible for each of these multicides lived happily ever after,” White wrote.“
I mention this, not to despair. I say it, because I don’t think there is any magical guarantee that the right thing is going to happen.
And this situation with Putin, is so very dangerous. Except for the cold war, (which is only decades old), the world has never had circumstances like they have today. This one man has in his power, the ability to start a civilization ending (if not humanity ending) world war. The only thing that consoles me is that his avarice appears to outstrip his ideology. That is to say, it is my hope that his greed and personal vanity keep him in check over his political views that the old dead ghost of the USSR must rise and stand over the ashes of the west.
But, I also wonder at what could get him removed from power. If, somehow, the censor blinded populace wakes up, grown weary from sanctions and oppressive rule, and march to the doors of the Kremlin, torches in hand, I highly suspect that Putin would push the button before being drug out into the streets. This one man could end us all.
We shouldn’t pretend that history is template of what is to come.
Mar 28
February 2022 – Quote of the Month
“Every aspect of Nature reveals a deep mystery and touches our sense of wonder and awe. Those afraid of the universe as it really is, those who pretend to nonexistent knowledge and envision a Cosmos centered on human beings will prefer the fleeting comforts of superstition. They avoid rather than confront the world. But those with the courage to explore the weave and structure of the Cosmos, even where it differs profoundly from their wishes and prejudices, will penetrate its deepest mysteries.”
~Carl Sagan, Cosmos
Mar 28
Chris Rocked
There are so many serious concerns in the world. Right now, with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I feel we’re probably as close to the brink of World War III as we have been since the cold war. Maybe closer.
But as is often the case, the more serious the issue, the more depleting it is and I’m de-energized to write about it. The childish games we play with the future of humanity is soul crushing. So, instead, here is 2 cents on the exceedingly trivial matter of Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars last night. (Also, I’ve only had four hours of sleep, so that doesn’t help fuel any extensive writing, making this is my cop-out entry just to get something posted before the end of the month.)
I didn’t watch the event happen in real time. I haven’t had interest in the Oscars (or other award shows) for decades. Not sure I was ever particularly interested in them but for years I’ve been somewhat repulsed by them.
But anyway, the main event, so to speak, was the brouhaha around Will Smith slapping (and then cursing) Chris Rock for a joke he made. Will Smith went on to be awarded the Oscar for best male actor.
A lot of people are defending Will Smith since Chris Rock made some very insensitive comments about his wife. And, although I can understand the anger and desire to slap someone who said something about a loved one in my life, I’m also fully confident that if I did so as part of a work meeting, not only would I be fired, I’d be escorted out of the building with the distinct possibility of having the police called on me. I certainly would not receive any award that night and if future would-be employers ever got wind of it, I’m confident that I’d not be hired by any of them.
Also: kudos to Chris Rock for taking it all very well. I don’t think I’d have kept my composure nearly as well.
Feb 28
The Rings of Amazon
Let’s talk about Amazon’s upcoming series, ‘The Rings of Power’. Recently, we’ve learned more based on a released teaser trailer and a vanity fair promo puff piece.
Naturally, I won’t spoil anything if you aren’t versed in the subject.
Short Summary
Don’t have time to read my ramblings? Understood. Here is my quick take: It looks like a train wreck. I hope I’m wrong, but wouldn’t bet against myself.
Extended Summary
As far as we know so far, the story is based off of the Lord of the Rings ‘backstory’ referencing parts of the ’Second Age’ and the creation of the Rings of Power. Initially, it was generally understood that Amazon had bought some portion of story rights from the Tolkien estate. At first, it appeared to be parts of the Silmarillion but now there are indications that Amazon only procured rights from the Appendix of the Lord of the Rings.
I’m honestly not sure how much legendarium the show runners have legal access to but I’m guessing it generally amounts to something akin to what is found in the Silmarillion’s chapter, ‘Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age’.
The bottom line though, appears to be that the show will be based off access to some relatively small fraction of Tolkien’s lore.
Mythopoeia
The frame story for Tolkien’s writings are that of a pre-history as opposed to a ‘fictional universe‘. The stories are not meant to be seen as another world, but as a pre-history to our world and Tolkien treats himself as a historian and philologist who is deciphering and translating ancient, pre-history texts. He conceived of these texts as part of a legendarium, or collection of legends.
I’m providing this background, because there is a very significant backlash to the content people have seen so far around this, ‘Rings of Power’ series. Much of that backlash has to do with race. – A third rail of discourse. I’ve also had friends casually mention to me that, anything can go with the story because it’s ‘just’ fantasy and ‘takes place on another planet’.
“I propose to speak about fairy-stories, though I am aware that this is a rash adventure. Faërie is a perilous land, and in it are pitfalls for the unwary and dungeons for the overbold.”
~ J.R.R. Tolkien, Tolkien On Fairy-stories
Before I dive in, I need to provide some further context to the casual fan. Much of the conversation stems around the concept that Tolkien ostensibly wanted his writings to provide a, ‘mythology for England’.
As an example of this perspective, a quote from the essay, ‘Tolkien’s English Mythology‘:
J.R.R. Tolkien’s tales of Middle-earth are hailed as founding texts of modern fantasy. But his recently published commentary on the Old English poem Beowulf suggests that Tolkien saw his creative writing as a work of historical reconstruction. The Silmarillion, The Hobbit, and The Lord of the Rings were conceived as the original stories behind an ancient but long lost English mythology.
~ Simon J. Cook
But there are other scholarly writings that challenge this claim, or at least, take umbrage with the shorthand / simplification, such as found in the paper, A Mythology? For England?
For many years it has been a received truth that what Tolkien wanted to make was (or was initially) “a mythology for England”, a phrase which is always put within quotation marks and never provided with a source.
~ Anders Stenstrom
As much as I love Tolkien’s works, I’m only a fan. I’m not paid to be a Tolkien scholar and so my time to dig deeper is limited. Tolkien was exceedingly subtle in thought and I’m not sure how binary he’d be on this presumption of his writings being created as an English myth, but I’m of the school that more or less, that the concept informed the direction of his writings. Even Anders Stenstrom, who challenges the shorthand version goes onto report that he had uncovered a piece of writing that was a probable derivation for the notion. From a Tolkien draft letter to an unidentified, ‘Mr. Thompson’:
Thank you very much for your kind and encouraging letter. Having set myself a task, the arrogance of which I fully recognised and trembled at: being precisely to restore to the English an epic tradition and present them with a mythology of their own: it is a wonderful thing to be told that I have succeeded, at least with those who have still the undarkened heart and mind.
~ Tolkien, 1981, number 180, paragraph 1
And even such quotes aside, the ‘Englishness’ of the writings is readily apparent, even to a casual reader.
Race and Middle Earth
I’ll cut to my thesis on the subject of race and the Rings of Power show: I have significant concerns with what I’ve seen from the trailer and what I’ve read in articles but the least of my concerns is the depiction of characters by people of color.
That said, because it is such a controversy, I feel I need to spend some time sharing my thoughts on the matter even though I think it is a mountain from a molehill.
The race controversy stems from characters of black elves and black dwarves seen in the promotional materials.
The ‘pro’ black elves / dwarves generally follows these lines:
- Tolkien should be for everybody and will be more relatable if it shows people of color.
- It’s a ‘only’ a fantasy, and if a person can except wizards and dragons, why can’t they except black elves?
- If you have a problem with black elves / dwarves, you must be a racist.
The ‘anti’ black elves / dwarves argument generally follows:
- This is only being done as part of a ‘identity politics‘ and ‘wokeness‘. The Lord of the Rings has sold more than 150 million copies, translated into at least 38 languages, so, it’s already ‘for everybody’. Begging the question: must every race, creed, sexual orientation and more be represented before it can be seen as sufficiently diverse?
- Tolkien wrote his stories as part of his ‘mythology for England’, specifically ancient, anglo-saxon England. (See background references, noted above.)
- Tolkien does not describe any elves or dwarves as black.
- Biologically, it doesn’t make sense for dwarves to be black because they live underground.
- Tolkien did write about people of color, specifically in the realms of Harad, so if they showrunners want to be inclusive, why not expand on stories involving them?
I actually agree with a little from each camp and disagree with each camp.
Pro Multi-Ethnic Elves, Dwarves and Hobbits
From the ‘pro’ team, I’m an advocate of inclusion in life and we need to see a diversity of people in our media. However, ‘inclusivity’ is a broad idea, and it might need some guardrails. For example, if the the new series doesn’t include a deaf, asian who identifies as transgender, then does that mean that the ‘Rings of Power’ was not sufficiently inclusive?
That’s question may be a bit of a straw man fallacy, leading to a slippery slope fallacy, but really, what is the answer there? Are we looking at quotas?
Secondly, from the ‘pro’ camp, although I don’t like the implications in stating that middle earth is fantasy and therefore anything goes, I have to acknowledge that black elves or dwarves really don’t tax my suspension of disbelief more than a halfling. I can shrug, nod my head and accept a black elf.
“The association of children and fairy-stories is an accident of our domestic history. Fairy-stories have in the modern lettered world been relegated to the “nursery,” as shabby or old-fashioned furniture is relegated to the play-room, primarily because the adults do not want it, and do not mind if it is misused.”
~ J.R.R. Tolkien, Tolkien On Fairy-stories
On the other hand, and for example, if the Lord of the Rings would be reworked to include women in the Fellowship, I’d have a problem because I think that the theme of brotherhood is inherent in the story. – And it should not be forgotten that the depiction of masculinity has been praised.
“But, essentially, the well-written men of the Lord Of The Rings have given us a beautiful example of healthy masculinity; one that allows men to cry without shame, to experience deep love and affection, to treat women and girls with the same thoughtfulness with which they like to be treated, to create and maintain friendships, to express themselves, and to treat all others with the kindness and respect that they deserve.”
~Lord Of The Rings at 20: how the fantasy epic offers up the perfect antidote to toxic masculinity, Kayleigh Dray
Sometimes gender, race or creed, etc. are important (or even fundamental) to the story and the character and sometimes, they are not.
On both sides of this argument, I see too many people who argue canon from the perspective of the Peter Jackson movies. The Jackson movies are not canon. That it is an adaptation. And although I love the movies and generally think them masterpieces, there are liberties taken in the movies that are far more jarring to me than black elves. For example: super-hero Legolas single-handedly taking down a Mumakil in Jackson’s Return of the King. The pigmentation of an actor, really doesn’t change the story at all but Legolas single-handedly taking down a Mumakil most certainly has story implications, not the least being that with dozen or so super-powered elves could single-handedly take down the armies of Mordor. So, if you want to be outraged by Elven variations from Tolkien’s story, let’s start witht that scene!
So, although the idea of creating an ancient English mythology might have been an important driver to Tolkien, such as his desire to create fictional languages, it is not the driver for me, the reader as to why I love his writings. So, the skin color of a character doesn’t change their motivation. (- Unless, *gasp*, the storyrunners decide to bring such race politics into their adaptation and we see black elves not being treated equally to white elves or something similar. In which case: I’d say that is the type of political allegory that Tolkien hated and that would undermine the archetypical monomyth that makes the stories timeless. )
Anti Multi-Ethnic Elves, Dwarves and Hobbits
From the anti-team, I do, generally subscribe to the idea that Tolkien had something in mind like creating an ancient mythology for England. Emphasis on ancient. Because, of course, England’s history is full to the brim with people of color, that said, I suspect Tolkien was more focused on ancient Celtic history.
Because of this, I also think that a more authentic way to be inclusive would be to expand on stories regarding the Haradrim. The Haradrim, or Easterlings, were a dark skinned race of people in Middle Earth and there could be perfectly valid story lines that include them.
Tangentially to these arguments, the people who argue against the idea of black elves and dwarves and ‘forced diversity’ counter by asking, ‘Is it racist to have an all asian cast of Mulan? Or an for Wakanda to be made up of just black people?’ ‘Should we have male Amazons in Wonder Woman?’
They fired their premier Tolkien advisor (Tom Shippey), who was originally charged with keeping the story true to Tolkien. There are rumors that he was replaced with Mariana Rios Maldonado, who was cited in the Vanity Fair article. Few had heard of who her but she is an ‘Equality and Diversity Officer’ and supposedly a Tolkien scholar. (Although we can’t be certain she’s a replacement since Amazon won’t officially indicate who their new Tolkien Scholars are.)
The current theory is that Shippey was a good watchdogs shooting down stupid ideas and was then axed under the pretext of having talked to a magazine about the series.
It is also, rightfully, scaring Tolkien fans that Amazon is spending more time promoting the concepts of cast diversity than, you know, actual stories and characters. The Vanity Fair article got off on the wrong foot right away because it started a preemptive attack on the fans and didn’t spend much time discussing the actual content of the series. Amazon then doubled down on this approach with assinie ‘interviews’ with supposed Tolkien influencer, ‘Super-Fans’ who don’t, apparently, have any content on Tolkien and spend their time doing canned interviews about how great all the diversity was in the sneak peak they were granted.
Diversity Double Standard in Hollywood
Both sides of the argument have massive, breathless hyperbole and there seem to be few calm and reasoned arguments. (Such is the state of debate, these days, I suppose…)
The Vanity Fair article rhetorically and preemptively asked, “Who are these people that feel so threatened or disgusted by the idea that an elf is Black or Latino or Asian?” I think such statements drive home the notion that there was an agenda here that was outside of picking the best person for the role. And then they bait fans who might feel differently about the lore by implying that they are disgusted racists. I thought their goal was to reach more people not to offend existing fans who might have a different opinion on what is authentic to the story?
On the other side, people have spammed the comments board with a paraphrased quote from Tolkien that implies that the creators of the series are evil, “Evil is not capable of creating anything new, it can only distort and destroy what has been invented or made by the forces of good.” Having people of color play characters that aren’t explicitly described might not qualify as, ‘evil’.
But I’ll finish up by linking to a video essay that I think does a really good job of highlighting a fundamental question about diversity in Hollywood vs authenticity. The author highlights that there are two sides: that a story needs to be either authentic to its original source and author’s intentions or it needs to be diverse. e.g. Mulan needs to either be authentic to its history, or we should expect a cast of equal parts non-asians whenever the story is depicted.
I could go on, but that rabbit hole keeps going. The idea of inclusivity and diversity are very, very worth considering. But, as I said before, for me, black elves/dwarves doesn’t bother me. I’ve only spent this much time discussing it because it’s the elephant in the room when critiquing the content we’ve seen so far.
Story, Character and Aesthetics
That exhausting controversy aside, I still think that the show is shaping up to be a hot mess. Understanding that this story is, by definition, an adaptation, the more it varies from the source material, the less likely it will be as epic as the original. – That is, unless the writers are as good or better than Tolkien. – And I know where I’m placing my bet.
By definition, this story will be an adaptation and changes will need to be made. But if you start stripping away the underpinnings of the narative and mythology, then I’m not sure you’re making a Middle Earth story any longer and you can’t be too surprised if fans of that story are disgruntled.
Some quick hits:
• Galadriel now a sword wielding, armor wearing warrior who leads armies. (Not even joking.) Galadriel was nothing like this in any of Tolkien’s writings. That doesn’t mean she wasn’t strong nor a leader. In fact, she was one of Tolkien’s favorite characters but her strength came from wisdom, not arms who was responsible for an entire kingdom. Now she’s climbing ice-cliffs with daggers.
• In the Vanity Fair article, we’re told that there is an elf and a single mother human have a forbidden love affair. Note: these characters aren’t in any of the Tolkien writings, which have only four elf / human relationships. These stories were a big deals in canon, rife with symbolism of love and mortality. (For the geek record, those relationships were: Mithrellas and Imrazor, Tuor and Idril, Beren and Luthien and Arwen and Aragorn.) These romances were very insignificant to the stories of Middle Earth. – Especially the love of Beren and Luthien, which was fundamental to the Silmarillion and the love between Arwen and Aragorn which was a primary motivator for the actions of Aragorn and all of his undertakings in the Lord of the Rings. I’m highly skeptical of the show-runners interjection of a new such love affair into canon and emphasizing that she’s a ‘single-mom’. This reads as a contrivance to try and imbue the story with modern soap-opera like drama.
• Overall, I’m skeptical of the interjection of new major characters. The idea that they show-runners felt that they needed to generate a new one given the massive amount of lore already available, seems foolish. There are 245 named characters in the Silmarian. And even if they can only contractually reference 20% of them, that is still 50 characters. The second age spans 3,441 years. I think they already have their work cut out for them and they don’t need to create new variants.
• The trailer starts with hobbits (actually, ‘harfoots, a precursor to the hobbits), even though hobbits play no noted roles in stories of those times. – A fact that underpins the concepts of what makes them so remarkable in the Hobbit and LotR. The Hobbits were under the radar of the ‘wise’ before the Lord of the Rings. The events before that book are not their story. Shoehorning them into the events before the Lord of the Rings book robs them of their surprising role from that story.
• Elrond is described as ‘political’ by the show runners. Elrond for president! I suspect that would be very low on the list of adjectives for the character by most fans and scholars. Remember how great it was when the fantasy Star Wars movies were made political in the prequels? Exactly…
• I hate the elf catching the arrow scene. That shot is taking cues from the worst aspects of the Peter Jackson movies. (Like Legolas skating on a shield down steps; not to the absolute mention super-hero level action in the the scene with the Mûmakil.) Yes, the elves and dwarves and men (especially of Númenor), were meant to be exceptional, they were also not meant to be comic book action characters. Christopher Tolkien said, “They eviscerated the book by making it an action movie for young people aged 15 to 25.” As proof to my willingness and openness to accepting adaptations, I’ll say that I disagree that the Jackson movies, ‘eviscerated the Lord of the Rings, but those Legolas superhero action scenes were forerunners to the action scenes in the Jackson Hobbit movies. Those movies most certainly eviscerated that book. If we’re getting more of the same in this new series, we’ll have the same results.
• The series story runners (J. D. Payne and Patrick McKay) are two no-name writers who had no IMDB credits before this. None of their projects had ever come to fruition, but they are known to have worked on the horrible J.J. Abram’s Rebooted Star Trek. (Abrams: the killer of cherished series like Star Trek and Star Wars.)
• Diretor J. A. Bayona is the no-talent director behind the terrible Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.
• The CGI graphics look like something from a video game console. A quote from an article, “There’s a certain look shared by many modern fantasy television shows; a glossy, textureless sheen that makes picturesque landscapes look like computer screensavers, and knights in armor look like high-effort cosplay.“
• Thematically, the teaser trailer is not at all evocative. It’s just cobbled together random scenes that highlight non-canon ‘story’. It looks like it was created as a work of fan fiction from someone who only ever saw the terrible, terrible, terrible Hobbit movies and who only ever read cliff notes about the books.
Tolkien On Fairy-stories
I don’t know how to wrap this up with a nice bow. I’m sure I could go on… I think the show looks bad, for reasons that have nothing to do with the skin color of elves or dwarves. That said, I repeat, I sincerely hope I’m wrong and that I’m mistaking the evidence. I’ll leave the last words to the Professor, who, not unsurprisingly, sums up many of these considerations far more eloquently than I can.
“Studies [on the origin of fairy-stories] are, however, scientific (at least in intent); they are the pursuit of folklorists or anthropologists: that is of people using the stories not as they were meant to be used, but as a quarry from which to dig evidence, or information, about matters in which they are interested.
…with regard to fairy stories, I feel that it is more interesting, and also in its way more difficult, to consider what they are, what they have become for us, and what values the long alchemic processes of time have produced in them. In Dasent’s words I would say: ‘We must be satisfied with the soup that is set before us, and not desire to see the bones of the ox out of which it has been boiled.’
Such stories have now a mythical or total (unanalysable) effect, an effect quite independent of the findings of Comparative Folk-lore, and one which it cannot spoil or explain; they open a door on Other Time, and if we pass through, though only for a moment, we stand outside our own time, outside Time itself, maybe.”
~ J.R.R. Tolkien, Tolkien On Fairy-stories
Feb 04
January 2022 – Quote of the Month
“If you cannot understand that there is something in man which responds to the challenge of this mountain and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is the struggle of life itself upward and forever upward, then you won’t see why we go.”
~Edmund Hillary
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