Sorry For the Scant Posting

I'm going through a particularly misanthropic period right now. Headlines and particularly Facebook or Twitter just infuriate me. I'm spending all of my spare time on Lord of the Rings Online, where if someone acts like a troll or an orc they likely are, and you can deal with them as trolls or orcs should be dealt with: face to face, hand to hand, to the death.

Waking Up

It's no great revelation that blogging isn't as popular as it one was - - Facebook and other social media outlets make it easy to post the details of your life there instead of on a blog; but increasingly, Facebook and Twitter are suppressing speech from everyone that doesn't approach the world from a leftist direction. I've been banned by Facebook twice already, and by Twitter a couple of times, also. I don't appreciate it, it pisses me off, and increases the resentment I have toward leftists to the level of hatred.

So I'm going to wake the blog up, based on Brigid's (Home On the Range) example. She was the victim of leftist trolls and hate mobs, and took her blog offline for a while, blogging as a guest at Borepatch's place instead. Now she's back, and since I see my blog listed on her sidebar, I can only man up and do what she's already done, and try to start posting regularly again. I'll try to start out slow. Can't make any promises.

Most of my leisure hours are spent taking refuge in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth, via the game Lord of the Rings Online. I literally waited decades for the technology to come along so I could spend time in Middle-Earth; I purchased a lifetime subscription while it was possible to do so, a decision that I've never regretted. The game is over 10 years old now, and people still play it daily, just as they do World of Warcraft or other online games. The developers bring new content online regularly - - North Mirkwod and the Lonely Mountain most recently - - and some of my happiest hours are spent exploring these new places. Being a game there is too much killing required for levelling up, which would probably horrify Tolkien; remember that Frodo Baggins never killed anyone in The Lord of the Rings, Sam Gamgee is noted as killing only a single orc, and the other hobbits have similar low body counts. So I'm not really comfortable to be constantly killing stuff in game. I like wandering the landscape, exploring. Crafting. One can farm in the game,raise crops - - pipeweed included. And one can smoke a long pipe, and blow smokerings. Or play music - - there is a robust system for playing music in game, and there are many very talented bands that regularly give "concerts" in game.

I have a full stable of various characters, including a family of dwarves, the Stoneskulls, named after the patriarch of the clan, Blarni, who survived an orc bashing his helm in during the battle of Azanulbizar. Blarni has four sons: Sporki (named after an eating tool that Blarni invented), Snarki (the wiseass), Corki (likes to drink), and Tardi (a little slow, perhaps, or maybe it's because he's often late to appointments). There's a hobbit burglar, Asbo Stabbins (an ASBO is an Anti-Social Behavioral Order in the UK, given to minor criminals and delinquents), three men: Animbecil, Thoronwe, and Pinkrandir the Transwizard (he likes to be called Trandalf; he's pink now, but once was blue). And a couple of Elves, Feleg and Linroth. Blarni Stoneskull the dwarf is my main character, the one I've played the most; the rest are just there to provide a bit of relief from time to time.

Probably more information than you wanted, but it's my current main interest. Lord of the Rings Online can be played free in a limited way, so if you want to visit Middle-Earth, you can do so. I play on the Brandywine server, if you want to meet up in game.

The Trailer For The Hobbit...

...has arrived:



And note that the movie itself is still a year off, so there is quite a wait ahead of us.

Looks like they didn't use Tolkien's silly hair/clothing colors as described in the book. They appear to have used one of the most soul-stirring songs from the book, however, and that is all to the good. Just hope that they don't use the inane (and, frankly, gay) elf-songs from the book: Oh, tra-la-la-lally here down in the valley, ha ha!

h/t Random Acts of Patriotism.

(As an incidental note, I have been in Middle-Earth myself all morning, via the MMORPG Lord of the Rings Online. Did you know that you can play the game free, in a limited way? You can visit many of the places famous in the books, including Bag End, Bilbo and Frodo's home. Depending on which race you choose, you can meet various characters from the books in the tutorial, including Gandalf and Aragorn.

Lazy LOTRO Post

Rather than post real blog content, I'll just be lazy and post an image from Lord of the Rings Online:

He Didn't Pass, Either.

(click to embiggen) That's the Bridge of Khazad-Dûm in Moria, where Gandalf broke his staff and the bridge as well, sending the Balrog (and himself) falling to "the uttermost foundations of stone." You can stand on the bridge, if you want to, and yell YOU SHALL NOT PASS! If you're one of the staff-using player types, you can even smack your staff on the bridge for emphasis. One thing I haven't tried is jumping off the bridge and seeing if I survive the fall into the water far below. Gandalf's hat is down there, by the way.

It's a Long Way To the Ground

Been playing Lord of the Rings Online pretty steadily for the last week. Right now I'm in Lothlórien doing quests and making myself useful. Caras Galadon, the city of the elves, is a vertiginous place:



(Click To Embiggen.) You can quite easily fall to your death from those tree-platforms, but I can't blame the game developers for it, because J.R.R. Tolkien himself described them that way in The Lord of the Rings. The Mines of Moria are similar; bottomless pits and precipices everywhere there. OSHA would have a time in Tolkien's universe, I'd imagine.

LOTRO Easter Egg

I guess it qualifies as an Easter Egg. What it is, is a reference to a famous movie (click to embiggen):

Just Not Feeling It Today...

...and it's raining outside besides, so I think I'll just sojourn in Middle-Earth today.

Another Middle-Earth Image

Here's my main character, Blarni Stoneskull, paying his respects at the tomb of Balin in Moria:



Yes, after the Fellowship of the Ring passed through Moria and Gandalf slew the Balrog, the Dwarves returned to claim their ancient home. As you can see, they cleared some of the rubble in the Chamber of Mazarbul to expose Balin's tomb.

(I've been playing LOTRO instead of blogging. Sue me.)

I've Been Sojourning...

...in Middle-Earth all morning. Mostly near Lake Evendim in the old kingdom of Arnor, where the Dúnedain had their capital city, Annúminas.

Here's a view across the lake, looking toward the High King's palace:

Guess Where I've Been?

Here's a pic to help you:

From Middle-Earth

The dwarf Blarni Stoneskull enjoys a cool evening in the elven refuge of Duillond:

Sorry For The Light Blogging

Sometimes Middle-Earth, even with the threat of Sauron to deal with, is more hopeful than the possibility of having to deal with Obama.

Meanwhile in LOTRO...

...I caught a 50-pound salmon and earned the title Blarni Stoneskull The Compleat Angler.

Happy Birthday...

...to Bilbo and Frodo Baggins.

Where I Was This Weekend

I didn't post much this weekend, for which I apologize. I spent most of my time in J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-Earth, courtesy of the game Lord of the Rings Online.

I'm a huge Tolkien fan. Have been since my teens, back in the early 70's. I never thought I'd have a chance to live there, or visit the places that Tolkien wrote about so convincingly. Yet now I do live there for a good portion of my time; when my mother, who is mostly an invalid and who has never come to terms with old age, is driving me batshit crazy with unreasonable demands, an escape to Middle-Earth is all that keeps me sane.

My favorite Tolkien characters have always been the dwarves. They resemble me more than Tolkien's other races do: grim of temperament, suspicious, quick-tempered, not overly noble. I have a family of dwarves in the game, and by way of apology for not posting this weekend, I think I'll introduce you to them.

The father dwarf (he has two sons) is named Blarni Stoneskull. Trying to find a perfect dwarf name, I thought of the Disney dwarves, named after emotions: Happy, Sneezy, Grumpy. I noticed that many of Tolkien's dwarves' names ended in -i: Gimli, Fili, Kili. Combining the two concepts I came up with a perfect way to name dwarves in game: take adjectives ending in -y, and change it to a terminal -i, e.g., Thorni, Raunchi, Horni. Some are hilarious: Stinki, Spanki, Cranki, Funki. In any event Blarni Stoneskull is the father of the group. He fought with the dwarves against the orcs in the battle of Azanulbizar, when the dwarves fought the forces of Azog the Goblin to avenge the death of Thror, King of Durin's Folk. During the battle an orc swung an iron bar at Blarni, breaking his iron helm, but not shattering his skull. Blarni, stunned, still managed to kill the orc, and defended himself valiantly until some of his comrades came to his aid and moved him to a quieter part of the battlefield. Blarni was given the name Stoneskull in recognition of his hard skull, and ever since has gone into battle without a helm, a practice his sons follow out of a rather confused sense of honor. Blarni, unusual for a dwarf, suffers from claustophobia, and spends most of his time outdoors as a hunter, providing fresh meat for the dwarves with his bow.

Here's Blarni Stoneskull:




Blarni's elder son Sporki was born in the Lonely Mountain after Thorin, Bilbo and the rest won it from Smaug the dragon. Blarni actually named Sporki after a tool that he devised, a combination fork an spoon that he called a spork. The spork was popular with dwarves who had lost hands or entire arms in battle. Sporki is rather embarrassed about being named after a tool, but has become resigned to the ribbing he gets from friends on occasion. Or maybe not; look at this image of Sporki Stoneskull and you will see that he has his teeth bared, perhaps in anger, perhaps in impatience over how long it was taking to paint his portrait:




Sporki's younger brother Snarki was also born in the Lonely Mountain. He's rather grim even for a dwarf, and has a sarcastic tongue that has gotten him into fights on more than one occasion. Since he's large for a dwarf and extremely quick with his hard fists, he's won most of those fights. Snarki makes weapons for the dwarves, and wants to one day return to claim Moria for Durin's folk. Snarki Stoneskull:



The family, rather than the usual dwarf-dwelling, bought and dwells in a hobbit-hole in the Shire, living alongside hobbits, who are wary of such noisy, hard-drinking (but well-behaved, nonetheless) neighbors.

Red State/Blue State Politics At Lord of the Rings Online

During some of my leisure time I play Lord of the Rings Online. It's based on J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings universe, with orcs, hobbits, elves, dwarves and men all interacting with each other in real time.

Right now a "Summer Festival" has begun in the game, and with it, a division of the players into different factions, which run along the same lines as the red state/blue state political division in the US. These divisions are the result of the Summer Festival "horse race."

During previous festivals the horse race took place in a single location, the town of Bree. This year a second horse race site has been added, in the hobbit-land of The Shire. While at Bree the players treat the horse race as a legitimate horse race, and compete for the chance to win a horse in-game, in The Shire another group of players has decided to act in accordance with blue state principles of egalitarianism/equality of outcome.

What this means is that, in The Shire, the horse races are fixed so that, by simply standing in line long enough, you will be given an opportunity to "race" without competition, so that you are guaranteed to win a horse. This is perceived as "fair," since players who have slow internet connections who otherwise would be unable to compete, have a chance to "win" a horse.

Friction occurs when someone who is not an egalitarian/blue stater comes to The Shire and jumps the queue. This causes all sorts of chat griping by the blue staters, who treat the line-jumper as if (s)he were a criminal of some sort. They talk of their player-made "rules" about queueing for a horse, and about how the game is about "human decency" and "fairness to all." These self-declared makers of rules would enforce them, had they they power and opportunity. Unlike in real life, though, they don't.

I'll point out that The Shire egalitarianism only works because there is an infinite supply of virtual prize horses. If the game developes had announced that the number of horses available was finite, or only available for a single day, there would have been no pretense at "fairness;" it would have been every player for him/herself, and devil take the hindmost.

Where Was I Today?

Middle-Earth, in The Shire:

Goin' Fishin'

I don't even have to leave the house, but I'll have to keep a weather-eye out for Gollum; I'm told he has a taste for fish.

So excuse me if the posting is light today.