Reflections on Galadriel's Mirror, as it were

I was watching "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" the other day, and it smote me how much those three movies have become a sort of visual summaries of the real story for me - I guess partly because I can fill in the gaps and partly how much more apparent those gaps have become to me over time. I have known this story since I was 14 and I  really don't know how many times I've read it - and I have to say, the Danish translation is so good that sometimes I don't know if I remember a line in Danish or English. I don't even remember when I acquired the English version, and the English version with our Queen's illustrations is still on my wish list.

Oh, and please do not get me started on "The Hobbit" trilogy (but here I go):  The first one was amazing, the second one quite full of gaps (even given the return of Legolas, the allover awesomeness that was Lee Pace as Thranduil, and Benedict Cumberbatch's fantastic Smaug), and the third one was abominable (even given Billy Connolly's memorable turn as Dain, however inappropriately comical). I had been soooo much looking forward to Peter Jackson's take on the whole White Council thing, but why why why was Gandalf's facial expressions in Rivendell (in "An Unexpected Journey") so irreverent to Saruman, because he sure wasn't,when he went to Orthanc in "The Fellowship Of The Ring", so why would he look like that nearly a century before we all discovered Saruman was a traitor?

Also, there are a couple of glaring misconceptions that I just could not ignore (but this was before I knew of how Mr. Jackson had not had enough time as could have been wished for during the whole filming process, as opposed to that of "Lord of the Rings").

Firstly - athelas means 'kingsfoil' and came with the Kings from Westernesse (ie. Númenor, the forebears of the Kingdoms of Gondor and Arnor, and hence Aragorn), and is therefore a Man thing and emphatically NOT an Elvish thing.

Secondly - The Earth Diggers....those awkward worm thingies. Oh, but this is not Frank Herbert, and this is not Dune....

Thirdly - the glass holding the light of the star Ëarendil (an ancestor of both Arwen and Aragorn) given to Frodo by Galadriel in "Fellowship of the Ring" was made especially for him and so did not exist during the time of "The Hobbit".

Fourthly - Never ever ever in a million years would Galadriel have brought her Ring of Power (visibly!) within striking distance of Dol Guldur, and nowhere is it said that the White Council went themselves against Dol Guldur, it is only said that they sent forces against it, and also that Sauron gave way fairly easily, because the Nazgûl had by then already made Barad Dûr ready for him. It is however specifically said time and again that Sauron never had any and always sought knowledge of the Three Elven Rings (of which Galadriel had one, Elrond had another, and Gandalf eventually had the third, given to him by Círdan the Shipwright in the Grey Havens who was an Elf of great age).

More selfies!! Run away, run away!

I am having soooo much fun with this. Today I went through Tivoli on my way home from work - what else is a year pass good for, eh? I can just go in whenever I want. Sweet!

Anyway, here are the best and the funniest of today's stint...

Sometimes I can't believe how lucky I get that these pictures aren't completely off kilter (this one is a tiny bit)....



Tickling the stone lion - he doesn't seem to be enjoying it.....



I really love this. So much so that after years and years, I finally replaced the Elf Maiden profile picture on FB with this one:



In this, I was sorta trying to get a picture of my head down to and including my eyes, with beautiful flowers and fountains behind me. First of all, I have a huge forehead that sorta gets in the way. Second, what kind of angle do you call this?



These are the flowers and fountains I was trying to include:



Tivoli have put up a row of mirrors up near the main entrance. Some of them are normal mirrors, some of them are not. Behold!



In this one I discovered the obvious difference between the angle my eyes are using to view things, and then what happens when I put my camera down at waist level. Argh, run away, run away! Incidentally that big black blob is my backpack.



Look at my fringe!



Look at my neck!



*End Of Shenanigans*

Selfies - if ya hate 'em, skip this post

Okay, so I have embarked on this: http://www.viviennemcmasterphotography.com/beloved-beginnings/

I will probably take longer than ten days, but hey, I don't mind, I am going to have FUN with this.

Today I went to the park after dinner and played around with taking pictures in the late afternoon light. So here are the best and the funniest.

This one was a complete fluke, because I didn't realise that I hadn't zoomed back out after the previous shot - I am simply extending my arm and pointing it at my profile, and I'm focusing on keeping my eyes open into the sun. I couldn't have composed it better had I actually tried.

And, it's a little bit embarrassing (but very funny) - that orange dot on my cheek is not weird pigment, it's a tiny piece of chopped carrot from my dinner.



This one is completely out of focus, but I really really adore the light in it, and the composition. If only it didn't look so much like I'd photoshopped myself in, but then again, who would do that with a completely blurry image?



This one was taken by setting the camera on top of a handball goal - there are a couple of them scattered around the wider grassier areas of the park behind my house. I zoomed in a little bit, set it to take a picture after 10 seconds, and ran for it. The first time I stopped running too soon, and looked back at the camera just as it took the picture. Composition-wise it's not bad.....that's about it. Note to self: next time you do this, try and count to ten Mississippis before you turn.



In this one, same MO, I was going for the Luthien-dancing-in-the-grass vibe (and NOT, emphatically NOT Maria-on-the-hilltop-in-Sound-of-Music). Not sure I hit it, but I'm also pretty sure I could have been a lot further from it than this.



In this one I look positively eeeeevil - those staring eyes (I'm facing into the sun), and that insane little smile lurking at one corner of my mouth and that nasty raised eyebrow. Appearances deceive, I swear!



This last one is the best of the lot - there is nothing I don't love about this picture, even the slightly crooked horizon that I only noticed while I was adding the picture to this post.

Buried Treasures....

For some years now, I've been collecting books I read and loved when I was a teen, and in their original English. It all started with me coming upon Meredith Ann Pierce's 'Darkangel' in Chapters in Dublin a couple years ago. Since then, I've managed to find Steve Senn's 'A Circle In The Sea', Judith Tarr's 'The Hound & The Falcon' trilogy and most recently John Tully's 'The White Cat'. It's a rediscovery of treasures :) (and thank you Abebooks)

I'm sure there are others that will turn up in my mind in time to come - I only found 'The White Cat' because I remembered parts of the story and in particular the style of the illustrator, Victor Ambrus, and as he was also one of the illustrators on my Danish version of David Day's 'A Tolkien Bestiary', it didn't take me long (thank you Google and Wikipedia) to find the book - I'd had this scene from it stuck in my head for months, and it was driving me bonkers not being able to remember title or author. I'm reading it now and loving every minute of it.

On my list, and never forgotten, are Laura Ingalls' series of books - I only have one in my possession, but have fond memories of the books, and of course also the TV-series, which deviates from the books quite substantially, but not in a bad way. I only want copies with Garth Williams' illustrations - much like Pauline Baynes and Narnia - to me getting any other versions would take away some of the magic. Oh and a note for the geeks among you, and I didn't know this until recently - it was actually Tolkien who introduced Pauline Baynes to C.S. Lewis. Go figure!

Concert Report: Tori Amos, Koncerthuset, 24 May 2014

There was a real sense in this show of picking up a gauntlet, and not being afraid ahead of the fight to come, without it being too harsh or confrontational. Hard to put my finger on, but a great show, and a lot of love in it too.

Also, after the two Scarlet's Walk songs, I realised there is something more to be said about that album and Neil Gaiman's American Gods than I had previously been aware of.

I don't have the new album yet, and only two things were performed from it, but I will definitely be acquiring it at some future point. 'Selkie' was a lovely and very warm story.

Setlist courtesy of Tori's Tumblr account, with added album info

Parasol (The Beekeeper, 2005)
Pancake (Scarlet's Walk, 2002)
Eyes improv
Crucify (Little Earthquakes, 1992)
Apollo's Frock (Scarlet's Hidden Treasures, Welcome To Sunny Florida, 2004)
Silent All These Years (Little Earthquakes, 1992)
The Power Of Orange Knickers (The Beekeeper, 2005)
Selkie (Unrepentant Geraldines, 2014)

Lizard Lounge:
A Case Of You (Joni Mitchell cover)
Suzanne (Leonard Cohen cover)

China (Little Earthquakes, 1992)
Oysters (Unrepentant Geraldines, 2014)
Siren (Great Expectations soundtrack, 1998)
Take To The Sky (Winter single, 1992, with parts of Datura thrown in, from To Venus And Back, 1999)
Scarlet's Walk (Scarlet's Walk, 2002)
Precious Things (Little Earthquakes, 1992)

Mr. Zebra (Boys For Pele, 1996)
Cornflake Girl (Under The Pink, 1994)
General Joy (The Beekeeper, 2005)
Pretty Good Year (Under The Pink, 1994)
Tear In Your Hand (Little Earthquakes, 1992)