So, it is party time again, folks!

[wiseheart]

Each year this time, we launch my virtual birthday party, which starts on October 1 and ends on October 9 at midnight, sharp. The goals of the party are to post as many comments and collapse as many threads as possible, on as many new pages as we can. It is always great fun, as you can see if you check out the similar entries of the last few years.

This year, I'll also throw the real party at mid-time - and post the recipes of all the food that will be there for you, so that you can all participate if you want to. Virtual food has no calories.

Fandom-related discussions are as welcome as the ones about coffee or chocolate (just to name a few favourites from previous years), and, of course, pictures and recipes of birthday cakes. ;)

So, drop by, tell your story, post your pics or silly poems, ask questions you always wanted to ask and have a good time!

Soledad, in excited expectation




Oh, and by the way, to provide birthday gifts hobbit-style, I've got a revived story and a Kansas 2 update for you.

Enjoy!

Comments

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

It is a great party - so much fun :)

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

I got my copies secondhand via Amazon marketplace -- I've never seen them in a bookshop here.

I think you might particularly like Chalion -- the worldbuilding is excellent and it's set in a fantasy medieval Spain.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Either Soledad or I has just posted the 900th comment! I definitely think we can make a thousand!

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

The bit that really disappointed me was Laketown - it just didn't look right to me -- too close to the water (I always imagined the buildings being on higher stilts with room for the boats beneath), too shoddy looking.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

This year just seems to be zooming along in conversations :)

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

And already over 900 :)

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Good luck with the zapping -- I hate colds. They're surprisingly debilitating, I find, especially as I grow older.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Indeed! We are made of awesome!

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

Yay! \o/

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

I'm currently at a week and a half on this one, and so really want to be better soon.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Indeed! It was hard, back in the day, biting my tongue every time one of my friends raved.

I am definitely NOT going to watch the other Hobbit films -- the first one was bad enough...

Bean made Boromir into a tragic figure, in a way that didn't come over quite so well in the book. I found the settings got worse as time went on; the Shire & Rivendell were good; Moria a little disappointing; Lothlorien & Rohan completely wrong; Minas Tirith just rubbish.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

The idea that colds only last ~5 days is definitely wrong -- I had one earlier in the year that lasted three weeks, and my muscles didn't recover for a few weeks after that. Sigh.

Hoping you feel better soon!

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

You are right, Laketown was rubbish... and Beorn's house wasn't anything like on Tolkien's pictures, either.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

This should be 912 - and solanpolarn isn't even here yet!

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

Indeed; far too few decent Denethor stories. One of my all-time favourites was Dwim's 'Star & Stone' (Denethor/Thorongil) but I don't think she ever finished it.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

She might have another 9am lecture to contend with.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

Personally, I liked Rohan and loathed Rivendell - too decadent-looking for my taste, and the idea of everything, even the library (!) being open to the elements was just stupid, IMO.

The Shire ws beautiful indeed, Moria boring, and Minas Tirith, aside from the outside view where it indeed looked like a ship, could have been just any other city in Southern Europe.

What was your problem with Rohan? I mean, the buildings, not the Rohirrim, who were terrible.

[wiseheart.livejournal.com]

True. Work has the annoying tendency of clashing with fun.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

Boromir was good. Lothorien - yup, looked far too normal. Rohan seemed a mixture to me - I loved the horse heads on the end of the beams.
Minas Tirith seemed out of proportion, but some of the details were good - but the climbable rocks were wrong. Although I did enjoy seeming all the trebuchets.

I'm probably going to see the other Hobbit movie, just from curiosity.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

Yes!

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

At least Jacobi can act, which is more than could be said for most of the others.

Beringar I was occasionally ok, though they did play down the central friendship. Beringar II might as well have been an OC.

I don't remember the television version of The Pilgrim of Hate; possibly I've mercifully blanked it; possibly I've just never watched it.

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

Rivendell seemed to imply a lot of the use of the ring to make it safe and comfortable to live in....

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

Ohh, I'll have to see if I've read that one - if I did it was years ago. I've read a lot of her stories and it will certainly be interesting to see her take on that time (and characters).

[jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

They usually last a fair while for me - probably interacting with everything else.

[espresso-addict.livejournal.com]

The Rivendell Elves were terrible. I suspect Elven magic kept the books dry... I did like the valley a lot, though, and some of the Art Nouveau-influenced interiors.

Rohan was meant to be a plain with long grass, as I've seen in Mongolia. The NZ landscape was too rocky with too short-cropped grass, and not at all horse (as opposed to pony) country.

The buildings of Edoras were ok, but the hill fort had far too small a hill. (We have a set of hill forts locally, and they're nothing like that.)