Wednesday, January 10, 2018

Brace yourself, this is a Lord of the Rings geek rant

During Christmas break its tradition to go through the film trilogy Lord if the Rings with the kids.  Ender repeatedly asks "who am I?" 
And repeatedly we tell him "Oh you are Legolas for sure, Ender" 
"Why?"  He smiles and wants to know, again.
"You would be from the line of Elves.  Beautiful, strong, clear blue eyes that can perceive beyond the horizon of this world (and Crebain, the spies of Suruman and orc scouts of course)  Your hand eye coordination is worthy to wield an elivsh bow and arrow".
Satisfied.  He moves to the next question with a sly smile
"And who is Cora?"  Before we can tell him he offers up a name, "GIMLI!"  Now what little bird put that ornery thought in his head?  Zander is on the couch snickering.  Well, sure she is stout, hardy, unafraid, a comic relief, lover of jewels, however, as her mother I must put my foot down on this one and say "Absolutely not!  My lady lynn is not a dwarf"  But who is she then?  Much like in life, she's a tricky one to categorize.  Not like we have to do that to anyone, but it is a helpful tool to construct a deeper understanding of someone. (And her parents are nerds. What are the rules for that anyway?  Are we "cool" nerds or just "nerd nerds.  Don't answer that.)  Now, she's short with curly hair like a hobbit with a knack for adventure.  Then I got to thinking "What if she is a mixed line, like between dwarf and elf!"  Then I remembered Peter Jackson's atrocity in The Hobbit trying to force a romance between Tauriel and Kili.  I wanted to puke.  (Kate needed to get Lost, again.) Anyway, almost done here, Cora's character might be found in some more obscure tale in the books that the Hollywood creators left out of the film.  I will be re reading the books this spring.  That said.

For Christmas, my mom, brings her two darling grand kids, all the way from the shadow lands of Amazon, two rings to rule them, the pink Fire tablet and the blue one.  It can pass through Cora's hands and she only briefly makes a fuss when its time to stop playing.  But, given to the elvish boy, corruption of his tender spirit rapidly progresses.  He will fight tooth and nail to keep "my precious" in his possession. It's hysterical and um...concerning.  He made me cry once, but I couldn't tell if it was because I was laughing so hard or because I was having a nervous break down.  Apparently the soul of Sauran deals in gaming for kids.  But, nothing but a bit of dirt and sunshine can't fix and 10 burpees.



Thursday, January 04, 2018

July in the Skillet

The dirt and stench cannot mask their joy.  The summer sun cannot melt their strength.  A small back yard cannot limit their energy.