Lord of the Rings Online - Move over Second Life - Here comes Middle Earth

Over the years I would say I have toyed with several computer games like Kings Quest, Flight Simulator, Leisure Suit Larry and some of the movie based LOTR games. After considerable thought and an assessment of how much time I am likely to spend on it - we purchased the new Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar and installed it last night on the computer (warning: when you first load it in there are lots of files to be updated - took about 4 hours). It is quite amazing (and that's only after an hour or so on it). I created an Elvish Lore Master named Golubedir (Sindarin - Golu - wisdom/ Ped - root of speak/ir - masculine ending) and he is currently fumbling his way through a training area of Middle Earth around the Ered Luin

This game is called an MMOG (Massive Multiplayer Online Game) that allows us to interact with computer generated and online players (not sure yet how to distinguish one from the other). Think Middle Earth meets Second Life!! There are over 3,000 places and 1,500 people to meet as well as opportunities to go on quests, fight and become monsters, etc. More to come on how I fare. Be great to hear comments from anyone else currently taking a vacation in Middle Earth.

Just look out for Golubedir - a somewhat clumsy Elvish Lore Speaker who may be looking kind of lost!

HP and the Deathly Hollows!

My partner and I purchased Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at midnight on friday night and finished yesterday afternoon. I am not giving anything away! I thought it was the best of the seven and J.K. has done an incredible job with the story and the characters. There are more twist and turns than I have read in a novel in a while and the emotional range was staggering. Bravo! Well worth it. I only hope somewhere in J.K.'s notes there is a some materials for an Harry Potter Silmarilion!! Be interesting to debate the points - love to get into the horacrux and Tolkien's ring - once we are all prepared to discuss.

On the Tolkien language front - I think I am going to take a bit of a u-turn and start doing some prose translation - perhaps of Tolkien's Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age....of course with the way things are going in the UK it might be better to get do the The Downfall of Numenor (I feel the flood waves a comin!).

Turin and the Dragon - Lines 39-44 and another Tolkien language

Some time this weekend to resume work on the Sindarin translation of Turin and the Dragon - here are lines 39-44 -

Dan dur din aun Morgoth Bauglir
in na ruith um gwennen
u-sint*
Ethir din, hur um egor galu en golu din
u-aunant siniath en gardh
in gwaith en Golodhrim bant

but the triumph he turned to doubt
of Morgoth the evil whom mad wrath took
Nor spies sped him, nor spirits of evil,
nor his wealth of wisdom to win him tidings
whither the nation of the Gnomes was gone.

*u-sint: based on the verb _ista_ (know) and the _u_ not. I found a gloss on a German Sindarin site for the word _zweifel_ which is _trass_ but can not find any source for it (yet) in Tolkien.

Just when you thought you have read about all of the languages Tolkien developed comes a new one (for me) - and that is Mago/Magol which is mentioned in the notes to book two of The History of the Hobbit (excellent book). Mago/Magol was developed by Tolkien based on, according to the ELF panel, Hungarian. At one time he intended to have the orcs speak it but decided not to. ELF promises that his grammar and notes for Mago/Magol will be published in the future. In a great email Patrick Wayne sent in response on the Labengolmor list (#1012) he said the language would have the sound of Elves who lived in Budapest!! Should be interesting - but first Taliska (I hope)...over and out.

Kill da Wabbit is 50 Years Old!!!!

A seminal moment in opera occurred when Warner Brothers issued the seven minute cartoon - What's Opera Doc? which I reckon shaped the perception of opera for many generations of audiences - and as an arts marketer a perception I sometimes feel at war with!!! It manages to condense the world of opera - from Verdi to Wagner to seven minutes and for ever will make my stoic Wagner mind grin with echoes of "Kill de Wabbit" when I hear the majestic Ride of the Valkyries.

Happy Birthday - Kill da Wabbit!!

Back from Wales - Tolkien in Welsh

Just returned from a very restful albeit (oedd hi'n bwrw glaw!!) week in North Wales. Stayed in a wonderful bed and breakfast in Talsarnau (right near one of the best castles in Wales - Harlech (visions of Branwen and Bendigrefian in my head as I looked out from the high battled walls). I was amazed to find that in the many Welsh bookstores I visited (and as I am learning to read Welsh there were many) - I found to my surprise that there is no existing translation of any of the works of Tolkien. I did manage to find an translation of CS Lewis third Narnia book - Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Mordaith Y Sioned Ann) translated by Edmund T Owen and there is the first Harry Potter novel - but no Tolkien!! Seems odd especially since one of Tolkien's major languages - Sindarin and its related predecessors - are based heavily on Welsh.

Wonder if there is anyone out there work on translating Tolkien's works into Welsh or perhaps given a bit more time I may start some work on this.

Sad news on the opera front last week with the passing of two greats - Regine Crespin and dear Beverly (Bubbles) Sills - one of the best bel-canto singers ever (her Three Queens will not be surpassed) and someone I was very lucky to actually work with a bit at the start of my career in the arts. She will be missed.