Serendipity

Over at Unlocked Wordhoard, there's been a bit of a brouhaha over The Silmarillion, the "legendarium" of Tolkien's Middle Earth. Personally, I like The Silmarillion; it appeals to the mythology geek in me. That is neither here nor there, though, really. The reason I bring it up, though, is this serendipitous (if only tangentially-related) article on "Tolkien 2005, a four-day conference to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the full publication of The Lord of the Rings." As you might expect, it's a mixture of geeky excess, serious scholarship, and RenFaire-esque shenanigans. (I would so totally be there if I lived in the vicinity.)'

Anyway, the thing that struck me most in this article is this quote regarding the participants being geeks: "'We probably are,' shrugs Philip Poots, 16, who estimates he has spent £4,000 on Tolkien collectables since he first read the books. 'Everybody has their oddities.'"

*sniff* You go, boy! I don't know why, but that just makes me feel so proud that there are people out there, even tender youths, who "get it."

(Via Maud Newton)