Woo hoo!

How glorious that he loves Bilbo as much as I do. Yes, yes, yes, Bilbo has such joy in being eccentric. I can't wait for Mark to get to Rivendell. And, of course, Bree, and that mysterious stranger in the corner.

Damn, it's just like reading it again the first time.

edit: Honestly, though, he's a nerd and he doesn't know this stuff? Amazing.

Maybe not the right kind of geek. I mean, I hang out online with people who still debate the Luther Mahoney shooting on Homicide fifteen years out,(admittedly geekish) but I bet that wouldn't mean anything to more than a handful of y'all.

Honestly, though, he's a nerd and he doesn't know this stuff? Amazing.

Ehhh, I think he cheats a bit. It's more fun to pretend that he is completely ignorant, but I don't actually buy that he knows nothing.

This too.

He may also just have a very bad memory. I saw all three movies, but have never read the books (though I did read The Hobbit long long ago). And while some of it would probably sound familiar as I hit it, mostly all I could tell you is um, there's a ring and some guys including Sam and ...Frodo? and some human guys and an elf. And they have to take the ring to Mordor. Throw it in Mount Doom? Because there's um...an evil flaming vagina in the sky? Right, some evil dude named Sauron.The one ring will rule them all? It's evil and makes the hobbit dude weirdly sweaty. And there's a girl named Eowyn who like, rides horses or fights a war or something, and she mostly wasn't in the movie. And there's elves who like, disappear. And Cate Blanchett. And they crawl around through some caves, and fight a war, and there's talking trees, and the creepy CGI thing who talks funny and wants the ring (will it make him less creppy?)

...seriously, that's about all I remember.

And Cate Blanchett.

Sort of random Cate Blanchett, from what I remember. Like, the fellowship stumbled upon her and she gave them brooches.

Apparently you need it for some Canadian meal called "fish and brewis" which also requires something called "scrunchions."

Newfoundland meal. We always had hard tack. It's amazing that I didn't break a tooth on it.

I thought scrunchions were pretty universal. They're pork rinds, really.

Honestly, though, he's a nerd and he doesn't know this stuff? Amazing.

He addresses this directly noting that he purposefully avoided getting into High Fantasy because he was already gay and ubergeeky and getting bullied incessantly, and fantasy didn't jibe with his few saving social connections in punk rock and being a teacher's pet. Also it was frowned on with his conservative Christian upbringing. He wasn't really allowed to read much or see much growing up.

He wasn't really allowed to read much or see much growing up.

Ah, I see. And he's making up for lost time. I think I'll waste my afternoon reading his coverage of The Hobbit.