Except in the home, where quizzing each other over the appendices was a beloved pastime.

My sister, the recent Tolkien convert (she finally listened to the unabridged audio version last spring--she's tried the books and couldn't get past the Council) and now purist (she's really ticked that Jackson didn't film the Scouring at all), was convinced that Jackson also moved Frodo onto the Grey Havens much faster than in the books. I told her that he actually postponed the trip a few years (IMO, to allow Sean Astin's daughter to play Elanor at age 2 1/2), but she was positive that Frodo languished in the Shire for at least 10 or 15 years. She was confusing the 17 years before the quest with the two years after it, so I quoted the actual dates from the appendix by memory to straighten her out. She just looked at me and said, "You're such a dork."

too bad Dom and Billy weren't part of the group.

I know. I know. That would be tape it, show it at parties, make a DVD of it and re-enact it for friends worthy.

EW was actually entertaining with Jon Stewart last night. They traded some banter about how his "little film" was needing some help financially, so the studio was sending the troops on the press circuit again to try and get the film somewhere on the box office charts. Jon then asked EW what plans he had next, and instead of pre-plugging Eternal Sunshine, which I expected, he mentioned his hopes to start his own record label. No disgusting testicle stories, or adolescent drinking tales like on Leno.

And it appears that Chicago PBS no longer carries Charlie Rose.

Sumi, try WYCC (Channel 20)--they've got Charlie Rose on 5:00 pm, 11:00 pm, and 12:00 am today, according to their online schedule.

I don't think my cable brings me that station. ( I get a combination of Chicago and Rockford stations.)

(she finally listened to the unabridged audio version last spring--she's tried the books and couldn't get past the Council)

A stumbling point for many people, including myself the first two times I tried to make it through the books. I only got past it on the third attempt, at which point I couldn't put the damn thing down.

I remember reading Watership Down for 8th grade English, and getting stuck on page 56. It took me almost an entire week to get past that one damn page, but once I finally did, I finished the rest of the book in a couple of days.

Looking at that comparison site -- the Saelbeth actor looks downright goofy in real life.

The council of Elrond is such a hugeass infodump it's hard for a lot of people to get past.

Kathy, re: Watership Down. There's a political blogger out there somewhere with a blog named "Silflay Hraka". Made me spew Diet Coke on my monitor... (Seems to be rather right-leaning, so I'm not likely to read it much, but I love the sense of humor.) Yet another geek shibboleth.

I got lots of props from my coworkers for my not-even-close-to-encyclopedic knowledge of Tolkein history etc. It was fun.