Saturday, February 12, 2011

One year I heard reindeer on the roof when we were living at our previous house, but I didn’t hear any this year. Neither did I hear Santa drop the presents off, but they were there in the morning.

We got up and then went down to open them. I got Sherlock Holmes, the recent movie, a Star Trek ships of the line calendar, an Oral-B electric toothbrush, new poochies(bedroom slippers), a new dvd house, an itunes gift card, a cinemark gift card and some cash. Everyone else opened their presents, and then we went upstairs for ham and eggs. After breakfast, we didn’t really do much for a few hours except clean up.

Lunch was homemade ravioli which is always very good. While I wasn’t responsible for making the sauce, it was still homemade and scrumdidliumptious. The antipasto was very good too, and there was plenty for the four of us. Max doesn’t get ravioli, since they will never be left unattended in beagle range. Post ravioli there was a lot of cleaning up to do, after which I watched Sherlock Holmes. We were going to the Bendowski’s the next day, so after Sherlock I went to sleep.

Now I’ll describe some more of my book collection. I know I said this before, but it’s worth repeating. I didn’t like to read when I was younger; that may have been a function of the fact that there weren’t as many books on tape when I was growing up. So here goes:

Gilgamesh and Beowulf are two favorites even though they’re old. Gilgamesh is worth listening to I think because it’s a myth, and to some extent it gives us a glimpse into a vanished culture. I have actually fallen asleep listening to Beowulf because I enjoy it, not because it’s boring. Understanding Beowulf can be challenging; it took me two complete listens before I understood it. The tale isn’t as coherent as it could be, but a good monster-slaying tale is always fun.

The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings are my original favorites, and will always be on my list of favorites. Personally, I think the unabridged non-dramatized versions are better than the dramatized performances. The narrator is the best possible one they could’ve gotten. The Hobbit is the original modern quest story involving dwarves, elves, goblins, a dragon, and of course a hobbit. Incidentally a few years ago there was an announcement of a discovery of a fossil of a 3-foot or so tall people on an Indonesian island I believe.

The Lord of the Rings comprising Fellowship of the Ring, Two Towers and Return of the King are a continuation of the story begun in The Hobbit. The story is expanded, but now the hobbits want to lose something not find anything. While I have my issues with the movies that came out several years ago, they do give a good overview. Some of the depictions of characters are different than I imagined them, but I take exception to some of the plot deviations. I highly recommend you listen to the audiobooks before reading the physical books.

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