Tolkien slept here

[wellinghall]

"There is a pub in Summertown,Oxford called The Eagle and Child (the bird and baby as its known locally)where a number of writers used to meet and discuss their work as part of a group called the Inklings. It is said that JRR Tolkien started reading more of his book Lord of the Rings to the club,at which CS Lewis said, 'Not more fucking elves.'"
http://stevemace.blogspot.com/2010/12/tolkien-and-lewis.html

"In actual 8th century fact, Grendel's mum was not easy on the eye (I know, I drew her for a historical piece in 5th class) and the dragon was no relation."
http://jeffjoneses.blogspot.com/2010/12/frozen-bilge.html

Comments

[pellegrina.livejournal.com]

We started watching that Beowulf animation with Ray "Oy, monsta!" Winstone. It knocked Van Helsing off the Worst Movie Evar plinth.

[clarienne.livejournal.com]

Bloody hell, it must have been bad.

[hilarityallen.livejournal.com]

I thought I ought to watch it, having genuinely studied Beowulf. But I very quickly decided that this was a deluded thought, and I should instead go to the pub.*

*The pub was very good, thanks.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Never seen Van Helsing. I thought Beowulf was all right, but no better.

Thing is, there really aren't that many good fantasy films.

The Lord of the Rings
Excalibur (leaving aside the full plate sex scene)
The Thirteenth Warrior (which is Beowulfy)
Stardust (maybe)

Not sure if these count as they were done for TV, but:
The Colour of Magic
Hogfather

And I'm struggling to think of any more.

Looking forward to Game of Thrones though.

[pellegrina.livejournal.com]

Ooh, someone else who liked The Thirteenth Warrior! We watched it by complete fluke, having gone to the cinema to see Wild Wild West and decided on a whim to watch TTW instead because it was a shorter wait or something, and it immediately became a favourite, but nobody else seems to have liked it. (WWW sucked, when we eventually saw that.)

Thing is, I grew up in Italy where all foreign films were dubbed into faultless proper Italian. This means that the national/regional/class accents in English-language films almost never fail to distract me with inappropriate social connotations.

[garamondbophin.livejournal.com]

I like "The Thirteenth Warrior" too, for what it's worth...

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

I certainly enjoyed the book.

[philmophlegm.livejournal.com]

Love that first quote. Reminds me of a book of literary / fantasy criticism by Michael Moorcock which arrived in the post today. In one chapter, "Epic Pooh", Moorcock demonstrates how Tolkien's writing style was remarkably similar to A.A. Milne's.

[camillofan.livejournal.com]

Of course, poor CSL is routinely tagged with that quote (perhaps because people enjoy the idea of a famous churchman using the f-word?), but it really belongs to Hugo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_Dyson) Dyson (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/4726760/Tolkien-was-not-a-writer.html) (that second link's to a nine-year-old article by A.N. Wilson on JRRT's writing style).

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

As you say

[wellinghall.livejournal.com]

Yes, I know it.

[jane-somebody.livejournal.com]

(getting round to commenting on some old tabs) Wow, I had no idea that Grendel's mother was a matter of actual fact, 8thC or otherwise. But of course, someone who drew her once in class would know...