The Morgan Library and Museum is going to have a Tolkien exhibition.
From the exhibit description:
“Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth celebrates the man and his creation. The exhibition will be the most extensive public display of original Tolkien material for several generations. Drawn from the collections of the Tolkien Archive at the Bodleian Library (Oxford), Marquette University Libraries (Milwaukee), the Morgan, and private lenders, the exhibition will include family photographs and memorabilia, Tolkien’s original illustrations, maps, draft manuscripts, and designs related to The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.”
Related program includes a lecture, gallery talks, workshops, and family programming, among others. The exihibit is open January 25 through May 12, 2019. More information at The Morgan website.
After the Finnish centennial in 2017, I’ve been reading outside my usual periods of Finnish history a little, including on the Finnish Winter War (1939-1940, for 105 days against the USSR).
In November 1939, just before hostilities broke out, a Finnish delegation met with the Soviets in Moscow to discuss land transfers and other concessions Russians demanded from Finland. The following tidbit is reportedly from the delegation’s last meeting with Stalin and Molotov.
“But after an hour of futile discussion it was obvious to everyone that the whole business had come to a dead end. Each side bade farewell to the other. Since the Finnish delegates were clearly just as upset by this outcome as the Russians, the final meeting ended with remarkably little display of animosity by anyone. The actual parting, in fact, was almost jovial. Molotov waived and said, ‘Au revoir!’ and Stalin shook hands all around and wished the Finns ‘all the best’. Then he went off to confer with his generals about how best to subdue this willful and obstinate little country.”
– William Trotter, A Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940
It’s not clear whether “willful and obstinate little country” is Stalin’s phrasing or Trotter’s. I like it nevertheless—it tells you a very important thing of the Finnish character: as we say, a strong will takes you through a grey stone. 🙂 Or, in this case, it slows down a massive army significantly enough to retain the country’s independence, which none of the other small Baltic states were able to do.
Trotter, William R. A Frozen Hell: The Russo-Finnish Winter War of 1939-1940. Chapel Hill, NC: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1991, p. 18.
Serving exactly what it sounds like, the Quotes feature excerpts other people’s thoughts.
Captain Marvel, the next installation in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is released this March. I don’t typically go looking for hype and speculation; instead just read whatever I come up with in my usual browsing, but this special look trailer of (mostly) Carol Danvers is so great I’m tempted to.
When a female (super)hero—and, sadly, usually only the one—is part of a story, I tend to cringe, because a lot of the time they’re not treated terribly well or given anywhere near equal screen time or lines or agency as their male co-heroes. As impossible it is to truly say on the basis of trailers, though, I’m more and more optimistic of Captain Marvel.
I’ve eagerly waited for the MCU movies before, sure, but I can’t remember being quite this pumped before. I really, REALLY can’t wait for March!
Hey, look! We found a thing on the internet! We thought it was cool, and wanted to share it with you.
Alunaria, over at Alunaria’s Avenue, has proposed a holiday challenge: stay away from the griping, grousing, and general grinchiness about World of Warcraft that’s all to easy to find these days and post something positive instead.
My final entry is for the music. Each and every expansion has brought a new twist to the main theme plus a sizeable selection of anthems and tunes for various scenes. Everything is incredibly beautiful, haunting, or exciting; rarely do I disagree with or dislike the game music selections. In fact, I often play WoW music when working or doing house chores. 🙂
The music from vanilla, however, will always have a special place in my heart. I especially love the Nightsong. Here’s an extended version:
I don’t think this challenge changed my thoughts of Battle for Azeroth much; since the launch, I’ve had enough other things on my plate to make following negative Nellies impossible. It’s good to know, however, which sites are safe and which I should stay away from.
My playing also hasn’t changed a lot, but a bit. I’m still new enough to the expansion that I have to actually pay attention when I’m questing. I’m starting to remember some of the tricks to particular quests and areas, though, so soon I’ll have to be on my toes to remember to stop and enjoy instead of brainlessly churning through the content.
What has changed for me after compairing the previous epansions to the current iteration is my appreciation of many changes in recent years. I already talked about the Flight Master’s Whistle, the gathering nodes and the landscaping; I also think the world of mass looting and the ease of scrapping. While I’ve never cared for the mission board quests that much, I find the BfA version smoother to operate and slightly more interesting. Most of the armor and weapons in Pandaria and Cataclysm I find too boring to look at, but BfA has a lot to like again. And the quest chaining has also become more interesting along the years, I think. And the cities! I loveSuramar from Legion and both Dazar’alor and Boralus in BfA.
Alunaria, over at Alunaria’s Avenue, has proposed a holiday challenge: stay away from the griping, grousing, and general grinchiness about World of Warcraft that’s all to easy to find these days and post something positive instead.
(I had meant this post for yesterday, but I ran out of time. Oh well; here it finally is.)
The Horde side has Caravan Brutosaurs! If you hang out awhile in the city, you can see Dazar’alor drudges unpacking these brontosaurus analogues—people at the top of the saddle structure chuck baskets and boxes down, where others first pile them up and then take away.
The same model is also called Roughneck; there are some traveling the roads west of the city.
The really awesome thing, though, is that you can ride some of them! There’s at least one rideable Caravan Brutosaur walking back and forth over the bridge that runs west towards the Village in the Vines from the stretch of land between the Great Seal and Tal’farrak in Dazar’alor.
When you mount, you get an action panel with two options: toss fruit to scare away saurid and other beasts, or hop off. I don’t yet know whether it’s only available during the Brutal Escort world quest; I have been able to ride the brutosaur and the fruit tossing worked fine, but I didn’t see any attackers nor were any other events triggered. I was on my level 114 warrior, though; maybe the rideable brutosaur is available below 120 but not programmed to do anything else.
It’s pretty awesome anyway—then again, the brontosaurus is my favorite dino. 🙂
Images: World of Warcraft screencaps
Of Dice and Dragons is an occasional feature about games and gaming.
Alunaria, over at Alunaria’s Avenue, has proposed a holiday challenge: stay away from the griping, grousing, and general grinchiness about World of Warcraft that’s all to easy to find these days and post something positive instead.
Out of Cataclysm I especially appreciate Deepholm and Vashj’ir. While I don’t care for the monotonous coloring decisions in Deepholm, the design team carved out quest areas that felt distinct and made a really nice, varying zone in what is essentially a huge hole in the ground. And—though I struggled with having to move 360 degrees all round, not just on a level plain—Vashj’ir is simply gorgeous!
Pandaria I find a bit more hit or miss, but Jade Forest is lovely throughout.
Legion and afterwards is where the landscape design really blossomed. Several zones have self-contained questing areas side by side, each with its own micro-environment. Stormheim has some of the best examples of this concept.
Apart from the land shapes, Blizzard upped the flora designs. Tree models are more elaborate and more natural, and come in multiple different sizes. The druid classhall for one is fantastic!
Battle for Azeroth adds even more detailing. The two player-character factions may only have three zones each, but they all have so much to explore. I can’t wait for flying to be made available so I can just ride around looking at the design.
As an aside, one of my favorite BfA features is the incredibly fuzzy bee mount in Stormsong Valley. 🙂
What are your favorite areas and why?
Images: World of Warcraft screencaps
Of Dice and Dragons is an occasional feature about games and gaming.
“Centering yourself and treating yourself with the love you give to others allows you to be in the work and have a healthy perspective. Less reactionary. I can extend grace when I’m well. I can see what’s real and what’s not.”
Alunaria, over at Alunaria’s Avenue, has proposed a holiday challenge: stay away from the griping, grousing, and general grinchiness about World of Warcraft that’s all to easy to find these days and post something positive instead.
Remember how frustrating it used to be when everyone shared the same gathering nodes? Fights would sometimes break out over who got to mine a certain ore or pick a particular flower.
Since Legion (at least—was is also before that??) we’ve been able to enjoy individual nodes. That removed the only annoyance we might otherwise have experienced leveling our two humans together, since they both happen to be miners. Now we can both mine the same nodes, and they’ll still be available for others once we’re done.
As far as I’m concerned, it’s one of the nicest changes Blizzard has implemented. (Then again, I’m almost ferociously against PvP.)
Fortunately it was possible to mog her weapon into a torch and offhand into a sparkler. Both are at least a little more festive than weaponry. 🙂 If interested, you can have a look at the set in Wowhead’s Dressing Room.
Images: World of Warcraft screencaps
Of Dice and Dragons is an occasional feature about games and gaming.
Alunaria, over at Alunaria’s Avenue, has proposed a holiday challenge: stay away from the griping, grousing, and general grinchiness about World of Warcraft that’s all to easy to find these days and post something positive instead.
Today’s WoW session has reminded me how wonderful it is to have the Flight Master’s Whistle.
I love the speed and flexibility it brings before flying is available—meaning, if I don’t have very much time to play, I can still log on and do a quest or two. The five-minute cooldown is long enough not to ruin the gaming balance but short enough not to feel annoying.
The only way it could be better is if it were available below max level. Sometimes I forget and try to mash the button on my alts, but usually I just get a good laugh out of my mistake. 🙂
Image: World of Warcraft screencap
Of Dice and Dragons is an occasional feature about games and gaming.
Alunaria, over at Alunaria’s Avenue, has proposed a holiday challenge: stay away from the griping, grousing, and general grinchiness about World of Warcraft that’s all to easy to find these days and post something positive instead.
One of my absolute favorite world quests is the Slippery Slopes near Kennings Lodge in Tiragarde Sound. You get to race down an icy course on a penguin pretending to be your sled.
It’s such great fun! 😀
Also, Erik just told me that the quest can pop up in three locations altogether, and you get an achievement for doing all three. I’ve only seen it near Kennings Lodge—bad luck there—but now at least I can keep an eye out!
Images: World of Warcraft screencaps
Of Dice and Dragons is an occasional feature about games and gaming.
Co-Geeking 