Michael’s Comments (group member since Jun 10, 2010)

Michael’s comments from the J.R.R. Tolkien group.

Great to have you with us, Adam: welcome :-)

Here's a link to the Harper Collins website for their Second Breakfast event in celebration of the 75th Anniversary of the publishing of The Hobbit.

It does mutate, but at a statistically predictable rate, which is how paleo-geneticists have been able to date such events as the human migration out of Africa - although, there are other competing theories.

Joanne wrote: "Wow, thank you for this. What is in the fuel-packs?..."

Well, now you're asking! It's a bit of a stretch for my memory back to school biology lessons, but I think it's the chemical conversion of a molecule called adenosine triphospate to adenosine diphosphate that releases energy which the cell can use.

You'd probably better Google that for accuracy before repeating it to anybody :-D

Men have x and y chromosomes while women have x chromosomes only. Therefore, anything on the y chromosome is exclusively male and can be used to trace male genetic lineage, though obviously only for men and not women.

However, the cellular "fuel-packs" called mitochondria sit in the nucleus of every cell (apart from red blood cells, which don't have a nucleus), have their own DNA and are inherited from the mother only. So female lineage can be traced for both men and women via the mitochondrial DNA.

Joanne wrote: "I think I'd like to read the Eldar Edda but don't know how to find a copy. Also would like to take Anglo Saxon. i really didn't know that abt 500 to 700 AD everyone in that central European area..."

Joanne, you might find the Anglo Saxon Period History and Literature Group of interest.

Hello to Joanne and LM - thanks for joining us :-)

Hi Reyna and Rachel: welcome to the Group :-)

Tokien boring? I think we know better than that!

Ebster wrote: "Are we allowed to talk about the story on this thread yet? This is my second reading but I am still at the beginning."

You sure can, Ebster - start the ball rolling!

Use spoiler tags (view spoiler)[like this (hide spoiler)] or a clear **** SPOILER ALERT **** as you think is necessary. :-)

Yes, he's brilliant; that is a bummer; he's very good, and we'll see him as Bilbo this December, so not too long to wait for that one :-)

I wouldn't use the word "just" [:-D], but yes, it's an expansion of a story in The Silmarillion.

Reading The Silmarillion first would give you lots of background info, but The Children of Húrin can be read as a stand-alone.

I guess this question is similar to the thread we have about whether to read The Hobbit before reading LotR, on which opinion is divided but seems to average out to "it doesn't matter, just go for whichever one takes your fancy."

Hello and welcome to the many who have joined while I've been away from my PC for the last 4 days. Nice to see you all here :-)

Goodo: the more the Merry-er :-)

Lucinda wrote: "Michael wrote: "What do you mean, "for a while"? ;-)"

??"

Ieva said that, "For a while I though that Tolkien is the best author in the world," and I was attempting to be humorous about it. Sadly, I'm frequently less funny than I think I am ;-) (That's another attempt.)

What do you mean, "for a while"? ;-)

Lianne wrote: "Wow, I never actually read this! I'm going to have to check it out as well, thanks for the details.

Out of curiosity, there's a song at the end of the complete recordings for the ROTK movie called..."

I listened to "Bilbo's Song" on Spotify and have to say that I couldn't make out what the singers were saying, therefore no idea as to whether it's "Bilbo's Last Song" set to music. There were, however, a couple of versions of BLS set to music that are definitely the poem. Whether they are any good is a matter of taste, but they weren't to mine.

I've just finished, too. Brilliant, brilliant, brilliant!

I thought that the commentary on the possible identity of the King of the Wood-elves was really interesting. Bear in mind that at the time of the composition of The Hoobit, he had not been given the name Thranduil, and so Tolkien's conception of him is open for analysis.

I'm not going to dive straight into the next volume just yet - too much of a good thing, and all that, but I don't think it will be too long before I do.

Hi Robyn,

I'm glad you found us and hope that you'll enjoy participating in the discussions and Group reads :-)

Brilliant, Syed :-)

Ah, a convert: Welcome to the Dark Side, Danielle! (Oops, wrong universe). Welcome to our Fellowship (that's better).