Rant – Tim Boothby

Reasons that Gandalf didn’t need to be some ultra powerful spell-slingin’ uber-wizard.

1. Tolkien wasn’t a munchkin, min-maxer, or power gamer, so he didn’t get his jollies writing overpowered characters.
2. The main power of wizards is knowledge and wisdom, they have some spell-type stuff, but they were send to advise and give good counsel, not to grab evil by the balls and squeeze it out of existence.
3. Plot trumps power. Tolkien wrote a story where problems were solved by cooperation, hard work, sweat, pain and loss, not some pointy-headed dweeb with a wand.
4. It was up to Middle-Earth to struggle for its freedom and safety to earn it, not have it handed to them.
5. Yes, with an uber-wizard and a couple of eagles the Lord of the Rings would be about a chapter long, and nobody would read it, and it wouldn’t have millions of copies and been constantly in print since it’s first run until today.

And why didn’t they just fly over and drop the ring into Mt Doom?

“…”The Eagles are a dangerous ‘machine’. I have used them sparingly, and that is the absolute limit of their credibility or usefulness. “
― Letter 210, J.R.R. Tolkien…”

Yeah, Walmart Sucks, Yeah Definately…

I know, I can actually say just about any friggin’ thing I want in here without fear of censorship, but I like the fact that “HUGE GROSS UNMENTIONABLE THINGS” means different things to every person that reads it. Walmart reminds me of the line in Demolition Man “All restaurants are Taco Bell now.”

If you live in many an American small town that’s what you have, because the corporate vampire has sucked the commercial life out of them. I watched several old an established stores driven out of business by the leech calling itself the “low price leader” only for them to raise their prices when they’ve squished the competition. They are like Vinny the Loanshark, “Youse guys enjoy dem prices now, cuz when we rub out the competition we jack the rates on our swag, and where else ya gonna go?”

To add insult to injury, go look for American made goods in there, they used to be known for their Buy American campaign, until they were busted and fined for lying about it, now they just tout low prices because made in china is the prevailing theme.

Just a thought, your mileage may vary.