E.L.F. 2006 - Sunday
I'm afraid I was in a bit of a sour mood by Sunday morning. Some of you are aware that my husband passed away on June 7th. We had been separated for 21 months prior to his death, so while my adjustment has been easier than for some widows, I make up for it with extra guilt. His death was unexpected, and planning the funeral in North Carolina and then flying myself and my two children to New Orleans for the graveside service was, to say the least, stressful. I had already scheduled some ambitious travel plans for July, and decided not to cancel them at that late date. I spent the first week of July at the North Carolina Outer Banks with my mother and my children, and it was not exactly relaxing as I ended up as caretaker for all the rest. A week later, I loaded the kids in the car again so I could attend a seminar at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina in furtherance of my volunteer career as a breastfeeding counselor. Two weeks later, and we're flying to Newark, so as you can imagine, by Sunday I was really wishing the weekend was over and I was back home in my own bed. Instead, I was faced with a room full of unpacked belongings and the prospect of being a Hobbit all over again. At this point, I was wishing I at least had a change of Hobbit clothes, but hey, Billy Boyd deserves us, so I went to work packing and strapped that corset on one more time.
We stored our luggage and then made our way to the convention area. I had decided to skip the charity brunch with Billy Boyd, so the first item on the agenda was Michael Drout's presentation on "From Beowulf to Middle-earth." I am so thankful I joined an online read of Beowulf this year. I never read it in school, and this reading was done in fits and spurts, and is, in fact, unfinished, but I have made it through Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the dragon. According to Prof. Drout, Tolkien's essay "The Monsters and the Critics" is credited with changing the way Beowulf is taught, from a scholarly extant text to a story about monsters. Michael Drout shared with us in his previous presentation how while reviewing documents in the Tolkien archives, he came across Tolkien's unpublished book-length criticism of Beowulf, from which he drew this essay. Unpublished! Tolkien! It doesn't get any better for an English professor. With the cooperation of Christopher Tolkien, he was able to edit and publish Tolkien's text in 2002 in the middle of the film frenzy. You can see some of Michael Drout's work at http://www.michaeldrout.com/
In his Sunday presentation, Michael Drout discussed philology and linguistics and how languages evolve. For example, the "p" sound in the word "pisces", (Prof. Drout gave us the technical description for this sound but I can only remember "breathless" and "stop") changes to the "f" sound in "fish", an interdental fricative (remembered that one!). By noting the rules for these sound changes, one can reconstruct an ancient language. Tolkien was fascinated by devolving the story behind language, and his fantasy work was an attempt to fill in the cultural gaps.
Prof. Drout then connected Beowulf to Lord of the Rings. You may be aware that the Rohirrim had Anglo-Saxon names, the language in which Beowulf was written. (This is noted in Unwritten Tales in the footnotes.) Furthermore, the legendary ancestor of the Rohirrim, Eorl and his people had Gothic names. The Rohirrim regarded the Elves with distrust, calling them witches and sorcerers, similar to the portrayal of Elves in Anglo-Saxon culture. Beowulf was Geatish, from Geatland (pronounced "yaht-land in Anglo-Saxon), which is generally assumed to be the same as Gotland, thus the land of the Goths or Gothic. Hence one could say that Beowulf and Elves are part of the culture and history of the Rohirrim.
I think Prof. Drout enjoyed his moment of celebrity. Instead of a room full of (possibly) disinterested college students with their Ipods and instant message cell phones, he had a room full of interested and knowledgeable adults, albeit dressed as Hobbits, Elves, and Wizards. He got to shill his website and books. He even got to sign a few autographs. And he told a really funny story about why it is important to learn Beowulf. He asks his Beowulf students to memorize the first few lines of Beowulf in Anglo-Saxon, and he had one student who was very uncomfortable speaking aloud in class and struggled with the language. She was only able to pass the course by meeting him in his office and reciting it there, but not before questioning why she needed to learn this stuff anyway. She got her answer while traveling abroad. She found herself in a pub in Australia, and one of the locals promised a round of drinks for all if anyone could recite the first ten lines of Beowulf in Anglo-Saxon. She was the most popular person in the bar that night! Michael Drout has recorded Beowulf in the original Anglo-Saxon. It sounds perfect for those nights around the fire with your comrades.
Throughout the weekend, the convention organizers had been showing fan videos. Most were film footage set to pop songs. One of the most memorable was a lengthy "Middle-earth Idol" with "contestants," all the same actress, costumed as various LOTR characters singing Idol-style pop songs intercut with film footage. On Sunday, they showed a trailer for a spoof film, Dork of the Rings. The producers of Dork of the Rings were making the convention rounds last year with their costumed actors and previews. At the same time, Cliff Broadway and Carlene Cordova were making the rounds with their documentary, Ringers: Lord of the Fans. Apparently the two groups got together and made a mocumentary of Dork of the Rings called Dorkers, thereby spoofing their own documentary on the subject of a spoof of their original subject. Got that? It was pure genius, with so-called experts, comic book collectors, the grandson of the Dork of the Rings author, actor interviews, fan tributes, and following the format of Ringers, a history of Dork of the Rings fandom. They even brought in the actress dressed as Gandalf from "Middle-earth Idols." I think the mocumentary may even be better than the original spoof.
Following the videos, I left for my photo-op with Billy Boyd. Sarah and Joseph were still in their costumes. Sue joined us for a wait in line and graciously French-braided Sarah's hair and adorned it with yellow flowers reminiscent of Elanor. When Billy Boyd came through, we got the same wink and nod we'd gotten from Sean Astin. When our turn came, Billy was very gracious. He talked with both the children, complimenting Joseph on his tartan waistcoat. Then he corrected himself and said "you call it a vest." "Today it's a waistcoat," I replied. He then asked Joseph his name, to which Joseph answered "Spiderman," and proffered his temporary arm tattoo of Spiderman. So we bantered like that, posed for our picture, and then to my surprise, everyone in the room applauded. Can't wait to see the picture.
After the photo op we changed into regular clothes. I would be a Hobbit no more! When we got all presentable again, we headed back to the auditorium just in time for Billy Boyd's talk. He was a bit of comic, repeatedly knocking over the mic stands and noting a "hazard" on the stage, a gap in the platform. When someone arrived late, he quickly ran through everything he'd said and done thus far, noting "and there's a hazard on the stage." He's very physical, and someone asked him if he'd ever done stand-up (a couple of times). One of the first questions he took was to name eighteen things he liked about Dominic Monaghan. He reeled off a few, and then said he would add more as he thought of them throughout the show. Eventually, after the umpteenth time he noted the "hazard", he said that sometimes it was the repetition that made things funny, and this was something he liked about Dom. He told a story about how every time they drove by a sheep pasture in New Zealand (and they have a lot of sheep), Dom would yell "resume your positions!" At first it wasn't funny at all, but after a month it was hilarious. Towards the end of his presentation, Billy dropped a leather bracelet, and there were so many gasps in the audience, he offered it up to the highest bidder for charity. When it got to $250, he turned around while the finalists selected a number, and then he called out the winning number. "Sold, for 250 pounds," he shouted. "No, dollars!" we all replied. Hey, we know our exchange rates!
After Billy's presentation, the convention organizers auctioned off Lord of the Rings pictures, posters, and plaques, including all the vinyl convention banners, while Billy Boyd signed autographs. The banners have film publicity photos or a collage of photos plus the convention information, so they are very limited edition. The two stage banners signed by all the celebrity guests went for about $550 and $650. I joined in the bidding frenzy and got an unsigned stage banner for $120, which I promptly had Billy Boyd sign. I already had two autograph tickets myself, but Billy also generously signed a third autograph on a New York City postcard for my daughter.
After that the show was over for us. I know many of the people stay for Sunday night, and if I could get an extra day off, I would have certainly stayed as well. Instead, Sue offered us a ride to the airport, and after a brief side trip to view the Statue of Liberty, we found ourselves stuck in traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike. After a panicky 20 minutes, we finally cleared the construction and approached the airport, a mere 45 minutes before our flight was scheduled to leave. If you've read my journal of E.L.F. 2005, you may recall that we stayed at the convention to get our precious autographs from Elijah Wood, leaving us little time to make our flight. Even though the convention organizers moved us to the front of the autograph line, we made it to the airport only 25 minutes before our flight left. We had missed the 30 minute rule and the airline would not let us on. We re-ticketed for later that evening and didn't leave Orlando until about 11:00 pm, watching our fellow convention-goers come and then leave again. I wasn't about to miss this flight. I can be pretty brazen when I have to, so I went straight to the curbside check-in counter bypassing the line. When they asked who was next I said "I don’t know who's next, but my plane leaves in 45 minutes," and they checked us in. I gave the guy an extra tip, hugged Sue goodbye, and then we raced to the gate like Hobbits running from Ringwraiths. After a brief tangle in security (literally, we couldn't find the opening in the nearly empty serpentine rope line) we made it to the gate to find our flight delayed twenty minutes. Whew! We loaded up on cookies, chips, and drinks for our nutritious dinner and boarded the plane for home, as another E.L.F. weekend faded into memory.
Postscript: After repeatedly vowing in front of witnesses to abstain from anymore fan conventions until my children were older, I found out the next convention was scheduled for Schaumburg, Illinois July 27-29, 2007. Now I was already toying with the idea of attending the La Leche League International convention which just happens to be in Chicago on July 20-23. I may even be a presenter at the LLLI convention. And LLLI is based in Schaumburg, a suburb of Chicago. Hmmmm, maybe I could just take the whole week…
Thank goodness we missed all the new security rules in the wake of the foiled mass airplane downing in the U.K. And thank goodness we missed a mass airplane downing.
We stored our luggage and then made our way to the convention area. I had decided to skip the charity brunch with Billy Boyd, so the first item on the agenda was Michael Drout's presentation on "From Beowulf to Middle-earth." I am so thankful I joined an online read of Beowulf this year. I never read it in school, and this reading was done in fits and spurts, and is, in fact, unfinished, but I have made it through Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the dragon. According to Prof. Drout, Tolkien's essay "The Monsters and the Critics" is credited with changing the way Beowulf is taught, from a scholarly extant text to a story about monsters. Michael Drout shared with us in his previous presentation how while reviewing documents in the Tolkien archives, he came across Tolkien's unpublished book-length criticism of Beowulf, from which he drew this essay. Unpublished! Tolkien! It doesn't get any better for an English professor. With the cooperation of Christopher Tolkien, he was able to edit and publish Tolkien's text in 2002 in the middle of the film frenzy. You can see some of Michael Drout's work at http://www.michaeldrout.com/
In his Sunday presentation, Michael Drout discussed philology and linguistics and how languages evolve. For example, the "p" sound in the word "pisces", (Prof. Drout gave us the technical description for this sound but I can only remember "breathless" and "stop") changes to the "f" sound in "fish", an interdental fricative (remembered that one!). By noting the rules for these sound changes, one can reconstruct an ancient language. Tolkien was fascinated by devolving the story behind language, and his fantasy work was an attempt to fill in the cultural gaps.
Prof. Drout then connected Beowulf to Lord of the Rings. You may be aware that the Rohirrim had Anglo-Saxon names, the language in which Beowulf was written. (This is noted in Unwritten Tales in the footnotes.) Furthermore, the legendary ancestor of the Rohirrim, Eorl and his people had Gothic names. The Rohirrim regarded the Elves with distrust, calling them witches and sorcerers, similar to the portrayal of Elves in Anglo-Saxon culture. Beowulf was Geatish, from Geatland (pronounced "yaht-land in Anglo-Saxon), which is generally assumed to be the same as Gotland, thus the land of the Goths or Gothic. Hence one could say that Beowulf and Elves are part of the culture and history of the Rohirrim.
I think Prof. Drout enjoyed his moment of celebrity. Instead of a room full of (possibly) disinterested college students with their Ipods and instant message cell phones, he had a room full of interested and knowledgeable adults, albeit dressed as Hobbits, Elves, and Wizards. He got to shill his website and books. He even got to sign a few autographs. And he told a really funny story about why it is important to learn Beowulf. He asks his Beowulf students to memorize the first few lines of Beowulf in Anglo-Saxon, and he had one student who was very uncomfortable speaking aloud in class and struggled with the language. She was only able to pass the course by meeting him in his office and reciting it there, but not before questioning why she needed to learn this stuff anyway. She got her answer while traveling abroad. She found herself in a pub in Australia, and one of the locals promised a round of drinks for all if anyone could recite the first ten lines of Beowulf in Anglo-Saxon. She was the most popular person in the bar that night! Michael Drout has recorded Beowulf in the original Anglo-Saxon. It sounds perfect for those nights around the fire with your comrades.
Throughout the weekend, the convention organizers had been showing fan videos. Most were film footage set to pop songs. One of the most memorable was a lengthy "Middle-earth Idol" with "contestants," all the same actress, costumed as various LOTR characters singing Idol-style pop songs intercut with film footage. On Sunday, they showed a trailer for a spoof film, Dork of the Rings. The producers of Dork of the Rings were making the convention rounds last year with their costumed actors and previews. At the same time, Cliff Broadway and Carlene Cordova were making the rounds with their documentary, Ringers: Lord of the Fans. Apparently the two groups got together and made a mocumentary of Dork of the Rings called Dorkers, thereby spoofing their own documentary on the subject of a spoof of their original subject. Got that? It was pure genius, with so-called experts, comic book collectors, the grandson of the Dork of the Rings author, actor interviews, fan tributes, and following the format of Ringers, a history of Dork of the Rings fandom. They even brought in the actress dressed as Gandalf from "Middle-earth Idols." I think the mocumentary may even be better than the original spoof.
Following the videos, I left for my photo-op with Billy Boyd. Sarah and Joseph were still in their costumes. Sue joined us for a wait in line and graciously French-braided Sarah's hair and adorned it with yellow flowers reminiscent of Elanor. When Billy Boyd came through, we got the same wink and nod we'd gotten from Sean Astin. When our turn came, Billy was very gracious. He talked with both the children, complimenting Joseph on his tartan waistcoat. Then he corrected himself and said "you call it a vest." "Today it's a waistcoat," I replied. He then asked Joseph his name, to which Joseph answered "Spiderman," and proffered his temporary arm tattoo of Spiderman. So we bantered like that, posed for our picture, and then to my surprise, everyone in the room applauded. Can't wait to see the picture.
After the photo op we changed into regular clothes. I would be a Hobbit no more! When we got all presentable again, we headed back to the auditorium just in time for Billy Boyd's talk. He was a bit of comic, repeatedly knocking over the mic stands and noting a "hazard" on the stage, a gap in the platform. When someone arrived late, he quickly ran through everything he'd said and done thus far, noting "and there's a hazard on the stage." He's very physical, and someone asked him if he'd ever done stand-up (a couple of times). One of the first questions he took was to name eighteen things he liked about Dominic Monaghan. He reeled off a few, and then said he would add more as he thought of them throughout the show. Eventually, after the umpteenth time he noted the "hazard", he said that sometimes it was the repetition that made things funny, and this was something he liked about Dom. He told a story about how every time they drove by a sheep pasture in New Zealand (and they have a lot of sheep), Dom would yell "resume your positions!" At first it wasn't funny at all, but after a month it was hilarious. Towards the end of his presentation, Billy dropped a leather bracelet, and there were so many gasps in the audience, he offered it up to the highest bidder for charity. When it got to $250, he turned around while the finalists selected a number, and then he called out the winning number. "Sold, for 250 pounds," he shouted. "No, dollars!" we all replied. Hey, we know our exchange rates!
After Billy's presentation, the convention organizers auctioned off Lord of the Rings pictures, posters, and plaques, including all the vinyl convention banners, while Billy Boyd signed autographs. The banners have film publicity photos or a collage of photos plus the convention information, so they are very limited edition. The two stage banners signed by all the celebrity guests went for about $550 and $650. I joined in the bidding frenzy and got an unsigned stage banner for $120, which I promptly had Billy Boyd sign. I already had two autograph tickets myself, but Billy also generously signed a third autograph on a New York City postcard for my daughter.
After that the show was over for us. I know many of the people stay for Sunday night, and if I could get an extra day off, I would have certainly stayed as well. Instead, Sue offered us a ride to the airport, and after a brief side trip to view the Statue of Liberty, we found ourselves stuck in traffic on the New Jersey Turnpike. After a panicky 20 minutes, we finally cleared the construction and approached the airport, a mere 45 minutes before our flight was scheduled to leave. If you've read my journal of E.L.F. 2005, you may recall that we stayed at the convention to get our precious autographs from Elijah Wood, leaving us little time to make our flight. Even though the convention organizers moved us to the front of the autograph line, we made it to the airport only 25 minutes before our flight left. We had missed the 30 minute rule and the airline would not let us on. We re-ticketed for later that evening and didn't leave Orlando until about 11:00 pm, watching our fellow convention-goers come and then leave again. I wasn't about to miss this flight. I can be pretty brazen when I have to, so I went straight to the curbside check-in counter bypassing the line. When they asked who was next I said "I don’t know who's next, but my plane leaves in 45 minutes," and they checked us in. I gave the guy an extra tip, hugged Sue goodbye, and then we raced to the gate like Hobbits running from Ringwraiths. After a brief tangle in security (literally, we couldn't find the opening in the nearly empty serpentine rope line) we made it to the gate to find our flight delayed twenty minutes. Whew! We loaded up on cookies, chips, and drinks for our nutritious dinner and boarded the plane for home, as another E.L.F. weekend faded into memory.
Postscript: After repeatedly vowing in front of witnesses to abstain from anymore fan conventions until my children were older, I found out the next convention was scheduled for Schaumburg, Illinois July 27-29, 2007. Now I was already toying with the idea of attending the La Leche League International convention which just happens to be in Chicago on July 20-23. I may even be a presenter at the LLLI convention. And LLLI is based in Schaumburg, a suburb of Chicago. Hmmmm, maybe I could just take the whole week…
Thank goodness we missed all the new security rules in the wake of the foiled mass airplane downing in the U.K. And thank goodness we missed a mass airplane downing.
posted by Mary Joan | 7:33 AM
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