One Does Not Simply Walk Into Mordor

Pic unrelated

First of all, I’d like to thank the Gondor Academy for extending its invitation for me to speak at this, ah, gathering of the minds. Is that the correct term for a quasi-militaristic endeavour? Perhaps; for does not every military action require a substantial amount of forethought if it is to succeed? But I digress: All of you are aware of the purpose of this Conference of Interested Peoples. The purpose, of course, is for a preemptive attack on the nation of Mordor, and the ease with which that may be undertaken. As I am aware, the leaders of this Conference have certain intelligence in their possession of a ways to the end we all seek. By which I mean, the destruction of the Dark Lord, Sauron.

For those of you who are unaware of my credentials, I am a scholar of such things, and have been since the age of twelve when a party of Orcs raided my home and village, not two hours’ travel from here. I have spent my years learning of the History and Religion of the Dark Lord and his creations and minions, and have, by doing so, established myself as the foremost scholar on Mordor Studies. [chuckles] Despite that, the highest number students to enrol in my courses have been three. I guess I’m just a bit dull.

[audience gently laughs]

Right, levity aside, my conclusion, summarised in a snappy, easy-to-remember slogan to be printed upon pamphlets and distributed to troops, is simple: One does not simply walk into Mordor.

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Finished!

As some of you know, I’ve been endeavouring to read and comment on the steaming pile of rancid nonsense dogshit that is Twilight.

I’m doing this for Bullet Reviews, mainly because I feel like I need to give out a few one or two star ratings. My plan is that I’m going to read some Godawful stuff, create a running commentary on it in Google Docs and use that as my review. Twilight was my first experience.

In order to get through it, I had to drink six cups of coffee, three Earl Grey tea lattes, and six beers. In addition, I had to track down a really friendly shepherd-like dog’s owner in order to balance out all of the evil issuing forth from that book.

My reaction can be summed up thusly:

I’ll put the full review up on here and at Bullet Reviews when the time comes in a few days, I think.

As of now, more beer to numb the pain.

Hunting Judaism

Turns out they don't always gather like this. Also, rabbis don't carry Manischewitz, and it's incredibly insulting to assume so.

I started a tradition a while back – one that does not involve screaming “tradition!” at that. The tradition started innocently enough, as I’m sure many traditions do before morphing into religions and really messing up the way people think and act.

I was in Paris with a couple of friends – Stephen Fischer and Jon Lim – and Jon’s cousin. (Pro-tip: the best way to make someone uncomfortable is to say that you’re “gonna be all over” their cousin.) After the previous couple of days being spent being ripped off by Kenyans and rushing illegally across giant roundabouts, we felt more than comfortable being led around the city by someone who’d been studying there for a year or two.

The thing I’ve noticed about being led around by people in a city is that, well, there are many things I’ve noticed. First off, you can be fairly certain that you’re going to go to places you would not normally think about. The non-touristy places, in other words. Secondly, you might be saving a bit of money – chances are your friend will know some cheap places to eat/drink. Thirdly, you probably won’t be going to any museums or cultural attractions. This is because your friend, like all people who have lived in a city instead of visited it, does not go to cultural attractions. They go to bars.

The only cultural attraction you'll see

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, though. Sure, you won’t be able to say that you’ve been to every major museum in the States, but you will be able to say that you’ve been to bars in every major city in the U.S., which, in many ways, is better.

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