Mandatory presentation

[sauronnaise]

Because I gotta do what gotta be done.

Hello there [General Kenobi], you might know me as SonOfMandos on AO3; sauronnaise on tumblr; SonOfMandos on SWG (Silmarillion Writers' Guild).

My interests pretty much are: Tolkien; mythologies; ancient history; fantasy; the music I listen to (namely metal (symphonic, doom, blackgaze), neoclassical darkwave, video games' soundtracks, neofolk, K-music). I write dubious fanfiction and draw dubious fanart. I sometimes read mangas and webtoons. My late childhood and teenagehood were shaped by CLAMP's works. I This blog will be about fandom stuff, mostly. Oh, and I love exercising and doing cardio.

Other than that, my hair and I aren't on good terms. The hair on my head is doing well (it's rather Aragornish in style and length), but my facial hair is pitiful (I have a stubble at best). Wonderful. (Yes, I'm a dude) Also, I'm a native French speaker.

Feel free to follow if you wish to. Just don't be a moron--I'm a bigger moron than you and not shy to troll back. (I doubt there's an army of moronic morons showing up in blogs' comment sections, but just to be sure.) Jokes and humour are of course welcome. Don't hesitate to comment an older entry of mine--I'd be flattered if you did!

Some of my entries are friends-locked. Let me know if you'd like access to those. They are about my life (when it's either boring or questionable). I simply don't want people who aren't on Dreamwidth to read them.

Comments

[wispywillow]

"Sauronnaise is the lovechild of Sauron and mayonnaise." - that right there is enough for me to love you! LOL

Hello! Oo! A native French speaker! Your written English is impeccable, so I wouldn't have guessed. Which country, if you don't mind my asking?

See you 'round!

[sauronnaise]

I have no idea how I came to this idea. I like mayonnaise and I like Sauron as a villain (disappears or morphs into a werewolf whenever he's inconvenienced. Comes back later to seduce his victims (until the Big Creator had enough and stripped him from his shapeshifting abilities. Yea, there are parallels with Loki and MCU!Loki, Tolkien never was too subtle with his references to mythologies), develops unhealthy obsessions with his Master and his Ring. Fun times). If Sauron created mayonnaise rather than rings, many troubles would be avoided. Heh

I'm from the province of Québec in Canada, I'm your upstairs neighbour, bonsoir! And thank you, my English came a long way: did English immersion at 12, became fluent at 16, did my undergrad in English, now am officially byelingual. No idea how my grandparents manage four languages. Still can't get rid of that pesky Québécois accent in English (I'm on the less extreme end of the spectrum, but the undertones are there).

[wispywillow]

I love it. It's just the right amount of random weirdness ^_^ Speaking of LotR, I always have an itch to re-read them and/or re-watch them this time of year. A theater in Columbus is showing them on the big screen this weekend (!!) but alas, I don't think I'll be able to catch any of them.

Howdy, neighbor! On behalf of sane Americans, I apologize if it feels like you guys are living above a meth lab. Aside from English, I'm very rusty in Spanish but am conversational in American Sign Language.

[sauronnaise]

Do both! If you have a chance, read The Hobbit. It's a children's tale, but adults can enjoy it too. It was my first Tolkien novel, I was 8-9. I re-read it last year. Let's say I had forgotten about Tolkien's ability to shitpost. My favourite work taking part of the Legendarium/Middle Earth is The Children of Húrin.

Of course, the Silmarillion is a must—it's the reason why Tolkien fans say LotR is a post-apocalyptic novel. 8) (I'm trying to convert you)

Oh, the continent overall, sadly, isn't going too well (Haiti, Venezuela, etc. Canada has its own issues too). But yeah, it's a strange thing to witness this from the other side of the border. Most people from the US I met were nice and friendly, don't apologise for the extreme and vocal groups, you're just trying to live. Unless you're actively being indecent in your daily life, but I doubt that's your case. :b

[wispywillow]

I have read The Hobbit ^_^ It was way back in 2002, so I should probably re-read it at some point with a more adult perspective... and with this intriguing mention of Tolkien's shitposting XD

I really should read The Silmarillion as well. It's been on my to-do list for a decade now. It probably wouldn't take much to convert me, as I was intrigued by the ruins of statues and buildings in The Fellowship of the Ring toward the end, where Boromir died and Frodo and Sam split off.

Have you ever heard the BBC's radio dramatization of LotR? I haven't listened for years, but I remember loving it. In fact, I just found it here on YouTube, so I'll definitely give it another listen. But one thing I remember doing is listening to it in pitch blackness. When they're at the Prancing Pony, there is background conversation and dishes being moved (the whole thing is acted out by a full cast rather than read by a narrator), and in the darkness, it was a totally immersive experience. It felt like I was there in the Prancing Pony, listening to it all happening. (I might have been a little stoned, too, which probably helped)

^_^

[sauronnaise]

Highly recommend! I thought to myself 'Is it me, or this book is just a big meme?' Tolkien is known for his qualities as a linguist, university professor, a big fan of mythology, and, of course, his fantasy works, but he wrote great tales for children. He didn't take children for idiots.

The Silm is more of a mythological document. It doesn't read as a novel as it's heavy in information (it was edited by Christopher Tolkien, his son. You can find various drafts and versions in the History of Middle Earth books, with more details, which is less condensed). I spent more time studying the family tree of Finwë and his descendants (Elrond's family side from his father--actually, he's related to Gil-galad, Celebrimbor and Galadriel (she's his mother-in-law, but also a distant cousin I-don't-know-how-many-times-removed)) than reading the actual Silmarillion. Tolkien Gateway is a nice website to find information. I prefer it over One Wiki To Rule Them All because no ads!! I hate ads.

Nope, I've never! I should give it a try one day. I know you can find Tolkien audiobooks narrated by Sir Christopher Lee himself (he was the OG Tolkien fan).

I did watch, however, Soviet LotR and Bakshi's LotR. Cursed stuff. I can respect Bakshi's LotR for trying to capture the essence of the trilogy and adapt it in movies. Still, watching it is an experience in itself.

[wispywillow]

I’d been “warned” about the historical dryness of Silmarillion, but I’m not at all put off by that. The hardest for me will be keeping track of who’s who until I get them cemented into my head.

Christopher Lee was amazing. And if I recall correctly, Ian Holm has some further experience with LotR than just the movies. I believe he was the voice of Frodo in the audio drama I sent you a link to.

I actually really enjoyed Bakshi’s LotR ^_^ The use of live-action/animation was rather trippy. Too bad they didn’t bring him back to finish it, but I believe I read he was let go for being overdue and overbudget on the first one.

[sauronnaise]

The hardest for me will be keeping track of who’s who until I get them cemented into my head.
I'd say it's worse than War and Peace but easier than the Mahabharata. Once you remember Elrond's family trees (maternal and paternal), and everyone's names in Quenya, Sindarin, mother-names, nicknames and epessë, you're good to go. Reading fanfiction was helpful in this regard (I'm picky when it comes to fiction, published or fan, but there are good Silm fics out there).

Facial expressions were something else in the movie. I saw Aragorn's panties too many times. Everyone trips all the time. Why was Aragorn depicted as a Hollywoodian Native warrior with Lord Farquaad's haircut and an English accent? And Legolas. Oh boy, Legolas. Oh mein Gott.

The landscapes were beautiful in the movie. The Nazgûls were creepy.

[wispywillow]

Viggo Mortensen is coooool though! I love him as Aragorn ^_^ Orlando Bloom... meh, at least he's pretty. Thankfully he doesn't have a lot of lines.

The Nazgûls were creepy.
very much so. I prefer them on horseback because there's a sense of realism. Once they were on the dragon-thingies, it pulled me out of my suspension of disbelief and I wasn't creeped out by them any more. But when the Hobbits were on the road and first encountered them? omg... amazing scene.

[sauronnaise]

I was talking about Bakshi's Aragorn, Legolas and Nazgûls. Everybody was kind of weird in that movie.

I'm jealous of his multilinguism. Speaks English, speaks Danish (let's say his family name isn't Uzbek :b), speaks Spanish (he was raised in Argentina). Viggo's Aragorn got many fanboys.

I liked Legolas in the LotR movies, but didn't like him at all in the Hobbit movies. His personality is funnier in the books, he's a dork (the kind of dork only youth can bring). Screams all the time, drops his bow too, and at Elrond's council, after everyone's like 'Gollum is guarded by Thranduil's Elves, we're good', Legolas goes 'O noes, he escaped when we walked him :<', walks on snow and goes fetch the sun (tried to after Gandalf had enough of him, and in the salty Gandalf way, told him to fetch the sun while he was at it. Legolas: Weeeeee bye bye!!!).

PJ's Nazgûls look like those evil black spectre thingies in Harry Potter. Forgot what they're called.

[wispywillow]

Oooooh! Yes, I agree ^_^ I need to rewatch the Bakshi ones. It's been a long time. I just remember Aragorn having a horrible haircut and losing my shit at the expression of a woman at the Prancing Pony. It's when Frodo falls and accidentally puts on the ring. There is a woman looking over a table down at him, and the expression on her face had me cackling.

I didn't like Legolas much in the Hobbit movies either. Orlando Bloom had matured as an actor by that point, but it didn't quite fit the Legolas that he'd been in the original trilogies.

Dementors, I think they're called

[sauronnaise]

At least the horrible haircut is somewhat historical, if we were to believe medieval depictions. What I remember of the Prancing Pony is that scene with Aragorn running behind the door to hide. It killed me (my bud looked desperate).

Arhhh why doesn't DW accept embed videos written in html!
Try #12025151
Oh, screw me.
Here:
Frodo and Aragorn in a room, ouh là là, at the Prancing Poney

I blame it on bad writing. PJ intended to make two movies, but Hollywood pressured him to make another trilogy/another LotR. It doesn't fit the original work that is a 300 page long children's novel.

[wispywillow]

Aragorn not having pants seems so impractical. He’s roving around the wilderness. The poison ivy alone would warrant proper clothing. Plus the cold!

That (the writing) and the effects. The heart just wasn’t there.

[sauronnaise]

I saw his panties 451495 times, and Boromir's once or twice. They should do like Legolas and wear super tight leggings. Aragorn's boots look like my Batman socks: socks with capes.

That (the writing) and the effects. The heart just wasn’t there.
And the CGI overload. Yucks! That's some beef I have with many modern movies nowadays. CGI overload, and trying to make things so impressive it loses its grandeur. I don't blame it on the artists because I know they have ridiculous deadlines, are underpaid and overworked.

[wispywillow]

Yup, the CGI is mainly what I was alluding to when I mentioned the effects. And I agree--the people who do the CGI do great stuff, but many times the show runners/directors/etc. don't use CGI to the best of its ability, and/or replace practical effects which would work better.