andave's place

Hello everyone!

It’s been quite a while since I last blogged! The last couple of weekends I’ve been busy working on my Boromir lives fanfiction, and I hope to finish it this weekend. Recently I met online two of the most brilliant fanfiction authors I have ever read! Yes, they are Boromir lives writers. The quality of their writing is exemplary, and I’ve been so blessed by reading their work! They’ve been such an example to me; their Boromir, Faramir, and Aragorn are so characteristic that every time I read their work I can see each scene clearly and vividly in my mind’s eye. Both of them collaborate on fanfictions and actually publish a fanzine (fanfiction novel). Carolyn is publishing her latest, most brilliant tale yet (or at least, of what I’ve read!) It will be over 300 pages, complete with professional artistry! It will be published in April and I am waiting eagerly for my copy. One of them wrote a story inspired by me(in a good way!) – Pippin asking Boromir what “f---“ means! I cracked up as no one ever associates me with profanity! When I asked her why she said it’s because, among other reasons, I pointed out a mistake in the other person’s fic, where they had mistakenly used the word “hell.” There is no hell in Middle-earth (apologies if my word usage is offensive.)



The college semester started again! This time it’s Music Literature and Psychology 1. Psych is interesting, though I’m getting somewhat bored with the very broad overview we’ve been getting for an intro. I haven’t quite made up my mind about the music class. I don’t think the teacher enjoys teaching the class. My Mom opines that it’s because he’s tired of teaching it to apathetic teenagers but my opinion is that he’s probably the best at teaching music, not music literature. He uses Powerpoint lectures, cushions the points on the page, waits for us to finish our notetaking, shows us some songs, and that’s it.
Then again, I might just be another overeager teen!

Funny incident happened at the last class, though. He showed us a classical piece by Bizet, then started discussing it with us. Picking some random kid, he started:

Professor Harris: So what did you think of it?
Kid (teenager, sorry) in the back: I didn’t like it.
Professor: Why not?
Kid: No bass, no beat, no words. (He wasn’t that pat; I’m summarizing.)
Andave (mentally): You have got to be kidding me! The bass is right there, providing the underpinnings and ergo the foundation of the piece! The beat…beat…couldn’t be more clear, it’s just not “shaking the house!” Argh!

Then another guy pipes up. “No, no, I like this piece.” Doubtless he thought he was creating a stir. “It’s like, I could listen to this music and put my feet up and relax.”

I’m thinking, “Really! How nice! Be my guest! I wish I could join you, though I didn’t think it was possible to fall asleep to nothing less than a MARCH!” Surely he was joking? I mean, of course there are people that don't like classical. No big deal; not everyone likes Lord of the Rings. But, it was a march?
Then of course, I felt bad for thinking those things. Music is subjective, must remember that. Especially as others would think the same thing and worse about my own music.

In his defense, the piece did alternate between having march-like characteristics and being more gentle and flowing. That was one thing that fascinated me about the piece and really drew me into it. To the teacher’s credit, he didn’t turn a hair, just said “ok” and let it go. I felt sorry for him there.

Recently I found a new musical group that I want to ask Professor Harris about. The Tolkien Ensemble got together for a sole purpose: to take Tolkien’s Middle-earth poems and put them to (stunning) music. Currently playing in my ears is Galadriel’s song of Eldamar…O Lorien, too long I have dwelt, upon this hither shore…

Cheers, everyone!

By the way, what’s happened to Rich and B-Mental? I miss them.