Average Viking convert, c. 800AD:

Reading History of Middle-Earth (as you do) and I guess I understand why this was cut but also, it's hilarious

Toxic Masculinity is OUT!
Ghost of Christmas Present Masculinity is IN!

- Loud laughs
- Roasted meats and spiced drinks
- Hospitality to strangers
- Living in the moment
- Singing in public
- Body positivity
- Emotional generosity
- Sick robes

one of the reasons i like LoTR so much is that american culture is absolutely saturated with anti-duty propaganda, like the idea of giving up duty for love is so prevalent that we dont seem even capable of imagining the opposite, and LoTR is probably the single work with the most reach which argues

I feel this way about screenshots from a bootleg Two Towers that were going around 20 years ago
imgur.com/a/two-towers...

Don’t let the desire to make “good” art stand in the way of making art.
Make bad art earnestly and joyfully. Pour your heart into poorly executed, derivative creations. And maybe it will end up “good” eventually or maybe it won’t, but either way you got to experience the magic of creating.

Humans romanticize the charismatic megafauna, lumbering beasts, all of them endangered and kept alive only because we find them pretty. Reject this. Embrace our true spiritual siblings, a mammal just as clever, adaptable, vicious, and hard to kill as we are. Reject lion. Embrace raccoon.