Hey MBT hi! That's what I love about you, you hear the music themes behind the movie. Other than the Kili/T'ariel romance is a total fabrication (Tollers would have liked it I think) yeah I caught the dual music themes just barely.... thank you, good clip.

Likewise I feel very sorrowful I can't keep up with the Tolkien nerd stuff anymore. We were so into it in High School. Middle Earth was certainly a better place to have one's mind than what we were surrounded by.

I've heard Tolkien's son is a bit of a perv.... rumor only, I don't know the details and would rather NOT. Too much I have to face in reality. Some day I'll dive more into his personal life as well as CS Lewis, I've just nibbled around the edges for both. Sometimes we find things out that destroys our enjoyment....

Last time I tried "dwarves" with a spell checker (this on in fact) it didn't like that. Dumb machines.

The listening part sneaks up on me unless I focus on it (again if I look too hard then I don't enjoy it as much). Usually I'm focused on body language rather than simple visuals.

Take care, don't work too hard.

my son is writing books and making money at it! I've only read one so far, but enjoyed it.

Look him up on Amazon.com under Stephan Morse. Sorta slinky vampire chicks and elves... but with an edge. The young people apparently love it.

I didn't know he had it in him!

very proud actually.

I recommend John Adams if he has that book laying around too. Incredibly good research and good reading. If it hadn't been for Jefferson and Adams, the whole thing would have collapsed... they were real driving forces behind the whole independence movement. I also enjoyed "Sally Hemmings: an American scandal" but I'm not sure if the story line was mostly fact or fiction. The sets sure were authentic. Good acting too.

Jefferson is one of my heroes, and yes he was flawed. I went to Monticello on one trip back there, it was wonderful for history and such. I recommend that too, it's not far from you.

Jefferson indeed had slaves, and was one of the "southern elite" but he was a flaky owner, and I don't think he was standing over his people with a whip or anything. He was born to the institutionalized reality of an economy based on the enforced labor of others. This started in the Colonies as using prisoners from petty crimes (bond servants, bought and sold) in England, as well as POWs from a failed coup in Scotland.... thus so many Scots in the South. This gave way to African slavery, which was perpetrated by African tribal leaders, who sold those they conquered to slavers... who did have whips and chains. Slavery, a horrible horrible thing all around... it was an abusive era.

Jefferson's plantation had about 50 slaves to one white person, so he kept them there by something other than force, that's for sure. A family of six slaves (mom and five children) were bought from his neighbor, Hemmings, who was also the father of Jefferson's wife. The five children were all his wife's half brothers and sisters. The Hemmings family ran Monticello while Jefferson buried himself in books, in politics, and in writing. When Jefferson's wife died, he was thrown into deep shock.... thus was missing from the writing of the Articles of Confederation. Then he went to France as one of the ambassadors (Dr. Franklin and John Adams were the other two)... Sally Hemmings at 14 (youngest of the Hemmings) came to France as the maid of Jefferson's daughter I think. Sally was very beautiful and probably looked a good deal like Jefferson's wife. One thing led to another, and Sally was "said to be" Jefferson's common law wife until he died. The Hemmings were not stupid. She had a good position and made the most of it. DNA has shown that Sally's five children were either Jefferson's children, or his brother's.

Jefferson is documented to have beaten a young slave for losing valuable material for nails he was making at his plantation... the place was a working farm, and metal was hard to come by. I don't think it was a regular thing tho, records seem to show a benign "lordship" as was the case of many southern plantation situations. It sounded more like the spankings I used to get as a kid. Then again some people don't believe in spanking either.

I do believe it is documented that Jefferson tried to put in an anti slavery clause to the Declaration of Independence, but I'd have to research that. He didn't think it was a good idea especially, it was just how his farm was run. It was a big place, everyone had jobs, and they all ate and had homes....

I think it's easy for people with hate in their hearts to find nothing but fault in others who have achieved greatness, as Jefferson certainly did as a Founding Father.

Hamilton is not treated very well in the Adams book and movie. I don't know enough about him to say one way or the other. He was a banker, and a bit slippery from what I can tell.

I despise musicals made from such material. (saw 1776 on stage long ago, and it was pretty barfy) It's like a comic book with Jesus as the hero, in a cape. It's twittery frippery, and the origin of my country is not a twittery tap dancing event. It was deadly serious.... they were committing treason and came close to failing and getting hanged. In fact one of my family members (a redcoat) DID get shot under a flag of truce during it. Find some other theme and write music/dance for THAT but come on.... civics is a duty and responsibility, not a la la dance number.

Back on topic, going to see Star Wars tonight.... I won't spoil it. 🙂

I think there are some who just stir up mischief to feel empowered. It's that simple. Money is allegedly a measure of empowerment. Yes it drives war. Sadly war just drops us all down the level of Darwin, animals and survival of the fittest. IMHO the fittest is the one who avoids conflict and keeps their focus on production.

I was chatting with a couple of other substitutes today. They had only been subbing five years, and really had things to complain about. As I'm a counselor, I sat there and got some practice (have to keep my skills honed or I lose them) neither of them seemed real skilled at managing kids from their talk, inclined to blame the little brats or the parents .... easy to do. But today I had a real volatile group myself, eighth grade and horsy. Some ornery kids bigger than me! It was simple stuff, some questions to answer about volcanoes, look it up in book, write out answers. They did real well, especially when I told them it was homework if not done in class. Gave them all sorts of hints. It could have been a bad day, but I was feeling happy (with the Moody RRHOF news, and Star Wars coming up.... I'm very happy these days) ..... the point I'm trying to make, is if you go into something on the defensive or with a bad attitude, it will be a bad day.

These subs then started bashing the president, and all you can say to people is "write your Congress people, we are the government" and just listen. They had a lot of garbled info I know that.... people "see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear" depending on their level of bile, and direction of their hatred. I tried tossing out a recent incident with a noted Dem senator who is resigning due to his past grabby behavior with women... no telling how these gals would have responded to me dragging up Bill Clinton (the perv) they brushed it off as trivial (of course) Politics is the only place you can be tried and convicted with absolutely no hard evidence.... just scream long and loud, and get others to join, and you can get someone fired. Isn't mankind a nice beast indeed.

After you follow the money, follow the blind dedication and loyalty to "your team" or your "enemy camp" ........ people choose up sides based on utter lies from what I can tell anymore. Then they waste taxpayer money trying to prove these utter lies.

Thus do wars start. Loyalty, blind and stupidly followed, belief in something that won't matter in 50 years.

Try to find the MOTIVATION behind the player you are in conflict with. Sometimes they have legitimate, real motivations, be flexible and try to understand what that is. Sometimes they are just trouble makers, bent on gaining social or economic power. Shrug.

I finished the John Adams mini series again. That is really so good.... you should watch it sometimes if you get a chance. Our first three presidents knew what they were about.... after that, an awful lot of crooks took up the office I'm afraid.