MuseBlog

By special request of Ebeth.

Known Muser birthdays in November:

11-09 Phoebe’s birthday (1993)
11-12 Darth Yoda’s birthday (19?? – black or very dark green)
11-20 Copper Bigfoot’s birthday (1993 – green)
11-27 Purple Panda’s birthday (1991 – purple)
11-27 curious and questioning’s birthday (1993 – green)

You turn 5,000 days old this month if you were born between February 23 and March 24, 1993.
You turn 6,000 days old this month if you were born between May 30 and June 28, 1990.

It may be getting cooler outside (or not, depending on which hemisphere you’re in), but inside MuseBlog’s monthly random thread all is warmth and merriment. The usual edicts apply: Obey The Rules. Consult The Guide. Have fun!

Step right up to receive your welcome pie and ask the old hands what’s going on around here. First, though, please read The Rules. You might also glance at The HG2MB (Hitchhiker’s Guide to MuseBlog).

Steer your fellow MBers toward your favorite parts of the blog. (Topping the list, of course, is the October “Visit These Threads!” thread.)

This month’s random thread, continued, continued, continued, continued.

Obey The Rules. Consult The Guide. Review Part 4. Have fun!

This sounds like fun: If you send your name to NASA by November 4, they’ll record it on a microchip and launch it on board a spacecraft bound for the Asteroid Belt. Purely symbolic, of course, but not bad as symbolism goes.

Here’s the site:

http://www.dawn-mission.org/DawnCommunity/Sendname2asteroid/nameEntry.asp

Added 1 November: Meanwhile, the Planetary Society is offering a similar chance to fly your name to Mars:

http://planetary.org/home/

“For people who either love, have never seen, or don’t like snow.” By special request of Taiwan Hippo Fan.

Before and after.

By special request of agrrrfishi, who is working to save tigers.

Continued from… What was that last part called?

For starters, here’s a spiffy Map of Museica that Zyviva drew and e-mailed to gapa@musefanpage.com.

Robert, age 13 (yearbook photo)

One thing the papers emphatically show is what a Lord of the Rings fanatic I was–far, far worse than any Muser. I read The Hobbit in fifth grade and the trilogy every summer before six through eighth grades. (The Silmarillion and other books of Middle-earth lore didn’t start to come out until I was in college.) A couple of my friends were immersed in the books, too. We learned to write Tengwar and Angerthas, drew white hands and red eyes on our homework assignments, came within a hair’s breadth of inventing Dungeons and Dragons, and did all the other geeky things Musers would rediscover decades later. I also wrote a LOTR musical.

Well, not exactly a musical. There was no script–just a series of songs set to tunes that my friends knew and could sing along with. The songs were deliberately silly. As for the quality, judge for yourselves:

1. Elrond’s Song to the Council in Rivendell, Explaining What’s Going On
(To the tune of “Now I Am the Ruler of the Queen’s Na-vee” from H.M.S. Pinafore by Gilbert and Sullivan)

In days of old of which we sing
Sauron decided to make a ring.
He studied ancient books of lore
And he melted down the handle on the big front door.
(All: He melted down the handle on the big front door!)
He melted down the handle, and such was fate
That it turned into a mighty ring of power great.
(All: He melted down the handle and such was fate / That it turned into a mighty ring of power great!)

Eons later on the ca-len-dar,
The ring passed on to Is-il-dur.
Isildur battled for his life,
And he cut the ring off Sauron with a putty knife. (All: He cut, etc.)
Isildur took the ring in such an hour
That he thought that he would be endowed with endless power. (All: Isildur took the ring, etc.)

There were a few more verses, but I think that will do. Let’s see, what else have we got here… Oh, I’d forgotten all about this one:

2. Treebeard Meets Merry and Pippin and Tries to Figure Out What They Are
(To the tune of “My Favorite Things” from The Sound of Music)

First come the Eldar, the fairest of races;
Dwarves, metal-workers, with hair on their faces.
Animals of the air, water, and ground–
But “hobbits” is not a fa-mil-i-ar sound.

Are you a badger, or maybe a carrot?
Animal, veg’table, mineral, spirit?
Horse? No. Or pig? No. Or maybe a cow?
This I must find out, so come with me now!

(Chorus) To the Entmoot… I must take you.
Please do not ask why.
Hop up on my shoulder and hold yourself tight,
For if you fall off… you die!

O.K., what next? “Denethor’s Song” — more Gilbert and Sullivan, not very interesting. “We Are Pursuin’ an Orodruin” (to the tune of “I’m Looking Over a Four-Leaf Clover”) — didn’t get very far with that one, must have sensed it was a bad idea. Oh, this one’s fun:

3. Ringwraiths’ Song to Frodo and Sam Hiking to Mordor
(To the tune of “Parsely, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme” “Scarborough Fair” as sung by Simon and Garfunkel)

Are you going to Orodruin?
Orcs and trolls infest these hills.
Remember me to old Sau-ro-on.
He’s the master of our wills.

When he has you, you will squeal.
Orcs and trolls infest these hills.
He’ll feed you to Shelob for her next meal
Or be the master of your wills.

The orcs had the best numbers, though. For example:

4. The Uruk-hai Marching Song
(to the tune of the Marine Corps Hymn“The Caissons Go Rolling Along”)

Here we come, now you die,
We’re the fighting Uruk-hai
And our soldiers are marching along!
Rip and tear, maul and crush,
Slice our en-e-mies to mush
As our soldiers go marching along!
So it’s KILL! KILL! KILL!
It gives us such a thrill.
Our numbers, you know, are thousands strong.
And we just can’t wait
To maim and desecrate
As our soldiers come marching along!

Finally, there’s a big company number for orcs and Ringwraiths, to the tune of “Camptown Races” by Stephen Foster:

Ringwraiths: Minas Morgul, here we come.
Orcs: DOO DAH! DOO DAH!
Ringwraiths Mithrandir is just a bum.
Orcs: OH, DOO DAH DAY!
Ringwraiths: Sauron has a big red eye.
Orcs: DOO DAH! DOO DAH!
Ringwraiths He is screaming DIE DIE DIE.
Orcs: OH, DOO DAH DAY!
All: Gonna laugh and dance,
Gonna kill and sing.
I’ll bet my money on the Uruk-hai,
Somebody bet on the ring.

I know, I know: the Uruk-hai were Saruman’s troops, not Sauron’s. I just liked them.

–Robert

All right, now you may talk about it.

SPOILER WARNING.

This month’s random thread, continued, continued, continued.

Obey The Rules. Consult The Guide. Review Part 3. Have fun!

The incomprehensible nautical saga continues. Feel free to consult Ships’ Logs: Part Two if you think it will help.

Ideas and suggestions for new threads and such. We haven’t had a new one of these threads since June.

Continued from Suggestion Box, v. 2006.3.

Report your issues as they arrive, but post no spoilers, please.

Muse is up to 53 54 55 [thanks, Otzi and Kricket!] Amazon reviews now, mostly raves. You can read them all here.

We’re opening this thread to comments, because why not?

She’s around…somewhere…we think.

This month’s random thread, continued, continued.

Obey The Rules. Consult The Guide. Review Part 2. Have fun!

The original “Muse Movie?” thread just hit 400 posts, a sure sign that it’s long past time to start a sequel. Here goes.

A perennial favorite. Version 2006.2 flourished briefly in May.

The second annual, on Tuesday the 17th. Phoebe will have to explain it again–we forget. Or maybe it’s self-explanatory.

That’s National Novel Writing Month, a worldwide outbreak of madness that takes place in November–all November. Some of you plan to take part. Here’s a place to talk about it.

All kinds.