Valar Guild

January 3, 2016 Sunday Meeting

5pm EST (UTC/GMT - 5)

AIM: Valar Guild Meetingplace

Back to News
Transcript work by Ar-Pharazon and Varda.

Attending: (6)
    Arien-(Valar)/AriehnV, ArPharazonV, Elladan-(V)/scott92027, Lenwe-(V)/perseid28, PallandoValar, and VardaValar1 (presiding)

Before-meeting
Meeting begins
Membership:
    Happy New Year!
Web:
    Art
    YouTubes
Gaming
Tolkien:
    Topic: JRRT's birthday today, and the effect he's had.
After -meeting:
    Ar-Pharazon: gaming news including flashgaming reviews.
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Before-meeting
You have just entered room "valarguildmeetingplace."
ArPharazonV: Aiya Pallando
VardaValar1 has entered the room.
VardaValar1: Aiya Phar and Pallando :-)
ArPharazonV: Aiya!
perseid28 has entered the room.
VardaValar1: Aiya Lenwe :-)
perseid28: Aiya!
ArPharazonV: Aiya!
ArPharazonV: Just hunting some treasures in WoW, won't stop me from talking here :-)
VardaValar1: ok
ArPharazonV: Got 70 treasures now, need 30 more until I finally get flight!
VardaValar1: All pages now uploaded. Been updating our site in various places as well as new art.
VardaValar1: go go!
VardaValar1: Flight is a huge help in WoW
ArPharazonV: There's a lot of fun in exploring all the hidden paths and slopes on foot, but once you've done all that, flight makes things much easier :-)
VardaValar1: True, and the exploring is required for flight rep, so it all works out.
ArPharazonV: Yep!
AriehnV has entered the room.
AriehnV: aiya all:-)
perseid28: Aiya!
VardaValar1: Aiya Arien :-)
VardaValar1: There, kin message of the day is up. :-)
ArPharazonV: Aiya!
AriehnV: and what is that?
VardaValar1: We will be getting to that in this meeting too. ;-)
AriehnV: Aiya Phar:-) thanks for the poke ^^ , was a long day for me today so forgive when i am not as talkative or mind present as usual ^^
VardaValar1: We'll try to be entertaining! Or at least pokey.
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VardaValar1: Elen sila lumenn' omentielvo!
VardaValar1: A star shines on the hour of our meeting!
VardaValar1: Membership:
VardaValar1: We are still here, at the beginning of a new year, since 1997. Thank you all for making it happen.
AriehnV: all right :-)
VardaValar1: Happy New Year!
VardaValar1: and I forgot to send invites, oops. Short pause.
VardaValar1: There we go. :-)
AriehnV: Happy New Year, Valarguild ! May the Valar shower you all with the blessings you need most :-)
ArPharazonV: Happy new year!
ArPharazonV: Remind me to save the transcript under the right year ;-)
VardaValar1: 2016, Phar, 2016. I had to fix the News page too.
VardaValar1: And one more invite. :-)
ArPharazonV: hehe
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VardaValar1: Web:
Art:
VardaValar1: We have new pictures from the Bohemian Weasel-(T) aka Soni Alcorn-Hender. She's not shy these days about her name, and has become an art celebrity in Tolkien circles.
VardaValar1: We're very fortunate that she's helping us illustrate our Tolkien Encyclopedia, thanks, Soni!
VardaValar1: "Arwen" Arwen riding
VardaValar1: "Gandalf" Gandalf smoking
VardaValar1: "Thranduil" Art challenge to draw in a cartoon fashion, more comments by the artist on the page for Thranduil.
VardaValar1: Here's what she had to say about this challenge:
VardaValar1: 31 Days of drawing, Day 5. The prompt: ‘A movie/TV character drawn in a cartoony way‘
VardaValar1: Even though he’s first and foremost a book character, the movie version makes a good subject: Thranduil.
VardaValar1: As a ‘cartoon’ it’s a failure: too many lines by about five-bajillion lines, and peculiarly Byzantine, but I like it anyway. :-)
VardaValar1: But I still (really) need to practise drawing cartoons and other simplified, non OCD things.
scott92027 has entered the room.
VardaValar1: Inks and liquid leaf on scatty cardstock. 8×10
VardaValar1: /endquote
scott92027: Aiya, brethren!
VardaValar1: Aiya Elladan!
scott92027: Afk a few. :-)
scott92027: brb
AriehnV: Aiya Elladan :-)
ArPharazonV: Aiya!
ArPharazonV: I guess it can be tough to make your art simpler and flatter, if you're used to detailed work.
VardaValar1: The magic of scrolling.
ArPharazonV: Easy to overdraw.
VardaValar1: I like what she calls her ocd style really well anyway. Cartoons are intended to be simple so the figure can be drawn frequently in many positions while still being recognizable.
VardaValar1: Think Charlie Brown.

VardaValar1: YouTubes from Meriadoc-(V), the first being over the practicality of the swords in the Lord of the Rings movies. This guy does all sorts of sword-testing.
VardaValar1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we5yu1KKCuU
VardaValar1: Then they tried out Boromir's sword in a test of its own:
VardaValar1: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGRpq0kxrCM
VardaValar1: Caution, those videos are a bit long.
VardaValar1: You can also find them on our News page.
VardaValar1: which also has Meriadoc's letter along with the videos. By his permission.

VardaValar1: On the Games Site, Eonwe has been busy coding what he trusts will be improvements. Feel free to comment and let him know, here or by email.
VardaValar1: He said in an email:
VardaValar1: Gaming News up.
VardaValar1: I also added the updates to the Games Site I've been working on. Figured I might as well add the changes in with the new year :} Might not make the copy/paste for the meeting minutes quite as easy, but I think it helps the different news items stand apart from eachother and would be easier to skim through for someone interested in certain finding kinds of gaming news. Of course, opinions always welcome.
VardaValar1: You'll notice in the submenus for the primary menu, submenus with tertiary menus now have an arrow to indicate that.
VardaValar1: /endquote
VardaValar1: Here's the link straight to it:
VardaValar1: http://valarguild.org/gaming
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VardaValar1: Gaming:
VardaValar1: WoW:
VardaValar1: See what's going on this month in WoW.
VardaValar1: Diablo 3:
VardaValar1: Season 4 has ended. Season 5 begins in a couple of weeks.
VardaValar1: LotRO:
VardaValar1: Hobnangians is going this weekend. Chicken ball for teams!
VardaValar1: with chickens, yes.
scott92027: I honestly can't stand Hobnanigans, but if you guys are up, I'll play
scott92027: I need to dust of Galenne
VardaValar1: It's more for the barter for me, and being with buddies. Be glad to do other things instead.
VardaValar1: Speaking of,
VardaValar1: Some of us have been hitting the skirmishes, the Big Battles (ok, Epic Battles) including all the newest ones.
VardaValar1: We've been finding good stuff such as Blemished Symbols of the Elder King, Supreme Essences, and of course the marks and medallions to work up the tiers on our Imbued Legendaries.
VardaValar1: We've also been trying to help each other through group quests, mainly Epic Quests.
VardaValar1: That's what we've been doing this week, and will continue doing of course. The more the merrier!
VardaValar1: We also have a lot of crafting going on.
VardaValar1: Elladan, we'd be happy to include you in our shenanigans, when you feel up to it. :-)
VardaValar1: *drags Lenwe in too*
VardaValar1: Any other general gaming news? Business? Suggestions?
VardaValar1: Bingo Boffin goodies picked up lately?
ArPharazonV: Hearthstone announced new card back for January
VardaValar1: ah hah!
ArPharazonV: Related to Valentine's Day this time, or "Love is in the Air" as it's called in the Warcraft world.
ArPharazonV: They appear to have changed their card backs for holiday events to be gotten in the month *before* the event happens, which is a smart idea, it means you get to use the card back when it's appropriate :-)
VardaValar1: That makes sense.

VardaValar1: Apparently I was unclear about the videos. Those were mailed to us by Meriadoc-V but not made by him.
VardaValar1: Ready for...
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VardaValar1: Tolkien!
VardaValar1: This is January 3rd, that very special day when we celebrate
VardaValar1: JRR Tolkien's birthday!
ArPharazonV: Yay!
VardaValar1: At 9pm (could use Valar time which is EST), we join in with the Tolkien Society and other Tolkien fans to hoist a drink and say "The Professor", then take a sip or chug it all depending on the drink.
VardaValar1: If in LotRO, even if you don't have a drink handy, you can type /drink
VardaValar1: For those of you for whom that would be too late or a bad time, feel free to use local time.
VardaValar1: Or have an extra drink for every hour missed so far. ;-)
VardaValar1: We have a section on our Tolkien Site for the man himself. I may not have quite all the appropriate articles linked in but linked in a few more for the day. These are articles on our own site of course.
VardaValar1: http://valarguild.org/varda/Tolkien/encyc/articles/t/Tolkien/Tolkien.htm
VardaValar1: If you would like to write a piece concerning Tolkien or something about his works to fit in here, you know where you can find it.
scott92027: To the professor!
VardaValar1: To the Professor!
ArPharazonV: The Professor!
AriehnV: To the Professor!
ArPharazonV: Is it with or without the "to"?
VardaValar1: Don't need the to
VardaValar1: But it's quite common for use in toasts.
ArPharazonV: I've seen it used without "to" as well, usually in response.
VardaValar1: Aye, that works well
AriehnV: As it is ^^ Bruce just brought me a dram of Glenlivet (whisky)^^ , how very fitting ;-)
VardaValar1: Perfect! you can toast together. :-)
scott92027: I gave up hard liquor
scott92027: no bueno for me
VardaValar1: I'm fond of chocolate. ;-)
VardaValar1: No requirement for the toast to be alcoholic. Soda, or any other drink works fine. Just in memory of JRRT. :-)
ArPharazonV: Can you toast with chocolate?
VardaValar1: I can!
VardaValar1: *hoists a tall glass of chocolate milk* "The Professor!" /drink
ArPharazonV: That works.
VardaValar1: *wipes mouth with back of hand* It does indeed. /happy
VardaValar1: Anyway, we have tons of articles, stories, art, music, language studies revived thanks to one man.
VardaValar1: Whole worlds made in video games, movies, fiction.
VardaValar1: He's given us a lot.
VardaValar1: So many have been inspired to go on and make high fantasy fiction thanks to him. Shelves have been filled with improved works.
VardaValar1: and some of us are right now standing in Middle-earth in LotRO.
ArPharazonV: Internet wouldn't be the same without him.
VardaValar1: Aye, we're under the influence!
ArPharazonV: Warcraft wouldn't exist either, I suspect.
VardaValar1: True, has a lot of orcs.
ArPharazonV: Orcs, Elves, Scottish-sounding dwarves.
VardaValar1: Wherever we see halflings and orcs, we know who started it.
VardaValar1: That I don't get. Gimli etc didn't sound Scottish to me in the books.
VardaValar1: Arien, you'd know best on that one. If you're on, would love your comment there.
VardaValar1: She's probably fighting her way past baddies in Diablo 3. :-)
ArPharazonV: There's even a balrog (fine, a Baleroc) in the Firelands raid.
ArPharazonV: Ironically, now he is the one preventing people from passing a bridge.
ArPharazonV: And I believe there were some Dark Riders present in an early major questline in the Duskwood.
AriehnV: ah hold on the Dwarves and the Scots do have something in common ^^]
VardaValar1: EverQuest had a lot of Tolkienesque elements.
AriehnV: love the mountains, have a good reputation as warriors and last not to least they do like their liquid , even though it tends to be beer/ale rather than spirits like whisky or similar
VardaValar1: Good points.
AriehnV: bravery and courage
VardaValar1: That could also have been the Nordic influence, and English
AriehnV: loyalty when given , and not given lightly , they think twice before they pledge themselves because they do feel honorbound to their oath where they put it
AriehnV: and ... they give it where it pleases them .. not necessarily the wisest choice .. but where they feel they can bind their honor to
VardaValar1: Sounds very dwarvish, aye.
AriehnV: thats why you find Scots fighting the English and fighting for them ;-)
ArPharazonV: Don't hear much about dwarves fighting dwarves though.
AriehnV: nope but Dwarves who don't align them obviously with the Valar and when you think about them they are rather roguish
AriehnV: Mim and his sons for example
VardaValar1: Mim is from the early time when JRRT was considering going with the dwarves being more or less evil.
AriehnV: but over all its a funny idea to give them Scottish accents ^^ , but its fitting and i like hearing it :-), . it sounds quite .. earthen as well
VardaValar1: But the Scottish accent isn't in Tolkien's writings, is it?
AriehnV: not that i knnow of no
ArPharazonV: Gotta rewrite it then!
VardaValar1: I wonder where that meme came from.
AriehnV: idea of films and games :-)
VardaValar1: Phar, that would be a lot of writing. :-)
VardaValar1: Started somewhere. I'm guessing the drinking made them think of Scots so that was the accent used for vocals.
AriehnV: i think so as well
AriehnV: and the way the dwarves behave in Rivendell in the extended Version of The Hobbit I .. yes i can see Scots doing that "having a good night out"
ArPharazonV: Someone mentions Scottish dwarves already being in videogames from the 80s and 90s, like Baldur's Gate.
ArPharazonV: As I google.
VardaValar1: Heh, I remember Baldur's Gate as being a new game.
ArPharazonV: I remember Warcraft II being a new game, and that was a few years earlier.
VardaValar1: *tries to stop dating self, fails*
ArPharazonV: Trying to remember if they had dwarves.
VardaValar1: I remember Pong, but *ahem*. No dwarves there.
ArPharazonV: There was a gnome in a flying machine...
ArPharazonV: *searches further*
ArPharazonV: Ah, dwarven demolition squad.
ArPharazonV: And the gryphon riders of course.
ArPharazonV: Yeah, those were definitely Scottish.
ArPharazonV: There's also the Warhammer thing, which is apparently even earlier.
VardaValar1: WarCraft had orcs from the earliest time
ArPharazonV: Oh yes, that's true. But Warcraft I was literally orcs vs humans, no other races aiding them. Well, some summoned demons/elementals/beasts. And a few neutral ogres. And skeletons.
ArPharazonV: Dwarves, Gnomes, Elves, Trolls, all entered in Warcraft II... but also, mostly, tolkien inspired :-)
AriehnV: yes many things in many worlds ^^ .. many worlds, well universes i should say, wouldn't exist without Papa Tolkien
VardaValar1: Orcs are from Tolkien, so aye, from the get-go.
AriehnV: .. saying which i did find the three ogres in very familiar positions in Spires of Arak as i think i mentioned before ^^
ArPharazonV: Ah yes, I remember those :-)
VardaValar1: Rather Trollish? :-)
AriehnV: indeed hehe , like those in the film
ArPharazonV: It helps that the Ogron are meant to be rock-like.
VardaValar1: An asteroid was named after Tolkien.
VardaValar1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2675_Tolkien
VardaValar1: Oxford made a professorship in Tolkien's name.
VardaValar1: Some spiny South African lizards were named after Smaug, the genus.
ArPharazonV: Should've been Glaurungs, unless they had wings.
VardaValar1: Smaug giganticus:
VardaValar1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_girdled_lizard
VardaValar1: No wings, alas.
VardaValar1: Good point about the Glaurungs.
VardaValar1: Would anyone like to give a Tolkien Moment? Feel free to take a bit of time to look one up.

VardaValar1: "Arise, arise, Riders of Theoden!
VardaValar1: Fell deeds awake: fire and slaughter!
VardaValar1: spear shall be shaken, shield be splintered,
VardaValar1: a sword-day, a red day, ere the sun rises!
VardaValar1: Ride now, ride now! Ride to Gondor!"
VardaValar1: -"The Ride of the Rohirrim", RotK
ArPharazonV: Good speech. Short, to the point. No promises except for that of battle.
ArPharazonV: Some good metaphor.
VardaValar1: "With that, he seized a great horn from Guthlaf his banner-bearer,
VardaValar1: and he blew such a blast upon it that it burst asunder."
VardaValar1: /endquote
VardaValar1: ahh, some more just have to add. ;-)
VardaValar1: "And straightaway all the horns in the host were lifted up in music,
VardaValar1: and the blowing of the horns in Rohan in that hour
ArPharazonV: Good lungs on him, then, if he can break a horn by blowing through it.
VardaValar1: was like a storm upon the plain and a thunder in the mountains."
VardaValar1: /endquote
VardaValar1: Aye, got all worked up. And must have been in good shape even after Wormtongue.
VardaValar1: That section just keeps going with great imagery, let you guys read it. :-)

AriehnV: was it Pippin who heard the horns in Minas Tirith and could never after hear a horns sound without getting a tear in his eyes>
AriehnV: ?
VardaValar1: Probably.
VardaValar1: You could look it up and type it as a Tolkien Moment?
AriehnV: i am searching for it .. bear with me
VardaValar1: No worries
AriehnV: I couldnt find any reference to horns in the book but how is this .
.
AriehnV: Merry after waking up in the houses of healing
AriehnV: "I am hungry. What is the time?"
ArPharazonV: Elevenses?
AriehnV: "Past supper-time" said Pippn, " though I daresay I could bring you something, if they will let me.
" They will indeed, " said Gandalf, "And anything that this Rider of Rohan may desire, if it can be found in Minas Tirith, where his name is in honour." ..
"Good!" said Merry, "Then I would like supper first, and after that a pipe." At that his face clouded. "No , not a pipe. I don't think I ' ll ever smoke again." ..
"Why not ?" said Pippin.
"Well , " said Merry slowly. " He is dead. It has brought it all back to me. He said he was sorry he never had a chance of talking herb-lore with me. Almost the last thinghe ever said. "
AriehnV: ~"I don't think I ' ll ever be able to smoke again without thinking of him, and that day, Pippin, when he rode up to Isengard and was so polite." ..
"Smoke then and think of him, " said Aragorn. " For he was a gentle heart and a great king and kept his oaths, and he rose out of the shadows to a last fair morning. Though your service was brief, it should be a memory glad and honorable to the end of your days."
/endquote

ArPharazonV: Fitting to today's earlier topic. Better to honor the dead than to avoid thinking of them.
AriehnV: which reminds me of a picture of the man himself :
AriehnV: http://www.infiltrato.it/spettacoli-culture/j-r-r-tolkien-luomo-il-filologo-lo-scrittore/
AriehnV: just the picture ^^
ArPharazonV: The pipe, yes :-)
ArPharazonV: I bet it was good pipeweed, he's smiling.
AriehnV: :-)
VardaValar1: Thanks for the picture :-)
AriehnV: your welcome :-)
VardaValar1: Do we have any more Tolkien Moments?
VardaValar1: If not, we'll move on to
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VardaValar1: After-meeting
VardaValar1: Free chat, including more Tolkien Moments if you like. :-)
AriehnV: . err I ll head into Irmo's realm i fear ^^
VardaValar1: Rest well, and thank you for the Moment and the picture!
AriehnV: i have a look again for that thing with the horns . i think it might be in the chapter of Theoden's funeral ^^ but i ll tell you next week
ArPharazonV: Namarie, Arien!
VardaValar1: Something to look forward to. :-)
AriehnV: Namarie Pharzi :-) Namarie all :-D
AriehnV has left the room.
ArPharazonV: "Pharzi", that takes me back.. didn't Menelvagor always call me that?
VardaValar1: hehe
VardaValar1: Hope he's doing well.
VardaValar1: Namarie Sunshine
VardaValar1: [World] Zarros: 'As a celebration of Tolkiens birthday PLOI is putting on a short play 'The Council of Elrond', 8pm server time on the Methel Stage in Bywater' [Note: play attended by Varda, Marigold, and Lenwe amongst the large crowd.]
ArPharazonV: If it's the book-version, "short" might not be accurate.
scott92027 has left the room.
VardaValar1: Agreed :-)

ArPharazonV: I'll give my gaming news then.
VardaValar1: okie dokie
ArPharazonV: Starting with flashgames, while I didn't see anything new among the daily badges.. I did have some time on my hands this week, and played a few short, recently badged games on Kongregate.
ArPharazonV: All puzzle games.
ArPharazonV: http://www.kongregate.com/games/PasKuda13/coloruid gives you fields with particles in certain colors, and you have a limited amount of moves per level to turn them all into the same color. Bit of a logic game, but not too difficult.
ArPharazonV: http://www.kongregate.com/games/zedarus/starlight-2 gives you a bunch of stars with lines collecting them, and you have to turn them around to identify pictures from a certain angle. Nice relaxing music too, and not as difficult as it sounds once you get the hang of it :-)
ArPharazonV: And if you want more of that, there's also http://www.kongregate.com/games/zedarus/starlight-xmas the christmas version!
ArPharazonV: If you're just looking for some relaxing games to fill a bit of time with, look no further than those ;-)
perseid28: I just tried those last 2 games you mentioned--they're great fun
VardaValar1: :-)
ArPharazonV: Good to hear :-)
perseid28: some of them are pretty tricky though
perseid28: probably just me
ArPharazonV: They mostly follow the same type of solution-solving, so maybe it gets easier with practice.

ArPharazonV: Right, my Blizzard gaming news is next!
ArPharazonV: Diablo 3: With the season ended, I hopped onto my previously-seasonal wizard to get all the previously-seasonal stash items from the mail.
ArPharazonV: Turns out I'm running out of stash space with all the different legendaries I've collected over the seasons.
ArPharazonV: I should probably feed them all to the Cube to harness their powers, but I'd rather wait and see if the new patch and season come with more stash space.
ArPharazonV: Heroes of the Storm: Not much new levelling, got a few levels on Lunara though. The 50-game quest for Winter Veil is going well, I've done about 35 now, and I think I have a few more weeks time to get there.
ArPharazonV: Hearthstone: Took last month's card back, "Shaman Thrall" and used it for my shaman (Thrall). No surprise there. If they do more of these class card backs I might not even change them out again later unless a really good one comes along.
ArPharazonV: WoW:
ArPharazonV: Winter Veil is over now! I kept doing the daily quests, and by luck, I managed to get the new mount as a reward on thursday the 31st, one of the last days it was still possible to get.
ArPharazonV: My fleet construction is done now; I actually managed to get all 3 missing ships I wanted, randomly built on one night (again thursday, was my lucky day).
ArPharazonV: If anyone playing WoW is interested: I now have both murloc ships, the arakkoa ship, 4 different human-crewed ships because of their success chance bonus, and a dwarf battleship because I was lacking a second one of those and they give bonus gold on those ever so useful gold-rewarding missions.
ArPharazonV: And for the last 2 slots I kept the two original boats everyone gets at the start; I just keep them on the 100% success oil-runs because they're not very efficient otherwise, but I just couldn't get myself to get rid of them. Nostalgia, eh!
ArPharazonV: Still fighting the legendary pet battles in Tanaan, and got the Nightmare Bell pet as a random reward. Only 2 more pets to go from those fights, but it could still take a while.
ArPharazonV: As a sequel to last week's achievement raid we did another one tonight, but only managed to do one of the four missing achievements, missing one of them in the last few seconds of the fight. Bit disappointing, but we'll return to them some day, preferably with a larger group.
ArPharazonV: And finally, flight for this expansion is almost in my grasp! I explored around Draenor for quite a while this week, getting up to 80 treasures found out of the 100 needed. I expect to get the last 20 on tuesday, giving me the ability to fly before the end of the reset. Exploring the continent on foot (and mount) has been fun, but being able to fly should really make the daily routine a lot faster, and also aid in future projects I still aim to do here, like archeology.
ArPharazonV: I'm going to miss running around the little passages and slopes, though, most notably in Tanaan, Gorgrond and Frostfire Ridge. But at some point you just have to accept you've seen it all ;-)
ArPharazonV: And that's my gaming news for this week!
VardaValar1: Thank you, Phar :-)
ArPharazonV: saving and sending transcript
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