There you go.

While the story and the scope of the books is alluring, I've seldom seen so much misplaced praise heaped on a writer as I have with Tolkien. It could be that so many readers brought so much themselves to these books at relatively early ages, and there's a sense of accomplishment in having conquered them that they've raised them in estimation beyond their station.

To successfully slog through the soporific mire that is Tolkien to grasp the solid core of it -- there's a good and human story and an arc of wonderful fantasy in there, however obscured by Tolkien's oddly scholarly, never throw anything away, approach -- is a feat that understandably someone would want to make the most of. That's very human, and who among us hasn't done something like this, usually without realizing it. We naturally esteem anything that is central to a personal accomplishment. I made it through them once and have occasionally dipped back in for a reminder, but for all the desire I expect to ever have to actually reread the source material I probably should sell off the slipcase version of the LotR trilogy that's out on a shelf in the living room.

The movies, on the other hand, were a joy for me.

As always, this is simply my experience and opinion. Personal truths. To those who enjoy Tolkien and don't care for the adaptations to screen: Rejoice! The books are long-since written and essentially immutable, waiting for you to revisit again and again.* Peter Jackson cannot harm them or you.


* Whenever you're in the need to drop off to sleep within 15 minutes. Sorry, sorry, I can't help it.

I'm really not into cars, as I see them solely as a mode of transportation, but from what I've seen, the Fiesta looks to be a nice little car. Plus, it gets good gas mileage, so that's a huge bonus in my opinion.

At the moment I am, though I don't know if that'll hold through tomorrow night. Case is hitting tomorrow.

There's no info in your Have/Want list and no link to a trade thread. As I don't go to the trading forum unless it's by following a specific link, I'd never know if you have a thread there.

If you don't pull a MODOK, let me know. I got you covered bro. I have already completed my set, so just let me know what you got outta Cap for trade and I'll help you out if you need it. Sound good?

K-ness: I haven't really do any serious car shopping in a long time. I know some 4-cylinder cars are better than others and can last a long time if cared for, but can offer no guidance that you couldn't -- I'd just be looking up ratings and checklists on various models.

I'm glad that I've discovered that you DO have a limit.

Do you think the airlines will give us a two-fer?

But you're totally wrong about me. I would have liked nothing more than to see any indication that Peter Jackson was going to make anything other than a Fast and the Furriest film with elves, dwarves, wizards, goblins, dragons and hobbits. I really and truly would.

The anime hair reference was about the star-head guy. He looks like Yu-Go-Blow! (Yu-Gi-Oh!)

F: Found
O: On
R: Road
D: Dead

D: Driver
R: Returned
O: On
F: Foot

F: "Flipped"
O: Over
R: Rebuilt
D: Dodge

F: Fix
O: Or
R: Repair
D: Daily

Ah, cool! You've completed it, or just completed the portions you're interested in? The only parts I don't have are MODOK, Squirrel Girl, Capsicle, Capwoldf and Rajhaz. I know I want MODOK and Capsicle, but am undecided on the others, including the Weapon X and Captain I've already pulled. The only Cap SR extra I have at the moment is Quasar, though that will be changing by sometime Monday night, likely growing somewhere from three to seven.

I know that my Chicago buddy managed to score his MODOK yesterday. He and I may be doing some trading come Tuesday night when his case is opened, but there are many unknowns. Once he and I straighten out possible trade issues after his case opening I'll be moving ahead, though whether or not I'll still be looking for anything from Cap or not isn't clear.

I'm moving here and there to update my Haves. Just last night I added a few strays from back in Supernova, Origin and maybe one or two other sets. I'm in the mood to do a little more of that today -- a sure sign that I have some other work I need to do. My aim once I get the rest of my Cap extras (a legion of them) in will be to try to use them to trade for pieces from other sets I didn't complete.

I think that american cars in general have come a long way since the nineties. I swear that I must be turning into the anti-haven or something. As I said before I have a ford now and am quite happy with it. Really all you can do with any car is pay the extra money for the extended warranty. As anyone who has any car will tell you and having owned a car yourself you know that whatever brand, make, model, year the car is something will go wrong eventually. Get the warranty and when things crop up because you know something will you won't loose your shirt.

That's pretty much how things work for me. I want reliable, useful, economical and comfortable.

My work commute is roughly 13 miles round trip, so I don't have the same concerns about that I did 11 years ago when I was putting over 80 miles a day M-F just covering the work routine. Still, I would like to have something I could take longer trips in -- someday I'd like to drive back down to Myrtle Beach for a week, for instance.

I have to say I've become very fond of minivans over the past dozen or so years. Plenty of headroom and room in general, I'm comfortable in them.

Disagreeing does not make you the Anti-Haven.

It's cool.

I did preface my statements by saying that my experiences were long ago and that things may have changed.

I have found, however, with vehicles of the same mileage and model year, that things go wrong at different times or don't go wrong at all depending on the maker. But all that knowledge comes from being around a LOT of cars. If you don't have someone in the industry seeing them get old, then you don't have that benefit, and I don't have that anymore.

Alright. I'm just going to get an RX-8. And a Viper. And a Transformer.

I was also seriously considering a Hyundai Accent.

The thing about the Fiesta, I can probably get a new one for 15,000 or less (after rebates and stuff), get up to 47 MPG, and not have to worry about a payment (since I would likely pay cash for it; hey, it pays to be frugal).

If you wanted to do MODOK for Quasar, I'm down for that. Let me know after your pulls.

And it's totally completed, down to the last figure!!!

Definitely kept in mind. I'll let you know as soon as I know. I'm just trying to keep the chain of nodding agreements I have with people in order.