Two days ago we got a lot of ice. "A lot," that is, for Georgia. Meaning there was no real hindrance to drive, but everything shut down anyway. Kind of pleasant, actually.

Yesterday we held the "Lord of the Rings Movie Marathon" in the basement of the Student Center. All three movies, in widescreen extended edition, were shown from 10 am to 10 pm. It was pretty fun, but (of course) there were those who just couldn't stop whispering, or asking questions, or shuffling cards (!!), and I kept having to tell people to shush. I tried not to come down too hard, but it has to be done, or the people who want to watch the movies will get annoyed and leave -- and then you're left watching the movies with a bunch of people that you'd rather not watch movies with.

At its peak, we had 18 people present, and we probably had two or three times that number stop by for a while and watch a half-hour or so and leave. It stayed pretty solidly between 12-16 for most of the day.

The only disappointment was that the concession bar downstairs didn't open because the ice "prevented" the people from coming and working. So I had to eat roasted peanuts from my office for supper.

The movies contain several references that are never explained. The books explain them, so if you've read them, you understand what's going on, but the movies sometimes mention them without explaining them. So, I made a handy reference sheet to pass out: "What You Need to Know for Lord of the Rings." I have reproduced it below:

Who are the Valar?

The Valar are an angelic order charged with carrying out God’s will on earth. They made an earthly paradise for the Elves in the West, called the Undying Land. When the sorrow and grief of extended years becomes too great a burden, the Elves go to the Grey Havens on the western shore of Middle-Earth, where ships await to take them permanently across the ocean to their eternal home, where all grief and cares are washed away.

What is Numenor?

Numenor was the island in the West granted to the kings of men by the Valar in reward for their service to the Elves against the Enemy, Morgoth, under whom Sauron was but a lieutenant, back in the First Age. The men of Numenor were also granted a lifespan thrice that of normal man, but immortality (and the Undying Land) was denied them.

From the highest mountain of Numenor, one could just barely make out the Undying Lands far to the West. As the power of the kings of Numenor grew, they became jealous of the Elves, and eventually decided to invade the Undying Land, and wrest the gift of immortality from the Valar by force of arms.

The Valar destroyed the fleet before the first ship landed. In wrath, they destroyed the island of Numenor. Those faithful to the Valar, who had opposed the invasion, fled the destruction to Middle-Earth, where they came to be called Dunedain (“Men of the West”). There, their leader Elendil and his son Isildur founded the kingdom of Gondor (and thus the story begins!)

Why didn’t the Valar help Middle-Earth against Sauron?

They did, just not openly. Further explanations would constitute extreme spoilers.

Other miscellaneous facts:

Galadriel is Elrond’s mother-in-law. Elrond’s wife (Arwen’s mother) left long ago for the Undying Lands.