[Amarinth]

hello child [img]smilies/smile.gif[/img]

i've been meaning with what little time i have to post on your thread but haven't really gotten down to it, but now after reading mr. underhill's post i feel really obliged to. notwithstanding the fact that i have been an early though completely passive member of the BD, i understand what mr. underhill meant and share recognition of the experience of change in the BD. members who used to dominate the boards conking out, the shift from the literary to a more existential approach to lotr, the textural add-ins of the movie, etc.,...the BD has certainly grown beyond recognition.

i 1st read lotr when i was 12, and sil when i was 18, and for 20 years i've been regurgitating tolkien, but never had i a deeper appreciation of it as a piece of literature until i began reading posts in the BD. the movie has brought forth imagery of ME landscape and characterization my own imagination could scarce have contrived, but that's about it. the books having lived in me for so long still dominate my perception of ME. i guess that carries over to my appreciation for BD, in the way that having been involved in it for so long, whatever growth and change could not alter my first impressions of it. i do just wish the oldies would come back, nevermind if some of them intimidate the hell out of me [img]smilies/biggrin.gif[/img].