Best Post of the Week

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Bêthberry, what a wonderful thread idea! I'd have seconded your nomination for Kransha's great post if I hadn't read The Saucepan Man's post on the 'Reunification of the Entish Bow' RPG first. As it is, I must cast my vote for that one. My reason(s):

This is parody at its very best! The names are hilarious, the characters well-drawn, their dialogues side-splitting, the ideas sparkle with wit (Aerophaunts!!), the clever inclusions of movie allusions and non-LotR references, the descriptive writing, especially at the beginning, commented by the sentence:

One thing that could be said about the weather of Muddled-Mirth was that it had a profound sense of occasion.

And all of that so well-written that the only complaint could be the one Tolkien heard about his book - it wasn't long enough!

I could quote the whole thing, but go ahead and read it yourself!!

[Bêthberry]

Estelyn, a superb nomination and one which I'm sure makes SaucepanMan feel better about how Kransha upstaged him on the Why are there no women in the Fellowship thread.

I am in a quandry here, as I have found another post which I think stands head and shoulders above the rest--and this isn't a quick shampoo job to get rid of the flakes.

Am I allowed two nominations in one week? Can I say this is a tie? Yes, I believe I can.

Therefore, let me call upon kudos for Imladris' Post #1 on her thread The Capturing of Myth in the Movies forum.

Movie threads are rarely as well argued and well-thought out as Imladris' thread here. Often, they depend upon a simple statement of "well I liked" or "this is just my opinion" rather than a reasoned argument. (Not to be 'holier than thou' here, I've been guilty of this simplistic response myself.)

Imladris provides a clear sense of what she means by myth (well, okay, she cribbed it from Lewis, but she acknowledges that *insert winking smilie here as I might have used up my limit*) and by Peter Jackson's treatment of myth. She provides examples which demonstrate her point.

More importantly, I think she also gets us thinking about what a mythological impulse is. We all tend, I think, to refer off hand to Tolkien's mythology or Legendarium but we don't often ask just what it is that makes Tolkien's fantasy a mythology.

Definitely worth a read and very deserving of thoughtful replies!

[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by Bêthberry

... makes SaucepanMan feel better about how Kransha upstaged him on the Why are there no women in the Fellowship thread.

Aw, how could I feel too bitter! After all I was just going for a wind-up.

Thanks for the nomination, Esty. It does make me feel better about staying up to the wee hours to finish the post and feeling very bleary-eyed the next morning at work.

I don't wish to make this thread too REB-centric, but I do feel compelled to nominate Mithadan's latest post in REB2 (I can't do that link to a single post thing, can anyone explain? Edit: I can now, thanks Helen).

This, to me, goes beyond good parody. It skilfully merges the parody of two different genres, not just by mention but by capturing the spirit of both at the same time. We have the wraith confused about his nature, a wonderful characterisation in itself, a reference to the wraith's well-known fear of water and a novel remedy for it, superb incorporation of other ongoing characters and, the icing on the cake, not just one but two fantastic parody characters from a well-known sci-fi classic. Can't you just hear Captain Cirkdan enunciating those words? As for a parrot (Dr Macaw, no less) uttering those famous words ... well, what more can I say?

This has just gotta be best (humorous) post of the week, if not year.

[mark12_30]

Saucie, look at the upper-righthand corner of a post. There's a green "#" and a yellow number. Clicking on the yellow number will display just that post. Then link as usual.

Watch out where the Huskies go
And do not eat the yellow snow;
But if on yellow text you click
You will find a BD link.

[HerenIstarion]

Can it be done statistically? Say, the post getting most reputation + most views is the winner for a given time period. The least unit may be week, and we may make monthly/yearly bulletin by the end of each month/year.

[Bêthberry]

Well, HI, numerical quantifying is one way to go and that is certainly a possibility. I think, though, that the kind of tallying you are suggesting can be done onlyby BarrowWight and he is already very busy managing the site--look at the great new game of magnetic poetry he has added yesterday. Would he have time for doing weekly,monthly or yearly analysis like that?

But to tell you the truth, I was really more interested in personal statements, in the reasons given for nominating any particular post. Numbers demonstrate popularity, and popularity can determine style preferences, but I was interested in our ideas of what makes a great post. There are two points here.

First is the way different people have of explaining their admiration. SpM's explanation of why he liked Mithadan's post so much is related very much to our nature as a discussion forum. His reasons highlight the qualities of Mithadan's post in a way that simple tallies of numbers or 'hits' would not. This can lead us into consideration in particular detail of what we value or enjoy here at the Downs. We can become more aware of the strength of this forum.

His reasons also suggest something about his personality, just as Estelyn's reasons show her values and preferences. Just compare the two! This leads to the second point, that preferences and evaluations are unique. Sometimes meaningful or valuable ideas can be missed because they don't reflect the majority opinion. Just because a majority or plurality of people have rated one post does not mean that a different person's rating of another post cannot tell us something about what we value here at the Downs. We can learn from each other's opinion.

I have to admit that I have been too busy in RL to keep up with the formidable reading over all of this forum and so did not nominate any posts last week. (I wasn't even able to keep up with the Chapter by Chapter discussion. ) However, anyone is free to post here. The thread certainly doesn't depend on me and my reasons are only one person's opinion. Other Downers will have other preferences and tastes and they surely can make those known.

Right now, given the examples here, it seems to me that humour is of substantial worth to Downers, which is an interesting phenomenon, because, for example, davem is one of the two most highly rated posters here, but I cannot recall any of his contributions to Mirth or the RPGs. (not meaning to single out davem or to suggest any kind of question about the humorous posts or the rep system.) Maybe this week we will see 'serious' posts nominated here. Who can say.

But thanks, HI for bringing up the question and the thread. I'll keep my eye out for good posts to refer to here. And so should other Downers!

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Kransha posted a wonderful thread-initiating bundle of words recently, concerning one of my favourite characters Denethor. Check it out, c'est tres bien.