Today the Danish Minister of Culture presented a list of canonised Danish culture. It's not suppossed to be a laughing matter but I can't help myself. Donald duck, large buildings and pop-music altogether into top-twelve hit-lists. I must apologise they are presented in Danish only.

Architecture
Art
Design
Film
Literature
Music
Performance/Theatre
Children's culture

It is simply ridiculous. On the serious side to it, this list is good for nothing. It is entertainment news and hopefully forgotten in a day or two.

I don't know why but at some point I knew I had to take this test to find out more about my personality.
What male archetype are you?
... and as everyone could predict I happened to be Lord of the Underworld (Hades, Osiris, Arawn).

This fact did of course not help me very much to find my true self, so I had to take the real test:
What D&D character are you?

The result was inevitable, I was as you might have guessed already the Chaotic Good Halfling Fighter Cleric.

Now, you may get this mental picture of me as a hobbit sitting on his throne of bones surrounded by skeleton warriors. I know of course muggles and androids can't see that but anyone with insights beyond recognition knows who I am. Bwahahahaha!

Watching Ringers, I'll have to admit it was a tremendous statement of the Tolkien fan-culture. It took the long brave step to depict the Tolkien-scene from the hippie counterculture of the late 1960s to the present day gaming geek culture. It is important to realise that indeed this movie is about the fans not about Tolkien's work and must be seen from this point of view. Otherwise one would have to sprint away screaming.

I have only three issues with this documentary:

1) To much focus on 1970s hobbit-rock-n-roll. Most of it is actually monstrous pathetic. But the main reason for neglecting this part is that it had very little impact on the Tolkien fan-culture in general.

2) To little focus on the intellectuals approach to the Lord of the Rings. This is what to be expected. Still, it is a major flaw. Because the work as a whole is an intellectual work. Not some kind of sword and sorcery fancy. Furthermore, I think this way of approaching Tolkien's work will become more influential, thus having more and more impact on the Tolkien fan-culture.

3) To little focus on the influence gaming activities have had on how Tolkien's work is percieved today. Thereby diminishing the impression of the cultural gap between boomers and gamers.

Susanna Clarke has of course been "victim" of fan fiction. It seems as if the original author is quite positive as long as it is written with a sense of style.
A fan-writer by the name of Jennifer-Oksana has created a mix between Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell and the movie Pirates of the Caribbean called Introduction to the Books of Caribbean Magic, 2nd Edition. According to melusinehr, Susanna Clarke liked this particular fan-fic tale.

The 10 most commonly used works for fan fiction on fanfiction.net

Harry Potter
Lord of the Rings
Gundam
Yu-Gi-Oh
Final Fantasy
Dragon Ball Z
Buffy: The Vampire Slayer
Digimon
Naruto
Sailor Moon

Please notice there are two fantasy works at the top of the list, seven manga, and one fantasy-horror tv-series.
Did you know that 9 out of 10 fanwriters are in fact women?

Went to see the Narnia movie. The adaption was very close to the original - even though the Jungian was popping up. Andrew Rilstone has made a thoughtful review on his blog.
Although I do not think Tilda Swinton should win an oscar.

I'm reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. It has been compared to the works of Tolkien but this comparisson doesn't really make any sense. Even though they've got elves and magic in common they are very different. Like Tolkien she takes her work seriously. Compared to Tolkien not seriously enough though, however that comparison is unfair.
No it's more like War and Peace meets Harry Potter. It's like the roleplaying game Castle Falkenstein with the Unseelie Court lurking in the background but without the steam-punk.
It is set in England during the Napoleonic Wars in which two wizards are fighting against Napoleon thorugh the use of magic. The mood is delightful and I would like to recommend it to anyone out there reading my stuff.