reccomended reading (a wonderful parody), but where can it be had??
somewhere over Buffalo
Hello all,
boy its been a while....I used to be a absolute JRRT
fanatic.
well, for all of you die-hard fans with a good sense
of humor, I strongly recommend you read:
Bored of The Rings, by the Harvard Lampoon Press
------------------
prob is I don't think its in print anymore, can anyone
confirm this?
st
Steve Kovner
>
> well, for all of you die-hard fans with a good sense
> of humor, I strongly recommend you read:
>
> Bored of The Rings, by the Harvard Lampoon Press
> ------------------
>
>
> prob is I don't think its in print anymore, can anyone
> confirm this?
>
>
You beat me to it. I was going to mention it. My copy is copyright
1969. The pages are yellowing, and it looks like it came down from
Middle Earth. No, I don't think it is in print, but perhaps the
publisher would reprint it if they got enough requests. (I don't have
their address; I could enter it later.)
I love it. I've read it several times (as I have LOTR), but, in this
case, it isn't much of an accomplishment as BOTR is < 200 pages.
The book describes the journey of the heroic boggie, Frito Bugger, to
dump the One Ring in the Pits of Doom, before Sorhed can use it to
conquer all of Lower-Middle Earth. He is aided by his servant, Spam;
Goodgulf the Wizard; and various men, dwarves and elves, such as
Arrowroot son of Arrowshirt, Gimlet son of Groin, Legolam. They face
terrible creatures, pig-riding Nozdrul, evil Narcs, a Ballhog, and
more. Of course, Goddam is waiting in the shadows, trying to recover
his precious ring.
Some samples for those who haven't seen it, from memory, so not fully accurate:
"Boggies are an unatractive but annoying people, whose numbers have
decreased rather precipitously ever since the bottom fell out of the
fairy tale market."
There are many puns.
One chapter is entitled, "Minas Troney in the Soup".
The book complete with a map, showing the Sty (where the Boggies
live), Fordor (Sorhed's domain), Minas Troney, the Mealy Mountains,
the Legendary Drillingrigs, etc.
There are also songs. "Elvish" is usually made up of old brand names:
"A Unicef clearacil / gibberish and drivel ..." tells of Unicef and
his search for a clean rest room.
"We are the merry, brave Roi-Tanners [Riders of Rohan]
We love der flags, salutes and banners.
Peace is what we want and will have,
And a piece of everything you have."
These can give you but a flavor of the book. If you can find it and
have a sense of humor, read it. And don't for get to read the
"reviews" and the excerpt inside the front cover. You won't find the
excerpt anywhere else in the book.
--
Steve Kovner
Mark Andersen
From memory:
We boggies are a hairy folk
who like to eat until we choke.
Loving all like friend and brother,
we hardly ever eat each other.
Ever hungering, ever thirsting,
never stop 'til bellies bursting,
chewing chops and pork and mutton,
a merry race of boring gluttons.
Gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble,
gobble, gobble, gobble, gobble.
Cindy Tittle Moore
There are a couple of more recent reprints of this book; I got a
copy (new) in 1980.
However, I *hated* this book. Your mileage (obviously) may vary, but
it seems like many people who love LOTR hate this parody, and many
people who love the parody find LOTR boring beyond belief. Whatever.
I mention this just so you 1) know that other people hate this book
and 2) it's perfectly OK if you find that you do hate it ;-).
Cheers,
--Cindy
--
Cindy Tittle Moore
Internet: tit...@ics.uci.edu | BITNET: clti...@uci.bitnet
UUCP: ...!ucbvax!ucivax!tittle | Usnail: PO Box 4188, Irvine CA, 92716
Vicki Holzhauer
>
>However, I *hated* this book. Your mileage (obviously) may vary, but
>it seems like many people who love LOTR hate this parody, and many
>people who love the parody find LOTR boring beyond belief.
I tried to read "Bored of the Rings" after my second or third reading
of LoTR. I wouldn't say I hated it, but I couldn't finish it. I like
humor as much as the next person, but this one wore thin pretty
quickly ...
--
Vicki Holzhauer, National Center for Atmospheric Research
Boulder, Colorado / / / / vi...@ncar.ucar.edu
William B Dwinnell
You guys didn't like Bored of the Rings? Hmmph. Well, some of my friends
didn't like it either, but I thought it was hysterical... maybe that just
says something about me... :)
William B Dwinnell
Vicki Holzhauer
Arglebargle IV
Hmmm, using a statistical database of about five, we can definitely draw
the conclusion that women hate Bored of the Rings, and men like it. Maybe
we can add this to the Three Stooges litmus test of gender (ASTM 785)....
Steven M.
Jeff Clausius
>In article <2BC4A92...@ics.uci.edu> tit...@ics.uci.edu (Cindy Tittle Moore) writes:
>>
>I tried to read "Bored of the Rings" after my second or third reading
>of LoTR. I wouldn't say I hated it, but I couldn't finish it. I like
>humor as much as the next person, but this one wore thin pretty
>quickly ...
I don't really know if one can appreciate BoTR without recognizing it for
what it was, a cheap 60-70ish parody. If one can realize that the book
was written in a decade with flower children, the Mama's and Papas, and Vietnam,
perhaps one will understand and love the crazy humor of this period. Not
to mention that BoTR is Nat'l Lampoon material.
Don't get me wrong, I loved the book. How can you not love Tom Pop-a-pil
and his poems. This stuff is a Nat'l Lampoon classic.
Perhaps if you want, you can try reading BoTR by keeping in mind that this
is a PARODY, and the time frame that it was written in. But if you don't
feel like agonizing through it, and I don't blame you, sit down with
THe Hobbit and re-enjoy the great writings of a master.
Jeff Clausius
University of Illinois
Dyer Lytle CCS
> Don't get me wrong, I loved the book. How can you not love Tom Pop-a-pil
>and his poems. This stuff is a Nat'l Lampoon classic.
Wow, I don't have my copy of BoTR anymore but I seem to remember that
Tom Bombadil was called Tim Benzedrine. Where did you find "pop-a-pil"?
or is that your own tranliteration of the text?
-Dyer
--
Dyer Lytle, National Optical Astronomy Observatories, Tucson, AZ, 602-323-4136
Internet: ly...@noao.edu SPAN: NOAO::LYTLE (NOAO=5355)
Paul Fritschle
are not good in finding it.
--
Paul Fritschle pfri...@skid.PS.UCI.EDU
Have you hugged YOUR shoggoth today?
Paul Fritschle
>The book describes the journey of the heroic boggie, Frito Bugger, to
>dump the One Ring in the Pits of Doom, before Sorhed can use it to
^^^^^^^^^^^^
You mean the 'Zazu Pits'. (I believe Zazu was an actress in the
forties and fifties.
>conquer all of Lower-Middle Earth. He is aided by his servant, Spam;
>Goodgulf the Wizard; and various men, dwarves and elves, such as
>Arrowroot son of Arrowshirt, Gimlet son of Groin, Legolam. They face
>terrible creatures, pig-riding Nozdrul, evil Narcs, a Ballhog, and
>more. Of course, Goddam is waiting in the shadows, trying to recover
>his precious ring.
Paul Fritschle
> I don't really know if one can appreciate BoTR without recognizing it for
>what it was, a cheap 60-70ish parody. If one can realize that the book
>was written in a decade with flower children, the Mama's and Papas, and Vietnam,
>perhaps one will understand and love the crazy humor of this period. Not
>to mention that BoTR is Nat'l Lampoon material.
> Don't get me wrong, I loved the book. How can you not love Tom Pop-a-pil
>and his poems. This stuff is a Nat'l Lampoon classic.
Um, except it was from Harvard Lampoon, not National Lampoon. And
that, IMHO, is what makes it much better than, say, _Doon_, the Dune
parody put out by National Lampoon (though Doon is enjoyable as well..
just not as inspired.)
Jennifer J McGee-1
>In article <2BC4A92...@ics.uci.edu> tit...@ics.uci.edu (Cindy Tittle Moore) writes:
>>
>>However, I *hated* this book. Your mileage (obviously) may vary, but
>>it seems like many people who love LOTR hate this parody, and many
>>people who love the parody find LOTR boring beyond belief.
>
>I tried to read "Bored of the Rings" after my second or third reading
>of LoTR. I wouldn't say I hated it, but I couldn't finish it. I like
>humor as much as the next person, but this one wore thin pretty
>quickly ...
>
different from the mood I'm in when I read Tolkien! Some of the jabs are
so sharp they're painful to a Tolkien-lover, but the scene with the
Dreadful Ballhog (dribble...dribble...shoot...swish) is too good to pass
up. It's very much a mixed bag for laughs.
JEN
Jennifer J McGee-1
>Jeff Clausius writes:
>
>> Don't get me wrong, I loved the book. How can you not love Tom Pop-a-pil
>>and his poems. This stuff is a Nat'l Lampoon classic.
>
>Wow, I don't have my copy of BoTR anymore but I seem to remember that
>Tom Bombadil was called Tim Benzedrine. Where did you find "pop-a-pil"?
>or is that your own tranliteration of the text?
>
And don't forget his lovely lady...Hashberry, isn't it?
JEN
Lasse Saikkonen
> Don't get me wrong, I loved the book. How can you not love Tom Pop-a-pil
>and his poems. This stuff is a Nat'l Lampoon classic. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I loved it too, although I read the Finninsh translation, but I have heard,
that it is even better than the original. It was translated by a guy, who was
a very prominent rock star in the early seventies in Finland. Tom Bombadil was
renamed to Tim Benzendrine (if I remember correctly), and I thought that was
taken straight from the BoTR. I guess I was wrong. In the Finnish version he
was an old junkie, that sniffed gasoline etc. It was a genuinely hilarious
book, and a classic in its own right.
> Jeff Clausius
> University of Illinois
Lazarus
--
________________________________________________ DISCLAIMER:
! Lasse Saikkonen ! Food for the mind: ! My employers would be eager to
! laz...@mits.mdata.fi ! " I'm vamoosing " ! have my opinions as their
------------------------------------------------ official policy, if I had any.
brod...@rosevc.rose-hulman.edu
> I don't really know if one can appreciate BoTR without recognizing it for
>what it was, a cheap 60-70ish parody. If one can realize that the book
>was written in a decade with flower children, the Mama's and Papas, and
Vietnam,
>perhaps one will understand and love the crazy humor of this period. Not
>to mention that BoTR is Nat'l Lampoon material.
uhh, don't you mean _Harvard_ Lampoon?
You're right about the 60's references ... My barely adequate knowledge of
60's lore was definitely needed to get most of the jokes ...
> Don't get me wrong, I loved the book. How can you not love Tom Pop-a-pil
>and his poems. This stuff is a Nat'l Lampoon classic.
Again, I'm 99.8% certain this was a _Harvard_ Lampoon. Seems every year
(every couple of years?) some college at Harvard (probably English sumthin-
or-other) puts out a Lampoon based on something.
Back in '87 or '88, they put out a lampoon edition based on USA Today. It
was great, a full newspaper complete with total bullshit (hilarious
bullshit!).
eric
William M. York
Don't get me wrong, I loved the book. How can you not love Tom
Pop-a-pil and his poems. This stuff is a Nat'l Lampoon classic.
That's Tim Benzadrine and the Harvard Lampoon, but your point holds.
Tim, Tim, Benzadrine.
Hash, boo, Valvoline.
First, second, neutral, park,
Hie thee hence, you leafy narc!
----
Snorting, sporting, speeding through the arbor.
Pushing till the folks you burn toss you in the harbor.
Screeching like the dying loon,
Zooming like the thrush.
Follow me and very soon
Your mind will turn to mush.
Higher than the nowhere birds,
grooving in the air.
We'll open up a sandal shop where everyone can share.
To love and peace and brotherhood
We all can snort a toast.
And if the heat is on again,
We'll split it for the Coast.
[apologies for any memory failures]
Szymon Sokol
: However, I *hated* this book. Your mileage (obviously) may vary, but
: it seems like many people who love LOTR hate this parody, and many
: people who love the parody find LOTR boring beyond belief. Whatever.
: I mention this just so you 1) know that other people hate this book
: and 2) it's perfectly OK if you find that you do hate it ;-).
Maybe people are getting too religious about LOTR?
But, when we are at this topic of people who "find LOTR boring beyond belief".
Most of those people are either against SF&F at all, or are fans of "hard SF".
For them, "fairy tales", sorcery, wizards, elves etc. are totally
uninteresting, because they have no equivalent in the Real World, even worse -
they cannot be justified on the scientific ground (there are no time-machines
nor hyperspace-travels either, but they at least have that "scientific"
look...). My father is a good example of such person. He says he is not going
to read *any* fiction, because the real world is interesting enough.
Another example is Stanislaw Lem - the most famous Polish SF writer, author
of "Solaris" - who said that LOTR left him "unmoved, and even bored".
--
U U M M M M Szymon Sokol -- Network Manager
U U MM MM MM MM University of Mining and Metallurgy, Computer Center
U U M M M M M M M M ave. Mickiewicza 30, 30-059 Krakow, POLAND
UUUUU M M M M M M TEL. +48 12 338100 EXT. 2885 FAX +48 12 338907
Jens Kilian
Incidentally, the first time I picked up BotR, I read about a page and simply
hated it. The second time I read the introduction; I hardly could stop
laughing.
It seems that JRRT's description of LoTR also holds for BotR:
"The Lord of the Rings"
is one of those things:
If you like them you do,
if you don't, then you boo.
(Errors are mine, not Professor Tolkien's !)
Greetings,
Jens.
--
Internet: je...@hpbeo82.bbn.hp.com HPDESK : JENS_KILIAN%XU@HP1200
MausNet: Jens Kilian @ BB KILIAN_JENS/HP1200_XU@hpbbi4
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As the air to a bird, or the sea to a fish, so is contempt to the contemptible.
Mattias Hembruch
>look...). My father is a good example of such person. He says he is not going
>to read *any* fiction, because the real world is interesting enough.
Really? Your father too?? Coincidence??? :-) Well, my father DID spend some
time in Poland while he was younger... Who knows.. How old is your father?
Mine is 53.
Mattias
--
Mattias Hembruch
>> My views do not necessarily reflect those of the TSE. <<
E-mail: mhem...@tse.com