Last weekend I got back in touch with my "inner nerd". I attended the 2007 One Ring Celebration (affectionately known as ORC). It was good for me to get out of town for a few days and nurture/pamper myself given all that has recently happened. As expected, I spent most of my time in the academic track attending presentations such as "Why We Should Care About the Children of Hurin" by professor/film critic/author Greg Wright (a fantastic speaker and a great guy... thanks for the book!) and "The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful in The Chronicles of Narnia and The Lord of the Rings" by Katrelya Angus (I loved the parallels that she drew between the works as well as the contrasts). Doug Adams did two great presentations about Howard Shore’s music which made me want to run out and buy the CDs. The Friday night concert by The Brobdingnagian Bards was a lot of fun and the mixer Saturday night gave us a surprise by the appearance of Andy Serkis who spent time with everyone in the room.
I shared a room with my friend Sarah (who didn't mind at all that I got up at 5:30am to go to the gym). I came back with some nice things, won two art auctions for LOTR-related art, and spent many hours discussing and debating themes in Tolkien's works, all of which will help firmly reconnect me with my "inner nerd"... I think this is the start of something good.
