Lord of the Rings OOC: ROLL CALL - who is still around?

[VTSG]

WELCOME! If you have not yet done so, please read the READ THIS FIRST sticky thread at the top of the forum page, for guidelines, links to all threads and other helpful information.

This OOC thread is a new thread started for the discussion of the Lord of the Rings. The previous thread can be found here.

This is where you sign on to let us know you're interested, even if all you want to do is lurk. It's heartening for all the regulars to know that we are not alone! You can contribute to the discussions as and when you feel comfortable. All the threads remain open when the discussion month is over.

This is also the thread for asking any and all questions about anything in the forum, and for any comments or suggestions you might have.

We also use this thread to exchange information about the VTSG and we encourage you to keep up with posts here, as it is the only way you will hear of changes to timetabling or other issues/topics being discussed by participants.

Below you will find the Timetable of study portions, listing names of thread leaders and our schedule. If you would like to volunteer as a thread leader, don't be shy about it! All are welcome, veteran and newby alike.

All thread leaders will get hold of the password of this particular username (VTSG) and will have access to the OOC thread's first posts.

Who's behind VTSG

...or who knows the password... If you find mistakes in this list, please let us know.

rowanberry
starlin
Lillassea
Mahima
Eruname127
Thewhitetree
scion_arwenevenstar
Arvegil
Bombadillo
scirocco
truehobbit
Gilwen

Happy reading!

[VTSG]

TIMETABLE

This timetable may be varied if we find we need less/more time per portion. Please make suggestions and volunteer to fill the gaps. For a list of suggested background reading please see the second post on the Virtual Study Group Resources thread.

Book I

2005 May 1, Sunday

TEXT: General introduction; Prologue; Chapter 1, A Long-expected Party
SUMMARY: Bombadillo
THREAD LEADER: Bombadillo

2005 June 1, Wednesday

TEXT: Chapter 2, The Shadow of the Past
SUMMARY: scirocco
THREAD LEADER: scirocco

2005 July 1, Friday

TEXT: Chapter 3, Three is Company
SUMMARY: Rowanberry
THREAD LEADER: Rowanberry

2005 August 1, Monday

TEXT: Chapter 4, A Short Cut to Mushrooms; Chapter 5, A Conspiracy Unmasked
SUMMARY: Mahima
THREAD LEADER: Mahima

2005 September 1, Thursday

TEXT: Chapter 6, The Old Forest
SUMMARY: truehobbit
THREAD LEADER: truehobbit

2005 November 1, Tuesday

TEXT: Chapter 7, In the House of Tom Bombadil
SUMMARY: Bombadillo
THREAD LEADER: Bombadillo

2005 December 1, Thursday

TEXT: Chapter 8, Fog on the Barrow-downs
SUMMARY: starlin
THREAD LEADER: starlin

2006 January 1, Sunday

TEXT: Chapter 9, At the Sign of The Prancing Pony; Chapter 10, Strider
SUMMARY: Gilwen
THREAD LEADER: Gilwen

2006 March 1, Wednesday

TEXT: Chapter 11, A Knife in the Dark
SUMMARY: rowanberry
THREAD LEADER: rowanberry

2006 May 1

TEXT: Chapter 12, Flight to the Ford
SUMMARY: pippinsqueak
THREAD LEADER: pippinsqueak

Book II

2006 June 1

TEXT: Chapter 1, Many Meetings
SUMMARY: Rowanberry
THREAD LEADER: Rowanberry

2006 July 1

TEXT: Chapter 2, The Council of Elrond
SUMMARY: Roccondil
THREAD LEADER: Roccondil
TO-DO:
* Zazinka: is not the riddle of Faramir's dream also an indication that a Ringbearer was foreseen?; pippinsqueak: who/what force sent the dream to Faramir and to Boromir?

2006 August 1

TEXT: Chapter 3, The Ring Goes South
SUMMARY: Arvegil
THREAD LEADER: Arvegil

2006 September 1

TEXT: Chapter 4, A Journey in the Dark
SUMMARY: Gilwen
THREAD LEADER: Gilwen

2006 October 1

TEXT: Chapter 5, The Bridge of Khazad-dûm
SUMMARY: any takers?
THREAD LEADER: any takers?

2006 December 1

TEXT: Chapter 6, Lothlórien; Chapter 7, The Mirror of Galadriel; Chapter 8, Farewell to Lórien
SUMMARY: Rowanberry
THREAD LEADER: Rowanberry

2007 January 1

TEXT: Chapter 9, The Great River; Chapter 10, The Breaking of the Fellowship
SUMMARY: WyrtWif
THREAD LEADER: WyrtWif


Book III

2007 February 1

TEXT: Chapter 1, The Departure of Boromir; Chapter 2, The Riders of Rohan
SUMMARY: any takers?
THREAD LEADER: any takers?

2007 March 1

TEXT: Chapter 3, The Uruk-hai
SUMMARY: any takers?
THREAD LEADER: any takers?

2007 April 1

TEXT: Chapter 4, Treebeard
SUMMARY: any takers?
THREAD LEADER: any takers?

2007 May 1

TEXT: Chapter 5, The White Rider
SUMMARY: any takers?
THREAD LEADER: any takers?

2007 June 1

TEXT: Chapter 6, The King of the Golden Hall
SUMMARY: any takers?
THREAD LEADER: any takers?

2007July 1

TEXT: Chapter 7, Helm’s Deep
SUMMARY: any takers?
THREAD LEADER: any takers?

2007 August 1

TEXT: Chapter 8, The Road to Isengard; Chapter 9, Flotsam and Jetsam
SUMMARY: any takers?
THREAD LEADER: any takers?

2007 September 1

TEXT: Chapter 10, The Voice of Saruman; Chapter 11, The Palantír
SUMMARY: any takers?
THREAD LEADER: any takers?


Book IV

2007 October 1

TEXT: Chapter 1, The Taming of Sméagol
SUMMARY: any takers?
THREAD LEADER: any takers?

2007November 1

TEXT: Chapter 2, The Passage of the Marshes
SUMMARY: any takers?
THREAD LEADER: any takers?

2007 December 1

TEXT: Chapter 3, The Black Gate is Closed; Chapter 4, Of Herbs and Stewed Rabbit
SUMMARY: any takers?
THREAD LEADER: any takers?

2008 January 1

TEXT: Chapter 5, The Window on the West; Chapter 6, The Forbidden Pool
SUMMARY:
THREAD LEADER:

2008 February 1

TEXT: Chapter 7, Journey to the Cross-roads; Chapter 8, The Stairs of Cirith Ungol
SUMMARY: pippinsqueak
THREAD LEADER: pippinsqueak

2008 March 1

TEXT: Chapter 9, Shelob's Lair; Chapter 10, The Choices of Master Samwise
SUMMARY: any takers?
THREAD LEADER: any takers?


Book V

2008 April 1

TEXT: Chapter 1, Minas Tirith
SUMMARY: any takers?
THREAD LEADER: any takers?

2008 May 1

TEXT: Chapter 2, The Passing of the Grey Company
SUMMARY: any takers?
THREAD LEADER: any takers?

2008 June 1

TEXT: Chapter 3, The Muster of Rohan; Chapter 4, The Siege of Gondor
SUMMARY: any takers?
THREAD LEADER: any takers?

2008 July 1

TEXT: Chapter 5, The Ride of the Rohirrim; Chapter 6, The Battle of the Pelennor Fields
SUMMARY: any takers?
THREAD LEADER: any takers?

2008 August 1

TEXT: Chapter 7, The Pyre of Denethor; Chapter 8, The Houses of Healing
SUMMARY: any takers?
THREAD LEADER: any takers?

2008 September 1

TEXT: Chapter 9, The Last Debate; Chapter 10, The Black Gate Opens
SUMMARY: any takers?
THREAD LEADER: any takers?


Book VI

2008 October 1

TEXT: Chapter 1, The Tower of Cirith Ungol; Chapter 2, The Land of Shadow
SUMMARY: any takers?
THREAD LEADER: any takers?

2008 November 1

TEXT: Chapter 3, Mount Doom
SUMMARY: any takers?
THREAD LEADER: any takers?

2008 December 1

TEXT: Chapter 4, The Field of Cormallen; Chapter 5, The Steward and the King
SUMMARY: any takers?
THREAD LEADER: any takers?

2009 January 1

TEXT: Chapter 6, Many Partings; Chapter 7, Homeward Bound
SUMMARY: any takers?
THREAD LEADER: any takers?

2009 February 1

TEXT: Chapter 8, The Scouring of the Shire
SUMMARY: any takers?
THREAD LEADER: any takers?

2009 March 1

TEXT: Chapter 9, The Grey Havens
SUMMARY: any takers?
THREAD LEADER: any takers?

2009 April 1

TEXT: Appendices; Conclusions etc.
SUMMARY: any takers?
THREAD LEADER: any takers?

[Bombadillo]

I'll wade in and start the ball rolling. I'll take any of those positions. Keep me updated on the schedule and I'll have everything ready by the end of the month.

Also, since I haven't been involved in this particular part of the boards before, if I start screwing anything up, feel free to give me good advice.

[starlin]

Hello, old Tom So, are you voluntering for the first section? It'd be great! Actually, I have added "general introduction" and "prologue" to the first chapter, but I'd like to hear other opinions: do you agree with this? I think it would be better to have the prologue as well. And a couple of words about LotR as such.

Well, the long timetable above is... well, long In many cases I have combined two chapters, usually no more than 30 pages all in all. I think that though the text is in much greater detail than Hob, often there's just actions and landscapes, so the amount of information wouldn't be too great even for 30 pages.

[rowanberry]

This month, and probably May as well, will be quite busy for me so, I'd prefer to not take on the May or June summaries, but I could write the summary and act as thread leader for July and, if necessary, August.

And, I'll put the mention about starting LOTR in my sig.

[Bombadillo]

I will take the whole first part.

I can write a summary and monitor the thread development as well. I'll probably be involved in a few of the other chapters as well, although I don't want to hog the whole thing.

BTW, help out a computer illiterate fellow such as myself put the necessary info in my signature. A step by step on how to fix up my sig would be helpful. I'm usually only posting in the Manwe section, but I do post fairly regularly.

FYI, I did start one of these discussions waaaaaay back in the day when I first started coming here at the behest of Jon and Ted about Tolkien's essay on "Fairy Stories". The thread was in the TALK forum before there were all these other sections and never really garnered that much attention. Still, I loved reading through Tolkien's works in a scholarly fashion and posting to people who knew as much or more than me about the books and the man. Great stuff, can't wait to get started.

[starlin]

Thanks for the VTSG promotion, rowan, and - great, Bombadillo! Um, you won't be able to add anything to your sig because you can't have one until you become a premiere member. I am no PM myself, so I also do not have a sig. But it's no big deal, believe me. Anyway, I can send you a password for the user VTSG so that in the future you would be able to edit VTSG's posts. Drop me an email at etelie at yahoo dot co dot uk. By the way, rowan, just sign up for the sections you want to take... The table is not crowded yet anyway

[scirocco]

I'll volunteer for the June chapter, The Shadow of the Past. A nice juicy one! And I'll put an ad in my signature (not that I ever post anywhere but Books. )

[starlin]

Nice to see you, scirocco! You've been added to the list

BTW, I just remembered that the Annotated LotR project will be very useful for us during the discussions - the guys at the Books are doing great job!

[brambleroseGamgee]

Count this hobbit in!! I will be set and ready on May 1!!

[Mahima]

SCIROCCO!! SO Good to see you here!!

I'll take August.

Hiya everyone. Mahima is Back.

[Eldalië]

Hello everyone,


I'm kind of interested to follow the thread, but probably only as a lurker, I recently started rereading LotR for the 4th time. Someone mentioned this thread over at Books, and I thought I could go and have a look to see how things work here. I've never been in the VTSG before, so I'll just wait and see how you guys discuss the books, and maybe, very maybe, I'll have something to contribute, but I highly doubt it. Anyway, since you asked to sign in if you're interested... here I am

[rowanberry]

Great! New members are always welcome! Just take your time to get familiar with this forum, and jump into the discussion as soon as you feel like it!

[starlin]

...and so it begins, the greatest discussion of our time I have a big test tomorrow, so I will come back later, but anyway, great job, Bombadillo!

[Haeethiriel]

Just thought i'd let you know this sounds like a wonderful idea....i'm a bit of a lurker but you never know


Haeethiriel

[pippinsqueak]

Oooh, this is wonderful, I've been waiting three years for VTSG to do LOTR, and here we finally are! I'll be lurking, and hopefully posting from time to time. Once I get my courage up maybe I'll even do a chapter summary (I'd definitely like to do one from books 4 or 6, but that's a looooong way away).

Perhaps someone should post an announcement in the Books forum that this has finally begun?

[rowanberry]

Welcome along, pippinsqueak! Spreading the word is a good idea; I edited my sig to put it there.

[truehobbit]

W00t!

Been waiting for this, too!

Hi scirocco, good to see you back in the VTSG!

(Not like I've been here in the meantime - although I had meant to take part in the Hobbit-discussion - ahem, yeah... )

I'd love to host a chapter, too, wouldn't mind taking September or any of the following, though it's a bit early to subscribe to something half a year in advance, don't you think?

Oh, and - two chapters in August? When people are on holiday anyway? You sure that's a good idea?

[Nadreck_of_Palain7]

I will give it a try. I was lucky to stumble on this as you were starting LOTR again. If I hang out here I might get my post count into triple digits a little sooner, and meet some people outside of my normal home in Manwe.

[rowanberry]

I'd love to host a chapter, too, wouldn't mind taking September or any of the following, though it's a bit early to subscribe to something half a year in advance, don't you think?

Oh, and - two chapters in August? When people are on holiday anyway? You sure that's a good idea?

You're welcome to take up September, if you like.

I think Starlin put two chapters for the August discussion because in a way they belong together, and the Conspiracy chapter isn't very long. And, not everybody is on holiday in August.

[Mahima]

Good to see you here Hobby!!!

Welcome to the VTSG, Nadreck! I can see that you are a part of the first chapter!! See you around even more (hopefully!)

[pippinsqueak]

Could I do the December 2007 Journey to the Cross-roads; and Chapter 8, The Stairs of Cirith Ungol Summary? I'll be thread leader as well if no one else wants to.

Wow, that seems so far away . . .

[Impenitent]

I've updated the Index thread at the top of the forum to include all the discussion threads so far.

I don't dare say that I'll participate - I have good intentions but life won't give me an even break. I'll try to though; LoTR is my soup and 'taters after all.

Good to see the bustle in here.

[truehobbit]

Thanks, Mahima!

rowanberry, of course not everybody is on holiday, it's just that it would seem to be a slower time naturally - though I guess times have been slow in here for a while all the year round, so maybe no big difference.
But you're right about there not being all that much in that chapter.

Ok, put me down for September then, please - hehe, that means I get to ask "Who is Tom Bombadil?"

LOL, pip, that's some long-term planning you're doing there!

[Impenitent]

And it is so nice to see you too, Truehobbit.

[truehobbit]

Thanks, Imp - I'm happy to see you, too! I hope you'll find the time to join the discussion here!

[starlin]

I think Starlin put two chapters for the August discussion because in a way they belong together, and the Conspiracy chapter isn't very long. And, not everybody is on holiday in August.

Well, yes, I did it much for the reason of why we should have combined "A Short Rest" with something else, for example. IT was just too short to say much. But it can change, my timetable is in no means the only possible variant! I just combined the chapters so thatthe total amount of text would be no bigger than some 30 pages - 30 pages maybe would be a really long section for Hob, where we were picking on every detail (because of the nature of the book: no one really knows how it should be best approached ), but LotR often has long passages of landscape description, for example, and 30 pages isn't that much IMHO.

[FallOfFingolfin]

Can we lead more than one portion? The part that I'm a real expert on is not taking place for another two years!

So this is going to go on for another three years?

I'd LOVE to head the Window on the West and The Forbidden Pool chapters, but I'm not sure if I'd be able to remember it by then! That's two years from now! Perhaps if I could get email notifications from some of you to remind me of my duty?

I'm sure not many of you here recognize me, by the way. I'm FallOfFingolfin, and I've been a Tolkien fan for a good three or four years! I've read LotR four times, as well as the Sil four times.

So for now, perhaps I could to called a tentative leader of those chapters?[/i]

[starlin]

I'll add you to the schedule, ok? When we come to it on... er... 2007 September 1 , if you are absent, someone else will take it. Of course it would be even more convenient to you if you stay with us during the discussion

Everyone: who has signed up for the summaries / thread leaders and has not received the password of VTSG user? If you want to, write me an email, that's at etelie at yahoo dot co dot uk. I'll try to make a list of all Hobbit summary-writers and password-holders in the first post, if you have the password but are not in the list, let me know. It will come in handy when the discussers need someone to edit the schedule but don't know who's behind VTSG.

[FallOfFingolfin]

Okay, thanks!

So how many portions would you recommend one user doing? I've always been a diehard protector of Bombadil...