Saturday, June 30, 2007
How the world goes 'round
Let me preface this by saying that I've been surfin' the internet since probably 1995 or so. Yeah, I guess you could say I was a late bloomer. But I didn't have a computer at home, and I'm guessing as to when we got internet hooked up at work and I had time to surf. Surfin' was actually a part of my job for a little while, lookin' up information on prospective clients and such. I became a master surfer.
But it wasn't until 1999 that I first discovered message boards. That was when my friend Matthew told me about this little movie in the works called The Lord of the Rings. Now, being a fan of the books as I was, he knew I'd be interested in knowing about the movie. So I went surfin and found the message board that is now known as The Council of Elrond, and coincidently, my husband now owns it. At the time, a guy named Aram in Alabama ran the site, and it was called Lordoftheringsmovie.com, and then Imladris.net (which will still route to our current site btw).
I am still not quite sure what made me make myself at home at this particular forum and not any of the other dozen or so that were out there. I did post a few times at other sites, but Imladris became my internet "home". And is still set as my homepage. Imladris was different. Not nearly as big as a couple of the others, so nowhere near as daunting. Maybe that was it. Maybe it was mik and Kelandra goofin' around. Or maybe it really was Dr. Evil seemed to need some help bashing the Americans ;-) I dunno...but life sure got different real fast!
And it was on this particular message board where I have made quite a lot of friends. Some I've not yet met face to face, and others, in the dozens, I've travelled to meet, or have hosted at my house at some time or another. That's where I met my Dark Lord husband (his nicname there is Melkor...if you're familiar with Tolkien's works, you'll understand the Dark Lord moniker that goes with the name Melkor).
I also met Carcharoth, who in real life goes by the name of Layne. I haven't seen him in a few years now sadly (gosh when was it last Layne? When I went to Regina?) BUT, despite the vastness of the Real World, and the Internet, we become connected yet again in a way, in less than 6 degrees ;-) After last weeks' charity screening event of Serenity, someone on the Charlotte Browncoats list posted a link to WereGeek comic celebrating Browncoat Day. Its a really cool comic, and wonder of wonders is drawn by none other than friend Layne's girlfriend Alina! And there it was, posted on the Charlotte Browncoats list.
So of course I hop on over to Layne's blog to let him know, and low and behold, he's got a post braggin' how the comic made it to Whedonesque.com which he found by clicking the link to Joss' rant from right here at my little ol' nothin' of a blog!
Kinda makes my head swim a bit.
I also wanted to say that I'd watched my DVD "Done the Impossible" last weekend, and I must say, that despite the fact I have never posted on any of the Firefly or Serenity boards (other than the Charlotte Yahoo list) but I Totally Get It. We have much the same type of experiences at our Lord of the Rings forums, only going back a lot further, and we're still goin! We even still get the odd new member sign up, which considering the movies were released several years ago now is pretty cool.
I don't get to travel anymore like I used to (that was one major benefit of working for a multi-national software company!) and nobody wants to come visit middle of nowhere Western North Carolina lately, so I haven't got to see anyone for quite a while. The last CoE-er (as we are now sometimes called) other than immediate family was Cousin Lanen (aka Elizabeth Kerner a celebrity in her own right. Or "write" ;-) in Edinburgh last spring. But I still would like to make a few more trips to far away places to meet some new friends, and see some old friends again. Sometime before I die. Seriously, its on the list! ;-)
Anyhoo...in a round about way what I'm gettin at is that even though those Browncoats on the DVD think perhaps they're the only website out there that has the same connections, the same comraderie etc (and don't get me wrong, Browncoats are wonderful folks!) We Ringers have been at it for far longer, and we do it just as well. And with hairy feet! I am quite certain however that if ever the 2 groups should meet, they'd get along very well. Afterall, there is some crossover. :-) ¶ 12:26 PM
But it wasn't until 1999 that I first discovered message boards. That was when my friend Matthew told me about this little movie in the works called The Lord of the Rings. Now, being a fan of the books as I was, he knew I'd be interested in knowing about the movie. So I went surfin and found the message board that is now known as The Council of Elrond, and coincidently, my husband now owns it. At the time, a guy named Aram in Alabama ran the site, and it was called Lordoftheringsmovie.com, and then Imladris.net (which will still route to our current site btw).
I am still not quite sure what made me make myself at home at this particular forum and not any of the other dozen or so that were out there. I did post a few times at other sites, but Imladris became my internet "home". And is still set as my homepage. Imladris was different. Not nearly as big as a couple of the others, so nowhere near as daunting. Maybe that was it. Maybe it was mik and Kelandra goofin' around. Or maybe it really was Dr. Evil seemed to need some help bashing the Americans ;-) I dunno...but life sure got different real fast!
And it was on this particular message board where I have made quite a lot of friends. Some I've not yet met face to face, and others, in the dozens, I've travelled to meet, or have hosted at my house at some time or another. That's where I met my Dark Lord husband (his nicname there is Melkor...if you're familiar with Tolkien's works, you'll understand the Dark Lord moniker that goes with the name Melkor).
I also met Carcharoth, who in real life goes by the name of Layne. I haven't seen him in a few years now sadly (gosh when was it last Layne? When I went to Regina?) BUT, despite the vastness of the Real World, and the Internet, we become connected yet again in a way, in less than 6 degrees ;-) After last weeks' charity screening event of Serenity, someone on the Charlotte Browncoats list posted a link to WereGeek comic celebrating Browncoat Day. Its a really cool comic, and wonder of wonders is drawn by none other than friend Layne's girlfriend Alina! And there it was, posted on the Charlotte Browncoats list.
So of course I hop on over to Layne's blog to let him know, and low and behold, he's got a post braggin' how the comic made it to Whedonesque.com which he found by clicking the link to Joss' rant from right here at my little ol' nothin' of a blog!
Kinda makes my head swim a bit.
I also wanted to say that I'd watched my DVD "Done the Impossible" last weekend, and I must say, that despite the fact I have never posted on any of the Firefly or Serenity boards (other than the Charlotte Yahoo list) but I Totally Get It. We have much the same type of experiences at our Lord of the Rings forums, only going back a lot further, and we're still goin! We even still get the odd new member sign up, which considering the movies were released several years ago now is pretty cool.
I don't get to travel anymore like I used to (that was one major benefit of working for a multi-national software company!) and nobody wants to come visit middle of nowhere Western North Carolina lately, so I haven't got to see anyone for quite a while. The last CoE-er (as we are now sometimes called) other than immediate family was Cousin Lanen (aka Elizabeth Kerner a celebrity in her own right. Or "write" ;-) in Edinburgh last spring. But I still would like to make a few more trips to far away places to meet some new friends, and see some old friends again. Sometime before I die. Seriously, its on the list! ;-)
Anyhoo...in a round about way what I'm gettin at is that even though those Browncoats on the DVD think perhaps they're the only website out there that has the same connections, the same comraderie etc (and don't get me wrong, Browncoats are wonderful folks!) We Ringers have been at it for far longer, and we do it just as well. And with hairy feet! I am quite certain however that if ever the 2 groups should meet, they'd get along very well. Afterall, there is some crossover. :-) ¶ 12:26 PM
