I must have missed that.

It also seems like it was 19th century Germany, with the general level of technology.

I don't agree with your assessment here. But that's okay.

. . . like Galadriel, one of the oldest and most powerful beings in all of middle earth, who outshone Celeborn to the point where you probably didn't even remember his name and who had to refuse the ring because she would beat Sauron at his own game? Or Eowyen, who was called fearless by a royal adviser, managed a…

This is kind of like asking why most stories about pirates are light on female captains and crewmen—there just weren't that many women swashbuckling under the jolly roger during the golden age of piracy, or even today for that matter. Tolkien was born in South Africa in the 19th century, and lived in a world (both…

No. If this became a major topic of discussion on forums more important than this one, then perhaps we might see something, but this little article here on Kotaku won't be changing anything.

To be honest, I think that one of the (many) reasons why Tolkien's work resonated so powerfully with such a large audience is that hardly any of his characters were at all defined by their gender. Outside of Boromir (who's position as the eldest son kind of does matter), you could gender swap any of the fellowship…

Ha! I hadn't seen this.

K-pop is wider than the US's pop genre. It's a pretty eclectic fusion genre which pulls everywhere from Motown to contemporary electronica.

You don't need to read it, so I'm not sure why it should bother you. Frankly, I'm glad that people are willing to invest time and energy to create content, even if it is derivative content. This is, in essence, a fan fic, and fan fiction is a great way to get people into both reading and writing. And even though the…

You have some well thought out and valid points here, but I think that we need to keep two things in mind. First, this is still in alpha and the game will likely see substantial changes as it progresses. Second, I have a hard time getting worked up about a game about the US prison system when there are thousands of…

The way I've been describing it to my friends is "if Blade Runner was a modernized cop drama." The pilot especially reminded me of Scott's film, with a little bit of cyberpunk thrown in. I was actually a bit dissapointed that the mood cleared up so quickly.

Beat me to it. If they were going to start anywhere, that's where I would suggest. I haven't followed the story line for some time now, but that saga was always my favorite.

Here's a similar report from a few decades ago. I've done acupuncture for a for a few years now, and while I've never heard of anything like this before, I've never had it done in East Asia. That said, I suspect this is something of a rarity even then, and usually happens by accident.

I tried to read these in elementary school, before I read LoTR. Slugged through the first, couldn't make it through number two. If this book gets people reading, than by all means, but I think that today there are far better alternatives to introduce children to the genre.

Additionally, all of Tolkien's writings are presented as if they're written from a limited and flawed historical perspective (LoTR and The Hobbit were "written" by Hobbits, etc)

Well put. I really likes some of these, and I always am happy when the Silmarillion gets some love, but I get a little frustrated when artists *ahem* "ignore what's in the texts" and decide to alter it to their own preferences. Not that everything in the book is gold, and some changes can be for the better (having the…

Well . . . yes we can, and we have. A race that lives forever; or one which can create entire civilizations underground with, at best, early industrial-era technology; or a race of sentient trees; or any of the other fantastical races which Tolkien created would likely have a lifestyle and way of thinking radically…

Depending on how you define sexist, I'm sure you could make an argument that he does.

As to races, Tolkien has the Haradrim, the Easterlings, and Variags as the three other large groups of men (not elves or dwarves) who are separate from—and often enemies to—Gondor and the other "free peoples" of Middle Earth. None of…

Actually, that isn't Superman's backstory. I agree that this flies needlessly in the face of her lore, but this isn't a case of her story being subverted by a male one.