Tara Maya's Tales

And at last you can build your own Lego hobbit habitats ... I know you've been waiting for that as long as I have! You can also  play Lego Lord of the Rings . Lego games, by the way, are awesome. I don't have this one yet, but I've played Lego Raiders of the Last Ark and Lego Star Wars , and they were really fun. It's strange that watching videos of toys should be that enjoyable...really strange, now that I think about it...but it is.

This brings a whole new meaning to fan fic: "Don't forget folks, this production is just an unofficial home movie, made by a bunch of Tolkien enthusiasts for love of the material. The budget has been scraped together by ourselves, nobody was paid and no money will be made from it. So yep it's purely our way to express our tribute to this magical world. It's exciting that so many other fans like us have posted supporting words on our guestbook. Thank you all for your kind comments and support! The editing of the film will take a lot of work but we hope to put it online in early 2009." It really says something when the quality of your "unofficial home movie" is so blow-me-over awesome you have to keep reminding people of the fact. And it really is just that awesome. At least the trailer is. Check it out. Please, please, do the Simirillian!

One of my favorite Tolkien stories is "Leaf by Niggle." It is about an artist who aspires to paint a beautiful forest, only to find his talent insufficient to the task. So he tries to focus on painting just one tree -- perfect the tree, and then maybe, he will grow enough in skill to paint the forest. But the tree is too hard too, so he ends up concentrating on just a leaf. If he could only paint just one single leaf right! He hasn't much time because his pesky neighbor keeps bugging him (life) and because he has to take a trip (death). Life interferes with art. Death interferes with life. Art must be squeezed in between. Like Niggle, I wish I could paint the forest, or at least a tree, but it is a struggle to even capture just one leaf. I've been thinking about High Concept, and my Dindi series, and the desperate feeling that it falls far short of the forest I originally envisioned. I'm down to grasping at leaves. It's interesting to look at books which becom...