After seeing "Return of the King"...

In addition to general approval, numb buttocks and a sense of visual surfeit, I wondered how much Tolkein's experiences in World War I seeped into the stories. The relationship of Sam and Frodo struck me as very similar to a batsman and his officer; and the terrain of Mordor looked blackened and churned-up to me, just like No-Man's-Land. Turns out I wasn't the only person to think this. Here's a very interesting essay from TheOneRing.net.



Gee, if I'd read this article, I wouldn't have spent my Twenties starving in New York! It talks about how many people in their Twenties and Thirties are choosing to live at home while their lives are in professional/romantic development. It's fun to read, especially if you're NOT living with your parents anymore, but it gives fairly short coverage to the real reason that this "new life stage" exists: Starting jobs don't pay much, or they're internships and don't pay at all; yet inflation marches on; and the jobs that do pay often require post-college education costing thousands of dollars. This was not the case in 1960 or even 1970. And, I would wager, the financial gap between top management and everybody else wasn't so huge, either. The ladder is longer, and the space between the rungs larger, that's a fact. Damn Baby Boomers.