Miscellaneous Rambling
Ah, Black Friday. "It's the most/disgusting dayyyyyyyyy/of the year." I've been saying that for years, incidentally. Heck, I was dissin' Black Friday before it started raping Thanksgiving. And now that it's violating that holy secular day, I hate it unequivocally.
But heck, I'll piggyback off it here. I saw this nifty article a few days ago: The 9 Best Smart Home Products of 2017. The products are pretty pricey (only one under $100), but pretty cool. I like the looks of this one:
Notion Sensor might look like it's too small to do much, but its looks are deceiving. The product constantly monitors your home, providing updates and alerts if someone breaks in, water suddenly leaks from a pipe, or the temperature in your home suddenly changes, among other things. Each sensor has a range as to what it can detect, which is something to keep in mind as three sensors cost $219.
I'm stoked beyond words at last week's announcement that Amazon is going to produce a TV series prequel to Fellowship of the Rings. Like other Middle Earth nerds, I'm really hoping they adapt The Silmarillion, which is one of my favorite books of all time. Sure, the series could just be about the 78 years between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, but Amazon paid $250 million for the rights. I gotta believe they bought a lot more than just 78 years worth of script, but then again, those 78 years are pretty packed. They could get two good seasons out of it, and if they include The Hobbit story, probably three good seasons. And if they completely wreck the story like Peter Jackson's disgraceful Hobbit series, they could stretch it into ten terrible, terrible seasons.
I delivered a lecture once, "Tolkien's Hidden Catholicism." I'll post excerpts from my lecture notes later.
