A New Robin Hood

I just finished listening to the Audible version of Stephen Lawhead's latest book, "Hood", a re-telling of the Robin Hood story. If anyone else had tried what Lawhead did, I'm not sure I would have been interested in a total trans-location of the old, familiar tale seen in so many different versions over the years. If you are anywhere close to my age, then you too, when you hear the name Robin Hood, might just have the same image pop into your head that usually pops into mine, that of the animated, anthropomorphized fox in the Disney version. Along the way, I have also seen Kevin Costner, Carey Elwes, and Daffy Duck portray the noble thief. I've seen stills and short clips of Erroll Flynn as Robin, but never seen the whole movie. The one thing all these versions of the tale have in common is the setting and trappings of Medieval England and the backdrop of the Crusades. Good King Richard is away fighting on foreign soil and John is scheming to take over his throne, aided by the Sheriff of Nottingham and involving all the other familiar names you've heard before.

If you have read Lawhead's Arthur books, then you are familiar with his technique. In that case he took an old familiar story that everyone thought they new and reset it out of its familiar setting and relocated it among the Briton tribes fighting for their survival amidst the Saxon invasion and the withdrawal of the Roman legions in about the 7th or 8th century, with most of the action taking place in what we now call Wales. After much research, Lawhead concluded that based on the scant historical evidence that does exist, there was a real person that the Arthur legends are based on and he was probably a British battle chief who lived at about this time, and won some real, historically significant and recorded battles, namely the Battle of Badon Hill.

In Hood, the author does something very similar. He looked into the Robin Hood stories and concluded that they had an origin prior to their most famous incarnation. There was a whole collection of stories that were circulated all over the Island by wandering minstrels and storytellers that told little bits and pieces of the story we know now in different versions, with an incredible variety of names and locations. These stories were not stitched together into one complete tale until many years later.

This current version of Robin Hood is set in what is now called Wales. The Cymry tribes, consider themselves Britons, as opposed to the English, and especially the Franks (actually they are Normans, but the locals consider anyone from across the Channel a Frank). The time is shortly after the Norman conquest. William II is trying to fill The Conqueror's shoes, and the Franks are dividing up the island among themselves. The Britons are chafing under the yoke of the Franks, and are being overworked and overtaxed to fuel the building of new towns and castles.

One of the other factors the Author cites as to his choice of settings is the fact that most of the forests in England were well-managed business properties, whereas the forests in Wales were still primeval and undeveloped, still a fearsome wilderness, not a well-kept garden preserve like most of the English forests. It would have been possible to hide for years without being seen in the trackless forests of Wales, but not in the dwindling Sherwood Forest.

Enough detail. Suffice it to say, that in my opinion, Mr. Lawhead does, in fact pull it off. The setting makes a lot of sense, and the scenario of the Britons struggling to survive amidst the incursion of this new, alien culture and military power fits the legend well. Without giving anything away, the author paints vivid pictures of the Celtic culture and mindset and its contrast with the Normans who were changing everything. I look forward to more in this series.
Listening to it in audio form was especially instructive, given the plethora of tongue-twisting Celtic names and places, but I still plan on getting it in print.

New Tolkien

reprinted from the Independant

Tolkien Jr. Completes Lord of the Rings

The last, unfinished book by the 'Lord of the Rings' author has been completed by his son. Can a film version be far behind?

By Jonathan Thompson
Published: 25 March 2007
The first new Tolkien novel for 30 years is to be published next month. In a move eagerly anticipated by millions of fans across the world, The Children of Húrin will be released worldwide on 17 April, 89 years after the author started the work and four years after the final cinematic instalment of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, one of biggest box office successes in history.

The book, whose contents are being jealously guarded by publisher HarperCollins - is described as "an epic story of adventure, tragedy, fellowship and heroism."
It is likely to be a publishing sensation, particularly as it is illustrated by veteran Middle Earth artist Alan Lee, who won an Oscar for art direction on Peter Jackson's third film The Return of The King. Lee provided 25 pencil sketches and eight paintings for the first edition of the book, one of which is reproduced here for the first time in a national newspaper.
Tolkien experts are already tipping The Children of Húrin - which features significant battle scenes and at least one major twist - for big budget Hollywood treatment. Takings from the Lord of the Rings trilogy box office takings to date total some £1.5bn.
Chris Crawshaw, chairman of the Tolkien Society, said: "It would probably make a very good movie, if anyone can secure the film rights.

"Tolkien saw his work as one long history of Middle Earth: from the beginning of creation to the end of the Third Age. The Children of Húrin is an early chapter in that bigger story."
The author's son Christopher, using his late father's voluminous notes, has painstakingly completed the book, left unfinished by the author when he died in 1971. The work has taken the best part of three decades, and will signify the first "new" Tolkien book since The Silmarillion was published posthumously in 1977.

"It will be interesting to see how it stands up today alongside all the Tolkien-alike literature that we've become familiar with," said David Bradley, editor of SFX magazine.

RIAA Tries to Shut Down Internet Radio

If you enjoy listening to Internet radio stations, take note, the RIAA is trying to put them out of business. This is a reprint from radioparadise.com:

Future Uncertain For Internet Radio

The US Copyright Office has released their new set of rates for the payment of royalties by Internet Radio, and they ignored all of the facts presented by webcasters (including RP) and gave the record industry exactly what they asked for: royalty rates so high that they will put RP and every other independent webcaster out of business. See Kurt Hanson's newsletter for 3/2/07 for the details on how the rates work and what they will mean to stations like RP. You can participate in the discussion about this issue in our Listener Forum. For some time, we've suffered with a system where we pay a large chunk (10%-12%) of our income to the Big 5 record companies - while FM stations and radio conglomerates like Clear Channel pay nothing. Now they want even more. In our case, an amount equal to 125% of our income. Our only hope is to create as much public awareness and outrage about this staggeringly unfair situation as possible. Neither the record industry nor Congress are ready to listen to us at this point. But members of the media may well be, and we need to get their attention. If you have a blog, write about it. Feel free to quote anything I've written in the Listener Forum. If you find a good blog post about the subject, Digg it or Slashdot it. If you work for a media outlet, look over the facts of the situation and see if you don't feel the same sense of outrage that we do. Write a letter to the editor of your favorite magazine or newspaper. Let everyone you can know what a loss it would be to you personally if your favorite Internet radio stations, including RP, were no longer available. The RIAA can, at any time, agree to strike a deal with independent webcasters to allow us to pay a more realistic royalty, one based on a percentage of our income. We're hoping that if all of you make enough noise they'll be more inclined to do so. We'd also like to hope that at least one member of Congress will take a look at this situation and become willing to propose ammendments to the deeply flawed 1990s pieces of legislation that are responsible for the unfair treatment of Internet radio. Thanks a lot for reading this, and for considering the idea of taking some action on it. We'll be posting new information and links here as they become available.

Conservatives Speaking Out

I never thought I would be reprinting an article from the Boston Globe, but...

At conservatives' conference, little love is expressed for GOP

By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff March 2, 2007
WASHINGTON -- Leading conservatives yesterday attacked the Republican party as big-government, free-spending coddlers of illegal immigrants and said the country's conservatives should withhold support from the GOP's current slate of presidential nominees to force them to the right.

"I feel very angry and betrayed" by the GOP, some of whose elected officials have backed a "guest worker" immigration plan, abortion rights, and tax increases, said Richard Viguerie , chairman of Conservative-HQ.com . "We should withhold support from all major Republican [presidential] candidates today. Not one of them deserves our support today," he told a ballroom full of activists at the Conservative Political Action Conference's annual meeting yesterday.

Further, he said, conservatives should withhold "all support" from GOP national committees, which Viguerie said have not produced federal candidates who adhere to conservative principles.

Ken Blackwell , a failed GOP candidate for Ohio governor last year, agreed that conservatives should at least wait to endorse a presidential candidate. "The Republican Party -- our natural home in a two-party system -- is in disarray," Blackwell lamented.
At least one conference participant sported a sticker that featured a circle with a line drawn through the words "Rudy McRomney" -- broadcasting the wearer's opposition to the early leaders in polls for the GOP nomination, former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani , Senator John McCain of Arizona, and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney .
Conservatives said they are frustrated and angry, and blamed the GOP's massive losses in the 2006 elections on Republicans who deviated from a hard-line conservative agenda. The mood puts added pressure on a slew of GOP presidential candidates set to speak to the meeting today.
Social conservatives are leery of Giuliani, who supports abortion rights, and of McCain, who authored a campaign finance law that limits interest groups' financial influence in political campaigns. Romney's evolution to a socially conservative agenda pleases some religious conservatives, but some are still unhappy with his earlier, softer positions on gay rights and abortion rights.

Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee has disappointed fiscal conservatives for signing tax increases on gas and cigarettes, while Senator Sam Brownback of Kansas has been criticized for his support of an immigration bill that conservatives insist would give amnesty to illegal immigrants. Phyllis Schlafly, a longtime opponent of gay rights and the Equal Rights Amendment, won loud cheers yesterday when she derided programs to provide bilingual drivers' license tests and to offer low-wage jobs to immigrants instead of "our own high school dropouts."

All of the GOP candidates except McCain are scheduled to appear today before the conference. Representative Duncan Hunter , a lesser-known California Republican running for president, will also speak before the conservative activists.
Kevin Madden , a spokesman for Romney, acknowledged that conservatives are frustrated because of the election losses of 2006. But he said the party -- including its conservative wing -- needs to unite around an agenda and a candidate who can win.
"The conservative movement is going through a certain degree of reflection and renewal," Madden said. "We need to come together and find some unifying themes."

© Copyright 2007 Globe Newspaper Company.

Rumblings of the Third Temple

This is a repost from Joel Rosenberg's blog about how much closer we are to a Temple being rebuilt in Jerusalem, and therefore a clear sign that the End Times are at hand. The Temple Mount Faithful have been trying to accomplish something like this for years, but have never had much support from the Religious Establishment in Jerusalem, but things are changing fast.

PLANS FOR THIRD JEWISH TEMPLE DEVELOPING

By Joel C. Rosenberg (Washington, D.C., March 1, 2007) -- It's been nearly 2,000 years since Jews celebrated Passover at the Temple in Jerusalem, but that will change soon if a growing Orthodox Jewish movement in Israel has its way.

"The present-day Sanhedrin Court decided Tuesday to purchase a herd of sheep for ritual sacrifice at the site of the Temple on the eve of Passover, conditions on the Temple Mount permitting," the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported yesterday.

"The modern Sanhedrin was established several years ago and is headed by Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz. It claims to be renewing the ancient Jewish high court, which existed until roughly 1600 years ago, and meets once a week. Professor Hillel Weiss, a member of the Sanhedrin, told Haaretz on Tuesday that the action, even if merely symbolic, is designed to demonstrate in a way that is obvious to all that the expectation of Temple rituals will resume is real, and not just talk. Several years ago, a number of members of the various Temple movements performed a symbolic sacrifice on Givat Hananya, which overlooks the Temple Mount from Jerusalem's Abu Tur neighborhood. During the ceremony, participants sacrificed a young goat that was donated by a resident of Tekoa. The participants also built a special two-meter tall oven, in accordance with halakha (Jewish law).The Passover sacrifice is considered a simple ceremony, relative to other works performed in the Temple."

Numerous Biblical prophecies in the Old and New Testaments indicate a new Temple will be built in the "last days," suggesting such headlines have been foretold for centuries. Several Orthodox Jewish groups in Israel are currently making preparations to build and outfit the Third Temple. Some are developing detailed architectural plans for the structure, while others are creating the religious implements and clothing that would be used by Levitical priests to carry out sacrifices once the Temple is in place. Tensions over control of the Temple Mount are running high at the moment, with Palestinians rioting several weeks ago to keep Israelis from building a ramp so visitors can safely access the ancient holy site.