AWKWARD ZOMBIE

I heard he wrote LotR just to have a place to put the language he made up with his buddies

Just rumor though

He mostly was interested in world-building, maybe because he wanted to not only create fictional languages, but have an acceptable explanation about how those languages came to be. The Hobbit is a much lighter read than LOTR, because it is more character-driven and actually aimed at a younger audience, because he wanted his kids to read them. LOTR on the other hand, while still being story-centric, also seems to use the story as an excuse to show you the rich world he had been building and some of it's history.

The Hobbit actually originated as a story he told to his children. His whole obsession with getting the languages right was because the man was a Professor of Linguistics.

So pretty much Skyrim the book (or more accurately Skyrim as LoTR the video game)?

no it's basically the opposite
it's good at world-building, for one thing.

The opposite of both polar opposites I gave?

Finally saw Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.

Goddaisies.

Saw The Hobbit and it was awesome.

Been watching some movies this week with friends.

Tonight we watched Up. 3 people didn't see the movie before.

All of the tears.

Gotta say it's one of the best Pixar films, and highly underrated/overshadowed by others.

like Cars and The Incredibles.

The Incredibles was good. Cars was where they implemented MAXIMUM MERCHANDISING.

The Incredibles was good, but it wasn't Pixar's "typical magic", it felt more like an homage, which is fine, but it didn't carry the same abandon.

Plus, Pixar's still had a bit of weirdness with making humans, and everyone came out blobby and a bit samey.

Cars was just a mess, and while it was "okay" there wasn't anything in there that made you feel like it wasn't a typical "guy gets stuck somewhere and just wants to go" movie with people replaced by cars. And I'm not even touching the sequel.

Though, I guess Up's a little bit of an oddball for Pixar (plenty of magic and charm, but a higher entry level) so the lack of appreciation is understandable, but on some levels it's a bit frustrating.

As a superhero fan, I loved The Incredibles, but yeah, it doesnt really feel like a Pixar movie somehow.

I dunno, If you were to name the real magical Pixar movies... there would actually be very few right? I can think of three that I would consider master pieces.

And all three are all three Toy Stories.

Surprisingly no. I'll give one to Toy Story as either just the first movie or the franchise but the second movie was mostly rehashing jokes or making star wars references.
My other choices are Up and Finding Nemo.

Bug's Life, Monsters Inc and Cars are good movies but they weren't game changers. Hell Finding Nemo's position on list is also debatable.

Wall-E as well.

So I guess what I'm saying is that Pixar are pretty daisies cool, but expecting everything they do to match up to their masterpieces is a little unrealistic.