User talk:PKM/3 to Feb 2007

WikiProject Middle-earth invitation
Hello, !

Thank you for your contributions to a Tolkien-related article. If you are interested, feel free to join WikiProject Middle-earth, a WikiProject focused on improving Tolkien-related articles in Wikipedia. We would be glad to have you join in the effort!

Here're some good links and subpages related to the WikiProject.

If you have any questions or concerns, don't hesitate to ask on our talk page.

Thank you for your contributions and have fun editing! Uthanc 06:48, 12 January 2007 (UTC)

Which bastard...?
Many thanks to both you and John for your help with the paintings of Antoine, bastard of Burgundy. Both the van der Weyden and the Memling are such superb paintings, I am left only with the embarras du choix!

Having been extremely interested in Burgundian dress of that period (the 1470's), I must have a look at your contributions...

With all good wishes, Nick Michael 09:44, 16 January 2007 (UTC)


 * I clicked on 1400-1500 in fashion and was amazed to see - nothing! But it would be an intimidating task to cover such a huge period and subject, and although I have studied the subject for many years, I have really only covered the 1470's: rather too specialised for Wikipedia I would think. Furthermore, I've never really written on fashion and don't think I am quite qualified to do so. So it'll have to wait for a better man (person, sorry) than me... Nick Michael 20:59, 21 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Heh, intimidating is the word. I am tempted to trun it into a redirect to something.  Thinking... - PKM 22:23, 21 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Yes, as I said in my edit summary (having linked to chaperon), it is really irresponsible to set up an article like that. I'm afraid I can't see myself doing anything much - I know less than Nick.  The only useful thing I think to be done until someone properly qualified gets involved is to turn it into a list of links, with brief descriptions, to other articles with relevant info.  This would actually be something, as there are a lot of articles in the category & I & most people won't really know which have anything on that century.  Otherwise, is there anywhere to redirect it to?  Johnbod 02:06, 22 January 2007 (UTC)

Scans of Tolkien-related book covers
I noticed your scans of book covers, and your addition of some (all?) of them to the Images page at the WikiProject. Thanks for that. I was going to do some scans, but you beat me to it! :-) I wonder if you had any thoughts on where the line should be drawn on Tolkien-related books in terms of which should have articles? It might also be possible to do a list of the 'lesser' books, with a short stub on each and a scan of the book cover. What do you think? It would be terribly easy to go overboard, but I think something tasteful could be done fairly easily. As for book articles crying out for covers, what about these ones? I suppose one problem is whether to use scans of the covers of US or UK editions? I have UK editions. Carcharoth 22:47, 30 January 2007 (UTC)
 * The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion done
 * Tolkien's Legendarium (this is the only one I don't have - too expensive at the moment) done
 * J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator (this has the bonus of a Tolkien artwork on the cover!) done
 * Mallorn (journal)!) done
 * The Atlas of Middle-earth done
 * Journeys of Frodo done
 * Mythlore done
 * Tolkien's Ring - this might be a candidate for merging to a list
 * J. R. R. Tolkien: A Biography done
 * The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien done
 * I don't have all of those, but as it happens the Legendarium is sitting here next to the scanner... Some images can be found on the publisher's sites as well (and at http://www.tolkienbooks.net), and uploading those should be acceptable under US Fair Use.  I would suggest (as a rule of thumb) UK covers for volumes first published in the UK (or by UK authors in the case of simultaneous editions), US for volumes first published in the US or by US authors. I also think we should follow the practice of Wikiproject:Novels and use first edition covers where available.
 * All of my Mythlores are antique! We should really use a recent cover for that - or at least a post-fanzine phase cover - will see what the MythSoc site has on offer.  The dust jacket for my US copy of Letters is too well-worn to use.
 * I've been thinking about where to draw the line on reference books as well - it's going to be tricky. I would say we can include individual articles on books by the major scholars (Flieger, Shippey, Anderson, et al.) if anyone wants to bother to make them, but we should have complete infoboxes and possibly site critical commentary.  We should include "popular" references if they are historically significant (which is why I did both editions of Foster), best-sellers, or otherwise influential (yes, that's fuzzy).  The Tolkien's Ring article is pretty slim and I'd agree to merging it into a list unless we can cite some critical significance or later influence.   But we should probably have an article on Tolkien and the Great War (and add it to the biography list on JRRT page?), which would be easier if I actually owned a copy.
 * Anyway, assume I will work on book covers as time permits, between clothing articles. :-) - PKM 23:18, 30 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Thanks! I have a copy of Tolkien and the Great War, but I think an article will need to be done first! :-) Carcharoth 23:49, 30 January 2007 (UTC)
 * I meant "cite" not "site" up there. I do know the difference. - PKM 02:28, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Additional criterion: We should have an entry for any JRRT nonfiction book that won the Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for Inklings Studies or a Hugo, etc. -PKM 03:40, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
 * Agreed. There are 16 of those so far:
 * Master of Middle-earth by Paul H. Kocher * +
 * Tolkien Criticism by Richard C. West
 * The Road to Middle-earth by T. A. Shippey * +
 * J. R. R. Tolkien: Myth, Morality and Religion by Richard Purtill
 * The Return of the Shadow by J. R. R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien * +
 * The Annotated Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien, edited by Douglas A. Anderson * +
 * J. R. R. Tolkien, A Descriptive Bibliography by Wayne G. Hammond with the assistance of Douglas A. Anderson
 * J. R. R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull * +
 * A Question of Time: J. R. R. Tolkien's Road to Faërie by Verlyn Flieger * +
 * Roverandom by J. R. R. Tolkien, edited by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond
 * J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century by Tom Shippey * +
 * Tolkien's Legendarium: Essays on the History of Middle-earth, edited by Verlyn Flieger and Carl F. Hostetter +
 * Beowulf and the Critics by J. R. R. Tolkien, edited by Michael D. C. Drout +
 * Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth by John Garth *
 * War and the Works of J.R.R. Tolkien by Janet Brennan Croft
 * The Lord of the Rings: A Reader's Companion by Wayne G. Hammond and Christina Scull * +
 * I have some of these (marked above with *), but not all of them. Carcharoth 13:49, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
 * I have the ones marked + and I can probably do stubs on some of the ones we don't have, over time. I'll certainly do Beowulf and the Critics - was thinking about that earlier today before I read your note, in fact. Real life may infringe on my wiki time for a while, but I'll work on things as I can. - PKM 18:28, 3 February 2007 (UTC)
 * PS I have moved this list to the Things to do page so we can track them there. I can't do them all! - PKM 22:53, 3 February 2007 (UTC)

WikiProject?
Hi Paula Kate, it's Willow again. How've you been? I see that you're still doing wonderful things for fashion! :) I've been a little distracted from knitting and fashion for a few months myself. :(

I'm thinking about starting a WikiProject for Textile Arts, and was wondering if you'd like to join. My main reason is that it'd be nice to take advantage of this great automated system for tracking the progress of articles, the Mathbot. Disclaimers nonwithstanding, I get the impression that the resulting quality and importance ratings are used for judging the progress of fields and deciding whether articles should be included in print editions. Also, untagged artices are apt to get tagged by less appropriate WikiProjects, e.g., Talk:Sweater curse.

All we need are five editors who contribute regularly to textile-related articles to say that they'd like to form a WikiProject. It might grow into something nice, too, something that might attract other interested editors to Wikipedia. Please let me know if you're interested, and if you know of others who might be as well — perhaps Churchh? His nemesis seems to have departed. ;)

Thanks for your help and keep up the good work, which makes many of us happy, Willow 01:19, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

PS. In case it matters, I'd be happy to do the technical stuff, like making templates and setting up the Mathbot.


 * I'm in! Soon I will have no life (three projects not counting clothing!)
 * But yes, I still want to do a lot of work on embroidery and I want to learn more about lace, so I would be happy to join the textile arts project.
 * And then one day - WikiProject:Clothing - PKM 03:37, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

Hi PK, thanks very much for the quick reply! :) I know what you mean about "no life".  It's probably the worst time for me to start a WikiProject, but I've been brooding on it for some time; a little alarm clock went off in my head, saying "Time's up! Start doing something about it." ;)  Luckily, I have a little experience from my wonderful friends over at WikiProject Molecular and Cellular Biology; I plan on plagarizing their hard work without the smallest compunction. ;D We'll see if people are interested; I sent out several messages this morning. Indeed, if enough people become interested, we could split off the clothing and fashion design parts into their own WikiProject. My only thought is that we're stronger together, less likely to suffer attrition, which seems to be the bane of WikiProjects. Besides, it would be a pity if the weavers and knitters didn't hobnob with the clothing mavens, don't you think? :) Talk to you soon, Willow 10:47, 5 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Good point! Works for me.  BTW, I think WikiProject Lace has died, and we should pick up where they left off. - PKM 20:28, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

I totally agree; their work will help pave a smoother way for us, and we can carry on their work in turn. I started a proposal here; if you would sign up, that'd be great! Thanks muchly, gotta dash off to work, Willow 14:20, 7 February 2007 (UTC)


 * Signed up. PKM 18:06, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

Hi, guess what? The bird is aloft! :) Check out this page and have fun adding your own articles. :) Willow 13:27, 17 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Excellent!! - PKM 17:48, 17 February 2007 (UTC)

science fiction studies
Hi PKM -- I just started Science fiction studies and Category:Science fiction studies, so if you've got relevant stuff to go there, please do. (Nice to meet you, btw; I hope to be a northern californian myself, again, soon.) --lquilter 02:33, 5 February 2007 (UTC)
 * Great! Nice to meet you too.  I mostly only wiki on weekends, so it may be a week or so before I do much ... - PKM 03:39, 5 February 2007 (UTC)