Matchstick modeller Patrick Acton has successfully completed a feat that few would undertake…creating a model of Minas Tirith based on the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy. The city of the kings, the capital of Gondor and home of the White Tree only took 3 years and 420,000 matchsticks (where do you find that many?!?!) and tons of patience. But then again, with this museum with other matchstick creations being located in Iowa, what else is there to do?

Either way, I salute you Patrick. That model is beyond incredible!

Matchstick Marvels

http://www.enginerdiness.com/?p=329

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There has always been a large difference between these two genres in my opinion, yet most people lump them into the same category. Everyone from large distributors such as Barnes & Noble down to my favorite local stores in Raleigh all lump them into the same boat.

Now, like most true nerds, I have a fondness for both genres. My childhood shaped my preference, and I never realized, or thought about, how much until I started listening to the Critical Hit podcast by Major Spoilers. This podcast takes several people through encounters in Dungeons & Dragons and tells the whole story based on the chance inherent in the dice.

When I was a just a nerdy little kid back in 5th grade, my friends and I started playing Dungeons & Dragons for fun. No consistency since we were quite young to really follow all of the rules and regulations, but the creation of our characters and playing on the school grounds while everyone was running around and playing was quite enjoyable! Now, take into account that this was in the 80s when the Dungeons & Dragons suicide story had hit the mainstream. My parents jumped in on the fear bandwagon and forbade me to have anything to do with the game. And as with all kids, that drove me to want to play more. So even though all my books and materials had been confiscated, I had to find a way to learn more. Now, I think this is where my preference in genres started showing up. I had a large C3PO case that held quite a few Star Wars figures (including the ones that I had sharpened the hands on with a pencil sharpener). I remember riding my bike for almost 2 miles to meet up with my friend who had Dungeons & Dragons manuals that he didn’t want. I made the trade and rode home on my bike with the biggest grin on my face. I hid those books really well, and my parents never found out. I would stay in my room and read every word in those books. So my parent’s fear in the unknown drove me to being a fantasy freak. I sacrificed my science fiction based Star Wars figures and delved deeply into fantasy.

That has now lasted far into my adulthood. I will not read nonfiction, general fiction or even science fiction. I can honestly say I have never read a science fiction novel. But any fantasy novel, and I mean ANY fantasy novel, I will pick it up and read it.

Now, just pondering, is there really that much difference between science fiction and fantasy? Both are imaginative fiction, both take place in a time other than now, both require acceptance in the unknown to enjoy…yet I can’t force myself to read science fiction. When I analyze myself, I feel that I should like science fiction more. I’m an engineer…a scientist at my core. Wouldn’t that lead me to preferring science fiction which is probably now based on things in the near future based on the rapidity of innovation nowadays? Yet I prefer the more liberal arts version of fiction and go with fantasy.

What is everyone else’s preference between the two and why?

And as a parting note, I would like to post again the YouTube video parody of “Like a G6″ called “Roll a D6″ (in reference to the 6 sided die used in Dungeons & Dragons).

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