Paper Telephone.

[Pitchwife]

Since nobody seems to have any marked preferences it seems to fall to me to make a dictatorial decision. MWAHAHA! Ok, we're doing doubles - which is handy, as we'd need one more player otherwise to come full circle, and I think it's time to get real.

Players (after systematic randomizing):

Pitchwife (write)

Eönwë (draw)
Firefoot (write)
Nogrod (draw)
Galadriel (write)
Formendacil (draw)
Legate (write)
Oddwen (draw)
Rune (write)
Greenie (draw)
TGEW (write)
Rikae (draw)
Lommy (write)
Hookbill (draw)

Eönwë (write)
Firefoot (draw)
Nogrod (write)
Galadriel (draw)
Formendacil (write)
Legate (draw)
Oddwen (write)
Rune (draw)
Greenie (write)
TGEW (draw)
Rikae (write)
Lommy (draw)
Hookbill (write)

Bar any objections, interjections or other jections I'll send the first sentence out on Wednesday, November 11th, coinciding with the start of the carnival season in Germany, which seems kind of appropriate.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

Bar any objections, interjections or other jections I'll send the first sentence out on Wednesday, November 11th, coinciding with the start of the carnival season in Germany, which seems kind of appropriate.

Subjections? Projections? Rejections? Dejections? Injections???

Ok, I'll stop.

[Pitchwife]

First sentence has just been ejected, I mean sent. Here we go.

Please check your PMs regularly, and/or your e-mails if you get notifications for PMs and actually read your emails more often than you check the Downs (apparently this happens). Taking a page out of Lommy's book, I'd like you to get back to me with a sentence within 3 days, a picture within 5; doing faster will be rewarded with special appreciation. Keep it short, crisp and cryptic - and most of all, as always, have fun!

Also sign ups are closed.

[Pitchwife]

Halfway through the dark, and we're half through the game! Prepare for surrealist stirrings in spring.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

How far is this phone call?

[Pitchwife]

Two to go. Shouldn't take too long now.

[Pitchwife]

Once upon a time Pitchwife was sitting at his desk and compiling viewing statistics for Minhiriath Transmitting Variety (MTV) to improve his pension plan. "Goldberry felt left out when Gandalf and Bombadil celebrated their reunion by drinking all night while watching the Arda Cup," he wrote; but on second thought he decided to protect Goldberry's privacy, scrunched the page up and tossed it out of the window.

It hit street artist Eönwë on the head and inspired him to draw this on the pavement:



Firefoot, who just happened to pass by, was so impressed by this masterpiece that she had to tell Nogrod about it. "Galadriel," she exclaimed, "was indignant to find that Gandalf and Pippin were using the palantir as a big screen projector to watch a soccer game."

Nogrod found the story appealing and hacked the aurora borealis to paint it on the northern sky:



The phenomenon was seen even in far-off Canada by none other than Galadriel herself, the 55th of her name, who wasn't amused to find that Gandalf and Frodo were misusing Galadriel's mirror to watch reality shows.

Formendacil observed it too and sent this snapshot to his local newspaper:



(to be continued)

[Pitchwife]

Chief Editor Legateimmediately stopped the press and changed the headline to read Galadriel's Middle-Earth Seeks SuperStar performance did not impress the legless members of the jury. But Oddwen was on the scene already and shot this picture for the evening news:



Rune, reporting live from the competition, breathlessly told his phone: "An extremely diverse jury is unable to agree on whether Galadriel possesses the qualities necessary to emulate Eärendil",

while A Little Green caught the spirit of the scene in a porcelain sculpture of unembroidered elegance:



Tea-GEW saw this in a porcelain shop while looking for a new teapot and was struck by its relevance to American history. "The founding fantasy fathers look on in court while Gil-Galad makes his speech," she told Rikae, who proceeded to carve this scene into the north face of Caradhras:



(to be continued)

[Pitchwife]

"Even having friends in the jury won't save Elrond this time," court reporer Thinlomien concluded from this monument of juridical procedure, and Hookbill could not but concur in his editorial on the front page of the Downer:



"Elrond's parenting hits the headlines yet again," sighed Eönwë, reading the Downer at breakfast, as always (first breakfast, that is, but rumour has it he also reads it at second breakfast, elevenses, luncheon, afternoon tea, dinner and supper).



Firefoot, agreeing with his sentiment, drew this into her diary:





She died of boredom shortly thereafter. Her diary resurfaced in a Finnish second hand bookshop where it was bought by Nogrod. "Some thought that after 7500 seasons the plot-twists and turns of the family-saga of two great brothers' families were starting to repeat themselves," he observed.


Gal55 was not among those. In tireless ploy she turned the whole saga into an illustrated tear-off calendar of 7500 pages:





(to be continued after dinner)

[Pitchwife]

Formendacil, who had bought one of Gal55's calendars, couldn't contain his disappointment when he found that every single one of its 7500 pages was identical! "The calendar of the Seventh Age was a trifle monotonous," he complained.

Apparently the monotony extended even to the celestial spheres, for later that night Legate observed this in his telescope:



"Tilion always takes a bow and pines for the glory days of Aule The Smiths during that time of the month," Oddwen commented when he allowed her to look through the glass.


Rune was haunted by troubling dreams that very same night, and waking up sketched this:





He showed it to his Little Green psychotherapist who analysed it as "Legolas is alarmed by a Gimli-shaped cloud."

This was overheard by TGEW who found the idea intriguing enough to turn it into a fresco extending along a whole corridor:





(to be continued)

[Pitchwife]

A hundred years after TGEW's house had fallen apart into a heap of potsherds, archeologist Rikae discovered the fresco during excavations and mailed this description to his colleague, Lommy: "In a green haze, an old elf man yells at a cloud."

But when the accompanying picture came out of Lommy's printer it looked like this:



Befuddled, Lommy turned to Hookbill, the resident expert on things green, hazy or otherwise weird. He explained it thusly: "Mighty sea god, Cirdan, curses the single cloud that has thwarted his sailing plans."

And the mythology of Middle-earth never was the same again.

THE END

[Hookbill the Goomba]

Good gracious me! That was incredible!

Rikae's fantasy founding fathers made me laugh.

I like how Goldberry turning into Galadriel, who turned into Gilgalad, and then Elrond, and then Cirdan some how!

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

This was wonderful! It is pretty cool that the subjects depicted kept changing all the time. And both the sentences and the pics were splendid. My top two, though, are Rikae's founding fantasy fathers and then I am super happy for Hookbill utilising The Downer. That was a wonderful way to bring back the memories!

And of course thanks to Pitch for modding. This was a great round.

[Galadriel55]

That was terrific! Loved every bit of it. And the starting sentence was great! Thanks for modding this, Pitch!

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

And the mythology of Middle-earth never was the same again.

Tilion's mood swings certainly won't be!

(Now that I think of it, you can probably measure the passing of my innocent-mindedness by my reactions to Paper Telephones. )


Loved all the sentences and pictures. A couple that deserve an extra bow, I think, are Hook's Downer (yay! It's back! And with amazingly accurate text too!), Oddwen's legless Legolas, and Legate's monotonous calendar, which made me chuckle. I was also really amazed by all the great artwork!

I second (third?) liking the constant changes. I loved how one picture or sentence would drastically change the topic or bring in hilarious new elements. This was fantastic! Let's do it again!

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

The drawings by Greenie and Rikae were my favourites, though it was Lommys that made me laugh the hardest.

The Downer made a neat cameo, and made the readthrough last a little longer (I assume we all read the full text).

[Pitchwife]

It was a pleasure to mod for you crazy inventive people and watch the subject change this way and that way. Thanks to all of you for playing!

I loved Oddwen's picture and the sentence by Legate which prompted it, Rune's interpretation of 'superstar' as 'Eärendil' (thumbs up for that), Greenie's Gilgaladriel, Rikae's founding fathers (that was one of the best!), Gal55's calendar, which was a great way to visualize Nog's rather abstract sentence, Hookbill's Downer page (pure nostalgia, and yes I read the whole text too!), everything about Tilion, Lommy's green Círdan (he isn't ugly, he's cute! But what about Abraham Lincoln?)... Great stuff.

Who's next modding? I'll play.

[Aganzir]

This was so funny!

My favourites include Eönwë's picture (that palantír!), G55's sentence, Form's picture (that remote!), the whole court/founding fathers thing (amazing pictures, Greenie and Rikae!), the whole cloud thing (I love Rune's picture and how it becomes Gimli-shaped cloud which in turn becomes old man yells at cloud). My absolute favourite is Lommy's sentence though: "Even having friends in the jury won't save Elrond this time." So to the point and cruel.

It seems to have been half a year, but I'm happy to mod the next round.

[Galadriel55]

I'll play, just don't make me draw in the next two weeks. After that I should be okay.

[Aganzir]

Well, seeing how sluggishly people have been posting on Mirth lately, I doubt you'll have to do much anything in two weeks.

Playing:
G55

[Hookbill the Goomba]

I will play! :d

[Aganzir]

Playing:
G55
Rune
Greenie (Freebie, according to autocorrect)
Nogrod
Eönwë

It pays off to advertise on facebook.

[Pitchwife]

Me too! *jumps up and down with excitement*

[Aganzir]

Playing:
G55
Rune
Greenie
Nogrod
Eönwë
Pitch
Form
Lommy
Gil-Galad
Oddwen
Kath

Looks like we can start soon then! I'll randomise the order and send out the first sentence later this weekend.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

Looking forward to it!!!

[Aganzir]

As you remember, drawing time is three days and writing time 2 days. Please turn on email notifications for private messages if you haven't already, because tempting as it would be to send people their tasks on facebook messenger, I'll primarily try to stick to the Downs.

Let me know if you need to be moved.

Round 1:
Kath - draw
Nogrod - write
Formendacil - draw
Rune - write
Thinlómien - draw
Eönwë - write
Legate - draw
Oddwen - write
Gil-Galad - draw
Greenie - write
Pitchwife - draw
Galadriel55 - write
Hookbill - draw

Round 2:
Kath - write
mod - draw
Formendacil - write
Rune - draw
Thinlómien - write
Eönwë - draw
Legate - write
Oddwen - draw
Gil-Galad - write
Greenie - draw
Pitchwife - write
Galadriel55 - draw
Hookbill - write
Nogrod - draw
TGEW - write

[Hookbill the Goomba]

Hey! I said I'd play! Put me on the list, you villain!

[Aganzir]

Whoops! And I was even wondering why you weren't playing, so much so that I went to check if you'd signed up in the facebook group! Don't know how I completely missed your post here.

[Pitchwife]

I'll be travelling from tomorrow till October 13th with only sporadic internet access, but at this pace I should be back before my turn comes. Just saying.

[Aganzir]

Okay, thanks for letting us know! If your turn comes before then, I'll swap you with somebody. Have a good trip!

[Gil-Galad]

Originally Posted by Pitchwife

I'll be travelling from tomorrow till October 13th with only sporadic internet access, but at this pace I should be back before my turn comes. Just saying.

I will stall for you if it picks up. Aganzir loves it when I do that.

[Aganzir]

Originally Posted by Gil-Galad

I will stall for you if it picks up. Aganzir loves it when I do that.

Oi! Don't you dare!

[Aganzir]

After two and a half weeks, we're halfway through round 1! (For some reason, I first typed 'season 1', and looking at all the twists and turns and drama, this might as well be a TV show. )

Keep up the good work, everyone!

[Pitchwife]

Wib

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

Originally Posted by Aganzir

After two and a half weeks, we're halfway through round 1! (For some reason, I first typed 'season 1', and looking at all the twists and turns and drama, this might as well be a TV show. )

Keep up the good work, everyone!

Impressive. Looking forward to seeing how it has evolved.

[Aganzir]

Originally Posted by Rune Son of Bjarne

Impressive. Looking forward to seeing how it has evolved.

Let me just say: it has.

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

Well, shoot. I think I must have logged out of Facebook the first week this PT game was being set up and I completely forgot to join! Would there, perchance, be a spot for me?

[Aganzir]

I'm going to add you to the end of the list! We're already on round 2 but your contribution is most welcome.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

Originally Posted by Aganzir

Let me just say: it has.

Indeed it has, you will have my contribution tomorrow.

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

Originally Posted by Aganzir

I'm going to add you to the end of the list! We're already on round 2 but your contribution is most welcome.

Ah! Excellent!

[Aganzir]

Hey sorry for the delay in updating the list and making it look like Rune was taking ages - I was travelling and generally busy! Anyway we're down to Pitch, not long to go now!

As a teaser, here's my face swap with the picture I drew (had to step in at one point to cover for someone). Enjoy!