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[Vector]

The pacing for the Tolkein movies is so poor that I can't stand to watch them.  Every scene is delivered in exactly the same way, the same one-note tone that lingers on the wrong things and doesn't allow enough space to develop character, point of view, or motivation.  The leitmotifs are abused, the draw-out camera shots that highlight the wanderers traveling from high above, when we would get more out of a few shots of their feet, their boots and clothes as they endure the weather.

Don't get me wrong, they visuals are beautiful.  The script is clearly pretty good.  But the direction is driving me bonkers.

(No disses to anyone that enjoys them.  I just... can't.  Couldn't even when I was far more inclined towards raw spectacle in saturated golden hues).

[XXSockXX]

Really? I liked the wide shots of characters travelling from above a lot, because of the beautiful landscapes and because it somehow conveys the epicness of the whole thing. Shots of boots and clothes would have looked cheap (as in lower production value) to me.
Never questioned the character stuff much because I know the books too well and Tolkien isn't really that much about characters anyway. In fact what bothered me a bit about the movies was more how some characters were handled and expanded upon, while in the books most characters are pretty sketchy like in medieval epics. But that was probably necessary to make the transition from book to movie work.

[Vector]

I have no issues with those shots in and of themselves.  I have issues with every travel scene being shot in the same predictable way.

It doesn't have to be boots and clothes.  It just has to be something more personal.  I should be able to feel the wear, the exhaustion, and I don't.

[Sirus]

If you make it to Return of the King, you will. Poor Frodo and Sam

[alway]

If you make it to Return of the King, you will. Poor Frodo and Sam

Meanwhile, in scrambling-over-rocks-land....

But yeah. Most of the journey wasn't actually hampered by equipment up until Frodo and Sam go off on their own. In terms of the timeline, the trip from the Shire to Rivendell was a bit under 1 month; with a layover in Bree. Followed by resupply and a couple months recuperating in Rivendell. From Rivendell to the time at which the party splits up, it's 2 months, with a stop at Lorien 1.5 months into that. From that point, it's 1 month until the ring is destroyed*.

Or in summary, a vast majority of their journeys are about the length of a good backpacking trip, with the exception of their trip from Rivendell to Lorien which took 1.5 months. For those lengths of time, food and water would be the important thing, since any decent quality equipment would probably be able to last through it. And considering their party was led by several skilled outdoorsmen, all their gear except the stuff the hobbits brought along would be in much the same shape it started in. After all, Gandalf practically lives on the road, Aragorn is a ranger, known for their living in the wilds and survival skills, Gimli was a dwarven nobleman whose equipment would thus be incredibly robust, Boromir was a Gondor nobleman, and so his equipment would be pretty good, and Legolas was described in such a way that he probably never accidentally stepped in a mud puddle in his life.

So really only the bit with Frodo and Sam, when they had no food/water resupply for 1.5 months and only Gollum as a survival guide would have had such effects.

*Yes, the time from when Frodo leaves the shire to the end of the first book is 5 times longer than the time of books 2 and 3 combined.

[Vector]

I can't handle what's going on in my life right now.

[alway]

I can't handle what's going on in my life right now.

Yes, but what fun would it be if you could?
When you can handle everything in your life... that's when stagnation and boredom creep in.

[Vector]

I'm 23 and they want to put my work in a textbook.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

And why not rejoice? Most people go their entire lives without being published. To achieve it at your age is a feat to be proud of.

[Vector]

I'm becoming an authority in a field in which I have absolutely no training.

I'm sorry.  I'm legitimately struggling with this.  You may not understand why.  I was bullied all my life and suddenly people are treating me like a prodigy or rising star, and I can't quite deal.

EDIT: Okay, tomorrow I solemnly swear that I'll start three new major projects.  Maybe that will help keep my mind off things.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

So? Training is a means to an end. You have become the training instead, and you will benefit from it for a long time to come through the recognition alone. If you know enough to be published, you know enough to be published. Training only factors into what you don't know.

I doubt anyone else having their work published is going to feel that they're truly worthy of the authority either, and if they do that might be a large red flag indeed.

[Ogdibus]

I want to say something helpful, but I can't really think of anything.  Starting those projects sounds like a good idea, though.  Maybe you'll get some feedback that will help the positive treatment feel more natural.  I can't help but think that it's hard to trust your senses under those circumstances.

[Tiruin]

I'm becoming an authority in a field in which I have absolutely no training.

I'm sorry.  I'm legitimately struggling with this.  You may not understand why.  I was bullied all my life and suddenly people are treating me like a prodigy or rising star, and I can't quite deal.

EDIT: Okay, tomorrow I solemnly swear that I'll start three new major projects.  Maybe that will help keep my mind off things.

I say worry about the implications or repercussions later, and discard the past (or in the least, what would happen that is implied by said past) which you'd think may happen to you. Mostly, the training part (I'm speaking from an untrained view so take this with a grain of salt) usually goes along what you'll understand from it. Take notes from those who did that field before and perhaps talk to someone about it who you think would best relate with the problem at hand.

..Err, just a bit of advice..(I guess) I could say I've the same kind of traumatic past, and that your achievement right there is really awesome. Just don't stress yourself.

[Skyrunner]

I'm 23 and they want to put my work in a textbook.

That's pretty awesome. O_o

Sad: so much to do so little time (again)
This is worse when I want to do projects. Eg, I decided to try my hand at fixing the openCL sim so it actually works and be more useful to my portfolio, but it's taking so long... I have school studies I should but am not doing, the game I am procrastinating adding features into, the abandoned plant sim that got kicked off the backburner and into the fridge, SATs I should take eventually but I habe not studied for, and on top of  that I just read a paper and a blog post or two on the tit-for-tat strategy for prisoners' dilemma and I want to make that too Dx
On top of that there's the stress of probably needing much much better grades which I don't have, nor am I close to getting them.
Half are things I need to do, half are things I want to do. =/

(I never knew prisoners' dilemma would have so many papers on the subject.. .)

[SalmonGod]

I'm becoming an authority in a field in which I have absolutely no training.

I'm sorry.  I'm legitimately struggling with this.  You may not understand why.  I was bullied all my life and suddenly people are treating me like a prodigy or rising star, and I can't quite deal.

EDIT: Okay, tomorrow I solemnly swear that I'll start three new major projects.  Maybe that will help keep my mind off things.

Sounds like you're experiencing something Neil Gaiman describes in this speech to a bunch of college graduates.  He calls it the "fraud police".  After being hit with the realization that he'd "made it", he struggled daily for several years with the feeling that at any time people could discover that he didn't really deserve it and all his success would be revoked.  He says that he's heard the same thing from many of his respected peers.  He then goes on to describe how I think it was Stephen King told him that what was going on in his life was really great and that he needed to enjoy it, and he didn't understand until many years later that he never did enjoy it because his paranoia about having worked himself up to position that he didn't deserve just wouldn't let him.

You are, of course, the one person best equipped to manage yourself, but starting projects when you're already feeling overwhelmed just to distract yourself doesn't seem like the best idea to me.  Just do your best to enjoy what you've got going.  It sounds really awesome to me, and I think everyone here would agree that there's no reason to believe you don't deserve it.