‘Lord of the Rings’ and God: After hearing so much about the latest ‘Lord of the Rings’ movie, Hub Blog, who has never read any of J.R.R. Tolkien’s books, decided the other day to rent the first movie and ... and what a shock. It’s as good -- no, it’s better -- than the ‘Star Wars’ movies, which I now assume borrowed a concept or two from Tolkien’s classics. Urging my brother to watch the first ‘Lord of the Rings’ movie, I described it as a cross between Star Wars (good vs. evil) and the Iliad and the Odyssey. That was last night. This morning I read this article about the debate over whether Tolkien’s creation was influenced by his strongly held religious convictions. Upon reflection, I did notice, while watching the movie, some Christian influences, such as one of the heroes making what appeared to be a sign of the cross over the body of his fallen warrior friend etc. But the ‘Christian’ debate is ultimately silly, for there were even more overt nods to Norse, Celtic, Greek and other mythologies. ... Bottom line: Fun movie.  ¶ 10:44 AM