We're going to keep things short and sweet today, since I'm in Seattle for the MLA conference, and my brain is mostly occupied elsewhere.  I'm having a wonderful conference so far, though, and the Mayflower Park Hotel where I'm staying is amazing, so that's all quite nice.

Fortunately, since I'm not feeling particularly eloquent, here is a film about someone who was quite eloquent--J.R.R. Tolkien, in honor of his birthday on January 3.

Here are some of the other fun things we found around the web for you this week:

• What would it be like if Flannery O'Conner had written the Twilight books?  How about Lewis Carroll?  Now, you have the chance to find out! (io9)
• Classic fairy tale buildings examined through the lens of real-world architecture. (Brain Pickings)
• An article looking back on Alan Rickman's 10 years with the Harry Potter franchise. (LA Times)
• More beautiful paper sculptures. (Terri Windling's Studio)
• George R.R. Martin released an excerpt from the next book in A Song of Ice And Fire, entitled The Winds of Winter. (George R.R. Martin)
• Cassie Clare on teen literature. (Speakeasy)
• And finally, some of Joss Whedon's series, re-imagined as 1960s folk albums. (Flavorwire)

Hope all your new years are off to great starts!  Happy weekend, everyone!