Heh, believe it or not, but that's the second rabid hipe I live through with Tolkien.
The first happened in early nineties, when Soviet Russia discovered Tolkien and absolutely everyone was compelled to read it. As a good non-comformist I did not touch LOTR but read Silmarillion instead.
I read everything of Tolkien I could get my hands on in 1999, after playing BG.
And then the movie happened. I think I am getting to the point when the cult starts turning me off Tolkien. I do love the books, and I do like the movies, but...huh, it is a bit *too* "popularized", no?
It makes me to re-think my dream of last yer to see a movie/CRPG based on ASOIF...