Jokien with Tolkien in 2022

Maybe the Real Highlights were the Friends We Made Along the Way

The Road goes ever on and on, Down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, And I must follow, if I can

A “Year in Review” post just for this newsletter would be a rather short one, as I’ve only been in the newsletter business for 2 months. But there were definitely highlights from the other ten months on Twitter, so I’ll recap November and December here on the newsletter and then share some of the top tweets from the past year too!

---

Jokien with Tolkien Highlights

In November I began this newsletter! On the 15th I set up shop here and shared a short introductory post.

I’d considered Substack before, but the seemingly immanent demise of Twitter (which inspired wave after wave of goodbyes that reminded me of the endings of The Return of the King) was what gave me the push I needed to begin writing here.

December is where things here really kicked into gear here with Jokien with Tolkien. I collected some of my favorite Lord of the Rings and Christmas Carols mashups, gave 10 Reasons The Lord of the Rings is a Christmas Movie, and shared some of my favorite things from December.

---

Twitter Highlights 2022

January—remember Wordle?

JRR Jokien 🗡️🏹🪓 @joshcarlosjosh

[youth pastor voice] wordle? you know whose WORD 'LL change your life? ⬛️⬛️🟩⬛️⬛️ ⬛️🟩🟩🟩⬛️ ⬛️⬛️🟩⬛️⬛️ ⬛️⬛️🟩⬛️⬛️ ⬛️⬛️🟩⬛️⬛️

February—a daily prayer

JRR Jokien 🗡️🏹🪓 @joshcarlosjosh

God, grant me the serenity to accept the books I bought that I won't ever read, courage to read the ones I can, and income to keep buying new books.

March—it’s ok, I can make this joke since I only have five jokes and only two of them are funny

JRR Jokien 🗡️🏹🪓 @joshcarlosjosh

Jesus: “Show me your funniest joke.” Babylon Bee: "I have no funniest joke." Jesus: "You are right in saying, ‘I have no funniest joke,' for you only have one joke, and the one you have is not funny."

April—look, I’ve read other books too

JRR Jokien 🗡️🏹🪓 @joshcarlosjosh

Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Songs, Ecclesiastes

May—NFTs? yeah, I love Niles Frasier Teamups

JRR Jokien 🗡️🏹🪓 @joshcarlosjosh

Frasier: I've lost it all, Niles. All my apes: gone! Niles: Frasier, what were you thinking? If you wanted a bored ape, you should have dragged dad to the opera.

June

JRR Jokien 🗡️🏹🪓 @joshcarlosjosh

I (88M) took a job helping an old friend (71M) and ended up spending a lot of time with his niece (24F). I tried to be kind to her but she got the wrong idea. I cannot give her what she seeks. I told her about my gf (2778F) and now she is heartbroken. AITA?

July

JRR Jokien 🗡️🏹🪓 @joshcarlosjosh

Joseph about to tell his brothers about the dream he had about them all bowing to him someday:

August

JRR Jokien 🗡️🏹🪓 @joshcarlosjosh

my friends and all our dads listening to the laser tag employee give the instructions:

September

JRR Jokien 🗡️🏹🪓 @joshcarlosjosh

sci-fi is when hugo weaving looks like this and fantasy is when hugo weaving looks like this

October—He’s our only hope

JRR Jokien 🗡️🏹🪓 @joshcarlosjosh

Scientists at Stanford University have reconstructed this 3D model of how Jesus of Nazareth might have looked

November

JRR Jokien 🗡️🏹🪓 @joshcarlosjosh

HE SEES YOU WHEN YOU'RE SLEEPING / HE KNOWS WHEN YOU'RE AWAKE / HE KNOWS IF YOU'VE BEEN BAD OR GOOD / SO KEEP IT SECRET, KEEP IT SAFE

December

JRR Jokien 🗡️🏹🪓 @joshcarlosjosh

You know Dasher and Dancer And Prancer and Vixen, Comet and Cupid And Donner and Blitzen But they were all of them deceived for another reindeer was made

---

Happy New Year! Looking forward to continuing this venture in the coming months with you all. Thanks for subscribing, thanks for reading, and thanks for your support!

-JRR