Posted on 03/14/2002 5:07:26 AM PST by HairOfTheDog
This is a continuation of the infamous thread New Zealander Builds Hobbit Hole originally posted on January 26, 2001 by John Farson, who at the time undoubtedly thought he had found a rather obscure article that would elicit a few replies and die out. Without knowing it, he became the founder of the Hobbit Hole. For reasons incomprehensible to some, the thread grew to over 4100 replies. It became the place for hobbits and friends of hobbits to chit chat and share LoTR news and views, hang out, and talk amongst ourselves in the comfort of familiar surroundings.
In keeping with the new posting guidelines, the thread idea is continuing here, as will the Green Dragon Inn, our more structured spin-off thread, as soon as we figure out how to move all the good discussion that has been had there. As for the Hobbit Hole, we will just start fresh, bringing only a few mathoms such as the picture above with us to make it feel like home, and perhaps a walk down memory lane:
Our discussion has been light:
It very well may be that a thread named "New Zealander builds Hobbit hole" will end up being the longest Tolkien thread of them all, with some of the best heartfelt content... Sorry John, but I would have rather it had been one with a more distinguished title! post 252 - HairOfTheDog
However, I can still celebrate, with quiet dignity, the fact that what started as a laugh about some wacko in New Zealand has mutated and grown into a multifaceted discussion of the art, literature, and philosophy that is Tolkien. And now that I've managed to write the most pompous sentence of my entire life, I agree, Rosie post 506 - JenB
Hah! I was number 1000!! (Elvish victory dance... wait, no; that would be too flitty) post 1001 - BibChr
Real men don't have to be afraid of being flitty! Go for it. post 1011 HairOfTheDog
Seventeen years to research one mystical object seems a bit excessive post 1007 - JenB
Okay...who's the wise guy who didn't renew Gandalf's research grant? post 1024 Overtaxed
To the very philosophical:
Judas Iscariot obviously was a good man, or he wouldn't have been chosen to be one of the Apostles. He loved Jesus, like all of the Apostles, but he betrayed him. Yet without his betrayal, the Passion and Crucifixion would never have occurred, and mankind would not have been redeemed. So without his self-destruction infinite good would not have been accomplished. I certainly do not mean this to be irreverant but it seems to me that this describes the character of Gollum, in the scenes so movingly portrayed above Lucius Cornelius Sulla
To fun but heartfelt debates about the integrity and worth of some of the characters
Anyone else notice how Boromir treats the hobbits? He's very fond of them but he seems to think of them as children - ruffling Frodo's hair, calls them all 'little ones'. He likes them, but I don't think he really respects them post 1536 - JenB
Yes... Tolkien told us not to trust Boromir right off the bat when he began to laugh at Bilbo, until he realized that the Council obviously held this hobbit in high esteem. What a pompous dolt post 1538 - HairOfTheDog
I think almost every fault of his can be traced directly back to his blindness to anything spiritual or unseen. He considers the halflings as children, because that is what they look like. He considers the only hope of the ring to be in taking it and using it for a victory in the physical realm. He cannot see what the hobbits are truly made of, he cannot see the unseen hope of what the destruction of the ring might mean--the destruction of Sauron himself, and he cannot see the unseen danger that lies in the use of the ring itself I just feel sorry for Boromir--he is like a blind but honorable man, trying to take the right path on the road but missing the right path entirely because he simply cannot see it post 1548 - Penny1
Boromir isn't a jerk, he's a jock post 2401 Overtaxed
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Oh, I think by the time Frodo reaches the Cracks, he's not even himself anymore! I think he's not only on the brink of a dangerous place physically, he's on the brink of losing himself completely during the exchange with Gollum. But for some reason, the take-over isn't complete till he actually has to throw the Ring in. The person speaking to Gollum is not Frodo, but the "Wheel of Fire" that Sam sees. After the Ring is destroyed, Frodo not only comes back to himself, but comes back with the unbearable (to him) knowledge of what it's like to be completely without compassion. I think that's why it's so important to him to be compassionate in the Shire post 2506 - 2Jedismom
Regarding Frodo's compassion... it's a little too much at the end. Even Merry tells him that he's going to have to quit being so darn nice. But you're right. He's learned a lesson about evil that very few ever learn since it wasn't an external lesson but an internal one. (Those kinds of lessons have the greatest impact) Not only did he totally succumb to it, but he was rather ruthless to my little Smeagol post 2516 - carton253
Well that Frodo was a big mean bully! (to Smeagol) post 2519 Overtaxed
So as you can see, everything JRR Tolkien (and Peter Jackson) is welcome here in our New Row, our soon-to-be familiar New Hobbit Hole
; philosophy, opinion, good talk and frequent silliness.
I'm not... but that's to be expected after spending 3 hours waiting at the shop while they put a new water pump in my car. Oh well... tomorrow we're going to go and see Road to Perdition, really looking forward to it!
I don't even do that with comic books, and I actually do collect comic books!
I may be a completist, but I'm not a sucker. ;)
How do you like ATT as a provider? I'm with earthlink, but after the last couple of days have decided that Corin is right (they are a nightmare), so am keeping my eyes out for a replacement.
Ordered DSL for my office, spent 4 hours on the phone with earthlink techs trying to make it work, eventually they gave up, telling me my system was not compatible with their system.
They were, however charging me $100, even though they couldn't connect me, no returns on the stuff they sent to get me on DSL.
My 19 yr. old daughter came in this morning, though, and got the system up and running by herself within exactly 2 minutes. She's not a techie, just has a little common sense. More than me, I guess :-)
Don't know if I can help myself from getting both versions of LOTR. But that could get expensive after all 3 movies.
Oh, I've heard that movie is amazing. Already tipped to sweep the boards at the Oscars next year.
From what I've seen, visually, it looks beautiful. And it's so different from the normal Hollywood-trash thats clogged the screens thesedays.
I must get round to seeing it soon.
Happy Saturday! :-)
Tell me about it! I needed a new ignition control module thingy this week. Grumble grumble grumble
The Fellowship of the Ring - part one of Peter Jackson's long-awaited $270m Lord of the Rings trilogy of films, has just received its world premiere in London's Leicester Square, but fans, critics and casual cinema-goers alike are stunned at the cheap tacky nature of the effects and the perfunctory storyline which collapses Tolkein's 300 page book into a mere 24 minutes of screen time. What studio bosses and Tolkein aficionados want to know now is "Where did the money go?"
Less than 30 minutes after the lights went down, a desultory audience trooped back outside the famous Empire cinema, bewildered and disappointed. Life-long Tolkein fan Markus Boser wiped away a manly tear and told us what he'd seen. "I had heard all about the director's amazing vision for the film, so when I saw the titles, looking for all the world like they'd been written on the backs of cereal packets in black marker-pen, I assumed that Jackson was just making a stylistic choice, but when the Hobbits appeared for the first time, I knew something was terribly wrong."
It seems that reports of tricky forced-perspective shots and complex CGI being used to create the illusion of four foot hobbits is not correct, as in the finished film, the director's "vision" relies almost exclusively on sock puppets to portray Tolkein's stumpy heroes.
Worse was to come as the Dark Riders were shown as cardboard cut-outs, waved in front of the screen by very obvious rods, and the vicious Orcs looked more like alsation dogs than the brutish humanoid footsoldiers of the evil Sauron. Ian McKellen's performance was praised by many, although most fans were deeply upset to see him wearing a wizard's hat which seemed to be made of a rolled-up newspaper and carrying a wand made of a bent coat-hanger with a tinfoil star at the end of it.
For many fans, the final straw was seeing a "plasticine Balrog that looked alarmingly like the character 'Morph' in Take Hart, and the fiery battle of Helm's Deep seemed to instead involve a number of small indoor fireworks going phut."
Studio bosses New Line were putting a brave face on the finished movie today, explaining that they believe that "Every penny of the $90m is up there on the screen," and promising "The next two instalments will be even bigger and better. We have a director with vision." But an undercover Brains Trust reporter has learned that no-one at New Line knows where director Jackson is, nor have proper accounts from the movie been returned to the studio.
After some careful bribery, we learned that, contrary to accepted practice, the entire $270m budget for all three films had been transferred to Peter Jackson's private bank account, instead of the director purchasing the resources he needed through the studio. When we asked for an explanation, a trembling studio accountant explained that Jackson's "vision" had been "overwhelming" and the cheque had been written on the spot. "He's half Swiss, on his mother's side," we were told, "so he wanted it in a Swiss bank account for sentimental reasons."
Jackson was last heard of heading for his "personal edit suite" in the Seychelles some months ago.
Frodo: The chicken shall cross the road, though it does not know the way
Boromir: I would have followed you my brother... my captain... my Chick
Gandalf: O chicken, do not meddle in the affairs of roads, for you are tasty and good with barbecue sauce.
Frodo:I wish the chicken hadn't crossed the road, I wish none of this had happened
Gandalf:So do all who live to see such roads, but that is not for them to decide...all the chick can decide is how to cross the road that is given him
Aragorn: I would have crossed with it into the very fires of the other side
Galadriel: it passed the test, go to the other side and dimish and remain chicken
Gandalf:fly you chick
Tom Bombadil: oh chick chickelo chickchickelillo
Gollum: it crosssssssed, yesssss, my preciousss, we ought to have squeezes it, why hasss it crossssssed not a fair question... it cheated firsssst, yesss my precioussss it did
Frodo to chicken: "Get off the road!!"
Legolas: Something is crossing the road. I can feel it
Gaffer Gamgee: well it's the chicken that never starts to cross the road that takes longest to get to the other side
Gandalf: Go back to the other side you chicken! You cannot pass!
Boromir: The chicken of the enemy is a gift. Let us use it against him.
Butterbur: "A chicken crossing the road? Now what does that remind me of....?"
Farmer Maggott: "I don't care, as long as it stayed away from my mushroom!"
Nazgul: Road...Chicken...
Gandalf: "There are many magic chickens in the world, Bilbo, and none of them should be eaten lightly."
Boromir: "Gondor has no chickens. Gondor needs no chickens."
Gimli: "Nobody tosses a chicken!"
Same here. Of course, I was interested enough in seeing it from the previews I'd seen... but then I learned it was ultimately based on one of my favorite comic books. After that, there was no doubt we'd be going to see it. :)
I think I might have to buy a car before the end of the year. :)
Ah, you have my sympathies. Our car isn't that bad off... although it's getting very tiring driving to two jobs in a single car.
I'll agree with you there. We bought our current one after my last one was diagnosed with needing $800+ in brake repairs... figured it just made more sense to put that money into a down payment.
Then both my wife and I were layed off a month later... but that's another story.
Pippin: But we haven't had second chicken yet, or chicken tea, or chicken brunch, or chicken dinner....
Tomorrow is the best day of the week! I get to go to church and get taught some really amazingly good stuff, and sing ancient hymns and stuff. It's the high point of my week right now.
Oh, and the car I drive just passed that 100,000 mile milestone today. So I expect the engine to fall out any day now.
You'd be surprised at what I can talk myself out of buying...why do you think I don't have a DVD player yet? :)
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