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.
Remember, "Keep it secret. Keep it safe."
;^)
Hey! For those of us who can see that we might soon be getting a little older, let's not speed things up :-)
Just kidding, I can't wait either.
Have a good trip then. I'm taking my daughter to college in upstate New York on Wednesday.
"Haven't managed to accomplish anything useful here, and this one's almost over"
Well, me neither, though I did get my disaster of an office somewhat cleaned up. And I managed to watch, with my wife, all the special stuff on the dvd again. But I just really find it to be very inspiring.
How did you like that software they had, that created CGI soldiers (10,000 of them did he say?) that made their own decisions about how they were going to fight. Is CGI the right word? I was completely fascinated.
Well, I'm going to take my lady out shopping for awhile, some stuff she needs and a wedding present we need to buy.
But I thought of an interesting plus to the anonimity, another side of the same coin, but positive. On the net, we are unable to use facial expressions, body language, even dress or physical appearance, all of the usual things that humans use as part of their normal means of communication. But this requires us, I think to be more eloquent with the written word than we might normally be. We probably are expressing thoughts and opening our hearts in ways that might take a much longer time in RL. I personally feel like I am getting to know everyone here in very real ways, perhaps in much the same way that you get to know a character in a novel, that is, through the written word. I feel that, because we must rely on the written word here, in many ways we are getting to see things in each other that we might not otherwise. I for one, am having a great time.
I tend to sometimes be oblivious of whatever is going on, so forgive me if I am again stating the obvious. But what do you think?
Well, I am having a wonderful time (really!) happily chattering to myself. Not sure why I'm in such a happy mood, but I am.
I've been in kind of an anti-social mood lately, so I've been keeping to myself. Rose and I went to the bookstore after dinner Friday night, and picked up some books I've been wanting for a while. Got a copy of the graphic novel Road to Perdition, on which the movie was based. Also got a copy of the latest SF novel by Peter Hamilton, Fallen Dragon. Rose got a copy of the latest paperback by Spider Robinson, The Free Lunch, and she's making me read it. First novel I've ever read by him.
I thought the software they used for the battle scenes (called MASSIVE) was incredible... I think every major studio will either be using that software or something like it in a few years. Another step towards making movies entirely computer generated.
Have fun shopping!
I was wondering...if the CGI guys made their own fighting decisions, did the bad guys win 50% of the times they ran the simulation?
Well...no one really knows who we are in RL either I would expect.
Maybe it's just a wimmin thing but the thought of those internet meetings gone major bad is always out there. Still, there is safety in numbers. We haven't had Jen's input yet. I wonder what her parents would say about it!
Your friend was buying a "Research Vessel?"
I am a tent kinda girl myself....
"I have talked to people in bars and movie theaters that I know less."
I think so too, I had really meant my post to say as much, but perhaps I didn't say it right. I had meant sort of to say that we're really getting to know each other pretty well.
Most of us think that the actors were really well cast in the movie FOTR. I wonder if, when we all meet, if, after all this chatting, since we probably now have mental images of each other, will we think we are as "well cast."
I could do without the TV, but the air conditioning sounds nice. But you guys don't really need AC out there do you? In that case I go with the tent too, maybe.
LOL! If Corin shows up without snowpants I'll be disappointed.
I'm hoping we pull off the Entmoot. I think it will be lots of fun.
Have a good nap, Hair.
Yesterday we went to a state park and saw a beautiful waterfall. Here it is:
Then we went to a lake and the boys went swimming:
Today, we broke the ground for our new education building at church. A bunch of the church members grabbed onto a ropes and literally plowed up a chunk of the ground (taken from the scripture I Corinthians 9:10).
Then, while Josh and Steve took a nap, I took Matthew to see SW AOTC. I had to try real hard to not bust out laughing at some of the "serious" parts. That would have been rude to Matthew. But it was sure corny sometimes!
After that we went swimming for a little while and then out to eat at Wendy's! Then the boys watched Independence Day and I mowed the side yard.
They are all in bed and I'm trying to catch up with you guys!
My wife is a complete Star Wars fanatic and even she is not thrilled with AOTC. I wonder how the folks feel who camped out in front of whatever theater that was.
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