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
-----------------------------------------
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.
Elves are stuck up jerks who are fun only to other stuck-ups. :)
Well your Swallowtail Jig and Irish Washerwoman are better than mine!
Well it's rude to call someone an Elf snob to her face! :)
We can always remedy the height differential.
Corin is having the weekend from HELL!
Okay, deep breath, we can get through this. Here's my weekend thus far (and we've got two more days).
Went last night to Wal-mart and bought McAfee VirusScan. Came home and, at LCS's suggestion did the long version. Problem is the long version required putting the CD in the CD drive and rebooting. Fine, that all worked well (after several hours running scandisk, defrag and two hours of file checking). But, when it was done, it wouldn't take me back to Windows.
Ordinarily, that's not a problem, but my machine is not the newest (or the best) and the CD drive sticks. So, when I got up this morning, I couldn't open the CD drive and I couldn't get beyond the program. (we normally execute the "eject" command from windows)
After much weeping and g'nashing of teeth, I did get to the C prompt. (I know you computer types already have it solved). But after the techno-geek (he was stupid) at Packard Bell told me "your computer is just broken, there's nothing we can do." I called everyone I could think of who might know. My neighbor was gonna come over after lunch. But before he did, I ran set up and finally figured out how to change the Boot Sequence. That solved the problem and I got the disk out. So, I'm operational again...
That wouldn't have been so bad, except...
For reasons still unknown to us, the 2-year-old absolutely did not want to go to sleep last night. I took him at 9, which is his normal time. We did our whole routine, (brush teeth, prayers, sing and then he listens to music to go to sleep). To make a very long story short, he was whining or crying until after midnight. My wife was scheduled to be at work at 11.
She would've made it and that wouldn't have been so bad, except...
Just before 11:00 p.m. I got a phone call from a neighbor who is also on the pool board. Kids were vandalizing the pool AGAIN. This time they were shooting paint balls up against the building. They called the police, but by the time they got there, the kids were gone. I went down and talked to the officer (thus the reason the wife was late for work) and cleaned the stuff off of the walls.
That wouldn't have been so bad except...
In spite of our wonderful rainy weather, we're still in a serious drought situation. Yesterday, our Governor issued an Executive Order declaring emergency water restrictions. NO lawn watering, no personal washing of cars (commercial car washes can stay open) and NO FILLING OF SWIMMING POOLS. Since we've been closed this week the water levels have gone down and the baby pool is empty. So, in addition to having a green pool, we don't have a FULL pool. This afternoon, we've decided just to close for the season. Actually that's no so bad, it's just dealing with the details...
And, actually, those details wouldn't be so bad, except...
Last night (actually it was around 2:00 a.m. after ScanDisk) I took the dog outside and noticed that a huge branch had fallen on my son's outdoor fort. It ripped the tarp off and broke through at least one side (I've not been out to look closely)...
And, by itself that wouldn't be too bad, except...
We left my car in the garage last night to be inspected today. It will pass inspection fine - after about $175 worth of brake and exhaust repair...
So, that's my weekend.
Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?
Pints. I'm thinking pints.
I'll be fine. The most frustrating part was the computer stuff. That had me concerned. This system may be a piece of junk, but it's all the junk I've got...
Re: your virus. I was going to respond yesterday when I read about it, but realized someone else had done it already. I got nailed by an e-mail virus a few months ago, and Sir SuziQ hadn't installed any virus software, though he had been meaning to do so. It took about an hour for him to do all the downloads and scans, and when we did that, we found ANOTHER virus lurking in my files. We cleaned them both out, and have remedied the problem. But I felt really bad because I think it was one of those done by some porn freaks and it tried to send porn e-mail to folks on my OLD e-mail list. Luckily, many of those addresses no longer existed, so that's what alerted me. I began getting messages that e-mail I supposedly had sent couldn't be delivered. When I saw I hadn't e-mailed those folks in quite a while, I began to suspect the virus. It was the Klez virus that hit me. Nowadays, I check the sender, and if it is someone I don't recognize, I just delete it without having opened it at all!
Thanks! Now all I need is another tune to get that one out of my head. I had to learn it because it was driving me nuts! (Really, I was whistling or humming the thing at work all last week!) Remind me not to take any more song suggestions from 2JM. She always finds the catchy ones! :)
Well, that's what started this discussion yesterday. I mentioned that I keep getting e-mail errors from folks I haven't written. I didn't have virus detection software installed, so I thought now was a good time to do that. Probably would have been no problem if not for the problem with the CD tray sticking.
No, because we just don't have the money. The pool hasn't been managed well in the last few years and the new board is recovering from that. We'll have some sort of measure in place next season (if it's just Board members taking turns camping out with a shotgun...)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.