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.
Well, I'm a windy Elf.
Does it get any weirder than that?
It's so important to find someone that shares your interests, or at least, respects you enough to respect your interests even if they don't find it as fascinating as you do.
It's a running elf-bash joke...
Regarding your wind problem, you might want to ask the all knowing imam here:
They (the ones who think we are weird) can all sit together at one table and we will call it the Orc-moot! LOL!!
I figure by the time he's done with the trilogy, he'll be hungry for more, so to speak and will be just excited about an entmoot as I am.
It's practically a freak show in here (one I'm proud to be a part of).
He's still on the Fellowship, so I think it's still too soon for the LoTR bug to have really bitten him yet.
Seven hundred women hooted and hollered as Minnesota Vikings coach Mike Tice stepped onto the stage at the team's Winter Park training center in Eden Prairie. They laughed at his jokes about losing, tittered when he revealed that "some cute players" would soon be joining him, and even cheered the introduction of Sid Pillai, a mathematician who is the team's football systems analyst.
The Vikings are 0-4, the owner appears to be shopping the team around, and its marquee player recently spent a night in jail for allegedly bumping a female traffic control officer with his car. But fan apathy was nowhere to be found on Saturday during the team's annual football workshop for women.
Women and girls lined up outside Winter Park 45 minutes before the program was scheduled to begin. When the doors to the spartan, cavernous warehouse opened, dozens of women grabbed a souvenir tote sack and sprinted 80 yards for a front-row seat.
Female fans may be less likely than their male counterparts to paint their upper torso the colors of their favorite team, but they represent an important economic force that the National Football League is trying to reach.
The Football 101 workshop is part of that effort. The NFL developed it in 1997, and the Vikings were one of eight teams to introduce it that year. This year, about two dozen teams will offer similar sessions.
According to a recent study by ESPN/Chilton, 18.8 percent of women rate professional football as their favorite sport, nearly three times the number who chose figure skating. On an average weekend, 54 million women watch NFL games, and 40 percent of those attending games -- more than 375,000 -- are women. Judging by the number of purple sweatshirts, windbreakers, parkas and puffy slippers, most of the nearly 700 women who paid $35 for Saturday's event were passionate, knowledgeable and faithful that the team's fortunes soon would improve.
"I think they can still turn it around," said Laurie Stark of Shakopee, who was still breathless after she and 10 others demonstrated a kickoff formation on stage. The session began with welcoming remarks and a pep talk by Tice. He made a passing reference to the legal problems of Randy Moss, who faces five misdemeanor charges following a Sept. 24 traffic altercation and arrest. He outlined a typical week's schedule before turning the program over to his assistant coaches and some players, including backup quarterback Todd Bouman, special-teams player Jack Brewer and tight end Byron Chamberlain.
Later the women got to test their ability throwing a football through a tire and their knowledge of Vikings trivia.
Though they don't watch all of the games, Briana Moses, 9, of New Hope, and her cousin Alexandra Erickson, 8, of Birchwood, consider themselves true fans. Both are convinced that the Vikings will turn around the season.
"I think they're going to win at least one game," Moses said.
OK, I have smoked a ham and glazed it with honey and pineapple juice. Also, a roast pheasant is on the table.
Baked potatoes (loaded with all the fixins if you like), sauteed mushrooms that I managed to hide even after parting with some this morning at breakfast, corn on the cob and cheese bread hot from the oven!
For dessert I have prepared a carrot cake, a blueberry pie, an apple pie and chocolate chip fudge brownies!!
Drinks are on the side table. There is a barrel or two of beer to the right, if anyone has a mind to partake of that. If not, plenty of juices, milk, and soft drinks are available. ENJOY!!
Actually, I keep forgetting that since I am in Florida, it is later here than pretty much everywhere else in the country.
1. Making Your Gondorian Put His Skivvies Back On
2. Avoiding G’nad
3. Outsnooting Your Snoot
4. Dwarven Leg Armor: Snowpants or Fashion Statement?
5. What on Middle-Earth is a Lembas?
6. Discerning the Gender of an Elf
7. Whistles 101
8. Tolkien: Master-Storyteller or Menace to Society?
9. What’s with All the Food?
10. Polka 101
Other entries are being accepted….
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