The New Hobbit Hole

[HairOfTheDog]

Welcome to The New Hobbit Hole
Concerning Hobbits
The New Hobbit Chronicles

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.

[Sam Cree]

Yeah, but I think the Democrats' efforts at divisiveness are just meant to be destructive, so they can grab and consolidate their own power more easily.

And Hitler definitely had categories, Aryans (favored), Jews (not favored), for instance. Kind of like the Democrats have categories, so called minorities (favored) and those descended from Europeans (not favored).

The Democrats, with all their talk of diversity, really want everyone to be the same, IMO.

But did that funeral service not remind you of one of Hitler's rallies?

[Sam Cree]

See you soon, thanks for the advice.

[RosieCotton]

Have you got your storyline ready to go?

Erm...I plead the fifth! It's as close as it'll ever be, I guess, but I still have a lot of things I'm hoping will be resolved as I go along.

Are you staying up to midnight to write "It was a dark and stormy night" at 12:01?

I might! I haven't decided yet. It kind of appeals to me as an appropriately nutty beginning to this nutty endeavor...

[Sam Cree]

Morning Rosie, best of luck, I'm sure you'll come up with something.

[Overtaxed]

I didn't watch the funeral service. I was on Yahoo chatting. :)

the Democrats' efforts at divisiveness are just meant to be destructive, so they can grab and consolidate their own power more easily.

I'm just wondering how the Democrats expect to consolidate their power when it's their own base that they're dividing. For instance, the local black ...er...African-American community is whining about Irksome Bowels mentioning his Clinton ties only when he's campaigning in the African-American community.

[Overtaxed]

I might! I haven't decided yet. It kind of appeals to me as an appropriately nutty beginning to this nutty endeavor...

I might take a nap and get up to write. I still have this day job thing. They must expect to be around for at least 6 more months....they've got me starting a storage stability study this week.

[Overtaxed]

BTW, do we use the clock on The Weather Channel, or should we log on to the National Standards clock in Boulder, CO?

[RosieCotton]

BTW, do we use the clock on The Weather Channel, or should we log on to the National Standards clock in Boulder, CO?

I don't get The Weather Channel, so I vote for National Standards.

I haven't gotten back to checking...does it start at midnight Pacific or midnight wherever you happen to be?

[Sam Cree]

I didn't watch it either, just heard audio clips of it on Rush. But they were chilling.

I can't stand TV much anymore, pretty well lost my taste for it while the great pervert was POTUS, and his face was on it every time you turned the thing on.

David Horowitz thinks, and he's probably right, that socialists usually try to destroy the current system before imposing their own.

Who's Irksome Bowels?

[Overtaxed]

The website says midnight local time.

[Overtaxed]

Who's Irksome Bowels?

Erskine Bowles. One of Clinton's former Chiefs of Staff. He's running against Elizabeth Dole for Jesse Helms' senate seat.

[ItsOurTimeNow]

Awesome, awesome stuff!

Muchas gracias Hair!

[ItsOurTimeNow]

LOL

"The night was..."

[RosieCotton]

The website says midnight local time.

Theirs or ours?

I guess I COULD go look for myself, right?

Resumé printing! Almost ready to set off on my mission...

[HairOfTheDog]

I hope you find him.... Now would be a good time to have a dog g'nad! What is your terrain like? - Do you have a lot of underbrush there where he will be hard to find even in daylight?

[HairOfTheDog]

Good luck on you mission Rosie! The best of luck to you!

[Sam Cree]

Bye, everyone,

See you later, hope FR will still be functional when I get back this afternoon.

I wonder why it is the Victorian house that has become the prototypical "haunted house." Lots of other types of buildings, and even stretches or train track or airplanes have ghosts, but it's a Victorian syle house that we think of when we picture a "haunted house."

Although I enjoy Victorian architecture, with all its turrets and towers, twists and turns and stuff.

I wonder exactly what "prototypical" means.

[Sam Cree]

"Erskine Bowles. One of Clinton's former Chiefs of Staff. He's running against Elizabeth Dole for Jesse Helms' senate seat."

Oh yeah, Erskine Bowles of Darth Sidious fame.

[HairOfTheDog]

Did you download the file that showed the TTT game footage too? - The game looks cool.

Better than that other game I downloaded the other day.... Did you ever that? I have quit trying to play the Beta of it because its buggy. The sound goes haywire and frizzes out.

[RMDupree]

Good morning!

I'll be in and out all day. Just wanted to stop in and say HOWDY.