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.
Oh Yeah!! Babs, Little Tommy, Little Dickie, x42, Terry McAwful, and the Wicked Witch of Chappaqua must be hung over this morning!! On the Today Show, Howard Fineman pronounced the END of the Clinton/Gore Era!!! From his lips to GOD'S ears!! But then Matt Lauer said that Her Heinous would probably still try to run for President. It is hope that she would go down in major flames, but we'll have to see what the next two years brings. I sure hope Trent Lott does a better job as Majority Leader this time around than he did before!
Banned from DU, and one of FR's finest, all in one week? Girl, you be on a roll!
HOTD Threadkiller...
I looked around at DU this a.m. What a hoot! I may have to register. I could cause more convulsions over there than in the religion wars...
Well, that's certainly one subclass of "folk" music. Trouble is that there isn't any surefire definition. I have a hard time considering some of the "folk" singers of the sixties to be real folk musicians, and they do seem kinda fake to me. And the people who follow in their footsteps are at LEAST as nutsy as they were, politically speaking.
And then there's bluegrass! Bluegrassers have a tendency to be very conservative. Plenty of Bush and NRA stickers on cases at the last festival I went to. At a folkie gathering, those'll get you...well...can't say shot, but tongue-lashed, at least!
We'd have to see. That's about a three hour drive for me, if not more, which is a long way by New England standards! And we already have a lot of snow (another four inches or so this morning...sigh!) - I don't care much for winter driving. But I suppose if I had time to plan out the route, and it wasn't too hard and traffic-ridden, could be.
What a good day indeed!
Well...those are one type of Irish music, I guess. Most of the time I'm talking about more traditional style music. (Can't just say traditional as tunes and songs are continually added!) Jigs, reels, some slow airs, and a few ballads tossed in.
It's been awhile since I did my standard Green Linnet posting, right? So I'll say again - they have a GREAT website! For many albums, you can listen to the entire thing online before you buy. I really love that feature...
And please don't be too hard on my last part...I know I shouldn't be writing about football (even that vaguely) when I know nothing about it, but I refuse to do much research for something that I'm writing just for a word count...;-)
I love that image! It got passed around at work during the Gore fiasco. That people there are pretty much exclusively conservative, though there was one token Dem gal. We harassed her unmercifully during the whole affair. Ah...the good old days! :-)
That travesty affected the results here in a big way, I think. Might have been the margin that pushed Coleman over the top. I'm ecstatic about the Minnesota results.
We also elected a Republican governor in a great repudiation of the Chief Buffoon Jesse and his whole third party mentality. His candidate, running from the "Independence" party only polled around 16%.
And we picked up one congressional seat for the Republicans, too. Bill Luther is out, John Kline is in.
Made pickups in our state legislature as well.
All in all a FABULOUS result! Let's party for a while!
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