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.
I just passed 20000, too! Of course, that puts me about 8000 words behind my original quota system, but maybe there's hope. At this point I've given up on making it sound good, making it plausible, making it interesting, doing any research, developing the characters perfectly...in short, given up on basically everything except putting down word after crappy word. Hey...if it gets me there, I guess that's all that matters. ;-)
Sir SuziQ has taste. Lucas needs someone else to write the dialogue for his storylines. All his characters are like AlGore v5.0. They lurch around the scenery babbling stuff they think sounds important, desperately trying to be human and not quite making it. The special effects are in the movie not because it advances the story, but because it looks cool. Very different with LOTR. (/rant)
Hehehe....that's what I've been doing. Now I've actually got something happening. I'm just trying to keep it so I have to write around 2000 words a day at least during the week. Now if I could only find some relative to invite us over for Thanksgiving so I don't have to do all the cooking! :)
I think I'm going to attempt to stay over 2000 all this week. Might get caught up again by the end of the month. I'm kind of glad I have the four points of view, bad writing as it may be - since I can keep switching if I start to get stuck, it's easier. And I'm finally sort of getting to where things are happening, albeit slowly. The fact that I don't care if it's cheesy or not anymore helps, though. ;-)
Now if I can just keep from going into another slump like I did this week - I didn't write for most of the week, not at all. And Thanksgiving is going to be hard, 'cause I don't think I can get out of not doing a lot of the cooking. Dad handles the turkey and the dressing, but everything else...will probably be my job this year. Goody!
That's about my goal, I guess. I'm not going to write 8000 words in a day in order to catch up...can't do it! So I just have to keep plugging.
Doesn't help that I checked on the Winner's page over at NaNoWriMo's site. I need to stay off of that page! How people can write that much that fast without any cheating...I don't understand! I hates 'em!
How people can write that much that fast without any cheating...I don't understand! I hates 'em!
That must be the only thing they have to do! LOL. They cheats us, they do, and we hates them. Don't we, gollum.
From scratch? If so, you have a recipe?
"[Tolkien] described it as a romance and a saga," said Walsh. "The big challenge was to find a level of engagement for the audience. A saga really doesn't allow that. Like Aragorn, who is a classic saga hero. He really has no interesting psychological makeup in the book, no emotional depth. Yet the audience must connect with him."Link to the rest of the interview."We had to dig a little deeper beyond the mythic hero," said Jackson.
"Aragorn was caught between his role in the quest and his kingship," said Fran. "He understood that power corrupts and so to embrace it would be dangerous, especially to him."
"He realizes the power of the ring is evil and that his forebears were ruined by it," said Jackson. "He was raised by elves, so his attitude might well have been that this race of man is weak. He might doubt whether men can rule the world."
Basically, it's a white cake recipe (I have two that I used depending on which house I'm at. :) I've got 9" layer pans at one house and 8" layer pans at the other.)
Anyway......I get a fresh coconut and drain the milk (save it of course) and then grate it. I have a food processor but I like the results I get using a box grater and doing it by hand. Oh yeah, when I make the cake I substitute coconut flavoring for vanilla. The frosting is that 7 minute frosting using coconut extract instead of vanilla and using the coconut milk for the water.
Putting the cake together......I usually slice the layers in half so I end up with four skinny layers. I use toothpicks to poke holes in each layer and dribble a little of the coconut milk on it before frosting. Sprinkle coconut on the frosting.
BTW, it's really neat the way they score coconut shells these days. They're easier to crack open and I have a set of coconuts suitable for banging together. :)
Yeah! Not fair! I mean...I'm out of work, and I STILL can't write five thousand a day or whatever some of those folks did. I don't hang around at the site except to occasionally update my word count (gives me a sense of accomplishment to see the little blue scale get filled in, I guess), but there were people who had 60K + by the end of the first week...what kind of drugs are they on? :O
Oooh...cool! I want one! I guess that tells you how long it's been since I last got a fresh (well...uncracked, anyway) coconut. We always did it the old fashioned way, with a hammer on the brick hearth that our woodstove sits on. And it usually busted into a bunch of pieces, none of which were remotely even.
You mean all this time I could have had a horse to ride?
Yeah, like looking for a job isn't work. I don't think I can do more that 3000 to 4000 words a day even on a weekend. I'm pooping out real fast over here. :)
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