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.
How funny! TTT was always my favorite part of LoTR. The suspense, action, cliff hangers, new introductions (Riders of Rohan, Ents, Minas Tirith, the Druadan Forest and its elusive inhabitants), Smeagol's crisis of decision. I've also thought all along it would make the best movie -- because the pacing is more appropriate for a movie.
FotR has a more leisurely, contemplative pace, but the movie (as movies must) bounces from great climactic scene to great climactic scenes at a rapid pace. In TTT the pace is adequate to match the needs of movie-making.
I predict that when all is said and done, we will look back and say that TTT was the best of the movie installments.
Maybe we will! I don't know, I like slow pace! And I like TTT, love the Ents, love the three hunters following, and Love the Taming of Smeagol and all of those parts, I just rush through the battle sequences. Maybe because I am a girl, I just don't have as much interest in the process of battle, just the outcome! I don't read the battle scenes and get pictures in my head. Maybe the film will help me with that the next time through!
Background:
I went to flight school at a community college in Moses Lake Washington. Big Bend Community College it was called, and it was on the site of an old Air Force base. (Larson AFB).
Anyway just to spend 2 seconds in memory lane (and because I LOVE 15 year old photos of myself!) here are some old photos of me, taken by my Dad, who came over on the event of my first solo flight.
The Story: (finally!)
There were two big former barracks that served as our dorms. There were about 100 students in the dorm, (only 6 girls hoorah!) almost all were flight students, as very few people from out of town would go to Moses Lake to go to college, except for their renowned flight school ;~D.
All of us were in one dorm, and the other building usually sat empty, except in the winter, when the other dorm would fill with exchange students from Japan, who were here learning agriculture.
Rumor got around that there was a long standing tradition at the college on Pearl Harbor day, a Pearl Harbor "revenge" snowball fight between the dorms. No kidding. I thought... "man, this can't be good! No way would this go over well." But the Japanese had heard about it too. They knew of this tradition before they came over! Flyers were made up by students on both sides, and early morning of Dec 7, we each set out making walls and fortresses of snow to hide behind. At roughly 8:00 am, the time of the attack at Pearl Harbor, the snowball fight began. We fought good naturedly but we fought hard! - But in addition to snowballs, more than a few beers and bottles of Saki were tossed back and forth. When we had all had enough, a bonfire was lit in the yard, and we had hot cocoa and schnapps, more beer, and saki.
Granted, it was a different kind of way to celebrate Pearl Harbor day. But having been there, I can say that it was a really good time... and an amazing time, to think that 47 years after such an event, college kids from both sides were having a party together. We couldn't understand each other, but we partied just the same.
As a foot-note: the following year, I was living with some friends out of the dorms in a house on base, but the event was still being planned for at the dorms, with one problem: No snow. Highly unusual for Moses Lake in the December. Some guys took a few big trucks up to the mountains, and filled them with snow, returning and dumping two large piles at each dorm.
Heh. It was almost as good, and fun for the amount of work it took to pull it off. The snowballs hurt like heck, because snow gets rock hard when you move it twice, but it was almost as good as the first year.
Anyway, that is my story for today. I hope you enjoyed it.
That's a cute story, Hair! Yeah, it is nice when succeeding generations can let the hurt and anger go, and just BE with each other! I think grudges, be they individual, national or global are such a sorry waste of time!
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