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.
Here I am. I am trying to get a last minute book critique done for the class I am taking next week. Which reminds me that I wanted to tell you all that I am going to be offline all of next week ;^(.
Everyone play nice, and for those of you who know who you are, no sneaking to try to get the Precious. ;^)
LCS, I tried getting a hold of you today, but was unsuccessful. I will be going by there again in August. Maybe we can get that coffee then. If you are ever in the Melbourne/Palm Bay area give me a call, maybe we could take in a movie (especially if it is after December 18th) ;^)
Have a good week everyone!
-Kevin
I will try to think of my trip to Pensacola as my own version of "There and Back Again." ;^)
-Kevin
Tis quiet in the Hobbit Hole this Sunday! Hullo! Good morning!
I drove past the Tacoma theater last night on my way home... They still have Fellowship of the Ring there! (I should go) - How many out there still have it playing sortof nearby?
Haven't checked to see who's still running it since I got my copy. :)
Barbecue is done! I'll be meeting with the clan this afternoon. Not exactly as lively as a Hobbit party but there'll be good food.
If it decides to rain, I shall be lazy except for laundry. If it dries up, I shall weed-whack.
Need more coffee before I do either [sip]
I intended to mow my dad's yard today, but his back was feeling so much better that he did it himself yesterday! I got mine mowed Friday evening because it was so cool outside. I didn't even hardly break a sweat, and this is one heavy mower! 6.5 HP Briggs and Stratton non-selfpropelled pushmower with mulching, bagging or sideshooting capability.
So I don't know what I'm going to do today.
I went to a art festival in town yesterday. It was so packed I was a nervous wreck, worrying one of the kids might get burned by some drunk's cigarette. But there was this great Celtic band playing that I wanted to hear. Took my mom and both jedis and when we got there, my mom started telling all about her geneology (loud enough so all could hear) all during the band playing! Well, as I only have one hearing ear, I had a real time listening to her and also hearing the band!
It was not so bad though, and it had a great whistle-player in it.
It's at the cheap theatres now.
You see, this cemetery is run only by a loose association of folk. We dig the hole and bury our own there, set our own stones, and update the records once a year or so at this annual meeting the week before Memorial Day to indicate who is now there in our family plots.
About 40 of us showed up, and we mowed, trimmed, scrubbed stones and spread grass seed on the newly buried and the bare spots - all in about two hours.
We have always marvelled at the amazing study in group dynamics at this event. There is always a mix of old and young, and no one is in charge. People show up and start in on what needs to be done, and there always seems to be the right mix of mowers, rakers, stone scrubbers, trimmers, weed-whackers, wheel barrows and hands present to get the job done in two hours, then we have a pot-luck lunch, after the blessing sung in Norwegian of course!
Anyway, the first time I saw the place it was just a pasture with a fence around it. It was before we moved to Oklahoma and I stood in that cemetary and remembered my grandmother saying she "stood in the cemetery and looked out over the hills and wondered what would become of her." I stood right there, looking out at the same hills, almost a century later. (My grandma died almost 20 years ago...this just happened about 4 years ago.)
Anyway, the last time I was out there, it was all fixed up. They had mowed and cleaned it and put up nice gates. But there are wild roses growing there that I want to get a cutting of.
I saw it Friday with my two older boys, and my brief statement is I liked it a lot. Unfortunately, we saw it in one of their smaller theaters; I want to see it on a larger screen with bigger sound.
Loves Ewan MacGregor, Natalie Portman is terrific, and isn't Christopher Lee getting a nice swan-song to a career of mostly B-movies? The plot was interesting, the action pretty terrific, and of course the effects were astounding....
...except for the one special-effect I'm afraid I'll never be able to believe: her falling so hard for him.
I could develop that one at greater length, but that's the short and the shorter of it.
Dan
Dan, the story I tell above (5657) is the reason I love Garrison Keillor and his News from Lake Wobegon. He speaks of my family mostly departed now. That event could be straight out of one of his stories. Whenever I go there I am in fact, in his stories, down to the old Norwegian and American flags we raise on the flagpole to the women and their potato salad to the old farts leaning on their rakes and shooting the breeze. I don't think you have to be from an old Lutheran Norwegian family to get it, but I am sure it helps!
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