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.
When we were able to get PBS my wife and I loved watching Mystery!. Inspector Morse, Hercule Poirot, and Sherlock Holmes were our favorites.
Wait. I know what it is. That small little Precious I captured earlier! It's evil has already manifested itself in my posts!!
ARRRGGHH!
swish swish swish swish
Hey, wasn't there an episode of Seinfeld that featured "swishy pants"?
Viggo is easier to listen to than read, because he has this kind-of constant-stream-of-consciousness way of talking...
Here is an excerpt that I like: (They have been talking about his photography exhibits, and his poetry)
ST: That's an interesting physical manipulation, like the one David Lynch used in Lost Highway, where he actually takes the lens off his camera to get a blur you can't get with any kind of other manipulation. You work in many different mediums. Which do you feel is the most rewarding? Do they all bring you the same satisfaction?
VM: I look at them all as being the same thing. The only difference, practically speaking, is movies. There the finished work is out of your hands. I like acting, I like the whole process of movie-making, the team effort of it. No matter how big the film is, it doesn't have to be impersonal. However, as an actor you do not, so to speak, finish the painting.
Coincidence and Memory. "I wouldn't put anything in a book, thinking, 'Somebody might like this.'"I'm working on a job now and I've got this whole crew sitting up on a hill in middle-of-nowhere Montana. A couple days ago, there was this hail. And everybody's just sitting there, kind of setting up the scene with clothing from 1890 and a herd of close to a thousand horses. And the waiting is almost like a ritual, like preparation for a religious moment where something might happen. You have words for the ceremony, the vestments, and all the elements and you're hoping that something good happens. So it's still interesting, the group getting together and doing it.
But the end result of what I do individually as an actor isn't mine. I don't always recognize it that much as being mine, depending on what someone does with it. Whereas with the other media, for better or worse, the process and the results are both mine.
ST: Your poem "Edit", from Coincidence, makes me think of that. The "graveyard that smells of popcorn".
VM: Yeah, I wrote that about 10 or 11 years ago. When I wrote it, I was being sort of tongue-in-cheek -- trying to have a bit of a sense of humor about the situation -- but I probably got more angry about it then than I do now. I've learned to accept that that's just the deal. That's the nature of it: the director or whoever is in charge of the editing. It's their painting and I'm just a part of it.
I'm familiar with the Hamner family. I'm a native Virginia too, remember? ;-)
My dad's family was very much like the Waltons. But on TV the Waltons were rich (even though they acted poor). After all, how many families lived through the depression with that much land, a five-bedroom house with indoor plumbing and a truck and a mule...
We always got a kick out of them being "up on the mountain." Those were anything but Virginia mountains.
Actually it is, but not in your part of Virginia. West of the Blue Ridge and on out through Southwest Virginia is where you'll find your hunters.
I wasn't one. But I grew up with them.
HOTD, still looking for a few good men...
That's right Corin!
If you actually find a "few", can I have one? ;-)
And JUST WHAT is that supposed to mean?
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