The Hobbit Hole III - Journey to the Cross-roads!

[HairOfTheDog]

Welcome to The Hobbit Hole!

Journey to the Cross-roads
The Two Towers Edition

Come on! Come in! -if you would like to have some seedcakes and a pint and relax a while. (If it is a special occasion, we still have a few bottles of the old wineyards left!)

Our first thread ( New Zealander builds Hobbit hole ) reached 4,100 posts, and we thought that was big. Our second thread (The New Hobbit Hole ) held us for over 48,000 posts, and we loved it dearly. We talked about moving to a new thread for the last 38,000 posts, but we are really slow to muster! Finally, the time has come. Tomorrow (at 12:01 am, to be precise!) The Two Towers comes out, and we start a new chapter.

[osagebowman]

SLC: If you are looking for something a bit different, try renting "Himalaya" made in Nepal, a French-Nepal joint production, in Nepalese with English subtitles. Interesting story of the salt caravans through the mountains. Not rated but didn't need to be.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

Thanks for the tip! There isn't a lot out there to see right now on DVD, I need ideas.

[HairOfTheDog]

There isn't a lot out there to see right now on DVD, I need ideas.

How about FoTR SE? I would be willing to physically take you to the store. ;~D

[SuziQ]

I talked to #2 son, the one at CMU, about Grad School. He hadn't actually started thinking about it yet. He's halfway through his Junior Year right now. He said that CMU had the best PhD CS program in the country, but that it didn't have a Master's CS program. There are departments which offer Master's degrees such as Robotics or Language Technology (I'm not sure I'm remembering that name correctly), but that there is no actual Masters in CS offered by CMU.

He's gonna have to start thinking about other schools because CMU has a bias AGAINST its own CS graduates when it comes to acceptance in Graduate School. He's thinking of applying to do an integrated BS/MS program, but he hasn't looked into that yet.

[JenB]

Most schools dislike a student getting all his degrees at one place. One person I know said it's "almost like intellectual incest". Chronologically I'm at the same point he is - I have a year and a half until graduation. That's why I have started to investigate. I will be applying to schools early next fall and am considering taking the CS GRE in April since November is leaving it a bit late.

I am not really looking at CMU, partly because it's in my own back yard and I'd like to visit someone else's, and partly because I don't really have the academic background to get into a first-tier school. Right now my "Dream school", the place I'd go if I could go anywhere, is Stanford, but I'm looking at a lot of different places.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

ROFL! But but but but, I've already bought it

it's just not here yet.

[SuziQ]

There isn't a lot out there to see right now on DVD

We just saw "John Q" with Denzel Washington and enjoyed it, if you can disregard the obvious bias for universal health care LOL! And we saw "Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood" also. I thought it would be more of a chick flick, but Sir SuziQ loved it. We also like "The Dish" a film from Australia about a tracking station which sent out the TV images of the Apollo 11 moon landing. It was just hilarious! It might take two viewings to get used to the accents. Another one that was fun, but the accents took some getting used to was "Rat" with Pete Poselthwaite. I assume you've seen "Waking Ned Devine", if not you HAVE to see that one. And if you've got children, or even if you don't, look for "The Secret of Roan Inish", a magical film out of Ireland.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

I loved "The Dish". I saw it in a small old movie house in Tacoma (called the Grand Cinema) that plays lots of lesser known -- non-box-office type -- movies. Sam Neil has played lots of bad guys in recent years, it was good to see him play the nice guy (of course, just about everyone in the movie was a good guy!)

[SuziQ]

Right now my "Dream school", the place I'd go if I could go anywhere, is Stanford, but I'm looking at a lot of different places.

Have you looked into U. of Illinois Urbana-Champaign? It is the home of HAL-9000, if I remember correctly! I think it has a good CS school as well, though I'm not sure about a Master's Program. UMass-Amherst was supposed to be beefing up its CS program, but again, I'm not sure about Grad programs.

[Bear_in_RoseBear]

There isn't a lot out there to see right now on DVD, I need ideas.

I'm not sure what movies you might have seen already... Rose and I just watched "Memento" on DVD. It is an excellent movie that just sucked us in and kept us riveted. It's rated "R", mostly for violence and language. Because of the nature of the movie (the scenes proceed more or less in reverse order) it's well-served by the DVD format; you will want to be able to jump from chapter to chapter after you've watched it!

Two series recently released on DVD: "From the Earth to the Moon" and "Band of Brothers". Both were produced by HBO Films; the first is a retelling of the Apollo series of space missions, the second is about Easy Co. of the 101st Airborne Division in WWII, from training camp through the German surrender. Both series would be rated "R" I think, "From the Earth to the Moon" for language and "Band of Brothers" for language and violence (in style it is very similar to "Saving Private Ryan".) Both are excellent!

[Lil'freeper]

Mornin' All

Been a busy few days trying to buy/build a house. Looks like we've found a nice chunk of land and the pieces are falling into place. Very exciting- kinda stressful. We're off to our third viewing of TTT late this morning- have to use that free ticket! Hope all is well with you and yours.

[2Jedismom]

You know, you've probably already seen it, but I got Joshua "Spiderman" for Christmas and except for the wet teeshirt scene, where she kisses him, it's a pretty good kid's movie!

[osagebowman]

2JM: mornin', got the big cup of coffee I see, my neighbor's son, aged 15, saw TTT and told me it was good but confusing. I asked him if he had seen FOTR and he replied No Should I? AGRRRR.

Not sure how well he liked it as he seemed more excited about finding an all you can eat popcorn tub and eating 'free' popcorn all night.

I asked him if he wanted to read the books, and he said probably not, he had to read another book this semester, DOUBLE AGRRR.

He's a great kid but reading appears a totally alien concept to him.

[2Jedismom]

Good morning, my friend! How are things slightly north of here?

Yes, I'm half-way done with my cup of coffee. Had a headache all night and it's just now starting to go away. It started when those girls were yammering in the theater and I was straining to hear over them.

[osagebowman]

2JM: Incredible weather for Dec. 29, was 50+ degrees yesterday. Similar today. Samantha is getting extra long walks morning and evening. Spent a pleasant morning rasping away on a bow stave, listening to FOTR & TTT sound tracks. As good as the Edinburgh Pipes and Drums for rasping to. lol. Plan to do some more today but will take time to fling some arrows.

Watched 'Hearts at Atlantis' last night. Great movie, adapted Stephen King story. Anthony Hopkins, and a great kid actor, Anton Yelchin who looks like a young Frodo.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

I have. The kiss was a bit gimmicky, but I can live with wet T-shirts. And I've only got to consider what might not be appropriate for dogs (squirrels, doorbells -- pizza delivery commercials should be X-rated because of their effect on dogs -- kitty litter commercials, that sort of thing).

[Scott from the Left Coast]

I have seen Momento -- but not the two series you mention. Thanks.

[Rocko]

The Royal Tenenbaums is one of the few new films of the past few years worth watching, IMHO. My list of films to avoid is much, much longer.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

The Dalmatian mice were a big hit in my household -- having two of the dog variety. (The Dal "replacement dog" at the end was a hit too).

Did you find any place in the movie where Gwyneth Paltrow's facial expression broke?

[John Farson]

A visitor to a Quaker meeting stands up after five minutes of silence and asks, "When does the service begin?" An old Friend rises after a brief reflection and says, "Service begins when the worship ends."