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.

[HairOfTheDog]

Have you got coffee version 2.0 done now then? ;~D

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

UUUUUMMMM....coffee. Amazing what it does for an old tired body, that was out till midnight and up at 6:00:)

Becky

[HairOfTheDog]

I am having coffee too, but I put it on ice ;~D

I have seen roadrunners in Arizona.... I didn't know you had them there too!

[PayNoAttentionManBehindCurtain]

I had to get out the bird book to check. I didn't know either, because I had never seen one. He was running up and down the side of the arena, like he didn't know how to get out. He would fly to the top of the panels then jump down, and keep going back and forth. He definitly wasn't the one from the cartoon:)

Becky

[osagebowman]

Hair; coffee, hmmmm. had one hot cup now for the iced coffee; sun is off the new bed and I'm off to turn in the top soil.

Basil needs pruning, I think we have basil pesto pasta in our future. hmmm. fresh basil.

Sounds like the campground is already for the little campers.

[Overtaxed]

Mmmmm.....pesto.

It just dumped rain on all those weeds I whacked.

[HairOfTheDog]

[yawn] [stretch] I'm up.

[Overtaxed]

Good Morning, Sunshine!

Thinking about making iced tea.

It's Ray Harryhausen night. WooHoo!

[HairOfTheDog]

I am going to go play with cold water and wake up. It's hot.

Been watching disk 4 from FoTR while I napped, the Appendices with the cast. Been a long time since I saw this stuff.... I love those boys! :~D

[Overtaxed]

Greta Garbo's about to die. Then my movie starts. :)

[HairOfTheDog]

Shame about Greta....

I am going out to dinner with a friend.... Someplace air conditioned ;~D See y'all later!

[carton253]

I know...

I don't know why I don't like Faramir... but I liked Boromir... maybe because I identify with Boromir and I can't with Faramir.

[carton253]

I don't even think the screen Faramir is yummy...

Maybe I just like my "heroes" to be bad boys... I don't know.

In my post to ksen I said that I like Sydney Carton, Rhett Butler... and I also like Jean Valjean. He's not a bad boy per se... but, he is a noble character that is forged in the fire of personal tragedy.

I also like a character name Ruark Beauchamp from a romance novel by Kathleen Woodiwiss... give me the bad guys...

[300winmag]

I don't know why I don't like Faramir... but I liked Boromir... maybe because I identify with Boromir and I can't with Faramir.

I have the opposite opinion, but for the very same reason. :)

I've always seen Boromir as a glory hound, since he knew from the time he was a little kid that some day he'd be Steward. So he's been practicing identifying himself with Gondor. While this may be only a minor fault in peacetime, he almost brings Middle Earth to disaster with his temptation. He redeems himself, and gives his life to allow the mission to continue, but he was the one person the Ring zeroed in on after tempting everyone in one way or another.

I think Gimli gave up any thoughts of wielding the Ring after taking a whack at it with the other dwarf's axe. :)

Faramir, OTOH, has spent his entire life knowing that he'd be second fiddle. For some people, that would eat away at their soul. For Faramir, it taught him humility, and that his life was not identical to that of Gondor. Boromir went off to hobnob with the Council, and had his ego taken down a couple of pegs. Faramir was with the grunts, humping the boonies in bandit country.

Faramir's actions, which were rewritten by PJ because of the breaks between movies, are still consistent with the book. It's just that readers of the book soon get a better understanding of his inner workings, while watching the movie just leaves us with "what a jerk!"

I saw Faramir portrayed as a skilled infantry officer who was liked by his men because he kept his priorities straight. One, success of the mission. Two, welfare of the troops. Three, his own wants and desires.

From the POV of Frodo and Sam, this was the first professional soldier they had ever seen on the job. Faramir has bad guys to kill, and all of a sudden some semi-mythical creatures land in his lap. Initial questioning tells him they have something to hide, and this "something" somehow took out his big brother, no mean feat.

Being a prototype of Insp. Harry Callahan, Faramir firmly believes Dirty Harry's adage "a man has got to know his limitations". Prudence tells him he can't just take the hobbits by the ankles, shake them, and use whatever falls out of their pockets. He already had his hands full before this whatever-it-is dropped in on him. And he has to make a quick decision, several levels above his pay grade, as to what to do.

I think, as in the case of Aragorn's first appearance, Faramir comes off less than likeable. But we've already been warned, as have the hobbits, about first appearances, and where help might come from unexpectedly.

Sorry for the rambling. Faramir is first and foremost a good infantry officer, and just doesn't come off that well in a first encounter when you come across him at work.

[JenB]

They lost... but it was a good game, and an awesome night. So clear, the city was gorgeous... mmmm...

[Deb]

Sorry I didn't see your post till now. Will get back to you tomorrow.

[Overtaxed]

Morning, hobbitses!

[Lil'freeper]

Good morning! Am taking a break from baking cookies and I seriously slept in. I was up waaay late doing a Harry Potter marathon. And I am pleased to announce that I have now read "The Order of the Phoenix".

It is the best of the Potter books so far and many of my criticisms of earlier stories are addressed. The plot is less complicated than "Goblet of Fire" but it is more emotionally complex. Harry is starting to grow up and is wrestling with a healthy dose of teen angst (he loses his tempter a lot- mainly out of frustration) and a growing sense of his responsibilites. No longer does breaking the school rules merit nothing more than a pat on the head from McGonagall! He begins to see the talent of his friends and works though his jealousy to a new and deeper friendship with them. And Longbottom is finally coming into his own! Yaaaay! Most importantly, Harry also discovers that the adults in his life, and to his disappointment his parents, really are just people with plenty of failings.

We get some insight into Snape, but it is too pat and predictable. I'm disappointed that Rowling is still neglecting the most intriguing (imho) supporting character. There were some moments in the introduction that were never revisited in a satisfying way- the Sorting Hat's new song for instance. It gives a warning and advice that's forgotten by the end- the advice had very little to do with the resolution to the big conflict. And assorted loose ends didn't get tied up nicely. What happened to Hagrid's relative for instance, where'd Dobby get to, what happened to all those hats, Percy, etc.

As for the character that dies, it is not one of the main three (Harry, Ron, Hermione), but one of the major secondary characters. But Rowling writes a roller coaster here, on several occasions you find yourself saying "Oh no! Not him" and "Oh wait! Not her over and over. The one who does die is an excellent choice due to Harry's attachment to him/her. The reader is left to speculate what Harry might have turned out under this person's influence.

And that Umbridge woman! I swear I work with her- LOL. The woman's office is full of pink and lace trinkets. She's as overbearing as her perfume which makes our eyes water. Her trademark cough, Hem Hem as Rowling writes it, is an early warning system and usually has us scrambling to hide (I've faked being on the phone before)! Bravo to J.K. for capturing the imperious office busybody!

[HairOfTheDog]

Good morning! - Was up really late too and just woke up.

Let the horses out early and went back to bed.

[Overtaxed]

Sleepy heads!

Good Afternoon!