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.

[Overtaxed]

Uh oh....

[JenB]

Yeah. We had twenty minutes to get out the door to church - and we didn't make it.

[Sam Cree]

"I did get some of the garden tilled with my little 20-lb Mantis."

Grandfather Mantis, the All Devourer?

[JenB]

No, you're mixing up two different characters there! Mantis defeated the All-Devourer!

Am reading nice violent science fiction today. I just finished "Footfall", so I'm starting in on "The Legacy of Heorot". (Both by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle).

[osagebowman]

2JM; It would appear that 'fletcher' has been too close to the "fletch-tite (tm)" when glueing up the last couple of dozen arrows. 'fletcher' should open a window or talk a walk.

[osagebowman]

OT: yup, us too. :-) The much anticipated rain fizzled out after a brief appearance. But when you're 20 inches down, we'll take it.

Now to find the instruction manual for resetting the clock in the truck, seems I just did this, sheeesh.

[2Jedismom]

Apparently Fletcher was a troll and that others were complaining of the same behavior. They banned them.

[SuziQ]

Yeah. We had twenty minutes to get out the door to church - and we didn't make it.

That's what's nice about 5:30pm Mass!! You've got ALL day to remember to change the clocks.

I was up anyway this morning to change them. The kids and I finished watching the Band of Brothers Bonus Disc, then they got all excited trying to figure out how much money they're going to get from selling some of their Game Boy, and Game boy Advance games on ebay (talk about counting your chickens!)

I finally got them to bed around 2am, then it was 3! I watched a little of the war news then collapsed!

[SuziQ]

Did y'all hear about David Bloom, the NBC reporter? He collapsed and died in Iraq today. Apparently he had a pulmonary embolism! He has seemed to be enjoying himself the last few weeks barrelling through the desert! I guess it was better to go while doing something he liked rather than while sitting at his desk or walking down the streets of NYC!

i hate it for his family, though. He left a wife and 3 kids.

[Sam Cree]

Oops!

Let me know how "The Legacy" is, I liked "Footfall," was lots of fun.

[JenB]

Too bad our service is in the morning! We have to leave by 9:45... and when I woke up, the clock said 8:15, and nobody was up.

[SuziQ]

Wake up!! Tell us about your 'night out' with Sean Astin!!

[JenB]

Ooh, "Legacy" is really good. I think I like it better than "Footfall" - those baby elephant aliens had me laughing. You don't laugh at grendels.

[Sam Cree]

Glad they are banned.

Strange that some Democrats that show up here are such sick creatures. But then statistics did show that to be true of Gorons.

[2Jedismom]

I did hear...very sad. I think his life was changed out there with our guys and I suspect he would have had a good story to tell when he got back.

[HairOfTheDog]

Good morning!

Sean Astin... Let me say this.... Sean Astin is a really nice person. Didn't get to meet him personally, he didn't make a real opportunity, and there were so many 14-17 year old girls there, I wouldn't have stood a chance. But he talked to this audience as if it were a chat, not an ounce of pretension, and a lot of embarrassed discomfort when little girls made gushing swooning comments... No pictures were allowed. Y'all will have to just imagine it!

Let's see, what happened... The important parts:

My stars! the man was buff! Tight black t-shirt... Pects... biceps! and a tan.

He came in prior to the showing and spoke for about an hour and half! - or more.... Talked longer than he intended to in introduction, finally got around to showing his short film, and then did a good hour of Q & A with the audience... Random things I can remember:

He was asked who he was closest to from LoTR, and he said Elijah Wood... He said "Elijah Wood is about a thousand years old". ...Second time someone has described him that way... Remember when Deb said he was an "old soul"?

When asked about the 'importance' of acting, he recalled a time he was talking with Kathleen Turner about the importance of acting, and she had said, "We aren't making wheat." [pause].

But he talked about how much he enjoys acting and enjoys movies. Hard to describe this... talked about how an early acting coach had said "Tell the truth, make it real". And how is own young daughter had come home and said her acting teacher had said "It's all just make-believe" and he slapped his hand on his forehead. HA!

Politics... He talked a lot about liking politics, but was subtle about expressing any real views. He said that he and his size double "BK"(?), in addition to playing lots of chess, talked politics all the time. BK called him "Mr. President". HA! Perhaps he was hinting at aspirations. He said that he wished he had spent more time with John Rys Davies at the time, but that JRD had been so reclusive... He said JRD loved politics too, and was "just to the right of Atilla the Hun". HA!

Said he liked the concept of Treebeard, he said he liked the idea of the environment itself rising up to defend itself. "not out of radical environmentalism, but out of self-defense, trees that had been here long before us, and would remain long after us, the environment itself being strong." Something like that.

Said was most surprised to meet and become so fond of Christopher Lee, because Lee is so nice.

Said he most looked forward to RoTK, but that he had not seen it yet. a tiny little voice in the front asked him if the 'Choices of Samwise' would be heartbreaking, and he said "yes... but the scene at the end would be even more heartbreaking. Then he looked at her for a long time, and said, "how old are you?" she said '8'. He said, "come here", and gave her a hug. She must have looked very sad. It was sweet.

Then he looked like he wanted to say something about the end of RoTK, and asked if everyone had read the books. Almost everyone raised their hands. He asked who had not, and about 6 people raised their hands. He said he couldn't say then, because he didn't want to ruin the end if there were people who didn't know.... Loud groans.

When asked about how he seems so different than others in Hollywood with a nice stable family, he said that his marriage lasts because his wife is so patient (I think it is also because he is a nice husband) He said that when someone in show business marries someone in show business, their egos butt heads, and they are both on competing trajectories. He said if his wife ever wanted a trajectory of her own, that only then would he find out if he was as patient as she is.

When asked about his comments at the oscars (reminder here http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/2/1048505775 ) He said that it was hard to go to those things, when the world is in such hard time, and the stars are trying to do something important by deciding which 'pin' to wear. That he had debated with himself which pin to wear. He said he had an Army pin he almost wore, but in the end had decided it would cause too much comment to come out that far, and wore his US Flag pin instead. He said, "I am proud of my country, and so many people want their voices to be heard right now, a lot was said that night [frown] and even on the way here I saw anti-war protestors" [shook head] "I want my voice to be heard too... which brings me to why I am here. (I think he was not sure what to expect in this audience and he stammered around a bit, so I am paraphrasing of course) On 9-11-2002, I was on a plane headed for the memorial service at the Pentagon, and I decided I wanted to do something good. And at the event a White House staffer approached me and asked me to serve on this White House volunteerism council to encourage civic participation... A grey haired man in the audience yelled out "You are doing something good Sean!" And he got much *standing* applause.

He talked about wanted most to direct films... and about his film he will be making about the Texas storm.

OH! - Almost forgot! - He was asked if PJ would do the Hobbit. He said it was complicated with the licensing, but that he hoped it would be done, because it was his favorite... he said "If PJ won't do it, I might."

Well, this is a long post and I need to rest! I will probably remember more later!

[2Jedismom]

Excellent post, Hair! Remember some more, then send it on to TORN!

It sounds like his logical intelligent mind can't help but gravitate toward the right.

[HairOfTheDog]

I didn't take Frodo with me.... But I have thought of having him travel with me sometime... I would like to photograph him standing in unexpected places. I think it would be a fun album!

[HairOfTheDog]

I think he is also trying to make a conscious decision to not become an "outspoken political actor". I am sure he talks politics all the time in private, but he is visibly conflicted about what to say in a public setting.

[2Jedismom]

It's called discretion and a sure sign that he leans right. Libs lack in discretion.