“I don’t know half of you as well as I should like; and I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.”
This was unexpected and rather difficult. There was some scattered clapping, but most of them were trying to work it out and see if it came to a compliment.
September 22nd marks the birthday of both Bilbo and Frodo Baggins (and the date of their long-expected party). It is a moment of joy in the book, shadowed by hints of the darkness to come. When I was in college, my science fiction club threw a birthday party each year. I usually made Frodo’s cake, and we buried a ring inside for one “lucky” winner (if you call being a Ringbearer lucky.) But the highlight was always a group re-read of “A Long-expected Party,” complete with callbacks. If you have a chance, re-visit this chapter today and consider reading it aloud. Now is as good a time as any to join in on the Lord of the Rings re-read!
So my dear Bagginses, Boffins, Tooks, Brandybucks, Grubbs, Chubbs, Burrowses, Hornblowers, Bogers, Bracegirdles, Goodbodies, Brockhouses, Proudfoots (Proudfeet!), and even Sackville-Bagginses—I encourage you all to celebrate in the finest hobbit tradition: drinking ale, eating good food, and sharing in the company of your friends.
Torie Atkinson thinks that those hobbits were on to something.
VIEW ALL BY · Tuesday September 22, 2009 01:51pm EDT
VIEW ALL BY · Tuesday September 22, 2009 02:36pm EDT
VIEW ALL BY · Tuesday September 22, 2009 04:03pm EDT
Happy Birthday! Very cool indeed. :)
VIEW ALL BY · Tuesday September 22, 2009 04:32pm EDT · amended on Tuesday September 22, 2009 04:33pm EDT
:D
VIEW ALL BY · Tuesday September 22, 2009 05:12pm EDT
VIEW ALL BY · Tuesday September 22, 2009 05:57pm EDT
Tuesday September 22, 2009 07:26pm EDT
Tuesday September 22, 2009 07:33pm EDT
Party at Bag End?
Tuesday September 22, 2009 08:00pm EDT
Late on 22nd September 1917 a shell exploded in the air above Patch's Lewis machine-gun team, killing three of them and severely wounding him. From then on September 22 was his Remembrance Day for the next 91 years, when he thought of those three pals. But on the other hand, perhaps that shell saved his life: his wound saw him sent back to England, and after recuperating he was still in training to go back to the front when the Armistice was signed.
Tuesday September 22, 2009 08:50pm EDT
Tuesday September 22, 2009 09:07pm EDT
We send you our greetings on the auspicious occasion of your joint birthdays.
This letter is to inform you that our firm has been retained by Smeagol, and we direct you to immediately cease and desist your discriminatory actions against them.
We have been informed that your custom is to give birthday presents to others on the occasion of your own birthdays. We note that your largesse to any and all, no matter how unfriendly and repugnant you may find them, is well documented [see attachment #1 below, with photographs of silverware in the possession of one Lobelia Sackville-Baggins].
And yet despite this demonstrated generosity, you have consistently refused to give our clients their Birthday Present, on at least one occasion threatening violence should they ask again. We can only conclude that you are discriminating against our clients on the basis of their being a sniveling murderous psychopath [clearly a violation of the Arnorians With Disabilities Act].
We therefore instruct you to hand over our clients' Birthday Present forthwith, or face suit filed in Fornost District Court.
On behalf of our clients,
H. Malcolm Gothmog III, Managing Partner
Gothmog, Gothmog, Shelob, Angmar, and Gothmog
Attorneys at Law
Offices in Carn Dum, Dol Guldur, Minas Morgul, Angband, and Pittsburgh
Wednesday September 23, 2009 12:25am EDT
Wednesday September 23, 2009 10:50am EDT
VIEW ALL BY · Wednesday September 23, 2009 11:07am EDT
Well Jackson probably had a team of Uruk-hai obsessively proofreading for typos. Alas, I am not so lucky. Fixed now.
Wednesday September 23, 2009 01:12pm EDT
Hysterical. Loved the very last word of your post.
VIEW ALL BY · Wednesday September 23, 2009 07:39pm EDT
I knew I shared a birthday with the famous hobbitses, but not Hermione, thats cool too!
VIEW ALL BY · Thursday September 24, 2009 07:15pm EDT
Now there's a hilarious mental image.