22 Sept 2010

Happy birthday Bilbo and Frodo Baggins

Nephew Frodo & uncle Bilbo Baggins, Stargate dudes extraordinaire!* 

Here is a song in honour of the journey which begins at this time: Sissel, Pokarekare Ana (a World War I love song redone with Maori and Norwegian lyrics). Watch this space for the full explanation of the New Zealand Maori synchronization with Celtic beliefs.



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* Ralph Bakshi animation, 1978: I like this picture very much because, regardless of whether or not we've imagined the characters to look like this, I feel it expresses their "spirit" exactly. It also expresses a curiosity I notice time and time again: films made in the '60s and '70s (but not limited to those time periods) are incapable of transcending their respective current hairstyles, no matter that they are films about an ancient world, the 1700s, the 1920s, or a Space-age future: the same fashions are invariably "back in style"! Of course, this is only if we take it literally. Figuratively speaking, I believe it serves as a nod to certain things in our culture which, thus displaced, are re-examined in a new light.

I also like the picture because it reminds me of the book's funniest indirect physical characterizations (i.e. through the words of another character): "I've made an imitation of your head with a brown woollen mat, Mr. Baggins".

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