Posts
The mere mental image of crazy-eyed shoppers rushing into a retail store to feast upon the sales of their various outlets during the traditional fiasco of Black Friday is a rather sad picture to me. As far as I can remember, I have never been shopping on Black Friday and don't plan on going any time soon. Call me a cranky ole shopping Scrooge. I'm sure that this evening, the news will be filled with stories of assaults and customers cussing out the employees of retail shops (stuck in a level of hell for their respective shifts). Remember last year, the tragic news story of a person being trampled to death in a Walmart store in Long Island, New York.
After the Thanksgiving holiday (put into place as a federal holiday in 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln), many Americans begin to think about the coming holiday and getting into "spirit" for Christmas. Christmas, as far as my understanding, has to do with such glorious ideas as peace and giving gifts to other people and sharing lives with family and above all else, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ nearly 2000 years ago. The latter being the very greatest gift of all, a God who would come as a human being to die in our place for our sins upon the cross.
These ideas seem completely lost today overwhelmed by a sickening tidal wave of greed and a sense of utter narcisim. If the mentality for a holiday celebrating Christ's birth has turned into a "I will get this sales deal before anyone else and trample any damn person who gets in my way", we have clearly crossed a threshold into a realm of complete stupidity and a drunken self-consumption.
Many people, no doubt, will blame the big corporations for this madness but I would like to quickly add that the shoppers who go and spend money are the reasons why Black Friday has traditionally been successfully. That is one of the noble things about capitalism (though filmmaker Michael Moore would never admit it), with our time and dollars, we "vote" for what we want or need as far as goods or services. Therefore, Black Friday is the doing of the big corporations to meet the demands of the swarming consumers.
I'm certainly not against buying family and friends gifts or celebrating this season. I just think all of us (including myself) need a real change of perspective in our hearts. Yesterday, during Thanksgiving dinner, my friend remarked that we had Christmas all wrong. He thought maybe we should serve at a soup kitchen or give gifts to homeless children. I'm exicted that the company I work for, Balcos Insurance, has decided to sponsor a toy drive for foster children this season. Wouldn't activities like these be so much more rewarding than getting a bunch of wrapped gifts that, if we are honest, is probably some stuff that we don't really need? Another lady at our Thanksgiving table remarked that a child that she knew got so many gifts for Christmas last year, that the child actually got sick of opening presents. A good question to remind ourselves of and to reflect on: what is Christmas for and to whom is it for?
Nicholas of Myra, a saint and Bishop of Myra (who was loose inspiration for the character of Santa Claus) lived from 270-346AD and used to give gifts anonymously to the poor especially children in poverty. I'm assuming he was influenced by Jesus' words in the Sermon on the Mount: " Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." (Matthew 6:1-4, NIV)
But who is this Christmas season for...it is about Jesus. Jesus is the gift of God to a lost and broken world. "But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man (Adam), how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many! Again, the gift of God is not like the result of the one man's sin: The judgment followed one sin and brought condemnation, but the gift followed many trespasses and brought justification."
There is nothing wrong with shopping for gifts and there is not even something wrong with shopping on Black Friday necessarily. Wrongness only comes to the surface as an expression of the status of our hearts. When we shop, are we thinking about Jesus and other people? Are we madly trying to climb over people and stomp on their dignity as a human being in order to save a few bucks on a sale? The idea of the Christmas season needs to be redeemed in our culture and it is up to us to share the very important event and spirit that characterizes the meaning of Christmas as our hearts are prayerfully changed to reflect it.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Friday, November 20, 2009
Tax Payer Funded Abortions and Healthcare Reform
A legitimate debate is going on through our country's political structures right now. How do we reform health care and create a health care system that will work for a great number of Americans? If it is possible to put aside our beliefs and feelings as to how much the government should be involved in health care or what exactly is the best way to reform the current medical system, I want to focus on another issue.
We have been told before by President Obama, various members of the democratically controlled Congress and talking heads across the cable news world that abortion (federally funded) would not appear in health care reform legislation. President Obama and Congressional leaders have recently reiterated this point to us on television. There is no other way to put this being that most of these people are smart: they are blatantly lying to us all.
Here are President Obama's words in an interview with Jake Tapper of ABC News: "You know, I laid out a very simple principle, which is this is a health care bill, not an abortion bill. And we're not looking to change what is the principle that has been in place for a very long time, which is federal dollars are not used to subsidize abortions. And I want to make sure that the provision that emerges meets that test -- that we are not in some way sneaking in funding for abortions, but, on the other hand, that we're not restricting women's insurance choices, because one of the pledges I made in that same speech was to say that if you're happy and satisfied with the insurance that you have, that it's not going to change." (Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/09/gibbs-wont-offer-position_n_351064.html )
I realize that pundits on MSNBC will be calling people liars for saying that abortion is in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's massive new Senate healthcare bill (2,074 pages) so let me tell you exactly what this bill says about federally funded (tax payer supported) abortion.
Beginning on line 7, p. 118, section 1303 under “Voluntary Choice of Coverage of Abortion Services” the Health and Human Services Secretary is given the authority to determine when abortion is allowed under the health plan. Senator Reid’s plan also requires that at least one insurance plan offered in the Health Insurance Exchange cover abortions (line 13, p. 120).
What is even more surprising is a monthly abortion premium will be charged of all people who enroll in the new health plan provided by the government. Beginning on line 11, page 122, section 1303, under “Actuarial Value of Optional Service Coverage.” The premium will be paid into a U.S. Treasury account – and these federal funds will be used to pay for the abortion services.
The bill would forbid including abortion coverage as a required medical benefit. However, it would allow a new government insurance plan to cover abortions and let private insurers that receive federal subsidies offer plans that include abortion coverage. Another crux of this issue lies with the Hyde Amendment (Passed in 1976) which is a federal law that is supposed to restrict abortions being paid for with federal dollars (i.e. Medicare, Medicaid and military health care). Senator Reid's bill is trying to circumvent this amendment.
This is outrageous and unacceptable. Polls of American thoughts, across the board, on the issue of tax payer funded abortions show that Americans are completely opposed to this by a good measure. Politicians have to realize that abortion is an incredibly controversial practice in our society. To force Americans to support a procedure with their tax dollars that they find morally offensive is completely insane.
What is of even greater interest to me is how members of Congress are being disingenuous and outright lying about the presence of abortion in this bill. Why are they so ashamed of their own views? Why don't they stand up and applaud their victory of pro-choice language being thrust into this bill? Apparently, supporters of federally funded abortion, feel that the only way to get abortion in this piece of legislation is to sneak it in through the back door and then repeatedly lie about its sinister presence.
I am not ashamed of my views. I believe in an unborn child's right to life. I don't believe that any federally funded tax payer abortion allowances should be included in health care reform.
If anyone reading wants to express their views to their congressional representatives about this issue of abortion in the health care bill, I urge you to do so. Please be respectful to these individuals as they are our elected leaders and deserve the respect that their positions afford.
I will post how to contact the Senate representatives for Washington State:
Senators: Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell.
Patty Murray's phone numbers:
Washington DC (866-481-9186)
Seattle office: (206-553-5545)
Spokane office: (509-624-9515)
You can email Patty Murray from this link on her website:
http://murray.senate.gov/email/index.cfm
Maria Cantwell's phone numbers:
Toll Free (888-648-7328)
Washington DC (202-224-3441)
Seattle (206-220-6400)
Spokane (509-353-2507)
You can email Senator Cantwell from this web address:
http://cantwell.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm
We have been told before by President Obama, various members of the democratically controlled Congress and talking heads across the cable news world that abortion (federally funded) would not appear in health care reform legislation. President Obama and Congressional leaders have recently reiterated this point to us on television. There is no other way to put this being that most of these people are smart: they are blatantly lying to us all.
Here are President Obama's words in an interview with Jake Tapper of ABC News: "You know, I laid out a very simple principle, which is this is a health care bill, not an abortion bill. And we're not looking to change what is the principle that has been in place for a very long time, which is federal dollars are not used to subsidize abortions. And I want to make sure that the provision that emerges meets that test -- that we are not in some way sneaking in funding for abortions, but, on the other hand, that we're not restricting women's insurance choices, because one of the pledges I made in that same speech was to say that if you're happy and satisfied with the insurance that you have, that it's not going to change." (Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.
I realize that pundits on MSNBC will be calling people liars for saying that abortion is in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's massive new Senate healthcare bill (2,074 pages) so let me tell you exactly what this bill says about federally funded (tax payer supported) abortion.
Beginning on line 7, p. 118, section 1303 under “Voluntary Choice of Coverage of Abortion Services” the Health and Human Services Secretary is given the authority to determine when abortion is allowed under the health plan. Senator Reid’s plan also requires that at least one insurance plan offered in the Health Insurance Exchange cover abortions (line 13, p. 120).
What is even more surprising is a monthly abortion premium will be charged of all people who enroll in the new health plan provided by the government. Beginning on line 11, page 122, section 1303, under “Actuarial Value of Optional Service Coverage.” The premium will be paid into a U.S. Treasury account – and these federal funds will be used to pay for the abortion services.
The bill would forbid including abortion coverage as a required medical benefit. However, it would allow a new government insurance plan to cover abortions and let private insurers that receive federal subsidies offer plans that include abortion coverage. Another crux of this issue lies with the Hyde Amendment (Passed in 1976) which is a federal law that is supposed to restrict abortions being paid for with federal dollars (i.e. Medicare, Medicaid and military health care). Senator Reid's bill is trying to circumvent this amendment.
This is outrageous and unacceptable. Polls of American thoughts, across the board, on the issue of tax payer funded abortions show that Americans are completely opposed to this by a good measure. Politicians have to realize that abortion is an incredibly controversial practice in our society. To force Americans to support a procedure with their tax dollars that they find morally offensive is completely insane.
What is of even greater interest to me is how members of Congress are being disingenuous and outright lying about the presence of abortion in this bill. Why are they so ashamed of their own views? Why don't they stand up and applaud their victory of pro-choice language being thrust into this bill? Apparently, supporters of federally funded abortion, feel that the only way to get abortion in this piece of legislation is to sneak it in through the back door and then repeatedly lie about its sinister presence.
I am not ashamed of my views. I believe in an unborn child's right to life. I don't believe that any federally funded tax payer abortion allowances should be included in health care reform.
If anyone reading wants to express their views to their congressional representatives about this issue of abortion in the health care bill, I urge you to do so. Please be respectful to these individuals as they are our elected leaders and deserve the respect that their positions afford.
I will post how to contact the Senate representatives for Washington State:
Senators: Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell.
Patty Murray's phone numbers:
Washington DC (866-481-9186)
Seattle office: (206-553-5545)
Spokane office: (509-624-9515)
You can email Patty Murray from this link on her website:
http://murray.senate.gov/e
Maria Cantwell's phone numbers:
Toll Free (888-648-7328)
Washington DC (202-224-3441)
Seattle (206-220-6400)
Spokane (509-353-2507)
You can email Senator Cantwell from this web address:
http://cantwell.senate.gov
From the Bottom of the World: New Zealand (Part Six)
(Originally published November 14th, 2009)
Hello again from the bottom of the world.
I have been exploring up in the mountains (that would be Tongariro National Park) and then we made out way to the coastline. Here I saw black sand beaches for the first time right along the west coast of New Zealand. Of course, this is the Tasman Sea. Out on the beach and on a rocky wharf, I ran out with the water crashing somewhere below and black sand pelting my face. This all felt really great.
We stayed in an interesting place called Raetihi a couple of nights ago. At first glance, this seemed like a ghost town except for a relatively kept up piece of road down the center of the town. I met a business guy from Auckland who had come down to this town to help rebuild it a little bit. He talked about how the town was depressed but work was being done to put the place back on the map. He runs a little hostel for backpackers who journey on into Tongariro National Park which is nearby (The Tongariro Crossing is apparently a very famous walk).
While in town, I got some food at the Angel Louise Cafe. This was owned and run by a sweet old lady who fixed me up a wonderful steak sandwich with onions and plum sauce. She also made me breakfast the next morning- eggs on toast. All of this was wonderful. Speaking of cuisine, New Zealand is similar to the States in that regard. There are some things that are different for instance, they put beats on your cheeseburger as opposed to tomatoes. I also had a decent steak one night at the "Railway Station" in National Park. The steak seemed to be boiled and was put over mashed sweet potatoes.
Anyways, back to Raetihi. We stayed at the Snowy Waters Lodge which is owned by a lady named Sandy. This was, by far, the most hospitable place that we encountered (people were nice everywhere but this place went even beyond that). Sandy had worked in Auckland for years and had commuted down on the weekends to fix up this lodge which she has now owned for 3 years. This is her dream come true. It was fun to meet a Kiwi so impassioned and seeing their dream become a reality. Did I mention this place was only $25 dollars a night (and this in New Zealand dollars)? A steal of a deal. Of course, she mentioned that most of her clientale comes in during the winter months (June, July and August). The place was pretty empty during the late spring here except for another nice couple from Hamburg, Germany who told me lots of great things about the Black Forest and Munich.
All that to say...Raetihi...looks like a ghost town but is a wonderful place.
From there we ventured up to take a boat up the Whanganui River and into Whanganui National Park. This was a beautiful ride and our guide was named Brent from Maori descent. Of course, he knew lots of history when the Maori used to inhabit the land (before colonization) and the different places they lived. The river was like glass and one could easily see the reflection in the waters as we cruised along. Not much manmade around, just pristine nature. There was a couple in the boat with us from somewhere of the north island. They informed me that this was also a famous "walk" of New Zealand (I guess there are about 12 walks) but this walk, one actually did by canoe. Sure enough, we saw a lot of canoers including a couple from Belgium that were rafting the river.
We got out of the river and took a decent hike (New Zealanders think of "hike" as just a walk so they call a longer excursion in the woods "tramping through the bush"). This expedition of tramping through the bush led us to the bridge to nowhere. No, Sarah Palin was in no way involved with this bridge. This is a concrete bridge that was built in 1935. On either side of this bridge, is complete forested terrain. Hence, the bridge to nowhere but ironically, its hard to even get to the bridge to have it lead a person to nowhere. Our guide said there were about 40 families who the government gave this land to after World War 1. They gave them the land to farm which seemed like a bum deal to me. This was incredibly forested and hilly landscape which would have made farming difficult. They built this bridge hoping to develop this spot a little bit more but it did not come to pass. The bridge was built and stays.
Today, we drove from New Plymouth which has a pretty cool museum (which is free) and features Maori history and natural history of the area. Going up to New Plymouth, we had splendid views of Mt. Taranaki (or Mt. Egmont is the British name given by explorer James Cook). This mountain is on the west coast and is an active volcano. They are all active around here.
We also visited the world famous Waitomo caves. This was a huge cavern discovered in the 1800s and really no amount of description could do this place justice. Apparently, there have been famous singers that have come through and sung in a room of the cave that has been deemed the cathedral. Recently, they said Justin Timberlake and Alicia Keyes had come through. Historically, the Beatles once sang there on one of their travels. At the bottom of the cave was a boat (and underneath 6 meters deep of water) that took us further into the cave and gave us a sight of glowworms which are native only to New Zealand and Australia. Glowworms emit light to attract insects which they eat. They hang thin, spiderweb like material to trap insects. They were mostly on the ceiling of this cave which gave the impression of a massive starry night overhead...even though we were in a deep dark cave. This was really something!
We are in Hamilton and nearing the end of our journies in New Zealand...atleast for now. It will be hard to leave this place and I still have not been to Wellington (the capital that is south of the North island) or the south island at all. Perhaps a future trip sometime.
Hello again from the bottom of the world.
I have been exploring up in the mountains (that would be Tongariro National Park) and then we made out way to the coastline. Here I saw black sand beaches for the first time right along the west coast of New Zealand. Of course, this is the Tasman Sea. Out on the beach and on a rocky wharf, I ran out with the water crashing somewhere below and black sand pelting my face. This all felt really great.
We stayed in an interesting place called Raetihi a couple of nights ago. At first glance, this seemed like a ghost town except for a relatively kept up piece of road down the center of the town. I met a business guy from Auckland who had come down to this town to help rebuild it a little bit. He talked about how the town was depressed but work was being done to put the place back on the map. He runs a little hostel for backpackers who journey on into Tongariro National Park which is nearby (The Tongariro Crossing is apparently a very famous walk).
While in town, I got some food at the Angel Louise Cafe. This was owned and run by a sweet old lady who fixed me up a wonderful steak sandwich with onions and plum sauce. She also made me breakfast the next morning- eggs on toast. All of this was wonderful. Speaking of cuisine, New Zealand is similar to the States in that regard. There are some things that are different for instance, they put beats on your cheeseburger as opposed to tomatoes. I also had a decent steak one night at the "Railway Station" in National Park. The steak seemed to be boiled and was put over mashed sweet potatoes.
Anyways, back to Raetihi. We stayed at the Snowy Waters Lodge which is owned by a lady named Sandy. This was, by far, the most hospitable place that we encountered (people were nice everywhere but this place went even beyond that). Sandy had worked in Auckland for years and had commuted down on the weekends to fix up this lodge which she has now owned for 3 years. This is her dream come true. It was fun to meet a Kiwi so impassioned and seeing their dream become a reality. Did I mention this place was only $25 dollars a night (and this in New Zealand dollars)? A steal of a deal. Of course, she mentioned that most of her clientale comes in during the winter months (June, July and August). The place was pretty empty during the late spring here except for another nice couple from Hamburg, Germany who told me lots of great things about the Black Forest and Munich.
All that to say...Raetihi...looks like a ghost town but is a wonderful place.
From there we ventured up to take a boat up the Whanganui River and into Whanganui National Park. This was a beautiful ride and our guide was named Brent from Maori descent. Of course, he knew lots of history when the Maori used to inhabit the land (before colonization) and the different places they lived. The river was like glass and one could easily see the reflection in the waters as we cruised along. Not much manmade around, just pristine nature. There was a couple in the boat with us from somewhere of the north island. They informed me that this was also a famous "walk" of New Zealand (I guess there are about 12 walks) but this walk, one actually did by canoe. Sure enough, we saw a lot of canoers including a couple from Belgium that were rafting the river.
We got out of the river and took a decent hike (New Zealanders think of "hike" as just a walk so they call a longer excursion in the woods "tramping through the bush"). This expedition of tramping through the bush led us to the bridge to nowhere. No, Sarah Palin was in no way involved with this bridge. This is a concrete bridge that was built in 1935. On either side of this bridge, is complete forested terrain. Hence, the bridge to nowhere but ironically, its hard to even get to the bridge to have it lead a person to nowhere. Our guide said there were about 40 families who the government gave this land to after World War 1. They gave them the land to farm which seemed like a bum deal to me. This was incredibly forested and hilly landscape which would have made farming difficult. They built this bridge hoping to develop this spot a little bit more but it did not come to pass. The bridge was built and stays.
Today, we drove from New Plymouth which has a pretty cool museum (which is free) and features Maori history and natural history of the area. Going up to New Plymouth, we had splendid views of Mt. Taranaki (or Mt. Egmont is the British name given by explorer James Cook). This mountain is on the west coast and is an active volcano. They are all active around here.
We also visited the world famous Waitomo caves. This was a huge cavern discovered in the 1800s and really no amount of description could do this place justice. Apparently, there have been famous singers that have come through and sung in a room of the cave that has been deemed the cathedral. Recently, they said Justin Timberlake and Alicia Keyes had come through. Historically, the Beatles once sang there on one of their travels. At the bottom of the cave was a boat (and underneath 6 meters deep of water) that took us further into the cave and gave us a sight of glowworms which are native only to New Zealand and Australia. Glowworms emit light to attract insects which they eat. They hang thin, spiderweb like material to trap insects. They were mostly on the ceiling of this cave which gave the impression of a massive starry night overhead...even though we were in a deep dark cave. This was really something!
We are in Hamilton and nearing the end of our journies in New Zealand...atleast for now. It will be hard to leave this place and I still have not been to Wellington (the capital that is south of the North island) or the south island at all. Perhaps a future trip sometime.
From the Bottom of the World: New Zealand (Part Five)
(Originally published November 11th, 2009)
If you are living on the west coast of USA and reading this posting, you are reading the writings of a man from the future. I'm exactly 21 hours ahead of pacific time in America. The time is 4:02pm here on Thursday where the time is 7:02pm on Wednesday back in good ole Seattle.
The weather today was brilliant, sunny with some clouds in the sky. Perfect weather to venture into some mountains here in New Zealand. There were some great views (and the appropriate amount of pictures taken). We hiked a little bit on Mt. Ruapehu. This is, I think, the largest peak in New Zealand at 2797 meters. The peak is an active volcano which last erupted in 2006. It also erupted in 1995 and 1996 respectively. Needless to say, I was not blown off the face of the earth or buried under a ton of molten lava. The risk of an explosion today was 1 (being the most minimal). A number 5 would be a "run for your life" sort of deal.
The scenery was pretty brown obviously with the recent eruptions but the peak had a spectacular view of a neighboring mountain, Mt. Ngauruhoe, which is known by Lord of the Rings fans everywhere as Mt. Doom. This is one unique and amazing mountain. Almost a perfect cylinder shooting up into the sky, Mt. Doom sits at 2291 meters. Another mountain is visible in the range as well, Mt. Tongariro. Three mountains all somewhat in a row. There are famous pictures (mostly posters) showing all three mountains in one shot.
Up on Mt. Ruapehu, we learned that there was some filming of Lord of the Rings shots: they filmed where Frodo and Sam captured Gollum and also filmed some battle scenes from Mordor. We also went to Mangawhero Falls which in the creek beds above the drop, they filmed the scene where Gollum catches a fish.
The scenery of these places is unmatched and it is very difficult to put this all into words so I think I will stop right here.
If you are living on the west coast of USA and reading this posting, you are reading the writings of a man from the future. I'm exactly 21 hours ahead of pacific time in America. The time is 4:02pm here on Thursday where the time is 7:02pm on Wednesday back in good ole Seattle.
The weather today was brilliant, sunny with some clouds in the sky. Perfect weather to venture into some mountains here in New Zealand. There were some great views (and the appropriate amount of pictures taken). We hiked a little bit on Mt. Ruapehu. This is, I think, the largest peak in New Zealand at 2797 meters. The peak is an active volcano which last erupted in 2006. It also erupted in 1995 and 1996 respectively. Needless to say, I was not blown off the face of the earth or buried under a ton of molten lava. The risk of an explosion today was 1 (being the most minimal). A number 5 would be a "run for your life" sort of deal.
The scenery was pretty brown obviously with the recent eruptions but the peak had a spectacular view of a neighboring mountain, Mt. Ngauruhoe, which is known by Lord of the Rings fans everywhere as Mt. Doom. This is one unique and amazing mountain. Almost a perfect cylinder shooting up into the sky, Mt. Doom sits at 2291 meters. Another mountain is visible in the range as well, Mt. Tongariro. Three mountains all somewhat in a row. There are famous pictures (mostly posters) showing all three mountains in one shot.
Up on Mt. Ruapehu, we learned that there was some filming of Lord of the Rings shots: they filmed where Frodo and Sam captured Gollum and also filmed some battle scenes from Mordor. We also went to Mangawhero Falls which in the creek beds above the drop, they filmed the scene where Gollum catches a fish.
The scenery of these places is unmatched and it is very difficult to put this all into words so I think I will stop right here.
From the Bottom of the World: New Zealand (Part Four)
(Originally published November 10th, 2009)
I stuck my head out of a hobbit hole today.
After leaving Auckland, I was at the film location for "The Shire" in the Lord of the Rings movies which is outside of Matamata. The set (which still has some of the Hobbit homes) is on a privately owned farm land. We had a guided tour showing us around. The scenery was unbelievable. We were out in the middle of nowhere with rolling green hills, a small little lake, and lots of sheep. The experience was surreal while taking in the fact that Sir Ian McKellan, Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Peter Jackson (the director), etc had all stood where I was standing and had spent three months shooting scenes there. Of course, the scenes shot at this location were just exterior. All of the interior of the hobbit homes was filmed in a studio in Wellington.
Director Peter Jackson apparently found this bit of remote farm land while flying in a plane over New Zealand looking for the perfect spot to shoot the Shire scenes. The farm is privately owned by the Alexander family who are now probably loaded thanks to New Line Cinemas and Jackson's love of the land.
Our tour guide talked about how meticulous Jackson was as a director and told us crazy stories of his perfectionistic nature. I guess the perfectionism of it all shows in the movies. While the crew was filming at this location, the tour guide explained to us that the government of New Zealand enacted a no fly zone up to 5000 meters so it wouldn't distract the filming. Two planes were actually caught flying over this terrain and they had cameras/video devices abroad. The tour guide said that these pilots lost their flying licenses forever. Hear that folks...don't mess with Peter Jackson.
The tour guide also had funny stories about tourists who would come and go on the tour. We are talking diehard, freaky Tolkien fanatics (which one can probably imagine). He said one guy walked into the Shire, sat down in the middle of a grassy field and started reading the first Lord of the Rings book. The tour guide guessed the guy was checking Peter Jackson's accuracy next to what the book described the Shire as being. Another couple he stated spoke "elvish". Now that one is bizarre to me personally. He said the husband understood English and would translate to his wife in elvish. Um....yeah, I guess in our world people know Klingon as well.
After wandering around the set of hobbiton like some kind of fanatic, we headed further south to Rotorua. This was a town situated by the lake of Rotorua. We took a gondola ride to the top of a small mountain and I road a luge down the mountain. If someone doesn't know what a luge is, the best way to describe is "a wider skateboard that a person sits on". I got some serious speed going down the mountain and the whole experience was quite a rush. The chairlift going up however was annoyingly slow. I road the luge down the mountain three separate times.
From there we visited the Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland. This is a place of geysers, burning sulfur, lots of steam, and the place smelled awful. Walking around this place gives one the impression of being on another planet. All of a sudden, one goes from the rolling, green forested hills of normal New Zealand to...this rocky, colorful rocks and water place that stinks. Despite the smell, the geothermal place was very cool. I imagine this stop would be a geologists dream come true. They had this exhibit called "Oyster pool" or something. I nicknamed this place "the hot tub from hell" because if someone were to go in that small little pool of water that is big enough to be a hottub, they would probably melt.
Tonight, we are at the north eastern tip of Lake Taupo spending the night. This is quite a big lake that is in the center of the north island. Tomorrow, I get to see Mt. Doom ( I guess this is turning into a Lord of the Rings quest) and I get to do some hiking.
Blessings to you all.
I stuck my head out of a hobbit hole today.
After leaving Auckland, I was at the film location for "The Shire" in the Lord of the Rings movies which is outside of Matamata. The set (which still has some of the Hobbit homes) is on a privately owned farm land. We had a guided tour showing us around. The scenery was unbelievable. We were out in the middle of nowhere with rolling green hills, a small little lake, and lots of sheep. The experience was surreal while taking in the fact that Sir Ian McKellan, Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Peter Jackson (the director), etc had all stood where I was standing and had spent three months shooting scenes there. Of course, the scenes shot at this location were just exterior. All of the interior of the hobbit homes was filmed in a studio in Wellington.
Director Peter Jackson apparently found this bit of remote farm land while flying in a plane over New Zealand looking for the perfect spot to shoot the Shire scenes. The farm is privately owned by the Alexander family who are now probably loaded thanks to New Line Cinemas and Jackson's love of the land.
Our tour guide talked about how meticulous Jackson was as a director and told us crazy stories of his perfectionistic nature. I guess the perfectionism of it all shows in the movies. While the crew was filming at this location, the tour guide explained to us that the government of New Zealand enacted a no fly zone up to 5000 meters so it wouldn't distract the filming. Two planes were actually caught flying over this terrain and they had cameras/video devices abroad. The tour guide said that these pilots lost their flying licenses forever. Hear that folks...don't mess with Peter Jackson.
The tour guide also had funny stories about tourists who would come and go on the tour. We are talking diehard, freaky Tolkien fanatics (which one can probably imagine). He said one guy walked into the Shire, sat down in the middle of a grassy field and started reading the first Lord of the Rings book. The tour guide guessed the guy was checking Peter Jackson's accuracy next to what the book described the Shire as being. Another couple he stated spoke "elvish". Now that one is bizarre to me personally. He said the husband understood English and would translate to his wife in elvish. Um....yeah, I guess in our world people know Klingon as well.
After wandering around the set of hobbiton like some kind of fanatic, we headed further south to Rotorua. This was a town situated by the lake of Rotorua. We took a gondola ride to the top of a small mountain and I road a luge down the mountain. If someone doesn't know what a luge is, the best way to describe is "a wider skateboard that a person sits on". I got some serious speed going down the mountain and the whole experience was quite a rush. The chairlift going up however was annoyingly slow. I road the luge down the mountain three separate times.
From there we visited the Waiotapu Thermal Wonderland. This is a place of geysers, burning sulfur, lots of steam, and the place smelled awful. Walking around this place gives one the impression of being on another planet. All of a sudden, one goes from the rolling, green forested hills of normal New Zealand to...this rocky, colorful rocks and water place that stinks. Despite the smell, the geothermal place was very cool. I imagine this stop would be a geologists dream come true. They had this exhibit called "Oyster pool" or something. I nicknamed this place "the hot tub from hell" because if someone were to go in that small little pool of water that is big enough to be a hottub, they would probably melt.
Tonight, we are at the north eastern tip of Lake Taupo spending the night. This is quite a big lake that is in the center of the north island. Tomorrow, I get to see Mt. Doom ( I guess this is turning into a Lord of the Rings quest) and I get to do some hiking.
Blessings to you all.
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