Friday, June 27, 2008

Boldly Going... to Middle-earth

We don't have TV in the Kaiser Haus. Yes, we have a TV! Two in fact, but every channel produces "snow" - unless, of course you turn on the DVD player and plop in a disc. We read here. In fact every night before bed-time my wife reads to the Kaiser Kids.

Last month after much pestering of the wife to read J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Hobbit" to the little buggers I was recruited to do the honors. I happily agreed, and for a month we read about a chapter per night. The kids (all 3) loved it. They hung on every word, and could recite everything about the story when quizzed on it. My boy took a special liking to Thorin Okenshield, the heir apparent, son of Thror and "King under the Mountain". The Boy and his sisters were visibly upset upon experiencing his demise after the Battle of Five Armies.  When we finished the book they wanted to talk and talk about the "great adventure" that they went on with Bilbo, Gandalf and the Dwarves!

Well, the logical extension of the excitement and adventure of "The Hobbit" was to continue on with the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. We just finished meeting Old Tom Bombadil, and the kids have been playing Middle-earth non-stop! My kids immerse themselves into whatever they are reading or studying in school. They dress-up like their favorite characters and act-out scenes without ceasing. Some of the things they come up with are just extraordinary. This morning my two older kids were dressed as Hobbits and wanted to clean everything in the house while taking their tea. My wife and I wondered what mopping the floor had to do with Bilbo, Frodo, Sam, Pippin, Merry, or any other Hobbit; it turns out that Hobbits like things tidy and clean. The littlest one was dressed as a "Black Rider" and whispering "I'm looking for Baggins". Reading is a grand adventure, isn't it?

Of course all this Hobbit talk in the Kaiser Haus makes me think of the great vocal stylings of one Leonard Nimoy and his famous "Ballad of Bilbo Baggins" as found on the stellar disc, Spaced Out: The Best of Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner. I played that on RadiOblivion No.12 to the great delight of any true music fan. And talking about Mr. Spock also reminds me of the band that I worked with in the studio that had a guitar player who claimed to be Leonard Nimoy's great-nephew. I thought that was pretty neat; at least a pretty neat story. Then talking about Spock, I recall the interview with William Shatner heard recently on the Glenn Beck radio show. Man, I would like to meet Mr. Shatner... just once!

Naturally all this talk about William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy reminds me that my beloved late Grandma Frieda introduced me to Star Trek... On the TV.

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