I really enjoy The Lord of the Rings. The book is probably the best work of fiction I’ve read. I was originally sceptical that anyone could successfully make the books into movies. "It will be another ‘Dune’," I thought. But I was wrong. The movies are great, and amazingly true to the story, considering what Hollywood does to most books they make into movies. There are some things they changed in the movies that bother me, but I won’t quibble about them here.

I also would like to go to New Zealand some day. Seeing scenery in The Lord of the Rings movies only reinforces that desire. It is a beautiful place, from what I know of it.

Naturally, New Zealand is trying to capitalize on the movies to increase tourism. But this article, Kiwi hobbit habit hooks hordes of tourists, includes one of the dumbest tourist attraction ideas I’ve heard of in a while:

"A village near Wellington has just opened miniature Hobbit toilets, complete with grass roof and little round doorways."

Are people supposed to come from distant lands to look at little toilets? Maybe people would like to have their pictures taken with them? What were these people thinking? Imagine the ideas they rejected before they decided this would attract tourists. "A sculpture of Frodo made of cheese? Nope. The One Donut Ring? Nope. Hobbit droppings? Nope. But that give me an idea: Hobbit toilets! Yes!"