No Virtual Book Tour stop today. That’s OK. I need a rest from this whirlwind virtual activity.

As many of you are aware (some of you, I’m sure, painfully), last night was a dark and stormy one. If I took any damage here at Blithering Heights, other than the state representative candidate’s campaign sign on my lawn that kept getting flattened, I’m not aware of it.

When I got to work, everything seemed fine there, too, although I soon noticed it was a little chilly. I thought nothing of that, though. The heating in our building is notoriously fickle, different sectors blowing too hot or too cold, for no apparent reason, on random days.

Later, at a staff meeting, I learned that one of the three power sectors on our campus had gone black, and the library was cold because our heat was in that sector. I was surprised at this, as it’s usually the sector that powers our library lights and computers that goes down. But this was remedied later in the afternoon, when we lost power too, for a while.

Phooey. I’ve got no kick coming. People are still waiting for their houses to get the juice back. Some people’s houses are gone.

I failed to mention (because I hadn’t put it together yet), when I did my review of the Masterpiece Theater/Mystery production of Sherlock, that the actor I praised in the role of Watson, Martin Freeman, has been cast as Bilbo Baggins in the upcoming The Hobbit movie.

Seems to me a great pick. He’s a veteran of the great, original British The Office series, so he can do comedy, and Sherlock demonstrates he can do the action stuff. And he certainly fits the established physical pattern of Peter Jackson hobbits.

Have you ever noticed what’s wrong with that pattern, in terms of the original material, by the way?

With the exception of Sam Gamgee, not one of Jackson’s primary hobbits is fat. At all.

Tolkien was very clear that hobbits are well-padded folk, fond of good food (and drink) and not much inclined to unnecessary exertion.

Of course I understand Jackson’s reasons for half-weight halflings.

First of all, fat people are unfashionable. A chubby Frodo wouldn’t seize viewer sympathy. Our puritanical culture frowns on the body’s natural energy-storage system. There might even be boycotts by concerned parents’ and teachers’ groups, telling people to keep the kids away from this pudgy propaganda.

The second reason would be purely practical. If you start your hobbits fat, you have to make them get thinner as they go through the many exertions and privations of the War of the Ring. To make that work, you’d have to tell your actors to fatten up before filming starts, and then require them to slim down over the course of filming (assuming you’re shooting in sequence), which would be something of a gamble. Or you’d have to start them thin and shoot in reverse sequence, fattening them up as you go, and leave them to waddle off to their personal trainers at the end of the thing. Also impractical.

Once again, the cinema fails to grapple with the vital issues of our time. And by “our time,” of course, I mean an imaginary past age.