Bowing to the Inevitable

One thing I’ve learned about New Zealand is that there is one Great Inevitable: Peter Jackson. You just can’t avoid the guy.

For one thing, the North Island was covered with posters having to do with the premiere of The Hobbit, which happens Wednesday in Wellington— the rest of you have to wait till December, I believe. The newspapers are full of articles about the movie, and the bookstores are full of Hobbit-related material.

(My thought was that on Wednesday I’d go to a really popular destina...