You will find here links to all the events, helpful hints on what to print and what to bring with you, and a timeline. Further attendee information will be given out with your registration materials when you arrive on Sunday afternoon.

The festivities begin today with An Unexpected Art Show at Lot 613 in Downtown LA, just 10 miles south of Hollywood. Doors open at 7pm and the event will run until 1am. You can find more info Right Here including a discount coupon for entry tonight, just print it and bring it with you. And here is a sample of the artwork you will find at the Art Show.

On Saturday, the LA area Smial of the Tolkien Society, Tolkien Forever, will be hosting a Pub Moot for fans to gather. The Moot will be at The Cat n’ Fiddle Pub in Hollywood (6530 Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90028) from 1:30pm until 5pm. Check out their Facebook event page for details.

Hobbit Oscar weekend culminates with The One Expected Party on Sunday afternoon, right here in Hollywood, just a couple blocks from the Academy Awards telecast. Here is a check list of things you will want to bring, check on, and ask us about while there is still time to do so.

• Print your tickets and bring them with you. If you do not have them, please email us ASAP at Oscarparty@theonering.net with your name and email. Doors will open at 3pm till 1am.
• Parking, we have sent out emails to everyone regarding parking, but if you did not get that message, or if you have a special need, please contact us at Oscarparty@theonering.net

                               *Lot opens at 2pm

                               *Shuttle will run until 2am and the lots will close after that

                               *You will need your printed Party Ticket to get into the lot

• There is a Dress Code for our party. It’s the basic Black Tie and Pointy Ear optional code we had for the three previous Oscar Parties. You can see the Costume FAQ for more details
• The Rivendell room at the party will be hosting a silent Auction and special Prize Drawings. The items you will be bidding on or entering for the drawing will be on display in the Rivendell room throughout the night. You may use a Credit Card for any large transaction, but if you just wish to purchase a prize drawing ticket, you will want to bring Cash with you. The TORn store will be in this same room, which is where you will find items like TORn shirts, buttons and the like.
• We have not quite sold out yet, so if you still have some friends on the fence, knock them off and bring them along. We will make an announcement if we should sell out before the start of the show on Sunday. Tickets may still be purchased online until Sunday morning, and after that, they can be purchased at the door, if it is not sold out by then. Purchase Tickets Now

And here is a little sneak peak at one of our Auction Items.

There are no panels on Preview night, so this is the perfect time to explore the exhibit hall and visit all the vendors that will have LOTR and Hobbit related products. Here is a still growing list of booths to visit, including the booths that we will be sharing space with:

Badali Jewelry – #530/532 (and one home of TORn during SDCC)

Sideshow Collectibles – #1929

Warner Bros. – #4545

WETA – #3513B (second home to TORn)

Donato Arts – #4503

Gentle Giant – #3513

LEGO – #2829

Make sure to stop by and visit the TORn staff at both booth locations to purchase shirts and buttons, and have the chance to play any number of LOTR themed games. You will also  be able to get more information about TORn’s Hobbit Premiere Tour in November. And starting on Thursday the WB is going to have a full on fan experience located outside the convention center between Hall H and the Hilton Bayfront Hotel. Included in that experience will be some LOTR events such as video game play of Guardians of Middle-earth and LEGO the Lord of the rings: 3D Street Art. You will find all the details at http://comiccon.thewb.com/

THURSDAY:

Please accept our invitation to join TheOneRing.net in one of the convention’s opening panels. We will be in room 6DE starting at 10:15am, please pay attention to the convention center’s instructions on the proper entrances and exits for the panel room. Remember to wear your Tolkien themed costumes, we will be having a Cosplay meetup directly after the panel, out on the Terrace behind the Sails Pavilion. Later in the afternoon you will be able to choose from seeing Elijah Wood on the Wilfred panel, at 4pm in the Indigo Ballroom at the Hilton Bayfront, or of seeing Karl Urban moderate the Masters of the Web presentation at 4:30pm in room 24ABC.

FRIDAY:

This will be a fairly light day for Tolkien programming, but you can see a few LOTR cast members today. First up will be Sean Astin at 10:15am in room 6BCF for the Go Green: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles presentation. You can then have fun the rest of the day, enjoying the WB event outside, or wandering the exhibit hall, and then end your day with John Noble. At 7:15pm in room 6A, you can see a presentation for Dark Matters: Twisted but True, a show on the Science channel hosted by John Noble.

SATURDAY:

With the WB panel in Hall H in the afternoon, it is expected that some of you may line up, maybe even as early as Friday night. In that instance, TORn will be there to help you out. Maybe not the whole night, but don’t be surprised if we pop up from time to time to host a game or two, give out some goodies, and basically, turn the Line into a Line Party. If you feel like taking a break from waiting to get into Hall H, you can find John Noble signing autographs for an hour, starting at 1:30pm out under the Sails Pavilion at table AA19. But please do make sure you are inside Hall H by no later than 2:30pm for the WB panel. The schedule listing promises looks at Pacific Rim, directed by Guillermo Del Toro, a quick look at Man of Steel, and a presentation for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey with Peter Jackson and numerous cast on hand.

SUNDAY:

The last item where you can find a LOTR connection is the Fringe Panel, starring John Noble, running at 10am in Hall H. After this, treat yourself to a complete run through the exhibit hall to ensure you have not missed any collectibles, games and fun before heading home. TheOneRing.net will be there till the very end, so please stop by, as often as you wish. Mae Govannon.

Here at TheOneRing.net, we are very proud of the community we have helped create, and like any community, we experience losses. One such loss occurred this weekend in Los Angeles, where the Tolkien fan community, and the costuming community as a whole, lost one of its brightest and most creative individuals. Kent Elofson died on May 18 of an apparent suicide in his Pasadena home, leaving behind a huge community of fellow costumers, all mourning his passing.

More behind the break.  

Kent was born and raised in Southern California and began his creative life at Disneyland, where he worked first in the Character department, and then moved over into the Art Department and Imagineering. Chances are that if you’ve been to Disneyland in Anaheim or Paris, that you have enjoyed a little bit of Kent’s creativity. Beyond that, Kent was an early proponent of the Original Renaissance Pleasure Faire and a long standing genre costume re-creator. Amongst Tolkien fandom, Kent is best known for his Aragorn costumes, both as Strider and as Aragorn at the Black Gates. But anyone who has attended San Diego Comic con in the past decade can attest, Kent was a master costumer in many genres and across numerous media.

Kent’s connection with TheOneRing.net and the Tolkien Fandom in Los Angeles goes back to the early days of the Lord of the Rings films when he showed up to an event dressed as Strider. It was clear he was really talented, and his subsequent impact on the LOTR costuming community in LA is the richer for it. Kent helped put together our Costuming Display at our first ORC convention and was a panelist for the event. He appeared in the Ringers: Lord of the Fans documentary and came to subsequent screenings for the film to celebrate. He recently was involved in the Todd of the Rings parody as none other than Strider, seen above in green screen, and he helped create many props and decorative items used at LA Tolkien events, such as an Eye of Sauron pinata. Locals always knew they would see amazing costumes from him, but that he was also always open to discussing how someone else could achieve and actualize their costume dream.

Some of his most recent costumes include Zaphod Beeblebrox, Riff-Raff, Batman, Green Lantern, Van Helsing and more. Above are just some images of Kent and his work, and we encourage his friends and partners in costuming to post their images and memories of Kent here too. [Forum Thread] [Facebook] As yet, no formal announcement has been made regarding a memorial service.

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Calisuri here – the other day a friend sent along the picture below after hearing of Kent’s passing. While it obviously features an extremely embarrassing moment in my life (I lost a bet to my wife and the Tolkien community), it showcases just how fun natured and charismatic Kent could be. For someone who took costuming to such a masterful level, it was really impressive of him to take a moment to participate in the silliness of the moment. He genuinely looks smitten with my version of Arwen right? lol –  I’m not ashamed to share this very humbling pic because it brings back some great memories. God speed Kent – you will be missed!

Drawn from the original molds that Samwise Gamgee’s (Sean Astin’s) ears were drawn from for the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, these prosthetics are as authentic as can be.

Hand made here at Weta Workshop by Makeup Supervisor Frances Hawker and her team. Made from latex, they can be blended to look like part of your anatomy for your next costume event or convention.

These are Sam’s ears and are slighty larger than Frodo’s ears. They measure 3.3in (84mm) from the bottom of the earlobe to the “top of the tip”.

The distance between where your earlobe meets your cheek and where the top of your ear meets your temple is 2.4in (60mm).

See image No 3 above for more info on how to measure.

Drawn from the original molds that Frodo Baggins’ (Elijah Wood’s) ears were drawn from for the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, these prosthetics are as authentic as can be.

Hand made here at Weta Workshop by Makeup Supervisor Frances Hawker and her team. Made from latex, they can be blended to look like part of your anatomy for your next costume event or convention.

These are Frodo’s ears and are slighty smaller than Sam’s ears. They measure 3.1in (80mm) from the bottom of the earlobe to the “top of the tip”.

The distance between where your earlobe meets your cheek and where the top of your ear meets your temple is 1.7in (45mm).

See the middle image above for more info on how to measure.

The ‘Stansborough Grey’ sheep wool is spun and then woven on 1890’s looms at the Stansborough Weaving Mill in Wellington.

Your Gandalf Cloak will be made to order by Stansborough and and can take 6-12 weeks for delivery.

Comes in three lengths, S, M and L with a 6-inch (15 cm) difference in length.