This weekend, Hall of Fire shifts back to our chapter-by-chapter discussion of Lord of the Rings as we as we arrive at one of the most enchanting chapters of The Two Towers.
‘Yes,’ said Pippin; ‘I’m afraid this is only a passing gleam, and it will all go grey again. What a pity! This shaggy old forest looked so different in the sunlight. I almost felt I liked the place.’
‘Almost felt you liked the Forest! That’s good! That’s uncommonly kind of you,’ said a strange voice. ‘Turn round and let me have a look at your faces. I almost feel that I dislike you both, but do not let us be hasty. Turn round!’ Continue reading “Hall of Fire chat today: Treebeard!”
Empire Magazine chatted with the man behind the performance capture of Azog, Manu Bennett and in the conversation he confirms what many suspected: the CGI Azog was late to the party. (Our story is late to the party too, released a couple of weeks ago but definitely still worth bringing to readers’ attention.) The protagonist and key villain from Thorin Oakenshield’s past says he was the last ingredient to the film and didn’t even meet Armitage, who he acts against in some scenes, until the film premiered. Best known as a veteran of television series Spartacus, Bennett’s character spoke in black speech.
“I was in the studio doing things for Azog four weeks before the premiere! In some ways I was the final ingredient to the whole thing,” he told Empire. Can we expect more Azog in the extended editions due for the holidays?
“No, because when I was brought in they’d already cut the film. For some of the scenes I had to move through frames.” He also confirms he will return for filming this year but hasn’t seen the script. The entire interview is available at Empire Online Thanks to the many spies who brought this one to our attention.
Bolg, son of AzogAzog holds aloft the head of the Dwarven King, Thorin Oakenshield’s grandfather.
2-disc DVD edition of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.”After dominating home video sales (which isn’t video at all anymore but remains the common term) the week of its release, “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” is back on top of the sales leader board in its fourth week in release. Its opening release pitted it against strong Oscar-winning competition, “Les Miserables” and “Zero Dark Thirty,” but its sales outpaced those title by more than a 3-1 ratio each. (TORn doesn’t have an official opinion of either film but this writer recommends both) And a month later after losing the top spot to “The Bible,” around the Easter holiday, Peter Jackson’s film is back on top.
Despite mostly positive but mixed reviews and media reports of mediocre box office (which proved to be incorrect after its $302 million run in the U.S. and its more than $1 billion world-wide) the film is also impressive with its home-use sales figures. Warner Bros. promoted the initial sales with an exclusive look at this December’s “The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug,” but that has come and gone while sales remain strong. We don’t mean to cheerlead for the film’s financial outcome and nobody from the studio is sending TheOneRing.net money, but some bad buzz lingers despite the film being embraced culturally and financially by viewers and it seems perception might not quite match reality. It will be fascinating to see if 48 fps, 3D and the decision to tell the book’s story over three films will remain a topic of media focus or if the film’s success and its impressive cast will shift into the spotlight.
Thomas Edison once said that to truly reach your potential, you must consider all ideas before discarding the poor ones and developing the good ones. (Actually, I just made that up. But it’s an internet tradition to attribute your own beliefs to a famous person to give your thoughts validation and respect. By the way, did I mention Tolkien wants you to buy my book?)
iTech Post.com: Ancient humans that bear a resemblance to the fictional hobbit creatures apparently had bigger brains than we previously gave them credit for.
The species known as Homo floresiensis was previously thought to have a brain volume of 400 cc, but it was actually 426 cc, bringing their brain size to roughly the same as a chimpanzee. That is, compared to about 1500 cc we currently have as Homo sapiens.
Researchers determined the larger brain size with a high-definition CT scanner.
The remnants of the “hobbits” were discovered on the island of Flores, part of Indonesia, in 2003.
The individuals were roughly three and a half feet tall, and had short legs when compared to their arms and feet.
From Otago Daily Times: In 1974, the name Aragorn Peak appeared on a Fiordland topographic map published by the Department of Lands and Survey, but by 1980 the mountain had been stripped of the name.
The New Zealand Geographic Board has decided to keep the mountainous area Tolkien-free after declining a proposal to name a nearby peak Tolkien Mountain.
Manapouri man Aaron Nicholson had applied to have an unnamed 1757m peak at the northern end of the Earl Mountains in Fiordland National Park, named Tolkien Mountain but the New Zealand Geographic Board has declined the application.
New Zealand Geographic Board secretary Wendy Shaw said the board’s naming policy had not been met and it was not convinced the peak needed a name.
”The proposal would have had to have provided a strong association between the person being honoured/commemorated, and the area where the feature is located.
This weekend, Hall of Fire shifts back to our chapter-by-chapter discussion of Lord of the Rings as we as we arrive at one of the most enchanting chapters of The Two Towers.
From Otago Daily Times: In 1974, the name Aragorn Peak appeared on a Fiordland topographic map published by the Department of Lands and Survey, but by 1980 the mountain had been stripped of the name.