Always dreamed of visiting beautiful New Zealand? Join us for festivities of the world premiere of “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” this November for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. We are busy ironing out the nitty-gritty, but we have some dates and cost estimates ready and want to keep potential travelers up to date. In a few days TORn will be taking deposits that help us secure all the necessities to make this happen. We will ask for $300 (non-refundable after all trip details are announced) with the balance due closer to the travel dates, probably about 45 days prior to the event.
The trip will be a seven-day, six-night affair happening mostly in Wellington, site of the World Premiere of The Hobbit at the Embassy Theater. To be clear, that theater holds 750 people in its main auditorium and we are just not getting in there with cast and crew. (In fact, numbers of cast and crew will be far too large to all be in there either.) But we will be in the city of Wellington celebrating the grand event that promises to be at least as amazing as the similar event for “The Return of the King.” We expect to be along the city’s lengthy Red Carpet, although details have not been finalized.
Now is the time to dig out all your Hobbit, Elf and Rohan gear, clean up your Orc armor and grab your Wizard robes. It has been at least 8 years since we’ve had a chance to wear our Middle-earth finery, and now with just 3 weeks to go, San Diego Comic Con 2012 will kick off. With both TORn and WB doing panels about the Hobbit, and companies like WETA, LEGO and Gentle Giant, among others, selling Hobbit themed merchandise, Middle-earth will be everywhere. Here at TORn, we know that no comic con is complete without costumers, so we would like to officially invite all past, present and future Tolkien costumers to pack up their gear and plan to wear it on Thursday.
The TORn panel will be at 10:15am on Thursday at the con, and while it would be nice if all Tolkien costumers could attend the panel, we know some of you may not get in. What we would really like to do is a mass a big group shot after our panel, out on the Outdoor Amphitheater behind the Sails Pavillion, overlooking Coronado Bridge. Our panel will end around 11:15am, so given the typical chitter chatter that always follows such events, lets plan for about 11:45am out on the Sails Terrace area. If you have older costumes you’ve got in storage, please pull them out and bring them. If your costume is book based rather than film based, no worries. If you have a costume based on Tolkien artwork, or the Silmarillion, bring it to San Diego. And if you are working on a new Hobbit era costume, wear that too (unless you are entering it into the Masquerade, don’t want you getting into trouble). All Tolkien themed costumes are welcome and encouraged, TORn would love to show that our community is large and creative and enthusiastic. If you have any questions, please contact Garfeimao@TheOneRing.net.
I live near Allentown, PA and rarely have an opportunity to partake in any special events that would interest the Tolkien community locally. Today was a bit different. You see, the Allentown Art Museum is currently exhibiting ‘At the Edge: Art of the Fantastic,’ the most comprehensive and largest exhibition of fantastic art to date in the United States. When I saw an ad featuring Donato Giancola’s The Hobbit, I just knew I had to go! The presentation is quite impressive – showcase fantasy art from hundreds of years ago to present. If you ever wanted to see works in person, but really didn’t want deal with going to a convention convention, this showcase is a perfect opportunity. Tolkien themed works on exhibit: The Hildebrandt Brother’s Smaug and The Gift of Galadriel, Ruth Sanderson’s Galadriel, Mark Zug’s The Sands of Gorgoroth, Matthew Stewart’s Battle of Five Armies, Stephen Hickman’s Siege of Minas Tirith (triple WOW factor in person), Darrell Sweet’s The Slaying of Glaurung, and last but not least, Donato Giancola’s The Hobbit (Absolutely stunning in person – and gigantic!). The exhibit runs through September 9th 2012 in Allentown, PA. [Allentown Art Museum]
Congrats to the following winners in our ‘One Man Lord of the Rings’ ticket giveaway!
3pm Show – Nikos F. 8pm Show – Jaynie T.
Winner should check their email for details. If you did not win, please consider supporting the New Jersey Performing Arts Center by attending this amazing show! I don’t think we’ve ever heard a bad review, so you are guaranteed to have a wonderful time. You can purchase tickets for this show right now! [Buy Tickets] [Entry Form]
Fandalf visits the heart of Tolkiendom in America - Houghton Mifflin's HQ, Boston
You may remember this story from summer of last year: ‘Fandalf’ the travelling Gandalf statue (well, two of him actually…) was making his way around America and around Europe, stopping with fans in many different places and posing with famous landmarks. With San Diego ComicCon 2012 being the final stop on Fandalf’s journey, he has just over a month to go; so we thought readers might like an update on his travels!
The statue (made by Sideshow/Weta) which is travelling around America made his way over to the East coast. He was recently in Atlanta, followed by a few stops in New England (Rhode Island, Boston and Concord). Right now he’s winging his way (courtesy of a friendly eagle!) over to Ohio. The European Fandalf has been to various places in Germany, Belgium, France and Italy. The wonderful pictures hosting fans have taken can be seen at flickr.com – search for images tagged ‘Gandalf World Tour’. Many thanks to all who have hosted Fandalf – it’s great to think of fans all over the world mooting with the Grey Wizard!
As we draw closer to the release of the first Hobbit movie, San Diego ComicCon promises to be full of excitement and Middle-earth goodness! Fandalf’s return from his travels and merry meetings with fans will be a wonderful part of these ‘Hobbit Eve’ celebrations.
The odds are forever in your favor…oh wait, wrong movie. Anyway…last week we told you about an exclusive discount ticket offer for the upcoming Charlie Ross performance of ‘One Man Lord of the Rings’ at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and now we are reminding you that you can WIN tickets to the show! We are giving away two pairs of tickets for the June 2nd show – one pair for 3pm and one pair of 8pm. To enter, simply fill out the form below. We will randomly choose the winner on May 31st from all the eligible entrants and announce the winners right here on TheOneRing.net. Good luck to all those who live close enough to enter! (Entry form is after the break) And of course, you can purchase tickets for this universally praised and highly recommended show! [Buy Tickets] [Entry Form] Continue reading “Don’t forget! Win Tickets to See ‘One Man LOTR’ in New Jersey!”