Forbes.com: My wife and I took most of our kids to the first showing of The Hobbit at our local theater Friday morning. All but one of us was already a fanatically patriotic citizen of the Shire long before this movie, and all of us enjoyed the film quite a bit. This will not be the case for every Tolkien fan: I suspect the purists will be upset by the ways in which the films deviate from the book.
I, however, am not a purist. The Hobbit is a nearly perfect book from a literary point of view. That is no surprise, given the fact that it comes from one of the greatest literary minds of the 20th Century. But, books and films are different types of story-telling vessels and Peter Jackson was right in adapting the story to the newer medium. And he did so as someone who truly loved the original, who respected his source material, and who as a general rule carved it with the grain and not against it in his attempt to shape it into the needs of a big budget film trilogy.
From independent.ie: PRE-exam nerves are bad enough, but if your examiner is JRR Tolkien, then you’d really have your work cut out.
Well that was the case for students at NUI Galway more than 60 years ago when ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘Lord of the Rings’ author worked as an English literature examiner.
Recently discovered exam papers reveal that the creative genius was an external examiner for the summer exams over a number of years at the Galway university.
Barry Houlihan, an archivist at the James Hardiman Library in the university, said the find came about thanks to a Tolkien enthusiast who contacted the college.
“We decided to have a search and we found the volume in question. We went through all the exam papers and we found that Tolkien had been an external on four occasions. It was fascinating to see his name printed on them,” said Mr Houlihan. [Read More]
From Hollywood.com: In 1971, Jan Sterling was 19 years old, married, caring for a one-year-old baby girl, and living out of a 1961 Econoline Ford Van. She was driving around the country in a state that she describes as “quite homeless.” She says that her life was forever changed when, one day, she happened upon an old set of The Lord of the Rings books.
“I was saved by Tolkien’s story and world,” Sterling says. “It became my lifeline through those lonely, hard days and years after. It was incredible how the same story spoke to whatever life events I was experiencing.”
As we’ve come to expect, Weta and Harper Collins have produced another sumptuous, richly-bound volume detailing the process of turning words and imagination into the films we see. It’s written by Daniel Falconer, who’s had a hands-on overview of the road to executing Jackson’s vision since the beginning of LOTR. Thus you see many sketches exploring the different concepts that inform the finished designs we see on screen, and a wealth of objects you only dream of studying at leisure and in detail. It’s full of insights into how the film’s creators saw the character and history of The Hobbit’s people, creatures and places. The actors get to speak about their characters too, so we learn for instance that Sylvester McCoy loves animals in real life – he whistles to birds and they whistle back! Definitely a book to treasure. It’s full of spoilers too promising scenes that we can hope to see in the extended edition DVDs if nowhere else – scenes with the Old Took and Belladonna Took, Gandalf’s first meeting with Bilbo when he was a young boy, and a closer look at more Shirefolk such as Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, Old Gammidge and Old Hob. Check out some scans below. [Purchase Today!] Continue reading “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – Chronicles”
An insightful article appeared yesterday on “Heirs of Durin” about the appeal of Thorin, Fili and Kili beyond the physical response to the actors. It was originally written in German and then translated into English, but still makes for a good read. There are some minor spoilers at the end of the article regarding the end of the book and likely the end of the final film as well, so caution to those who have not yet read the book. So click on the link to read about Thorin Oakenshield and “the Sons of my Father’s Daughter, Fili and Kili of the Race of Durin”.
Tribute.ca brings us this behind-the-scenes special on the making of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. We hear from director Peter Jackson and many of the film’s stars about their journey back to Middle-earth. It’s also a good recap of Lord of the Rings with plenty of footage and scenes that you might have forgotten! Check it out! Continue reading “Behind the scenes of An Unexpected Journey”
Forbes.com: My wife and I took most of our kids to the first showing of The Hobbit at our local theater Friday morning. All but one of us was already a fanatically patriotic citizen of the Shire long before this movie, and all of us enjoyed the film quite a bit. This will not be the case for every Tolkien fan: I suspect the purists will be upset by the ways in which the films deviate from the book.
From independent.ie: PRE-exam nerves are bad enough, but if your examiner is JRR Tolkien, then you’d really have your work cut out.
