Is banking funny? Using the bank collapse of Washington Mutual in 2008 is something of an epic banking story and a laid off trainer has produced a parody that folds in both “The Hobbit,” written by J.R.R. Tolkien and the state of banks. Reuters produced the following story:
Since T.S. Eliot’s brief career at Lloyds Bank of London, the connections between banking and literature have remained tenuous at best – especially when you narrow the focus to the genre of “banking-related fantasy novel parodies.”
But that did not stop Paul Erickson, a laid-off trainer of tellers and personal bankers for Washington Mutual, from taking an inspired crack at hilarity with “The Wobbit: A Parody.”
Read the rest right here.
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Our friends at Houghton Mifflin alerted us that they will be publishing the U.S. books from The Hobbit films. The entire press release follows:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to be U.S. Publisher of Official Tie-ins to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again Films
New York – April 13, 2012 – Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has acquired U.S. publishing rights from HarperCollins UK, through a licensing agreement with Warner Bros. Consumer Products, for tie-in books to the two highly anticipated films The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again, directed by Peter Jackson and productions of New Line Cinema and MGM.
“Inspired by the two films based on The Hobbit, the companion books are a fantastic way for fans of the world of Middle-earth to immerse themselves in the film experience,” said Karen McTier, Executive Vice President of Domestic Licensing and Worldwide Marketing for Warner Bros. Consumer Products. “Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has a strong history with the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, and we know that the detailed tie-in books will bring The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again to life in an in-depth and imaginative way.” Continue reading “Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to publish U.S. ‘Hobbit’ tie-in books”
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London, 13 April 2012: HarperCollinsPublishers has acquired exclusive worldwide publishing rights from Warner Bros. Consumer Products for tie-in books to the two highly anticipated films The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again, directed by Peter Jackson and productions of New Line Cinema and MGM.
“Inspired by the two films based on The Hobbit, the HarperCollins companion books are a fantastic way for fans of the world of Middle-earth to immerse themselves in the film experience,” said Karen McTier, Executive Vice President of Domestic Licensing and Worldwide Marketing for Warner Bros. Consumer Products. “HarperCollins has a strong history with the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, and we know that the detailed tie-in books will bring The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again to life in an in-depth and imaginative way.”
Continue reading “HarperCollinsPublishers to Publish Official Tie-ins to The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey and The Hobbit: There and Back Again Films”
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Greetings all, Quickbeam here.
Rumors are flying as far as the Great Eagle’s sight that our newest wizard, Radagast the Brown, will have a more prominent role in the first installment of THE HOBBIT: ‘An Unexpected Journey.’ I am very excited by what Sylvester McCoy may bring to the role. The rumors are strongly suggesting Radagast’s rustic home on the eaves of Mirkwood Forest — Rhosgobel — will be more heavily featured than first suspected.
Color me intrigued! This kind of “newly added” material in Peter Jackson’s film adaptation is not canonical, strictly speaking, within the pages of “The Hobbit.” Yet it is canon from another Tolkien book! This stuff comes from the Appendices in the hinter-lands of “The Return of the King,” and therefore the most intriguing as to how it’ll play out in the new films. Among purists it might be cause for alarm.
Let’s investigate what we know from Tolkien — keeping in mind what the Professor seemed to be confused about himself may leave us with a minor mystery. Let’s also speculate on how P.J. is going to make Rhosgobel fit into the narrative of his first HOBBIT installment.
POTENTIAL SPOILERS WARNING
Continue reading “Out On A Limb with Quickbeam: “Where Exactly Art Thou, Radagast?””
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One of our Facebook friends has developed a fantastic new use for the timeline feature of the site. New TheOneRing.net contributor Irfon put together a broad outline of many of the works of Middle-earth. In his own words:
In 1937, The Hobbit was published, which introduced us to Middle-earth. Since then there’s been many books, films, games etc. set in Middle-earth. In this page we take you on an journey which takes us as far back as 1892 in the History of Middle-earth.
You can like the new Faceook page to see how it works and view many of the interpretations of Middle-earth in things like games. It may also spark a lot of creative possibilities for a way to put lives, history and works into an interactive timeline. Thanks Irfon!
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This story was one of TheOneRing.net’s April Fool Jokes for 2012. Thank you for participating!
With the 3rd block of filming beginning in earnest this weekend, there is some surprise casting news filtering it’s way back to us. Back in December when the Trailer first appeared, TORn did a frame by frame analysis, and one of the little tidbits we identified was the Elves at Rivendell and what looks to be Elrond’s twin sons. See what was written on Page 7 of the trailer analysis. Word now comes to us that not only are Elladan and Elrohir in the films, but they are being played by James and Oliver Phelps, famous for portraying the Weasley Twins, which leads us to believe their roles will not just be minor set dressing. Unless, of course, this is just a bit of stunt casting, but PJ doesn’t seem overly prone to that. The nice thing about this move is that there will be real twins, two separate actors, rather than the old trick of hiring one actor and then using FX to duplicate the person. The Hobbit production will have no shortage of multiple shots for every scene with all the scale doubles they have to deal with, but having two separate actors in the roles allows for the bigger action sequences to be done and not having to worry about FX. But does that mean that the Elves of Rivendell will play a bigger part in The Hobbit? That is still one of the big questions, what with the White Council expansion and all. Stay tuned as TORn tries to sift through these snippets of news to get at the nuggets of new details.
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