Following the success of last years World Premiere Party which we co-hosted with Red Carpet Tours, Julie, Vic…
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Following the success of last years World Premiere Party which we co-hosted with Red Carpet Tours, Julie, Vic and Raewyn are holding the Desolation of Smaug Premiere Costume Party in Wellington.
Continue reading “Red Carpet Tours 14 Day DoS Tour and Premiere Costume Party”
ATLANTA — The 2013 edition of Dragon Con was so vast and so epic that the stories and highlights just keep on coming. While thousands flocked to Atlanta to catch 28 unique Tolkien programming panels, many others just couldn’t attend. So, in order to share the event as widely as possible (and encourage you to attend next year) we brought filmmaker Dan McBride with us this year to run a one man film crew. He recorded many hours of footage and has winnowed it down to a few highlight videos, the first of which is a 10-minute overall big picture view of parts of the Tolkien Track, featured below. It stars Dragon Con’s guests at the event: Manu Bennett, Slyvester McCoy, William Kircher and Graham McTavish. (You can also catch a glimpse of TORn staffers Deej, greendragon, MrCere and Thor.) Enjoy and share the video and look for more in upcoming days including highlights from the already legendary ’80s Dance Party! McBride will hopefully return next year and just imagine what he could do with lights and a crew!
UPDATE: Photo of Manu Bennett at the TORn “Hobbit” preview panel.
SALT LAKE CITY — Once scheduled for a smaller venue in the suburbs, the first ever Salt Lake Comic Con filled Utah’s capital city’s largest convention venue and had it bursting at the seams Saturday. For a time the hundreds waiting outside were not allowed to enter except at a 1-out-1-in rate. Word on the dealer’s floor said it was because the fire marshal closed the space but that rumor was never confirmed.
Reports in the media called the event “record setting” for a first-year convention, and that is possibly true, but such stats aren’t readily available. In any case, it was a massive event with celebrities that included William Kircher (Bifur) and Manu Bennett (Azog) and other pop-culture icons like William Shatner and Adam West.
TheOneRing.net was part of the fun as well, with staffer (and this writer) Larry D. Curtis (MrCere) attending with the show in his (my) hometown. the SLComic Con invited TORn to present a panel about Smaug and serve on other panels as well, with topics including Fantasy Films, all things Tolkien, Geek Culture and film school.
Bennett and Kircher were kind enough to drop by TheOneRing panel that also included author and TORn friend Paul Genesse. He helped moderate the panel and showed incredible enthusiasm for the material.
TheOneRing also managed a booth on the at time very crowded floor supported by incredible friends at Badali Jewelry and Weta Workshop making its first U.S. appearance outside of the San Diego Comic Con. TORn helped back in a small way to staff the Weta booth and send those with questions about where to purchase The One Ring to Badali’s very nearby booth. Artist David Powell was also kind enough to sign posters of his art for fans.
The Salt Palace Convention Center can be expanded and the SLCC will return next year. TheOneRing.net hopes to be part of the show. Thanks to Dan McBride and Blonde Ninja for their support of the TORn booth. Thanks also to the many financial supports at the event and to Salt Lake Comic Con for letting us be a part of the show. If you attended and would like TORn to return, you can use the contact info here to let them know.
If anybody has images of Bennett and Kircher attending the TORn panel, please send them in! We were busy having a panel and didn’t get any photos.
A week to the day since the fun and games kicked off in Atlanta, we’ve all returned to our homes – even the Road to DragonCon guys have made it back! So we thought we’d share with you a few highlights of our weekend at the convention.
TheOneRing.net is always delighted to be out and about meeting fellow fans, so the biggest highlight of the con for us was chatting with everyone who stopped to say hi, either at our table in the Hyatt hotel or after the two panels we gave over the course of the weekend. Thanks for coming over and sharing the Tolkien love with us!
Our two panels were on Saturday afternoon and Sunday lunchtime. The first was The Hobbit: One book, three movies – a look at why this seemingly short story may (or may not) merit being made into three films. On Sunday we explored The Desolation of Smaug, with much speculation on what we may see when the film hits the big screen later this year. Both panels were very well attended, with folks lining up well in advance. Staffers deej, greendragon and MrCere were the panelists.
TORn was also delighted to help out with the Tolkien Track’s two evening events, Friday’s An Evening at Bree and Saturday’s Middle-earth goes Retro 80s dance party! greendragon planned the fun for Friday night, with TORn favourites Emerald Rose rocking the house, as ever, and inspiring everyone to dance the night away. Attendees were very excited when William Kircher, Graham McTavish and Sylvester McCoy showed up to host the costume contest! They were fabulous MCs, and the entries into the contest this year were just stunning. Bravo to everyone who took part – the judges had a very hard time picking winners! (Big thanks to Namadriel, Soinma, MrCere and Nicole Kircher for taking on judging duty!) The party even included a marriage proposal, as ‘Smaug the Terrible’ knelt down and popped the question to ‘Azog the Defiler’ – both amazing costumes, and a very happy couple at the end of the night!
deej revealed why her TORn nickname has been deej for all these years, as she hosted and dj-ed the dance party on Saturday night. It was just wonderful to see everyone getting into the spirit of things! Many folks came in amazing ‘Middle-earth in the 1980s’ costumes, including one gal who was The Eye of Sauron – complete with ‘Venetian Blinder’ sunglass lens! Elves, dwarves and men took to the dancefloor and strutted their stuff as Saturday turned into Sunday; eventually, soon after 1am, we had to shut the party down and everyone reluctantly headed out to seek their beds – or another party elsewhere!
What with running the table all day every day, partying in the evening, and appearing on a few panels in addition to our own two, TORn staffers were kept pretty busy throughout the weekend of DragonCon! (MrCere was of course particularly busy, wearing his two hats of being both TORn staffer and Tolkien Track Director.) The Roadtrip gents did an amazing job of live streaming from the event, so we could keep in touch with folks at home. By Monday evening, everyone was exhausted – but exhilarated! Many thanks again to all who stopped to say hello, and maybe to buy a shirt or a button, and show their support for the website. We always love to meet you all, and it’s great to see familiar faces year after year!
TORn is in Salt Lake City just now, at Salt Lake ComicCon. Next weekend we’ll be representing at Cincinnati Comic Expo; and then our next BIG event (and party!) will be in New York City, for NYComicCon, October 10-13. Stay tuned for news of that – we hope to see you there! Just need to catch up on some sleep in the meantime…
As you know, we’re currently conducting our pledge drive to raise funds and keep our servers running. We also have some very exciting auctions going on over at Ebay.
There are some fabulous, exclusive pieces up for grabs – including some things which, usually, money can’t buy! Time is running out on some of our auctions too, so best check them out now. Here are just a couple that might tickle your fancy:
As you know, we’re currently conducting our pledge drive to raise funds and keep our servers running. We also have some very exciting auctions going on over at Ebay.
There are some fabulous, exclusive pieces up for grabs – including some things which, usually, money can’t buy! Time is running out on some of our auctions too, so best check them out now. Here are just three that might tickle your fancy: