J.W. Braun here. Readers of my book, The Lord of the Films, sometimes comment that I must have a musical background and that it’s obvious I’m a big fan of Howard Shore’s music for The Lord of the Rings. Well, both are true! I play the violin, viola, and piano, and I think The Lord of the Rings score is the greatest score of all time.
Today, the soundtrack for the first Hobbit film has become available in a two disc set. While it will probably take me months to truly appreciate it, here are my track by track thoughts today.
Howard Shore’s score for ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey‘ is out today! If you pre-ordered via Amazon or iTunes, you should be getting your shipping or availability notices right now. If you have not placed your order…what are you waiting for?!? The soundtrack is available both digitally and as a 2 CD set. The Special Edition of the soundtrack features six exclusive bonus tracks, seven extended score cues, and deluxe liner notes. Click on one of the links here to place your order today. After the break you can view the official release from Nov 1st outlining the tracks and detailse. [itunes: Special Edition or Standard] [Amazon.com: Special Edition or Standard]
For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, Warner Bros. made TV spot #12 available on their facebook page today. This spot is mostly a re-shuffling of previously seen footage, but we do catch a glimpse of wargs being ridden and Gandalf striking the ground with his glowing staff. The length of this TV spot is similar to most of the others, weighing in at 34 seconds. This is just the thing to get you through to the movie openings which start in less than 48 hours! Have a look.
Just when we think we’ve seen the geekiest of Tolkien/Hobbit geekiness, it gets even geekier! Ringer and international attorney, Scott Maucere, couldn’t resist applying his legal expertise to the analysis of Bilbo’s contract with Thorin and his party of dwarves in his legal blog. Per Scott: “here is likely the only legal analysis of Bilbo’s contract you will ever have the pleasure (or pain) to read.” Scott makes it clear that he’s analyzing the contract in the book, not the one in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey but, of course, there are many parallels. One disclaimer Scott makes: “Keep in mind that while I practice international law, Middle-earth most certainly falls outside of my area of experience.” Fair enough, Scott, fair enough. Read more…
Our friend Ethan Gilsdorf, author of “Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks” has been running a series of articles on The Hobbit for The Boston Globe.com. The entertaining pieces include an annotated map of Middle-earth, a Hobbit movie ‘cheat sheet’ and “Hobbit by the Numbers” for those of us who can’t get enough geeky statistics about the making of the three Hobbit movies. Visit ethangilsdorf.com for links to all his articles. Read More...
Thanks to ringer lotrcrazy for alerting us to a recent Foxtrot.com comic that spoofs The Hobbit. Like many of us, the kids are busy prepping their costumes for their trip to the opening of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, and everything seems to be absolutely perfect – or so they think! Read More…
