bilbo on gold Audience reaction to Hollywood’s first high frame rate movie, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was decidedly mixed, but frame rates—along with higher resolution, laser light, immersive sound and second screen experiences were very much on the minds of digital cinema leaders last week at the International Broadcasters Convention.

During the event, this community debated how to respond to the advancements taking place in home entertainment. “TV [technology] is moving faster,” admitted Disney’s vp production technology Howard Lukk during a panel discussion. “What keeps us up at night is how [cinema] stays the premium experience.” Continue reading “IBC wrap-up: ‘We would be fools if we didn’t learn from The Hobbit’”

HobbitAUJOSTWe are happy to finally announce that the 5 lucky winners of TORn & WaterTower Music’s “Hobbit Day” mathom are Iván, TammyConnor, Reagan V & Meaghan M.

You can expect an email from our friends at WaterTower Music with the code to download your very own digital copy of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey soundtrack. Congratulations and we hope Howard Shore’s wondrous music brings you many enjoyable moments.

Many thanks also to the few hundred fans who entered this giveaway. If you don’t already have the soundtrack, consider purchasing the Standard Edition from iTunes or Amazon, or better yet, the Special Edition from iTunes or Amazon.

martin-freeman-bilbo-baggins2Welcome to our collection of TORn’s hottest topics for the week ending September 23, 2013.  If you’ve fallen behind on what’s happening on the Message Boards, here’s a great way to catch up on the highlights.  Or if you’re new to TORn and want to enjoy some great conversations, just follow the link to some of our most popular discussions.  Watch this space as every weekend we will spotlight the most popular buzz on TORn’s Message Boards.  Everyone is welcome, so come on in and join the fun!

Continue reading “TORn Message Boards Weekly Roundup – September 23, 2013”

hobbitereboralrg2One of my favorite moments from The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was seeing Erebor finally come to life. The whole thing just simply blew me away but the detail and how cool the front gate look, really took my breath away. I’ve been awaiting some kind of collectible to come around and the first one landed this week from our friends at Weta Workshop. Created by artist Nick Keller fans can add The Front Gate of Erebor Art print showing the design of what we would later see in the movie. This print comes in at $50 and is available to ship right now. Don’t hesitate to add this great collectible to your collection!

ATLANTA — Dragon Con is overflowing with great content and celebrities but it also features all-night dance and party events that are safe for guests who stay in the hotels and can live large without fear of ever getting in a car or being in a city late. Dragon Con never sleeps! This year the Tolkien Track invited TORn’s staffer Deej to Dee-jay a dance party. (We don’t call her Deej for nothing!)

As the Tolkien Track programmer, I was really excited to add another lively event to our lineup but up until the moment the doors opened on Dragon Con’s Saturday night, I was fearful nobody would show up! Staffer greendragon was another key co-conspiritor and Dragon Con set up audio and video to bring it all to life. They also packed a ballroom with chairs, which, it turns out, were hardly needed at all because everybody was dancing! The moment the doors opened the evening was full on and the costumes with touches of ’80s were absolutely radical! Adding to the fun were the many costumes from “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” and “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.” Jelly bracelets were tossed into the audience but most everybody showed up ready to do it the ’80s way. There were bigger dance parties at the event but better? Doubtful. In fact, this might have been probably was the hottest Middle-earth ’80s dance party in the history of the world! (Until next year.)

Track staffer Jim Wert was a pimped out Hobbit acting as security (and looking good doing it) while TORn staffer Thor was a talent scout and brought groups on stage to really strut their stuff. In short it was totally awesome! Filmmaker Dan McBride, was convnced to be on hand to catch the low-light dancing and the following video is a bit of a highlight of the party that went on and on until finally Dragon Con tech and crew had to call it a night. TheOneRing.net and Dragon Con’s Tolkien’s Middle-earth fan track thank all involved, definitely including the exciting dancers, for a night to remember! (And it will definitely happen again next year.) So enjoy the video and, you know, share it!