Lake-town LuauSan Diego Comic Con (SDCC) 2014 will mark the final year that there will be a new Hobbit or Tolkien themed film, coming soon to a theater near you. This year, we have decided to add a party to properly celebrate all that is Middle-earth.

Tickets:

Lake-town Luau Eventbrite page

The past few years has seen a huge increase in ‘off site’ activities and we are jumping into the fray alongside Pirate themed parties, various geek comedy shows, the symphony, the zombie walk, and dozens of cosplay photo shoots, among so many more.

But why a Luau you ask? Well, that is dedicated to our lovely location, the Kona Kai Resort and Marina. They are allowing us to take over their lawn and patio area, complete with Tiki Bars. And if we increase in size beyond the capacity of the lawn area, we can move the party to their beach. Yes, this resort has its own beach area, so we have more than enough room for all you Hobbits, Dwarves, Wizards and Orcs, this will be an ‘all ages’ type of party.

Here are all the details and important points you will want to know.

Where is it:

Kona Kai Resort and Marina, 619-221-8000
1551 Shelter Island Dr, San Diego, CA 92106 – http://www.resortkonakai.com

When is it:

Friday, July 25 from 7pm till 10pm. The party officially ends at 10pm, but the hotel has a free concert scheduled inside the bar by a very popular local artist, so you are welcome to stick around for that.

How much does it cost:

$40 + $1.99 service fee from now until July 10, the price increases to $60 + $2.49 service fee from July 11-17. We must close the ticket sales by 9pm pst on Thursday, July 17 in order to give the hotel the final head count for the chef. We will post during the week of the con if we are granted permission to sell tickets at the door.

Food:

There will be Hors d’oeuvres served throughout the evening

Drink:

This will be a cash bar

Activities:

A Costume contest and some new and exciting games for the whole family to play and hopefully win some prizes.

Transportation:

Yes, the Kona Kai is on a shuttle route, and as soon as SDCC posts this year’s shuttle info we will announce which shuttle route to take. You can also drive to the hotel, we have negotiated the low parking rate of just $10 for the evening, the best deal you will get on parking during SDCC. Driving directions to follow shortly.

Why should you go:

This event is separate from SDCC, no con badge is required to attend. If you or some friends or family were unable to secure tickets to SDCC, never fear, you can mix and mingle with as many Tolkien and Middle-earth fans as we can fit into the party. There will be plenty of prizes, games, silliness and costumes. And it’s going to be family friendly, which is not the case with many of the other events going on around town. The fact that the Kona Kai is out on Shelter Island gets you a little ways away from the crazy hustle and bustle of Downtown, and the view is spectacular.

Terms and Condition:

Because of deposit requirements with the venue, tickets for this event are non-refundable, but you can change the name for who will be attending as long as you email me at garfeimao@TheOneRing.net and get a confirmation for the name change. This name change must be done no later than 8pm on Thursday, July 24. As mentioned, the hotel has said that if we oversell beyond the capacity of the lawn area for the party, we can move over to the beach area. The flip side is that if we don’t reach the minimum number for the space allocated to us, we will have to cancel. In case TheOneRing.net has to cancel the event, you will receive a full refund minus the Eventbrite service fees.

Jed Brophy This interview with Jed Brophy (aka Nori) looks at the burgeoning New Zealand film industry and is a bit of a retrospective on the kiwi actor’s 25-year career and how how his path led him to develop a close working relationship with Jackson.

From tongue-in-cheek zombie splatterfest Braindead (possibly my favourite Peter Jackson film) to The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, Brophy has worked on almost every Peter Jackson film. Continue reading “Jed Brophy aka Nori talks about his career and The Hobbit 3”

Legolas_Bard So, what do we actually know about The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies? This constantly expanding list is TORn’s — with the help of our eagle-eyed readers — attempt to document all our knowledge of film three (at least until we get inundated by post-trailer and SDCC marketing).

Naturally this post involves lots of SPOILERS. No holds barred, as they say. So, if you’re avoiding movie spoilers … I dunno, go read this amusing article about Ringwraiths. Continue reading “Hobbit 3 fact sheet: everything we know about The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”

Our first glimpse of Colorado came with the Rockies where what appeared to be the Lonely Mountain peeked out of the cloud-cover. As the three of us travelling together (my sister, Fili, and our mother “Dis”) are known by Dwarven names, we took this as a good omen. After all, the people of Colorado are mountain folk.

Lonely Mountain (Rockies)

Upon descending on our eagles, we took some time to adjust to the lay of the land before the start of the convention. Having only really experienced the 150k strong crowds at San Diego Comic Con, we didn’t know what to expect from DCC. As it was, the massive line waiting to get in on Friday morning was intimidating. However, upon seeing a Gandalf among the cosplayers, our nerves were set to rest. We were among our people. Our mom even made up her own Dwarven costume for Dis!

dis TORn panel HH panel

 

We joined up with Bofur (Justin!) and hosted our first panel of the day that discussed the history of TheOneRing.net. Given that this year is the site’s 15th anniversary, there was a lot to cover! Many of the folks who attended enjoyed reminiscing about the old days of anonymous set reports that often spurred fan rage online. With time comes perspective, and it was fascinating to look at the response Arwen’s intended presence at Helm’s Deep received vs. the introduction of Tauriel in the new Hobbit films.

Continue reading “Denver Comic Con Recap”

denver_post_pic A few minor snippets about The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies out of Denver Comic Con last weekend.

Sylvester McCoy, who is not travelling to San Diego Comic Con, indicated that he’ll be in London around July 18 for pickup work. It seems as though Philippa Boyens will be there to directing the additional dialogue recording with Peter Jackson overseeing things from New Zealand.

We also hear Jackson may schedule a trip to London around the time of San Diego Comic Con. Continue reading “Denver Comic-Con news: Sylvester McCoy set for July pickups”

Azog the DefilerRinger Matt sent us this little snippet from a chat he had with Manu Bennett at the Sydney Supanova last weekend.

I was able to have a quick chat with Manu Bennett (AKA Azog) whilst I was getting his signature. He said he had not completed filming for Azog yet on the final film and he was set to return to New Zealand next month to finish up.”

Come and share your opinion about this on our Hobbit Movie Board over on our Message Boards.