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...
Category: Books Publications
An amazing new publication from HarperCollins Publishers is coming your way on December 14th – yup, the same day ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ releases in theaters. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Chronicles: Art & Design is a sumptuous celebration of the creative vision of Academy Award-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The book is packed with more than 1,000 images of concept artwork, photographs and development paintings by the artists working behind the scenes to bring Middle-earth to life, who each provide detailed and entertaining commentary that reveals the story behind the vision. Today we are privileged to share with you three exclusive images of this new book. (View them in the gallery below) But wait…there’s more! HarperCollins Publishers has generously given us (40) Forty copies of Thorin’s map to give to fans. (Due to shipping constraints, we can only offer this giveaway to US and Canadian Fans). Simply fill out the form below by December 19th and we’ll randomly choose (40) Forty winners. Enter the contest, check out the exclusive imagery and don’t forget to order your copy of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Chronicles: Art & Design today! [Click here]
Continue reading “Exclusive Pics of ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Chronicles: Art and Design’ and a Giveaway!”
In foramine terrae habitabat hobbitus. (‘In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit.’)
The Hobbit, is one of the world’s most popular classic stories, appealing to adults as much as to the children for whom J.R.R. Tolkien first wrote the book. Translated worldwide into more than 60 modern languages, now Hobbitus Ille is finally published in Latin, and will be of interest to all those who are studying the language, whether at school or at a higher level.
In the great tradition of publishing famous children’s books in Latin, professional classicist and lifelong Tolkien fan Mark Walker provides a deft translation of the entire book. His attention to detail, including the transformation of Tolkien’s songs and verses into classical Latin meters, will fascinate and entertain readers of all ability, even those with only a minimal acquaintance with the language. Read this full post for the Press Release and pick up your copy today! [Get your Copy!] Continue reading “Hobbitus Ille: The Latin Hobbit – ‘In foramine terrae habitabat hobbitus.’”
Jonathan Handel, a contributing editor for The Hollywood Reporter, covered that tense period during the late summer and early autumn of 2010, when it looked as though the Hobbit production might leave New Zealand. Readers will no doubt remember the labor union issues that raised that threat and the negotiations between Warner Bros. executives and the New Zealand government. Handel has revised and updated his reports into a short book, The New Zealand Hobbit Crisis, available in print form and for Kindle. If you weren’t paying much attention at the time or just have forgotten some of the details, now you can read about that episode secure in the knowledge that The Hobbit‘s production remained in New Zealand!
I recently got my hands on the five movie tie-in books (published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, the U.S. publisher of all of Tolkien’s works). The titles are The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: Official Movie Guide and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: Visual Companion (these two are for adults, mostly); and The Movie Storybook, The World of Hobbits, and Activity Book (for kids, mostly; their titles are also preceded by the unwieldy “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey”).
All are full-color, super glossy, and chock with images from Peter Jackson’s first film (and sometimes, a little bit beyond the first film), and all five include some minor insights, sneak previews and/or spoilers, depending on your point of view.
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This month, J.W. looks at The Hobbit Storybook and gives away a Tolkien Encyclopedia in a contest. Meanwhile in his mailbag section below, he shares a riddle, talks about multi-headed trolls, and explains why The Return of the King DVDs were released both early and late.