Here is some information on a Middle Earth Ball in Sunnyvale on 10/31. We’ll be doing design sets, and hope most will appear in LOTR costume (although any costume will be admired, not required). We can send you details shortly.
We do have a website: www.swdance.com where further details would be located.
Some details:
Date: 10/31 What: Middle Earth Ball (or you can dress as your favorite witch, ghoul, whatever) Time: 8:00 Beginning/intermediate lesson Salsa 9:00 Ballroom dance party begins Where: Sunnyvale Community Center, Sunnyvale California Entry fee: $15 Includes: Lesson, dance party, refreshments (drinks & light snacks…may even offer Frodo’s scones, Gimli’s seed cakes & Smaug’s gems), hall decorated as Middle Earth Further details: see www.swdance.com
Ringer 205 sent in this great email which I wanted to share with all of you out there who teach.
“Today I read the story of the father and his deal with his 7 year old son [in The Deal]. I have a similar story.
“I teach music, and while my kids at school and I love the books and the movies, it is the music that has touched our hearts. I have been using the soundtracks from the LOTR movies in class to teach my kids musical concepts. One day last year one of my 5th grade music students (whom I would least expect this from) figured out how to play the melody, “In Dreams” on his recorder! He was so excited you’d think he had won the lottery. I still tear up when I think about him. So the kids and I put the melody in notation and realized it had to be transposed into a different key for our instrument. I was able to teach an entire lesson using this beautiful song.
“I use the soundtracks from both movies in class to teach lessons on the low brass, percussion, or winds. The boys’ choir helps “my guys” see for themselves that singing is cool, and the chanting with the football players in the scenes from moria is inspirational for them, too. My honor choir loves the song, “May It Be” and I have countless listening examples to teach any musical concept. My kids and I just love them.
” As an educator I make it my mission to take a child from where he/she is and send him/her soaring. The classics are still being taught in my music room and the walls are saturated with a world of sounds, but the music from Middle-earth will always have a special place in my heart. “
Hullo my hearties! Time to join me, Pippin Skywalker Jedi Hobbit for another tale of wonder and adventure!
I had the most wonderful of chances to go to the New York Tolkien Society Birthday Celebration for Bilbo and Frodo’s late summer birthday and let me tell you it was awesome, awesome , AWESOME! 🙂
I arrived at a few minutes to 11:00 am and was disappointed at seeing only couple people there. My concerns soon dissipated after I briefly left to pick up a little cake for my two best friends Bilbo and Frodo and also a present to drop in the “Giftses” basket. I returned with the goodies and behold! MORE Tolkien fans! The whole Shire had been set loose!
The event was divided up into three rooms each with different activities and purposes. The first was a classroom (the event took place at a Marymount college). This is where the Trivia, Costume Contest, and announcements were to take place. A second room was a Internet center with about 20 Macs around where could surf for all things Tolkien (yes TORN included).
This room also featured a TTT strategy game being exhibited by Vinnie Tobia of Workshop. They also were running the Ralph Bakshi versions of the Hobbit and ROTK. 🙂 Anyway! Now for the events!
First…the place crowd was 40% under 12…so it made for a cute hobbit element. 🙂 We gathered a little after 11:00 in the main room and they had some opening comments and announcements about “The Gathering” in December.
Expected attendees include Mark Ferguson (Gil-Galad), Craig Parker (Haldir) and Bruce Hopkins (Gamling). More stars have been invited and might attend but they don’t want to get everyone’s hopes up so they won’t tell us who else MAY come. It should be a great event with panels,seminars and workshops,and a triple feature showing of ALL THREE LOTR films (first two are EE)as well as many special guests including Jane Chance and Ted Nasmith.
I had the good pleasure of meeting Burdge Anthony, head chairmen of the NY Tolkien Society and all round jolly, nice guy. I told him I was with TORN (reporting anyway)and my nickname here was Pippin Skywalker. He suddenly became (jokingly) nervous saying “Your going to tell all the bad things we say about TORN in your report right.” LOL.
Anyway when things got underway even though this gentleman had my real name right in front of him for those signed up a trivia contest he STILL persisted (obstinate fellow) in calling me by my nickname at TORN (Well I RSVP’s with that lol). First he announced in front of all that PippinSkywalker from TORN was there and had everyone clap (thankfully I’m not the nervous type lol), and later during Trivia he addressed me as Miss Pippin Skywalker, LOL! The insanity never stops. 🙂
We had a very funny Trivia contest where the goal was to stump the staff to win prizes. There were many hilarious incidents and questions such as German fan who was living in NY and knew an entire Dwarf poem by heart; cute little children attempting to stump the Geek Panel (this was Stump The Geek Trivia Contest), and many more funny little things you just had to be there to hear and see. There was a nice little table full or various LOTR goodies including Sting, Art of the Two Towers, Bilbo and Frodo busts, Games, and a talking Sauron figure (ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY NOT FOR SALE! LOL).
After this I meandered over a few times to the Internet Room where Vinnie Tobia of Game Workshop was demonstrating a TTT strategy game. This was a truly marvelous piece of work. It was a miniature set of Helms Deep with hand painted action figures which you role the dice to move. You can be Aragorn and the elven warriors or the Uruk Hai army.
There were several people playing the game at one time and they had several rounds of play (I just watched). Vinnie was really nice and courteous and aside from extensively explaining and showing people the game, he answered all my questions for this report. Apparently there is ANOTHER strategy game coming out in 3-4 months for ROTK which is a set of the last major conflict in ROTK (probably Gondor/Pellenor Fields)and will include Easterling Warrior figures. For info on this and other games go to: www.gameworkshop.com/lotr. All figures you have to hand paint…the game can be assembled in a few hours.
Also during the course of the day there was a “Book Toss” where everyone takes their old, unwanted and even downright despised books to slam them on the floor and then pick them up to be sent to a library.
Later on there was a magnificent costume contest where people of all ages showed off their costumes representing all the peoples of Middle Earth (save dwarves lol). There was a 12 year old dressed as Aragorn, several dressed as elves (including a 6 year old dressed as Legolas), a couple of hobbits, and a delightful as well as hilarious boy dressed as a Nazgul with his head totally covered in a black shirt (poor feller probably couldn’t tell night and day apart lol).
Among the winners was a young boy dressed up in the best fan Frodo Baggins costume I’ve ever seen complete with brown vest and matching velvet cape, elven leaf brooch, Sting, and even hairy hobbit feet!
After this we filed in for the birthday celebration complete with a charming birthday cake for Bilbo and Frodo with candles lit after the familiar chant of “Speech, speech!” We sang to happy birthday to our dear hobbits and then blew out the candles.
While everyone still had their mouths filled with the hobbit goodness, the raffles began (all of which I was entered into lol);one was for a replica of Sting,another for a signed Brothers Hildebrandt signed painting of Gandalf the White, and lastly to tickets to the Gathering, a big event happening in December in Toronto.
This overall was a marvelous, MARVELOUS event, not only for the activities but most importantly for the wonderful people there who created such a wonderful ambiance and camaraderie that can only be found among fans of JRR Tolkien. It was a wonderful celebration and I believe Tolkien’s spirit was there wandering among the halls of Mandos smiling down on his beloved fans below.
I’ll never forget the ecstatic lady who walked up to me when I was online in the Internet and room and asked merrily “Are you Pippin?” and hugged me like I was family because I was with TORN. 🙂 Another funny story was on the elevator down to the ground floor a girl exclaimed, “Is anyone thinking of going to the TORN LA Oscar Party?” to which I replied I was interested. They were trying to gather people from NY to go to LA. 🙂 (Watch out guys! More flow of fans this year lol!)
Thanks to all the staff of the New York Tolkien Society Heren Istarion: Burdge Anthony, Anne (aka Lightwards for the NY Line Party), Jessica and Stephanie. You all were great!
Well that is all my sweet hobbits! May you all have wonderful dreams of elves, and far away lands free of nasty orcses.
A Very Happy Birthday to Mr. Frodo and the honorable Mr. Bilbo. Happy 111th year dear Tolkien.
Cheers! your Roving Jedi Hobbit Reporter, PippinSkywalker 🙂
The multibillion-dollar question and a burning thought in so many minds of the fans of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings film trilogy is, “Will there be a movie made of JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings prequel, The Hobbit?”
My answer, pure speculation: how can there not be?
It seems inevitable that Tolkien’s Hobbit will be turned into a movie, or if not a feature length film, then some similar incarnation. Personally I’m holding out for a television series, at least two seasons in length: I’d love nothing better than to come home after a long day at work and settle in to an hour of my favorite children’s story each week (as if I really have time for that, but you get the picture). If not a film feature, or TV series, then perhaps a cable television miniseries is in the offing.
Please note that I have no factual information indicating that such a project is underway. Over the years I have had the great fortune of meeting many individuals involved in the LotR films and not a one of them has breathed so much as a whisper that The Hobbit is in the works. Oh, I’ve asked, but the answer is always in the negative.
The number one reason I feel pretty sure that this 300 +/- (depending on the publication) page adventure will travel from page to screen is simple. It has the potential to make money. Lots of money. Piles of money. If Balin and company returned to Moria for mithril, you better believe that the profit minded suits of New Line or another such corporation will go back to Tolkien text for its weight many times over in gold.
For readers who ask, “What’s The Hobbit?” a brief background is in order. First published in England by George Allen & Unwin, Ltd. in 1937, the text of The Hobbit has undergone alterations, illustrations, translations and transformations from the first; although in text it is nearly the same as the original. It is the story of Bilbo Baggins’ first adventures with wizards, dwarves, elves, goblins, eagles, and other beings inhabbiting Middle-earth. Here we meet Bilbo, Gandalf, Gollum, Elrond and other characters for the “first” time (readers of The Silmarillion might argue against this assertion for some characters) as Bilbo and his 13 dwarf companions’ quest for the destruction of the dragon Smaug and the liberation of the dwarves’ kingdom in Lonely Mountain.
In true prequel fashion, foundations are laid for a future story, and histories connecting many Middle-earth tales percolate to the surface of The Hobbit. Frodo’s sword Sting and his mithril shirt originate in this story, as does Bilbo’s possession of the Ring. The Lord of the Rings itself started out as a sequel to build on the success of The Hobbit and (not only in my own opinion) reads much like it in tone at the beginning. While it was being written and in the decades following its publication, The Lord of the Rings grew to overshadow its predecessor in many ways and rightly claims the chief position in rank of popularity, publication, and yes… profit.
Just how popular is The Lord of the Rings? It’s been translated into over fifty languages, is second in sales only to The Bible, and has enthralled nearly 4 decades of readers. Peter Jackson’s film trilogy has raked in over $640,000,000.00 US and as of this writing the third movie has not yet been released! The mind boggles at a movie franchise pulling in a trillion dollars… but whoop, there it is – or will be.
Which brings me back to my prime assertion: How can they not make a movie of The Hobbit?!
Fans of JRR Tolkien can claim credit for proving that his works are a lucrative investment. The genius of Jackson in creating and successfully pitching a risk-worthy Lord of the Rings film script and the vision of New Line to gamble on the investment during the late 1990’s (not the most favorable economic times to sink over $300,000,000 into one product) have seemed to many a pairing that will not be repeated. On the flip side, however, to continue the success of a movie trilogy that will likely realize a better than 300% return doesn’t just make financial sense, it literally screams and wails from the bean counters’ domain.
Are there problems and challenges facing a second transformation of The Hobbit from book to film? Certainly. Some may argue that the target audience will differ greatly in age from the demographics of LotR movie fans. Others may say that the market for Tolkien films is saturated; the plot too lengthy and unwieldy for a decent script; or perhaps the rights too expensive. Each of these – and in my mind, any – arguments can be defeated with undeniable counterpoints: heard of the Harry Potter films? Asked the fans if they’re tired of Tolkien films, and if so, how they will feel in a couple years without one? Perhaps the greatest obstacle at the moment is ownership over the movie rights – rumor has it that PJ would love to make the film but New Line and the owner of the movie rights to The Hobbit (which was made into an animated feature by Rankin Bass in 1977, as was a rather scary LotR) are wrangling over the deal. These desktop rebuttals don’t pack an ounce of research either: something the real debate will include.
Recently I asked a friend of mine who was heavily involved in the New Zealand end of making LotR how they felt about making The Hobbit into film. The reply:
“I would jump at the chance to be involved in a film of The Hobbit, though if there are plans for PJ or New Line to do it, I haven’t heard anything. The opportunity to go back to Middle-earth and expand and improve upon what we did last time would be a dream come true for me. And let’s not forget that there’s a dragon in The Hobbit! That would be a great assignment!”
Another indicator of the popularity of this concept is a rogue internet trailer for a potential Hobbit movie. Here at TheOneRing®.net we continually receive emails from excited fans who are convinced that this trailer is legitimate and that the film is due out in December of 2006. TORn website founder Xoanon included it in his article LOTR Urban Legends just this month due to the high volume of interest this ‘trailer’ generates. You can download the trailer from its source Latha Film, which indicates that over 26,000 people have downloaded this creation.
The same person I quoted above was able to respond to a question about the trailer as well:
“Yeah, I’ve seen it. I thought it was awesome. My reaction was, when do I get to see the movie?! Whomever did it, did a fantastic job. It looked incredible, and had a great atmosphere- perfect for a film version of The Hobbit. The fantastic Phil Tippett-designed dragon that appeared in it is probably the best dragon design in any film so far too, so kudos to the guy who cut the trailer together for his great taste in movies too!”
Finances aside, the prospects for a Hobbit film are exciting to say the least. If PJ’s company Three Foot Six teamed up again with Weta and Weta Digital… well, I think the world would be full of some happy campers waiting for the dawn of another Tolkien movie day. If a movie is too big of an enterprise, Weta and the New Zealand television industry demonstrate with series like Xena and Hercules that such sustained efforts are well worth the gamble.
My mother likes to say I’m often wrong but never in doubt. She’s often right about that too… but this time around, logic dictates the outcome: How can they not make a movie of The Hobbit?!
Sources
Anderson, Douglas (2002). The Annotated Hobbit, Revised and Expanded Edition. USA: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Gray, Brandon (2003). Box Office Mojo. Retrieved September 21, 2003 from http://boxofficemojo.com
Latham, Steve (2003). Latha Film Digital Video and Audio. Retrieved September 21, 2003 from http://www.lathamfilm.com
Oorshot, Leo (TORn staffer and editor in chief of TheFellowship.nl)
Regina, Michael (2003). TheOneRing®.net. Retrieved September 21, 2003 from http://www.theonering.net
Thanks to TheOneRing®.net’s Leo, Jincey, and Pippin Skywalker for their input, and of course, to the late great JRR Tolkien for his many literary gifts to the world.
NZBoy writes: Arrived at Armageddon early yesterday in the morning and greeted by a HUGE crowd waiting to get in.
The expo has famous people there like David Prowse (Darth Vadar) and Peter Mayhew (Chewbucca). Dymocks has a display of a lot of the Weta Workshop props, like Gimlis axes, Different face expressions of Gollum, Cave Troll, Lurtz, Goblin Archer etc.
At 1pm they had a Weta Workshop panel, of Gino Acevedo, Bay Raitt and also Lawrence Makaoare. There were mainly showing us how Gollum was developed from a pencil drawing to what we see on the screen, very interesting!! The life-like Gollum in the pics was a model that was made by Gino, was made from silicon and we were allowed to touch it after their tallk. The skin was so life like and felt like the real Gollum. Was amazing to touch.
After there session they were signing autographs and posing for photos. There will be the same again today.
Yesterday I went to Los Angeles to visit the Stephen Cohen Gallery, where actor/artist/jack-of-all-trades Viggo Mortensen has on display a series of photographs titled “Miyelo”. According to the gallery info, “‘Miyelo’ is comprised of a series of large-scale, panoramic photographs of a Lakota Ghost Dance. They record a re-creation of the dance that was originally performed by members of Chief Big Foot’s band on December 29, 1890 near Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota. These long exposures represent what was intended as a hallucination by a veteran of the Wounded Knee Massacre, as shot in the California Desert in March 2003 for the movie ‘Hidalgo.'”
It took me about 45 minutes to get there (to the gallery, not Death Valley) from my humble home in Long Beach, and traffic on La Brea was terrible due to road construction, but it was well worth the trip. Street parking cost me 25¢, and I got there early enough to get a spot right in front of the gallery. The exhibit was free. I took a journal with me, and here’s what I wrote:
It is a very small gallery, and there are not many people here. “Miyelo” is on display from September 13 – November 1st.
When you walk in, you immediately see the first photograph. It is large, about 3’x7′, and is titled “Miyelo 9”. There are four figures that could be people (dancers) and a bright white light on the far left.
There are quotes on the walls from Natives. Some are from Lakota, some Paiute. They are legend. They are rituals. They are traditions.
The photo titled “Miyelo 12” is beautiful. Of course they all are – but this one is more so. There are two Natives in the lower right, and they have their hands raised toward a flash of light on the left, as if they are watching fireworks. To my untrained eyes, it looks like a volcano. The white light is bold and rather squiggly, looking almost like a simplistic Kanji character. It makes me wonder if the gods shared a hand in developing Viggo’s photos.
The pictures on either side of this one are of the dance. All of the pictures were developed in such a way that light and reflections make the dancers seem to move. They are all ghosts.
The pictures are all hung with black wire, four for the large ones and two for the smaller ones. It doesn’t take me long to see that most of the “Miyelo” collection are the large 3×7 prints. They are all framed in light-colored wood with off-white mats.
“Miyelo 15” shows one Native on the right side. He is cut off at the shoulders. His hands look strong, grandfatherly, and his bright ceremonial feathers contrast starkly with the rest of the image, which is all desert. You can see the Sierra in the distance. But my attention is drawn to the desert terrain, the dry, caked, very nakedness of the dirt floor, like a Native Father’s ancient skin. The picture behind me reflects in the glass of “Miyelo 15”, showing eight distinct figures seemingly walking away, fading with the desert dust.
“We came to kill the dead alongside new waters that whispered and winked as they playfully skirted our efforts at perfectly envisioning past misunderstandings. After one of the driest summers in memory, nearly all green had bled from the landscape, leaving cottonwood bark tatter and twig tip as grey as reflected dawn on the creek; pale as wrist scar, frost glass, clay cut bank, and barely there clouds running for cover to the Black Hills.
We also came to the California desert, hoping some of those who’d died hidden in frozen draws might come a little closer to warming fire and find ground giving enough upon which to finally lay their heads. As much as any careworn ghost shirt, torn voice, trance-footed delirious reincarnation, it was the false thunder of fighter jets on their way back to Babylon, mercilessly cracking the bleached sky above our best intentions, that made it feel like a morning in December 1890.
Viggo Mortensen 11 September 2003″
[Upon re-reading this, I realized it could cast a significant shadow over my own writing skills. But what the hell. It is beautiful.] The image accompanying this writing was of just that – a lone fighter jet, black against the crisp blue sky, with Viggo in his cowboy hat standing with two horses, who no doubt knew full well how privileged they were to be in the company of someone who seems, to us mortals, untouchable.
There are also some photos titled “Hindsight”. They are from 2002 and are all black and white. Number 18 depicts a solitary Native, standing on a hilltop and looking rather small (but certainly not inferior) against the mighty wind and sky.
Miyelo 13 is the one with the most transparent dancers. The top half is blue, the lower half a dusty tan. I imagine the spirits are going home.
Miyelo Miyelo Miyelo
Tunkasila heya ca Cewakiya ca namahun yelo
It is I It is I It is I
Grandfather says so I pray to him and he hears me
This is written on one of the partitions. There is no credit as to who spoke these words, where they came from, even what language the former verse is in. I can only assume it is Lakota. I am glad they posted this – the flowing tongue of unfamiliar but gentle words is fitting to this exhibit.
Miyelo 3 is much different from the rest. It has a lot of black, and at first glance it looks as if the picture was taken on a stage, or on steps or in some naturally formed cavernous amphitheatre. But as my eyes adjust, I realize that Viggo was probably kneeling or sitting, and now I can see at least seven figures standing solemnly. It’s hard to see how I missed that in the first place.
