It is November 7 and in a few short hours, tickets will be on sale for most of the theaters in the US and Canada that will be showing The Hobbit. This will include many of the Regal and AMC theaters we’ve recently reported on that will screen the film in 48fps. The Trilogy screenings the weekend before The Hobbit opens are also on sale today. Before you go and buy tickets to see The Hobbit, take a look at our Line Party page and see if there is one near you. And if there is no existing Line Party near you, feel free to start one at whichever theater you buy your tickets at. Right now, there are some 40+ Line Parties, including a party in Bulgaria, Curucao, Mexico, Helsinki and Auckland, as well as across the US. Hey Canada and Australia, whats up with NO Line Parties? TORn staffers are leading parties in Boston, Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Hollywood, Allentown, Irvine and other locations, but anyone can host a Line Party. So click on the Community button, select the Line Party option and get to planning your own little shindig. All you really need to know is the actual address of the theater to get it pinned onto the Line Party map. [Line Parties]
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The Dominion Post has updated with the latest developments in the Embassy Line Party debacle: Peter Jackson is aware of the situation and is looking for a way to “arrange something special” for fans who waited in line to no avail last night. Read More
I’d like to lead the Tolkien fan community in sending out a big “Thank You” to Peter Jackson for reaching out to us like this. We are so, so lucky to have him at the helm throughout this journey to see Middle-earth on screen.
Fantastic news from Jack Machiela, who runs the Tolkien Society’s Wellington branch. “Wellington NZ is having a Hobbit Line party TOMORROW night! The Embassy Theatre has agreed to open the Box Office line for us at Midnight 12:01am on EARLY Wednesday morning, so we’re all turning up at 11:30pm tomorrow night. Hopefully people will turn up in costumes as well… :)”
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For me one of the high points in attending the “Return of the Ring” event in Loughborough, England in August was the chance to hear a lecture by Dutch painter Cor Blok. There were also several original Tolkien-based paintings by Blok in the exhibition hall, and it was a pleasure to see those “in person.”
In recent years, Blok has become better known to fans. HarperCollins took the unusual step of publishing two calendars in a row, 2011 and 2012, featuring his work. The release of A Tolkien Tapestry in 2011 gave us a nearly complete look at Blok’s paintings.
One intriguing aspect of Blok’s career is that he showed five of his paintings to Tolkien back in the early 1960s, and Tolkien admired them enough to buy two of them (as editor Pieter Collier explains in the foreword to A Tolkien Tapestry). These were “The Battle of the Hornburg” and a version of “The Dead Marshes.” In writing to Blok and requesting to buy the paintings, Tolkien remarked, “I think it is very kind of you to consider selling any of your pictures. If they were mine I should not be able to bear to part with them whether in need or not.” (This 1962 letter is reproduced on p. 6 of the book.) Blok gave Tolkien a third painting, “Dunharrow,” as a present. These are all still in the Tolkien family or with the Estate.
Interestingly, Tolkien found the paintings appealing specifically as paintings. He wrote to his editor, Rayner Unwin, “I thought them most attractive … I should very much like to see some more, in the hope that some more will be as good as ‘The Battle of the Hornburg.’ The other four I thought were attractive as pictures, but bad as illustrations.” (Quoted p. 6 of A Tolkien Tapestry.) Continue reading “An Appeal for Help Locating Some Cor Blok Paintings”
Last week, the artisans at Weta announced 19 amazing items for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, including the Key to Erebor, Thorin’s Map, Thorin Oakenshield statue, Gandalf The Grey statue, Bilbo Baggins statue, Art Prints, Map replicas, and much more. All of the items are up for Pre-Order now with several of them being in-stock ready to arrive to your collection. To celebrate the arrival of these great items, TheOneRing.net and Weta teamed up to give away two of them: Thorin’s Map and the Key to Erebor. Both contests were highly popular with entries hitting the 500 mark for each. It was obvious by all these emails that fans wanted to get one of these amazing collectibles shipped and on the way to their house. We’re happy to announce that the winner of Thorin’s Map is C. Bull of Australia and the winner of the Key to Erebor is B. Sprinkle of Virgina. Congratulations to you both!
TODAY, in just 10 minutes actually, my guest on the *live* webcast TORn TUESDAY is none other than the great-grandson of J.R.R. Tolkien, Mr. Royd Tolkien who will share his delightful energy and perspectives on this whole Hobbity phenomenon, with our host, Clifford “Quickbeam” Broadaway! World traveler, bon-vivant, handsome raconteur, Royd Tolkien is also a blossoming indie film producer with an angle on show business from many sides. Join us live at 5:00pm Pacific Time and be part of the show! Bring your questions to our *live* Event Page right here and interact with us at theonering.net/live !