MrCereOnTheRoadWelcome to this months “Getting to know you” Q&A, this month we’re talking to Senior Staffer and all round great guy, MrCere.

Continue reading “Getting to know MrCere”

San Diego Comic-ConTheOneRing.net had a chance to talk about Comic-Con this week as the world’s biggest popular culture event opens in San Diego. On the eve of proper Comic-Con staffer MrCere talks Hobbit, Extended Editions, LOTR with lots of juicy opinions from host Sohaib Awan.

A brief version of the conversation appeared on radio but the extended cut can now be found right here. It also features Chris Ryall, creative officer at IDW publishing, a big presence at the convention. Have a listen to what can be titled for the CCon, the Extended Exclusive Edition!

Weta’s Ben Hawker is a brilliant guy and he worked with the creative and fun folks at Air New Zealand to create the ideas that became perhaps the most popular airline safety video in the world, collecting 8 million hits since it was launched a week ago. TheOneRing was honored to play a part with Cliff “Quickbeam” Broadway and I (Larry “MrCere” Curtis) appearing to help represent fans from across the globe. Well, they also asked us to chime in on the behind-the-scenes video which features J.R.R. Tolkien’s grandsons Royd and Mike, the genuinely excellent and beautiful airline employees Kara, Mark and Will (plus others not in the video), the film’s director Josh, the soon-to-be superstar Dean O’Gorman, Peter Jackson and that Hawker guy. TORn may have its own version of a story and photos from that set before long but Air New Zealand has a great video to follow up last week’s starting off with a familiar face. Also fun, many of the crew making this video also worked on The Hobbit. Check out the short clip on the next page! Continue reading “A secret look inside Air NZ’s Middle-earth safety video”

TheOneRing.net is excited to announce an official Moot at the Weta Cave in Wellington this Thursday from 3 – 5 p.m. TORn founder Erica Challis, known as Tehanu, will be on hand to talk with Tolkien enthusiasts; Also in town and at the event will be Larry D. Curtis (MrCere), traveling writer who is canvasing New Zealand as the one-year countdown for The Hobbit begins. Challis is an author and her unique story and relationship with the makers of The Lord of the Rings films has been told in newspapers and books around the globe. Curtis is a journalist and speaks about LOTR and The Hobbit at popular-culture conventions around the U.S. The event is free and will be casual and fun so don’t miss it! Details about where the Cave is located and how you can get there can be found right here.

GLENORCHY, NEW ZEALAND — Without question, Queenstown is a wonder. It is so beautiful that it is on the verge of being absurd. It is grand with lakes, mountains and forests and deserves every accolade it receives.

But it isn’t Paradise — or Glenorchy for that matter.

If Lake Wakatipu is shaped like a Harry Potter scar, Queenstown sits at the horizontal point just before the final descending line. If you climb in your car and drive across that horizontal bar and up to the top point of the lighting bolt, you will arrive at Glenorchy. (After a stunning drive on some roads that demand real courage.) Continue reading “A Tolkien reader’s Paradise”

With the pages falling off the calendar of time remaining in The Hobbit filming schedule, TheOneRing.net is heading to Queenstown (for starters) for more coverage.

Writer and photographer Larry D. Curtis (MrCere@TheOneRing.net) will be a one-man news production team for two weeks, starting November 30 when he touches down at the Queenstown airport. His journey will also take him to Wellington to mark the one year countdown before the world premiere of the first Hobbit film, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, in 2012 along with visits to friends of TORn (such as our own founder Tehanu) and can’t-miss public sites like the Weta Cave.

Curtis (known by the handle MrCere on the site) also plans to meet with as many fans as possible while in the area, including at un-official but hopefully frequent moot events, so if interested in attending or hosting, please contact him at the email above. The always all-volunteer and not-for-profit TheOneRing.net would also appreciate anybody who has great information or tips on inexpensive places to stay (no haystack ruled out!) or eat while in New Zealand. Continue reading “TORn headed to Queenstown, NZ for ‘Hobbit’ reporting”