Lots of Lovely Details about The Hobbit Premiere in Wellington

Yep, we’re getting all sorts of details about the shindig the Kiwis are planning for The Hobbit premiere. They’re even renaming the town for the event.

Okay, okay, okay! I admit it! I would love to go to Wellington! There I said it. Phew.

That would be a dream. It’s not going to happen, but it’s nice to dream. :D And it’s springtime in New Zealand. *sigh*

I can’t stand it. I’ve got to stop thinking about this, or I’m going to have a meltdown. Yeah, yeah, I said I wasn’t going to watch the Royal Wedding either. I was so glued to the set and had no good excuse for it. I’m blaming this foolishness on Tolkien.

Maybe Billy was right. ;-)

I should have been a travel agent after I finished my career as a make-up artist.

note: I did publish something erroneously right before this post. Sorry, but it’s not ready yet.

Not Being a Dumbass

We have all done something dumbass although there are some who would never admit it. I couldn’t manage to cover all the stupid things I’ve done. Thankfully, most of my dumbass moves haven’t been published for the whole world to read — as if the whole world would even be interested. Billy Connolly maybe not so fortunate. He was recently interviewed about his involvement with The Hobbit, and either Billy was drunk or really is an idiot or the reporter chose to take comical remarks and disparage him by highlighting them as if they tend toward sincere, or the reporter is an idiot too. Whatever was happening, there’s dumbass going on somewhere in this exchange about Tolkien’s work:

So, how many times has Connolly read The Hobbit? “I’ve never read The Hobbit. Never.” What about Lord of the Rings? “Never read Lord of the Rings,” replied the 69-year-old Scottish actor. “I could never read Tolkien. I always found him unreadable … I didn’t read [the books], and I normally don’t like people who have! The people who love it, they’re kind of scary. They talk all this gobbledygook and they think of it as the Holy Grail.”

Yeah, I’m gonna go with drunk. :D Surely Billy knows it’s dangerous to make sarcastic remarks to a journalist. Okay, I will give him the idea that some of the Tolkien fans do spout things unrecognizable to 99% of the population, and before I took the time to seriously read Tolkien and get to know some of his fans, I was also prejudiced and thought it was odd. But at least I had the good sense to keep my mouth shut about it, and I’m not even beholding to any of them for part of my living.

Wait! Billy sobers a bit, er, I mean comes to his senses toward the end:

How, then, does Connolly plan to deal with Tolkien fans who will lob at him obscure questions about The Hobbit for the rest of his life?

“Usually I just make stuff up because I don’t know what I’m talking about,” Connolly admitted. “But invariably, there seems to be a sector of the press that is consumed by The Hobbit, Lord of the Rings, and it’s indicative of that notion, that it’s the Grail. So whatever I say is rubbish, but then I become answerable for it! People get all upset, they get terribly upset about anything that has to do with it, as if it were real! It’s a story! Just relax! It’ll go away and you’ll be just fine. Don’t panic.”

read the rest here if you dare :D And don’t even bring up his comments about 48fps. LOL! Yes, I really am laughing.

Dealing with the press is almost like a contact sport where you have to keep from getting boxed in and hopefully can emerge with no bruises, so I’m not really down on Connolly, and he may be more clever than he appears. It’s doubtful journalists or others will be on his back with questions about Tolkien when he comes with answers like those. I also appreciate the belly laugh he gave me this morning. But all of this has reminded me I’m so glad Richard Armitage is not an idiot.

Dear Rich,

Thank you for being intelligent and thoughtful and well, for not being a dumbass, and especially for never going out in public drunk –at least not that the public is aware. And I’m confident you had the good sense to stay away from reporters. Hell yes, I’m biased. What do you think this blog is about?

Of course you do have an obvious advantage over Billy. When you look like this:

you can get away with almost anything. And given that, you’re still kind to your fans. Amazing.

Signed,
One of your crazy fans who would forgive you for sticking your foot in your mouth but glad I haven’t been tried on that yet. :D

P.S. And thanks again for not letting us in on your politics. I really don’t want to know. It’s just one less thing to process.

No, don’t even bring up how completely insane I am for knowing so much about some guy from the U.K. who is going to be in a Peter Jackson production. What?! Yeah, sometimes it hits me that our guy Richard may actually make it big, may actually be a movie star despite his protestations, and you and I have been along for the ride.

Anyway, this insanity is still fun even if a few of us are infected with APM at times. :D

edit: speaking of dumbass, I published this under the wrong user name, which I’ve now corrected.

The Lovely Hobbit Premieres, What Do They Mean?

I love how Peter Jackson is using the The Hobbit premieres in London and New York to promote worthy causes. Effective and classy. But I wonder if the dates we’re getting will be public events with red carpet. Surely the causes being promoted would benefit. Unfortunately, my infernal gut is rethinking this. If I were to get inside Peter Jackson’s head, what would it be pondering about this all? Part of me thinks he loves the fans being so rabid. He really gets into that and likes to inflame it a bit otherwise why the involvement with TheOneRingnet. But another part of me thinks the fan thing is a big hassle and with these movies, perhaps unnecessary. It’s evident there is already a fan furor. Hmmm.

No matter what happens, I’m going to New York to see my daughters. That’s a given. It would just be nice to schedule it alongside The Hobbit premiere. If that doesn’t work out, oh well.

No, I’m not normally a pessimist, and really, I’m not being one now. I’m merely heeding this reservation I sense. So I’m taking a wait see for now.

The irony of all of this is I am not a red carpet kind of gal. I already did the Comic-Con thing, and that was enough. More than enough, thank you very much. Yes, that’s my way of saying, it’s not my thing. I’m still the person who wrote this.

edit: and the silence from TORn on this NYC showing also makes me take a wait see.

The Hobbit Premiere in New York

My daughter said something to me about this, and I wasn’t going to post it until she could get me all the information, but someone else has posted about it on TheOneRingnet, so I’m going ahead. This is what I know so far:

I would love to hear from any others who got word on this. Meanwhile, I will be breathing down my daughter’s neck to get me that email she said she already sent! :D

And will there be a red carpet event? I’m not sure I’m up to paying $500 for this. LOL!

note: I got word on the TORn post by way of RichardArmitageNet.Com’s Twitter account. Thank you, Ali!

Slowly But Surely — The Hobbit Premiere Dates

Let’s see, we have the New Zealand premiere date for The Hobbit on November 28, 2012, and now we finally have another one. The Royal UK premiere will be on December 12, 2012. If Warner Bros. or Sir Peter could cough up a few more dates, I would be happy. Actually, it would only take one more date to put a grin on my face. That would be New York. So c’mon with the New York date! :D

I Declare the Drought Officially Over

With this veritable flood of images, how can it be anything but a monsoon! Yes, I know there are those of you smart enough to know it was over a while ago. I’m talking to the rest who were not quite sure. You can be sure. LOL!

Makes me want to yell, “Stop! Stop!”

No, I don’t mean that. Would I have this name if I wanted to stop?

The only problem is it just makes me greedy for more.

Dear, Dear Sir Peter,

You can’t win. Seriously, man, you are just creating a monster. My appetite is pretty damn big now. After this…I may not come up for air for a week.

And I hate to say this, but I’m still waiting on those dates for the premiere. I would trade a few of those pics for that intel.

Signed,
One of Richard’s crazy fans, who lately has been wondering if Scott Glenn is under contract:

And I’m never going to comment on this ’cause I don’t trust myself:

I would draw an arrow, but this thing has its own, uh, arrow, er, axe.

An Interesting Week with Peter Jackson

Peter Jackson announced Tolkien Week to mark the 75th anniversary of the publication of The Hobbit. There will be a new trailer airing September 19th, some special content some time this week, and World Hobbit Day aka the combined birthdays of Bilbo and Frodo finishing off the event.

Oh yeah, I’m wondering about the “special content.”

Maybe we’ll get the premiere dates?

No, that would be too easy. LOL!

Whatever we get, I just want to state that I like Peter Jackson in yellow. Yep, styling in yellow. Needs to wear that more often. :D

Dear Sir Peter, We Need to Talk


September 15, 2012

Dear Sir Peter,

It occurred to me sometime yesterday that The Hobbit premiere is only three months away. If you have a schedule like mine, which I suspect you do, three months is about a week and a half from now. Not much time to make plans. New York is already on my itinerary for December due to two very compelling reasons and neither being about The Hobbit nor Richard Armitage. But if there will be a New York premiere, it would be great to make my visit coincide. I only have one problem. I don’t know when the hell it is, or if it is. Perhaps I shouldn’t use such strong language, but I can’t help myself.

I have even done a little research concerning past premieres hoping to find a pattern. I don’t have a lot of time to do things like this. It’s scary what I have let slide to look all of this up. And to no avail. It seems there may not have been a premiere in New York for the last Lord of the Rings movie. The only real thread of hope there might be one this time is a comment from Sir Ian about premieres in London, New York, Berlin and Tokyo. But then my anal self starts wondering what he means by the word premiere. It does seem to get confused with the word release. I just don’t know what to think, and I was hoping you might be able to help.

Yes, I know it’s Warner Brothers’ responsibility to handle these things. Pardon me if I don’t buy that bullshit. No, no, I didn’t mean to say that. I shouldn’t say that. :D I know you’re busy, and the studio is the one to handle all of this tedium while you’re getting the movie ready. I was just hoping you might have some pull with them about getting a New York premiere scheduled. And if I could make it to New Zealand in November, I would, but I don’t have a spare several thousand lying around and will have to pass. So I need your help with the New York date, and I hope you’re not offended by my passion to attend. LOL! Yes, that’s a bit of a maniacal laugh, which I hope you ignore or maybe not.

Signed,
One of Richard Armitage’s crazy fans who also has a soft spot for a certain Kiwi director with wild hair

P.S. I apologize again for calling you Mister.

Yep, it’s a fake fan letter, and I’m putting this note here for those who think this is real. No, it’s not real. No, that’s not completely true. I would like to know if there is a premiere in New York and when it may be, but I seriously doubt my venting here will make it appear. Nice to dream about, but I’m not that delusional — yet. LOL!

And in the interest of fairness, I have to say a little something about one of my compelling reasons. She is my second born, and the only child I have not written about on this blog. She is also the only one who took the time to ferret out the blog’s location and then informed me how happy she was I am anonymous as well as making sure I knew she was the child who had not had a post. “Yeah, I see where I stand with you, Mom. No post for me huh? LOL!” Okay, so here it is, Lou (no, that’s not her real name).

But first a picture:

The girl with the wicked sense of humor.

Okay, another picture:

That was taken as part of a documentary she worked on doing stills for them.

And one more (see, you got three pictures when the others got two or less):

Third from the right, and the girl who knows no fear except of the vacuum cleaner or dishwasher. :D I’ll give her a pass on that since she is such a great student and just a great kid. I would describe her, but she is a bit indescribable and the reason I hadn’t mentioned her yet. Enigma is the word most often associated with her, and oftentimes the comment, “Lou is just being Lou,” is heard amongst family and friends.

For those interested in my research on premiere dates, it’s below, and if I have an error or have missed something, please let me know. Thanks.

RELEASE AND PREMIERE DATES for LOTR movies and The Hobbit

Fellowship of the Ring

Wide release in U.S. — December 19, 2001

Premieres dates:

London – December 10, 2001
New York – December 13, 2001
Los Angeles – December 16, 2001
New Zealand – December 19, 2001

Two Towers:

Wide release in the U.S. — December 18, 2002

Premiere dates:

New York – December 5, 2002
London – December 11, 2002
Los Angeles – December 15, 2002
New Zealand – December 18, 2002

Return of the King

Wide release in the U.S. — December 17, 2003

Premiere dates:

Wellington, NZ – December 1, 2003
Los Angeles – December 3, 2003

The Hobbit

Wide Release in U.S. — December 14, 2012

Premiere date:

Wellington, NZ – November 28, 2012

Are You Ready for Some Comic-Con?


Richard Armitage will be there. A definitive statement? Yes! And I’ve said it before. It’s going to happen, so don’t worry. My gut is in overdrive anticipating it. The man is going to be there, my friends.

And if he’s not there, then my gut needs a serious check. Nah, it’s working just fine. :D

But to stay in the know, keep checking TheOneRing for details.

He’s Alive!

Yes, Richard Armitage still exists, or he did as of this video blog:

I think they’re messing with us. Yeah, Peter Jackson and his bunch are definitely onto us. :D But what PJ doesn’t know is that I think I have a crush on Dion. That’s who I would want to hang out with if I got a chance to visit the set. Dion’s job looks really interesting. I might tear myself away to take a gander at RA every now and then too.

In case you missed RA (and as usual click to enlarge):

Once again I’m struck with his ability to command attention simply by his bearing, and no, I don’t think it’s just a case of CWS. At the risk of sounding inane, surely we can’t be the only ones who see this?!!

Screencaps are mine