IMPORTANT !!! Special Announcement this afternoon around 2:00pm!

I've just had word from above that there will be a special announcement for the Wellington Hobbit fans this afternoon - I will be able to reveal more around 2:00pm today, Thursday 21st of November (NZ time).

Please check this blog today - time will be of the essence!



As an aside - I'd like to get people's opinion about whether we should set up an "urgent announcements" mailing list. Good idea?

Please send me some feedback, on "jack@welly-moot.com".


  - Jack

First Midnight Session of Hobbit 2: DoS

I've just been alerted to the fact that Wellington's Embassy Cinema has put tickets on for sale as of lunchtime today (30 minutes ago!), for the first public screening of the new Hobbit Movie.

I'm currently on the road (well, parked beside the road), so I don't have all the details here, but call the Embassy right now if you want tickets to this screening!

Don't delay!

Roundup of Live Hobbit Event's news items

What a great day it was here in Wellington. Peter Jackson's Live Fan Event went off without a hitch, and as far as I could tell it all went according to everybody's plans.

We watched the latest Trailer, a brand new Hobbit Production Diary (number 12 already!), extended scenes from the first Hobbit movie, the new credits song for the second movie, and then, somewhat unexpectedly, a full 20 minutes of preview scenes from The Hobbit 2: Desolation Of Smaug.

On top of that, there was a lively back'n'forth live question and answer session between Wellington, London, New York, and Los Angeles, involving Evangeline Lilly, Orlando Bloom, Lee Pace, Andy Serkis, Luke Evans, Jed Brophy, and Sir Peter Jackson himself.

The press was involved as well - apart from the organisers' camera crew, I also saw New Zealand's TVOne and TV3 crews, as well as radio stations ZM-FM and NewsTalkZB.

Rather than collecting absolutely every last mention of the Event, I've decided to focus on just news items that feature Welly-moot members, so we can all enjoy our 15 minutes (seconds?) of fame. If I've missed anything, please let me know!


2013-11-04, 10:47 - Hobbit fans to get glimpse of new film - Alex, Jack, Annabel, Sophy, Lucy
2013-11-04, 18:35 - The Hobbit DOS - Live Stream Fans Gear Up - Alex, Jack, Annabel, Sophy, Lucy
2103-11-05, 06:41 - Intrigue surrounds 'Hobbit' Q&A session - Jack (article only)
2013-11-05, 08:08 - Thousands tune in to Hobbit fan event - (starts at 0:27) - Annabel, Sophie, Lucy
2013-11-05, 11:58 - Hobbit livestream event kicks off - Wayne, Annabel, Sophy, Lucy, Shirley, Hermes. Annabel, Sophy, & Lucy are also in the article
2013-11-05, 16:08 - PHOTOS: The Hobbit: worldwide fan event - Annabel, Sophie, Lucy, Wayne, Shirley, Hermes, Viv,
2013-11-05, 18:43 - Tens of thousands of Hobbit fans turn out for live webcast - Martyn, Alex (both briefly!), Jack, Annabel, Sophie, Lucy


And of course the Event itself, now available on Youtube if you missed it the first time around. I got to ask my question in front of rather too many people. :)

If I've missed any videos, let me know.

 - Jack

Welly-moot hosts the Livestream here - tune in tomorrow!

By now, all the lucky people on my list should have received their RSVP email from the organisers, and have their tickets. Check your email's spam folder if you haven't got it yet.

Make sure you print the ticket out, or have a copy on your smart-phone or tablet tomorrow - no ticket, no entry!


For those not in time or in town to get a ticket, Welly-moot is hosting the event right here. At 10:30am NZ time, click on the NowLive Hobbit poster below.


Enjoy the show, everybody, and I hope to meet as many people as possible tomorrow, so come and say hello! I should be easy to find, wearing my ridiculously heavy faux-chainmaille and full length cape.

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(don't worry about that "November 4th" thing - it's November 5th in New Zealand already) 

Event Schedule - *timings are approximate for NZ
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
10.30 am – Online Pre-Show Begins
11 am – LIVE WORLDWIDE FAN EVENT
12:15 pm – Event Concludes (show may run longer depending on Q&A)


*Once the live show ends the show will replay in its entirety within the player until the highlights reel is available.

All Fan Event Tickets are now gone - sorry if you missed out!

Sorry if you missed out - but congratulations if you're in! We're looking at being present at the centre of The Hobbit universe on Tuesday the 5th of November!


If you are one of the lucky ones, I've taken your name, email address, and mobile phone number. The organiser's ticketing team will send each email address a link to click on for rsvp-ing, and then their system will spit out a personalised ticket with barcode to download and print, or have on their smartphones to have scanned in on entry..

Costumes

I'm hoping there will be plenty of cool costumes on the day - please feel free to leave the civvies behind and come in full Middle-earth attire! Alex & I will be costumed, and I understand quite a few others will be as well. Come join us, don't be shy. :)


Today (Saturday) we paid a visit to the Costume Cave on Wakefield Street; an excellent source of costumes. On Monday, the TV crew will go back with us, to film us selecting the costumes (I know, we cheated, and selected them today). If anybody wants to join us for that, please let me know; I've got a few others there as well, but if you wanted a shot at fame, now is your chance! The TV crew will likely look for us on Tuesday as well. I'm thinking of bringing my full-sized Narsil blade (unbroken). Not sure if I'll get it past security though.


Let's have a great fun day on Tuesday! This is a unique occasion! Don't waste the opportunity!

  - Jack

Welly-moot 2.5 report (somewhat belatedly)

NB - Due to all the excitement around the Live Fan Event earlier this month, it looks like I never hit the "Publish" button on this report. My apologies, so here it is. Some of the items are somewhat late but better late than never, right? ;)

The Welly-moot group met on 27th October. As usual, we started with catch-ups between members, and we exchanged some news and updates.

From left front, clockwise: Kris, Jack, Martyn, Wayne, Annabel, Francine (hands only), and Cinnamon. As usual, Alex, managed to avoid the camera by taking the pictures. Also present were Annabel's two hobbits.

Jack talked about the Hobbit Fan Event on 5th November at the Embassy Theatre. The Welly-moot group has been invited to attend by the organisers RoadShow Distributors. There will be further announcement on this website in the next few days..


The was a report about the Auckland Armageddon fantasy convention from Cinnamom. Also, we have a new member; Franziska, from Germany. She has always loved Tolkien's stories and has finally made it to New Zealand, which was a childhood dream of hers.

Cinnamon and Franziska

The main discussion today was about King Thranduil's history (Legolas’ father). We had interesting discussions about him. Who is he? How did he get to Mirkwood? Where is Legolas's mother?


Everyone brought their books and we took turn to read the parts related to Thranduil, or to his father Oropher. The skant information available about them makes this a fascinating part of the histories.

Martyn and Wayne

Jack had scoured the net for some more information about Legolas' mother, but nothing concrete was found. He did stumble on a Yahoo Q/A, where someone named "Celtic Druidess" had this to say (slightly paraphrased):

Who is Legolas’ mother / Thranduil’s wife?

Tolkien never really created a full family tree for Legolas. We can trace his lineage back on his father's side to his grandfather, but no further.

It is possible that Thranduil’s wife was one of the Silvan Elves (Thranduil being a Sindarin elf), which is made clear in in the History of Galadriel and Celeborn (in Unfinished Tales), where there's a brief account of the arrival of Thranduil's father Oropher among the Silvan Elves of Greenwood the Great.
It's made obvious there that Oropher and his small band of Sindar merged themselves completely with the Silvan people of the Wood, leaving behind their Sindarin inheritance. By this time, Thranduil had already been born, and in order to link themselves to the Silvan elves, it is likely that Thranduil had been married to one of them. But this is never dwelled upon, and so is just an educated guess.

The extended discussions were about the "real world" Kings in England, The Netherlands, Germany and Sweden. In the real life, the kings are not exactly blood line, however in Tolkien’s world the Kings are totally blood lines ("blue blood???"). Aragorn was an exile and eventually becomes the King, merely because of the blood in his veins.


After the Tolkien discussions, we returned to the Hobbit 2 movie release. We have agreed what we would like to do something in December when the Hobbit 2 (Desolation of Smaug) will be released. We will contact to the Embassy Theatre to watch Hobbit 1 on 12th December evening, then we will watch the Hobbit 2. We also have of a party on 12th at the Embassy if we can. We will announce the details on this Website. It can be a costume party as well.

We will update this blog about the Event on 5th November. Keep your eyes open!


  - Alex & Jack

IMPORTANT: All Welly-moot members - please read and respond ASAP!

It looks very much like the Welly-moot members will be given a limited number of tickets to Peter Jackson's Live Fan Event on Tuesday November the 5th.

I will be in charge of distributing them to our members, so, please check the following list AS SOON AS POSSIBLE and get back to me! This will definitely be a "First In, First Served" occasion.

• You are a fan of Peter Jackson's Middle-earth movies
• You are a member of the NZ Tolkien group Welly-moot
• You are in Wellington on November 5th
• You are able to attend this event starting at 11:00am

If ALL of these conditions are true, please email me ASAP.



Please let me know if you need any extra tickets - we may be able to accomodate those as well, but Welly-moot members who attend our meetings will be given priority.

My email address is still jack@welly-moot.com.

  - Jack