Join your fellow Ringers from around the world as we gather to experience opening night of ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.’ For folks in the US, that’s happening at midnight tonight, and there are Line Parties happening at theatres across the country. Share your Line Party photos and fun by using #TORnHobbitLP on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Share pics of costumes, your responses to the film, and other activities happening in your Line.
After opening night, share photos from your Line Party with us at spymaster@theonering.net.
We have just under a week until Tolkien fans around the world will pile into theaters for their first glimpse of the Chiefest of all Calamities, Smaug himself, along with Beorn, the giant spiders, and the treasures of Erebor. We set up Line Parties so that fans can arrange to see the movie with fellow fans, both friends known and friends yet to be met. But we’ve apparently had some Goblins get into our servers and create a bit of havoc with the Line Party pages, so we have a couple work around options.
Not all of the Lines are posting in the public ‘Community’ area set up for them, you are only seeing 10 events at a time. All current Lines will be listed at the end of this story. And instead of being interactive, people have not been able to select the ‘Join Now’ button, so we have been encouraging Line Party Leaders to include a Facebook Event page, but not everyone is on facebook. You can still use the program to create a new Line Party yourself, or if you encounter problems, email me at Garfeimao@TheOneRing.net and I’ll help you get started. If you email me to ask that I help create the line party for you, I will need the Full name and address of the theater, the start time and date of the event (is it Thursday midnight screening or on a Friday evening or Saturday matinee?). A Facebook Event link would also be really helpful.
Here comes the list of currently existing Line Parties. If you see one near you that you might like to attend, click the link to get the address and start time and hopefully there is a Facebook event page for you to reach out to your Line Party Leader. If you don’t see a Line Party near you, why not start one yourself? And while I am talking about that, where are our International Line Parties this year? Come on London, Germany, Spain, New Zealand and Australia, why not jump in and put up some Line Parties in your area? Current Line Party Leaders, if you need help editing or updating your Line listing, drop me a note.
List of Line Parties
TCL Chinese Theater, Hollywood CA – December 12, 6pm start
With tickets for The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug just hours from going on sale, we are now ready to open up our Line Parties for business. Well, sort of. The Line Party program has been having some quirky issues and not working for everyone. So this is a little list of what you can do with the Line Party section, and what you will want to supplement it with.
First off, let’s have a quick history on what a Line Party is. The geek in us all feels driven to attend the earliest possible screening, and with the Hobbit: DOS, that means the midnight screenings. And let’s face it, we all know we’ll head down to the theater hours before they actually open the doors, and stand in line, and stand, and stand, and stand. Unless, of course, there is a Line Party at your particular theater of choice. Because a Line Party means games, trivia, costumes, Fellowship and fun.
Anyone can host a Line Party, no special skills are required, and truthfully, prizes for the games are not necessary either because it comes down to the Fellowship and Fun. You simply decide which theater you want to host a Line Party at, talk to the staff there to make sure it is OK to do interactive games (some shopping centers and the like have rules about what can and cannot happen on their property), and then create a Line Party page here on TheOneRing.net.
To create a Line Party Page, go to the Community section, then click on the Line Party link at the bottom, and you will find a section with a list of existing Line Parties. Take a look to get an idea of what others are doing, then click ‘Start a Line’ to get the Line made. The information you will need to start a Line Party is the full name and address of your chosen theater, and if it is a multiplex, which screen or format you want everyone to get tickets in so you are all in the same Line. A few additional instructions such as when to arrive, what types of games, costumes or not, all this can and should go into your Line Party page.
We are going to add one more step, please create a Facebook Event page for your Line Party as well, and put the link at the bottom of your Line Party description there. This is simply because the ‘Join Button’ of the Line Party function has been having issues, so the Facebook Event page will be the only way for people to RSVP for your Line, and then you will be able to communicate with your Line Members. By creating the Line Party page here on TORn, you let others in your area find you, but by simultaneously creating a Facebook Event page for the same line, you are still able to communicate with your line until we get or functionality back. Win Win.
So here is where it get’s tricky.
Some people have experienced problems logging into their Fellowship account, which is required to start a Line Party. If you are already a Message Board member then you already have a Fellowship log in. But if you are new to this, you will want to register, and if you experience any type of problem with the registration process, please email me at: Garfeimao@Theonering.net and let me know of your problem, and then give me all the info you need for your Line Party and I will create it for you. For an example of a Line Party page with the Facebook event page included, please look at Irvine Spectrum line party.
We currently have just 4 Line Parties registered right now, let’s see if we can double and triple that by lunchtime on Thursday. Please email me at the above email address when you start your Line Party, even if you encounter no problems, so I can clear it from the Pending list as soon as possible.
Let’s get creative everyone, start your Line Parties and share your enthusiasm for the films and seeing them with fellow fans.
Yes, this story will be riddled with spoilers in it, and some snark.
With less than 2 months to go before The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, we at TheOneRing.net thought you might like a little survival guide if you happen to be Arachnophobic or Drakonophobic. The Lord the Rings: The Return of the King was a little hard on many avowed Arachophobe Tolkien fans, this reporter’s sister being one of them. She watched the entire Shelob sequence from behind her purse every time she saw it on the big screen. It was only when she saw it on DVD that she could watch it unfettered.
Long before Tolkien conceived of Sam fighting off Shelob to try and save Frodo, he placed an entire Colony of giant Spiders in Mirkwood to trap the Company of Dwarves for Bilbo to rescue. This was Bilbo’s first real challenge to help the Company and he rose to the occasion. Here you can see the fear on Bilbo’s face, but he conquers it to save the Dwarves, and you can conquer your Arachnophobia too.
As for Drakonophobia, that may have been made up word, not quite sure, but better safe than sorry. Now, to be fair, there are probably more Arachnophobes than there are Drakonophobes in the world simply because there are more spiders in the world than there are dragons. We have all those Knights in Shining Armor to thank for that. Except in China, where the dragons settled in the Rivers and became good luck symbols and come out every Chinese New Year. Gung Hey Fat Choy!!!!
Dragons as seen in Tolkien’s Middle-earth can easily instill Drakonophobia in man and beast alike , and Smaug is the most famous of those dragons. There was fear, mixed with anger and sadness when Thorin told the story of Smaug’s attack on the Lonely mountain, killing so many and driving out the few survivors. Thranduil would not risk his own people to help and Dale was completely destroyed. The entire area around the Lonely Mountain was called the Desolation of Smaug while the Men of Lake-town built their town on stilts over the lake in the hopes of surviving future dragon attacks. Smaug has not been seen in 60 years, and yet Drakonophobia is still affecting the people of Lake-town to this day. But no one is really sure he is still really alive since it’s been so long since he was last seen, at least not until Bilbo makes his fateful first burgal attempt.
So, without further ado, here are a few helpful pointers on how to survive your inner phobias when spiders and dragons appear onscreen.
1) Read The Hobbit before the film opens, familiarity makes it easier to handle shocks of this nature, at least the chapters in Mirkwood through Bilbo entering the Lonely Mountain.
2) Go with a really tall friend and sit behind them. If you have no tall friend, find a tall person in the theater and sit behind them.
3) If you prefer to see the film unfettered, then bring a jacket or purse to put in front of your eyes during the spider or dragon scenes.
4) Failing a jacket or purse, buy a soda or popcorn to raise up, my preference would be popcorn, because if you spill it from fright, it is less messy and certainly not cold or sticky.
5) Bring Litzi (Red Envelope with money or gold in it) purely to use as a Chinese New Year gift/bribe
6) Put on your Ring of Power and hide
7) Hold hands with your best friend, try not to cut off the circulation.
8) Run out of the theater during the scary bits (works for children)
9) If running out of the theater seems to be a waste of money, just close your eyes, but you may need to hold your hands over years ears too, those spiders seem to make some creepy noises. Smaug, on the other hand has a rather awesome voice.
LOS ANGELES — We are fully aware of how much we pumped up the One Expected Party and Art Show this past weekend. We poured our website’s resources and our personal resources into the event and then spent days in Los Angeles preparing and pulling off one amazing party (if we don’t say so ourselves) that featured every single “Hobbit” Oscar nominee before the night was over. We didn’t do it alone of course. We had Premiere helping us as a party enabler and we had others managing lights and food and drink for all the guests who showed up. We also relied on some incredible talents like Beecake featuring Billy Boyd, Charles Ross performing a portion of his One Man Lord of the Rings, friends Emerald Rose and Dorian Mirth and others who took the stage to make it all happen. Opening registration for those attending the One Expected Party in Los Angeles on Oscar night.In short, the all-volunteer staff of TheOneRing poured lifeblood there. We also broadcast the event live online so many thousands (at least) more could enjoy the event from home. We will be working hard to pay the bills from the show. So that is why it is especially nice when a media outlet notices what we did and shares that with a wider audience. LA Weekly has some nice photos and words to say about our event and since we aren’t the ones saying it, it provides an excellent outside perspective. Thanks again to the many people who helped us make this event happen. Other media outlets have asked for information about the event (PR@TheOneRing.net) so there may be more to share. We have also posted galleries on Facebook and sent out Twitter phones (@TheOneRingNet) all during the event.
Join your fellow Ringers from around the world as we gather to experience opening night of ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.’ For folks in the US, that’s happening at midnight tonight, and there are Line Parties happening at theatres across the country. Share your Line Party photos and fun by using #TORnHobbitLP on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Share pics of costumes, your responses to the film, and other activities happening in your Line.
Welcome to this months “Getting to know you” Q&A, this month we’re talking to Senior Staffer and all round great guy, MrCere.
