Lauren Davis from SF webzine io9 explores why, “in a media landscape overstuffed with dragons, do we still care so much about Smaug?”.
This was first published last month, and I missed it at the time, but it’s a very worthwhile read that delves into (among other things) the literary origins of Tolkien’s dragons — the story of Fafnir, and, of course, Beowulf. Follow the link at the bottom to read the complete article.
Why Smaug still matters
“A dragon is no idle fancy,” J.R.R. Tolkien wrote in his lecture “Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics.” Whatever may be his origins, in fact or invention, the dragon in legend is a potent creation of men’s imagination, richer in significance than his barrow is in gold.”
Continue reading “Why Smaug still matters”
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Associate Professor of Physics at Southeastern Louisiana University, Alain Rhett, tries to use phsics in this interesting piece on Wired to estimate exactly how much energy would have been required to melt all that gold in that cool scene in The Desolation of Smaug — you know the one we mean.
After watching The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug I quickly realized my initial estimation for the amount of gold under the mountain was WAY too low. There are some other things I noticed, but perhaps I should give a SPOILER ALERT. Continue reading “Melting gold in The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”
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Our friends at Weta Workshop have released two new products from the hit movie The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. One of these new products just happened to be teased a while back for any of us who bought the statue of the Elven King Thranduil statue, where we saw a sneak peak of the Staff of King Thranduil. This fantastic prop joins a range of prop replica’s from The Hobbit Trilogy. You can snag this replica right now for $179 with an expected release date of February 2014. The other item announced by Weta is a new book in their awesome series of art books for The Hobbit Trilogy. This book is all about one thing and that is the greatest dragon we’ve ever seen, Smaug the Terrible! Smaug: Unleashing the Dragon is written by author Daniel Falconer contains 96 pages of all the details that went into bringing this dragon to life. For only $19.99 you can get this book to add to your collection. If you order by the end of March you can get a signed copy of the book.
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Editor Note: Our latest staff review comes from the man behind the Collecting the Precious posts, staffer, Elessar. As always if you’re still to see the film and are avoiding spoilers, please be aware that there are spoilers all through Elessars review.
Here we are a year later following the fantastic film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. The waiting is over and the time to immerse ourselves in another movie about Middle-earth has begun. I, like so many of you have been counting down the days until it was time, and after seeing it twice I’ve written my personal review.
Continue reading “Elessar Reviews The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug”
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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.
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As some of you may have noticed – something rather unexpected happened today.
While reviews for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug were expected to
begin getting published this coming Sunday – the embargo was lifted early and we began getting reviews today! TORN staffers, who have been lucky enough to see the film already, will be reviewing the film soon enough. First up will be our own Quickbeam, who is currently finalizing his thoughts. In the meantime, however, we thought we’d post a couple of the early reviews for your reading pleasure. Continue reading “First ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ reviews released as embargo lifts”
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