Olympic Update: Womens' beach volleyball team USA announces they will not give up their bikinis despite option of alternate uniform. Men worldwide smile:)
True confession time - have you ever fantasized that you were discussing world events with Lucas North? No ;) must be just me. hehe Although, if you truly want to hear political brilliance (besides from hubby-in-chief) the following is your man. He's a writer, speaker and as he puts it "undocumented worker" currently living in US: http://www.steynonline.com/
There are only 2 tv shows hubbs and I enjoy watching together each wk, besides an evening news program and special series such as Game of Thrones and Homeland. Following is the theme song from one of our fav weekly series - 'Covert Affairs' - The other show is 'Burn Notice' (starring Jeffrey Donovan, who might be a long-lost cousin *undoubtedly* :) Donovan is one of my ancestral surnames)
The dwarves are freaking out, because the dragon Smaug has not been seen for 60 years, and people are looking to the East — assessing, wondering, and weighing the risk. "Perhaps the vast wealth of our people lies unprotected," says Thorin Oakenshield.
4:11PM - Time for The Hobbit! Lights go down, and the side screens turn on to be Hobbit images (the same imagery we saw in that epicly long banner recently).
4:38PM- Lots of footage, a couple of full scenes with Gollum and the opening meeting with the dwarves...
4:40PM - Introducing the rest of the cast to the stage: Andy Serkis, Richard Armitage, Ian McKellen and of course, Martin Freeman. Freeman gets a huge round of applause, and a bit of a standing ovation.
4:46PM -Richard: "We went through quite an evolution for the look of Thorin. Working with a prosthetic like that is quite a challenge. By Day 1, I didn't think I would make it 2 or 3 weeks... by the end, I couldn't work without it." "Managing the heat and 'sweaty dwarf' was a challenge itself."
4:52PM- Q&A question about how to select what makes it into extended edition versus theatrical. PJ: People think we shoot scenes specifically for the extended edition. "We write the script as we're shooting. You shoot, you shoot, and you shoot some more." We write a scene half way through the shoot to tell something we need to. It's not until the very end where they can look at a cut and see where there's repetition, and at the end of the day, they end up with a film that's too long. So they have to cut it down for the studio. You end up with a theatrical film, and then you look at what got cut out. We don't look at everything, but when we cut scenes with nice character moments, we love to put those back in, but you don't know until the very end.
Quality of these first pix are not the best but better than nothing:)
l than that. We ave conducted many private screenings of Hobbit footage in the US and several international territories, running the same reel twice - once at 24fps, and secondly at 48fps. This has alloweistributors and exhibitors direct comparison of the twoformats.The response has been unersally strng for t higher frame rate of 48fp
Two teen-centered films from New Line and FilmNation have been quietly picking up steam as of late, and while neither production packs tremendous star power under its respective wings, our latest casting report shows they've decided to pull in some fine character actors and fresh talent instead.
After more than a year donning hours-worth of make-up every day in order to play Thorin Oakenshield in “The Hobbit,” actor Richard Armitage (“MI-5”) must be pretty thrilled to be starring next as a flesh-and-blood human, this time in an untitled New Line disaster flick. He'll join Sarah Wayne (“The Walking Dead”), as well as newcomer Alycia Debnam-Carey in the film, which follows a group of high school teenagers who contend with the immediate aftermath of a devastating tornado. Helming the film is director Steve Quale(“Final Destination 5”), working from John Swetnam's script, and while no word has been revealed on the approach Quale will take (let the words “found footage” stay far, far away), having an actor as accomplished as Armitage in your arsenal definitely won't hinder proceedings. [Deadline]
Here's plot of new film as written by long-time RA fans on Twitter:
We have the widower a British man who was married to an American. His shirt blows off several times in storm, haha:) then right into the arms of the female storm chaser. Last thing standing in detroit after the 'Category 6' tornado is a train station, where the widower kisses the storm chaser and says "you're coming home with me." However, they discover his home blew away as well, so they moved to Argentina where he does the tango wearing Guy's black leathers. And they live happily ever after. P.S. they did manage to save the widower's son in the middle of the important stuff.The End
The Hobbitjust wrapped shooting and the Dec. 14 opening of its first installment, An Unexpected Journey, is still months away, but one of its stars, Richard Armitage, is already enjoying a major career boost. The British actor, who plays the fierce dwarf leader Thorin Oakenshield in Peter Jackson’s two-part adaptation of the J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy epic, has joined the cast of New Line’s untitled tornado thriller.
Armitage, who had roles in the BBC series North and South, Robin Hood, and MI-5, plays a widowed father who, with the help of storm chasers, tries to rescue his son from the aftermath of a string of tornadoese, which also will feature Wlm is set to begin shooting
Of course, children will be impressed :) LEGO The Hobbit figures:
Another quote from latest edition of EW:
THORIN OAKENSHIELDPLAYED BY RICHARD ARMITAGE
''THERE ARE ELEMENTS OF TOLKIEN'S DESCRIPTION OF THORIN THAT I'M TRYING TO EVOLVE,'' SAYS ARMITAGE. ''I'M TRYING TO MAKE HIM MORE HUMAN AND LESS CANTANKEROUS THE ENTIRE JOURNEY.''
See recent poll - What message did you initially receive when Guy of Gisborne killed the woman he called "the love of my life"..
See most recent poll: Not certain what the message is in following Robin Hood vid about Marian as the Nightwatchman. What I do know is that most men prefer a female who "stings like a bee" because she usually fills his life with plenty of honey..
RA quotes in July 13, 2012 edition of EW:
Entire paragraph in order to provide context: Indeed, being cast in The Hobbit instantly puts you under a global spotlight that at times can feel as intense as the Eye of Sauron. For years, fans have been poring over and picking apart every nugget of news on the project, driving the expectations surrounding the film ever higher. "It's nice to be cut off from that--otherwise you become self-conscious," Armitage says. "I envy that original cast of Lord of the Rings. They didn't know what they were involved in."
Second quote starts a feature in the article titled "Get To Know The Dwarves."
First photo and quote is from Thorin Oakenshield-Richard Armitage
"The dwarves leader is fiercely driven to restore the proud legacy of his race," Armitage says. "He has this vision of what he's going to do for his people."
*****
NEWS: Major theme in THE HOBBIT? artinfo.com speculates Thorin and Smaug's greed will be a major theme:
The Hobbit just wrapped shooting and the Dec. 14 opening of its first installment, An Unexpected Journey, is still months away, but one of its stars, Richard Armitage, is already enjoying a major career boost. The British actor, who plays the fierce dwarf leader Thorin Oakenshield in Peter Jackson’s two-part adaptation of the J.R.R. Tolkien fantasy epic, has joined the cast of New Line’s untitled tornado thriller.
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Warner Bros Pictures 
