Lord of the Rings Plane

Hi there

It's a long time since "The Lord of the Rings" movies put New Zealand on the map.  I remember when publicity came out for the movies, I was ambling through The Cutting (the entrance way to Miramar, just beyond the Miramar Wharf).   I looked up at an Air New Zealand plane appoaching the airport runway, and flying low.

On the side of the plane, from top to toe, were pictures from the Lord of the Rings movie.  There was Legolas and Frodo, and many great scenes.

I was at Queenstown Airport recently and in a glass case beside the cafe was a replica of The Hobbit plane.  It brought back memories.

It's a crumby photo and I took it into the light, but if ever you're at Queenstown Airport, you'll know to hunt for it.

Hobbit actors

Hi there

I was culling my computer pictures and I came across the ones I took at the charity cricket match between Hobbit actors and our NZ sports people which was in aid of the victims from the Christchurch earthquake.  Actual filming of "The Hobbit" had only just started at the time.

Here's a pic I took pointing the camera up to a balcony area at the Basin Reserve.   Russell Crowe is on the far left wearing red, but I just havent a clue if any of the people on the balcony are in the movie or not.  Maybe the two gorgeous looking guys  turned out to be hairy-beardy dwarfs, in which case I wouldn't be able to tell them from Adam.  Maybe they were sporty guys?  Anyone know?

Russell was so nice to me (again, see earlier blog).

I remember I took a picture of Richard Armitage at the premier  (see earlier blog) but until someone pointed him out, I really had no idea who the guy was.

Guess who was the mysterious actor in the yellow shirt?  (there's a  small clue in the picture!)

**
PS:  J and I have done four swims at Hataitai Beach this month.  Brrrrhhhh, cold....

Stone Street Studios, Miramar

Hi there

I was rambling past the Stone Street Studios in Miramar, Wellington, New Zealand today and it got me wondering when Peter Jackson was going to actually start "The Dam Busters".  I know a heck of a lot of back-room activity has gone on with it already.  I think the actual filming was due to start some time back but then, because of Hollywood machinations,  Jackson had to step in to direct "The Hobbit".

I was talking to a Weta Cave guy a few years' back and he said that Peter Jackson was waiting for the dam busters book to be re-edited .  Apparently, with the lift of a declaration of secrecy time limit rule, there is  now new information that can be incorporated into the book, followed by the movie.

Of course, all the Avatar stuff is being done, too.  And I see that director James Cameron has bought more land in the Wairarapa.  He and his family are staying there indefinitely.

Here's the Stone Street Studio.  You can see the green screen.  I took the photo today, looking into the sun.  Sorry it looks hazy.

I was also intrigued by the parking notices in Stone Street that are on the studio wall -

One notice says 'public parking at all times' with one half of the arrow going to the right.
The next notice - just about 15 parking spaces away as the tourist trudges in a straight line - has an arrow going to the left and says 'private parking only'.  So, who's actually allowed to park in those spaces between the arrows?   Private studio people?  The public?  A mix of both?  Obviously Orcs can park anywhere.

It's me who's first-time effort it was with the  red blobbing out in the pic above.  I'm sure the studio would have done it more elegantly.

PS:  J and I got in our second swim for July today at Hataitai Beach.

Feeling Sorry for myself

Hi there

Back to dentists again, sorry.  The past seven days have seen me feeling all sorry for myself.  I blame the dentist.  All dentists.  Every dentist who has ever existed ...   In my mind, dentists are one step above medieval torturers ....

A week ago the dentist went ahead and seemingly emptied the contents of an entire drawer into my mouth.  Since then I have been having to put up with bruising and tearing and pain (oh, my).  I haven't been able to open my mouth very wide at all to eat.   I've been living on creamed corn, mashed potato, scrambled eggs and Weight Watchers chicken casserole for days .... and days.  My friends have suggested tins of baby food, but I nixed that.

Yesterday, I bought a blueberry muffin from New World.  I had to break it up into a thousand crumbs.  The muffin took about an hour to eat.

And to think that the tortune goes on next Monday with another hour and a half scheduled session. 

Still ... I pulled myself away from my lethargy and forced myself to go for a walk during the weekend.  I traversed the zig-zag path down to Scorching Bay.   The first photo is of the bay from about halfway down the path.  In the second picture (click on it) you might be able to see the outdoor tables and chairs that belong to the cafe "Scorch-a-Rama".  This cafe used to be called  "The Chocolate Fish" and when "The Lord of the Rings" was being filmed, the actors and crew used to love going there for a bite to eat.  I believe, under it's new name, the cafe has been popular, too, with "Hobbit" and Weta Workshop workers    The cafe building is separated from the beachside tables and chairs by a road.  Waiters have to face maybe-death-by-traffic to deliver meals.

Martin Freeman Q & A session at Roxy Theatre, Miramar, Wellington

Hi there

Yesterday I attended a movie screening of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy".  I prefer the original tv series where the story, because of length, was explored more leisurely.   I also love the audio version which I still listen to on long car journeys.  Having Martin Freeman (Bilbo, "The Hobbit"), however, in the film version was great casting.  I don't think anyone else could have done filmdom's Arthur Dent better

We were not allowed to talk to Freeman about "The Hobbit" or take photos of him during the Q & A session, sorry.  I did have a chance as he walked in the door, but by the time I dithered, he had taken a seat two rows in front of me.  During the Q & A session, surprise was expressed to Freeman that he would want to sit through the movie yet again but he admitted, with a grin, that he never passed up a chance to watch himself on tv or movies whenever he could.   He told us he hadn't seen "Hitchhiker" in a few years and before that occasion, not since the London premiere.  

Freeman told the audience that the only job he had ever had was acting, He went into the theatre straight from drama school, and was seriously thrown by lots of stagey directions, eg."banana the table" and "favour the wall".

There is a scene in "Hitchhiker" where he and others are running toward the "Heart of Gold" spaceship, and this was all before the days of CGI.  Pyrotechics were being used and, for some reason, the cast were being shot at with hard pellets .  Zooey Deschanel (New Girl) got shot in the back and yelled out to stop filming.  It was so highly dangerous.

Freeman said he so admired the scenery in the south Island, and he loved Stone Street Studios. 

He told how he loved working with Ricky Gervais, and that filming with the guy was hilarious.  Gervais had the cast in fits of laughter so much it was surprising they put out as much work as they had.

One (silly?) audience member asked Freeman who would he go for if he was gay.  Answer (tongue in cheek) : Bill Nighy!

He was also asked how a young person could make it in the business.  "You must love it  Love it!", Freeman shouted   He said a person must seriously want to act, and not just want to be famous.

I'm Singin' in the Rain, lah-de-dah-dah ....

Hi there

This week, I went to The Roxy picture theatre in Miramar, Wellington, New Zealand to see "Singin' in the Rain".  This is such a well-known picture to me that I was mentally chanting all the dialogue with the actors.   I couldn't get over the fact that the picture was in pristine condition.  Wonderful colours, so vibrant-looking.  "An American in Paris" will be on later this month.

I went to the matinee and, goodness, there couldn't have been one audience member under the age of 60!  Ah, nostalgia, it's a wonderful thing.  We were obviously all reliving earlier days.  I do believe the 20-somethings went to the night-time session.

The Roxy put on a devonshire tea before-hand for us.  Movie and devonshire tea came to only $12.50.   Good on ya, Roxy.

This coming Sunday, there will be a matinee of "Hitch-hikers Guide to the Galaxy", another movie I know almost intimately.  And with the added bonus that Martin Freeman, the star of that picture and also Bilbo in "The Hobbit" movies will be doing a Question and Answer session afterwards.  I hope the audience will be given five or so minutes before the discussion to take photos.  And I mustn't forget to take my towel!

Here are two pictures.  1)  our devonshire tea.  2)  a small portion of the Roxy's 1st floor ceiling (2nd floor, for the benefit of my one American reader).  

The Roxy decor is art deco mixed with robotic!  If you want to go upstairs and see the ceiling, just ask the kind folk at the box office or in the cafe.  The ceiling is definitely worth a look.  The Roxy often have Weta staff exhibits on the 1st floor, too.  A 'Thunderbirds' exhibit will be featured soon.

Matamata Hobbiton

There's a scene at the end of "Return of the King" where the hobbits are coming home.  They go through a narrow cut-out path in a grassy bank.  There's a view of a hill in the background with Frodo's house and the 'party tree', as well as the tree above Frodo's burrow (this is the only fake tree in 'Hobbiton').  It's a real iconic scene and is used again in the trailer and film of "The Hobbit".  The 'path' was cut through the grass bank for LOTR, paved, rock-sided, filmed, then filled up again when the land was left pristine for the farmer after the trilogy was completed. The path was opened up again for "The Hobbit".  

It was such a treat for me to be at 'Hobbiton'.  I'm so glad now that it's now being kept intact for the public.  NZ sure needs the tourist dollar, and as tourist dollars go, it's quite cheap to go to 'Hobbiton' in Matamata.   Look what happened in Tunisia (was it?) where they filmed 'Star Wars'.  Tourists have been going there for many. many, many years.  Some cynical reporters say that surely nobody is interested anymore in LOTR scenes and we should stop flogging a dead horse.  What rot.

Seen "The Hobbit"

Last Friday, when I was staying at Ohope Beach, I rang my doctor in Wellington and made an appointment for Monday because the pain in my foot was getting worse.   On Monday the doctor told me to take a break from the gym for a time.  I was so upset that I stomped out of the surgery - well, actually, I didn't stomp, much as I would have liked to, instead I limped rather badly.   I went straight to the Roxy Theatre (owned by Weta people) and I saw "The Hobbit".  Comfort viewing.

What's all this talk about taking an hour to get used to seeing 40-something frames per something-or-other format?   (Am I great with technical language or what?),.  I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary re the film.  As a matter of fact, I truly enjoyed the first hour.  The only slight grating was our first long-distance view of the elfin city .  I thought "Oh, heavens, the Weta folk havent been very good with this background painting."  I even felt a touch embarrassed for them.  My friend later pointed out that it was nothing to do with Weta Workshop.  It was the 40-frame-thing-a-me-bob that was responsible for the 'painted background' look.  Who knows? ....

The movie went fast.  I even took my lunch in with me, but forgot to eat it and, believe me, cheese and chutney sandwiches are not easily forgotten.  About 10 minutes or so after the movie started, a guy a couple of rows in front of me appeared to stand up to go to the toilet.  I thought "Why couldn't he have gone earlier? He's blocking my view."  Turned out, the guy was coming out from the 3D screen!  Now that's cause for embarrassment ...

Much as I did enjoy the film, it seemed to lack the emotion that was in the LOTR trilogy.  Perhaps because it didn't have young, cheeky vibrant actors.  Also, it must be so very very hard to give personality to everyone when there's so many dwarves all striving to get camera time.  I wish we'd seen more of the deliciously handsome Aidan Turner (from the tv series "Being Human") and also James Nesbitt who, to me, is a true star.

"Gollum" was brilliant in this movie, 

When I went to Matamata about 18 months ago and saw the Hobbiton set, I took a pic of   a) the notice as we entered Hobbiton and  b) the map we were handed to find our way around.  We could go wherever we liked..

The Hobbit is getting closer

The World Premier of "The Hobbit - An unexpected journey" is on Wednesday in Wellington.  Along with, hopefully, thousands upon thousands of people, I'll go to the city and try and see something.  I loved the atmosphere surrounding the three LOTR premiers.  For one of them, I decided to get a bleacher seat but waiting-in-a-bleacher turned out to be a bit boring.  I loved it when I was with the 'ordinary' people down on the street.  However, one good thing about the bleacher seats:  the seat-ees ran from their seats down to the front railing and the stars - knowing what high-rollers bleacher seat-ees are - trundled over and signed autographs.  I didn't have a digital camera during LOTR premiers.

I also went to the "King Kong" NZ premier.  Here are some pictures I took of Peter Jackson and also a pic of  Andy S (Gollum) 

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About 19 months ago, I went to "The Hobbiton" set in Matamata.  I thought it had been closed off for public tours because the very day I passed through Matamata, was the day Peter Jackson was supposed to start filming there.  But, wonder-of-wonders for me, but so sad for Jackson, the set was open because Jackson had been taken to hospital a few days before. 

I saw the set in it's pristine magnitude.  Sunflowers and pumpkins growing in the gardnes, roses around the doors, swans on the lake.  One would swear it was a true village.  It must have spread out for km upon km.    It was so hard to believe there weren't hobbits living behind the doors in the houses.  I stood under the 'party tree', knocked on Bilbo's door, wandered along the flagstone path leading down the hill from said house, swung on Rosie and Sam's gate, and almost tripped over a grass-hidden chimney.    Even the fences were growing fungus (a mixture of yoghurt and something-else for realism). I took a great photo looking down a sort of grassy rock-sided alley, and showing a hill topped with Bilbo/Frodo's house in the far distance.  This exact shot was in one of the end stories of "Return of the King" as the hobbits return home,  and it is also in the trailer for "The Hobbit".  In all, I took about 80 photos.  I may be allowed to show them after the premier.

Embassy Theatre - The Hobbit premier

The below photo is the just-erected Weta Workshop sculpture on the front of the Embassy Theatre in Wellington, New Zealand, in preparation for "The Hobbit" world premier on 28 November.

It is Bilbo Baggins' house with Gandalf knocking at the door.  The hobbit house frontage is almost identical to Bilbo's house frontage as was filmed on the location site in Matamata.

 

 

Lots more Weta stuff being built, sculptured, on flag poles, and on sides of buildings.  Wellington truly will be the Middle of Middle Earth next week.  Stand by for more pix.

Third swim for November, hooray.  But we're trying for 5!

Hobbit postage stamp and NZ Post Building

Today, in the most atrociously cold and drizzly weather I went down to the Wellington wharves to photograph the NZ Post Building, roughly opposite the Railway Station.  It has a GIANT picture of Bilbo Baggins on one side of the building and on the other side are sillhouettes of the dwarves, all from Part 1 of The Hobbit.  The photo of Bilbo (Martin Freeman) is actually a postage stamp put out especially for the arrival of the movie.  Sorry for the bad quality of the photo but what with the weather and trying to photograph long distance, and everything (excuses, excuses....)  The second picture is a truly long-range one, taken from across the other side of the harbour, in front of Te Papa Tongarewa (the Museum of New Zealand).

P.S.:  J informs me that we did 6 (count them, six!) swims last month October, at Hataitai Beach, Wellington, New Zealand.  I said earlier that we'd done 5.  Goodness, we do so many nowadays, it's hard to keep count.  It's hard to remember that a few years ago, we were doing one a month and staying in for only a few minutes because we were scared of getting hyperthermia (or is that hypothermia, I never know!)

Wellington Airport ,Gollum from Weta Workshop

I trotted down to Wellington Airport this afternoon and discovered Gollum from "Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit".  Made by Weta Workshop to welcome people to the middle of Middle Earth.  Wow, what workmanship.  It was just such a pity that the light coming through the windows, plus the ceiling spotlights made it a bit difficult to get photographs.  But.... congrats, Weta, what a magnificent job.

Russell Crowe and me (plus Hobbit stars)

I felt sad when it was announced that film actor Russell Crowe and his wife had split.  I never used to think much of Crowe's telephone-throwing and tantrum antics.  In other words, I paid attention to the press who must hound Crowe all the time. 

A year or so ago, he appeared at a charity cricket match at the Basin Reserve in Wellington, in aid of the Christchurch earthquake victims  (his cousin is a New Zealand top cricketer).  Crowe was also born in New Zealand.  Many of the Hobbit cast took part in the cricket match.

I was standing by an enclosure when Crowe went past.  I asked the woman standing next to me if she would take a photo of me with Crowe in the background.  From halfway up some steps, Crowe noticed what was going on.  He came back down and over to me.  He asked the woman to take a proper photo of us.  After she'd done that he said, "Let's take another one, just for luck.".

He was a true gentleman.  And here's a photo.

I also took this very (very) long-range photo of  Ian McKellen (Gandalf), Mark Hadlow (dwarf), and Martin Freeman (Bilbo).

and just for your viewing pleasure, here is picture I took of Ian McKellen.

Middle-Earth Count-down Clock to Hobbit Premier

I live in Miramar, Wellington, New Zealand.  And being that I live in Miramar, home of Weta Workshop, Weta Digital, and Peter Jackson, I have a fairly intense interest in the coming world premier of "The Hobbit" (part 1).  Okay we've got the world premier, just like we did for LOTR: The Return of the King.  But I well remember some star in Hollywood dismissing our earlier  "world premier" as of no consequence and when the movie had it's premier in Hollywood a few days later, that would be the real one.

Who cares?  Wellington will go all out for our big day.  And last week, our mayor announced a count-down clock on the top of the Embassy Theatre, ticking down the hours. We saw it (working) on television.

I hiked down to the Embassy this morning.  Well, actually I drove, so sue me.  I went down with the express purpose of photographing the clock.  Naturally, when I parked, I realised I didnt have my camera.  But, thanks to my swimming buddy, J who told me to always keep an old camera in the car, I was prepared.

But not prepared for the clock not operating!

Anyway, here are some pics of the Embassy Theatre at the end of Courtenay Place.  What looks like a giant creepy-crawlie(a weta?)  is a Weta sculpture.  Note the movie camera at the top of it. 

Look to the top of the theatre and you will see neon signs that refer to Wellington being the middle of Middle Earth.  In the centre of these two signs.... no clock!  Sorry about that.

PS:  Second swim for October.... done!  I must admit I'm a bit worried whether we can get more swims in by end of month.  The weather has not been kind to us.  And now that I've opened my big mouth and said,we're trying for five swims (oh dear), per month, I'm sure that J is giving me the evil eye.

Miramar All Blacks Sign

Well, after me posting a photo of the "All Blacks" sign a a few days ago, today it appears that, within the week, the sign is coming down.  "Wellington Blown Away" (official name) is to take its place.  This means it will just be the word "Wellington" but the last few letters will look as if they are blowing away with the wind.  Wellington is, of course, known as "Windy Wellington". 
Originally, the sign was going to be "Wellywood" - such bad taste.  The signs are made by Weta Workshop (multiple academy award winners).  The new sign should be up within the week.

Here's a pic of part of the Miramar Peninsula.  It's very unusual to see horses on the peninsula.  I can only think that they're kept in a field at the top of the hill (where up until a few days ago Peter Jackson was filming village scenes for "The Hobbit", part 2 - incidentally, A's daughter has been an extra on the set for something like 28 days).

Well, my "it-isn't-a-cold-it's-just-through-spraying-the-garden sore throat has now turned into a full blown head cold.  Feeling sorry for myself and eating so much ice cream and honey that A, my health-food conscious friend is horrified by what I'm putting into my mouth.
Yesterday was such a beautiful day, the tide was right, and J was obviously all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, aching to get in another swim, but I had to back off because of my cold.  I feel awful about this.  J, you can go in by yourself, if you want.....