Desolation of Smaug Pictures: A Long-Awaited Update

Ok, so I've gotten really far behind on the posts. Over the next few days you'll witness my miserable attempt to catch up. First up is a batch of (relatively) new Desolation of Smaug photos . . . some of which I may have posted before, but I decided to post again to have them all on a single page. There is a lot of good stuff here, so enjoy!

New Desolation of Smaug Trailer Tomorrow + New Poster

Hobbit news! MSN has released an exclusive new poster for the upcoming The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug.

A new trailer for the Desolation of Smaug is being released tomorrow, so stay tuned: I'll get it posted up ASAP tomorrow morning.

Later . . .

Desolation of Smaug Updates: New pics of Tauriel and Post-Smaug Dale!

Has it been a while since I posted? Yes. Definitely. But then again, not much has happened Hobbit-related in a while. At least, not much that I really care about. But just over the past few days two new pictures have been released (see above and below) and rumors are that next week we'll get our first TH:TDSU trailer! So, I guess I'd better start being active around here again.

Friday at the Mathom-House: Abe Papakhian

Friday is here again folks, and this time we're enjoying the amazing illustrations of Abe Papkhian. You can check out all of Abe's work over on Deviantart.com. Continuing last week's theme of hand-drawn art, Abe's illustrations are all pencil or watercolor. Now, I'm not sure if you'll agree, but I feel like there is definitely something Brother's Hildebrandt about Abe's style. I'm a fan. Jump past the break to see even more awesome Hobbit and LOTR art.

Strangers in a Strange Land: Thranduil and Legolas

So, before I start this post, two funny things: first off, if you're hoping to find a good picture of this father-son elf duo, just be aware that googling "Legolas and Thranduil"will lead to a pile of garbage you'll have to dig through to get anything remotely resembling a descent photo; second, I decided to do a post about Thranduil and Legolas last night, and then to my surprise I found that Stephen Colbert had scooped me! Jump past the brea and take a look at this funny April Fool's video from Mr. Jackson (Colbert jumps on at 1:27):

An Unexpected Journey: WETA Digital Effects

Past the jump you'll find three incredibly interesting (and informative videos) about the techniques that WETA used to create the Great Goblin, Azog and Gollum. I was particularly interested to learn that switching Azog to an all-digital character was a very late-in-the-process move. Enjoy!

Incoming: The Desolation of Smaug

So . . . this has been floating around the interwebs for weeks now, but seeing as how I've been out o' the country for a while, I thought I'd better jump back into the whole blog thing ASAP. So . . . here goes.

BILBO IN THE FREAKING LONELY MOUNTAIN! SCRAMBLING THROUGH A PILE OF GOLD!

Awesome . . .

More posts coming soon . . . I promise.

A Review––The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Wow. Just wow. That was quite the movie. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey was every bit the adventure it claimed to be. And like any adventure, it had its share of good parts, fantastic parts, not-so-good parts, and (in my opinion) some very-well timed funny parts as well. I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite being a bit apprehensive after having read a lot of mixed reviews over the past few days. How did it stack up against the LOTR trilogy? Difficult to say, really. It was a different story, with different goals and motivations. But, if forced to rank AUJ against the LOTR films, I'd have to say I thought it at least as good as ROTK, better than TT and nearly as good as FOTR. Of course, I've had a lot of time to think (and re-watch) the LOTR films, so my final opinion will undoubtedly change in the future. I'll dive into the details after the break . . . so read on, Tolkien fan, and see what An Unexpected Journey  has in store for you.

New Warg Photos

Finally! Some up-close pictures of the Wargs. I have to admit that unlike some fans, I always kind of liked the Wargs in original LOTR movies. But even having admitted that, I must confess that these wargs look a whole lot better. Awesome is the appropriate word here. Jump past the break to see another great pic!

Bard the Bowman!

 The folks over at comicbookmovie.com have leaked the first images of Bard the Bowman! I have to admit, he looks pretty cool . . . though a little more action-hero than I had imagined him. But whatever. It's just cool to see him leaping over the rooftops of Laketown during Smaug's attack. (Oh . . . spoiler alert. Oops . . .) Jump past the break to see more images!

Denney's 'Exclusive' Bag End Featurette

Denney's Bag End featurette has broken loose on the interwebs . . . it's not all that secret anymore. Enjoy!

Two Previews of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Soundtrack!

Old Friends

Radagast the Brown

Preview of Howard Shore's 'Radagast the Brown'

Fansite theonering.net has posted a link to an amazing preview of the song 'Radagast the Brown' from the upcoming The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey soundtrack. All I can say is that the song is at once familiar and completely unexpected. I loved it. Follow this link to go hear it yourself!

3D Hobbit Posters!

Thanks to DarkJackal and Narflet from theonering.net for posting the link to some of the amazing 3D posters that were seen at ComicCon. The posters were created by Nels Israelson and they are fantastic. You can see the 3D posters in higher resolution at his site. Jump past the break to see more of them!

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey TV Spots

The 1st and 2nd TV spots for The Hobbit! Enjoy!!

 

Friday at the Mathom-House: Jian Gou

 It's a long time since we've had a good Friday at the Mathom-House around these parts, but I came across some of these amazing stained-glass illustrations by Jian Gou on theonering.net, and I couldn't resist tracking down all them and showing them off. In terms of awesome-ness, they pretty much speak for themselves, don't you agree? Read on past the break for more.

Better Late than Never . . . New Dwarf Pics and Descriptions!

Ok, I apologize for the extra long break in posts (and even this one is going to have to be a quicky). My family and I just made a long move to Seattle, we're still in the middle of unpacking, and we don't really have internet access yet. In fact, at the moment I am mooching of our apartment complex's rec room computer. Anyways, while I've been busy shoving boxes around, the rest of the world has gotten a glimpse of some amazing new Hobbit pics, courtesy of the new iOS Hobbit app that was recently released. No, I'm not glaring jealously at all you iPhone and iPad owners out there. I'm not. Really.

In addition to the awesome new pics, the app gives official descriptions of each of the dwarves in Thorin's Company, which I'll include below the break. Enjoy!

More Pics of Dwarves and Thranduil!

Thanks to DarkJackal for alerting us to some more awesome Hobbit pics from an "activity" book available in the UK. Hands down my favorite is this shot of Thorin & Co. on their way to the Lonely Mountain. Jump past the break to get a look at the rest of them!

Thranduil revealed! Oh . . . and Saruman too . . .

Finally, some more Hobbit pics! Call me spoiled . . . but I was getting pretty tired of this post SDCC picture drought we've been in. I mean, it's been what, three weeks? Anyways, folks over at theonering.net gave us this fantastic image of the White Council (including for the first time Saruman the White), and even better, our first glimpse of Thranduil, the Woodland King. If you're not afraid of some major spoilers, jump past the break to have a looksie at Legolas' dad:

Fridays at the Mathom-House: Chris Rahn

After a long hiatus, we've got another Friday at the Mathom-House! It's been a long time, but believe me, it was worth the wait. Today we'll be looking at a single painting by Chris Rahn. Now, I now that usually more pieces are featured each week, but this illustration was the artist's only Tolkien-related piece; however, it was so good, I just couldn't pass up the chance to show it off. Jump past the break to see the full painting in all its glory!