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Some Lucky Canuck might win a trip to New Zealand!

I was alerted to this opportunity to win a trip to New Zealand by my blogger friend Nat from Richard Armitage Fan Blog.  She was contacted by the company who is promoting this prize but since it for Canadians only, she passed the information on to me.

Here is what you could win:
Roundtrip Economy airfare for two (2) from Vancouver, Canada to Queenstown, New Zealand
Ten (10) night’s accommodation for two (2) at the Hilton Hotels & Resorts Queenstown in a deluxe lake-view room
Daily breakfast for two (2) at the Wakatipu Grill, courtesy of Hilton Hotels & Resorts
Follow this link to Tribute.ca to enter the contest:

http://www.tribute.ca/contests/triptonewzealand20121217/?referrer=tribute

You can enter until Feb.10, 2013, so keep trying until then!

For more information, the rules are all laid out here:

http://www.tribute.ca/contests/triptonewzealand20121217/rules.html

Good Luck!

Music to the honour the King

In honour of the birthday of J.R.R. Tolkien (Jan. 3, 1892 - Sept. 3, 1973)

I have collected a bit of a musical tribute to Tolkien's first fantasy adventure The Hobbit,
focusing on my favourite character, Thorin Oakenshield a.k.a the rightful King Under the Mountain
(portrayed in the movie version by Richard Armitage).

GIF from Tumblr by Courtney of somanyvows.tumblr.com

All Tolkien fans would know of this author's wide influence on the fantasy adventure genre (which began with the publication of The Hobbit in 1937, but one might be surprised to discover his many other influences in pop culture, such as in the field of music.

This first musical offering is in a genre called Folk/Viking Metal (an intriguing style mixture) by the northern British band called Windrider.

The King Under the Mountain / Windrider 

For the lyrics click here

Did you know that Led Zeppelin was one of many rock bands that have been inspired by Tolkien's works?  I'll have to admit - I didn't until now.  However I can't admit to being a huge Zeppelin fan. My husband bought the album that this next song is on and he didn't get the reference until now either. But he read The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit long after first hearing this song.

Ramble On / Led Zeppelin

For a composite list of songs with Tolkien influences - check out this web page:
The Tolkien Music List

This next selection has nothing to do with J.R.R. Tolkien or The Hobbit, but its title is reminiscent of Thorin's title of "The King Under the Mountain".  I like to imagine that Tolkien may have been inspired by this music when he was writing his famous works.  And yes, I do know this music has been played ad infinitum in movies and commercials alike, but I still enjoy hearing it!

In the Hall of the Mountain King / Edvard Grieg

Edvard Grieg, a famous Norwegian composer created this music for Henrik Ibsen's musical version of the fairy tale Peer Gynt.  It was first performed in Oslo, Norway in 1876.  Of course, I don't know if Tolkien ever heard this music, but as it is about the hero being chased by Trolls through a cave, it certainly bears much similarity to some scenes in The Hobbit.


This next video is a reading from The Hobbit with illustrations from various artists such as Alan Lee, John Howe, David Wyatt, Greg & Tim Hildebrandt, Ted Nasmith, and Justin Gerard. The beautiful Gaelic Harp music is by the band "Alzibar".

The Hobbit - Misty Mountains / by ambermaykay

But Tolkien's poetry is meant to be sung, and who better than the composer of The Lord of the Rings soundtrack, Howard Shore to put those poems to music!  And who better to sing them, then the dwarves themselves, and their deep voiced leader, Thorin Oakenshield.

The Hobbit - Misty Mountain Song / by bccmee

For more traditional Tolkien inspired music, please visit my previous post:
Songs from Middle Earth

What are some of your favourite Tolkien inspired songs?

Happy New Year 2013!

Now it's time to put the old year behind us and bring out our good wishes for the new one to come. I was thrilled that my last year's wish (which I thought was just a pipe dream) actually came true - when Richard Armitage visited Canada - Toronto, Ontario (to be exact) even if only briefly.  The interviews he gave there were some of his best, IMHO!

RA at Toronto Union Station (photo courtesy of RANet)

I have had a good year here in Blogger land, meeting new bloggers and fans and watching Richard Armitage's career finally begin to take off into the upper echelons of stardom!  (Currently his starmeter on IMDb is at #2 after languishing in the triple digits for years.)  It was wonderful to read the stories of several fans all over the world who were lucky enough to catch a real life glimpse of him, get his autograph or actually have a conversation with him!

We have a lot to look forward to seeing in his career for 2013.

Summer of 2013 will be the debut of Black Sky starring Richard Armitage as teacher from the American midwest who is searching for his son in the aftermath of a tornado.  December 2013 will be part 2 of The Hobbit, which I am sure I will enjoy even more than the first part!

In between those two projects we are hoping he will finally start work on his dream project for a movie about Richard III.  Please read the latest news about it at this blog.

Plus, I am still hoping to hear more about this movie, which has been stalled due to "a certain actor's" casting commitments.  (I am hoping it is Richard they have been waiting for!)

I have so many good wishes for Richard for the coming year, for his career and also for his personal life - too many to list, but mostly they are the same as for you, my dear readers.  As I always wish: May you be happy, healthy, and wise! 

ChRistmAs Wishes to Armitage World

I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday filled with the 4 fabulous "f's"  food, friends family and fun!  I also hope everyone gets the chance to get to a theatre to watch The Hobbit movie over the holidays (more than once if you can)!  I finally got to see it, the week after it opened in Canada.  I will have to post about that soon.

This is the only kind of Blue Christmas 
I would ever want to have.

Unless it is THIS one, kindly shared by Tanni Tani :

Watch the animated version (with audio!) from her website: http://tannni.strana.germany.ru/t.html

But being a romantic at heart, here's what I really like 
at Christmas (and all year through!):

I made this video a couple of Christmases ago, but I hope you don't mind me sharing with you again.

First Impressions - More RA comix