I see we've been added to the official list of Tolkien Smials on the Tolkien Society (UK)'s website.
We're RIGHT down the bottom! Which, geographically speaking, is exactly where we belong!
Welcome to Welly-moot - the official blog of the Wellington Tolkien Smial.
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Welly-moot 0.7 (Jan 25, 2012)
I'd been trying unsuccessfully to meet up with a few people over the past few weeks, and had thought of a better way - I set up an impromptu Welly-moot meeting instead. It was supposed to be three or four people, it ended up being eleven!
The meeting format was the same as the moots before - turn up, greet, get acquainted, buy coffee and cake, and catch up on Tolkienish things.
As you can see, we achieved the goals with ease!
Rachel and Judy had been travelling through the country, and Honey is temporarily a Wellington citizen. Kumi has been to a few of the meetings already. Martyn had been in touch with me via email to discuss Tolkien stuff in the past, and Kris and I needed to get together again to discuss the running of the Moots.
Was a fun afternoon, and more successful than my two-day planning would suggest!
- Jack
The meeting format was the same as the moots before - turn up, greet, get acquainted, buy coffee and cake, and catch up on Tolkienish things.
As you can see, we achieved the goals with ease!
 |
| From left - Kumi, Alex (for once not taking the photo!) & me, Martyn, Rachel, Kris, and Judy. Missing are Shu (taking the photo), Rebecca & Peter, and Honey |
Rachel and Judy had been travelling through the country, and Honey is temporarily a Wellington citizen. Kumi has been to a few of the meetings already. Martyn had been in touch with me via email to discuss Tolkien stuff in the past, and Kris and I needed to get together again to discuss the running of the Moots.
Was a fun afternoon, and more successful than my two-day planning would suggest!
- Jack
Monday, January 16, 2012
The Middle-earth Song (by Fortinbras Proudfoot)
After the Dec 22 (2012) Welly-moot, Peter Kenny from the Fortinbras Proudfoot Esq. Foundation sent me another song to use on this website. Peter (aka Fortinbras Proudfoot) had earlier recited one of his poems for our group - here is another one (reprinted here with his permission):
The Middle-earth Song:By Fortinbras Proudfoot
Tune: "I'm a Believer".
I thought Middle-earth was only in my dreams,
A land found in books and movies;
That has now all changed,
I've travelled to a land;
Imagination's now reality. Chorus:
I travelled that land;
There's no more dreaming.
Through Middle-earth;
And places so real.
I'm amazed....Yeh!
No more dreaming,
There's no dreaming anymore.
First we toured down to Bibo's Hobbiton.
Then off to Mount Doom and Mordor.
Walked Emyn Muil ;
Sat by Gollum's Stream.
Saw the mighty River Anduin; Chorus:
We entered Rivendell the Elven realm;
And magical Lothlorien.
Wore the Elven Cloak;
We "Got off the Road";
And strolled through Gardens of Isengard. Chorus:
In the South we climbed up to Edoras;
Travelled across the Rohan plains.
On the Pelennor,
Charged across the fields,
Like the bravest horsemen from Rohan. Chorus:
Our road led to Fangorn and Amon Hen,
And even to the Wizard's Vale;
The Ford of Bruinen,
Mighty Argonath,
With the Misty Mountains all around. Chorus:
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Wellington's own Tolkien group - finally!
Welcome to the official blog of Wellington's very own Tolkien group, Welly-moot. It's been years in coming, but here it finally is. We're now officially affiliated to the UK's Tolkien Society, making us a real "Smial".
Tolkien's works have inspired many people around the world into creativity. Of course, Wellington has a few people who have taken that to extremes, so it seemed an unnatural situation to me that we did not yet have a Tolkien Society or Smial here in town. With this group, we hope to correct that!
The purpose of this group is to bring together people in Wellington who are interested in discussing the works of Tolkien in an informal setting. There's no tests, no grades, no "inner circles of wizardry", and no necessity to memorise parts of the Silmarillion. If your only interest lies in gazing deep into the eyes of Orlando Bloom's version of Legolas then I'm sure we can accommodate that - however if you know the answer to whether Balrogs have wings or not, then we're the group to come to also. Really, Tolkien is the red thread between us all, and we're keen to come together and celebrate his life's works.
We propose to meet every two months, on approximately the last Sunday of the even numbered months. So, this year's schedule is as follows:
I'm currently setting up a Welly-moot presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ as well, and in he next few weeks I'll be linking them to this blog. Generally, this blog will be the main page for news, although Facebook tends to carry a lot of our online discussions. Join them all, they're all free!
Tolkien's works have inspired many people around the world into creativity. Of course, Wellington has a few people who have taken that to extremes, so it seemed an unnatural situation to me that we did not yet have a Tolkien Society or Smial here in town. With this group, we hope to correct that!
The purpose of this group is to bring together people in Wellington who are interested in discussing the works of Tolkien in an informal setting. There's no tests, no grades, no "inner circles of wizardry", and no necessity to memorise parts of the Silmarillion. If your only interest lies in gazing deep into the eyes of Orlando Bloom's version of Legolas then I'm sure we can accommodate that - however if you know the answer to whether Balrogs have wings or not, then we're the group to come to also. Really, Tolkien is the red thread between us all, and we're keen to come together and celebrate his life's works.
We propose to meet every two months, on approximately the last Sunday of the even numbered months. So, this year's schedule is as follows:
- February 26th, 2:00pm at the Embassy Cinema
- April 29th, 2:00pm at the Embassy Cinema
- July 1st, 2:00pm at the Embassy Cinema (*Note the new date!)
- August 26th, 2:00pm at the Embassy Cinema
- October 28th, 2:00pm at the Embassy Cinema
- December 30th, 2:00pm at the Embassy Cinema
I'm currently setting up a Welly-moot presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ as well, and in he next few weeks I'll be linking them to this blog. Generally, this blog will be the main page for news, although Facebook tends to carry a lot of our online discussions. Join them all, they're all free!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Mushrooms (by Fortinbras Proudfoot)
At the December 22 (2011) Welly-moot, we were visited by Peter Kenny from the Fortinbras Proudfoot Esq. Foundation. Peter (aka Fortinbras Proudfoot) recited one of his poems for our group (reprinted here with his permission):
MushroomsBy Fortinbras Proudfoot
Dark...Night!
Four hobbit lads set out.
The air it made them shiver,
The moon was just a sliver.
Sneak...Quiet!
There was no one about.
They crept along the hedgerow,
Staying quiet and keeping low.
Hoo...Hoot!
A strange noise in the night.
An old owl in a tree top,
Had startled them to a stop.
Look...See!
Lights shining through the trees.
The farmer's house was alight,
But their goal was now in sight.
Go...Quick!
So little time to pick.
There were mushrooms all around.
The youngsters grabbed all they found.
Bark!... Bark!
The farm dogs were awake.
Four Hobbit lads took to flight,
Running quickly through the night.
Run!... Run!
This wasn't so much fun.
Racing frightened down the lane,
Safely home they hoped to gain.
Hip!... Hooray!
"We whistled all the way.
Found the mushrooms in the park,
And bravely walked in the dark.
Nothing frightened us at all!"
Well, that's the story they told to all.
Welly-moot 0.6 (Dec 22, 2011)
(originally published on the NZ Noldor Blog)
It's almost 11:00pm, and I just got back from the Embassy Cinema in Wellington, where the 6th Welly-moot just took place. It was the second meeting in the last month - the previous meeting wasn't quite as well attended as I'd hoped, but this one made up for it. All in all I think there were 14 people there, and a lot of business was discussed.
Apart from myself and my beautiful wife, we met up with Mervi from Finland, and Kris who is living here in the Wellington region. Mervi represented the two Finnish Tolkien Societies, while Kris and I are halfway through setting up the Wellington one (but more on that later). New Zealander Erica from TheOneRing.net joined soon afterwards, and then Peter Kenny (Australian's Brisbane Tolkien Appreciate Society) and Astrid (Austria's Tyrol Tolkien Smial) came in as well. Peter and Astrid joined me on a LOTR tour yesterday, in fact they are both interviewed on the TVNZ News segment about our reaction to the new Hobbit Trailer. Peter has also written about our meeting on his own blog.
Also in attendance were Paul from the UK, Brendon and his partner from Australia, and three lost backpackers I found on the side of the hill during yesterday's tour, Viviane, Sven and Kim.
If that lineup wasn't special enough yet, we had a ANOTHER special guest for the evening - Todd Rippon also joined us, and he spoke about his time as an Oliphaunt rider, and his ultimate demise at the hands of that cruel elf, Legolas (but "that still only counts as one!").
Todd had some exclusive photos from his time on the set, which unfortunately I can't reproduce here but were enjoyed by all present (so attend next time!).
During the evening, Peter Kenny also recited some of his Hobbit poetry, which went down a treat, as did the cake and the ice coffees.
Other business of course included a discussion about the new Hobbit Trailer released yesterday. I "happened" to have it with me - it's downloadable from Apple.com after all, and my iPad 2 does the job very nicely, thank you! In fact I think we played the trailer 3 or 4 times, in all. Also on hand was our newsclip from yesterday, of course (that's definitely bragging rights), and a small clip from The Hunt For Gollum as well, once the discussion mentioned it. It's a solid piece of Middle-earth film, and if you haven't seen it yet you definitely should!
One final point that was discussed was that Kris and I are definitely setting up the official Tolkien Sciety in some form here in Wellington, and that will be announced properly as things happen in the near future. I'm hoping that by the next meeting we will have the official approval from the UK as well. Exciting times!
- Jack
It's almost 11:00pm, and I just got back from the Embassy Cinema in Wellington, where the 6th Welly-moot just took place. It was the second meeting in the last month - the previous meeting wasn't quite as well attended as I'd hoped, but this one made up for it. All in all I think there were 14 people there, and a lot of business was discussed.
 | |
| Clockwise from me in the green shirt - Peter Kenny, Todd Rippon, Astrid, Erica, Kris, Viviane, Sven, Kim, Mervi, and Paul. The others joined later. |
Apart from myself and my beautiful wife, we met up with Mervi from Finland, and Kris who is living here in the Wellington region. Mervi represented the two Finnish Tolkien Societies, while Kris and I are halfway through setting up the Wellington one (but more on that later). New Zealander Erica from TheOneRing.net joined soon afterwards, and then Peter Kenny (Australian's Brisbane Tolkien Appreciate Society) and Astrid (Austria's Tyrol Tolkien Smial) came in as well. Peter and Astrid joined me on a LOTR tour yesterday, in fact they are both interviewed on the TVNZ News segment about our reaction to the new Hobbit Trailer. Peter has also written about our meeting on his own blog.
Also in attendance were Paul from the UK, Brendon and his partner from Australia, and three lost backpackers I found on the side of the hill during yesterday's tour, Viviane, Sven and Kim.
If that lineup wasn't special enough yet, we had a ANOTHER special guest for the evening - Todd Rippon also joined us, and he spoke about his time as an Oliphaunt rider, and his ultimate demise at the hands of that cruel elf, Legolas (but "that still only counts as one!").
Todd had some exclusive photos from his time on the set, which unfortunately I can't reproduce here but were enjoyed by all present (so attend next time!).
During the evening, Peter Kenny also recited some of his Hobbit poetry, which went down a treat, as did the cake and the ice coffees.
Other business of course included a discussion about the new Hobbit Trailer released yesterday. I "happened" to have it with me - it's downloadable from Apple.com after all, and my iPad 2 does the job very nicely, thank you! In fact I think we played the trailer 3 or 4 times, in all. Also on hand was our newsclip from yesterday, of course (that's definitely bragging rights), and a small clip from The Hunt For Gollum as well, once the discussion mentioned it. It's a solid piece of Middle-earth film, and if you haven't seen it yet you definitely should!
One final point that was discussed was that Kris and I are definitely setting up the official Tolkien Sciety in some form here in Wellington, and that will be announced properly as things happen in the near future. I'm hoping that by the next meeting we will have the official approval from the UK as well. Exciting times!
- Jack
Friday, December 9, 2011
Welly-moot 0.5 (Dec 09, 2011)
The smallest meeting - but very significant. Originally, tonight was supposed to be a meeting with two representatives from TheOneRing.net but it ended up not eventuating.
Instead, I met up with Kris, who has attended earlier Welly-moots, and we discussed setting up as an official Tolkien Society spinoff - a "Smial". The official plans are now underway, so watch this space!
- Jack
Instead, I met up with Kris, who has attended earlier Welly-moots, and we discussed setting up as an official Tolkien Society spinoff - a "Smial". The official plans are now underway, so watch this space!
- Jack
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