December 15 - 21 Weekly Recap

What has been happening in the world of Tolkien fandom!

A new poster, interviews, videos, announcements, fan creations, and more!

• Here is a humorous Vine post from Sesame Street featuring Ian McKellen and Gandalf!

• Lot's 'n lot's of Lego's! Check out a 56-inch tall model of Erebor made from 80,000 pieces of Lego here, and  an amazing model of Rivendell made from 200,000 pieces of Lego here! 

• Still on the the topic of Lego's, a trailer for the Lego The Hobbit video-game has been released!

• Never interview dwarves. The Sydney Morning Herald found out their mistake when they interviewed not one, not two, but seven dwarves! 

• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug has been nominated for five Critic's Choice Awards: Best Art Direction, Best Costume Design, Best Make-up, Best Visual Effects, and Best Actress in an Action Movie. Go Weta  and Evangeline Lilly! 

• Another poster! 

• The cast of The Hobbit The Desolation of Smaug sings "All I Want for Christmas is You." Some are shameless and sing, actually quite well. Others... not so much. Enjoy! 

• Wondering what might be in the extended edition of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug? Several members of the cast talk about scenes they shot that were not in the movie in this interview from Total FIlm. 

• The Los Angeles Times have some very interesting interviews with Richard Armitage and Ian McKellen. 

• SKIP Magazine, an Austrian cinema Magazine, features interviews with Richard Armitage and Lee Pace. 

• Fan-made The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Extended Edition booklets! The chief editor of the Russian Tolkien site Henneth-Annun.ru, TheHutt, has created this sadly lacking part of the extended edition set! If you own a copy of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Extended Edition, download the booklet here. 

• The Spiders of 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug,' an article from The New York Times

• Some pretty awesome LOTR artwork made by Sean and Bill Robinson can be found here

• Rhett Allain from Wired discusses how realistic it is for dwarves to stand up in floated barrels - very nerdy, but very interesting. 

• Official Visual Companion app for The Hobbit has been announced! Find out more here. 

• The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug has passed $300 million in the box office!