California and Kickstarter

Nothing like sun-tanned hairy feet.

California was in one word....awesome.
Our trip was long but we made it. We graced Hollywood with our best hobbit manners. We took pictures with other tourists at the Hollywood sign and even got them to do the wave with us. I think they quite liked us after they got over the shock of our pointy ears.

Once we had had first and second breakfast we made our way to Warner Brothers Studios. Trying to get tickets to the Ellen show is harder than most would think and since our trip was spurred by a spontaneous desire to deliver our gifts personally, we didn't have a lot of time to get the tickets the old fashion way. So we just showed up.
The guards at The WB were a little nervous at first, what with three full-on hobbits and two camera people following in tow, but they warmed up to us pretty quick and we were having a great chat when the supervisor to the Ellen show came to see us too. He took our gifts for Ellen, told us our journey was brilliant, and then took our contact information and website address.
Later he came back, and though the studio audience was full, he gave us passes to the Riff Raff room behind the stage so that we could still come to cheer on Ellen.
We had someone claiming to be Ellen re-tweeting about our trip in January, but we are not sure it is really her, but hey, its one more fan supporting us who just happens to like Ellen too or it really is Ellen herself.
As of right now, we three hobbits are getting ready to leave very soon. Tell your friends, especially if you have any in New Zealand. Again, we can't reveal too much right now since it's not final, but lets just say things are on the up-and -up. Mark your calendars for January 31st people and get ready to celebrate this momentous occasion, the hobbits are FINALLY going home.
It's been such a wonderful adventure, we want to share it with everyone, so tell your friends and family, we have started a kickstarter account to fund our documentary about how this awesome social media experiment has worked so well. If you want prizes such as t-shirts, posters, signed documentary films or even personal skype interviews with the hobbits check out kickstarter.com and search road to the shire to help us out.
Well, thanks again everyone. We will let you know what happens as things progress.

Hobbits leaving for New Zealand January 31st and Ellen Twitter Blitz Round 2!

Its official! The Hobbits are leaving for New Zealand January 31st.  It has been a long hard journey, but the Shire is within sight. Last minute details are being taken care of and certain hobbit events are being planned with the New Zealand locals. It's too soon to say exactly what we are planning while in New Zealand...but lets just say its going to be epic and is going to involve certain Lord of the Rings movie set locations. :)

On another note, over the Christmas holiday we spend our days crafting the most beautiful arts.  We want to send these crafted beauty's to Ellen Degenerous and Stephen Colbert. We made both of them 4 foot high portraits of their faces as hobbits and bobble heads of them as them as hobbits. These precious gifts, we feel, cannot go to waste. So to Colbert, we are sending his gifts with a friend headed to New York in the next few weeks. For Ellen, we decided to give them to her personally.

Yes, that's right. The hobbits are headed to the sunny beaches of California. (A prior trip to the ultimate Shire trip.) We want to let Ellen know we are coming, so we are doing a Massive Ellen Twitter Blitz Round Two!  

This Thursday send tweets to Ellen #hostthehobbit and ask her kindly to please spare a moment for us to see her and give her our gifts we labored so hard to make.

Thanks to everyone who has been with us throughout this journey. We can't do this without you and we wouldn't have made it this far without the support of our fans. So, tell your friends, your family, your elderly neighbor, your dog. Tell everyone!  Tell them, that the hobbits are going to New Zealand!

Ellen Twitter Blitz

With Thanksgiving around the corner, we find it only fitting that one of our heroes, Ellen, be properly thanked for all that she does to make people’s dreams come true. And although she would undoubtedly appreciate a nice personal note, we are all about utilizing social media to do ridiculously intense things.

Therefore, we will be sending Ellen an awesomely large number of tweets thanking her for supporting the dreams of fans.

This Thursday, Nov. 17 we encourage anyone and everyone to help us by:

-tweeting thx to Ellen

-mentioning @roadtotheshire in your tweet

-hash tagging #HostTheHobbits to see if Ellen wont help us out too!

One Dish to Rule Them All - Recipes

(Big thanks to http://www.cooksillustrated.com/ for hooking us up with these winning dishes)

BILBO'S BREAKFAST BAKED APPLES

INGREDIENTS

4 large apples , large, (about 2 pounds), one strip of peel from stem end removed, rinsed, dried, and cored (see illustration below)

1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon or more to taste

1 cup apple cider (preferably unfiltered) or enough to come 1/2 inch up side of pan 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place apples in 9-inch Pyrex pie pan or 8-inch-square baking pan. Mix cinnamon and sugar, adding more cinnamon if desired, then sprinkle over and inside apple cavities. Mix cider and vanilla extract, and pour in pan.

2. Bake apples, basting every 15 minutes, until tender when pierced with thin, sharp knife or cake tester, 45 to 55 minutes. Be careful not to overbake, or skins will split, causing apples to lose their shape. Serve warm. (Can be cooled to room temperature, covered, and refrigerated for 2 days. Reheat before serving.)

SCRAMBLED EGGS WITH BACON, ONION, AND PEPPER JACK CHEESE

INGREDIENTS 

12 large eggs 

3/4 teaspoon table salt 

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 

6 tablespoons half-and-half 

4 slices bacon (about 4 ounces), halved lengthwise, then cut crosswise into 1/2-inch pieces 

1 medium onion , chopped medium (about 1 cup) 

1 tablespoon unsalted butter 

1.5 ounces Pepper Jack cheese or Monterey Jack, shredded (about 1/2 cup) 

1 teaspoon minced fresh parsley leaves (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Crack eggs into medium bowl; add salt, pepper, and half-and-half. Beat with dinner fork until thoroughly combined.

2. Cook bacon in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until browned, 4 to 5 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer bacon to paper towel-lined plate; discard all but 2 teaspoons bacon fat. Add onion to skillet and cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned, 2 to 4 minutes; transfer onion to second plate.

3. Thoroughly wipe out skillet with paper towels, add butter, and set over medium heat. When butter foams, swirl to coat bottom and sides of skillet, then pour in eggs. With heatproof rubber spatula, stir eggs constantly, slowly pushing them from side to side, scraping along bottom of skillet and then around sides, and lifting and folding eggs as they form curds. Do not over-scramble, as curds formed will be too small. Cook eggs until large curds form but eggs are still very moist, 2 to 3 minutes. Off heat, gently fold in onion, cheese, and half of bacon until evenly distributed; if eggs are still underdone, return skillet to medium heat for no longer than 30 seconds. Divide eggs among individual plates, sprinkle with remaining bacon and parsley, and serve immediately

MELON SMOOTHIES

Makes 4 1/2 cups, enough for 4 servings. Published May 1, 2002.

INGREDIENTS

1 medium banana (ripe, about 4 ounces), peeled and cut crosswise into eight pieces 

3.5 cups watermelon , cantaloupe, or honeydew 1- to 2-inch cubes 

1/3 cup whole milk 

1/3 cup white cranberry juice or apple juice

pinch table salt 

3-6 teaspoons granulated sugar 

2-3 teaspoons lemon juice 

3 ice cubes (about 1 1/2 ounces total)

INSTRUCTIONS

Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper; arrange banana and melon in single layer on baking sheet. Freeze fruit until very cold, but not frozen, about 10 minutes. In blender, puree cold fruit, milk, juice, salt, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, and ice until uniformly smooth, 10 to 15 seconds. Taste for sugar and lemon; if desired, add more sugar or lemon and blend until combined, about 2 seconds longer. Serve immediately.

OFFICIAL MOVIE BLOG LOVE

Well if you haven't been visiting the official blog for the Hobbit movies you should, and by the way Road to the Shire is on the front page today! Pretty cool. Thanks to all the people working hard on An Unexpected Journey and There and Back Again. You all are amazing! Visit the blog and follow! Check out the episode of Dining with the Dean too!

For All the Doubters...and Those Who Don't Pay Attention, or Perhaps are Inclined to Snap Judgements

Dear friends

We have greatly appreciated all the wonderful support from all of you LOTR fans out there. The Road to the Shire is thriving and its all because of the awesomeness of all of you. It's really amazing to see the kindness, generosity, and passion of fellow fans. Occasionally we get some nay-Sayers or people that seem to have a negative reaction to what we are doing. We have tried to address the concerns presented below by highlighting a recent question on our guestbook. 

(Question submitted by Adam see guestbook for details)
@Adam
You've mentioned that you have looked at our site. Perhaps we can point out some information that is easily found.

1. Road to the Shire is a social experiment meant to bring Tolkien fans together to see if it is possible to interact with one of the greatest stories/films of all time.

2. We have made quite public from the very beginning that we are making a documentary about the whole process and effort.

3. Is it possible? Absolutely.

4. What about our height? Do you know the height of Martin Freeman? Elijah Wood? 5'7" and 5'6". Most anyone that has paid any attention to the films know that Hobbits are shot with two actors (one average size, and one little person). They are not really 3ft tall. Using forced depth of field and doubles the hobbit effect is created. They also use compositing. I would recommend the DVD extra features on any of the trilogy films as a reference. Any scene you see Bilbo or Frodo with other Hobbits there are average size people playing the hobbits around them. This is why they have two sets for each scene (one scale, and one large than life)

5. Have we ever specified what "extra" means? Well we've tried about a million times to say that we just want to be involved--as extras (in any fashion: men, elves, tree stumps, orcs, anything...OR we've said we'd be willing to be water boys, elvish squires, pages in the shops of Weta, or interns, anything for Peter.

6. Will we feel guilty about creating this once in a lifetime event and trying to bring fans together and promote one of the coolest films of all time wilst making a documentary about the whole thing? No. Absolutely not.

7. Work visas? Have we ever suggested that we would require payment for our role as "extras?" No. If you are not "working" you do not require a visa. Also it is not impossible to get a work visa. People's imaginations are so limited in this one. Other extras have been selected who are not New Zealanders (see internet). The goals of Road to the Shire are very clear: Bring Fans together, see if they could really have an influence, document the experience, try to do something that's never been done before with fans interacting with a movie, promote the film and generate excitement for its release. Are we working? Yes. Very hard. We have jobs and second full-time jobs in trying to promote road to the shire. Is there any kind of  sneaky motive? Not at all. If we succeed, everyone who has supported us will have claim on our success and bragging rights to any success we achieve. It's not about us Hobbitses. It's about fans. We're not sure how we can make this more clear, but we will try our hardest.

8. Why money? Well simply put, as we are working our hardest to pull together funds to a. get Peter's attention, b. fly to New Zealand, and c. to make a documentary it will cost money. We are contributing as much as we can ourselves. Can we do it alone? No. Is it wrong to try to raise additional funds with help from those who share our interest and dream? Not at all. Again it's not about money, it's about the power and capacity of fandom. Hope this helps to clarify. I mean we thought we said this but apparently no matter how hard you try some people just make up their mind before really taking the time to find out. If you have any questions we'd be happy to talk with you--literally. You can reach us at roadtotheshire@gmail.com

To all you fans and supporters, thank you for being willing to dream with us.

Toad, Beri, and Olo
The Hobbits of Road to the Shire

We love you. Really.

Errand Boy Shout Out to Road to the Shire

We were just alerted to this superhero vlog Errandboy and wanted to give him some love on our blog for shouting out to us on his youtube channel. Check him out, subscribe, and leave a comment.