M. Mobi: Premiere of 'The Hobbit'

The whole week was filled with program, a hobbit market in particular, which turned out to be a themed merchandise sale. But they had a show of a Weta makeup artist during which he gave an actor an orc face. He also told us that the hobbit's feet took some hours, too, and because of these long times orcs often wear gloves. After the two-hour procedure, he walked through the crowd, surrounded by photographers. In the evening, the large screen showed 'The Fellowship Of The Ring', the shorter cinema version. The following two evenings, the other two movies were shown. At the day of the premiere, two blocks were closed for traffic, yet there was more traffic than ever. I arrived around 12 pm, and there was a considerable crowd already. I strolled along the carpet's length, which I think I read was half a kilometer. It took some time to get to the Embassy Theatre, where a stage looking like a hobbit home was erected. But you might have seen that one on tv. About two or three hours of walking around the crowd later, Felix and Anne (from Opotiki) texted me that they arrived and got some front row space at the carpet. I joined them and we waited for the 5pm pre-show, which was a juggling show to keep the crowd entertained, and the arrival of the famous people. The spectators didn't come here because these people are famous, they are famous because of the spectators. They gave out large cardboards with Air New Zealand logo and a picture of their Hobbit-theme painted plane, for people to collect autographs on them. Felt-tip pens were sold for 5 dollars, but I long ago had made it a habit of carrying mine to mark my food and other stuff. On the blank backsides of three of the cardboards, I wrote 'Tell me where is Gandalf, for I much desire to speak with him' (Ian ASDFASDFASDF was not present), 'To boldly go where no Hobbit has gone before' and 'The Hobbit Episode I: Hope you didn't ruin the prequel'. Others had slogans like 'Gandalf, marry me! ...once it's legal' or 'three horses died for this movie' (Peta, of course). They also gave out wizard's hats, and I got one with the unbeatable arguement of a sunburnt forehead (some days ago, I had lost my bucket hat). When the stars strolled past at last, we collected some signatures, but not enough for my taste, so I asked the other carpeteers to sign. I got a stage doctor, a lawyer, a swordmaker, a shoemaker, a costume designer, another designer, a guy who helped get the plane painted and several others. I even got some of the people who were there just because they know the right people to sign; most of them somewhere between shy and outright embarassed. I explained to them that they can't just tell me that they're not famous, for that's the internet's call to make. It was fun, it trained communication skills and I learned that you can get to a premiere simply because you own a small cinema in a small town. At one point, the endless interviews stopped and the announcer told us to look up in the sky. He then started a countdown, after which nothing happened. He started again, and low overhead, the Air New Zealand plane flew by. That was quite an impressive sight. And that was that. Now, since I wasn't able to find a job in Wellington, I am travelling the country with Felix and Anne. We plan to be in Auckland in a few days to watch the movie ourselves, and on that occasion I'll get myself and internship for the public relation company that works for NZBIO.

My battlecry is uncomprehensible over the cameraperson's laughter, which perhaps is as adequate.