Hobbiton Is Here to Stay
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?In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. And you could pay $30 to enter this hole, and take pictures. From Stuff.co.nz:
It was also announced today that [the]Hobbiton [set]on the outskirts of
Matamata, will remain as a permanent visitor attraction after filming is
completed.The set will include 44 Hobbit holes, a stone bridge, and a local hostelry called The Green Dragon.
The attraction will be run by Shire Tours.
God that’s a good idea. I mean, plenty of nerds were already traveling to New Zealand just to see the country where the Lord of the Rings films were made; keeping Hobbiton intact and maintained as a tourist destination will ensure that keeps up for a decade at least, I bet. And it gives nerd pilgrims something awesome and concrete to see, instead of just wandering the New Zealand landscape, trying to squint and figure out where Boromir bought it. Nerds are made happy. New Zealand gets tourism money. Everybody wins! (Via Blastr)
About The Author
Robert Bricken is one of the original co-founders of the site formerly known as Topless Robot, and its first editor-in-chief, serving from 2008-12. He brought the site to prominence with “nerd news, humor and self-loathing” as its motto, raising it from total internet obscurity to a readership in the millions, with help from his savage “FAQ” movie reviews and Fan Fiction Fridays. Under his tenure Topless Robot was covered by Gawker, Wired, Defamer, New York magazine, ABC News, and others, and his articles have been praised by Roger Ebert, Avengers actor Clark Gregg, comedian and The Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman, the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax, and others. He is currently the managing editor of io9.com. Despite decades as both an amateur and professional nerd, he continues to be completely unprepared for either the zombie apocalypse or the robot uprising.