TORn saga book 3

If you haven't read the first and second parts of my personal sage with TheOneRing.net, I suggest it before you dig into this part.

Eight months after the first moment Shannon and I declared, on about our first anniversary, that we would now see if we could get pregnant, she was four weeks away from having Dresden. It was also time for the Oscars and "my" dark horse in the race was "Fellowship Of The Ring," which was nominated for nine Academy Awards. The good folks at TheOneRing.net, especially those on the message boards and those in California, planned to hold an Oscar Party. I was pretty convinced that Ian McKellen's Gandalf performance was subtle and great and probably deserving of a 'Best Actor' win, but I doubted very much an actor in a fantasy film would win such an award.

Still, all movies are about pretending and fantasy, and it seems that pretending somebody less familiar (like immortal wizards) is harder than portraying somebody more obvious and mundane. (Although good movie characters are never mundane, but hopefully you get the point.) Anyhow, I held out some hope for McKellen back then and was quite excited by the prospect of him winning. I felt a win would set the table for the two future movies. I am wiser now, and know the all-powerful Academy will never reward actors in fantasy films.

So back to the matter at hand, I badly wanted to go to California and attend this party. This wasn't a popular desire at home due to the rounded belly-full-of-baby Shannon was lugging around. In fact, there was a remote possibility that Shannon could go into labor while I was away so I think both sets of parents were biting their tongues except for my mother who wasn't biting hers at all and was speaking her mind. I made arrangements to fly in the day of the event and to fly home very early the next morning, meaning that my total time away was less than 18 hours.

Still, I am sure the possibility exists that I will get roasted even still for my decision to go and the at-home tension that it caused. I likely can't explain to anybody's satisfaction but I was 100% certain that Dresden wouldn't be born until I returned. To be on the safe side, we checked with a doctor who didn't think birth was quite upon us. A lot of LOTR Fan Club members were attending the party and staying together. I was a part of the group and yet not a part because I came in last minute and missed out on a lot but felt a lot of gratitude at having an automatic friend or two, even if they barely knew who I was. I was very kindly picked up at the airport.

Ian Smith, who was one of the first people I knew living on the digital-photography frontier with his camera and who is great at recording his experiences with images and words, was on hand as well. I refer you to his account of the event to really catch the flavor. There is even a photo of me in my shiny metallic shirt on his site, which was a way to try not to wear a traditional tux but still be in formal clothes. It may be the only such picture in existence and I didn't have the jacket on for the shot.

I was there as press which gave me permission to mostly walk unmolested and take a lot of photos, including of people I wouldn't know personally for a few years. I have a photo of TORn founder Bill / Corvar leading Peter Jackson into the party as he arrived which I just learned he had never seen and didn't possess. I took a lot of photos of fans and guests and V.I.P.s which later turned out to be McKellen, Jackson, Howard Shore, Richard Taylor, Phillipa Boyens and Fran Walsh.

Remarkably, a woman (Carlene) who was handling press, kept trying to get me to talk to one Chris Pirrotta. I informed her a few times that I was fine. I saw Xoanon's name on TORn all the time and I assumed it was a one-man show with some help from Tehanu the spy in New Zealand. Little did I understand that there were many, many hands behind both the party and the site. Carlene persisted and I kept declining the chance to talk to these TORn folk. Finally, a hand fell on my shoulder and this broad and genuinely friendly guy started talking to me. He was representing TORn and so we had the interview I had turned down probably three times.

Chris was impressive but I didn't understand who he was. He told me he was the "webmaster" but I was slow to comprehend so finally I asked him something like, "What do you have to do with the Website?"

"I own it," he laughed in his friendly way while still delivering the message that I didn't quite get what was going on. Knowing Chris now I find this remembered exchange a fond and funny memory. I did write a newspaper article on the whole affair for the Deseret News. I have a floating, unattributed quote near the end of the story but it reads like classic Richard Taylor, although it could be Jackson as well.

Reading the story now, I see that Chris did get his name in the paper and I wish I had elaborated on the sheer numbers TheOneRing was doing back then. It seems unlikely to be repeated, even with "The Hobbit," films because of the extensive competition in the form of big-time entertainment sites that will be throwing their weight around. This in no way diminishes the accomplishments of TORn at the time. Along with AintItCoolNews and a few other sites, it completely changed the way fans and moviemakers interact. This changed further with offshoot KongIsKing.net which I had some involvement with from the ground up.