YOU...SHALL NOT...PASS!!!

Disclaimer: This post has nothing educational, revelatory, or inspirational, and instead covers my exploits in Middle Earth.  You have been warned that this post will be awesome.

For those not familiar with the title of this post, this phrase is not what I say to students in my classes who are going to fail a course (although I'm always looking for ways to incorporate Lord of the Rings into my teaching style).  However, for those who wish to inflict psychological damage on their students, head on over to this link to purchase your own "You Shall Not Pass" grading stamp!  (http://www.neatorama.com/2012/02/25/you-shall-not-pass-stamp-for-geeky-teachers/)  And for those not familiar with the iconic scene I'm referencing, here's a YouTube clip for all the visual learners out there.

While I always love to infuse my posts with some pop culture to add some fun, the title of this blog post comes straight from a direct quote from this past weekend, where I got to see Sir Ian McKellen reprise his role as Gandalf on stage and reenact this scene from Fellowship of the Ring (shown above) as a one-man performance. You knew Lord of the Rings was coming into this blog (I did mention it below the title of this blog that this was inevitable after all).  I've managed to restrain myself for 7 to 8 blog posts, but this past weekend was too awesome not to deserve its own post.  For this past weekend was the time I met both Gandalf and Bilbo, and it was awesome in every single way.

My weekend travels took me to Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand.  After a painful 11-hour bus ride to the other side of the North Island, I spent Saturday exploring a large part of the city on foot, starting with taking a peak at the Victoria University campus (considering I'm in the business, it made sense).  After exploring campus and then walking through an underground marketplace inside a car park, the Lord of the Rings-themed weekend kicked off properly with a trip to the Weta Cave.

For those of you unfamiliar, the Weta Workshop is the special effects company that was behind all of the computer effects, prosthetics, and props that were all required for making the Lord of the Rings films (including Gollum).  They are now the second biggest effects company in the world, right behind Pixar (and they recently finished working on some film called "The Avengers").  Since the Workshop itself isn't open to the public for a whole bunch of confidentiality reasons, the Weta Cave was created to be the public face of the company, and although small, had a lot of really cool stuff inside.

Like our dear friend Gollum, who's as cheerful as ever.

After exploring all that is Weta, I went back to the main downtown area of Wellington and unknowingly checked into the city's "party" hostel, which led to a lot of loud music in the middle of the night and several strange encounters with people.  And then, Ian McKellen on stage!

Sir Ian chose to take a break from working on the Hobbit to do a fundraising tour/performance throughout NZ.  This is because in 2011, NZ went through a tough period when the South Island (and Christchurch in particular) was devastated by a series of earthquakes, leaving much of the city currently in ruins.  One of the damaged buildings, the Isaac Theatre Royal, was NZ's third major theatre, and the last stage Sir Ian had performed on when he was last in NZ.  So, this tour was all about fundraising for the restoration of the theatre, with 100% of all ticket and program sales going towards this cause.

The show, called "Ian McKellen on Stage: With Shakespeare, Tolkien, and You," was amazing!  Seriously, this man is hysterical in front of a live audience, and very relatable on stage.  After opening with the famous "YOU SHALL NOT PASS" scene, Sir Ian began to take questions from the audience about anything and everything we would want to know, such as "What did you think of Michael Fassbender's performance as Magneto in X-Men: First Class?" and "What was it like to meet Nelson Mandela?"  Woven through these casual Q&As were other performances from poetry and other selected pieces.  In the second half of the show, the focus was all on Shakespeare, with Sir Ian performing monologues from Romeo & Juliet (where he did scenes as both characters), Richard II, Hamlet, and Macbeth.  Again, an awesome sight to see, as Sir Ian covered a huge range of emotions and personalities across all of these performances.

And then at the end of the show, the entire cast of "The Hobbit" was invited to come up to the stage!  Needless to say, this was the best surprise ever.  Actors included Martin Freeman (who plays the young Bilbo Baggins as well as John Watson in the BBC show "Sherlock"), countless actors who played all of the dwarves, as well as the actor playing the older Bilbo.  Sorry Orlando fans, no Legolas at this shindig.  After the end of the show, Sir Ian and the cast stayed behind to accept further donations in exchange for signing programs and taking pictures with fans.  Needless to say, I was a gracious donator and got a picture with one of the most awesome actors of our time.  The picture has a slight blur, but considering it was taken in the middle of a huge crowd by a girl who randomly agreed to take it for me, I'll take what I can get!!

Revelation: Ian McKellen would be an awesome wingman.

And of course, I can't forget Martin Freeman, whose performance in the TV show Sherlock is absolutely amazing.  I've been a huge fan of the show since I saw the first season a couple years ago, and the quality of the stories, actors, and writing is unparalled.  Knowing that Martin is playing Bilbo this December makes me even more excited to see the film.  Unlike Sir Ian, Martin actually had his fans under much better control and in a very neat line.  And I got to talk with him for a couple minutes too!  Very nice man, who clearly embodies Watson even when he's not playing him.

Josh: "Having fun?" Martin: "Oh absolutely! This is the whoring part of our job, isn't it?" 
Josh: "But at least it's for a good cause!"  Martin:  "Quite right!  This is definitely good whoring."

And so, thus ended a legendary night in the land of Middle Earth!

I didn't just call it a day for the rest of the trip however, and took full advantage of all day Sunday to explore even more of Wellington.  The Botanic Garden, which is up on a hillside on the city and contains a variety of plant life (some of which is endangered), was great to walk through (you get to take a cable car up to the top, then walk back down to the city if you choose).  Once I reached the bottom of the hill, I was right at the Parliament building and got a one-hour of the heart of the NZ government.  Couldn't take any pictures, but it was definitely a great visit.

Then, most of the rest of my day was spent at the Te Papa Museum (also known as the Museum of New Zealand), which is essentially the Smithsonian of NZ.  Six floors of any kind of exhibit you'd be interested in (which for me was WWII history).  Exhibits they had included a Maori "Living Cloaks" exhibit, NZ Fashion through the years, the history of NZ plant and animal life (since no natural mammals are from the country itself), and others.  Definitely a really rich museum with a lot of creative offerings to keep people engaged.  The focus on the Maori culture was extensive, with the museum having its versions of significant Maori structures and countless artifacts to look at.

Don't worry, it's even bigger than it looks.

I was dead tired by the end of the weekend, but it was definitely the trip of a lifetime.  If you want to see many more pictures from my trip, just click the picture of me and the Auckland skyline near the top of the page to be take to my online folder I have set up.