I Am Interviewed (SMITHSONIAN MAGAZINE)

So, I'm happy to say I've been interviewed for a piece on the new Tolkien film. The interview was yesterday morning, and the piece is already up on SMITHSONIAN.COM:

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/tolkien-nerds-guide-hobbit-battle-five-armies-180953681/?preview&no-ist

This is the third of three pieces by the same SMITHSONIAN author, Rachel Nuwer,* concerned mainly with distinguishing the layers of what came from Tolkien (especially when brought in from elsewhere than THE HOBBIT) from what is Jackson's invention. It's also a good place to find out more about what Michael Drout (who wrote his own review, available here**) thinks about the films.

For the two earlier pieces in 'The Tolkien Nerd's Guide to THE HOBBIT', they can be found here (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-tolkien-nerds-guide-to-the-hobbit-186556/) and here (http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/tolkien-nerds-guide-hobbit-desolation-smaug-180948014/). Enjoy!

--JDR


*who's also the author of a number of other interesting pieces on Smithsonian.com (itself an interesting site in general); check out http://www.smithsonianmag.com/author/rachel-nuwer/ for a sampling.

**http://wormtalk.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-hobbit-battle-of-five-armies.html .  I shd note that Drout's judgment of the films is much harsher than mine.