Special Report from Wellington, NZ: The Run-Up to An Expected Premiere for "The Hobbit"

Red Dot Diva is envious. Super envious, actually.

Native kiwis seem to have it all with regards to fictional Middle-Earth. After all, most of the sets seen in the "Lord of the Rings" (LOTR) trilogy and the upcoming movies for "The Hobbit" are based on New Zealand landscapes and landmarks.

With "The Hobbit" movies (there will be three parts!), Peter Jackson has returned as director, together with a host of very familiar faces from the LOTR trilogy, like Sir Ian McKellen as Gandalf the Grey, Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Elijah Wood as Frodo and Andy Serkis as Gollum. Ok, well.... we don't get to see Andy Serkis' face in the movies, but his remarkable contribution to that precioussssss role is undeniably recognizable.

A fresh bunch of actors who have assumed roles in "The Hobbit" movies will soon join the long list of memorable Lord of the Rings cast members. Martin Freeman heads the cast as the younger Bilbo Baggins who will be going on the adventure of his lifetime. The accompanying dwarves on this journey include actors like the very nommy Richard Armitage (Thorin Oakenshield), James Nesbitt (Nofur) and Aidan Turner of "Being Human" fame (Kili). Plus, Red Dot Diva knows that many BBC Sherlock fans are still squeeing over the fact that Benedict Cumberbatch has lent his voice for Smaug the dragon.

Screen Singapore 2012: Chow Yun-Fat and Sophie Marceau To Attend Movie Premieres!

ScreenSingapore is back this year but with a new organizer helming the affair.

The hard work of conceptualizing and bringing the difference pieces together now falls in the capable hands of Reed Exhibitions, the same outfit who, for the last 3 years, has brought local geekdom the Singapore Toy Games and Comics Convention (STGCC).

Wisely enough, this year's ScreenSingapore will be held in conjunction with the more established trade-based Asian Television Forum (ATF) from 4 to 7 December at Marina Bay Sands.

And from the looks of it, ScreenSingapore 2012 seems to be a moderately planned but better organized event compared to last year's. Changing the location to Marina Bay Sands already makes the event seem less logistically-challenged. (Last year's ScreenSingapore was held at Capella Singapore at Sentosa.) The schedule also appears to be sleeker and more compact.

Interview with Gilamon Studio's Lefty - Different Recipes of Horror in "Jimi Germ" and "Zero Hero"

3/4 of Gilamon Studio with Sonny Liew (far left)

One of the nicest things that could happen in the geek world is getting acquainted with the guys from Gilamon Studio.

If you are not familiar with Gilamon Studio already, it is an inspiring Malaysian creative outfit consisting of four talented and very affable creators - Julian "Lefty" Kam, Tan Eng Huat, Michael Chuah and Chin Sau Lim.

Marvel comic readers would be most familiar with artist Tan Eng Huat, whose works have graced titles like "X-Men: Legacy", "The Punisher" and "Thor: First Thunder". But, let it be known, that the other three creators are just as talented in their own right.

While Red Dot Diva has not personally met Michael Chuah yet, she has bumped into the rest of the team on several different occasions. In fact, she spent some time with Lefty and Eng Huat at their little space at the "Heavy Metal" booth during Comic-Con earlier this year. The guys were promoting their latest releases - a charming little gem called "Jimi Germ" that also has its own iTunes app, and a preview edition of "Zero Hero". It was definitely a comforting slice of home exchanging the familiar Singaporean-Malaysian accents and lingo with the two while in a far away land.

Diva's 2012 New TV Series Recap Part 2 - Still Trying to Fall In Love With "Arrow"

The CW is well known for shows that target the younger audiences, with many of them focusing primarily on adolescence and young adulthood - like "The Vampire Diaries", "Gossip Girl", "Veronica Mars", "One Tree Hill", "Smallville", "Supernatural" and more.

Some of these shows get cancelled after a number of episodes, several of them continue on for multiple seasons, and a few become cult hits.

Naturally, with the kind of target audience that the CW is able to capture, the network seems best-suited for comic-based stories. "Smallville" lingered for a good 10 seasons and with that gone, the CW and comic fans were twitching for something new to fill that space.

In comes "Arrow", with the promise to please those who were looking forward to a series based on the DC Comics vigilante superhero, Green Arrow aka playboy millionaire by day, Oliver Queen. 

Diva's 2012 New TV Series Recap Part 1 - "Revolution" and "Elementary"

This fall's TV season yielded a slew of new shows that were seemed to be mostly modernized reboots and weak, rather uncreative remakes.

Red Dot Diva was fortunate to be at SDCC Preview Night to catch early screenings of five new shows. They included CW's much-hyped "Arrow" based on the DC superhero Green Arrow, NBC's post-apocalyptic tale "Revolution" and ABC's supernatural drama "666 Park Avenue". And as reported earlier in a blog article, she was not impressed with all three of them.

During then and now, other TV new series have premiered - like "Elementary" - the very Americanized version of Sherlock Holmes, and a shiny reboot of the 1980's cult classic of the same name "Beauty and the Beast". There are more shows of course - "Vegas", "Last Resort", "Hunter", "Nashville" - just to name a few. But Red Dot Diva, with her busy schedule, was only able to carve out niches of time to catch some of them.

Here is her first review recap of the new 2012 Fall series -- four months later.