Getting My Hobbit On in the Twitterverse

Luke Evans, Jude Fisher and Richard Armitage
from @bakrim2000 at Waterstones Piccadilly

I am bemused.

My online self had quite a day Friday. My real self, well, was mighty glad there was an online self.

I was just sitting there Friday morning, watching the tweets roll by from @HobbitMoviesUK, where two of the actors from "The Hobbit" were answering folks' questions. I had submitted a few, mostly to Richard Armitage who plays Thorin, but I also had asked one of Luke Evans, who plays Bard.

Richard Armitage answering tweets from @HobbitMoviesUK

Luke Evans answering tweets from @HobbitMoviesUK

 
Wouldn't you know the moment I stepped away that something would happen to online me? That would be this little tweet.

 
I answered that I cannot wait to see it, which is true. The couple of scenes I have glimpsed of Lake-town made me feel a bit claustrophobic. But I like a good marketplace, so I will be thinking of Mr. Evans when I see it.

A couple of hours later, Mr. A and Mr. E were scheduled for a Hobbit event at a bookstore in London. Richard wrote the introduction to the latest book, The Visual Companion to The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug from Jude Fisher, who was also there, while Luke's face is emblazoned on the cover.

Three tweeps I know had tickets to attend at Waterstones Piccadilly (this bookstore is five stories deep - gasp!). I started to see pictures from the event as I went to walk the dog and nearly slipped into oblivion when one of the people there, a dear instigator if ever there was one, sent me this picture with the message: "Got a little something for @j_pineo."

Pamela got a book signed for me! Pamela would be the sister to Rosemarie, who is schlepping around the globe getting other books signed for me, such as this one here.

Thanks to another tweep, I've had the chance to see much of the event on YouTube (see one clip here), which involved a lot of laughing. And I saw this picture of the three folks whose signatures now grace the title page above.

Jude Fisher, Luke Evans and Richard Armitage
from @WaterstonesPicc

Needless to say, I am excited. Again. To see the event from afar and end up with a wee book signed by the participants is a treat. It is almost as good as being there myself.

Almost.

And if that wasn't enough fun for a single day, I sent off a tweet to Wellington, New Zealand, in a manner of speaking. Yet another Hobbit actor, Jed Brophy who plays Nori, answered the Embassy Theatre about the premiere event for charity that will be held there. I tweeted a request - hopefully polite and not needy - and moments later, this appeared.

Gotta love "xxjedi".

And the proverbial icing on the cake, so to speak.

This, folks, is why I love Twitter. At least, it is why I love the Twitter I have. I am connected to people around the world, famous or not. I chat with people - yes, real people - from Japan to France to New Zealand to everywhere - about all manner of things.

It is instantaneous, which is mind-boggling at times. Those moments when I am tweeting to someone in London and then someone in California and getting answers immediately tends to stop me in wonderment. 

Because what I just wrote about would never have happened without it. I am not talking about access to events; that is a given.

I am talking about the friends I have made.

The lovely Velvet blogged about this in a very kindly piece. Thank you, dear lady.