Peter Jackson, director and producer of The Hobbit, continues his video diary narrating the rather stunning scenes at the shoot. The dwarf and wizard actors have arrived and are talking through and visualizing their parts in the movie.

Pre-production is finally over, and today is the first day of the shoot. The cast and crew come together for a traditional Maori welcoming ceremony, and Peter Jackson and members of the cast offer words of thanks and encouragement.

A live performance, by The Navvies, of a traditional Irish song about North men and South men being on the same road, and carrying the same burdens.

Annette shows us Salt Lake City's very modern and light-filled public library and takes us up to the roof for a surprise.

Theater director Simon Stone deconstructs some of the common visual and audio tricks of modern theater, utilizing a cast of first-time volunteer actors recruited in the days prior to TEDxSydney 2011 and rehearsed just once.

The President and First Lady kick off an evening of poetry, music, and the spoken word at the White House.

The First Lady welcomes the first act in an evening of poetry, music and spoken word at the White House. Pianist ELEW and bassist/singer Esperanza Spalding kick off the evening with an instrumental jazz fusion performance. Enjoy!

Mayda del Valle, a poet whose work has helped to raise the bar in poetry circles all over the world, performs her piece "a faith like yours" at the White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word.

Writer Ayelet Waldman and her Pulitzer Prize-winning husband Michael Chabon share their White House Talk at the White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word.

Poet, activist, and scholar Jamaica Heolimeleikalani Osorio recites a poem about remembering her cultural roots by honoring her family and recalling their Hawaiian names. The last part of the poem is spoken in Hawaiian.

Brave New Voices slam champion Joshua Bennett performs “Tamaraʼs Opus” at the White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word.

Writer and star of the Broadway musical In the Heights, Lin-Manuel Miranda performs "The Hamilton Mixtape" at the White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word. Accompanied by Alex Lacamoire.

January 6 commemorates the day that three dudes gave a bunch of gifts to baby Jesus. But... who were they and why did they have hipster beards?

Though most might be unaware, the US state of California was named after a place that doesn't exist outside of literature, similar to Narnia. "California" comes from a novel written in the Spanish Golden Age.