I know little and even less than that about the Official Site and it's final look and all the goodies. Yet here is a clue as to who may or may not be working on it, take a looksee:

From: Morgoth

I don't know if you already know this, but the official LOTR site is mirrored at http://www.steeplechasemedia.com/

Steeplechase Media, as you can read about at http://www.steeplechase.net, is a big name in interactive media, specifically web-based enhanced television. This might give us some clues about what the new official site is going to look like.

As a little side note, I contacted the good folks at Steeplechasemedia.com and they tell me they are not involved. There is a Steeplechase.net, I have yet to hear back from them, anyone have any clues as to what this is all about?

For now, check out this great pic of a couple of workers doing their thing on the Helms Deep Set :)[More]

Just thought you might be interested to know that Orlando Bloom (Legolas) appeared on British TV last night (29/01/2000). It was a detective drama called "Midsomer Murders". Orlando played a womanising thief called Peter Drinkwater, who finally met his comeuppance at the hands of one of the people he had upset. The mystery was, who had killed him. There were a couple of coincidental tie in's with LOTR in that the house where one of the suspects lived was called Lothlorien and on seeing the house name, the detective and his sidekick enter into a short discussion about where the name Lothlorien came from, mentioning LOTR, Tolkien and the Hobbit(though the side kick merely dismissed them all as being about dwarves and "fairies".

Elijah Wood (Frodo) in 'The Faculty' on TMN [More]

Ethan Hawke (Faramir) Uma Thurman (Eowyn, still rumored) in 'Gattaca' [More]

Ian McKellen (Gandalf) in 'Gods and Monsters' [More]

Theres a version of Diablo with some Middle Earth twists out there. New creatures, new items, and new graphics! Check out Gaming Havens for more information. [ more ]

What a congenial country New Zealand is for visitors from what used to be called "the home country." So far from home but the language is the same and you can buy Marmite and Cadbury's chocolate. The Queen is on the banknotes (although they are made of a non-creasable, washable, transparent plastic) and there is scandal about Prince Edward in "Women's Weekly" which would be considered too racy for even the UK tabloids. It all seems half-familiar with a style of friendliness that is a change from English reserve. I feel very much at home. [More]

Elijah Wood (Frodo) was born on 28 January 1981, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA. That makes him 19 today! Hope that's legal in New Zealand!

Interview: You're going to be playing another queen - Galadriel, Queen of the Elves, in The Lord of the Rings. People are going to be saying, "Ah, Cate Blanchett, regal and ethereal". But I get the sense that the real you is much more down-to-earth. What would you say?

Cate: Oh dear, [laughs] It's horribly difficult to say how you are as a person. I really don't have a static sense of myself.

Read the interview in our Scrapbook

Thanks to Resevoir Dog for the tip!

The blurb reads:

The 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy is New Lines most ambitious project ever...Trouble Spots...with a reported $130 million plus invested in a director (Peter Jackson) whose biggest film (The Frighteners) has grossed only $17 million.

Thanks to Jincey for the tip!

You can aslo catch Ian Holm (Bilbo) in 'The Sweet Hereafter' on TMN. [More]

There is also some new wallpaper and some additions to the multimedia section. [ more ]

Two new MUD/MUSH reviews have been added to Gaming Havens. Check them out in the review sections. [ more ]

By the by, the "telegraph" device that Tehanu described (on her set visit) could almost only be the antenna that the sound department uses whenever an actor is wearing a body microphone. The cable-puller will take the aerial and maintain a direct line-of-sight with the actor to ensure premium reception. The antenna requires it to be held, and aimed, in a specific manner. The best sound mixers will jump through hoops to get a CORDED connection because it is SO much more of a guarantee that no interference will enter into the recording. They take pride in preventing ADR work (looping).

Spoiler Content:

If she saw a scene with actors on a moving horse-drawn cart, then there's no question that the actors were wearing body-mics.

One other bit of trivia: I worked with a fairly young Elijah back in 1994 on the film "The War" (with K. Costner) and Elijah was the most professional guy there. A few years later my friend was the propmaster on the movie "Flipper" with Elijah and again he was a trooper. It is a comfort to hear that he hasn't lost his enthusiasm and willingness to "get the shot". Who
can blame him, he gets to be Frodo!

Thanks Andrew! Good to hear about Elijah!

Lord of the Rings Hobbit Burrows!

As The Lord of the Rings production rolls on into the new millennium, SFX has secured these fine set photographs for your edification and enlightenment.

Behold! Freshly minted pictures from the New Zealand set of Peter Jackson's film adaptation of The Lord of the Ring. Clearly presented here, and not fuzzily shown on the web (grrr, Xo) it's quite easy to make out the burrows of Hobbiton, where Bilbo and Frodo Baggins reside. As you can see, the hobbit holes look rather good, fitting well into New Zealand's lusher than lush landscape. These pictures were taken before the recent catastrophic floods, although it's understood these sets were those damaged. To raise money for victims of the inundation, Jackson auctioned signed memorabilia from the film. Decent bloke.

While I love the folks at SFX, they do seem to have been mistaken, the Hobbiton sets were in fact quite safe from the flooding, and Peter Jackson auctioned off a signed copy of LOTR, not any film memorabilia. Fuzzy pictures indeed...

SFX has scored another LOTR related article, this one concerning Christopher Lee (Saruman) and his TV adaptation of Gormenghast. This is what they say of Lee:

"Working with (Christopher) Lee was great!" exclaims (Alan) Wilson "But, I mean, he really hurt himself. There was a sword fight scene where he fell down a flight of stairs. But he carried on. If you want a definition of the word trooper, then Christopher Lee is it."

Lee, on his way over after an intense and grueling interview session, interrupts.

"They all thought I was dead," he says in his trademark sepulchral tones, "but I only bruised myself."

Lee, taller than you'd think (and he looks pretty damn tall on screen)...

The Silmarils: What would have happened if Feanor had given the silmarils to the valar for the healing of the two trees? Would Morgoth have made war on the valar? Would he have had just counted his losses and got to some new evil?

Bring your copies of the silmarillion and get ready for another round of The Hall of Fire! Join Gandalf, Balin, Tookish and Gamgee Saturday January 29th at our new time: 5:30 EST. Special thanks to Berendir for this weeks topic..couldnt have done it with out ya man!

"LOTR crew reconnoitre for Baggins.

Tongariro National Park is likely to provide landscapes for hobbits for one of the biggest budget Hollywood movies ever...." The paper reports that PJ and the crew flew up from Wellington to look around and are in negotiations with the Dept. of Conservation for a permit to film. They may be somewhere on the Tukino skifield side of the mountain."

Thanks to Leo for the tip!

From: Marvin D

Last week in New Zealand we had the Big Day Out. I travelled to this from Wellington to Auckland (a 7 hour drive). On our way up I happened to stop into the army camp in Waioru to visit my Uncle there. Interestingly enough he told me that on the next day they were receiving some people for LOTR who were to fly around and scout possible filming locations in the Rangipo Desert.

The desert is a pretty desolate area and is not far from the speculated locations of Mt. Tongariro and Mt. Ngauruhoe (Mordor)

After spending months being a stone in the film company's shoe, I was sick of it. Perhaps they weren't enjoying it either, because when I asked to meet the producer Barrie Osborne he agreed. Two days later I was at the Wingnut production headquarters in Matamata, boggling at a selection of concept art pinned up on the wall. Scary castles, bits of Hobbiton, things I couldn't recognise. Spy heaven, in short.

"Some people at the set want to meet you" said Barrie.

"Who?"

"Peter Jackson." [More]

After being lost in the deep south for what seemed like an eternity (actually it was only 1 week - and I had to be gone just when filming began at Helm's Deep!), I have come back with some results of what I was hopping to find.

Coming across a very small hut in the middle of nowhere, I discovered it housed an artist who did carvings out of wood, and specialised in musical instruments. In a glassed case where a couple of instruments with a note on them, reading something along the lines of :

These musical instruments have been used in the Peter Jackson movie Lord of The Rings which is still in production. Be sure to be on the look out for them when the movie comes out!

Update

I have provided links to the Scrapbook with images and info about each instrument. These images are NOT from Xtems spy hunt.

Instruments as follows :

1 Medival Lute
1 Medival Vihuela
1 Body Harp
1 Medival Dulcimer

A quick reminder about out 'Tolkien 2000 Contest' only 7 days left to enter and win! [More]