Empire Magazine boasts having 'unfettered, unparalleled access to PJ and his troops during the making of the Franchise To Rule Them All,' a claim I highly doubt and personally dispute, however they have publish a so-called 'Untold Story' of LOTR in thier latest issue. Take a look: "...the untold story of the making of The Lord of the Rings, with exclusive interviews, exclusive excerpts from Sean Astin's book, There And Back Again, facts galore, and our Top 10 LOTR scenes". [More]

David writes: You might be interested in putting out the information for British fans that Sean Astin will be appearing on the British TV chat show "Richard and Judy" on Channel 4 on 29 November at 17.00 (the programme runs until 18.00).

A first edition of the Hobbit by JRR Tolkien - published in 1937 - has sold for Ł6,000 at an auction in Norfolk. The book was bought in 1937 and stayed with the same family in the county until its sale. [More]

Sean Astin was never quite movie royalty, but certainly minor nobility. The biological son of Oscar winner Patty Duke and the adopted son of her husband, John Astin (Gomez in TV's "The Addams Family"), he had a steady if unremarkable film career, starring in "The Goonies" at age 13, playing third fiddle to Brendan Fraser and Pauly Shore in "Encino Man" at 20, and starring as the underdog football hero in "Rudy" at 22. [More]

Dimple Bolger of Newbury writes: Tonight @ 9:00, on the Movie Network, ROTK will be shown in widescreen, Dolby 5.1 and HD. Before that, THE TWO TOWERS will air the same day at 9:45 am! [More]

LOTR star Sir Ian McKellen was so grateful when a stranger handed his lost wallet back, he handed the good Samaritan two free theatre tickets. McKellen mislaid his wallet, which contained $900 (GBP500) in cash, in London's Hyde Park. Fortunately for the 65-year-old, a passer-by noticed his ID and gave it to local police. [More]

Jennie & Carrie send along more booksigning reports with Sean Astin. Take a look! [More]

Today is Alexandra Astin's Birthday! Alexandra, daughter of Sean Astin, was born on November 27th, 1996, that makes her 8 years old today. She plays Elanor Gamgee, daughter of Sam Gamgee! Happy Birthday Alexandra!

When Britain's music veterans joined today's young pop stars to remake the Band Aid single the generation gap was obvious. Singer Joss Stone, 17, referred to event organiser Sir Bob Geldof as Bob Gandalf. And Busted's James Bourne, 21, was left red-faced after asking: 'Who's that?' when he spotted the scruffy singer. You can't really blame them. Joss wasn't even born when the orginial song was released and James was just a baby. [More]

'All that had happened after he was stunned, Bilbo learned later; but it gave him more sorrow than joy, and he was now weary of his adventure. He was aching in his bones for the homeward journey.' Tolkien wraps up his tale with more poetry and pathos than one would expect in a children's tale. [More]

Philippa from Virgin Megastores UK writes: Actor Billy Boyd (Pippin) will be making a Public Apperance at the new Virgin Megastores in Birmingham (Pavillions Mall). Billy will be joining us at midnight (9-10th of December) for the UK official release of the extended Return of the King Boxset (The UK official release date(10th) is different from the USA). [More]

Ian Berriman, Reviews Editor for SFX writes: The new issue of SFX (on sale from Wednesday 24 November) contains an interview with Billy Boyd, as well as a seven-page feature on Peter Jackon's new project, King Kong. [More]

Greetings -- Quickbeam here.

Those lucky Kiwis on the North Island still have the opportunity to check out the new stage production of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" starring our very own Gamling BRUCE HOPKINS! The show continues until December 12, 2004. We hope Bruce is having a fantastic birthday today as he prepares for this weekend's performance as the underdog Bob Cratchit who ultimately discovers the benevolence of the Christmas spirit arrives from the most unexpected place -- Scrooge himself! Click here for more. The Auckland Theatre Company website is found here.

Today is Bruce Hopkins' Birthday! Bruce was born on November 25th, 1955 in Invercargill, New Zealand. That makes him 49 today! Happy Birthday Bruce!

linuxelf writes: Fellowship of the Ring sound editor and film editor,software developer, John McKay won the Business category in the Wellingtonian Of The Year. [More]

Thanks to your support we are now virtually sold out of WIZARD CIRCLE Weekend Package Tickets for The ONE RING CELEBRATION, January 14-16,2005 in Pasadena, California. We will be cutting off sales of this package within a few days so we wanted to give everyone a final notice. Grab the remaining WIZARD'S CIRCLE PACKAGES by visiting us online. We're happy to have a big scoop on RINGERS: LORD OF THE FANS, the new full-length documentary, at THE ONE RING CELEBRATION. Come and meet the filmmaking team behind RINGERS for an exciting panel where they will share their own remarkable, personal stories of how they made the most dynamic Tolkien documentary ever attempted. Be the first to see EXCLUSIVE preview clips and behind-the-scenes mischief not shown anywhere before. [More] [ORC Website]

Ringbearer SuperScott & Ryan P send along reports from the Sean Astin booksignings in Philadelphia and Bloomington. Take a look! [More]

On Casting Jason Behr, Dominic Monaghan, and Exploring the NY Music Scene Jason Behr (“The Grudge”), Dominic Monaghan, Joshua Leonard and Sarah Wynter star in writer/producer/director Rebecca Cook’s second feature film, “Shooting Livien.” While Cook’s directorial debut was the sweet romantic drama, “The Chester Story,” “Shooting Livien” is a much darker tale that follows a disillusioned New York musician (Behr) who’s balancing on the brink of success, and the brink of insanity. [More]

Alina writes: The journey has come to an end. The “Symphony” reached Moscow and turned the State Kremlin Palace into a place full of music magic for two days. Maestro Howard Shore brought us back into the world of Middle-Earth, which has become so homely during the last three years. [More]

Buckland writes: Just a note to let you know that Andy Serkis has been confirmed as a guest at the Supanova Pop Culture Exhibition in Brisbane, Australia on April 9-10, 2005. [More]

In what seems to be clever yet slightly odd promotion for a good cause or two, Staples has some autographed...staples for auction. You can pick up Orlando Bloom's or Liv Tyler's staple for a good price! [More]

The house where JRR Tolkien wrote the Hobbit and most of the Lord of the Rings has been given protected status. Despite having no special architectural qualities, 20 Northmoor Road in Oxford is to be a Grade II listed building. Heritage Minister Andrew McIntosh announced the news on Tuesday, saying the decision was made on the basis of Professor Tolkien's importance. [More]

Sean Astin is preparing for his second tour of the US to promote his book 'There and Back Again : An Actor's Tale'. Today he will at 'Barnes & Noble' in the Mall of America in Bloomington, MN. Follow the link for more dates and locations! [More]

David and Tracey write: Comedian Billy Connolly's latest 'Tour of' series is all about New Zealand. He has already mentioned LOTR and will do so again, we are sure. The show is a mix of touring the towns and places New Zealand has to offer, interspersed between snippets of his show from his comedy tour of New Zealand. The series began on 20/11/04 and will run for eight weeks or so. He began in the south islands and will doubtless take in Wellington (and all it has to offer to LOTR fans!) in a future episode. Looks to be a good series, his previous tours of Austraila, Scotland and Ireland have been facinating and hilarious-keep an eye out UK Ringers, it's on at 21.30 on BBC 1 on a Saturday.

TORN Digital presents these never before seen interviews with LOTR stars as they arrived for 'The Return of the One Party' on Oscar Night 2004. These videos have been in the TORN Archives for almost a year, but are well worth the wait! Here we interviewed John Rhys-Davies, Dominic Monaghan and Elijah Wood! Thanks to Galaphil & Lyra (with the expert interviewing skills of David Baxter!) [More]

Adele writes: Andy Serkis will make a guest appearance in the next episode of the MI5 thriller series "Spooks" on November 27th on BBC THREE. He will play a rock star called Riff who's baby son is kidnapped during a party. [More]

Zeiger writes: I had pre-ordered Middle Earth Online through Gamestop. Tonight I received an automated telephone message from them informing me that the game has been cancelled, and that I should visit the store for more information and to reallocate the reservation funds. [More] [Gaming Havens]

UPDATE MEO fans far and wide have written in to say that MEO has NOT been cancelled. The error may be due to mistaken reports that Gamestop MAY be cancelling thier orders of the game, not the game itself.

Celebrate 50 years of The Lord of the Rings with Alan Lee! World-renowned artist Alan Lee, acclaimed LOTR illustrator and Academy Award-winning conceptual designer for the film trilogy, will discuss his long involvement in creating the visual world that accompanies the books and films based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. Lee's visual presentation will include a slide show and a display of a dozen original illustrations. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A with fans and a booksigning. [More]

Sean Astin is preparing for his second tour of the US to promote his book 'There and Back Again : An Actor's Tale'. Today he will at 'Friends Select School' in Philadelphia, PA. Follow the link for more dates and locations! [More]

How tall is he really? That’s the first question you are asked when people hear that you have interviewed Gimli the dwarf from Lord of the Rings. Well, at 6 feet-1 inch, British actor John Rhys-Davies is far from tiny. Ironically, he is actually taller than his co-stars Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn), and Orlando Bloom (Legolas), and spent five hours a day putting make up on for the part of Gimli. [More]

Merry in Oz writes: I attended the Saturday, 20th November, session of the LOTR Best of Both Worlds convention in Canberra, Australia. [More]

LOTR star Billy Boyd is delighted to be finally shedding his innocent hobbit role to become an evil doll in the latest CHUCKY movie. The Scottish actor provides the voice-over in new horror comedy THE SEED OF CHUCKY, and his own facial characteristics will also be used for the twisted puppet, which comes to life and kills people in the film. [More]

Sean Astin is preparing for his second tour of the US to promote his book 'There and Back Again : An Actor's Tale'. Tomorrow he will be in Philadelphia, PA. Follow the link for all the dates and locations! [More]

It's The Magic Roundabout as you've never seen it before. The cult kids' TV favourite has had a major makeover for the big screen. And the result is set to leave children - and adults - spellbound when the film comes out in February Puppets from the 60s show have been discarded in favour of computer-generated 3D characters. [More]

Alison writes: I don't know if anyone has let you know yet, but the Barbican Centre in London is holding a trilogy screening on Mon 3 Jan 2005 (to honour Tolkien's birthday). FOTR is at 11am, TTT at 3pm and ROTK at 7.15pm. Tickets are Ł7.50 per film or Ł16.50 for all 3 films (although some people have had trouble getting the combined price). Box office phone number is 0845 120 7500 or you can book online. [More]