Cate Blanchett has just won an Oscar for Best-Supporting Actress! Cate was on hand to accept the award and thanked the Academy, she said it was an 'indescribable surprise', she thanked her husband and her agents. She also thanked everyone involved in 'The Aviator' and said to Martin Scorcesse 'I hope my son will marry your daughter!'

Welcome to the surreal, parallel universe of celebrity stardom. [More]

As we mentioned before, Sideshow Weta Collectibles has released a series of new Lord of the Rings collectibles for the 2005 Toy Fair. Here is a complete list of what was released. [Click Here]

Do you miss PJ as much as I do?

Tonight the annual Academy Awards will be presented at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. The past 3 years we at TheOneRing.net have hosted lavish 'One Ring' parties in the heart of the Oscar action. Based mere footsteps away from the Kodak, our 2 venues for the 3 parties were the talk of the town. this year however, we are not hosting a party, we will not be heading down to LA, to visit Tuxedo's by Mike..the Sunset Grill...the Cat and Fiddle or other places we've swarmed, and quite frankly...it sucks. [More]

It wasn't quite "Trilogy Tuesday." But Friday night's Omaha Symphony concert bore striking similarities to the marathon screening of director Peter Jackson's three installments of "The Lord of the Rings." Tolkienites came dressed as Arwen, Gandalf, the Lady of Rohan, the Witch-King of Angmar and random hobbits. A drawing was held for a free Frodo costume. And everyone who came opening night took home a souvenir ring that blinked red and green. The major difference between Friday's event and a more traditional celebration of the blockbuster trilogy was that the main attraction was not the film. It was the music from the film. [More]

PennyQ writes: It looks like West Ham football club aren’t entirely happy about being used in Elijah Wood’s film ‘Hooligans’ aka The Yank. [More]

PennyQ writes: Got Ł2m to spare? If so, you could always buy Cate Blanchett’s house in Brighton! [More]

Celebriel writes: Spend the night in Middle Earth at these overnight screenings of the trilogy. Free coffee and tea through the night, snacks on sale, and prize drawings. [More]

Academy Award-winning special effects maestro Richard Taylor will showcase his extraordinary talents and share his experiences from the set of The Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy during a weekend program exclusive to the Powerhouse Museum, 26 - 27 February. [More]

Fabian W. Waintal has written an article that features an interview with Elijah Wood. Take a look! [More]

christopherleeweb.com has announced that "Christopher Lee will be appearing live at the Barbican Centre London with Valery Gergiev and the orchestra, chorus and soloists of the Mariinsky Theatre (Kirov opera) from St Petersburg. He will be narrating Stravinksy's musical setting of the Oedipus myth." The concert takes place at the Barbican Centre today (Feb 25).

Today is Sean Astin's Birthday! Sean Patrick Astin was born February 25, 1971 in Santa Monica, California. That makes him 34 today, Happy Birthday Sean!

Dyanna writes: Ian McKellen can be heard in the UK on Radio 4 at 9.00pm on Friday 25 the February in the play 'Terre Haute'. From the radio Times comes this snippet: Just before he was executed for the Oklahoma bombing, Timothy McVeigh was in correspondence with writer and iconoclast Gore Vidal. In this play, novelist Edmund White imagines what would have happened had they ever met face to face in Terre Haute prison.

He has composed music for more than 50 films, including "Aviator," "Silence of the Lambs," "Seven" and "Philadelphia." But perhaps American composer Howard Shore's most recognized achievement is creating the music for Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. For these films he has won three Academy Awards, two Golden Globes and five Grammy Awards. In 2003, Shore compressed the music from the trilogy into a two-hour symphony titled "The Lord of the Rings Symphony." The six-movement work premiered in November 2003 in Wellington, New Zealand, and has since been performed more than 40 times. [More]

Paul writes: I thought you may be interested in featuring this ad: It is for a charity auction, the item being a autopgraphed Gandalf the grey statue. All funds from the sale of this item will go to KidsReach, a Christian organisation, who will use all the money given to offer grief and trauma counseling to child survivors of the Tsunami and train locals to continue counseling over an extended period. The statue is signed by: Peter Jackson, Richard Taylor and Jamie Beswarick!!!! [More]

djdeathskiss sends in the latest issue of Hot Dog Magazine which features this article on Miranda Otto. [More]

The folks from Howard Shore's offices send along his 2005 tour date schedule up until July. Be sure to catch this concert if you are in one of the following cities: Omaha, NE, Richmond, VA, Des Moines, IA, Fairfax, VA, Toronto, ONT, Houston, TX & Pittsburgh, PA. [More]

At the Toy Fair 2005 events in New York City, Sideshow Weta Collectibles revealed a slew of new Lord of the Rings products for pre-order. Among the many: Aragorn at the Black Gates Statue, Legolas and Gimli on Arod statue, Helm of the Mouth of Sauron, Crown of the King of the Dead, War Mask of the Morgul Lord and more! To view the complete product listing, follow this link. [Click Here]

Even though many of his papers and Middle-earth tales were published posthumously, JRR Tolkien wrote prolifically throughout his life. Nevertheless, there remain huge gaps in many of his stories. So this weekend we're going to ask ourselves: 'If you could commission Tolkien to write more on one thing, what would it have been and why?' [More]

This Friday sees the fourth annual Celebration of New Zealand Filmmaking and Creative Talent dinner at The Beverly Hills Hotel, Los Angeles. The night will feature a fantastical theme from NZ's current fantasy production, "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe." Also attending are other Oscar nominees: Two Cars, One Night (Best Short Film), Andrew Adamson (Shrek 2, Best animated feature) and Joe Letteri (I Robot, Best visual effects), who did so much work on LOTR. The guest will be interesting and the food outstanding, and there should be a lot to celebrate. [More]

Powerhouse Museum presents An Evening with Peter Jackson: To celebrate the record success of The Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy – The Exhibition at the Powerhouse Museum, Academy Award-winning director Peter Jackson will headline a special once-only event on Saturday 12 March, 6pm – 8pm, at the State Theatre in Sydney. [More]

Losillë writes: Sean Astin will be giving away several signed posters from "Bigger Than The Sky." Go to his official website to enter the drawing. [More]

It was the First Light Film Awards today, recognising young film makers from the age of seven to 18. Winners included a documentary about school walkouts in Edinburgh in the lead up to the Iraq war. Sir Ian McKellen was one of the guest presenters and he said he thinks it should be seen as important as the Oscars. [More]

Legendary British actor Christopher Lee will make the most unlikely of appearances later this year, sharing the stage with two hard rock groups at the German Earthshaker festival. Lee, who's recent roles in Lord Of The Rings (Saruman the White) and Star Wars (Count Dooku) have revived his film career, will make his first appearance of the weekend with Rhapsody, performing the song "Unholy Warcry" on stage Friday (July 23). Lee provided the original narrative for the track, which is taken from the band's latest album, 'Symphony Of Enchanted Lands II - The Dark Secret'. [More]

Lord of the Rings model maker James Bryson has won the right to a Supreme Court hearing over an employment law case said to threaten the New Zealand film industry. Mr Bryson had wanted to take a personal grievance case against his former employer, Lord of the Rings production company Three Foot Six. He could pursue the case only if he was an employee, but the company which made him redundant said he was an independent contractor. The Employment Court decided in his favour but the Court of Appeal in November decided he was an independent contractor. [More]

Yolanda writes: I wanted to tell that Viggo Mortensen's new film starts shooting here on March 7th. Viggo will play the main character, called Alatriste. This film is based on Arturo Perez Reverte's books. We are doing a webpage of the film and you can see pics and videos of the press conference. [More]

Orlando Bloom, Oscar presenter at this year's Academy Awards, has joined the ranks of celebrities choosing to bring an environmental conscience to the Oscars. [More] Kudos to Luinhind for the heads up!

Hex writes: Renée Fleming is performing at the Barbican in London in November. Renee, whose haunting vocals you can hear on the ROTK score tracks 8, 16 & 17 - "Twilight and Shadow", "The End of All Things" & "The Return of the King", will be there as part of their 'Great Performers' Season. [More] [renee-fleming.com]

Pick up the Return of the King Enhanced Soundtrack on Amazon.com Today!

Ian Mckellen is helping judge the First Light Film Awards, a contest honoring young UK filmmakers. It will be held in Leicester Square,
London today (February 23). He will be judging alongside other stars such as Jude Law, Rupert Grint, and Colin Salmon. [More]

Dominic Monaghan's new hit show 'Lost' continues to get better with each episode. Catch 'Lost' tonight at 8PM EST on ABC. TORN's chatroom now has a special 'Lost' screening room, login to #lost at 8PM and watch with fans from around the country! [ABC.com] [TORN Chat]

We've been running two Hall of Fire sessions on the TORn IRC server each weekend for a couple of years now. It's been extremely successful and we've had some wonderful chats, but it's time to shake things up a little. As of this weekend, we'll be trialling one session each weekend for the next four weeks. However, we will be spreading one topic across two weekends. [More]

Coordination was a must and experience preferable in the quest for furry-footed cast members at yesterday's Wellington auditions for the theatre production of J R R Tolkien's The Hobbit. [More]

Do you miss PJ as much as I do?

This Sunday the annual Academy Awards will be presented at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. The past 3 years we at TheOneRing.net have hosted lavish 'One Ring' parties in the heart of the Oscar action. Based mere footsteps away from the Kodak, our 2 venues for the 3 parties were the talk of the town. this year however, we are not hosting a party, we will not be heading down to LA, to visit Tuxedo's by Mike..the Sunset Grill...the Cat and Fiddle or other places we've swarmed, and quite frankly...it sucks. [More]

Just a small reminder: be sure to keep visiting TheOneLion.net to stay up to date with the latest news surrounding the upcoming adaptation on C. S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. The last few weeks have been buzzing with the end of principal photography announced, rumours about a trailer to be released with the new Star Wars-movie, a first look at some of the movies merchandise and a brand new 'Behind the Scenes'feature with soundbites from Richard Taylor and some gorgeous imagery! [TheOneLion.net][TheOneLion.net news archive]

It's the last week to register at the cheaper Early Bird rates for Seattle's Tolcon (May 13-15), and they have some good group rates too. Special guests include Ted Nasmith and Kiran Shah, who'll have stories about his time on LOTR and the Narnia sets. [More]

The Middle Earth Festival will be held in downtown Vacaville, CA April 7-10. Based on J.R.R. Tolkien's tremendously popular "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, the festival will coincide with the 50th anniversary of Houghton Mifflin's publication of "The Fellowship of the Ring." The Middle Earth festival is family-oriented and features numerous old-time demonstrations including: chain-mail making, calligraphy, spinning and weaving. Artisans, crafters and food vendors will add to the festivities. Many other activities will help draw participants into the Middle Earth experience. [More]

The trailer for Elijah Wood's new film 'Hooligans' has been posted online. It is about soccer "hooliganism" (violence and fighting before, after, and during a game), so naturally there is blood, mayhem and rock 'n' roll. (Adult Content Warning) [More]

River-Woman writes: Classicfm, the UK classical music station, is currently running its 'Hall of Fame 2002'. What you have to do is vote for your top three classical tunes. The results are collated and the top 300 are played back to back over the Easter weekend, giving the 'Ultimate Classical Chart'. The FOTR soundtrack is classed as 'classical' music, and is being given air play by the station. So if you want to vote for the soundtrack (which means it then gets MORE air time, log onto:- classicfm.com, go to 'Hall of Fame' and make your choices. [classicfm.com]

Sassy writes: Elijah Wood has been nominated for MTV's Total Request Live 2005 Awards for "Quit Your Day Job (Best Guest Host)". The award show is airs tonight (February 21st) on MTV. [More]

LEWISBURG -- Actor Sean Astin will give the talk, "There and Back Again; An Actor's Tale," at 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 1, in the Weis Center at Bucknell University. The talk, which is free to the public, is sponsored by the Bucknell Student Lectureship Committee. [More]