TORN Staffer Asfaloth has sent along some more pictures from ORC 2007, wrapping up today in Burbank, California. Take a look at these and ones from Garfeimao & Celebriel as well! [More]

Ashlee & Rachel Scott write: Guests were invited to vote for their favorite performance from Friday's premiere of Middle Earth Idols! Votes have been tallied and the results are in!

GOLLUM received the highest amount of votes and is the official "Favorite Performance" for the first episode! I thought for sure his striking duet (with himself, of course) as Smeagol & Gollum would scare people, but they loved it! With Eowyn in 2nd place, Legolas in 3rd and Frodo in 4th.

Thanks for your votes! We'll view an encore performance of Gollum this afternoon, followed by a "Sneak Preview" of the remaining episodes. See you there! [Middle Earth Idols MySpace]

Celebriel sends a brief report on an activity-packed Saturday at Creation Entertainment’s third annual One Ring Celebration taking place this weekend at the Burbank Marriott. Look for detailed session reports in a day or so. [More]

Geldorin & Patty both send along their reviews of 'Middle Earth Idols'. Geldorin writes: Hope I can share my own favorite memory from ORC so far! I read the reports from ORC and wanted to make sure that the girls from MARS were given props for their outstanding presentation at ORC yesterday! The first episode of Middle Earth Idols was shown and it was fantastic! We all loved it!! Just loved it! [More] [Middle Earth Idols MySpace]

Celebriel and Garfeimao both report on Friday’s activities at the ORC 2007 con taking place this weekend at the Burbank Marriott in Burbank, California. Take a look! [More]

'Ringers' Director Carlene Cordova let us know of a time shift for the 'Ringers' panels at ORC 2007 this weekend. Be sure to take a look if you plan on attending! [More]

Peter Jackson has teamed up with the creators of Shaun of the Dead for the the New Zealand premiere of a hit British cop comedy in which he has a cameo role as a psychotic Santa.[More]

Be sure to check out our weekly Sideshow Collectibles update! Each week we provide an update on your favorite Sideshow goodies, from busts to premium figures and more! Take a look! [More]

Osse writes: I would like to inform you that at our Dutch Tolkien website has an interwiev with Anois, the Dutch band making poetic Celtic music inspired by the world created by J.R.R. Tolkien. The interview is also available in English. We invite everybody to read it and get to know what a wonderful music by Anois is.

Ian McKellen and Royal Shakespeare Company to Perform in Auckland. Internationally-acclaimed actor Ian McKellen, will lead the renowned Royal Shakespeare Company in two new productions of classic theatre for a strictly limited season in the ASB Theatre, Aotea Centre, THE EDGE® in August. THE EDGE® presents The Royal Shakespeare Company’s productions of Shakespeare’s King Lear and Chekhov’s The Seagull from August 18-26 for 10 perfomances only as part of the inaugural THE EDGE® International Arts Season – a season of internationally recognised performing arts which runs from August to December 2007. The full season programme will be launched on Thursday 19 April. [More]

From Joystiq.com: During the second annual "Blogger Breakfast," Microsoft's Shane Kim revealed that Peter Jackson's forthcoming Xbox 360 projects will be episodic. "Peter Jackson is developing two episodic series," said Kim, reconfirming, "the first is in the Halo universe." Both projects are still lingering in their early design phases, but Microsoft hopes they will eventually serve as models for other developers to follow.When pried for more details about the as-yet-unnamed second series and release strategies for the content, Kim remained tight-lipped: "I may have said too much already."

Convention-goers will gather in Burbank this weekend for the One Ring Celebration with many special guests - including surprises from the RINGERS team and many special guests. The film's creators will give a live running commentary with RINGERS! and even Ostadan & Quickbeam's 'The Game's The Thing!' Click here for more. [More]

Forbidden Planet is pleased to announce a signing by Alan Lee to promote the release of The Children Of Húrin (Special Offer Price Ł14.99). He will be at the Forbidden Planet Megastore, 179 Shaftesbury Avenue, London, WC2H 8JR, on Thursday 19th April 6 – 7pm. Alan Lee is best known as co-lead artist on Peter Jackson’s ‘Lord of the Rings’ movie trilogy. However, as well as the Academy Award he won in 2004. [More]

Alex Etel writes: Hey everyone, I have posted my very first production diary of my experiences of making The Waterhorse. This is the first time I have done anything like this and I am learning as I go. And it was exactly one year ago today that I got the role! [More]

Lost's Dominic Monaghan will play an 18th-century gravedigger and Hellboy's Ron Perlman is attached to play his priest in the horror film I Sell the Dead for producer-actor Larry Fessenden's Glass Eye Pix, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Monaghan (The Lord of the Rings) and Fessenden (Broken Flowers) will portray London corpse traders who perform services for an aristocratic doctor. [More]

Estel writes: I just wanted fans of Alan Lee to know that he will sign copies of Children of Hurin at Forbidden Planet bookstore, Shaftesbury Avenue, London. The signing will be on April 19th between 6 and 7 pm. Also mail order, phone 020 7803 1900.

Lion2b writes: Bernard Hill's film The Heart of the Earth will be released officially on March 11, 2007. One of the venues will include a showing at the the Miami Film Festival. Further information regarding the film and interviews with Bernard Hill can be found at the official website.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS - News) announced today that the complete collection of Middle-earth PC Real-Time Strategy (RTS) games will be available with The Lord of the Rings(TM), The Battle for Middle-earth(TM) Anthology(1). For the first time The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth Anthology offers fans the chance to bring together all the epic The Lord of the Rings(TM) battles with The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth(TM), The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II(TM) Collector's Edition and The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II, The Rise of the Witch-King(TM) within a single compilation, and all for an MSRP of $39.99. [More]

Lucy writes: Whilst browsing the Bonhams auctioneers online catalogues I noticed an old document for sale marked “Tolkien and Birmingham – Sarehole Mill” looks to be an old indenture for Tolkien’s Mill. It is lot 625 in an auction on 27 March 2007 at Bonhams’ New Bond Street salerooms in London of “The Library of the late Paul Betts and other properties including manuscripts”.

From the website: Sarehole Mill occupies a central place in the story of J.R.R. Tolkien, as John Ezard, then writing for the Oxford Mail, discovered: "Seven years before his death Tolkien told me about Sarehole, his imaginative heartland, a small village near Birmingham which was the starting-point for his fictional Shire in both The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. [bonhams.com]

Lorien "Ramen" Carney, Community Relations Specialist for The Lord of the Rings Online writes: We’ve just added a new article to our Game Systems section that covers everything a budding artisan needs to know to jump into LOTRO’s Crafting System. Ever since we published Lead System Designer Nik Davidson’s Developer Diary on the origins of LOTRO’s Crafting System, the crafters of the community have eagerly awaited more details. In our second Developer Diary we introduced the concept of Professions and Vocations, and covered a little more ground. It’s time to bring our crafters the next installment! Here’s a basic overview of the system, including details on how to get started in your crafting career. [More]

The release of 'Jess Franco's Count Dracula' on DVD marks one of roughly 51 films based on Bram Stoker's iconic character (and one of nine turns for Christopher Lee to play the part). Franco, director of such camp horror classics like 'Venus in Furs' and 'The Diabolical Dr. Z' brings his vision of Stoker's novel to life not without a few flaws, but the overall effort can bring a smile to any classic horror fan. [More]

The girls from M.A.R.S. Productions write: We are pleased to announce the following U.S. appearance by Lord of the Rings Calligrapher, Daniel Reeve (danielreeve.co.nz) will be the keynote speaker at Thinking Creatively 2007, the annual conference of the Art Director's Club of New Jersey. The conference reinforces the relevance of what creative people do best - imagining possibilities and creating them!

An exhibition of the Art of Daniel Reeve will be on display in the main atrium for the duration of the conference.

Thinking Creatively is on 30 - 31 March, 2007 at Kean University in Union, NJ. Don't miss this opportunity to experience Daniel's amazing artwork! [Thinking Creatively 2007] [danielreeve.co.nz] [marsproductions.net]

This week is a slow one for any new movies on DVD, but there are some interesting choices, take an early look on our 'DVD Tuesday' feature...every Monday! Some very cool TV on DVD like 'Doctor Who: The Invasion & The Sontaran Experiment', 'Hawaii Five-0 - S1' & 'Moonlighting - S5'. As mentioned there really is no big new release of the week, but there are some cool box sets like 'Audrey Hepburn Collection', 'The Hemingway Classics Collection', 'Jack Ryan 3 Pack', 'Literary Classics Collection'. And the child in us will all enjoy 'Peter Pan - Two-Disc Special Edition', from Disney. Personally I'm interested in 'Saturday Night Live: Best of Steve Martin 2' & 'Doctor Who' (you know I'm picking those up)! Check out the whole list here! [More]

John Noble will be a guest star on the Fox hit drama '24'. He will be playing a Russian national baddie for an unknown number of episodes starting tonight. Catch him on Fox tonight!

The fun is Non-Stop at TORn! One giveaway ends, another begins! This time we can thank Sideshow Collectibles for providing some great prizes: The Legendary Scale Cave Troll, a Legolas 12-inch Figure and the highly sought after Minas Morgul Environment! This 'Easy Win' giveaway couldn't be more simple. Just follow the link and enter your information into the form. That is it! Winners will be randomly selected on March 23rd and posted on the frontpage of TORn on March 26th. [Enter Now!]