From Ringer staff member Tookish:

In my city, each year a local t.v. station holds a contest to predict the first time the temperature is 100 degrees. This year, the grand prize is a driving trip for two .... in New Zealand....did I mention it's a $10,000.00 package??

Here's the grand prize from the TV stations site kvoa.com

Grand Prize for 2000 is a New Zealand driving tour for two (2) people from Bon Voyage Travel and Brendan Tours. Bon Voyage will provide roundtrip economy class airfare for two (2) from Tucson to Auckland, New Zealand via Los Angeles. Vacation is a self drive program through New Zealand. Trip includes 7 days car rental, 6 nights accommodations and a set of travel documents.

Who's gonna try?!

"Hi. Just wanted to let you know...Sir Ian Mckellen updated the e-posts on his website. At the bottom of the latest eposts page there is a "tease" photo of Mckellen as gandalf."

McKellen.com

Whats going on you say? Well, New Line Cinema is hosting an Exclusive Internet Preview on April 7th!! We have been counting down since last week and only 3 more days until the big event! Check out http://www.lordoftherings.net for the OFFICIAL word.

Exclusive Bonus Letter from Peter Jackson! Production is underway in New Zealand on the live-action trilogy of Lord of the Rings films. As a special bonus to all New Line Cinema Studio Store Customers, all copies of "The Lord of the Rings" purchased here come with a full-color copy of a letter from director Peter Jackson about his love for the books and his plans for the film! Each letter comes with a New Line Cinema logo hologram as proof of authenticity. [More]

Thanks to Julius for the tip!

Thanks to Taleena for that snippet.

In their 'Celebrity News' we get this:

A $200 million screen version of J.R.R. TOLKIEN's THE LORD OF THE RINGS is getting enhanced with romance. Director PETER JACKSON, shooting the first of three films devoted to the saga, has drafted LIV TYLER and CATE BLANCHETT to play ARWEN and GALADRIEL, whose roles have been extended in the screenplay. The love story between Arwen and ARAGORN, played by VIGGO MORTENSEN, has also been given greater prominence. But Hobbit fans are up in arms, fearing the essence of the work will be lost.

Enthusiast ALEX HORTON, 17, from Croydon fumes, "I don't see the point of messing with the elements of a story that has worked so long for lots of people. DR VINCENT GILLESPIE, professor of English at ST ANNE'S COLLEGE, OXFORD says, "Traditionally in Middle English tales men lead the action. It is fairly male-dominated stuff and women have either a domestic or a faerie representing `the other side'... The film could build reasonably, though, on the growing idea that women were powerful 'fixers' or 'peaceweavers' behind the scenes in these tales."

Thanks to the leafy Quickbeam for the tip!

Each day we are posting a new Exclusive Internet Preview countdown image. If you have missed the first 3 images, check our movie scrapbook section. Also keep your eyes above our poll! Each day the image will change until the finale on April 7th!

You can also see Ian Holm (Bilbo) in 'Incognito' on Cinemax tonight [More]

Click to enlarge

sigh..I've said it before and I'll say it again...I hate it when people don't check their facts.

From: Ian

The article gets some strange things wrong considering it was as recent as January (funny how so many magazines do that).

Thanks to Daylight Saving Time here in the US, we are one more hour closer...

Check out the OFFICIAL site at http://www.lordoftherings.net

"Hi,

Just wanted to let you know I attended Viggo Mortensen's opening for his art exhibit on march 24th in New York City. The art work was wonderful and Viggo was there. He was very warm and down to earth; a very regular guy. I asked how he liked New Zealand and he said he was having a good time there. Didn't get to talk about the movie much, as there were a lot of people and I didn't want to monopolize his time. Also, don't know when he'll be going back to NZ. But if anyone gets the opportunity to be in NYC in the next 2 weeks, they can see some outstanding artwork by Viggo. If not, you can always see some of it at the Track16 gallery in California.

Best Regards,
OlAntiques."

The image above the poll will change daily until this exciting first look footage is available for download.

You can also click on the text "Flash Preview" for the daily teaser flash animation.

I don't know about you, but I don't know if I can make it 6 days...

Towering tiled buildings--some stretching 40 feet high--are clustered around the open area. Their walls and pillars are intricately detailed with carvings of Elven faces, flowers and birds.

Welcome to LOTR's exquisitely detailed Rivendell set. Located about 90 minutes north of Wellington and nestled amid the mountains and forests of a nature preserve, it's a masterpiece of design and location. [More]

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New Line Cinema presents J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings Trilogy.

A first look at the HEROES

A first look at the CREATURES

A first look at the TALE that inspired millions

Exclusively on http://www.lordoftherings.net

--------

Hey folks, this is NOT an april fools! Finally the footage has returned to the fans!

	Found by: David Kent (Shaker Hts, Ohio, USA)
	Found by: Larry Larios
	Found by: Anika East (Sydney, Austrailia)
	Found by: Alex Malikov (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)

Check out what Gollum and Gandalf have to say about these winners! Also find out where the prize rings were hidden. [ winners ]

Here's the story..of a lovely Hobbit...

This comes by way of family, literally:

From: Jared

my cousin Paul Setura has been cast in the lotr movies... he played peter brady in the brady bunch movies, and did a few others... I do not know wha part he is cast in.. I know he went down there to read for the part of a character named Lotho... but I am not certain if that is what he got...Jared

Info on Lotho:

Lotho Sackville-Baggins was the son of Lobelia, and he was the one who eventually bought BagEnd. After Frodo's departure from Hobbiton, Lotho bought up a lot of land in the Shire, and set himself up as Chief. Lotho was doing very well for himself, until things got out of hand, and Saruman came in and took things over. Lotho was locked in the Lockholes, and eventually killed by Grima.

This will be taken a RUMOR since my contacts cannot confirm any of it at the moment, more news to come!

Thanks to Jared and Gamgee for the info!

This is the latest from voodooextreeme.com:

Lord of the Rings MMOG! 3:33 PM

And last, but certainly not least, the second totally f'in spicy bastard that Ross Perez broke to me is that WON.net will be providing a massively multiplayer online game based off of J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" fantasy novels. In the game, large numbers of players will hop onto the game's servers and act out Tolkien's fantasies. That's all that we have on this at the moment, but stay tuned for an upcoming press release later today.

More info as it flows in!

This site is the premiere Dutch Tolkien site online and we are proud to continue to be partnered with them! Congratulations Julius, Leo, Valimar, Mel_A, Goody and Go0se!