Laura writes: I just thought the Lord of the Rings fans might be interested to know that the Flint Youth Theatre in Flint, MI will be performing The Hobbit from July 21-Aug 5. Tickets are $12 for adult and $10 for children ages 8 and up. I am sure fans will not be disappointed. [www.flintyouththeatre.com]

Nicole writes: I work at the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne. David Wenham was awarded an honourary doctorate on Thursday at our Graduation Ceremony at the Melbourne Town Hall. I saw him receive his award. His speech was enthralling. What a guy! [More]

Orlando Bloom is planning to reward himself for undertaking extensive promotional work for the Pirates Of The Caribbean sequel this summer - by hiking up Mount Everest. The travel-hungry Brit has always dreamed of seeing how far up the world's highest mountain he can climb. He says, "I'd love to go to the Everest Base Camp. I'm just looking forward to getting away from it." [More]

The music from Lord of the Rings has been voted the top movie soundtrack for the fifth year running. The Oscar-winning score composed by Howard Shore was the clear favourite in the poll by Classic FM. Hans Zimmer's epic soundtrack for Russell Crowe film Gladiator was second. In third place was the 2004 film Ladies In Lavender, which starred Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith. The score was written by Nigel Hess. [More]

It's not quite an Oscar, but winning a Wellington Region Gold Award is still an outstanding achievement for Park Road Post. The Peter Jackson-owned post-production facility for the film industry won the award for Creative Gold at the awards two weeks ago. Marketing and brand director Gareth Ruck said: "To be seen to be within the top (of Wellington business) is very important to us". "To be recognised at the top in a city that is recognised at the top creatively: it's a big buzz." "We are proud Wellingtonians and we support Wellington film-makers." [More]

Folks from the London MCM Expo write: WETA will be making an appearance at the upcoming London MCM Expo in the UK on the 27th & 28th May 2006, they will be showcasing their upcoming and current range of products to the European fans. This is a very rare appearance from the company its self rather than a licensee. Along with their appearance a lot more is happening with guests from film and TV, stage talks and much more. Updates will come when more comes clear, more information on the event can found at londonexpo.com

Hall of Fire this weekend focuses on Chapter 17 of the Silmarillion -- The ruin of Beleriand and the Fall of Fingolfin. After a long, watchful peace, Morgoth smashes the leaguer of Angband that's been maintained by the Noldor, unleashing orcs, Balrogs and an all-grown up Glaurung. Ard-Gelen is withered, Dorthonion is destroyed, the sons of Finarfin slain and the sons of Feanor scattered. Sauron takes Tol Sirion and uses it as a base from which to torment Beleriand. And the Noldorin high king Fingolfin rashly throws his life away in a suicidal challenge against Morgoth. In the midst of this tale of woe, is there any good news for the elves and human allies? [More]

Ringer Spy Magpie writes: Orlando Bloom is on the May 26th, 2006 cover of the insert, LIFE Magazine. (This is available with many newspapers across the United States.) Although there's no LOTR content (other than mentioning it as one of his prior films), it's got a couple of great photos. But when has Orlando ever taken a bad photo? [More]

From azfamily.com; If you've seen the first movie in "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, you've seen a hobbit hole. Sue Breding takes us inside a very special hobbit hole that a Valley man spent three year building in his back yard. [More]

CANNES, France (AP) - What a pair those dashing young mutants Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart make in X-Men: The Last Stand. The two 60-something actors had 20 years shaved off their features for the opening sequence in the comic-book franchise's latest flick. The filmmakers used digital technology to match their current features to those in old photos. [More]

Cate Blanchett will play Bob Dylan in his "androgenous phase" in a new biopic of the great poet-songwriter's life, it was announced, as Dylan turned 65. But even as he shows up everywhere in books, films and even a Broadway musical, Dylan, who has sought seclusion and mystery all his life, remains as enigmatic as ever. Dylan has clearly shrugged off retirement age, taking on a new job as a radio DJ, publishing a selection of his memoirs, musing in a Martin Scorcese documentary, authorizing a stage musical with his songs -- and appearing in an advert for the Victoria's Secret lingerie store chain. [More]

Viggo Mortensen ("A History of Violence") will play a 1930's German professor turned Nazi supporter in the big screen adaptation of "Good," Production Weekly reports. Brazilian director Vicente Amorim ("O Caminho das Nuvens") will helm the film that is based on CP Taylor's award-winning play that chronicles the professor's decent into the Reich and his ability to slide down the path of evil. [More]

The San Francisco Symphony will give the 100th performance of Howard Shore's Lord of the Rings Symphony in July, according to organizers. The work, a concert adaptation of Shore's scores for the three Lord of the Rings films, has proved enormously popular since its debut in Wellington, New Zealand in 2003. Nearly all of its performances, given by orchestras around the world, have sold out. Performances in Oslo and Bergen, Norway, last year drew crowds of 70,000 and 30,000, respectively. The six-movement, two-hour symphony is scored for orchestra, adult and children's choirs, and soloists. At the San Francisco Symphony's performances on July 14 and 15, Markus Huber, one of several conductors who have toured with the work, will be on the podium; soloists include soprano Kaitlyn Lusk. The event will also include projections of illustrations and storyboard sketches of the Lord of the Rings saga. [More]

Director Trevor Nunn is to pair his forthcoming Royal Shakespeare Company production of King Lear with a revival of Chekhov’s The Seagull, also for the RSC. The two productions, both cast with the same acting ensemble lead by Ian McKellen, will play in repertory at Stratford-upon-Avon’s new Courtyard Theatre from March 2007 before going on a world tour. McKellen will play the title role in King Lear, which will conclude the RSC’s year-long Complete Works Festival, and also appear as Sorin in The Seagull. [More]

"I'm going to be an action figure!!??" That's what Malcolm David Kelley (Lost's Walt) exclaimed after the 14-year-old learned from his TV dad, Harold Perrineau (Michael), that the cast is getting plastic mini-me replicas. Comics legend Todd McFarlane scanned the faces of Lost cast members and videotaped their bodies to help create their 6-inch versions. Or more accurately in Malcolm's case, 4 inches, max. [More]

Dominic Monaghan's Golden Globe winning show 'Lost' is on tonight at 8PM EST on ABC. TORN's chatroom now has a special 'Lost' screening room, login to #lost at 9PM and watch with fans from around the country! This is the two-hour season finale, don't miss it! [ABC.com] [TORN Chat]

Sideshow Collectibles has announced their latest 12-inch LOTR Figure - Boromir, Son of Denethor. If you want to get this piece, it will begin selling on May 30th at 10AM PST. Check out the details here! [] [Legolas 12-inch Figure]

Bear writes: I just wanted to let you know that Craig Parker will be doing a play in Auckland, New Zealand during the month of June. It's called Glide Time and more information on it can be found here. [More]

Recent travellers on Red Carpet's Lord of the Rings locations tour have been wowed by a new guest attraction - none other than Brett Beattie, body double to Gimli. Tour chiefs Vic and Rae James say they've been fascinated by the stories Brett can tell from his long days on the set. Brett probably spent as much time as any of the actors filming up and down the whole country, and his recollections can hold a tour party spellbound. Check out tours

The March tour was so enthused by their tour experience that some members put together a messageboard for past, present and future LOTR tour parties to share their stories. [More]

Naomi Watts will join Viggo Mortensen for the London-based thriller Eastern Promises. David Cronenberg will direct the script by Steven Knight, which delves into the same seedy underside of London life that Knight explored in Dirty Pretty Things. Watts will play a midwife at a London hospital who gets dragged into the criminal underworld when she tries to discover the identity of a dead patient. The movie will begin filming in November.

From Variety: Rachel Weisz, Ian McKellen and Susan Sarandon have joined Colin Firth in The Colossus, a colonial drama set in South Africa at the turn of the 20th century, to be directed by Sean Mathias. Based on Ann Harries' novel "Manly Pursuits," the $15 million film was written by Mathias and Myer Taub, and produced by Lisa Katselas. The Colossus is a fictionalized version of real events. It's the story of ornithologist Francis Wills (Firth), who is hired to transport English songbirds to recently deposed South African prime minister Cecil Rhodes (McKellen). Wills falls in love with a firebrand political activist (Weisz) and becomes entangled in a plot to stop the imminent Boer War. Variety says the project is expected to shoot this fall. [More]

Sean Bean is to star in the big screen adaptation of Oscar Wilde's A Woman of No Importance. US stars Lindsay Lohan and Annette Bening have also been cast in the movie. Wilde's A Woman of No Importance first appeared on stage at London's Haymarket Theatre in 1893. Prunella Scales, Samantha Bond and Rupert Graves starred in a stage production at the same theatre in 2003. [More]

Although famed composers ranging from Sergei Prokofiev to Aaron Copland have written music for movies, the classical music world has tended to look down their noses at it. But that attitude is changing. The San Francisco Symphony and Brooklyn Philharmonic are now regularly programing such music, and, in September 2004, cellist Yo-Yo Ma released an album devoted to the film works of Ennio Morricone. Then there's "The Lord of the Rings Symphony." In an effort to get his music performed not only on the screen but in concert halls as well, movie composer Howard Shore fashioned his scores for the blockbuster trilogy into a popular six-movement symphony. [More]

From The Observer: A Webley Mark VI revolver carried at the Battle of the Somme by JRR Tolkien, the author of The Lord of the Rings, is to go on display next month. The weapon was acquired two years ago by London's Imperial War Museum from the Tolkien estate and will be shown at the museum and in an online exhibition marking the 90th anniversary of the battle. Tolkien served in the trenches as a signaller from July to October 1916. Nigel Steel, head of research at the museum, said his experience would have 'darkened his mythological world and given him an insight into personal combat'. The exhibition will be at iwm.org.uk

Newswise — "Lord of the Rings" star Viggo Mortensen told the graduates of St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, that "activism is not a dirty word" and urged them to be active citizens, particularly to make changes in the country's health-care system. Mortensen, star of "A History of Violence," graduated from St. Lawrence in 1980 and spoke to the University's 567 graduates at Commencement on Sunday, May 21, in Appleton Arena on campus. He also received an honorary doctor of arts degree at the ceremony, held indoors for the first time in 21 years. "Much has changed in this country and the world since 1980," he said, "but the value of active citizenship is greater than ever. Making an earnest attempt to connect with people and issues outside of one's own limited personal circle will always be worthwhile. My liberal arts education at St. Lawrence taught me as much, and for that I am grateful." [More]