John Howe, The Lord of the Ring's legendary illustrator will be in the Bravo! Studio with novelist Caitlin Sweet in conversation about his work with LOTR, the creative process as an artist and sharing stories from his work with Alan Lee, Peter Jackson, and others. Completely free but you MUST reserve your seat by Friday @5pm! Seating is limited. You will not be permitted entry without prior phone reservation. Please call 416-964-0011 to reserve seating. June 26 7:30-10pm @ Bravo! (downtown Toronto) THIS WILL BE FILMED FOR FUTURE BROADCAST.

Sinead writes: Did you know that EA has partnered together with Zboard to sponsor a "Master of Middle-Earth" sweepstakes?? The grand prize is a mind-blowing Raptor Gaming PC from Velocity Micro that is all tripped out with products from Athlon, AMD, Asus, NVIDIA, Corsair - plus a 19” LCD monitor from NEC. And it just wouldn’t be complete without a Zboard Gaming keyboard with The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth II Limited Edition keyset. Hurry the sweepstakes closes July 18, 2006! [More]

Big news related to ELF took place this week as Elijah Wood's representation told us that he has booked a film shoot during ELF and will not be able to attend! But fear not - Frodo's trusty companion, Samwise Gamgee, aka Sean Astin, has graciously agreed to fill the opening in the program. Those fans who booked only for Elijah will be contacted soon with options including switching those tickets to ones for Sean Astin or getting a refund. ELF 2006 takes place in Secacus, NJ (Just outside of NYC) July 28th-30th. For complete details, check out Creation Entertainment's website. [Click Here]

A stage musical of JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings will cost a staggering £25 million to launch in London next summer, the show's producer revealed yesterday. The costs, driven up by high-tech wizardry, will make it by far away the most expensive - and high-risk - musical staged in the West End. The record is thought to be held by the long-running The Lion King, and while its producers, Disney, have refused to disclose costs, they are widely believed to have been around £10 million. Kevin Wallace, who has spent five years planning the Tolkien stage show, announced yesterday that it would open at the 2,100-seat Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, next June. [More]

Orlando Bloom is slated to be a guest on 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'. He is there to promote a little known film called 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Mans Chest'. 'The Tonight Show' airs on NBC at 11:35PM.

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - There hasn't been a new "Lord of the Rings" movie in nearly three years. But that hasn't stopped New Line Home Entertainment from preparing new DVD versions of all three films in the franchise, which generated more than $1 billion in U.S. theaters and won 17 Academy Awards. Three "The Lord of the Rings Limited Edition" sets, one for each movie, will roll out August 29. Each two-disc set will include the original theatrical and the extended versions of the film, along with Costa Botes' feature-length documentary on each film's creation. [More]

Nine Finger Frodo writes: I wanted to report you this. Rumours have been going on lately about a new release of all 3 movies and with new material as well as new behind the scenes material. It's suggested that these will come out THIS AUGUST! [More]

Trystan from T&T's Real Travels writes: Our latest press release might be of interest to Ringers -- we have two new DVDs featuring Lord of the Rings movie sites & New Zealand itself: San Jose, California, June 19, 2006 – Whether you want to swim with dolphins or hike with hobbits, New Zealand is full of fantastic adventures for the budget traveler. The latest Real Travels DVDs show how to see movie sites, mountains, and more in just two weeks on a modest budget. [More]

Ramen, Community Relations Specialist for The Lord of the Rings Online writes: This week we delve deeper into Thorin's Halls with a look at the Throne of Thorin Oakenshield: "Situated prominently high above the fine stonework floor of Thorin's Hall, adventurers will come upon the great, empty Throne of Thorin, named for Thorin II, known also as Thorin Oakenshield, King Under the Mountain..." Once again, you can see the concept art carried through to the final, in-game version. Read about our latest Point of Interest, Thorin's Throne, and then post your comments in the official feedback thread. [More]

JulieAnna let us know about a signing with Sala Baker om California. He will be at 'Antiquities of California' (PIER 39) on Saturday, July 1st. [pier39.com]

Peter Jackson has selected his Wildcard pick(s) for this years 48HOURS Live TV Final (June 23rd, 8.30pm, C4). The Wildcard(s) will be revealed during Campbell Live on TV3 this Wednesday June 21st from 7pm, so be sure to tune in to see what tickled the acclaimed director’s fancy. Last year Peter Jackson couldn’t decide on just one short and ended up selecting two. How many will he choose this year? Peter Jackson’s Wildcard(s) will compete alongside the 48HOURS City Winners from Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin... However, only one can become the Grand National Winner 2006 and take home the awesome booty of prizes (see below). Home viewer text votes and judges votes will decide just who that will be. As an added bonus, one lucky texter will receive $1000 from a random draw of all txt voters. [More]

Arauka writes: This may be a bit of a strange item, and maybe it concerns something that has been reported on before, but I was surprised by an appearance of the Tengwar at this year's World Cup. While watching today's game between Spain and Tunisia, the young Spanish striker, Fernando Torres, who currently leads the tournament in goal scoring, caught my notice, not only for his skills, but for the tattoo on his left forearm, most clearly visible when he celebrated his first of two goals. In large print, he has his name "Fernando" tattooed in the Tengwar. I have since searched the web and found the attached photos clearly showing the tattoo. I found these photos at the following link: [More]

The Magic Ring meets The Lord of the Rings. Before Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings was the Baron de la Motte Fouqué's The Magic Ring in 1813. Fouqué's three-volume epic fantasy was immensely popular and influential when it was released. The Magic Ring shares many similar inspirations with Tolkien's work, including the Icelandic Eddas, the Germanic Nibelungenlied, and the medieval interlace structure. [More]

A ton of interesting new films are out on DVD this week. Take an early look on our 'DVD Tuesday' feature...every Monday! Check out Syriana, Night Watch, The Hills Have Eyes, Eight Below & more! [More]

New Zealand tourism should try to get extra mileage out of the Hollywood-backed pulling power of blockbuster director Peter Jackson. With The Lord Of The Rings publicity rush over, Jackson himself has been suggested as a campaign frontman to boost visitor numbers from the celebrity focused United States. The Wellington film director should be asked to step into a role similar to that once occupied by Crocodile Dundee promoting Australia, says Michael McClelland an American travel operator selling New Zealand holidays. He envisaged Jackson in a barefoot stance holding a glass of New Zealand wine tempting North American travellers here, and had suggested the idea to Tourism New Zealand boss George Hickton. [More]

TolkienBooks.net has published plans for a series of fourteen articles tracing the early publishing history of The Lord of the Rings. While the process of writing The Lord of the Rings has been described in detail by Christopher Tolkien in the History of Middle-earth series, less is known of the production and early publishing history of the books. [More]

djdeathskiss writes: I found some information on a few upcoming tv appearances from our Orlando Bloom to promote 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Mans Chest'

June 23 - The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, 11:35pm on NBC
June 25 - Live From the Red Carpet, 7pm on E!
June 29 - Conan O'Brien, 12:35am on NBC
July 5 - Good Morning America, 8am on ABC

The latest film project by teenage filmmakers, Ashlee & Rachel Scott, is
now available online in our Fan Films area. Their film recently won first place in "The Dork of the Rings" fan film contest. It is comprised of three scenes based upon the DOTR themes. Fans of the television series LOST will enjoy this fan film too, because the filmmakers incorporated their own version of a scene from LOST into their DOTR fan film as Frudo feels the power of the Ring of Credit all around him. And don't miss the 'Behind the Scenes' film posted as well. This parody shows fans the realities of filmmaking as security issues, weather problems and temperamental actors abound. [Fan Films]