Light of Earendil writes: I want to let you know that there is going to be a showing of The Lord of the Rings Trilogy in Austin, Texas at the Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar August 21, 2005. Chef John Bullington is preparing a menu of all 7 hobbit eating times. The link to buy tickets is not up yet, but when it goes up it will be at drafthouse.com at the South Lamar location. I hope you can get the word out. Thank you! [More]

A man who built models for The Lord of the Rings can sue for unfair dismissal, New Zealand's Supreme Court has ruled. The court ruled that model maker James Bryson was an employee of production company Three Foot Six, rather than an independent contractor. As such, he is now entitled to pursue personal grievance claims after being made redundant when the models unit was downsized towards the end of filming. [More]

Ian McKellen has made the list of Britain's Finest Actors. The List also includes Daniel Day-Lewis, Anthony Hopkins, Laurence Olivier & Peter Sellers. The full results of the poll will be broadcast on British TV on July 11. [More]

Two Wellington comedians have landed their own radio series with the BBC. Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie (AKA Figwit), as musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords, will have a six-part series on BBC Radio 2 from September. The series is being created and narrated by Welsh comedian Rob Brydon, who caught Flight of the Conchords' shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last year. Brydon, best known in Britain for comedy television talkshow The Keith Barret Show, has appeared in several films including Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Shaun of the Dead and this year A Cock and Bull Story with Steve Coogan. [More]

NEW YORK - If Miranda Otto ever wants to remember what she looked like when she was pregnant, all she has to do is watch "War of the Worlds." "Everyone says you should get a photo taken of yourself while you're pregnant," said Otto, who was three months pregnant while filming the Tom Cruise summer blockbuster. "I've got a film. It'll be nice for my daughter, too, to look at one day. She was in it." [More]

Henry Gee writes: I'll be talking about my book 'The Science of Middle-earth' at Joseph's Bookstore in London on Tuesday 12 July at 8pm. Joseph's is located at 1257 Finchley Road, Temple Fortune, London NW11 0AD (tel 020 8731 7575, fax 020 8731 6699, email) Tickets: £9.95, to include talk, discussion, meze and a glass of wine. So you get dinner *and* a show. Tickets are selling like hot lembas so booking is essential.

It's that time of year again for fans to gather at the biggest Genre convention of all, Comic-Con! Held annually in San Diego, California - this is the Mother of all Cons. And the third year in a row RINGERS: LORD OF THE FANS will have a large presence. [More]

They came from across Britain, from Brighton to Banff, and from around the world - even from Middle Earth. Almost a quarter of a million people joined the Make Poverty History march to send their simple message to the world leaders gathering in Gleneagles this week. Lord of the Rings star Billy Boyd led a celebrity cast in support of the biggest gathering of protesters ever seen in Scotland. [More]

TV One has announced a major sponsorship of the Westfield Style Pasifika 2005 spectacular and is also sponsoring the Supreme Winner of the Fashion Award. “Westfield Style Pasifika showcases major New Zealand talent, both in fashion and entertainment and celebrates our unique place in the world which makes it an excellent partnership for us,” said TVNZ’s General Manager of Marketing, Sue Brewster. Oscar winning ‘Lord of the Rings’ costume designer Ngila Dickson is a new judge for the Westfield Style Pasifika Fashion Award as is Chris Cherry of Workshop. [More]

Schindlers List was a daunting 3hrs 15 mins, Titanic was three hours 14 mins and Gangs Of New York was two hours 45mins long. However, the Lord Of The Rings trilogy makes all these look like a walk in the park, because when shown back-to-back cinema fanatics can expect to be sitting upright for a bum-numbing nine hours and 36 minutes. Today, the Broadway Theatre has set this challenge to fans of the award-winning films because they will be shown in full on the theatre's enormous screen on July 23 and July 24. Gluttons for punishment, fans are already hammering at the theatre's kiosk – snapping up 250 tickets, which cost £12.50 each, to see all three films. [More]

MsRoPow writes: On July 11-13 Gregory Tatum, OP, adjunct professor of New Testament at the Dominican School in Berkley, CA., will lecture on the theology of the J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings novel (in contrast to Jackson's films) from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. in Siena Hall at Holy Rosary Parish in Portland, OR. There will plenty of time for discussion and questions. The topics are; 'On Providence and Free Will' (July 11th), 'On Good and Evil' (July 12th), 'On Choices and Characters' (July 13th).

Adam Sandler's forthcoming romantic comedy, Click, will have it all. You've got Sandler's trademark wit, the lovely Kate Beckinsale, the insanity of Christopher Walken... not to mention the one-man cinematic marvel that is David Hasselhoff. And now a Hobbit has been added to the cast. According to Variety, LOTR star Sean Astin will appear in an unspecified role. [More]

Chris writes: I read today that John Rhys-Davies has signed up to play the role of the wizard Merrick in the upcoming fantasy film Dungeon Siege, based on the computer game of the same name. It will also star Jason Statham, Burt Reynolds and Ron Perlman.

From: The “Green Street Hooligans” Team: We know you’ve been waiting patiently to find out when the film will be out in theatres. Well, we finally have news! First of all, we want you to know we are changing the title to “Green Street Hooligans.” The film is being called “Green Street” in the U.K. (for the street where West Ham Stadium resides) and we wanted to keep our title similar so fans would realize they’re one and the same. [More]

For those of you who have followed the Sideshow/Weta Collectibles line for the past years, news reaches us today that there will be only three more pieces and the line of Lord of the Rings polystone collectibles will end. The last three pieces are the Mumak of Harad, an Amon Hen Environment and, the final piece is a special tribute to Peter Jackson himself, the Peter Jackson as a Corsair statue. For the complete details and previews of the last pieces, follow the links! [Announcement] [Mumak of Harad] [Amon Hen] [Peter Jackson as Corsair]

It is confirmed! Sean Astin will join Elijah Wood, Billy Boyd and John Noble at ELF, the first East coast LOTR Festival presented by TheOneRing.net and Creation Entertainment. Tickets are still on sale - you won't want to miss out! The TORn staff has also been working hard to provide some amazing track programming, a few parties (with Emerald Rose!) and the ever popular art show! Follow the link for complete details! [Click Here]

Sir Edmund Hillary is the most trustworthy New Zealander, according to a poll of Kiwi attitudes. But National leader Don Brash and broadcaster Paul Holmes are languishing among the least trusted. The Readers Digest annual survey reveals the professions and brands New Zealanders are happy to rely on. Director Peter Jackson, currently inspiring King Kong mania, was third, but he was an exception, with most television and film personalities getting the thumbs down. Rachel Hunter was 45th, followed by Suzanne Paul, Russell Crowe and Paul Holmes. [More]

The latest issue of Premiere Magazine features an article called "Hollywood's 50 Most Powerful" with Peter Jackson in the number one spot! Take a look! [More]

In the summer, woods around Moscow, as well as Moscow’s biggest parks often teem with people who look like they’ve just walked off the set of “Lord of the Rings” — swords, armor, the works. The parks and gardens — which, for those in the know, have their own names in elven tongue — serve as grounds for role-playing and acting out the scenes from Tolkien originals as well as Tolkien-based fan fiction. [More]

Bruce Hopkins writes: The digital feature film I acted in in 2003 called “1nite” has been selected as a finalist for the NZ Screen Directors Guild Film and Television Awards in 2 categories. Best Digital Feature ( Amarbir Singh, my partner in indiPact Films ) and Best Contribution to a Digital Feature ( Cristobal Lobos, the cinematographer ). This 80 minute film was shot for NZ$400.00 on a Canon XL1 camera, with no other crew or gear, no lights or sound equipment. It was selected ahead a many fully funded films to play in the 2004 NZ International Film Festival and played to full houses gaining great revues. [More]

Susanlynnl writes: Lord of the Rings fans need to respond to the IMDb daily poll for today, asking which of the IMDb Top Ten movies are the most overrated. Unfortunately, right now ROTK is #1 in the poll, and FOTR is #4. [More]

NIFFF, The Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival is screening 'John Howe: There and Back Again' today. From NIFFF: The viewer is taken on a journey in search of Howe's inspirations, from the cathedral of Strasbourg to the Canton of Neuchâtel and the neighbouring French Jura, the real places that often provided settings for "The Lord of the Rings". [More] [NIFFF]

It looks like gamers still debating whether to buy a PSP may get another nudge to get off the fence. Besides the arrival of the Grand Theft Auto and SOCOM franchises, it appears Q4 2005 may also see the Lord of the Rings games make their debut on Sony's portable. [More]

The One Ring finds a Texas home this summer during "The Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy - The Exhibition" at the Houston Museum of Natural Science through Aug. 28. Museum staff are reporting they had the largest opening weekend for any exhibit they've ve ever had. [More]

And remember, The Houston Museum of Natural Sciences has offered to provide discounted entry to the Lord of the Rings exhibit for TORn readers! [More]

FredO writes: I thought it might of interest to TORn readers that there is now a package available for those traveling to Pittsburgh for the LOTR Symphony on July 22 and 23. [More]

Ataahua found this snippet of news in the one-minute miceNZ e-newsletter - a tourism industry magazine in New Zealand: Not only can visitors take a stroll through Peter Jackson's Hobbiton film set near Matamata, but a refurbishment of a conference and function centre there means groups can now meet on the set too. [More]

Several people wrote in to let us now Sir Ian Holm is to play the late Pope John Paul II in a television mini-series. Sir Ian, 73 - who played Bilbo Baggins in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy - will portray the late Pope in the four-hour biopic for US television. [More]

Barrie Osborne, producer of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Matrix Face/Off and many more, is set to produce Beggars Inc, a high-concept comedy about panhandlers. Thanks to Adele for the link. [More]

Russian Ringers have been staging mock role-playing battles (some based on the LOTR universe) around Moscow. [More]

Meghan, Online Community Manager for 'The Lord of the Rings Online' writes: This week, we've posted World Lead Ryan Bednar's first dev diary, Charting the Chetwood. Ryan talks about how the team re-creates the geography of Middle-earth by pulling clues from the text of The Lord of the Rings, and includes a little map he whipped up showing the locations of Archet, Combe, and Staddle. [More]

Sometimes, just sometimes, it's interesting and fun to play 'what if?'. That's why this weekend, we're asking you 'What if Gollum had lived?'. At the climax of the Return of the King, Frodo claims the ring for himself, Gollum grabs him and bites off Frodo's finger. The Precious is his! But as Gollum holds up both ring and finger triumphantly, he slips, dropping both the Ring and Frodo's finger into the fire. Yet he doesn't fall in himself. What happens next? [More]

A repeat airing of 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno' featuring Dominic Monaghan airs tonight on NBC. If you haven't seen it, it's new to you! The Tonight Show airs on NBC at 11:35 PM EST.