August 19, 2002 - August 25, 2002

News for Aug. 25, 2002

Sean Astin Reads for Storyline on BookPALS Site

Tony Z writes: Just thought that you folks might want to know that there is a national organizational "BookPALS" that has actors read to school kids. SAG (Screen Actors Guild) is involved in the organization, and Sean Astin (Sam) picked one of his daughter's favorite stories to read on the site. [More]

Comic-Con 2002 Report

8/25/02, 8:16 pm EST - Xoanon

Laurelinda sends in this great report from Comic-Con 2002, Lawrence, Sala, TORN, WETA and more! [More]

Napoleon tries on the simple, domestic life in `New Clothes'

8/25/02, 8:06 pm EST - Xoanon

"The Emperor's New Clothes," which opened Friday at the Westgate cinema, is a lovely little fairy tale that imagines what would happen if Napoleon had managed to stop being Napoleon long enough to settle into a life of middle-class comfort and domesticity. It's a perfect movie for those who like their historical fiction a bit on the mushy side and are willing to sacrifice a measure of reality in order to play a clever game of "what if?" [More]

Guide book to Middle-earth completed

8/25/02, 8:04 pm EST - Xoanon

The affable curator of the Wanaka-based New Zealand Fighter Pilots Museum has spent the past eight months of his spare time writing the official guide to Lord of the Rings film locations throughout New Zealand. The official release of the guide book is not until November, and news about the 96-page publication being written has been suppressed by publishers HarperCollins (NZ). [More]

NZ wizard seeks charms of normal life

8/25/02, 8:01 pm EST - Xoanon

New Zealand's weirdest government appointee is hanging up his pointy hat and retiring. Ian Brackenbury Channell, who has been deemed a "living work of art", is going back to life as a normal person after taking up his office in Christchurch in the late 1970s. [More]

New Zealand: Middle-earth Magic

8/25/02, 7:56 pm EST - Xoanon

Éowyn sends in these scans from Ringer Spy Eowyn, take a look at these wonderful images from New Zealand, the TRUE Middle earth![More]

Billy Boyd Blurb: Sniper 470

8/25/02, 6:47 pm EST - Tookish

A link sent in from Ringer wizardlex from the Edinborough Film Festival webpages... The gunner sits in his pod and waits, millions of miles away from Earth. This is Sniper 470... [More]

The One Page LOTR

8/25/02, 4:53 pm EST - Tehanu

Another of Laine's hilarious spoofs...Warning for Kids with Strict Parents, there is some bad-ish language. [More]

British Fans can buy the One Ring?

8/25/02, 4:45 pm EST - Tehanu

News from Acceberryan:
"I just thought I should let any British people who haven't yet realised, that you can actually BUY the One Ring!! From Argos. It's in the gift section I think and its about £12.99 but don't take my word for it."
Well, sounds worth checking out.

Guide-book to Middle-earth

8/25/02, 4:39 pm EST - Tehanu

Ian Brodie, a native of Glenorchy, in the heart of Rings film country, received permission from New Line to photograph and write about the film locations, resulting in a stunning 'Guide Book to Middle-earth.' [More]

Technophile Alert!

8/25/02, 4:34 pm EST - Tehanu

If you like to dream about huge banks of computers with awesome powers, then read about Weta Digital's vast and growing processing power and the round-the-clock labours of the digital artists working on The Two Towers. More] Thanks to Elenah for the link.

If Aragorn really sang Elvis

8/25/02, 4:30 pm EST - Tehanu

The amusing typo that appeared on DVDTown a few days back got some imaginative responses to my question, "What Elvis songs would Aragorn sing, and how would they fit into the plot as we know it?' [More]

It's Poll Time Again!

8/25/02, 6:57 am EST - Demosthenes

Fandango.com has a poll about the best CG creation we've seen at a movie recently. One of the choices is the cave troll from FoTR. [More] You can also still vote in Classic FM's poll for the best movie soundtrack. I'm told the FoTR soundtrack is currently very high in the voting, and the poll closes very soon. [More]

Watch Kia's LoTR Commercial

8/25/02, 5:51 am EST - Demosthenes

If people tell me about the Kia test drive/DVD offer one more time I think I'll scream, but you can download the ad now and watch it on your computer. Comes in both Quicktime and Windows Media player flavours. Yeah, it's a slow news day. [More]

News for Aug. 24, 2002

Greg Hildebrandt On Dynamic Forces Show

8/24/02, 5:22 pm EST - Xoanon

Artist Greg Hildebrandt will be a guest on Dynamic Forces' upcoming show on HSN on Tuesday, Aug. 27 at 11 p.m. ET/8 p.m. PT. [More]

Aragorn merely sings like an immortal.

8/24/02, 1:31 pm EST - Tehanu

DVDTown fixed their typo so that they no longer claim that Aragorn sings Elvis, heh heh heh. Meanwhile, thanks for all the great booty-shaking Aragorn images - I'll post up a compilation of the best song suggestions later.

News for Aug. 23, 2002

Hall of Fire Chats For August 24th & 25th

8/23/02, 9:47 pm EST - Strider

Throughout the Lord of the Rings, there are many works of a mysterious, wonderous and, despite Tolkien's dislike of the concept, magical nature; the Elven blades that light in the prescence of Orcs, the staffs of the Wizards, and most prominent of all the One Ring. This weekend, the Hall of Fire is host to a discussion on a chapter from the Two Towers based on another one of these amazing objects from the history of Middle-earth: The Palantir. [More]

Billy's 'Sniper' & 'Far Side' Project News

8/23/02, 2:57 pm EST - Xoanon

Jennie writes: Here's a link to an article in the Style section of today's Washington Post about "The Far Side of the World", the movie Billy Boyd (Pippin) is currently working on in Rosarita, Mexico. [More]

P.S. His 24-minute-long indie, "Sniper470" opened today at the Edinburgh Film Festival.

Take A Look At The EXTENDED DVD Menus!

8/23/02, 1:26 pm EST - Xoanon

Thre folks at davisdvd.com have got their hands on some never-before-seen menu screens from the special edition DVD! [More]

Empire Magazine Cover

8/23/02, 1:20 pm EST - Tehanu

This pic is a spoiler if you haven't read The Two Towers yet. [More] Thanks to BruisedLee for the link.

Anybody...Mr. Helper...

8/23/02, 1:18 pm EST - Calisuri

Ever wanted to help with TheOneRing.net? Well, here is your chance! With TheOneRing.net growing daily, and some extremely cool upcoming sections, we realized we just don't have the man (or woman) power to get certain tasks done! If you are a real fan and interested in joining the team, check out this link. [More]

TTT Trailer On E!

8/23/02, 1:16 pm EST - Xoanon

David writes: Just thought I'd point out that one of the trailers for TTT was run on E!'s Coming Attractions yesterday afternoon.

Aragorn sings like a King.

8/23/02, 1:10 pm EST - Tehanu

Not just any king either, but The King. According to DVDTown, in the extended Fellowship DVD Aragorn sings Elvis. Or is it just another case of the typo balrogs at work? Anyhow, email us with your ideas for WHICH Elvis song Aragorn should sing, and how it would be integrated into the story as we know it [or thought we knew it.] [More] Thanks to Voximal for the link.

Toybiz Toys Deployed...

8/23/02, 1:01 pm EST - Tehanu

New from Lee: "American Dream Comics has some pictures of Toybiz's LOTR: The Two Towers action figures. Pics are divided into Day 3 and Day 5. These were taken at the recent Comic-Con. [More]

FOTR On PPV

8/23/02, 10:27 am EST - Xoanon

Tafi writes: In September's "The Cable Guide" our favorite movie is mentioned! No, not Star Wars, FOTR! It'll be on PPV in September!

LOTR News From Turkey

8/23/02, 9:51 am EST - Xoanon

It has been announced that the official release date of 'The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' is Friday, December 20th. The DVD of FOTR which was released on August 6th remains the top selling DVD here. Also the VCD format of the film is available. [More]

News for Aug. 22, 2002

FOTR Digital Effects Talk in London.

8/22/02, 8:53 pm EST - Tehanu

Jason wrote in: "Just thought I'd let you guys know that I'm going to be doing a presentation on some of the digital effects we [WETA Digital] have done for FOTR at the Digital Arts World conference in London on October 9th at 11:00 am. The details are on the webpage here. The program is subject to change, but if you keep checking the web page it should be more accurate as we get closer to the event."

DVD Rental Statistics

8/22/02, 8:46 pm EST - Tehanu

BoxOfficeMojo has the stats on the top DVD rentals in the US. FOTR is leading on the table for VHS rentals but has dropped back from top place in DVD rentals

Oxonmoot: Tolkien Society Event in Oxford

8/22/02, 6:18 pm EST - Tehanu

Another reminder for those of you who can get to Oxford, that their OxonMoot is being held on Sept. 13 -15 and as usual it promises to be a lot of fun, with all kinds of different events. [More]

Picnic for Bilbo and Frodo's Birthday.

8/22/02, 6:09 pm EST - Tehanu

September 22 - that's the day. We here in the San Francisco Bay Area are planning our own celebration - 'we' being LOTR fans from several websites and mailing lists. All LOTR fans invited of course, but if you don't live in the area, use your TORN Lineparty page or your messageboards to organise your own. Here's what's planned for our [Birthday Party Picnic

TTT Kinder Surprise Goodness!

8/22/02, 12:04 pm EST - Xoanon

I love the Kinder Toys, I have a small wooden train set from a Kinder Egg from my childhood. I was saddened to miss out on any FOTR Kinder toys last year, but the good news is that Kinder Toys are back for TTT! [More]

Japanese Fans Get What They Want

8/22/02, 11:59 am EST - Xoanon

Elenah writes: The Japanese fans got what they wanted : the mistakes on the subtitles will be repaired for the release of the video and DVD. A note on the official site says that the repairing will be done between the official translator and Tanaka Meiko, one of the two persons who translated the books to Japanese. [More]

At Least OUR Minions Don't Bump Their Heads!!

8/22/02, 11:54 am EST - Xoanon

Pippin Skywalker writes: TheForce.net has a funny joke about how orcs are more useless than Stormtroopers in their Humour Section. [More]

(and before anyone emails me asking me why I hate Star Wars know that I LOVE SW and we're having a little bit of fun -Xo)

Sometimes All You Have To Do Is Ask...

8/22/02, 11:45 am EST - Xoanon

Scott recounts his tale about how he managed to get a huge FOTR poster for free! [More]

GAMING: Games Workshop Teases With TTT

8/22/02, 11:39 am EST - Xoanon

The folks at Games Workshop have posted a few teasers from their Two Towers goodies, soon to hit the market. Take a look! [More] [Gaming Havens]

Arms & Armor in Middle-earth

8/22/02, 12:37 am EST - Jincey

What did the swords, armour, and other fighting equipment of Middle-earth really look like? Join us at [Dragon*Con] in Atlanta, GA Aug 30 - Sept 2 as Joe Piela of The Lonely Mountain Forge exhibits arms and armour he has created from Tolkien's descriptions. [More]

News for Aug. 21, 2002

LOTR DVD and Video sales: No official figures, but...

8/21/02, 5:31 pm EST - Tehanu

Just a week after the release of The Lord of the Rings, the second-guessing by competitors has already begun in earnest..[More] Thanks to Matt for the link.

Happy Birthday John Howe!

8/21/02, 5:16 pm EST - Xoanon

Today is famed LOTR illustrator John Howe's birthday! John worked as conceptual designer on the LOTR films alongside Alan Lee...who celebrated a birthday yesterday and we missed it! Cheers to both of you!

Eric...What Have You Done...

8/21/02, 2:34 pm EST - Xoanon

Follow the click below for the cool-beyond-cool exclusive footage from X2 featuyring our very own Ian McKellen (Gandalf), please dear god PLEASE let me get invited to the set! [More]

Media Watch: 8 Days Magazine

8/21/02, 2:22 pm EST - Xoanon

milaya sends along this review from '8 Days Magazine'. Take a look! [More]

Hobbit Bank Holiday Weekend

8/21/02, 2:00 pm EST - Xoanon

Tookie writes: Just thought you might like to see whats going on down my local town centre this bank holiday weekend. Unfortunately, I will not be around to witness the events and am absolutely deverstated. I'll send you next weeks report on the events, hopefully with pictures! [More]

BBC nominates 100 greatest Britons.

8/21/02, 1:28 pm EST - Tehanu

Apparently Tolkien is one of the nominated '100 greatest,' according to Mion. The story is on the Yahoo here, and there's something about the poll and upcoming TV series at the BBC site here

Sean Astin at Writers of the Future

8/21/02, 1:23 pm EST - Tehanu

Sean Astin presented some of the awards, and Yaralindi got to catch up with him at the party afterwards. [More]

Figwit at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

8/21/02, 1:12 pm EST - Tehanu

The Elven heartthrob is at the Festival performing with his band, Flight of the Conchords, and many of his British fans got to meet him. [More]

Passport to Middle-earth interviews Tehanu

8/21/02, 12:53 pm EST - Tehanu

Today's the last programme in this series of the radio show Passport to Middle-earth. They're going to interview me live, then we'll hear the results of an interview with Michael Martinez, and then it's over to you fans if you want to phone in and be on the show. [More]

SHOP: Great New Extended DVD Pictures!

8/21/02, 12:35 pm EST - leo

Check out these very cool new pictures (complete with the Sideshow Argonath figures!) from the extended dvd set that will be released in November! Thanks to Jim for digging up these pictures from DVDfile.com! [More] [Order your copy of the dvd here!]

Custom DVD Covers for FoTR

8/21/02, 6:36 am EST - Demosthenes

Those not wholly satisfied with the cover on their shiny new FoTR DVD might like to check out these very nice alternatives. Thanks to Frodo's Girl13 for the link. [More]

EmpireMovies Has TTT Pics!

8/21/02, 12:41 am EST - Xoanon

Check out some of the truly great pics from TTT over at EmpireMovies.com! !!!Spoilers!!! [More]

News for Aug. 20, 2002

Check the Guest List at the Toronto Film Festival

8/20/02, 9:21 pm EST - Jincey

Smeagol7 heard the following on CTV News in Toronto tonight: Elijah Wood and Cate Blanchett are slated to appear at this year's Toronto International Film Festival. [More]

Gameboy Advance LOTR Cover!

8/20/02, 7:51 pm EST - Xoanon

Earlier today we brought you the Playstation 2 cover for The Two Towers, now you can take a look at the GameBoy Advance game! [More]

DragonCon is getting closer...

8/20/02, 3:39 pm EST - Calisuri

Hey folks, only a little more than a week until the festivities begin at this year's DragonCon 2002. You ARE going right?! Check out the 4 full days of Tolkien events on our Tolkien Track page and be sure to prepare yourself for our hour long presentation about The Two Towers. Can't wait to see you there! [More]

A Heads-up for Dragonlance Fans

8/20/02, 1:32 pm EST - Tehanu

Slightly off-topic, but seeing as how there's bound to be Dragonlance fans among our readers, we'll pass on Alatar's news from the Tracy Hickman newsletter, which announced "The film rights for Dragonlance HAVE been optioned and that the project is proceeding although we are not able to give any details at this time."

LOTR Geeks on Comedy Central

8/20/02, 1:18 pm EST - Tehanu

News from BlixaBled about a LOTR challenge in a Comedy Central 'Beat the Geeks' gameshow. [More]

TTT To Debut In Paris

8/20/02, 1:05 pm EST - Xoanon

The city of lights has been chosen for the European premiere of LOTR this winter. Take a look at a small article from The Courier Mail, Brisbane. [More]

LOTR DVD arrives in Greece

8/20/02, 1:04 pm EST - Tehanu

Arwyn reported: "I'm just dropping you this note to tell you that the FOTR DVD is now available over here in Greece. It was released yesterday August 19th and judging from two video stores, the discs/tapes did not even spend a moment on the shelves, they where immedietly rented or sold!"

The Dominion Talks Figwit

8/20/02, 1:03 pm EST - Xoanon

Ringer Spy LC sends along this article from The Dominion, all about our favorite FOTR extra, Figwit! [More]

The Kia/DVD deal

8/20/02, 12:53 pm EST - Tehanu

Some Kia dealerships got so clogged with LOTR fans test-driving Kias in order to get their free DVD that they've taken to giving them away rather than go through the hassle of giving test-drives to people who aren't really interested. Ringer Brian, who got his DVD from them (there's a 2-week wait) said "Bad news, it's the FULL-screen version." [whoops, had to change that - I misquoted him originally.-T]

TOPPS Cards In Oz

8/20/02, 12:39 pm EST - Xoanon

Sasha writes: I went to card zone and got the new set of update cards with the preview cards in them. The special fabric cards are also out, but very rare apparently so when the man said he had 1 Frodo cloth card it had to be mine!

Gollum Makes The List

8/20/02, 12:36 pm EST - Xoanon

The CGI character Gollum (played by our very own Andy Serkis) has made his way to number 3 on the 'most loved CGI characters'. [More]

Media Watch: In Style Magazine

8/20/02, 12:33 pm EST - Xoanon

Kat sends along this snippet from In Style called 'Scar Search':

Viggo Mortensen (Aragorn): (where is your scar) "Upper lip. On Halloween when I was 17, I got into a fight near some barbed wire. I was so drunk, I didn't need an anesthetic to be sewn up."

Rhys Ifans wanted to be a Black Rider

8/20/02, 12:31 pm EST - Xoanon

Rhys Ifans says he would like to have been in Lord Of The Rings. Ifans has just finished working on a film in Australia with Miranda Otto. She plays Eowyn in The Two Towers and Return Of The King. [More]

GAMING: Playstation 2 TTT Game Cover!

8/20/02, 12:27 pm EST - Xoanon

Ringer Spy Frodo's Girl 13 sends along the cover to the new TTT Game for Playstation 2, check it out! [More]

She also sends along this great link to some custom FOTR DVD covers...just in case you want to be original! [More]

News for Aug. 19, 2002

Green Books' Triumphant THIRD Anniversary!

8/19/02, 5:55 pm EST - Quickbeam

Greetings -- Quickbeam here.
How time flies!! Green Books proudly marks its third year on TheOneRing.net with a special Anniversary Edition:

* Go Out on a Limb and read the full story of how I "Found a Hobbit’s Voice" -- providing the character voice of Sam for the video game!
* Anwyn thinks that The Two Towers will be TWICE the movie that Fellowship was. Read her fabulous Counterpoint to learn what inspired her.
* Turgon returns with a remarkably huge "Roundup of Recent and Forthcoming Books by and about J.R.R.T." over on his Bookshelf including titles through Fall 2002.
* Special Guest #1 is "Beowulf Lives!" by the Polish Tolkien-scholar, Christopher Garbowski, author of Recovery and Transcendence for the Contemporary Mythmaker: The Spiritual Dimension in the Works of J. R. R. Tolkien (2000).
* Special Guest #2 gives us a brilliant story of one teacher opening the minds of hundreds of children: "The Tolkien Effect" by Annie White Owl.
* Tookish has more delicious Ticklers with top-10 lists, jokes, slap-happy FILKS and more. What madness awaits you!
* Moon Letters offers many new and splendid Fan poetry and creative writings.
* Questions & Answers has great new stuff, including:
1. Did the Ring have its own Will?
2. How do the Elves reproduce?
3. Why make the Three Rings at all?
4. Give us Sauron’s back-history!
5. What was the blasting fire from Orthanc?

We truly love bringing this magazine to you.... So on behalf of the entire Green Books Staff, I say "THANK YOU" to the many readers around the world who have made these three years such an outrageous success!

Much too hasty,
Quickbeam

Turgon Needs Help!

8/19/02, 5:53 pm EST - Quickbeam

Turgon has written in about a new Green Books column he is working on, and he needs some help. Edmund Wilson’s 1956 denunciation of Tolkien is infamous, but what about other members of highbrow literary circles, the ones who usually ignore Tolkien? Have any of them actually written or made comments in praise of Tolkien? Turgon knows of a few like W. H. Auden, and more recently, Salman Rushdie. If you know of others, and (this is important) can cite the references for their comments, please send them along to Turgon at Turgon@theonering.net.

EXCLUSIVE: Astin WILL Direct Angel Episode!

8/19/02, 3:36 pm EST - Strider

As a follow up to yesterday's post, TORn staffer Arathorn got confirmation direct from Tim Minear himself, who told us exclusively that Sean Astin is a lock in this season's schedule to direct an episode of Angel. For more Angel info, check out CityofAngel.com.

SHOP: Balrog Available To Pre-Order

8/19/02, 1:30 pm EST - Strider

As of now, the Balrog statue from Sideshow/Weta Collectibles becomes available to pre-order. The polystone, hand painted statue measured at 13.5" tall is limited to only 1,000 pieces worldwide and will be the only replica of the Balrog to be released, with the exception of the Games Workshop Balrog. The statue is only available to purchase online and will not be available in stores, which means that this statue is likely to sell-out extremely fast. [More]

Media Watch: Entertainment Weekly

8/19/02, 11:00 am EST - Xoanon

Ringer Spy Allan sends along these scans from the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, take a look at the TTT Hype!!! [More]

Moria Orc Transformation

8/19/02, 10:55 am EST - Calisuri

If you missed Comic-Con 2002, then you probably did not get to see WETA Workshop's on stage make-up demonstration. Follow the link to see Sideshow Toy's Senior Product Designer, Heath Hammond, being transformed into a vicious Moria Orc in front of a few thousand Lord of the Rings fans. [More]

Lord of the Rings Will Sing a New Tune

8/19/02, 10:53 am EST - Xoanon

With DVD, there have been some firsts, and Howard Shore has scored one of them -- literally. The composer, who won the Oscar earlier this year for his score of The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, scored 30 minutes of new music for the “Special Extended” DVD Edition of the film, scheduled for Nov. 12 release from New Line Home Entertainment at $79.92 SRP. [More]

Rivendell For Sale?

8/19/02, 10:52 am EST - Xoanon

Thora writes: Now that the elves are leaving Middle Earth, Rivendell is for sale! [More]

Wired Talks WETA

8/19/02, 10:42 am EST - Xoanon

Mithrandir_777 writes: The september issue of Wired mag lists the top five special effects workshops (in no particular order). Among them is Weta Digital. The others are: Digital Domain, ILM, Rhythm and Hues, and Sony Pictures Imageworks. [More]

Weekend Round Up

8/19/02, 12:08 am EST - Xoanon

Missed all the news this weekend? Well fear not! We've got all the goodies you may have missed in one space for your satisfaction! Take a look at our weekend round up! [More]

Get TheOneRing.net Newsletter Today!

8/19/02, 12:02 am EST - Xoanon

The latest newsletter is ready to go! Do you want to receive our free weekly newsletter? Packed with tons of info to keep you up to date on the latest? Plus filled with exclusives from time to time! Join the crowd of over 10 400 mailing list members! Sign up now! [More]

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