One of our new men out in NZ, John, sends these photos from Stone Street Studios in Wellington. This is a studio located about 2 minutes away from the coolest place on earth, also known as WETA Workshop & WETA Digital, and in between that is Park Road Post, where some LOTR work, and most of the work on King Kong was done..basically this neighborhood is the trifecta of movie-geek heaven.

When I was down in Wellington last April I caught up with LOTR producer Barrie Osbourne, we was hard at work on his next film 'The Water Horse'. I also had a chance to meet the director Jay Russell. At the time they were just about ready to begin shooting, this looks like they may be in re-shoot phase, the shoot in Scotland may or may not have happened yet, who knows. As you can see in the photos they seem to be planning something quite BIG to be on the blue screen...anyone who has read 'The Water Horse' already knows the answer to what that 'something' may be. Take a look at the photos and what John has to say! [More]

Tobias Hock writes: I am a German student. For my graduation in 2007 I am about to make a school work with the topic "J.R.R. Tolkien´s THE LORD OF THE RINGS: A cultural phenomenon' I want to find out to what extent fantasy literature deals with topical issues and, above all, what makes Tolkien´s work, half a century after its publication, still so attractive for millions of people. [More]

PLATTSBURGH, N.Y. - Actor Viggo Mortensen is on a three-day fundraising tour for Robert Johnson, the Democrat challenging U.S. Rep. John McHugh (news, bio, voting record) for the 23rd Congressional District seat. "I'm pretty skeptical of all politicians, and I think it's only in the movies that you find no-strings-attached, sincere people," Mortensen said Thursday at a $75 buffet dinner that drew 140 people. "Dr. Bob is that rare thing: He's a man that's not bought and paid for. I wish there were candidates like him all over the country," he said. [More]

WESTWOOD, MA – SEPTEMBER 8, 2006 – Turbine and Midway announced today that The Lord of the Rings Online™: Shadows of Angmar™ (LOTRO) has officially entered Beta in North America. Codemasters Online Gaming is pleased to announce the simultaneous launch of Pre-Beta in Europe. [More]

Celebriel writes: This year Kiran Shah, noted actor and stuntman who played the scale double for Frodo and other hobbits in “The Lord of the Rings,” was the Tolkien Track’s celebrity guest. He hosted a Q&A panel on Saturday, and appeared with “The Dork of the Rings” cast and crew on Monday. In between, he could be found mostly at The Walk of Fame over in the Hilton, greeting fans, signing autographs, and posing for pictures. [More]

Celebriel reports on LOTR Dragon Con 2006 programs: Wow, how to summarize four wonderful days of LOTR and other fantasy/sci-fi franchise madness. It’s impossible to attend everything of interest, but where else can you hear fans, writers, and scholars passionately debate The Dork of the Rings, whether Dumbledore is really dead, how Star Wars Episodes 1 to 3 could have been made better, and how the portrayal of dragons, from Tolkien’s Smaug to Paolini’s Saphira, has evolved. Not to mention listening to Emerald Rose, watching sword fighting displays, learning how to apply costume prosthetics, and meeting the amazing Kiran Shah. [More]

Celebriel forwards a link, sent to her by Arymetore, to the one minute CNN segment on DragonCon. Look for Emerald Rose playing at An Evening in Bree here! [More]

Ashlee & Rachel Scott write: Dragon*Con 2006 has come to a close after four long days of fun and excitement. Dragon*Con can be a success if you follow these three words: Divide and Conquer. With a 100 plus page program featuring dozens of guest and activities to enjoy, for newbies to Dragon*Con, like ourselves, it can be a bit overwhelming navigating through thousands of fans trying to get from one location to the next. Thanks go out to Ghost Hunters Steve Gonsalves and Bryan Hamois for rescuing us from the crowd and helping us find our way to the Ghost Hunters programming track or we might still be lost! [More]

Kel writes: The Prancing Pony Players performed their LOTR-themed variety show twice at L.A. Con IV, the 64th World Science Fiction Convention (WorldCon 2006). Audiences in the Spaceport Lounge were transported to Middle Earth as P3 performed a half-hour show celebrating Tolkien's trilogy with poetry and parody songs. You can view photos, lyrics and videos, and listen to MP3s from the performance here. Find out more about the Prancing Pony Players at their website, bucklandblues.com.

TORN Staffer MrCere writes: ATLANTA - It is a world all its own, enclosed in a few blocks and full of a phenominal array of the weird, the absurd, the strange and most of all, the fun! The Lord of the Rings is definitely an essential part of the landscape of fandom with over 30 dedicated tracks that take over Labor-Day weekend and suck every minute of fun both night and day. [More]

Mikeal writes: This Wednesday, Sept. 6, 7 p.m., some Rivendellers & the Minnesota Tolkien Society set will assemble to meet and talk about things Tolkien with Katherine Kohman, who is visiting the area this week. Ms. Kohman, A.K.A "Celevon Elensar" in the "TheOneRing.net" online community, is author of “Lembas for the Soul: How the Lord of the Rings Enriches Everyday Life”, Longtime Tolkien fan Renee "Arwen" Alper, is quoted about this book which contains "fifty deeply felt tales of newly forged friendships, courage and inspiration, joy and loss. [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 some TV goodies like 'LOST: Season 2', 'Supernatural: Season 1', and two great episodes of classic Doctor Who 'The web Planet' & 'Inferno'. Be sure to check out the Criterion Collection edition of 'Seven Samurai', Blu-Ray edition of 'Full Metal Jacket' and the 9/11 film 'United 93', plus a whole lot more! [More]

TORN has received a reply from the winery, the standard 'scheduling conflict' reply they have been giving to anyone who asks. I was hoping for a little more information...sadly, that doesn't seem likely.

Ringer Spy Celebriel reports on Friday's events at DragonCon in Atlanta: "An Evening in Bree," which featured the fabulous music of Emerald Rose and an LOTR costume contest, was the highlight of the evening's LOTR festivities.There were twenty entrants in the costume contest, which was judged by Donna Maloney, Amy Pace of West of the Moon, and members of Arms of Middle Earth. The Eye of Sauron won Best of Show, while Best Workmanship went to an elven costume with highly detailed leatherwork. Elfstone was judged Best Group while two hobbits costumed as Rosie Cotton won the Judges' Choice awards. Gandalf won the prize for Best Look-Alike. Watch for Celebriel's report on Saturday's DragonCon parade and LOTR track programming, including Kiran Shah and Dork of the Rings. Questions? Feedback? Email her at dianeroone@aol.com.

Adam let us know what the Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery Lord of the Rings concert was recently cancelled. The concert was due to take place next Saturday, September 9th. I have contacted the winery to ask for more information regarding the cancellation, more news as it arrives. Visit the winery concert webpage here. [More]

TORN Staffer MrCere writes: ATLANTA - Sleep is for babies. Food is for wimps. Rest is for later. DragonCon is on! Thursday felt like Friday in intensity and traffic and Friday felt like Saturday. D*Con is unmatched in its per-capita costumes and its per-costume crazyness.

TheOneRing.net was privledged to be back at the Con mixing with fans and helping to keep Tolkien fandom vibrant and relevant. While smaller than Comic-Con in San Diego it is much more concentrated between two main hotels with something for almost every interest in sci-fi, fantasy and even the rest of pop culture. [More]

While it's easy to assume Ray Morton's 'King King - From Fay Wray to Peter Jackson' is a quick cash-in on the second big screen update of the giant ape's romp, to do so would be missing out on what is easily the most complete collection of Kong-related trivia assembled. Morton digs into them all, including the much maligned King Kong Lives. This is information that's never been featured anywhere.

In chronological order, Morton begins the cinematic history of the oversized simian where he should: the 1933 classic that set a standard for special effects. With exhaustive text, Morton pulls out no stops to deliver the story behind the film, the people who made it, and how each individual effects shot was accomplished. Behind-the-scenes photos are uncommon, scattered throughout the book. For most of these films, the material simply isn't available. [More]

Order 'King King - From Fay Wray to Peter Jackson' on Amazon.com today!

Theatregoers in Toronto will say their last goodbyes to Mr. Frodo this weekend as the musical version of The Lord of the Rings takes its final bow on Sunday. The Lord of the Rings may be the most expensive musical ever staged - with an estimated cost of $28 million - and was supposed to provide a big boost to Toronto's tourism industry. But critics gave it mixed reviews, praising the special effects and sets but complaining the story was too long and confusing, and the box-office suffered. David Mirvish, producer and owner of the Princess of Wales theatre, said the show's running costs alone were 50 per cent higher than its musical hit The Lion King, and the show would have had to sell out - which it did not - to recoup its production costs. [More]

MADRID (Reuters) - Swashbuckling Spanish hero Alatriste, as played by a Danish-American heartthrob, is ready to conquer the box office just as the best-selling novels where he first appeared have won the public's affection. With a 24 million euro (16.15 million pounds) budget, Spain's most expensive film to date stars Spanish-speaking New York actor Viggo Mortensen, best known as Aragorn in the "Lord of the Rings" series. Mortensen's performance so impressed novelist Arturo Perez-Reverte, who created Alatriste, that he has incorporated his gestures into his latest novel. It tells the story of a dashing but down-to-earth captain who cuts, thrusts and sulks his way through three decades in the 17th century, when Spain was a world superpower. [More]

Orlando Bloom was on 'The Tonight Show with Jay Leno' last week to discuss his new film 'Haven'. They also spoke briefly about filming in the rain for 'Pirates 2' and shared battle scars. Take a look! (50MB MOV)[More]

A Ringer Spy with connections to WETA recently passed along a message suggesting that the Hobbit notation previously reported as appearing on a New Line Cinema schedule, might in fact be related to New Line's involvement in EA Games' "The White Council" RPG for XBox. We're not sure why NL would use the title "The Hobbit" to indicate a game with different subject matter, but we're continuing to check with our spies as information comes in!

Ashlee & Rachel Scott write: Fans of Sci-Fi and Fantasy began their trek to DragonCon in Atlanta today, ready for a fun filled weekend. Rachel and I were not even in Atlanta for an hour yet when we ran into Kiran Shah at registration. Kiran was Elijah's scale and stunt double for the LOTR trilogy, and has also appeared in such films as Chronicles of Narnia, Dark Crystal and most recently did the introduction for the "The Dork of the Rings" feature film. Kiran will be appearing at the convention throughout the weekend. He was gracious enough to pose for this photo and talk to us for a bit. We were so happy to finally meet him! What a wonderful person! What a great way to start the weekend!

TORN Staffer MrCere writes: ATLANTA - Its officially only the day before DragonCon but already things here in downtown Atlanta are a bit crazy. On a day when everything is about the check-in, costums are already a common sight, some tables are already set up and tonight in the Hyatt there was a well-attended impromptu drum circle. Cool! [More]

Are you anxiously awaiting the arrival of your Aragorn 12-inch figure from Sideshow Collectibles? To help ease the anticipation, Sideshow has posted some imagery of the Aragorn packaging in their Production Blog. Follow the link for complete details. And if you missed out on the Aragorn figure, don't make the same mistake with Legolas. Sideshow is still selling the regular edition Legolas Greenleaf 12-inch Figure. [LOTR Packaging] [Legolas Figure]