Tolkien Silliness File.
Tehanu @ 7:37 am EST

Who needs New Line to generate hype? LOTR madness is invading the weirdest corners of life already, and what could be weirder than 'Reality TV'?

Mighty Orc Hunter saw this on NZ TV2's "The Money Game":

Three innocent entrepreneurs were let loose on Monday morning from the top of Coronet Peak skifield (not a million miles from some LOTR locations, but that's merely coincidental) with just the clothes they were wearing and $5000 each. They were to meet at the top of the Skytower (Auckland, 1000 miles away)on Wednesday night and the person with the most money would win.

One guy ended up with about $3900 after making $30 on the sharemarket, trying to do a hole-in-one challenge, and selling a _lot_ of flowers.

The other guy seemed a little touched in the head and had the ability to spend his money like it was water. His plan was basically to put a sound effects CD together with things like a baby crying, a train going past a level crossing (horn and all), then trying to sell it to music labels. "I'm sorry - we prefer music."

The young lady's big plan was to put together an auction in Wellington with no stuff to start with. Somehow she got hold of a copy of LotR signed by six of the cast members. I have no idea where she got it from because I was watching a different channel at a crucial moment. (AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!) She got $7400 ish.

Oh, yeah. The 2nd guy I mentioned came out at $18,000 after selling two or three thousand CDs to the Warehouse - look for it in their mailer. It's the CD with artifical grass on the front cover.