Tuesday, January 01, 2002
Tulsa, OK Line Party Report - Xoanon @ 19:01 PST
From: Starworld 20

We had a blast the evening of December 18th here in Tulsa, OK! Among the festivities of the evening we had:

- door prizes sponsored by a local collectibles shop - The Wizards Asylum

- Tolkien trivia contest sponsored by another local shop - Starbase 21

- costume contest sponsored by our theatre - Dickinson Starworld 20

- collection for our pet charity the Tulsa Library Trust supporting Tulsa's public libraries

I haven't got any hard numbers for how many were at the midnight show from our theatre contact yet (the holidays sort of caught us all off-guard) but I hope to have that this weekend as well as more pictures.

The pics we have so far can be found at home.flash.net/~lissaree/line.htm

Here's what we've got so far:

Two of the home-made banners we flew for the evening

Our costume contest entries including our 1st place winner Kelly Russell as an elf maiden. 2nd prize went to Sean Fullerton as a Nazgul (very scary)

Our illustrious leader (that's me, Lissa)

A shot of our first drawing by Starworld 20's promotions director

Thanks Gerald for all your help!

The front of the line. It was cold and windy that night but these folks were there from about 7pm to midnight (theonering line members got to stay in the warm cozy theatre!)

The Decipher LOTR card game tournament hosted by our local Decipher rep (and theonering line member) John Andrew (Jonny Shogun)

Our trivia contest winner David Williams

The rest of the Williams clan and by far the biggest Tolkien fans on hand that night! They are Elspeth, Sheryl, David & little Lillith the youngest fan on hand that night!

Hope to have more pics of the actual line outside, but this is all we have for now. Hope you like them.

Sunday, December 30, 2001
Seattle Line Party Report - Xoanon @ 19:30 PST
Magpie Jen

I hope I'm sending this to the right email address. I attended the Seattle Line Party coordinated through theonering.net -- the line admin was Zulie (who did an excellent job!). My husband and I have put together our photos and some of our thoughts from our experience in a webpage.

We actually made a holiday out of the Line Party, travelling from our home in Calgary, Canada to Seattle to see the movie. We had a wonderful time and were not disappointed in the fans, the city nor the movie itself.

I include the url above in case you would like to put it somewhere on the site.

Oh yeah, and one of us did turn the coverage of the line from the Seattle TV station Q13 into a Windows media file, I'm not sure if you would be interested in that too.

Thursday, December 27, 2001
Madison, Wisconsin Premiere Party - Xoanon @ 22:55 PST
From: Stacey Lee

Hey there - Ringgamer from the Madison, Wisconsin (USA) line party. BTW please tell Decipher a big thank-you for the cards. My gang had a good time collecting them and swapping them.

We had seventeen people in costume, just in our group alone, plus there were several others in line who also had costumes on, and more of our Ring Game group showed up in mundane clothes to join us. The best thing is, we made the front page of the Madison newspaper The Capital Times!

I'm working on getting one of the group to email me a scanned pic from the newspaper, but meanwhile, most of our pictures including info from the newspaper is all up at www.ringgame.net if you just want to post the link so people can look.

Ring Game is a twice-yearly LARP of sorts that we play in a state park outside Madison, involving up to 150 players in a game that lasts five hours. Visitors to the line party pics can go to the Ring Game site via the bottom link to find out more about our group and how to join the game.

Thanks for the line party idea and the reporting.

in His service, Stacey Lee! (Ringgamer, who was dressed as Sam)

Wednesday, December 26, 2001
(Another) Montreal Line Party Event - Xoanon @ 16:59 PST
From: Kris

Overall our Line party was a big success!! It was a lot of hard work, and we got roughly 30 people to join the Line party. I set the meeting place at Peel metro for 7pm. I got there at 6:15pm to make sure I didn't miss anyone but unfortunately I think I did, or the metro was just a bad place to meet because I lost 7 people from our party. Well we all met at 7 and we went to go into line(where luckily my friend Jack had been standing since 5pm and was in the middle of the line!!) We had a fun hour in like and at 8pm they let us in the theatre for a half our sit till the movie started. As I sat there me and friends conversed about the books and how anxious we were. I was really nervous! You know when you're taking a test or getting a needle at the doctor or asking that special someone on a date? I was WAY more nervous I had butterflies like crazy! well 8:30pm and the lights dimmed and we saw previews one of Playstation 2 another of Blade 2! and a few others but then.... The movie started...and then it was heaven!!!

Then movie lived up to my expectations I honestly thought it was over hyped and I thought I wouldn't enjoy it but I did!! I LOVED IT!! Although for minor adjustments I had to get used to like Arwen's bigger role and no Tom Bombadil I enjoyed the movie very much! The movie was 100% to the book, it was pure Tolkien! I mean it was 100% like the book I guess 95% you can't expect it to be exactly like it because its an interpretation of the book and I t has to be understand by non-tolkien public. But it was a sight to see just dazzling!! Especially the Special effects!!!!!! the cave troll the Balrog the opening battle and the battle at the end all AMAZING!!

In the end my fellow LOTR lovers and I found the movie lived up to its expectations and we will be going to see it agin soon, which will be my fourth time. As for the non-Lotr readers they seemed to doubt the movie and were skeptical about it but they loved the movie even more than I did which pleased me. They were so hyper about knowing what happened next they went out and bought the book the next day!!!

Boston LOTR Premiere Party - Xoanon @ 16:51 PST
From: Math

Happy Holidays! Well, my LP member and I got our acts together and got more pics for TORN to post. The line party started around 6pm with about 7 of us. More and more members come, and some people not part of our LP also arrived (pics have time) and started lining up.

Maria and her sister Sally (entwives) not only provided us with great costume spectacle, but also cookies and drinks for our consumption. I received the free sample Trading Card games (by the way, thanks to Decipher, Inc.) on time for the LP, and so I started giving the samples and brochures away. I ran out of the cards sooner than you can say LOTR: FOTR...

More and more people have arrived and at around 11pm, Loews management was kind enough to let us enter the theater as soon as it was vacated and cleaned. Many excited Tolkienites entered the theater, and some late-comer costume wearers graced the cinema. The anticipation was riveting. Then the show...

After the movie, the LP fellowship was broken from a member of over 25 people before the show, to just a fellowship of NINE (intriguingly). The fellowship went to a 24-h diner, we had our meal and heated discussions about the film, both good and not-so-bad points. By 4am, everyone is tired and those people who were supposed to go the next showing are starting to give in to their heavy eyelids. The fellowship of nine was broken, and we all went home. Alas, our own Frodo and Sam (Amy and Yi-Fong) made it to the next screening and savoured every glorifying minutes of the LOTR film. Overall, the Boston Line Party was a great success, and has created a "fellowship" that would endure the task of waiting for the next 2 installments.

Sydney Premiere: A Fan Report - Xoanon @ 16:17 PST
From: Scrow

There and Back Again

Before the premiere

The flight to Sydney from Brisbane was scheduled for a 5:00am take-off on Friday the 21st of December. I had to get up at 3:00am to get ready and to leave enough time for the trip to the airport.

Once we got to Sydney, we caught a taxi to the place where we were staying for the weekend. We couldn't check in till 2:00pm and it was only 9:00am, so we wanted to drop off our bags while we walked around Sydney waiting till 2:00pm. We had to store our bags in some lockers two floors down from the reception so we got in the lift to get to the bottom floor. While in the lift I made some sudden and jerky movements, which caused the lift to come to a sudden halt! Needless to say, both my friend and myself had a heart attack. In the end we had to wait an hour before the maintenance people were able to get to the hotel and let us out.

The Premiere
We wandered through Sydney until it came time for the premiere of The Fellowship of the Ring, in Australia. Before we went to the cinema where the premiere was taking place, we met with some friends at a pub, who were also going to attend the night with us.

After finishing the remainder of their beer and wine we walked to the premiere. The street was packed with people who lined the red carpet waiting for a glimpse of the actors from the movie. I showed my pass to a security guard and walked down the red carpet towards where the movie was going to be shown. As I did this I saw a few Australian celebrities.

Eventually those I was with and myself reached the entrance to one of the theaters where we could finally see the movie I had been anticipating since rumors of the movie began. At 7:00pm the doors opened, we entered, found a seat and waited… and waited.

The actors who were attending the premiere got held up in traffic and were very late to the premiere. Screening was to commence at 7:30pm but didn't start till 8:00pm. But the wait was worth it.

Before we knew it the actors who were attending the premiere were running down the isle to be introduced as their characters in the movie. Elijah Wood, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Orlando Bloom and Hugo Weaving were standing at the front of the theater, at which point I decided this was a perfect photo opportunity.

They then walked back up the isle and left us to experience the movie for the first time. While walking up the isle I heard Orlando Bloom whisper, "I hope you like it!", and I certainly did. I wont go into what parts of the movie I enjoyed the most to avoid spoilers for those who haven't seen it yet.

The movie ended, and everyone sighed with relief because the end of the movie was so emotionally charged and you felt the end of it mentally wore you down. This was a good thing in my opinion.

Next on the agenda was the after party for the premiere, which took place at Sydney Town Hall. For me this was the highlight of the night. The Town Hall was completely packed with people who were eating, drinking, talking or doing it all at once. They were playing music from the FotR soundtrack and had a young woman dancing on the stage, who was dressed similar to how Galadriel looked in the movie. The actors were seated in an area separated by a red rope and security were making sure no one passed over it. It was at this time that I thought I would never have a chance to meet the actors.

But Hugo Weaving came right up to the rope and was signing peoples FotR movie guides and having his photo taken with several people. Just before I got Hugo to sign my ticket to the party I remember him saying to someone else that it felt like he was in a zoo because of the way the rope was there to separate the actors from the rest of the crowd. Not long after I had got my ticket signed and had my photo taken he stepped over the rope to meet with some of his friends who were in the crowd.

For most of the night I was eating, drinking and talking to the people who I had attended the premiere with. But as the night turned to the morning the hall began to empty a bit. This was when security was much more relaxed and people were able to meet with the actors in the area, which was roped off. My friends and myself were lucky enough to go into the roped off area and meet with the rest of the actors who were Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, Elijah Wood and Orlando Bloom.

Finally I had photos and the autographs of all the actors who had attended the premiere, and by this time the hall had become progressively empty and many of the remaining people had filtered to the smaller outside area. This was one of the best parts of the night because you got a chance to meet the actors a little better. I found Hugo and asked for another photo because I was a little distracted in the first one, and wasn't facing the camera. After the photo I started talking to Hugo about his new movie projects, the Matrix sequels, both of which he stars in. We mostly talked about how the deaths of Aaliyah and Gloria Foster had effected the production of the movies. Hugo told me that the death of Gloria Foster was a major set back to the production of the movies, because he character (the Oracle) had major roles in both of the sequels. We also talked about how exactly it is that Hugo's character, Agent Smith, is brought back to life in the next Matrix installment.

For the rest of the night I talked with my friends and had more to drink, and decided to let the actors have a break from the smothering of fans like me! By 2:30 most people had become tired and we decided to leave. At that time, as far as I could see, only Hugo Weaving and Billy Boyd remained.

After the premiere
For the rest of the weekend I enjoyed the sights of Sydney. I went to Manly, Sydney Opera House, Circular Quay, The Rocks and Taronga Zoo. I also watched Monsters Inc. on Saturday night, which was a great movie. I enjoyed Taronga Zoo the most, but got very badly sunburnt. On Sunday my friend and I were finally on our way back home to Brisbane.

Within a week I will be sending pictures of the weekend, including the premiere and my snapshots with the actors.

Tuesday, December 25, 2001
Yakima Line Party Event - Xoanon @ 11:39 PST
From: Frodo of the Nine Fingers

Yakima is a fairly small, hickish, town so I wasn't expecting many people to be in a line. There was no midnight showing (Aaarg!) so the box office opened at noon the 19th. Three friends and I were at the cinema at 6:15. Some other people had been there since midnight but had left and came back soon after we got there. It was roughly 20 degrees farenheight the whole time we were in line. By 11:00 there were almost 30 people in line! Yeah! They opened early so we could get in out of the cold, and by 12:10 I was in my seat waiting and thawing out my toes. All shows that day were sold out. Great show, saw the next showing, and can't wait to see it again! Rock on theonering.net!

Irvine Line Party Event - Xoanon @ 11:35 PST
From: Garfeimao

I knew many of the people coming to my Line Party event were going to be down at the Irvine Spectrum most of the day, but I had worked all weekend and still had tons of preparation to do on Tuesday. I spent the morning and early afternoon making up gaming forms for scavenger hunts and mad-libs and the costume contest ballots. I finally got down to the spectrum around 4pm and hooked up with the theater manager to discuss timing of opening the theater up, where the line would and would it be moved. I then checked on the line, which still only about 20 people or so and discovered one industrious group brought a television. OK, this was going to be a serious line, and I do have two pictures of the group with the television, so here they are.

Some of my line partiers came in costume, and hung out all day like this. You can see a few in these pictures, and the rest can be seen in the costume contest pictures. I started to run my games, such as a scavenger hunt, that took teams all over the Irvine Spectrum trying to figure out my clues and find the correct stores and collect keywords. For prizes, I had the Decipher box full of booster decks of the TCG, I had a shirt from 13 Ghosts, and I had some rather nice posters of various sizes. I also had some very cool shirts from Scifi channel, as they were doing a promotion for their new Babylon 5 movie, The Legend of the Rangers. I was wearing one of their shirts, but they also sent me extra shirts to use as giveaways, and I gave them away.

Aside from the scavenger hunt, we also had a raffle, which you can see the tickets being handed out here by an assistant I drafted. I had to call the ticket numbers in the movie theater, and it seats 600, so I was a bit hoarse the next day. I had a large movie poster that the theater gave me, as well as some movie passes, so that was cool.

After dark, Todd, from Decipher, started to demo their TCG game. He was allowed to pull a table out from the theater, which was quite nice, and he had game demos going on for the next 2 or 3 hours. Actually, I had a really great relationship with the theater. By the end of the evening, I ended up with two large movie posters, one of which was a one-sheet, 5 pairs of movie passes, all of which I gave out, and I walked away with a few items for myself.

Because I went to the Hollywood premiere and talked with some of the actors there, I was able to get the manager of the theater something in return for his help. These two pics show Mark with the two balloons and the card I gave him, which included a bookmark of Liv Tyler as Arwen, which I'd had her sign to him. You can see he was quite surprised, which is why the balloons say Thank You and Surprise. Anyhow, he sort of did the same thing to me inside. I had just finished the raffle and had awarded the costume prize, when he quieted the whole audience and thanked me for working so hard for the event. Hey, I'm just a fan, I would have gone to an empty theater, someone elses line party, or anywhere to see this, so for me, it was work, but for something I wanted to do. Anyhow, the theater gave me a few movie passes to use later on, and a rather large display item, which you will see in the costume contest pics.

OK, here is the first 3 entries in my costume contest. I only had 7 entries, but ended up with more people in costume. Some of them did not show up until later on, and I had already distributed numbers and ballots for people to vote on. Anyhow, the large display behind each contestant, the theater gave me that thing. It's 7 and a half feet tall, just over 4 feet wide and about 2 feet deep. The Black Riders jut out at the bottom and are all waving swords around, Aragorn's sword sticks out a bit on the right side and Legolas's bow sticks out a bit on the left. It's huge, and I just barely got the thing home. You aren't supposed to take these things apart after it's been together, as it's just cardboard and it throws the balance off, or something like that. Anyhow, I now have it and now I need to find some place to put it or maybe find a better use for it, not sure where I'm going with that yet.

This is the next set of photos from the costume contest at the Irvine Spectrum. A woman, whose cigar shop was selling the official goblets and what not had made arrangements to be able to display some of the goblets and hold a raffle. It's blatant advertising, and they were still on display yesterday when I was down at the theater, but the theater chain approved it, so whatever turns them on. A lot of people thought that her raffle was associated with my activities and just didn't believe me when I said I had no idea where to put the entry forms. Oh well, maybe next time she will learn to make a better display.

OK, that's my costume contest. Entry 7 won, and recieved a nice LOTR display poster from Borders books, along with the accompanying strip that had the Elvish inscription on the Ring. Entry 1 was my runner up, but I had run out of things to give out. Now I'm trying to remember if I gave them anything the following day. I was able to save some prizes for the Wednesday screenings and added a bunch of coupons from the Ben & Jerry's at the Spectrum.

Once the prizes had been given and I could finally sit down with my popcorn and soda, I was able to just enjoy the film again. I'd seen it at the Hollywood premiere, but was really looking forward to seeing it with a really enthusiastic crowd. I was also able to really just enjoy the overall look and got much more emotionally involved in the film. Especially the two scenes designed to make you cry, which did, and I won't mention more of that here, but I was a weepy mess coming out of the screening just after 3am.

I've continued to communicate with my list, as I'd like to hold one more event in a few months. If New Line goes through with it's intentions to recall the final reel of FOTR and replace it with one that includes a teaser/trailer for Two Towers, I'd like to get my group together again to see FOTR and the new trailer. This will then just naturally lead up to Line Party Two Towers, woohoo.

Sunday, December 23, 2001
Karlstad, Sweden Line Party Report - Xoanon @ 23:47 PST
From: Apan

Karlstad Line Party made an arrangement with a local cafe/beer-cafe. With only 4 days of notice they agreed upon keeping open one extra hour (so that we wouldn't have to be standing up all night)! At 8.30 pm, local time, the first member arrived with a friend. Within the next hour several people, many of whom weren't even signed up as members (though friends of members) dropped by. At 11 pm, we were about 20 people leaving the cafe after having had a really good time eating, drinking (those of proper age, of course!) and anticipating!

The theatre had told us that there was to be performances before the midnight hour. And indeed, there was. Outside the theatre, a band of young artists were "playing" with fire. Though it wasn't all that much of a show, they still deserve credit for wearing not-so-warm clothing out there in the cold...

Inside, a bunch of LARP-people were "fighting" (using live-action weapons). The most noteworthy aspect of this performance was one of them was dressed up as a ringwraith. Other than that, it was a rather lame performance (much due to the fact that the weapons were made of steel, I suppose).

As I did not become aware of the line party-function of Theonering.net until a week ago or so, little time there was to prepare major events. Still the dinner before the opening was terrific. Everyone was having a good time! It should perhaps be mentioned that there is in Karlstad not that a great enthusiasm when it comes to "hysteria". We tend to take easy on such things. By our standards, the pre-opening event was an event extraordinaire...:)

Pictures (yes, some brilliant member actually brought a camera!) will be comming as soon as I can get my hands on them. They are mostly from the cafe (not too many though, as I recall) but do not get your hopes up on a pic-o-rama. :P

A personal note: I thank you for giving us means to better organise ourselves! The Line Party-function worked better than I would have hoped! I do hope you intend to keep it until next year.....

Warm greetings from a frosty town in Sweden!

Missoula, MT Line Party Report - Xoanon @ 23:39 PST
From: Mithrandir777

Here's the lowdown for the line party in Missoula, MT.

Well, we had everything planned. We intended to spend the night on the 18th and onto the 19th. We intended to bring food, sleeping bags, and we even had a suburban as shield from that mad Caradras cold.

Then, at about 3pm on the 18th, I found out that there was going to be a midnight showing, and all our plans went to pot.

It was a major rush, calling everybody, trying to figure out what was going to happen: if we were still going to spend the night, etc.

We arrived at the theater just in time - or at least most of us did. Two of our members didn't make it in time to get tickets.

Regardless it was pleasant. Two of us (myself being one) started the line at about 5pm, but nobody joined until 9:30 or so. In the meanwhile, we spent our time reading bits of the _Silmarilion_ and talking about getting a Lord of the Rings Trading Card League started here in Missoula (any takers out there? - if so, email me jgottwig@email.com).

Once the rest of our line arrived, we had a Ringwraith (me), Boromir, Gimli, Aragorn, Frodo, Shadowfax (don't ask), a guy in a Santa Claus hat, and a couple uncostumed folks. Unfortunately our Galadriel couldn't get tickets.

We all adored the movie, and most of us returned early the next morning for a second helping.

St. Charles LOTR Premiere Party - Xoanon @ 00:54 PST
From: Lady Galadriel

We were probably one of the smallest line parties, but nonetheless we had a great time. The three of us were the only fans who attended the movie in costume for *any* of the showings, but the other moviegoers seemed to enjoy our outfits. Josh was dressed as Frodo in a green hobbit cloak, I (Megan) was Galadriel, and Neil went as a Ringwraith (these photos don't do justice to the Nazgul costume). As we left the movie, we were met by cheers and compliments from those standing in the line for the next showing.

All three of us enjoyed the movie immensely. After a change back into some normal clothes, we headed out for dinner at TGI Friday's to discuss what we'd just seen. We are hoping to see "Fellowship" together a second time, and to meet again next year for "The Two Towers".

Mesa, AZ LOTR Premiere Party Pics - Xoanon @ 00:21 PST
From: Steven

As the leader of the most successful Line Party in Arizona, I promised many people who dressed up that you'd post these pictures on TORN. Many of these people are new to TORN, as I pushed your site very heavily during the Line Party to all 1,400 Tolkien fans there that have not yet visited.

I plan to make next years event 10 times better! I purchased several book type items myself for the best costume and other prize winners, the official movie guide's, etc., (in true Hobbit gift giving fashion). Thanks for just being here to share a dream.

Saturday, December 22, 2001
A Trip Into The Australian Premiere - Strider @ 14:40 PST
Luckiest Girl On Earth

My name is Chris (aka OZ) &, like you, I have been totally obssessed with LOTR. The Sydney premiere was coming up & I did not want to miss it. I went by myself & the plan was to stand outside the premiere & get some photos & autographs of the stars of the Fellowship Of The Ring.

Things don't always go as planned.

I had enterred a few competitions to go INTO the premiere & was absolutely livid when I didn't win any of them.

There were only 3 ways to get into the premiere:

1) Be media or a celebrity

2) Win a pass in

3) Pay $200 for a charity ticket.

I wasn't eligable for any of them, so I resigned myself to just standing outside.

On Friday 21st Dec 2001 I left home, which is a 3 hour train ride north of Sydney, at 11am. Only had 1 hour sleep in 2 days. The stars were surposed to start arriving at 6.30 pm so & I got to the cinema at 3pm. Expecting to see hundreds of people there already I was surprised to see that I was the second person to arrive. I got talking to the first person there (hi Venus) & it turns out she wasn't there for LOTR but Olivia Newton-John who was rumoured to be there. She knew nothing about LOTR, but she did by the time I was done with her.

Other people started arriving at 5pm. I thought they were fans of LOTR but most of the people around me were there to see someone else or were curious as to what celebrities were coming. If I had a dollar for each time I was asked, "What's going on here?" & "Who's coming?" I could've afforded at charity ticket into the premiere.

At 6pm the MC for the night started asking questions & giving out prizes of LOTR t-shirts & caps. You can bet I wanted both. So when he was walking along the red carpet asking for fans I was jumping up & down screaming, "Me. Me. Me. Me". He asked me a question which I answered correctly & got both a t-shirt & cap. Well happy. I don't think he was too happy when I corrected his pronounciation. "It's FRODO not Fredo."

A publicist was walking around handing out cards & keyrings. Yes. I got everything.

I was ready for autographs. I had made up a piece of black cardboard with Fellowship Of The Ring written on the top & a photo sized gap in the middle for a photo of the cast. I would get the cast to sign it with a silver pen then find a good picture to place in the centre the, hang it on my wall in a frame. Pretty cool, huh?

At 7pm Hugo Weaving turned up. He didn't want to sign any autographs but I worked my charm on him & almost forced him to sign my cardboard. Anyway, the pen didn't work to well so I asked a guy next to me if I could share his silver texta. That looked much better.

1 down 4 to go. Billy, Orlando, Elijah & Dom were coming but no Peter Jackson. I was a little dissapointed but I would get to see "the boys" so that was OK.

I had positioned myself at the corner of the L-shaped red carpet so I could watch them come towards me & I was directly in there eyeline. I wore a red sleevless tight top so I stood out from the crowd. Where I was also gave me enough time to get over the shock of seeing them in the flesh so I could actually talk once they came close. I NEEDED that extra time because I froze when they finally arrived.

At 7.20pm the boys arrived. WOW. They are all so gorgeous!

Lij, Dom & Orlando arrived first. Billy was late but more about that later.

Skip to me. They came to sign our autographs & I started talking as soon as they came close enough. Calling out their names & getting their attention was great because I seemed to be the only one there who knew who Orlando & Dom were. I had my cardboard in one hand & camera in the other.

Dom was right in front of me signing my cardboard & I spoke.

"Dom. Could you give me a big smile please?"

He stopped signing other people's autographs, looked straight at me, smiled & answered, "Anything for you my darlin." He then put down the pen & took a small step back so I could get a good photo. I was very happy.

I thanked him & he said, "You're welcome." Can't get the smile off my face thinking about it. "My darlin."

Next was Orlando. I must say that guy is a character. Not only was he incredible beautiful but he was hysterically funny, pulling all these faces (which I caught on film & is my favourite photo of them all) & acting like a cartoon character.

He reminds me of a kid with a.d.d because it is hard to hold his attention for more than a second. Again I spoke up.

"Orlando. Can you give me a big smile please?" He stopped & looked at me with a huge smile on his face. I was a little worried that in the photo I took he wouldn't be looking directly into my camera because I was a second too late. He was facing me but he was checking me out. Turns out I was right. I don't have a photo with him looking directly into my camera, but he is checking me out. Cool. I thanked him. I think we also chatted a little but I can't remember what was said because I was too mesmerised by his beauty. Sounds corny, I know. I can hear your groans. I almost forgot the mention the pen incident. Orlando had a blue pen which he was going to sign my black cardboard with when he stopped & realised it wouldn't turn out. I grabbed the other guys texta & said, "You'll have to use this."

He looked at the blue pen, held it up & said, "Who owns this?" No response so he just throw it blindly over his shoulder then proceeded to sign my cardboard with the silver specially for me. I am special.

Then the man of the hour. Everyone there knew who Elijah Wood was. Everyone went nuts.

He was gracious & polite & sweet & funny & excited all at the same time. He signed every autograph & talked to people. I was surprised at how down-to-earth he was. He was genuinely happy to be there & more than willing to keep the fans happy.

There he was in front of me. I told him that I have been waiting for so long to see this movie & he replied, "Well I hope you enjoy it". As he signed my cardboard, & for the third time I asked, "Lij. Can you give me a big smile please?" He said, "Sure," then looked right into my camera & gave me a huge smile. The photo is fantastic. Totally natural yet comical. Fraggle shot we call it here in Australia. I love that one. My thanks to him got me another look & a huge smile from Lij. I said with total affection, "Thankyou Frodo." He seemed to really like that. He looked proud & pleased that someone had called him Frodo. I had to do it. Couldn't help myself. Got the response I wanted.

4 down. 1 to go. Where the hell are you Billy Boyd?

He eventually turned up & flew past everyone. I found out today he signed 1 autograph. I am dissapointed it wasn't mine. However, I did get his full attention.

He was in such a hurry he just waved at everyone & wanted to keep walking until I spoke up.

I yelled at the top of my lungs, "Billy." He turned to see me jumping up & down chanting, "Just one. Just one. Just one." He stopped dead in his tracks & was torn. Go into the premiere NOW because my publicist is screaming at me or sign this crazy girl's cardboard? He had his arms slightly out & was swaying from one side to the other like the was being pulled in 2 directions. He eventually looked me in the eye & said, "I can't. I'm really sorry. I have to go. Sorry." Then he was gone.

So that was my story of meeting the cast of Fellowship Of The Ring. I got the full attention of each & every one of them for however long that might have been. I was the happiest girl on earth.

BUT!!! That's only half of my story. The luckiest girl in the world part came into play before the stars arrived, when one of the "ordinary people" out of the blue gave me her premiere ticket as she walked the red carpet. The way it happened is one of the most bizarre experiences I've ever had.

You needed a ticket to get past the security at the beginning of the red carpet. Men in earpieces. You had to run the gaunltlet so I knew there was no way I could sneak in.

Out of nowhere this woman & a man came onto the red carpet & she headed straight for me. I was surrounded by people but she targeted me. She came close &, without saying a word, held out her ticket to me. I took it, not knowing if it was OK but she had a smile on her face & a look of, "Go on. It's yours." Some people around me went to take the ticket but it was like something slapped their hand, stopping them before they could get to it. It was meant for me. This woman was giving it to me on purpose. I couldn't say anything other than thanks. She smiled then turned & disappeared down the red carpet. Not saying a single word the whole time. I didn't know this woman & I would never recognise her if I saw her again but she seemed like an angel appearing out of nowhere to give me this amazing gift.

When my shock subsided panic & fear set in. Should I use the ticket & try to get into the premiere? Everyone around me was encouraging me to go for it. I saw security pointing at me & talking. I thought they had spotted the fact that I had been given a ticket that had already been used & don't let me in. Another thing I noticed was there was a little signature on the ticket which I took as authorisation that it was invalid. My hopes were dashed as I decided that it wasn't worth getting in trouble over.

10 minutes later I changed my mind. I decided to wait until the LOTR boys had come & gone & I'd gotten my photos & autographs THEN I would try to get in. That was a good time to get past the security, who spotted me earlier, because they would be following the boys down the red carpet.

The time had come to give it a shot. I was really nervous so I decided to play dumb. Pretend that I had arrived late & hope that I hadn't missed it. Guess what. It bloody worked. I got past the 2 lots of security (the ones with the suits & earpieces) without so much as a glance at my ticket. First hurdle gone I was on the red carpet heading for the premiere. I was stunned. I saw my new friends at the other end of the carpet & I could see all of their jaws drop at the simultaniously when they saw me walking the red carpet. It was a great sight to see because it made me laugh & calmed my nerves. Turn the corner & head up the longest stretch of red carpet there. Gonna get busted this time for sure.

As I was walking along something totally surreal happened that makes me chuckle every time I think about it. In the middle of the red carpet "the boys" were being interviewed & I had to walk around them to get to the cinema. How bizarre. I had been standing in one place for over 4 hours waiting for them & now they were in my way & I had to go around them. Just thought of something. I should've pinched Orlando on the bum as I walked past. Would've looked good on TV.

That wasn't the end of the gauntlet. I had 4 more tests to get through before I could go into the premiere.

There was a woman waiting at the end of the red carpet checking tickets. I flashed my ticket & asked if I was too late. She casually replied that I wasn't too late then directed me to cinema #7. Up the stairs I go. I got to cinema 7 & flashed my ticket. The woman there asked me if I had a seat number. I thought that I was definately gone that time. I played dumb again (getting really good at it by now) & babbled that I have no idea if I had a seat number or not. I just have the ticket. I was then informed that cinema 7 was full & I'd have to go to #10. OK. Took my ticket & got to 10 where I was met by a man this time. He took my ticket & we repeated the "seat number" incident. He let me in but didn't hand back my ticket.

"Can I have that back as a momento? I asked.

"We have to take them & count them & you can get them back after the screening," he replied. No worries. I was in & that was the end of the gauntlet, or so I thought.

At the top of the stairs I was confronted by 3 women. So close yet so far, I thought. They asked the seat number question & I repeated my dumb act for the 3rd time. I waited for them to tell me to leave. Their response surprised me.

"OK. Well just take a seat down the front on either the left or right side. Enjoy the movie."

I WAS IN. FINALLY.

I took my place in the front row in the left bank of seats near the aisel. Waiting on most of the seats were a bar of chocolate & a bottle of softdrink. I put one of the chocolates in my bag & ate a spare.

I stood with everyone else waiting for something to happen. I was praying that the cinema wouldn't fill up & it'd be one seat short. Silly thought, I know, but what moron would have a ticket to the Australian premiere of Fellowship Of The Ring & not turn up? A couple of morons actually. How many people would kill for those tickets?

The lights went down & some guy came to the front of the cinema & spoke. He tried to speak but the microphone wouldn't work. 5 minutes later they found one that did work & the crowd cheered.

He introduced the associate producer who talked for a while then introduced the producer. He chatted then introduced the 5 cast members that were there one by one. I was very pleased to see that my crappy seat had some merits. Each of them had to run past me to get to the front of the cinema. On top of that they stood to the left of the screen rather than in the center of the screen. Who was sitting on the left up the front? ME! They stood right in front of me. I have the photos to prove it. In one photo Dom is looking straight at me.

OK. I am going to go a little fangirl right now & tell you about Orlando & me locking eyes. We stared at each other for 5 long seconds & I think it was me who broke. It was way too intense. Orlando's #1 Aussie fan's dream come true. We shared a moment. Man his eyes are intense.

The introductions over it is now onto the movie. And that's where I am ending my long story of how I am the luckiest girl on earth. Hope you could follow it & I hope I gave you some sort of insight as to what goes on INSIDE.

Things like this don't happen to people like me. I am one of those people who have to fight for everything they get yet I was handing this amazing gift last night that I will cherish & treasure forever. Thankyou Venus & all those other people that made my 4 hour wait enjoyable. Thankyou publicity woman for giving me all those freebies. Thankyou mystery woman for the most amazing gift I have ever gotten in my life. Thankyou cast of LOTR. Thankyou to me for having the courage to be loud, get seen & take the chance on getting into the premiere. That one incident has been more significant to me then anyone will ever know & I cannot thank all involved enough.

Salt Lake City LOTR Premiere Party - Xoanon @ 14:38 PST
From: LC

Line party stories might be passe on your site, but here in Salt Lake we hosted the worlds largest TheOneRing.net party of them all and I wanted to send you not only a report but pictures as well.

We bought out a 500 seat theater for the 12:01 a.m. screening on the first night of the event. We met in Salt Lake's Olympic Plaza, gave out lots of amazing prizes and had a medieval musical troupe and medieval dancing. Borders and Badali Jewelry donated excellent prizes including a leather-bound boxed edition of the trilogy and a lovely rendition of the One Ring. Paul Badali was our guest at the screening but we weren't allowed to promote for him since it was related to the movie. He just gave us a gift out of the kindness of our heart. We also had a chain-mail expert and maker and invited 10 members of the media to see our show.

Every one of our 516 seats was full and so many people were interested in our event that we refered them to the theater which sold out two additional 300 seaters. We also collected extra money from people if they chose to donate it and bought 35 copies of Fellowship Of The Ring for everybody in attendance between the ages of 12-18.

The event turned out to be a smash hit and plans are already in the works to make next years bigger, better and more charitable.

Xo - Thanks for all you do for so many so much of the time.

Attached are our photos of our outdoor meeting two hours before the film including many in costume. In one shot we formed a giant ring around the olympic fountain - turned off of course.

Montreal Premiere Party Report #2 - Xoanon @ 14:17 PST

Here are the pictures and a slightly more detailed report from the Montreal Line Party on December 19th, 2001.

Cleo and I arrived around 5:30 to setup at Le Skratch WEST-ISLAND. Cleo and her friend Seb were extremely helpful in making sure all the arrangements went smoothly. With almost 100 people gathered together in 1 place the logistics were just too much for simple old Xoanon.

As people slowly started arriving we arranged for the food to be served and had about 3 or 4 raffles to give away a ton of goodies. Plenty of folks seemed to like the raffles, as there was a huge crowd around Cleo and I as we announced the winners.

All in all I certainly think everyone had a good time. It was really nice to see some good friends, family and co-workers arrive just for the fun of it, many of them weren't even tolkien fans (and they all seemed to love the movie).

Now That's A Hot Film - Xoanon @ 01:06 PST
From: Icefire Queen

I read about Ataahua's bad experience and would like to say something very similar happened to me! At the Dec. 19 one o'clock showing of LOTR: FOTR at Sandhills Cinema 10 in Southern Pines, North Carolina, just as Aragorn took a mighty swing at an orc, the film caught on fire! Yes, it actually did. The theater full of people either got a pass to see the movie again on another screen or did a little theater hopping. Kudos to the management for being helpful. It was the first time I've ever been part of a lynch mob. Hehe..certainly a memorable experience.