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Each week, I scour Ebay looking for the hot Tolkien items up for sale. I post the most interesting here for you to bid on! [More] [Shop]

On a crisp August afternoon, Rachel Griffiths and Hugo Weaving are hard at work in the kitchen of a terrace house in Fitzroy. As cafe owner Annie, the single mother of two precocious daughters, Griffiths is warily welcoming Weaving's dissolute rock guitarist, Martin, into her home and her life. [More]

If director Peter Jackson's Wairarapa home is finished, he has not yet put out the welcome mat for neighbours. Jackson has been having a rural homestead at a large property in Matahiwi, near Masterton, completely renovated for more than a year now. [More]

Peter Jackson's special-effects company Weta Digital is reaching deep into its chest of high-tech sword and sorcery to complete the final instalment of The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Return of the King. [More]

Chef to the White Lady writes: Hi, love the site! I’m from Minneapolis and this past February I baked my girlfriend a birthday cake. I had never baked before and after seeing a cake posted on your site several months ago I decided to throw my hat in the ring. [More]

WeeTanya writes: Liv Tyler (Arwen), and a ROTK picture of her as Arwen, is in Vogue. She discusses being the "Face of Givenchy", and her difficulty saying the word 'Irresistible'. [More]

Elijah Wood (Frodo) will be appearing on the Caroline Rhea daytime talk show tomorrow, June 16th. Check your local listings. [More]

Brad dourif (Grima Wormtongue) was recently in the Chicago area attending the 'Flashback Weekend' Convention. Emma took these pics for us. [More]

Nolan writes, "Two Lord of the Rings characters have been added to the Roster of Gen Con, taking place in Indianapolis, IN on July 24-27th. Among those who are showing up: Sean Astin [Sam] John Rhys-Davies [Gimli] [More]

Meanwhile, Caryn writes that website The Onion has a competition that offers a free trip to GenCon. [More]

Oh geez. Why don't we do this here!? Read about this amazing cross-country race - a cross between orienteering and role-playing, where you have to race against other teams AND answer Gandalf's riddles! [More] Thanks to Maegwen for the link.

Most of NZ seems to be convulsed by the fact that England beat the All Blacks at rugby in Wellington on the weekend. [I didn't watch the news and was completely unaware...] Anyway, Ringer spy Carl found this article on the LOTR cast who attended the match. Divided loyalties! [More]

A rumour that an RoTK teaser trailer will be making its way out on July 15 has just emerged on Elbakin.com. This rumour was supported by the release of this purported teaser poster image of Minas Tirith. However, it's false. How do we know this? Quite simply, I posted this image not two days ago - it's a composite image made from the FoTR EE DVD by one of TORn's regular chatters. TORn staffer Arathorn has handily superimposed the two images here. [More]

We may see a teaser trailer sometime in July, but this is not a confirmation at all. Sorry, everyone.

Wellington website Leyak also has a page that tells you where to go to spot LOTR activity, and how to get there. [More]

Thanks to Anne for this news: "Elijah W. has an animated movie musical due out sometime in 2004, called "Happy Feet." He gives voice to "Mumble" a penguin living in Antarctica. [More] Yep, variety is the spice of life for an actor!

Here's some news of a big event planned in Tel Aviv for Tolkien fans in Israel. [More]

There's another one on the topic of 'Eagle-eyed Dwarfs' using a scene from Fraud of the Rings. It's over on Sev.com. For me, the cartoon appears at the bottom of an acre of blank page, so scroll down if you can't see anything at first. [More]

There seems to be a lot of news of coming out of Sideshow/Weta Collectibles these days, and this one was too time sensitive to wait until Monday. The 2000 piece limited edition Galadriel bust is about to sell out, with a mere 70 or so pieces remaining for purchase. If you were looking to collect the only Galadriel item from Sideshow/Weta, now would be the time. [More]

Anyone who's seen FoTR will recognise this picture of Minas Tirith. But you won't see a still with an angle quite as wide as this version that Barliman's Regular Nob spliced together. [More]

After the great battle, Gimli and Legolas enters Minas Tirith and make some interesting observations about mankind. A servant of Prince Imrahil takes them to the houses of healing where they tell Pippin and Merry the dark tale of the Paths of the Dead. Meanwhile the Captains of the West hold a debate in the tents of Aragorn. For though one battle is won, Sauron is now massing armies so great that the defeat of Gondor seems inevitable.[More]

Rob writes: Tolkien artist Ted Nasmith has updated his web page revealing the exciting news that he has been working with the Tolkien Estate to devise 26 more paintings to be incorporated into a new illustrated edition of The Silmarillion -- yes, 26 all-new paintings to be added to the more than 20 already featured in the current illustrated edition! He also has two new high-quality limited edition giclee prints available -- and the new LOTR Trivia game is out featuring his artwork. [More]

Pick up your copy of the Illustrated Silmarillion here!

A Canadian fan of Peter Jackson's movie The Lord of the Rings has come up with his own special effect in an attempt to work on the film trilogy. Thomas Magnum, who is employed at a fishing plant in Vancouver, has placed an advertisement in today's Dominion Post pleading that he be taken on by the films' special-effects wizard Richard Taylor and art director Dan Hennah. [More]

Anyone with scans of his ad, send it along!

Sideshow/Weta Collectibles has made available for pre-order their series 3 Two Towers Busts. This series features Eomer, Theoden, an Uruk-Hai Swordsman and the Witch-king of Angmar bust. Unlike the FOTR collectibles, these pieces are limited editions. On a personal note, the Theoden bust is probably the best bust sculpt we have seen from these folks, and it is no surprise when you see that Virginia Lee, daughter of Alan Lee, was the sculptor! [More]

Elijah Wood (Frodo) was on the Comedy Central show 'Primetime GLick', thanks to Asfaloth we have a choice few screenshots for you to enjoy! [More]

Brian sends along the 53 chapter titles that will appear on the TTT Theatrical DVD! Take a look! [More]

John Howe writes: It seems like ages ago that the original of Gandalf the Grey was stolen from an exhibition. I've often been asked if I could paint it again, but you can only go once to places like that. However, Gandalf is on his way back. Several months ago I saw a most exquisite one-third scale figure of a pirate who looked like he had just boarded an enemy ship and was really looking forward to business at hand. Not only was the detailing astounding, but the movement and personality were incredibly well captured. The artist sculptor Oscar Nilsson does accept crazy commissions, so while I may never get the Gandalf painting back, I'll have something perhaps even better. [More]

Just a small reminder thanks to Sierra: Brad Dourif (Wormtongue) will be appearing this Saturday at the Pick Wick Theatre here in Chicago as part of the Flashback Weekend SciFi & Fantasy Convention. The Theatre will have a showing of The Two Towers at 3:00 pm, with Dourif in a question and answer session afterwards. [More]

KM writes: The St. George, Utah Art Museum (located in SW Utah) is featuring an exhibit through August 1st called 'The Art of the Imagination: Tales of Magic and Fancy'. Part of the exhibit includes LOTR calendar paintings by Greg and Tim Hildebrandt. [More]

They seem to be the talking point of the month for the Return of the King. Who will be in them? What will happen? And where are they located? A reliable TORn source who was involved in the production chimes in with some information. [More] Spoilers!

Once upon a time ... (okay, it was just a few weeks ago) we brought you a sequence of RoTK movie screencaps from EA's forthcoming RoTK game. We later removed it at the request of New Line. German site Herr de Ringe has resurrected the footage - in a marginally better resolution - from a CD-Rom that's part of the current edition of the computer magazine Gamestar. If you missed these the first time round, you definitely should check them out. [More] Major Spoilers!!

Woot! Lightsout Entertainment have their hands on a copy of...the TTT DVD! And they're showing all the animated menus and other goodies on their site! [More]

Uruviel writes, "Here's a picture of the new LOTR party products that will be available from Hallmark in October. Thought you might like to see them." Yep! Makes me want to throw a party just to have the excuse to buy'em! [More]

This came from Eadric, who spotted it in his local paper's '60-second Chat' feature. [More]

Here are the best lines to come in so far. Many thanks to all of you who wrote in! [More]

A little bit delayed - okay, muchly delayed! - here is the Tolkien Society's report of the action at the 2003 Tolkien Weekend at Sarehole Mill on May 17 and 18. [More]

Looks like the Official LoTR Site is shifting into DVD release promotion mode. This update has some behind the scenes stills from Sean Astin's The Long and the Short of It. Thanks to everyone who wrote in to let us know! More]

Remember the report a couple days ago about the New Line Licensing exhibit in New York? Some people doubted it, but Ringer Spy Sven tells us that Dark Horizons has got hold of a few images from the exhibit. Check them out. [More] Spoilers!!

Flourish writes: The New York Times TV page is reporting that Elijah Wood will appear on Martin Short's talk-show parody series "Primetime Glick" tonight at 8 PM on the Comedy channel.

The Science Museum in London today announced its next blockbuster exhibition - The Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy - The Exhibition. [More]

HOLLYWOOD (Zap2it.com) - "The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring" and "Monsters, Inc." topped the nominations for this year’s Home Entertainment Awards, receiving four nods apiece. Other titles leading the list of nominees, with three nominations each, are "Band Of Brothers, Frailty," and "Ice Age." A total of 75 recent DVD, VHS, and video game releases were nominated for awards in 20 categories. [More]

Weetanya writes: This article about James Marsters discusses his next film role in a movie called Italian Heat. Sean Bean (Boromir) will also be in this movie. (WARNING: Article contains Buffy spoilers.) [More]

USA Today is reporting that it recently got a sneak at what's being planned for the Extended Edition. Read all about what they discovered. [More] TTT EE Spoilers!!

From Publishers Weekly: Houghton Mifflin has revealed that its reliance on Lord of the Rings, for which it is the hardcover publisher, has fueled growth under owners Vivendi and Bain/Lee. [More]

Sauron is not a shark: Learn this from the IMBD messageboards. [More] Thanks to Holly for the fun link.

Another wild and woolly spy report from somebody who claims to be working on the set... might be true, might not. [More] !!!Spoilers!!!

Some news (confirmation that a certain scene is in), some not news, some teeny spoilers. [More] Thanks to Demi for the news.

I know SARS isn't funny at all....but this image is pretty bizarre. Send me in a caption and if it makes me laugh out loud and scare the cat, I'll post it up. [More] Thanks to Derek for the link.

Stian writes: I surfed to (the Norwegian) Cinema movie forums and to my surprise they had an announcement about the ROTK trailer. "We have today been in contact with the distributor, and if everything goes according to plan the trailer for Return of the King(ATTER EN KONGE is the Norwegian title for ROTK) be here in the beginning of July. Trondheim Kino will show the trailer before several movies as soon at it arrives"

Could this mean we're looking at an early July ROTK trailer? Stay tuned!

Simone writes: There is a Tolkien musical poll at IMDb, where you would pick a (made up) tune you would would want to see in the stage show. [More]

More pics of Andy Serkis [Gollum] getting his Saturn award and meeting other celebs. [More]

More Scrapbook madness to finish my evening. Just like the Barad-dur bigature from earlier, these are oldies, but it's a bit of catch-up cataloguing that I'm sure no-one will object to looking at. [More]
[Minas Tirith Section] Spoilers!

News from England about some rather pricey collectibles. [More]

"This is Kimie from Tokyo. Japanese official site now announced that both FOTR & TTT would be on screen in Sangenchaya cinema (in Tokyo) limitedly for two weeks from the end of this month. (28th June to 11th July) FOTR is on screen once a day (start at 9:40 am), while TTT is on screen three times after that."

Pinky G sent us these links to Hot Topic, which sells LOTR-themed T-shirts. Their previous offerings sold out ages ago, now they have more...But two of these designs have sold out too! When I checked these two were left: Frodo T-shirt and Legolas T-shirt.

Don't forget! TheOneRing.net has teamed up with Houghton Mifflin to let all of us fans choose the next Lord of the Rings cover! Place your votes now and enter to win a Bookend gift set to be released in November. [More]

Origen from Tolkien Online sends along a report that the ROTK trailer will not be released until September 26th with New Line Cinema's 'Secondhand Lions.' [More]

Our latest reports confirm the trailer will not be shown with 'Dumb and Dumberer' but at this point, I think everyone is guessing. [More]

New Line have created life-size talking Gollum and Smeagol standees. According to the blurb, they both have a hidden motion-detecting voicebox that plays signature phrases. The Gollum version says: "My Precious!", "You stole it, My Precious, and we wants it!", and "You filthy little thieves!", while the Smeagol one says 'Master', 'Smeagol show you the way', and 'Smeagol's free!'. They're available individually, or as a set. [More]

This shot of the bigature that is Sauron's stronghold in Mordor has been floating around for some time. But I figured it was time to chuck it into the TORn Scrapbook. For the spoiler conscious, I guess it might be a minor spoiler. Thanks to Aranwe for the prod. [More]

Lolly sends word of the 'Best of Both Worlds' convention in Canberra in September. They have just added Brad Dourif [Grima Wormtongue] to a lineup that already looks very good for LOTR fans in Australia. [More]

You know they've had an impact when the government starts minting money in honor of their work... check out the up-and-coming New Zealand 'pocket change' here!

Thanks to Ringer Alice for this one.

Ringer Spy Imrahil's Babe emailed us with a report of some footage for The Return of the King she saw in New York City! Apparently New Line showed something that sounds like a trailer at a licensing show there. The report contains some minor spoilers! [More]

WeeTanya writes: Peter Jackson donated the most money to help Ray Harryhausen get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: "Tom Hanks, George Lucas, Robert Zemeckis, James Cameron and Steven Spielberg were among the 100 Hollywood luminaries Kunert persuaded to write letters of recommendation or donate money. Hanks and director Peter Jackson ("Lord of the Rings") donated the most." [More]

My personal favorite movie series of all time, Indiana Jones, is heading towards DVD this winter. And now Amazon.com is taking pre-orders for the DVD set!

John Rhys-Davies (Gimli) stars in both the first and third movies as Indy's ever-singing faithful companion Sallah. Head on over and place your order today! [Amazon.com]

John writes: TTT is running in a theater in Raleigh, NC and for only $1.50! Go see it again before it's gone! [More]

Jesse writes: The latest e-mail update for the Aussie LOTR Convention contained this message from special guest Bruce Hopkins: "Gidday, just a quick note to point out that Gamling is also in The return Of The King. I have just done some filming for the pick ups and have a couple more days to go over the next month. Cheers, looking forward to it Bruce."

Lucinda writes: I thought you all might be interested in a particularly scalding review of The Two Towers that is featured in the current issue of Renaissance Magazine out on the newsstands right now.

Anyone with scans, send them along!

The Flying Gribble writes: Lawrence Makoare (Lurtz) has been confirmed as a guest for CollectorMania 4 in Milton Keynes, UK. [More]

TORn community site TheFellowship.nl has scored this exclusive first glimpse of the concept art for the Two Towers Extended Edition DVD box. Appearing in stores in November, it will contain the extended cut of TTT, two discs of additional commentaries and material, and a Sideshow statue of Smeagol. The statue is part of a set of two, and the second statue will be available for purchase from Sideshow - with a discount for buyers of the Extended DVD set. [More]

Users of the Sony Ericsson t68i mobile phone might be interested in this downloadable One Ring screensaver that Ringer Spy Trixta stumbled across. [More] - and also [More].

Hannah writes: UK fans who have access to the Sky Movies channels can catch Dominic Monaghan (Merry) on the Movie News show (which is often broadcast between movies) this week. The whole segment is about five minutes long and is a behind the scenes piece on Dom's new film 'Spivs'. There are a few shots of Dom on set looking very tough and un-Merry-like... and when he does speak to camera his usual Manchester accent is replaced with his character's Cockney accent! Seems like he was so in character he couldn't shake the accent LOL!

Richard writes: Next year's Tolkien Calendar has just been released in the UK and for the third year running it contains new artwork by Ted Nasmith. In synchronism with the movies, the calendar's focus is ROTK. [More]

Idril Celebrindal writes: Pittsburgh Citiparks will be showing Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers in August as part of their free "Cinema in the Park" summer movie schedule. Dates: Wednesday, August 27 -- Fellowship of the Ring & Sunday, August 31 -- The Two Towers. [More]

Ringer staffer WeeTanya sends along this tidbit from eWeek: Apple Computer Inc. is nearing the release of desktop systems featuring IBM's 64-bit PowerPC 970 chip, sources report -- but a 64-bit version of Mac OS X may lag behind by a month or two...This build, code-named Smeagol, will run on the new chip.... [More]

Cate Blanchett has reportedly signed to play legendary actress Katharine Hepburn in Martin Scorsese's upcoming film The Aviator, about the life of billionaire Howard Hughes. The film will also star Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Beckinsale, Barry Pepper, and Gwen Stefani. [More]

(hey that rhymes...Xo) Entish Elf writes: The Australian mini-series "After The Deluge", starring Hugo Weaving (Elrond) and David Wenham (Faramir), is set to air next Sunday and Monday nights. It will be on Sunday the 15th June at 8:30pm (AEST) and Monday the 16th June at 9:30pm on Channel 10. Also, on Friday the 13th on SBS at 8:30pm, the program "About Us" will be looking at Bram Stoker, and will be featuring interviews with Christopher Lee (Saruman), regarding his role in the Dracula films.

Orthanc wrote in recently to remind us that we should re-post about the 1st Annual Spacey Awards (hosted by Space: The Imagination Station). The Two Towers is nominated for several awards: Best Movie, Best Creature Character, Best Hero, etc. Check out the nominees and awards -- and you can vote. [More]

Harry from AICN received this very interesting snippet from one of his spies about a re-shoot scene on the set of RoTK. And underneath the amusing anecdote lies some interesting points for pondering. [More]
Spoilers! Updated!

Solinas sends us this article about the award Cate Blanchett [Galadriel] would receive if she would read her mail...[More]

HuanCry sends a link to a review of a new edition of Brian Rosebury's book on Tolkien, where it is praised by none other than leading Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey. Huan adds, "This is interesting since Rosebury is not a medievalist like Shippey ( or Verlyn Flieger ) but comes from a more conventional Lit. Crit background where most hostile critics reside !" [More]