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June 21, 2007 - July 02, 2007

News for Jul. 02, 2007

WetaNZ Newsletter, July 2007

7/02/07, 12:07 pm EST - Xoanon

From WetaNZ: We'll it's been a busy couple of weeks since we caught up with you last, so we thought we'd try a new format - basically telling you more with less words ... or short and sweet as they say! Hope you enjoy ... [More]

DVD Tuesday: Ghostbusters, Gene Autry & More!

7/02/07, 11:38 am EST - Xoanon

Take an early look on our 'DVD Tuesday' feature...every Monday! There are not too man DVDs out tomorrow, seems everyone takes the July 4th holiday off these days! Take a look at some TV goodies like; 'Degrassi Season 5' & 'Filmation's Ghostbusters - The Animated Series, Vol. 2'. The Blu ray gurus get 'Blood Diamond' & more while the HD DVD crowd get 'Flatliners', 'The Patriot', 'The Untouchables' & more!. Check out the whole list here! [More]

News for Jul. 01, 2007

Lord of the Rings London Musical Review

7/01/07, 8:37 pm EST - Xoanon

A fan’s review of the London Lord of the Rings musical: You can’t squeeze a book the size of the Lord of the Rings into a 3 hour musical and satisfy either the hard core fans or those new to the story. But, I think they did a great job regardless. The pace is breath taking, but the core of the story comes through. The music suited the mood well enough and the staging and the solutions to bring much loved characters to life worked brilliantly. The hobbits came on stage while the audience was still coming in, and performed a little skit about catching fireflies, which was very endearing, and morphed into a song which without further fuss opened the musical. [More]

Boyd at NEC Birmingham in July

7/01/07, 8:23 pm EST - Xoanon

sahara writes: Billy Boyd will be appearing at the NEC in Birmingham at the memorabilia show on the 7 and 8 of July 2007.

LOTR Musical in Germany?

7/01/07, 8:21 pm EST - Xoanon

Boris writes: I just wanted to tell you that there is a new Tolkien Musical being done in Hamburg. It is called a "world premiere" apparently scheduled for February 2008 in a big theatre (3000 seats), with a big symphony orchestra (90 piece), three choirs and over 100 actors. And the photos look nice! The website is here. Unfortunately there is no english version yet!

Tolkien in Esperanto

7/01/07, 8:19 pm EST - Xoanon

TORN Staffer Ostadan writes: The Esperanto translation of The Lord of the Rings (translated by William Auld) has been out of print for several years. I was recently pleased to learn that it will be reprinted this year, with some material not translated for the first edition (but, alas, still lacking the Appendices). You can get a taste of the translation at here; the site includes the Riddles in the Dark chapter from The Hobbit (Enigmoj en la Mallumo) which was reprinted in 2005, and two chapters (so far) from Lord of the Rings (La Ombro de la pasinteco, and La Spegulo de Galadriela), with four more to come over the next few weeks; one translated chapter from each of the six books of LotR will appear on the site. Since people have the original English at their fingertips (if not actually memorized), these translated excerpts may prove interesting as a curiosity even to those who cannot easily read Esperanto.

Tiger Woods a HUGE Tolkien Fan?

7/01/07, 8:06 pm EST - Celeborn

Nothing like adding to the rumor mill, but here goes! An article at The Golf Channel.com is suggesting that Tiger Woods, world renowned Golf God and recent father, may have named his daughter after everyone's favorite hero: Samwise Gamgee. Is it possible that the world's most successful athlete could be a huge LOTR fan? Could be be so engrossed into Tolkien fandom to actually name his firstborn daughter after Sam? We hope so - welcome to the club Tiger! [Read On...]

Happy Birthday Liv Tyler!

7/01/07, 12:30 pm EST - Xoanon


Today is Liv Tyler's birthday! Liv was born on July 1st, 1977 in New York, New York. that makes her the big 30 today! Happy Birthday Liv!

News for Jun. 27, 2007

Iggy Pop backs Elijah Wood

6/27/07, 9:53 pm EST - Xoanon

Iggy Pop has backed Elijah Wood's credentials to play him in an upcoming biopic on the rock legend. Rumors about a movie following the life and times of the Stooges icon have been rife for some months, with the Lord Of The Rings star tipped to play the lead role. However, Iggy has revealed there are no concrete plans for the film, days after the Stooges played an acclaimed Saturday evening slot at Britain's Glastonbury Festival. [More]

Tolkien tales come alive in Denmark's Faeroe Islands

6/27/07, 9:51 pm EST - Xoanon

GJOGV, Faeroe Islands (AP) -- It's just after 9 p.m. when the magic begins. The late-setting sun breaks through purple rain clouds to drape the rugged island of Eysturoy in a golden shimmer. A perfect rainbow arches over the Slaettaratindur mountain. Offshore, a wild ocean launches ferocious swells against the Giant and the Witch, two spectacular rock pillars that protrude from the surf like craggy teeth. All that's missing from the storybook setting is a band of orchs or goblins crawling out from behind a rock, or a pipe-smoking hobbit emerging from one of the turf-roofed houses. The Lord of the Rings analogy is never far away in the Faeroe Islands, a barren and wind-swept archipelago whose volcanic peaks shoot out of the Atlantic Ocean halfway between Iceland and Norway. Local legend even claims the ring of power is hidden here. [More]

Gosling Set for Jackson's Lovely Bones

6/27/07, 9:46 pm EST - Xoanon

Ryan Gosling is set to star opposite Rachel Weisz in Peter Jackson's The Lovely Bones for DreamWorks, reports Variety. Jackson (King Kong, "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy) will begin filming in October in Pennsylvania and New Zealand. The movie will be distributed worldwide by Paramount. An adaptation of the Alice Sebold best-selling novel, the movie tells the story of Susie Salmon, who is murdered, but continues to observe her family on Earth after her death. Although she is detached from the world she once knew, Susie witnesses the impact of her loss on her loved ones, whilst her killer skillfully covers his tracks and prepares to murder again. In a tone that is both emotionally truthful, and darkly humorous, Susie tries to balance her desire for vengeance against the love she feels for her family and her need to see them heal; and ultimately comes to understand that the concept of family can encompass both the living and the dead. [More]

DragonCon's Tolkien Track wants your shorts!

6/27/07, 5:55 pm EST - MrCere

Zhie from DragonCon writes: On the Saturday evening of DragonCon, the Tolkien Track is pleased to present the first Tolkien's Middle-earth Fan Film Festival. The highlights of our evening will be the screening of 'Middle-earth Idol' by MARS Productions and the video documentary 'Ringers: Lord of the Fans'. We are looking for short fan produced films to show leading up to our featured presentation. Read all the details by clicking here!

News for Jun. 26, 2007

LOTR-exhibition Images: Potsdam, Germany

6/26/07, 10:28 pm EST - Xoanon

LOTR-exhibition: Potsdam, Germany

Ringer Spy Tinuvielas sends along these images from the LOTR exhibit in Germany. I saw this same exhibit in New Zealand just over a year ago, and I've got to tell you it is a MUST see. Take a look at the images!

News for Jun. 25, 2007

DVD Tuesday: Shooter, Black Snake Moan & More!

6/25/07, 1:36 pm EST - Xoanon

Take an early look on our 'DVD Tuesday' feature...every Monday! There are a whole slew of amazing DVDs out tomorrow, take a look at some TV goodies like; 'Monk: Season Five' & 'Reno 911!: The Complete Fourth Season Uncensored!'. Some new collection DVDs include 'Cult Camp Classics 1 - 4' & 'Hammer Film Noir Collector's Set 2: 4-7' The big releases of of the week include; 'Shooter' & 'Black Snake Moan'. The Blu ray gurus get 'Hustle and Flow' while the HD DVD crowd get 'Watcher', 'Mystery Men', 'Meet Joe Black' & More!. Check out the whole list here! [More]

TV Watch: Orlando Bloom on 'Ellen'

6/25/07, 12:18 pm EST - Xoanon

Orlando Bloom was on 'The Ellen Degeneres Show' late last month to promote 'Pirates III'. You can catch the repeat airing today or click on this link to see the videos right now! [More]

News for Jun. 23, 2007

Behold 'The Lord of the Rings: The Musical: The Musical!'

6/23/07, 12:02 pm EST - Xoanon

Ben writes: I noticed that you guys were reporting on the opening of LOTR in London, and I thought I'd get in touch with you about a related project of mine: "The Lord of the Rings: The Musical: The Musical!" For about 8 months now my writing partner and I have been working on this, and on July 4th the show is going to premiere at the Toronto Fringe Festival. [More]

News for Jun. 21, 2007

"LOTR is a platform we can build from," says exec producer

6/21/07, 7:43 pm EST - Xoanon

Turbine Entertainment is not ruling out a console version of its MMO The Lord of the Rings Online, exec producer Jeffrey Steefel has revealed. "I actually think Lord of the Rings is a platform we can build from. Our license is to build massively multiplayer online games based on the books on all platforms, all across the world, so we want to leverage that over time," Steefel explained in a recent interview. [More]

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