LOTR has dropped to no 2 in Empire Magazine's UK (August '00) list of the 20 most anticipated movies - and it's been replaced with Star Wars: Episode 2! [More]

Lasselanta is a Community web site primarily aimed at supporting the T.O.R.n messageboard community by providing a more permanent space for activities related to them. Thus we archive parodies posted on the boards and host the schedule for the Lord of the Rings reading group. But it also has material inspired by T.O.R.n or simply cooked up by Gorel. [More]

Creatures and crew emerge for greasies: Lord of the Rings filming has caused a sensation in Motueka.

Auckland Metro's "Felicity Ferret" column in the most recent issue had a short blurb about Geoff Murphy coming back from LA to work with Peter Jackson on FX and action stuff.

More info on Geoff Murphy can be found here: More]

Tara Leprechaun is a 31 to 36 string harp with a note range of A to A. A traditionally styled harp with medium tension for folk harpists. [More]

Thought you might find this one neat... JRRT is the featured writer on Salon's MP3 'spoken word' feature today. [More]

Xoanon and Tehanu will post more about these images later in the night.

This week marks the First Anniversary of our beloved Green Books! It really is amazing to think that we have been working with TheOneRing.net for a whole year, but it's true. And yesterday I was just a tender sapling!

In honor of our Anniversary we have a dragon's horde of goodies, including:

• Announcing a new and improved Brain Bender contest! Match wits with Quickbeam and you could be the winner of a delicious new Lord of The Rings British Millennium Edition (with CD). But make haste-the deadline is 1 September 2000.
• My new Out on a Limb celebrates the very finest moments in the LOTR trilogy. I call it "Tolkien's Greatest Hits."
• Turgon lashes out his stinging whip and teaches us "How NOT to Study Tolkien" over on his Bookshelf.
• Anwyn is seriously "Looking for Authenticity in the Work of Peter Jackson." She makes a vitally important point--or rather a Counterpoint!
• Of course we have lots of new Questions & Answers:

1. Did the Ring sink in Númenor along with Sauron?
   
2. Is Gandalf really Manwë in disguise?
   
3. What's with that mystery brooch that Tom Bombadil found?
   
4. Did Thranduil know about Bilbo's Ring early on?
   
5. Could the Elves just abandon Middle-earth?

All these and more can be found here.

• WOW - new Moon Letters too! Here you can delight in poetry and fiction.
• Look for new updates in red to previous Q&A articles.

On behalf of the lovely Anwyn, the sagacious Turgon, and myself, I send a hearty THANK YOU to our many readers across the globe. We are all honored to have you with us as we explore the WORDS and WORLD of Tolkien.

Much too hasty,

Quickbeam

Ringer Spy Jedi stumbled upon the set near the ski hills on the South Island! [More]

Head on over to see TORN Staffers like Corvar & Balin! Be sure to try and catch Douglas Anderson's world famous Hobbit Slide Show!

Check it out in our 'World Events Section'

Lawyers force Rings poster withdrawal

Kids quiz Lord of the Rings talent

From: Sharon

I just had a call from The Evening Post (I had pre-ordered posters).

Lawyers from the movie producers have told them that they are infringing copyright and that they are not allowed to sell the posters. They've all been printed already and will have to be destroyed.

Sharon

UPDATE: Sharon sends the link from The Evening Post via Stuff.co.nz.

"I got a new National Geographic a few days ago and I was perusing it when I saw this photo: a picture of a dog named Frodo Baggins! I thought it was a funny sight!"

You can view the article in our movie scrapbook. [more]

Click on the image to enlarge

Thanks to our very own Goddess of news Tehanu for the article :)

Ringer Spy Half Brick sends in the good word from Golden Bay! [More]

OK, well so it's over to you. Phone, fax or post. Add +64 for the NZ country code if you're trying this from outside. Nice glossy posters of things like Edoras, on quality A2 paper which I've been informed is at least 4 times as big as a normal sheet of paper.

Ringer Spy GC sends in word on the latest filming at Moonshine Bridge set. Highlight the area below to read.

On Saturday morning I saw the crew 'village' on the eastern river bank and filming atop the earthquake plateau on the west bank of the river north of the Moonshine bridge.

And it was raining again! Why does it rain every time LotR comes to Upper Hutt?

Alas, no time to stop and too far away to see anything significant. They were all gone on Sunday morning.

On this day in 1954 the first book of J.R.R Tolkien's Lord of the Rings was published. Nobody much noticed. Source: The Daily Mail

Sometimes it takes a while for a good thing to receive its due. I haven't been able to confirm this anywhere else, so if you can please drop a line. Thanks Ugluk for the tip!

UPDATE: Robert refered me to page 183 of The Letters of JRR Tolkien where I find this, "...The Fellowship of the Ring, was published on 29 July 1954." Sounds definitive to me, thanks Robert!

Middle-earth and Human History: Comparisons and Contrasts

We offer two times for these Tolkien discussions, one on Saturday at 17:30 Eastern Standard Time, and the other Sunday at 19:00 Central European Time. Come to the Barliman's homepage for more details!