'Orlando Bloom is due to begin work on his new film in London on Monday. Bloom stars in The Calcium Kid with Omid Djalili and David Kelly. The film is a mockumentary comedy, in which Bloom plays young milkman Jimmy. He is an amateur boxer who by a bizarre twist of events ends up fighting the world champion in his home town.' [More]

Pteppic sent in a scan from Norwegian comic strip Nemi, which makes a reference to one of The Fellowship of the Ring's more well-known lines. [More]

The Cheap-Jack Master writes: An important scene from 'Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring' was presented in the Masquerade presentation of the WorldCon 2002: ConJose in San Jose, California on Saturday night. Near the end of the nights presentation of costumes, several attending costumers presented a new version of the Mirror of Galadriel sequence, but with a very Star Trek/South Park twist. [More]

Sarah writes: On a Minnesota Twin Cities Radio Station, there was a commercial being played for the DVD release of Queen of the Damned. The music being played in the background was none other than the exact piece used in the background of the trailer for LOTR: FOTR! The radio station was KDWB of the Twin Cities. 101.3 KDWB also had a segment on their Dave Ryan in the Morning show about entertainment, and the subject of upcoming films came up, and the station's movie expert said that the only movie worth watching besides xXx and the new James Bond movie this year was The Two Towers. [More]

Andrew writes: I saw a commercial on how you can rent Quest for the Ring on Pay per view for like $1. I dont know if it is for people Cable or DirectTV, check it out!

Ring Lord Rules sends in the latest news from Entertainment Weekly, with scans accompanied. Check out the articles on Miranda Otto's preparation for playing her role in Lord of the Rings, and the latest DVD sale numbers. [More]

TORNs Special Announcement

We forgot to mention in our report last night that we made a very special announcement exclusively at DragonCon 2002. TheOneRing.net will once again be hosting the 'One Party to Rule Them All' on March 23rd (Oscar Night) in Hollywood, CA. The party will prove to be two times more fun and exciting then the last. Stay tuned for further details!

TORNs Big day at DCon

Hah! Mhuirrich here. They gave me the keys to the editor. I'm thinking they won't make that mistake again.

Saturday arrived bright and early, with your faithful TORN staff waking bright-eyed and bushy-tailed just moments after the first rose-tinted rays of the sun peeked over the tops of the Misty, err, Skyscrapers. OK, I'm sorry, I can't lie to you guys. I woke up late, feeling like I'd been on the recieving end of a Lurtz temper tantrum. Never play drining games with Dwarfs and Klingons. In any event, I was far better than Calisuri, who actually woke looking as if he'd just popped out of a Uruk-Hai birth pod. Perhaps it was my snoring. [More]

TORNs Second day at DCon

Somewhere behind the fog, the sun rose in Atlanta. The TORN staff rose considerably later...Today DragonCon started to fill up with guests, though we ain't seen nothing yet, if I can believe what the others say. Today we had a table to look after on a busy corner of the lobby where the whole Con world walked past, sooner or later. First we had to move a mountain of books that Houghton Mifflin had kindly donated - which we have the pleasure of raffling away for the next few days. It turns out that you can decorate any room to look great with enough Lord of the Rings books. Soon we had a dull grey conference room looking about as Tolkien-esque as it possibly could, with posters, books, banners and standees. Aragorn and Legolas of course...usually there'd be a few women jockeying for position to stand in his line of sight. [More]

TORN friend Gillian Flynn writes a small blurb on TTT, focusing on our own Miranda Otto (Eowyn). And the DVD rentals/purchases is dominated by the FOTR DVD. [More]

On Saturday 30th November & Sunday 1st December 2002 we launch a gigantic Lord of the Rings event in Copenhagen Denmark: The Scandinavian Lord of the Rings Fair. [More]

The folks at Gwaith-i-Phethdain sends along info on updates on their language site: You will find many new details from the weapon used in the Jackson's trilogy and new phrases from TTT in the languages of Middle-earth (in Rohirric and Black Speech!) [More]

Jbum sends along word of a LA based production of 'The Hobbit', which opens later next month. [More]

The Lord of the Rings is a book of undeniable quality, arguably one of the greatest books ever written and in recent years winner of the incredible accolade of 'greatest book of the 20th century'. In comparison, The Hobbit has often been criticised for being a more childish and simplistic tale, some say fairly, some say not. This weekend, the Hall of Fire discusses whether The Hobbit is a worthy precursor to The Lord of the Rings. [More]

I'm sure when Billy Boyd or any one of the other Hobbit boys talk about being 'in' Guinness they don't mean the World Records Book, but they've made it into that as well! Cheers boys! [More]

Seems that the Australiasian Special Edition FOTR DVD will look quite distinct from it's North American conterpart. Take a look at the lovely 'Box Set' feel the DVD will have! [More]

Orlando Bloom is due to begin work on his new film in London on Monday. Bloom stars in The Calcium Kid with Omid Djalili and David Kelly. [More]

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Harry Potter at Hogwarts, Frodo Baggins bound for Mordor, Hannibal Lecter in his nuthouse cell, Jean-Luc Picard on the bridge of the Enterprise, and James Bond in bed with Halle Berry. [More]

From The Collectormania folks: Sala Baker, who appeared in Lord of the Rings (as Sauron and Lurtz) will be making his first UK appearance at Collectormania 2 this September. Sala will be joining an impressive lineup of guests at our second huge, free mega-event. [More]

(woo hoo!! Tom Baker to be there as well!!! Someone get me his autograph! -Xo)

TORN Arrives At DCON

News kind of slow on the site? Well, no, because our news staff are doing a fantastic job of manning the news side of things while the rest of the TORN Powers that Be are whooping it up at that Mecca for all things fantastic and science fictional known as DragonCon, along with chatroom queen Jincey, Corvar's Other Brain called Andy, Asfaloth who did so much to make the TORN Oscars party a success, and Saulone from our community site There and Back Again. Follow the link for our full report. [More]

Moby's video for 'Are All Made of Stars' has been awarded a Video Music Award for Best Cinematography at MTV's VMA Awards tonight in New York. The star-studded music video featured a huge number of celebrities, including Boromir actor Sean Bean.

Ben emailed us pointing out a slight error on IMDb.com's video rentals charts, which lists The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King on the second place with 43.7 million dollars, which is I guess for the US only, but is still a bit odd... [More]

Beginning tomorrow, Decipheršs The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying Game Core Book will be available in stores worldwide. Eagerly anticipated since its exclusive launch on August 9th at GenCon in Milwaukee, the 304-page, full-color Core Book is packed with images from the Academy Award-winning film. [More]

(Look for a review of the RPG Corebook and Douglas Anderson's 'Annotated Hobbit' by Xoanon coming soon!)

Beginning September 1, players and collectors of The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game will be able to pick up a free Éowyn card, an alternate image preview of the upcoming The Two Towers base set. [More]

Universal Interactive's LOTR Game trailer has arrived! Packed with plenty of game play action and video bytes from game designers to the folks at Tolkien Enterprises and our very own Quickbeam! Take a look here! [More]

Here they come, more than 20,000 strong, a good-sized town's worth of earnest Xenas in leather bustiers, pirates in plumed hats, anime wannabes in Crayola wigs, Hobbits with hairy toes, Klingons speaking in tongues, hyperventilating autograph-seekers and trivia Brainiacs and folks who stay up all night singing weird songs, and . . . holy mother of Harry Potter, is there no end to them? [More]

News from AICN that the latest Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) film 'The Fountain' may be hitting a road block after Brad Pitt has apparently left the production (after growing that beard and all...). What it means for our Cate we've no idea yet. [More]

TORN Invades Atlanta!

For the latest and greatest information about [Dragon*Con's] JRR Tolkien's Middle-earth fan track, with details of Tom Shippey's sessions, please check the updated [Schedule]!

Erik emailed us saying that IMDb.com is listing a running time of 163 minutes for The Two Towers, something that would contradict with a story we ran a few weeks ago about TTT's running time being 3 hours and 14 minutes. Now it could be that PJ had to cut half an hour of film to get below the three hours, but I doubt it so I guess IMDb.com is being a bit hasty with their presumptions. As always if someone happens to know more about this; drop us a line!

EmpireMovies.com has posted three awesome new pictures from the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers! Take a look at Frodo and Sam in Ithilien, an amazing shot of Isengard and the Riders of Rohan !!spoilers!! [More]

To concede that Tolkien's writings have influenced D&D and the fantasy genre is not new. Here's a short article that explores both this and how Tolkien may have influenced at least one anime series. [More]

If you live in Smithfield in Rhode Island, Barnes and Noble are holding an LoTR trivia contest this Saturday (Aug 31) at 1pm to test your knowledge of the books. (Beware! Movie knowledge alone may not be enough! -- Dem) Thanks to LoTrFrEaKgIrL for the link. [More]

They're predicting that TTT might have a chance at Best Picture - it's among their top five nominees for that prize. [More]

Atheryn writes, "I can confirm that Stewart Dawsons on Lambton Quay in Wellington IS already selling replicas of the One Ring. They have it on display in the front window! I asked a staff member for the price - I was quoted $395.

Take your sense of humour with you if you're going to go here ; ) [More]

Ringer Spy Ahriell sends along this report with pics and a newspaper clipping covering all things Figwit. Seems she managed to get good old Figgy to attend her DVD party! Take a look! I enclose a copy of the article about Bret McKenzie coming to my lotr dvd party on the 17th of August [More]

From The Folks at Ancanar.com: We are proud to announce the news that Ancanar will be at Ring*Con 2002 this November. [More]

After an year-long shoot in Australia, Hugo Weaving's blockbusting Matrix sequels have finally finished shooting, save for twelve weeks in San Francisco. In an audio interview with The Matrix webteam, 2nd Unit Director Kimble Rendall said, "We've been working for 12 months on both films and we just finished... I was just standing with the [Wachowski] brothers as they were doing the last shot with Keanu... They were still trying to get it just right. It was a very emotional moment." [More]

Attention LA Ringers!

Please join us on September 22 to celebrate the birthday of our hobbit friends, Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. We will gather under our very own party tree in The Shire for a potluck picnic and an afternoon of fun and games. More details will be posted in the coming weeks, but here is the basic information:
Date: September 22, 2002
Time: 2pm
Location: The Shire (Griffith Park), Bag End (Old Zoo picnic grounds)

Please email Arwen at at labirthday@theonering.net to let her know you are planning to attend. Any questions about food needs, making suggestions, and volunteering your help, should be addressed to her as well.

Check out the latest Hi and Lois cartoon, goofing on the small size of our furry footed heros! [More]

Our man Flint..I mean Dani sends along his review of the Spanish FOTR DVD from Madrid! [More]

Here's a piece of fluff news from IMDB, seems Orlando Bloom (Legolas) helped out Heath Ledger get a date...like these people need help, now Calisuri...there's someone who needs help... (kidding Amy! -Xo)[More]

From: www.chortle.co.uk

You are going to be sceptical about this - I know I was - but two unknown New Zealanders performing a modest spoof on folk music is one of the highlights of this year's Fringe. [More]

Today, August 28th is Billy Boyd's (Pippin) birthday! Billy was born on the 28th of August 1968 in Glasgow, Scotland. That makes him 34 today! Happy Birthday Billy!

The folks at Houghton Mifflin Books have sent us this great Q&A session with 'The Annotated Hobbit' author Douglas Anderson, take a look! [More]

The head of Red Carpet Movie Tours, Vic James, emailed to say how the LOTR Locations tours are going, and also to tell us about a special tour planned to coincide with a midnight showing on The Two Towers when it premieres in Wellington, New Zealand....[More]

Can you imagine seeing this title on your copy of 'The Fellowship of the Ring'? Well, for people from Holland this nightmare amongst booktitles isn't too far off. Take a look at the covers for the soon to be released (and in my opinion truly horrible) new editions of LOTR over there! [More]
Now I understand not all of you can read Dutch, but the titles on these covers read: The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and in a smaller font the actual booktitle: FOTR, TTT or ROTK. Keep an eye out on community website TheFellowship.nl for more information on these editions!

UK radio station Classic FM has an interview with Howard Shore after for Fellowship of the Rings was voted the most popular movie score by the Classic FM listeners. In it, Shore mentioned he'd be taking the concert version of the score to London next February to play at Festival Hall with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. [More]

You need Windows Media Player to listen

The latest Elijah Wood (Frodo) film 'Try Seventeen' will be screened twice at the Toronto International Film Fetival, 9PM on Tuesday, September 10 & 2:15PM on Thursday, September 12. If you plan on attending, get your tickets now! [TIFF]

If you want to browse some pretty [make that stunning] pictures, here's some photos taken by somebody who holds LOTR up as an inspiration to his work. He's really captured the Middle-earthly essence of some New Zealand landscapes. [More]

A well-placed Ringer spy was able to tell us that a certain jewellery chain store in NZ and Australia will be selling replicas of the One Ring soon. [More]

A few days back we heard that Argos was selling it in the UK. Thanks to all of you who sent in the link where you can buy it online. [More]

HarperCollins Publishers in the UK will be releasing a third edition of the book, THE ROAD GOES EVER ON by JRR Tolkien and Donald Swann, in October 2002. This new hardback edition includes all the poems from the second edition (including "Bilbo's Last Song") together with, for the first time, the poem "Lúthien Tinúviel" from THE SILMARILLION, which has been similarly set to music. The book is accompanied by a free CD recording of all the songs as performed by Donald Swann and singer William Elvin. "Lúthien Tinúviel" is sung by Clive McCrombie. The book is priced at Ł19.99.

Orlando, run for your life...turn tail and head back to obscurity...run for your life my friend...don't turn around to look back, that's when they get you...just run as fast as your little legs can carry you! [More]

An interesting trailer for the new Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) film 'Heaven' was released today, take a look at it here. (Quicktime 5 Needed) [More]

Reading through rec.arts.books.tolkien, I stumbled upon this very interesting review of a new (apparently released just last week) revised edition of the Annotated Hobbit by Douglas Anderson. [More]

Apparently the musical score for this also exists, according to Nevlonde. [More]

News from Lady Elessar: "I work for a movie theater and just found out the first movie the new full (non-teaser) Two Towers trailer will be on. It is enclosed with Universal's Red Dragon opening Oct. 4." Whoo-hoo, roll on October.

I'm sure everyone's heard by now that America's largest FAN-run sci-fi/fantasy convention, is once again descending upon Atlanta, GA this weekend (Fri Aug 29 - Mon Sept 2)! Here's a brief line-up of the JRR Tolkien: Welcome to Middle-earth fan track to be held in the Greenbriar Room at the Atlanta Hyatt Regency: [More]

Tinidril sends in this blurb from the latest NY Times: "A case in point is the sequential release on DVD and VHS cassette of three versions of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring." [More]

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]

It is the poem that signals the end of JRR Tolkien's association with his greatest creation, the mythical land of Middle Earth. [More]

Another list of all the FOTR stars you can catch this week on the silver screen! [More]

Stewart from Billyboyd.net writes: We have an interview with Paul Holmes, director of Billys recently released short film "Sniper440" [More]

In the wake of the release of The Fellowship of the Ring on VHS and DVD, we've decided there's no better time than now to update the Cast section on the site. To begin with, each exisiting cast page has received major updates, with quotes added from each actor, extended biographies and new pictures. Also, we've added some new cast members to the section; Alan Howard, the voice of the One Ring, Noel Appleby as Everard Proudfoot, Megan Edwards as his wife and Michael Elsworth as the Gondorian Archivist. So if you have some spare time on your hands and are wondering who's playing Uglúk or if you're wondering who it was who uttered 'ProudFEET!' at Bilbo's party, check out our update! [More]

Many UK Ringers have just flooded my mailbox with the following:

Fellowship of the Ring won the Greatest film score of all time in the UK today. You may be interested as well in the comments of the presenter He said there had been votes from across the globe. At the Classic FM station there was surprise at the overall result. They didn't expect it to win. They expected the 'Harry Potter' one to win instead. It came 14th.

Way to go Howard et all!

Aniron wrote in claiming that Howard said that it was 'an honour to convert Tolkien's work into music'.

The chocolates, the candy...and the COSTUMES! This year try dressing up as your favorite ORC from FOTR with these great masks from alarmingproducts.com. Creep your loved ones late at night....sounds like fun!

We've been getting emails all day from people who have heard from Amazon.com that 'The Annotated Hobbit' is now shipping! Get your copy of 'The Annotated Hobbit' now!

SCOTS star Billy Boyd has revealed how he thought he was going to die during the filming of the second Lord Of The Rings movie. In the next instalment, The Two Towers, Billy's character Pippin has to undergo terrible tortures at the hands of the Uruk-Hai and Orcs. [More]

From the folks at Elbakin.com:

The Rex's Main Theatre

It's now official, the premiere will take place in Le Grand Rex Theater the 10 December 2002. [More]

The folks from Hobbit's Corner send along these scans from the UK Sun about Billy Boyd (Pippin) in 'Sniper 470'. [More]

Those keen on holding the Book and Movie side-by-side and looking at the differences, take a look at this great link, with a very comprehensive list! !!!Spoilers!!! [More]

I just had to write a quick thank you to all of the Ringer fans who responded to our request for some volunteer help. My inbox has been overwhelmed! I'll be replying to each and every response ASAP. Thank you!

Missed all the news this weekend?! Then fear not! We've got all the news fit to print from the weekend that was, Aragorn sings like the King, Real Life NZ Wizards, and Billy Boyd as a space sniper? Oh My! [More]