The Ringers: Lord of the Fans (http://www.lordofthefans.net) crew is traveling to New Zealand for the world premiere of New Line Cinema’s The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. Arriving in Wellington on November 28th, the crew will be covering the many Lord of the Rings events and decorations hosted by the capitol city of Wellington.

Some events included for coverage are: The Folklore Festival, a Viggo Mortensen poetry reading, and TheOneRing.net’s The Return of the Ringers Party, on November 30th. Ringers writer/producer/narrator Cliff “Quickbeam” Broadway will be the Master of Ceremonies for this classy fan gathering.

On December 1st, The Ringers crew will be in the thick of things shooting the Return of the King star-studded parade through the streets of Wellington. The crew will film the fan reactions to the stars red carpet arrivals for The Return of the King premiere at the Embassy theatre.

TORn staffers Asfaloth and Quickbeam will be on the Red Carpet shooting interviews for TORn Digital. The crew may be able to set up a live webcam of the red carpet arrivals. (Pending available Internet connectivity and weather.)

On December 2nd the Ringers crew will fly to the South Island join Red Carpet Tours on the Gondor tour of the Lord of the Rings filming locations.

The crew will be posting a weblog of the trip whenever Internet access is available. The weblog and webcam can be seen at www.lordofthefans.net.

About Ringers: Lord of the Fans:

Ringers: Lord of the Fans is a feature-length documentary that reveals the ongoing cultural phenomenon created by The Lord of the Rings. Produced in association with the popular Lord of the Rings new site, TheOneRing.net, this very funny and often moving documentary shows the hidden power behind Tolkien’s books — and how after 50 years a single literary work continues to spark the minds and hearts of millions, across cultures and across time.

Shot with groundbreaking new digital technology in 24P, Ringers explores the real foundations of Middle-earth; a community of true fans who share a common bond. Moving beyond “cult classic” and over several different generations, the film unearths academics, musicians, authors, filmmakers, and a plethora of pop junkies — the people gathered under the banner of ‘Ringer.’ From the hippie counter-culture to the electronic age; from the Bakshi animated film to Jackson’s epic trilogy; this documentary brings together extensive footage from across the globe. With units in Los Angeles, San Diego, Atlanta, Salt Lake City, Bonn, Germany, Wellington, New Zealand, and Oxford, England, our cameras capture the most fascinating “Ringers” and Lord of the Rings events.

What began as the private amusement of a tweedy Oxford professor has now become a new mythology for the 21st century. Ringers: Lord of the Fans shows how an adventure story published in 1954 has had dynamic ripple-effects through Western pop-culture. Ringers carefully pulls away the veil between Tolkien’s book and the creations of art, music, and community that have been inspired by it.

As a testament to the deep bonds formed on the New Zealand sets of “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, actor/musician Viggo Mortensen has tapped three of his co-stars to contribute to his upcoming album, Pandemoniumfromamerica. [More]

Irascian writes: I’ve just posted my first daily weblog report from New Zealand, with pictures of the airport film set exhibition, sculptures in Courtenay Place etc. [More]

Gillian Monahan from Tourism New Zealand writes: Tourism New Zealand, Trade New Zealand and the New Zealand High Commission are holding a champagne breakfast function on December 1st at The Lord of the Rings Exhibition in the London Science Museum. [More]

Gillian Monahan from Tourism New Zealand writes: Tourism New Zealand, Trade New Zealand and the New Zealand High Commission are holding a champagne breakfast function on December 1st at The Lord of the Rings Exhibition in the London Science Museum.

The event is to celebrate the final instalment of The Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy as it has its world premiere in Wellington, New Zealand.

While the real party is in Wellington we can’t all be there so we’re having a little celebration in London for friends of New Zealand and a few Lord of the Rings fans.

The event will be from 7.30am – 9.30am on Monday December 1st. There’ll be a chance to look through the exhibition, enjoy a kiwi style champagne breakfast and delayed coverage of the parade through Wellington. We’ll even have a little goodie bag.

We’d like some of London’s biggest LOTR fans to join us, in costume, to celebrate. We have 50 places available.

I was wondering if you would be able to broadcast the invitation on the www.theonering.net website? Could the first 50 people who are interested, and can come in costume, please email bradleym@tnz.govt.nz to register.

Bob writes: This is quite unbelievable. A developer wants to build a subdivision of homes called “The Shire” that will run about $500,000 each. Read about it here; The article mainly focuses on the fact that the developer wants to build on a polluted site. No mention of the home design but the street names are listed such as “Rivendell Drive, Misty Mountain Parkway and Lorien Court”. [More]