Arwen writes: There is a MAJOR mention of Return Of The One Party in Entertainment Weekly’s coverage of the Oscars (March 12 issue). Here is the excerpt:

“We doubt the sentiment bothered Peter Jackson and his ain true love, partner Fran Walsh, who hit the party circuit with three Oscars each (his for directing, producing and writing, hers for producing, writing and cocreating that little ditty Sir Elton so disliked)*. First stop after the Governors Ball was not the New Line party but the 1,200-person fete thrown by fansite TheOneRing.net, where revelers dressed as elves, wizards, and the Dark Lord Sauron treated Jackson and his Ringers like Middle-earth rock stars. Hyped by a hip-hop group that dubbed itself the Lords of the Rhymes and fueled by munchies like Fields of Rohan Corn Hash and Dwarf Lord’s Prime Rib of Beef, the throng got so enthusiastic and pushy that one woman fainted and had to be escorted out. Surprinsingly, the fire marshals never shut the party down (unlike the INSTYLE gathering, which they closed temporarily – but then again, that party probably didn’t have 24 Oscar statuettes in one room).

“One of the things that really motivated us was that we were absolutely terrified of letting all you guys down”, bellowed Jackson from the stage.

“We had to do it right, otherwise we’d be starring in Mel Gibson’s latest film at the moment”, he said, throwing out his arms in mock crucifixion. The crowd, many of whom were already sporting buttons touting King’s Best Picture win, whooped delightedly before asking Wood and his hobbit friends whether they wore boxers or briefs.

Across town, folks at the New Line “celebration” continued their own arduous journey. Sad that the Rings studio would suffer such a party foul on its big night: The evening started off shakily when the local ABC station couldn’t be tuned in for nearly an hour, so guests were forced to watch One Tree Hill while the winners were periodically announced over a loudspeaker. As for the after-party, the champagne ran out -and so did many of the 500-plus attendees- long before Jackson and Co. (after braving a TV interview phalanx) arrived around 1:30am. “I wanted to say thanks to all of our fans, because they’ve always had a great relationship with us”, Jackson said in explaining his OneRing favoritism.

* this refers to an Elton John’s quote in which he stated that “the worst song of the night won”…