Mazzic writes: I visited the New Starcon II in Tilburg, the Netherlands earlier today. The only Lord of the Rings actor was Lawrence Makoare. He is truly a nice lad who enjoys talking to his fans and giving information on his acting performances and costume experiences. That is when I discovered this picture where… !!! EE SPOILERS !!! [More]
Day: October 17, 2004
Mazzic writes: I visited the New Starcon II in Tilburg, the Netherlands earlier today (www.newstarcon.com). The only Lord of the Rings actor was Lawrence Makoare himself who also appeared at FACTS in Belgium last week (www.facts-convention.com). Although quite a few other big names were scheduled to appear at this show, there weren’t a lot of visitors at all. So I didn’t have to wait very long to meet Lawrence again, as I also met him last week since I live in Belgium.
He is truly a nice lad who enjoys talking to his fans and giving information on his acting performances and costume experiences. After I got my autographs, the actors all went out for a short lunch break, so I had some time to check out the different LOTR items Lawrence brought to the NSCII.
That is when I discovered this picture where Gimli kills Gothmog. Is it going to be in the Extended ROTK Edition? I don’t know, it wasn’t in the trailer… So thought you guys may wanted to know this tidbit!
Composer Howard Shore thinks it’s great that his prodigious, two-hour “Lord of the Rings Symphony” is being performed in live concerts, like the one Saturday at the Fox Theatre with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, all over the world. But just as marvelous, he says, is the way his music, which requires boy and girl choristers, has suddenly made it “hip” (his word) for adolescent and teenage boys to participate in choirs. [More]
The folks from Asociación Tolkien write: Attached you will find some photographs taken during the Asociación Tolkien Argentina’s Annual Convention, dubbed Tolkien 2004 Latinamerican & International, which took place on October 9th and 10th in Centro Cultural General San Martin in downtown Buenos Aires. It was indeed quite a wonderful and busy weekend both for the ATA members in attendance and event organization and for the general public. The Convention was functional for a total of 20 plus hours during the weekend and this year we received many members from several Latin American Societies and international visitors, from Brazil, Uruguay, Perú, Germany among others. [More]
HobbitHearted writes: Back from the Boston LoTR Exhibit and Sean Astin book signing! What fun! What hysteria! What fatigue!! Got to the museum shortly after the 9am opening time and the line for the Sean’s signing was already out the door and down the sidewalk, running the entire length of the museum. Our timed entry into the exhibit wasn’t until 11:15am, so we toured the Museum of BostonR17;s other amazing exhibits until then. The LoTR Exhibit reviews have already been shared by others, so I won’t go into that except to add that it was totally incredible to see up close the detail of the costumes and weaponry! Did you know there are tiny skulls on the Haradrim’s costume??! Amazing detail! I thought maybe it could’ve been bigger and shown more of the props like Bilbo’s desk or Theoden’s chair or a variety of Aragorn’s costumes (they had only one). Overall, it was quite enjoyable. My unexpected favorites were the sketches by Alan Lee and others. Makes you appreciate the genius involved in this undertaking.
After visiting the Exhibit, my husband took the kids to the planetarium and I went downstairs to take my place on line, only to find out that they had stopped allowing people to line up at 10:30am. My best efforts to convince the security guard to let me wait were met with a smile and an “I’m sorry…he simply won’t be able to sign this many.” *sigh*
I spoke with a few fans in line who said that people were offering money for them to carry their book to Sean for signing. Many brought their artwork to either give or have signed and Sean met each one with a smile and a handshake or a photo and a hug. His handlers were patient and didn’t seem to rush anyone through. At one point, a museum representative came over to a group of young fans camped on the floor (going on their fifth hour of waiting!) and were instructed on “How to greet Sean.” I laughed when I heard her and listened in!
What we found in the AM session was that many people were so awestruck when they got close that they couldn’t talk (sounds oddly familiar). So what we’re suggesting is that you practice what you want to say to each other so when you get there, you have it! The handlers will take the book from you so all you have to do is talk to him and shake his hand if you want. Don’t rush, look him in the eye and enjoy it!” Kudos to all the Boston MoS staff for being so personable and professional in the face of what must have been a very stressful two days. I talked with a volunteer assigned to crowd control how she scored this gig and she said, “Much begging, but it was worth it and crowd has been great!”
The fans were amazingly wonderful! Some played cards, some read Sean’s book or their LoTR books. Some even brought their LoTR Trivial Pursuit game to play while waiting (I so wanted to join, but there were laser shows to be seen! Did I mention I love the Boston MoS??) You could easily spot the fans who had just met Sean, their broad smiles and the bounce in their step gave it away. I even spotted one Flat Stanley (not Frodo) who got signed and had a picture taken with Sean. Oh, that I were cardboard! I met some “Eowyn Challenge” walkers (they said to say “Hi” to ToRN’s Walk to Rivendell leader, Miradan) and a few random hobbits and elves.
In an attempt to distract myself from my disappointment at not having the opportunity to greet Sean, I decided to conduct a quick crowd study. (Rough estimates here) I counted approximately two fangirl screams from the balcony per five minutes…over six hours of signing…that’s a lot of screaming! They shouted “Rudy” and “Sam” but the majority of cheers raining down were of the “Sean, we love you” type. He was kind and animated and waved back every time someone shouted. Mothers and daughters, young and old swooned and shouted to him to get his attention and take a picture from only place the Museum would let you linger, in the 2nd floor kid’s hands-on science exhibit. That was terrific planning, I thought. It kept the crowd out of the main hallways and it let the big people become kids again, playing with their kids, other people’s kids and with all the toys they had up there! “A great day to be a geek,” the young exhibit volunteer said to me.
I spoke with one of the men helping with the signing while he took a break (I think he was from the publishing house). I asked how many books he signed today and was it a record day for the museum. He said that by 3:30pm (Sean was leaving promptly at 5pm to make the Red Sox/Yankee game), Sean had signed over 1300 books! He said that the only other signing he’d seen with more participation was the Al Franken book signing. He admired the crowds and their enthusiasm and had great things to say about Sean.
On the lunch break, some teenage fans and I staked out the elevator where Sean was expected to return from shortly. I encouraged them to visit ToRN and join in the fun and we shared emails to share the photos we were about to take. I had scribbled down a limerick I wrote on Friday for ToRN message board’s “Friday Fiesta” about Sean’s Boston visit. I said that ToRN loved him and thanks, etc. As he walked by I placed it in his hand and he smiled and said, “What’s this?” I said, “It’s for you, thanks!” And he walked on and read it! The teenagers with me let out a scream, “You TOUCHED him!!” And we did that jumping up and down thing that you do when you’ve lost your mind. [Images]
JovialNazgul writes: I went to see Sean Astin yesterday at the Museum of Science and since he could sign a copy of his book and one other item I had him sign my TORn shirt. I guess he hadn’t seen one before because he read it out loud and said it was awesome. Here’s a pic of it and a close up of the signature. [Images] [More TORN Shirts]
You can also read HobbitHearted’s report from the same event. [More]