Mary writes: Ian McKellen will be interviewed on September 17 in New York at the Times Center. The interview will be followed by a wine reception & tickets are only $25. [More]
Day: August 16, 2007
GilraenBham sends along word about the annual Tolkien Weekend in November, it is registration time! Visit Birmingham for a weekend break exploring the places J.R.R. Tolkien lived and played, studied and worshiped during the formative years of his life. Accommodation, food, transport, talks, entertainment and well-informed guides are included in this unique and informative weekend for fans of Tolkien everywhere. Friday evening 9th November, all Day Saturday 10th November, to mid-afternoon Sunday 11th November 2007. The weekend is based around the Plough and Harrow Hotel in Edgbaston, Birmingham, where Professor Tolkien and his wife Edith stayed prior to Tolkien leaving for France during the First World War. The hotel is offering very attractive rates for this special weekend. For further information download this WORD document.
James writes: The AME (Association of Model Engineers) is organizing its Annual Exhibition, held between 8th and 16th September, 2007 and this year it is showcasing a massive miniature of Helm’s Deep, the main fortress of Rohan.
The exhibition will be held at the Scouts Headquarters in Floriana, Malta and shall display a wide range of models of all types of genres; including Military, Fantasy and Science Fiction.
This year, the Association has been working hard to construct this highly detailed model has been carefully built to closely match the film version.
The diorama is also filled with various models, including Elves, Uruk-Hai and the Men of Rohan, depicting the battle as portrayed in the film. Other models include, siege ladders, catapults and a group of Uruk-hai with a battering ram attacking the gates.
Apart from this diorama, a collection of highly detailed figures of The Lord of the Rings are displayed separately during the exhibition. Last year’s main centre-piece was a diorama of a Rohan keep being attacked by orcs. This year, the AME has taken a step further into realizing this full 3 feet by 2 feet diorama of the Battle of Helm’s Deep.
No photos of the model are available yet, since it is still under construction. For further information on the Exhibition and the Association itself, please click the following to the AME website: www.a-m-e.org
Artiste extraordinaire Colleen Doran sends along word on her latest work ‘The Nightmare Factory’: The model of my main character was actor Jed Brophy, who has appeared in a number of Peter Jackson’s films…Jed is a big comics fan and made an especially good Spiderman model, because he is not only lean and wiry, he knows all the classic comics poses. All I had to do was ask for a character and he could immediately become that character. He could even nail poses based on the iconic images of certain artists. [More]
Vanessa “Saffron” Price, Online Community Representative for The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, writes: Today we added a two new class overviews about the changes coming in the upcoming content update to our Developer’s Corner! In Book 10: The City of the Kings, LOTRO’s second free content update, the LOTRO game systems team focused on the Captain and Hunter classes. Learn about the changes in two new overviews! [Overview I] [Overview II]
telegraph.co.uk recently ran this small article, which should be taken with a large grain of salt: Sir Ian McKellen’s dream of reprising the role of Gandalf – the role that turned the stage actor into an international film star – looks like being realized after all. Last year, it had looked a distinctly forlorn hope after Sir Ian’s friend Peter Jackson, the director of the The Lord of the Rings trilogy, said he wanted nothing to do with turning Tolkien’s other great work, The Hobbit, into a film after a row about money with the production company New Line Cinema. Now, however, Jackson appears to have patched things up with New Line’s founder, Bob Shaye, and the film looks back on course.
By a happy coincidence, Sir Ian is currently in New Zealand performing in King Lear and plans to dine with New Line’s bosses shortly when he will make it clear how keen he is to play Gandalf in the new film.