Lance Owens writes: In Salt Lake City, Utah we have a major series of Tolkien lectures coming up in Feb and March 2009. We would appreciate it if you could add notice on your page.

Wasatch Gnostic Society – 2009 Winter Lecture Series
J.R.R. Tolkien: An Imaginative Life

“The Land of Fairy Story is wide and deep and high…. In that land a man may (perhaps) count himself fortunate to have wandered, but its very mystery and wealth make dumb the traveler who would report….The fairy gold (too often) turns to withered leaves when it is brought away. All that I can ask is that you, knowing all these things, will receive my withered leaves, as a token at least that my hand once held a little of the gold.”– Tolkien, draft manuscript of “On Fairy Stories” Continue reading “Wasatch Gnostic Society – 2009 Winter Lecture Series”

Katey Rich cinemablend.com writes: I was surprised to hear that Tintin, Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg’s adaptation of the Belgian comic strip, begins filming this week. This week! Hasn’t this project been in development for so long you thought it would never be made? But this week Andy Serkis is preparing to step into the role of Captain Haddock, Tintin’s hard-drinking but loyal best friend, even as his new movie, Inkheart, opens in theaters.

I spoke to Serkis last week, and while we talked a lot about his villainous role in Inkheart, he was generous enough to talk about Tintin and his return as Gollum in Lord of the Rings as well. I’ve included those parts of our conversation below, which includes his thoughts on both those top-secret projects, working with Doug Jones on The Hobbit, and the rise of motion-capture filmmaking in general. Cinemablend Interviews Andy Serkis

UK Charts: Wii Fit Holds Off The Lord Of The Rings EA’s The Lord of the Rings: Conquest has become the first new entry of the year in the UK sales charts, with the Xbox 360 version charting at number three in the individual platform chart and the PlayStation 3 version at number 10. Wii Fit remains at number one for the second week, with an 18 percent rise in sales, leading an iron-clad top ten list that sees little movement this week. But most of the rest of the top 40 actually saw a decrease in sales on the previous week, with Wii Play at number two down by 19 percent. UK Charts: Wii Fit Holds Off The Lord Of The Rings

You can enjoy this gigantic remake in high definition this January. King Kong will be released on Blu-ray on January 20. We don’t have any cover art or pricing details at this time, but we’ll surely update this story as soon as we have more information. The disc will include both the theatrical and extended versions of the movie. The film stars Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody and Andy Serkis performing the motion-capture for the title character. Continue reading “King Kong Will Roar on Blu-ray on January 20th”