Kristin Thompson writes: Michael Semanick, who won an Oscar for sound mixing on The Return of the King and another for King Kong, has been nominated twice in that category this year. On “The Frodo Franchise,” I take the occasion to discuss his career a bit and recall watching him face a sound-mixing problem in a speech by Gandalf in Return. Sound Design with Michael Semanick
Day: January 25, 2009
John Clark writes: Celebrities generally come in two sizes: large and small. Either they suck up all the oxygen in the room or you can’t imagine how they take up so much space on the screen. Viggo Mortensen somehow occupies a middle ground. He’s dressed down for an interview, looking at ease in a blue soccer shirt and blue jeans, but at the same time it’s easy to imagine him wielding a sword (the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy), a lethally hot pot of coffee (“A History of Violence”) or a pair of sinister sunglasses (“Eastern Promises”). Which is what makes Mortensen’s newest film, Vicente Amorim’s “Good,” such a change of pace. Based on the play by C.P. Taylor, it’s about a literature professor in 1930s Germany (Mortensen) who allows his academic work to be co-opted by the Nazi government. He soon follows suit, abandoning his wife and family for a younger woman, donning the uniform and allowing a Jewish friend to be swept away. Things are getting ‘Good’ for Mortensen
From Suzie Ford at warcry.com: All Lord of the Rings Online servers will be brought down for scheduled maintenance on Monday, January 26th. From Turbine: “The Turbine Game Servers and http://myaccount.turbine.com will be offline for maintenance on Monday, January 26 from 7:00 AM to 12:00 PM Eastern (-5 GMT). The forums and wikis will remain up, but players may not be able to log in. Thanks for your patience, and we’ll see you back in the game soon!”