Wellington film-maker Peter Jackson says he saw a real ghost once. In London for the premiere of The Lovely Bones – a film he has directed from Alice Sebold’s story in which a murdered teenage girl gives her viewpoint from heaven – Jackson said he did not know what a real soul was like. But he told Britain’s Channel 4 TV that while he could not swear the spirit in the movie was 100 percent accurate, he had seen a real ghost. More..

A note from Vivienne Wilkes, one of the many organizers of the Middle-earth Weekend, with details of next year’s event. This will be held as usual at:

Sarehole Mill in Birmingham, England
and will be open from 11.00am until 5.00pm on
Saturday and Sunday
15th and 16th May 2010.

Vivienne is not taking an active role in the organization this year since she is instead following in the footsteps of Rosie Cotton. Rosie’s husband Sam Gamgee as, you will recall, became Mayor of Michael Delving in the years following the Hobbits’ adventures in ‘The Lord of the Rings’. By strange coincidence Viv is married to this year’s Lord Mayor of Birmingham. Of course a major difference is Michael Wilkes will be Lord Mayor for one year only whereas Sam was Mayor for many, many years. Continue reading “Middle-earth Weekend and Staffordshire Hoard”

Peter Jackson November 2009Oscar-winning director Peter Jackson has confirmed the first script for the two films based on JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit has been completed. Pan’s Labyrinth helmer Guillermo del Toro is to bring the novel to the screen while Jackson, Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens will co-write and produce the films, having won 17 Oscars for the Lord Of The Rings trilogy. “The Hobbit will be two movies and we’ve written the first script and delivered it to the studio who seem to be happy with it,” the New Zealander told reporters. “We’re now halfway through the second script and Philippa, Fran, Guillermo and myself are doing the scripts and having great fun.”

You can read the entire article at inthenews.co.uk

LOTRO Expansion New Screens - Epic StoryTurbine has just released new screenshots for The Lord of the Rings Online: Siege of Mirkwood, the upcoming digital expansion to the award-winning MMO, which will launch on December 1st in North America. The images depict scenes from the epic story in Mirkwood.

Siege of Mirkwood will expand the online world of Middle-earth where players will join forces to press further eastward into the dark, foreboding and treacherous forest of Mirkwood and take part in the epic conclusion to Volume II of The Lord of the Rings Online. More..