News is on the Associated Press wire today that the founder of the pop-culture showcase, the San Diego Comic-Con, Sheldon Dorf, has died at age 76. A spokesperson for Dorf’s family, friend Greg Koudoulian, says he died at a San Diego hospital as a result of kidney failure and problems caused by diabetes. At the official Comic-Con Website there is a message from the Board of Directors, Staff and volunteers of the Comic-Con organization as they “mourn the passing of our dear friend Shel”. Read the rest of this entry »
Say whatever you wish about James Cameron or his movies (”Terminator 2,” “Aliens,” “Titanic” “The Abyss”) but he doesn’t play things safe. He showcased some 3-D footage of the upcoming “Avatar” (December 18) at this summer’s Comic-Con and then in one of the convention’s all-time highlights, took the stage with Peter Jackson to talk about technology, film and the future. Our friends at Weta have been heavily involved and will share some credit or blame for the success or failure of his latest, risky $230 million film. Dana Goodyear at The New Yorker has an excellent profile of the film director with a dose of Weta thrown in. Read it here
Trying to make Comic-Con a bit more Tolkien-centric, and to have a little extra fun and the world’s biggest celebration of pop-culture, we (TheOneRing.net) brought in the crowds at Comic Con in San Diego for a fun competition. With no space at the convention to call our own, we went to Weta for an assist and they provided a perfect setting to hold a “Voice of Gollum,” contest.
A collection of fun-loving convention attendees and some awesome Gollum impersonators stepped in front of the Slaveboy Films’ cameras and impressed TORn, Weta and everybody stopping to look on. We asked Weta to choose the best entries, and the guys at Slaveboy Films have put together a fantastic video of the Top Ten.
Weta has also agreed to donate 20 Weta Dollars (worth US$20 dollars) to each of the Top Ten entries. Now it’s your turn. Weta are going to assist TORn with the voting. Out of these 10 masterful impersonators, only one can be said to possess the true voice of Gollum and therefore be allowed to take home a swag-bag of extra goodies; a TORn T-shirt, a Weta T-shirt, 30 more Weta Dollars, a Weta keyring and a Lord of the Rings Location Guide book. Who is it going to be? Vote Today!
Weta and TheOneRing.net teamed up to create a scavenger hunt this year at Comic-Con. At TheOneRing.net panel regarding the upcoming Hobbit films, Richard Taylor came along to catch us all up on what Weta is up to.
At the end of his presentation he announced the Dragon’s Gold hunt which featured a series of clues on the Con floor with the winners being awarded a pile of prizes. Read all the details and see the winners here at Weta’s website.
The plan was to be impartial and emotionless in the printed word and provide interested parties (hopefully you dear reader) all the facts and information from Peter Jackson’s un-press conference in San Diego as possible.
After all, he had 40 or so of us delighted to be trapped in a room with him in a small but luxurious hotel a few hundred meters from the convention center where the world’s biggest celebration of popular culture was taking place. It was the end of the first day of the four-day event and Jackson had swooped into town, showed off his first ever public screening of “District 9,” and then convened Geek Court. Read the rest of this entry »
Have you ever wondered who wins those cool, big prizes, like a car? Well, news out of Comic-Con 2009 would seem to indicate that even a little Hobbit can win a car. The car in question would be one of the 4 Nissan Cubes that NBC and ‘Heroes’ was giving away during Comic-Con. The Hobbit in question would be So Cal’s own Rosie Carynn. (Rosie Carynn is one of TORn’s most valued friends and enthusiasts! So its even cooler that she won!)
The only question is, What does a Hobbit do with a Cube wrapped in Heroes artwork? Well, she has fun, that’s what she does.
Who has the best video of panels at Comic-Con? Why Comic-Con does! The folks there were kind enough (and they want some more hits too no doubt!) to send a link to their HD video with great audio over at YouTube. Of course its embeded here for your viewing ease and comfort. This was at least the third time in about 12 hours that PJ explained to an audience or press that no roles have been cast for the “The Hobbit,” the film isn’t greenlit yet and the process of handing in a finished script for the first of two films was about three or four weeks away. Enjoy!
Slave Boy Films was at Comic-Con last week and crept into TheOneRing.net’s presentation on an unofficial look at the pair of Hobbit movies. The TORn presentation was Thursday, only hours before Peter Jackson arrived at city of geeks (120,000 strong) who had assembled at San Diego to drink deeply of all the flavors of popular culture. TheOneRing filled every one of the 400 seats in its assigned room with plenty left standing outside in a line but thanks to Slave Boy, the presentation is now available for anybody and everybody. (Click inside to see the videos!) Read the rest of this entry »
linuxelf sends in this video from a New Zealand television station that has clearly fallen head-over-heels for Peter Jackson and also gives a great look at the size of Comic-Con. There is a short story with a link to a video found here.
TheOneRing.net and Slave Boy Films are offering the very limited “Why So Precious,” Comic-Con shirts now online while supplies last. Slave Boy has the remnants of the Comic-Con stock and will sell them until they are gone. The two styles of shirts can be seen with both an appropriate mish-mash face here and some shadow wraiths here. Read the rest of this entry »
Say whatever you wish about James Cameron or his movies (”Terminator 2,” “Aliens,” “Titanic” “The Abyss”) but he doesn’t play things safe. He showcased some 3-D footage of the upcoming “Avatar” (December 18) at this summer’s Comic-Con and then in one of the convention’s all-time highlights, took the stage with Peter Jackson to talk about technology, film and the future. Our friends at Weta have been heavily involved and will share some credit or blame for the success or failure of his latest, risky $230 million film. Dana Goodyear at The New Yorker has an excellent profile of the film director with a dose of Weta thrown in. Read it 
The plan was to be impartial and emotionless in the printed word and provide interested parties (hopefully you dear reader) all the facts and information from Peter Jackson’s un-press conference in San Diego as possible.
Have you ever wondered who wins those cool, big prizes, like a car? Well, news out of Comic-Con 2009 would seem to indicate that even a little Hobbit can win a car. The car in question would be one of the 4 Nissan Cubes that NBC and ‘Heroes’ was giving away during Comic-Con. The Hobbit in question would be So Cal’s own Rosie Carynn. (Rosie Carynn is one of TORn’s most valued friends and enthusiasts! So its even cooler that she won!)
Slave Boy Films was at Comic-Con last week and crept into TheOneRing.net’s presentation on an unofficial look at the pair of Hobbit movies. The TORn presentation was Thursday, only hours before Peter Jackson arrived at city of geeks (120,000 strong) who had assembled at San Diego to drink deeply of all the flavors of popular culture. TheOneRing filled every one of the 400 seats in its assigned room with plenty left standing outside in a line but thanks to Slave Boy, the presentation is now available for anybody and everybody. (Click inside to see the videos!) 
