As we wrap up our “World Hobbit Day” festivities, we at TORn are pleased to bring you one final piece of our celebratory specials via an exclusive interview with Aivale Cole (nee Mabel Faletolu).
For fans of Howard Shore and the music of The Lord of the Rings films, Aivale (credited as Mabel Faletolu on the soundtrack of The Fellowship of the Ring) perhaps needs no introduction. For the rest, you probably recall that most heartrending of voices that engulfs the broken Fellowship as they emerge from the darkness of Moria and grieve over Gandalf’s fall into Khazad-dûm.
That piece was sung by none other than Aivale, a vocalist hailing from Wellington, New Zealand. Back in 2001, she recorded the solo piece with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
Join us in this exclusive interview as we catch up with Aivale who, after more than a decade, takes us back to that “crazy but exciting” time when she worked with Howard Shore and Peter Jackson, and also shares a rather amusing anecdote involving Ian McKellen.
As part of the World Wide Celebration of Hobbit week we here at TORn along with our friends at Weta are pleased to announce a contest for their newest art print. As we told you earlier this week, Sunrise Upon Edoras is the third print in the series with a beautiful depiction of the first time Gandalf, Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli see Edoras as they come upon it in The Two Towers. Well, now you get a chance to win yourself a copy of this beautiful moment. Starting today through next Saturday September, 29th we will be taking entries sent to Elessar@theonering.net with the subject line Edoras Contest. In the body of your email, just tell us your name, shipping information and a contact number. Winner will be chosen at random – good luck!
“They were by far the most powerful of his servants, and the most suitable for such a mission, since they were entirely enslaved to their Nine Rings, which he now himself held.”
— Unfinished Tales, p. 338
One of Sauron’s most powerful servants is the seventh statue from Sideshow’s growing and spectacular The Lord of the Rings statue line. This awesome statue captures of one the darker characters in the whole trilogy and illustrates one of a key scene: the moment when the Witch King stabs Frodo one Weathertop.
This statue is crafted to show the point-of-view of anyone other than Frodo (Frodo sees something very different because he is wearing the Ring.) Sideshow is expected to release the other half of this scene early next year. (more…)
I love Middle-earth. I also love collecting items representing that world. As you’ve probably noticed through the reviews here, I’ve got more than a few items in my collection. It helps bring the magic Tolkien created and Jackson adapted home along with smiles every time I look at my items.
Now, TORn, as part of our super-secret project, wants to showcase you and your collection!
Starting today, through to next Wednesday, we here at TORn will be collecting submissions in search of Ringer Super Collectors at large. What we need are three to four good pictures of you and your collection, along with a brief write-up about why you are a super collector (write-ups must be 500 words or less).
Email your pictures and write-up to Elessar@theonering.net. We’ll start going through the submissions and you never know — you just might see you and your collection posted soon!
Today, Weta Workshop put up their most detailed environment yet. The Barad-Dur: Fortress of Sauron has gone up for order and after seeing this at Comic-Con just last month this is something fans will want to make sure to figure out how to get into their collection. Barad-Dur took the team at Weta over 1,500 hours to complete and when you get a chance to see this you will be able to see why.
This environment is a perfect rendering of what was on screen and will take you right to the moment we first saw Barad-Dur on screen. Barad-Dur comes in with a price tag of $699.99 and an edition size of only 1,000 pieces world wide which are sure to sell quickly.
You do have time to save though as this environment will not be shipping until December this year or next January.
Our HobbitCon (aka Comic-Con) recap continues with a look at the Sideshow Collectibles booth. Featured this year we many of the items that you have seen reviewed in this column as well as some great upcoming items to further your Middle-earth collection. The new items included the Ringwraith Statue (shipping in August), the Twilight Witch-King statue, and the imposing Ringwraith on Steed Premium Format. They also had two items that we know very little about: The Sauron Premium Format and the Frodo/Sam in Orc Armor statue. Both of these items ranked among the very best at their booth and are sure to be items that any The Lord of the Rings fans will want to add to their collection. As we get more information on these two collectibles you can count on TORn giving you the scoop on how you can add these to your collection. Follow the break for a video tour of the booth as well as our complete gallery! [Sideshow Collectibles]
Part 2 (see Part 1) of our Weta Workshop Comic-Con 2012 coverage is an comprehensive video of their booth. This is an official booth tour given by Tim Launder, Business Manager of Weta Workshop. In the video below, you get a great explanation of the entire booth layout and the products that Weta featured, including items from The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit films. Thanks to WETA for providing this unique opportunity! [Weta Workshop]
As, we continue our HobbitCon coverage we have a two part experience at the Weta Workshop booth. With Part 1 you’re gonna seeall the pictures and a video of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey statues as well as The Lord of the Rings collectibles at the booth. The statues from The Hobbit looked off the charts great with so much detail, great likenesses, and a great touch by putting the Dwarven map on the elegant simple black base. The Lord of the Rings collectibles at the booth were equally as impressive including a couple items I was eagerly looking forward to seeing in person. The items I looked forward to seeing the most were the Barad-Dur environment and the Fellowship mini-statues. Barad-Dur is the coolest environment I’ve seen and it will absolutely catch the eye of anyone looking at your collection. So don’t miss out on this amazing piece when it goes up for Pre-Order July 31st. The other item or items that stood out to me from The Lord of the Rings section as the three part Fellowship statues which have already started Pre-Ordering. This set is something we’ve all waited a long time to order and seeing them all together in person was a highlight for me at the show. These are must have items if you’re a hardcore Ringer like me. Read the full story below for the video and gallery. [Weta Collectibles]
For those attending viewings of ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ this weekend, you may find yourself listening to the end of Howard Shore’s ‘The Bridge of Khazad Dum’ playing as part of the brand new ‘Man of Steel’ teasers. If you have seen The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, you know (SPOILERS) that when Gandalf falls at the bridge, we have an amazingly emotional and dramatic score to accompany this significant event. I get chills just thinking of the scene. Now, for better or worse, that same theme is used to build emotion for the next attempt to revive the Superman franchise. How do you feel about it? Share your thoughts in the comments, our forum and on Facebook! If you somehow managed to go through the last 10 years without owning Howard Shore’s award-winning score, we highly suggest you pick up today! (There are obviously many versions of the score to own, so browse around a bit) [LOTR:FOTR Score] [Kevin Costner Voiceover Teaser] [Russell Crowe Voiceover Teaser]
Forbes writer Geoff Loftus writes about ‘4 Leadership Lessons from Aragorn‘, saying leadership lessons can be gleaned from Aragorn’s actions throughout The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
For example, he compares Aragorn’s unwavering focus on the need to destroy The One Ring to Apple‘s never wavering focus on delivering a high-quality, well-designed customer experience with every product.
In this article, The New Zealand Herald’s Helen Frances speaks to Weta concept designers and illustrators Ben Wootten and Paul Tobin about how they got their starts in the industry.
Wootten joined Weta in 1996, and has worked on King Kong, The Lord of the Rings and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. His knowledge of animal anatomy and behavior (he studied zoology at university) was key to creating the dinosaurs for King Kong.
Paul Tobin began his career at Weta Workshop in 2003 when the first Narnia film and King Kong were underway. Tobin says he was “lousy at drawing dinosaurs” so he stayed with Narnian fantasy. His background in ancient history and archaeology proved the inspiration for concept designs for Peter and Edmund’s armour and weapons and Susan’s horn.
Sideshow Collectibles Online Comic-Con event is in full swing and day 13 brings us the first pre-order for a collectible from Middle-earth. The next statue in The Lord of the Rings statue line is the Twilight Witch-king statue! It is a superb looking mirror image of the Ringwraith statue released a while back. This statue gives fans a chance to pair this up with the Ringwraith and show what both Frodo as well as the other Hobbits/Strider saw while on Weathertop. This outstanding statue costs $275 with a $27 NRD but you have time to save up as this won’t release until March of 2013. [Pre-Order]
I love Middle-earth. I also love collecting items representing that world. As you’ve probably noticed through the reviews here, I’ve got more than a few items in my collection. It helps bring the magic Tolkien created and Jackson adapted home along with smiles every time I look at my items.
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Forbes writer Geoff Loftus writes about ‘4 Leadership Lessons from Aragorn‘, saying leadership lessons can be gleaned from Aragorn’s actions throughout The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
