Xoanon here,

Another case of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing I guess. Just a few days ago TheOneRing.net reported to you that Cate Blanchett’s UK rep had heard nothing about Cate being up for Galadriel. Then a few moments ago I recieved a phone call from Cate’s Aussie agent and she had this to say.

‘They are in talks, nothing has progressed beyond that’

Her agent also told me that Cate has been in the Paris area filming a movie (calling all you French Ringers!) and that they have not been in contact for a short while.

Well, I guess you don’t have to remove Cate from your cast list after all! Let’s see what transpires!

Marlow has resurfaced with his answers to your questions!

Marlow was commissioned back in ’93 to write a treatment for LOTR. The original project died, but has now become PJ’s dream we all know and love!

Click here to read his answers for Round 2.

Ready for Round 3? Click here to send a question!

>> I’m probably really late with this, but I thought I might add that the

>> front page of the Wellington newspaper ‘The Evening Post’

>> (www.evpost.co.nz) ran a picture and an article along the lines of the TV1

>> article – unfortunately not on their website though. Interestingly, it

>also

>> mentioned that the role of Ted Sandyman has gone to Bryan Sargent, the

>> first Kiwi actor to have been cast so far (you can see him in

>> ‘Braindead’/’Dead Alive’ and he provided a voice in the NZ animated movie

>> ‘Footrot Flats: the Dog’s xTailx Tale’.

>> This is pretty good for the EP, who have generally been pretty behind on

>news.

>>

>> I saw Bree yesterday and it looked awesome. The set is wooden, extended

>> onto old 2-storeyed army barracks (the site is a decomissioned fort in

>> Seatoun) – about 30-40 metres long, basically forming a graded alleyway or

>> small section of street with ‘frontages on either side. Shingled roofs,

>> small windows, an arched doorway which looks to actually lead into the

>real

>> entrance of the building behind it, and some steps leading up to this. No

>> signage though. The odd thing is that there are residential houses next

>> door and a public walking track overlooking this (the set is at the foot

>of

>> a hill), so for the moment it’s been quite easy to get a look at what’s

>> going on there – I imagine this will be closed pretty soon though!

>>

This snippet sent in by alert spy Mortimus.

Ecthelion has checked in with his review of Oxenmoot. Oxenmoot is a yearly meeting by the Tolkien society (U.K.). It was held in Oxford at professor Tolkiens old college Exeter.

The full report will be up shortly, but here is a small snippet for your salivating pleaseure!

At 12 miss Priscilla Tolkien had a reception, with food and drink,in the main hall. This is of course very much appriciated since it gives everyone a chance to greet the proffesors lovely and indeed very hospitable daughter. In the afternoon it continued with a concert by the “Tolkien Ensemble” from Denmark who performed work from their new cd: A Night in Rivendell. If you do like this kind of music i can really recomend it! From there on it was varius forums, slideshows and workshops.

But if non of these things interests you, one is free to visit all (well not really all) the pubs you want or just take a tour of the really wonderful town of Oxford. From eight o clock the college pub opened and the main hall opened for a really Tolkienesque evening. There were music, singing and reading but most of all there was the costume-contest in which all sorts of costumes were entered. But as allways after making the pub-staff work for their money they closed. So we had to organize some after parties to keep up the good work.

It started 10 minutes late, but it started. For those deluded few who thought I knew all, this just goes to prove I can’t predict the weather or Chicago traffic. So my appologies to everyone who showed up promptly only to have to wait. And my super huge appologies to all those Chicago drivers who got cut off by the Honda with the “I brake for Hobbits” bumpersticker, I was in a big hurry 😉

So for all of you who are itching to prove how knowledgable you are at Tolkien Trivia, head over to the Barliman’s Tolkien Trivia Test and give it a whirl. It should put you in the right frame of mind for the upcoming Tolkien Brain Bender contest.

So give it your best shot, I am sure there will be some fierce competition.

Xoanon here,

This is upsetting news, but the casting of Blanchett is not official. And as far as her UK agent, it is ‘News to her’.

While this in no way means that this is a false rumor, I think we could call her casting as Galadriel a little ‘hasty’. Her agent did say however that it could be very possible that things can change in the next few weeks. More to come