At the moment, TheOneRing.net is sponsoring two causes with the income from those little ad banners you see at the top of most of our pages. One of them is book-related, the Duffy ‘Books in Homes‘ scheme, and the other is environmental, being a part of the Worldwide Fund for Nature’s campaign to protect endangered marine species.
A few weeks ago the school we sponsor, Runanga, got the free books the children there had picked out. The school principal wrote:
“What a fantastic day…our children received their books. It was fantastic. We had Graeme Thorne, the ex-All Black, as our Role model. We also had the paper here so hopefully we will have some publicity.”
The Duffy programme gets famous people, usually sports stars, to come and be Role Models and tell kids that reading is a cool thing to do. In New Zealand, the All Blacks are like, well, think of whatever the most famous sportsteam is in your country, that’s what the All Blacks are here. They wear the famous black jersey, hence the name.
“Thanks again for the fantastic sponsorship. We are so grateful to you and your friends.
Regards
Joy”
Our second charity, the Worldwide Fund for Nature, is using our donation to help with their Marine Environment Campaign, and they sent this recently:
“…I would just like to let you know that with regard to the marine environment we are continuing our important work with the North Island Hector’s Dolphin, the world’s smallest and rarest marine mammal (there are thought to be only approximately 100 left). We are planning to expand the work to include hands-on recovery programmes which will include community participation and leading edge science. Once the details are finalised I will fill you in on the proposal, we are planning to use the support from TheOneRing.net to assist with this project.”
So, that’s the latest news from our sponsorship programme.
– Tehanu
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Tehanu brings us this report on a recent article in the Dominion newspaper concerning the animal cruelity allegations. [more]
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Tehanu brings us this report:
![\[ Click for larger view \]](http://img-www.theonering.net/images/052500_shadowfax_sm.jpg)
One of the disadvantages of being an LOTR website that actually has a base in NZ is that we can’t post anything from the local papers and magazines without their permission and expect to get away with it. Luckily the Dominion is the only print journal that dislikes seeing its articles reproduced on the Net, so I’ll paraphrase their article of last Tuesday.
What interested me was the information that various allegations of cruelty to animals have been posted on the Net concerning horses on the LOTR set. “Every report is posted on the internet and is judged by the world,” according to the Dominion. I’d love to know more about that; it’s news to me. Is there some “LOTR Film Sucks and is Doomed to Fail (because it’s Evil)” website out there?
The allegations are that a horse was so badly injured that it had to be put down; that the film company dyed horses white with toxic peroxide; that a block and tackle was used to knock horses to their knees. One horse supposedly broke its back in a trick, another was put down after falling from a wharf, and another shot for a hide to cover Liv’s barrel-shaped ‘riding contraption.’
This sort of talk had the Ministry of Agriculture and the International League for the Protection of Horses worried enough that they came and inspected the way the animals were being treated. They had no concerns regarding what they found.
The rumours also worried the film company enough that they invited The Dominion’s reporter Alan Samson out to the Te Horo stables so he could see for himself. (Maybe this is a great idea – I’ll spread rumours of terrible demeaning cruelty to short people on the LOTR set and see if that gets me an interview with the hobbit doubles!)
Samson got to watch animal trainer Dan Reynolds making Shadowfax rear on command. Moments afterwards, according to the report, the horse “nuzzled his boss affectionately.”
The head wrangler, Dave Johnson, said the rumours seemed to be blown up from real but innocuous incidents. There was a lack of available white horses in NZ and the film crew had briefly worked with the idea of lightening a horse’s colour using human hair-dye, not peroxide, but the substance was ineffective. One of the Ringwraith horses had slipped when it was being unloaded onto a wharf, but it was given antibiotics and recovered.
A horse had died of colic, another of a heart attack – both regarded as natural causes of death. Among 70 horses, they had merely the normal kinds of injuries such as strained tendons and puffy joints, according to LOTR vet Ray Lanagan, who testified that the horses were well-treated and subject to less strain than, say, race-horses.
“If horses could talk, they’d say they were pretty happy about what they’ve got here,” said Lanagan.
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You can catch Brad Dourif (Wormtongue) in ‘Progeny’ on Cinemax. [More]
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I asked one of our most persistent set-watchers, the Hutt Hobbit, and got this report from his friend Salome. Shows that there’s a lot of patience, persistence, and immunity to cold required, as well as a lot of hoping and dreaming! [More]
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I asked one of the most persistent watchers at Helm’s Deep what it was like, and got this story back from his friend Salome. Seems like it’s 90% patience and a whole lot of hoping and dreaming…
ONE DARK STORMY NIGHT
BY THE BEAUTIFUL SALOME SEVEN VEILS
The hobbit phone rang (being the spy phone The Hutt Hobbit had installed in my house as I am The Hutt Hobbit’s spying friend), ‘get your butt out of the bed,’ he said, ‘don your veils and get ready to distract those guards with your legendary beauty.’
We headed to Burger King as The Hutt Hobbit is fond of burgers, then we proceeded to the Wingate set, where The Hutt Hobbit immediately fell asleep as he had eaten too much as usual.
I, Salome, began the Dance of the Seven Veils and immediately the guards became hypnotized by my beauty. Stupid fools !!!! I proceeded to my discreet spying platform located nearby and this is what I saw.
I saw the gates of Moria or rather part of the inside of the set, being an entrance way in the front of the set, as the set was cleverly designed and surrounded by a scaffolding wall.
I saw a hobbit pony covered in baggage, yes the pack-pony called Bill. The pony looked to be chestnut with, I think, a white blaze, the pony looked very happy and well looked after. The pony was being looked after by the horse wrangler, who at this stage was sitting down. Then Viggo Mortensen appeared and stood by the pony, he seemed to be in good spirits and was holding a conversation with the horse wrangler. Various other cast members appeared; it was too dark and stormy to tell who they were at this stage. The cast members took out umbrellas to shelter from the rain. A male cast member, was it Viggo? seemed to have fun twirling his umbrella.
Then lo and behold, through a gap in the set I saw PJ sitting under a blue canopy. The hobbit pony was led forward right into the light, Viggo, I think it was, held the pony’s reins, he seemed to be stroking the pony’s nose. I saw in the darkness very small-sized people or so it seemed as it was very dark and raining, were they hobbit doubles?
Viggo led the pony forward into the set and out of sight of my spying equipment. The ground of the set was covered in rocks; I heard the pony’s hooves crunching in the gravel. I could see no more.
I uttered a vile curse and went to check on the guards and yes they were still hypnotized. I, Salome, was soaking wet, my dancing costume clung to my body, ‘thank god it’s dark’ I said to myself. My long dark hair clung to my face and dripped water down my back. I cursed the weather and wished for an umbrella as I had forgotten mine.
I proceeded to the transportation device and tried to rouse The Hutt Hobbit but he was still asleep. He was talking about Burger King in his sleep and his hands were rubbing his great fat hobbit belly. I Salome cursed, and poured myself a cup of coffee and tried to keep warm.
I proceeded back to my vantage point and this is what I saw. I saw Legolas standing in the light in the set’s entrance-way. He had a quiver filled with arrows slung high on his back, he had long blond hair and no one else seemed to be around. Then lo and behold I saw PJ run backwards and forwards over the rocky ground he seemed cheerful and in good spirits he had a couple of assistants in tow.
By this stage I was freezing and afraid that my chattering teeth would give me away. I transported The Hutt Hobbit Home and put him to bed on my sofa and made myself another cup of coffee, before climbing into my warm bed and dreaming of spying adventures to come.
THE END
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