From: Firebrand
I was at the Licensing Show in New York (in June) only one thing was interesting : the New Line booth, with the Lord of the Rings ! I had the chance to peak at series 1 and 2 figurines, as well as some new figurines I hadn’t seen on the Internet.
There were also two large “full scale” costums, probably used in the movie : one was an orc warrior, the other one, a magnificient Black Rider. I noticed there were some sharp, short spikes on his gloves.
Among the figurines, there was a landscape diorama of Orthanc (quite alike to Alan Lee and Tolkien’s drawings), and guess what I spotted below the Tower…a tiny spiky wheel, the one that Saruman was impaled upon. It’s now clear that Saruman is being pushed of the tower by Grima in the third movie (the “plot twist” aluded to by Ian McKellen).
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This interview with Ewart Oakeshott, one of the greatest experts on swordfighting through the ages is a sobering reminder of how ignorant we are nowadays concerning these lost arts. After reading this you can’t help thinking that all those wonderful movies where we’ve been stirred by the clash of sword on sword are just wrong, wrong, wrong! Ow, it hurts to give up a favourite fantasy. But still, thanks to the folks at the Historical Armed Combat Assn. and Gurnsy for the link. [More]
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The Alternative Tolkien society updated their website in June. Check out their themed tours of their ever-expanding version of Middle-earth. They also have new Tolkien sweatshirt to buy if you join up!
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A well-known biographer, Michael White, has been approached to write a new biography of Tolkien due out this November [More]
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Recently we were contacted by a Michael White, a writer who’s preparing a new biography of Tolkien. In his words, “I’m just writing to let you know that I’ve been approached to write a biography of Tolkien for global publication in late November this year. I’m working flat out on the book for delivery in mid-Sept. The book will be published by Alpha in the US and my regular publishers in a collection of territories around the world.
“I know some of you will be aware of the very good biography by Humphrey Carpenter, but I hope mine will be a little lighter and right up to date. I am of course a huge fan of Tolkien and have been for a quarter of a century and I intend my book to be a respectful and entertaining tale. Watch this space!”
His name might ring a bell for some of you. He is the author of twenty books: These include the international best-seller, Stephen Hawking – A Life In Science which has been translated into 15 languages; Einstein – A Life in Science and Darwin — A Life In Science (with John Gribbin). Early solo efforts included a collection of biographies for teenagers – Newton, Galileo, Lennon and Mozart and a biography of Isaac Asimov – Asimov – The Unauthorised Life (1994). Since then he has written the internationally best-selling: The Science of the X-Files (1996), an alternative biography of Isaac Newton, Isaac Newton: The Last Sorcerer which concentrates upon Newton’s obsession
with magic and alchemy. This was nominated by four British newspapers as ‘biography of the year’ in 1997 and was awarded ‘Book of the Year’ in the science category by Bookman Associates in the U.S, an honour he shared with Astronomer Royal, Martin Rees. He followed this with Life Out There – a detailed look at the question of extraterrestrial life and Super Science, a continuation of the theme begun with The Science of the X-Files.
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Ian wrote to say “In case you don’t already know, the UK’s august edition of “Starlog” is now out in shops with a piece on LotR [pp30-34,] including a new (to me) orc pic and a lot of chat with Barry Osborne [LOTR producer.] Thanks Ian!
Anyone out there with a scanner, you know what to do!
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