SARS Pic Caption Contest.
OK, lots of fun ideas came in to caption this bizarre image. Thanks to everyone who wrote in! I promised to pick the ones that made me laugh out loud, or at least snicker, so here they are.
“There were others of the Istari who traveled into the far east of Middle Earth, and do not come into this tale. Until now” – SB
“Masks prove ineffective in preventing the spread of Two Towers Three Quarter Angle Syndrome, a neurological disorder which was first observed to effect the cast of the movie and now seems to be spreading to moviegoers.” – Ruth
“Jeez, when they said Viggo Mortensen didn’t shower for months so he could get “into the role” of Aragorn, I didn’t know it would come to this…” Covert Rogue
“Gosh, Aragorn NEED to take a bath.” – RennWench
On similar lines, a few more:
“Not even a mask could help poor Misako ignore that Rangery not-so-fresh feeling when Aragorn was near.” – Merrylyn
“One does not simply walk into Beijing … The very air you breathe is deadly.” – Makilwen
“They should have never used scratch-and-sniff for the Gollum scenes!” – Jeff Sontag
“That Gollum…he even makes the movie poster smell!” – Rosa Burrows
“Has Aragorn bathed yet???!!!” – Chantelle
*Gasp* “Holy crap! Aragorn! For the love of Gondor, take a bath!!!” – Merrylyn
“Those Nazgul really should do something about their Black Breath!” – Gwaihir’s Feather
“TTT was the first movie to be shown in Smell-O-Vision. Unfortunately the Dead Marshes scene proved too much for this unfortunate movie-goer” – Kath
“I’ll be fine by December, and no, you can’t have my ticket!” – Carl
“I told my boss I was sick today. Again.” – Peggy
“Boromir’s paranoid replacement. Fear not going slowly, Only standing still.” Rosebud. [Actually I’m not sure if the last bit was meant for part of the caption, but it has a certain weird logic.]
“I ask you, how are we supposed to identify and guard ourselves against the SARSuman threat if he isn’t even pictured in the public service posters?” – Anne
“Dude! All I need now is some heavy eye-liner and I’ll be a servant of the Dark Lord!” – Kristina
“Here we see the first costume concept for the Easterlings” – Brian
“I don’t care if I work for ILM. I have to see Gollum again!” – Mechelle
“Tell me honestly… do I look like one of those guys from Mordor? Yes, I know that the mask is the wrong color!” – Emily
All these are from Robert:
“A bad combination: a germ-fearing geek.”
“THIS is representative of female fantasy lovers?”
“Huh? Me looking for Jackie Chan flick. Who Frodo?”
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A little bit delayed – okay, muchly delayed! – here is the Tolkien Society‘s report of the action at the 2003 Tolkien Weekend at Sarehole Mill on May 17 and 18. [More]
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A little bit delayed – okay, muchly delayed! – here is the Tolkien Society’s report of the action at the 2003 Tolkien Weekend at Sarehole Mill on May 17 and 18 …
2003’s Tolkien Weekend at Sarehole Mill was the wettest yet, but that didn’t deter anyone! The Tolkien Weekend is an event put together by a partnership of the Tolkien Society, Birmingham City Council, the Moseley Bog Conservation Group, The River Cole & Chinn Brook Conservation Group and The Wildlife Trust for Birmingham and the Black Country. The idea being to show people the hidden treasures in the landscape around them which had such an inspirational effect on J.R.R. Tolkien. Last year saw 5,000 people attend in glorious weather, this year despite heavy rains it seemed that just as many people turned up.
The event was opened by Simon Tolkien who had been introduced by Councillor Ian Ward (representing Birmingham City Council). Simon spoke for about 15 minutes on his grandfather’s life prior to Sarehole and the lasting effect it was to have on him. Official Opening done Simon and family were very pleased to be at the event and toured the various stalls and tents, chatting with people and signing copies of his new book (a legal thriller which is quite a page turner), and staying for several hours despite the rain.
Yes, as mentioned, it rained a lot, especially on Sunday. Previous Tolkien Weekends have bathed in glorious sunshine, not this year. Mind you while last year visitors and their children had boggled at the sight of a couple of hobbits with hairy feet, this year they marvelled at their hardihood, although by Sunday they were waterlogged and took to boots, as hobbits did in marshy conditions. On Saturday members of the Tolkien Society provided a Sam, Rosie, Merry & Pippin, Sam having come all the way from Germany while various members of the council staff joined the Shire Productions team as Nazgul or Orcs. On Sunday but there a replacement Sam turned up in the form of a teenage fan(girl) who was Sam complete with curly wig, rucksack and pan; just not as portly as Sean Astin’s portrayal!
Apart from the working Mill with its displays from the Tolkien Society and Hall Green Library there were three marquees of stalls selling locally made honey, books, organic crops and fine handicrafts. Plus information stalls from the various conservation groups including the Perrot’s Folly Group. The folly and nearby waterworks towers are Birmingham’s originals for “The Two Towers”, and there were trips on a historic bus from the Mill to Perrot’s Folly at regular intervals. Games Workshop were running display games for kids and parents (and unlike the books the orcs won on a few occasions).
Another ‘two towers’ were provided by the Wythall Radio Club, these ‘ham’ radio operators were transmitting with the callsign GB2ME (for Middle-earth), but last year’s feat of reaching mid-Russia couldn’t be bettered due to the atmospheric conditions. Birmingham’s own Vikings re-enactors demonstrated the fine art of swinging a dane-axe, or lopping off an axeman’s arm; showing how dark age weapons were really used. They also displayed the artistic side of the Norsemen showing how to make beautifully decorated leather pouches and scabbards. Arts & crafts were also on show under the oak trees by the River Cole, where woodcarvers and turners demonstrated how to turn fallen boughs into works of art rather than firewood.
In the poetry pavilion stories of Gawain and Beowulf were performed in bardic style (but without the mead!) and the crowds were treated to some of Tolkien’s songs from “The Road Goes Ever On”. Julie Boden, Birmingham’s poet laureate read a virulai about Tolkien which had been commissioned by the Hall Green Residents Association, and many of the poets present were reading from Tolkien’s own works or on related themes.
Static displays aside there were: tours of Tolkien’s childhood haunts; storywalks with scenes from Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit within Moseley Bog itself performed by Shire Productions; nature and archaeological walks around the Bog area and up the Cole valley. It may have rained hard and often over the weekend but the crowds still came to enjoy themselves, learn something new and watch the mill at work, I daresay that the miller was happy to see the millpool being topped up all day as it would mean he could run the mill for longer; part of the reason the mill closed was its water supply problems.
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Looks like the Official LoTR Site is shifting into DVD release promotion mode. This update has some behind the scenes stills from Sean Astin’s The Long and the Short of It. Thanks to everyone who wrote in to let us know! More]
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Remember the report a couple days ago about the New Line Licensing exhibit in New York? Some people doubted it, but Ringer Spy Sven tells us that Dark Horizons has got hold of a few images from the exhibit. Check them out. [More] Spoilers!!
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Ringer Spy Sven informed us that Dark Horizons had got hold of a few images from the recent Licensing Exhibition 2003 in New York.
First of all, this lends more credibility to a report we received a couple of days ago about this event. You can check that out here.
Not a lot can be drawn from the pictures themselves.
This one is probably just before the Great Gate is destroyed by the seige engine Grond. Not hard to conclude.
Who is Aragorn looking at and/or speaking to? And where are these tents anyway? There’s surely no need to camp near Edoras or at Helm’s Deep. Perhaps it’s up near Isengard? Or could it be at the Pelennor? One suspects it could be related to those rumours of Elrond turning up to deliver some words of wisdom and/or a certain object vital to Aragorn’s kingly future …
Finally, Gandalf looking pretty much on the edge of his wits. Waiting for Faramir, perhaps, and news of FRodo and the Ring? Seems to be daylight, as opposed to the nightime looking shot of the Gondorian soldiers. I guess that could be altered with digital colour correction.
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