John writes in that Sala Baker (Sauron) will be attending the Chiller Theatre Convention in New Jersey. The Con runs from October 31st through November 2nd. [More]

Leesa writes: Dr Graeme Anthony, sculptor of the hand crafter Tolkein characters, will be at Royal Selangor, Chadstone on Saturday 30th August at 1:30pm. He will demonstrate how each piece has been designed, provide a forum about his work and sign any piece purchased on the day. [More]

Time Warrior writes: Our Sean Astin (Sam) gets more mention in this week’s People Magazine about him helping out during last week’s NY blackout. [More]

Holly writes: I was recieving on the back loading dock for my store. One of the soda venders arrived and the 7-up 12 packs were emblazoned with the following: “Lord of the Rings -The Two Towers, Own it on DVD&VHS. Look inside for LiquidLoot.com presented by ebay. Collect the points, get Lord of the Rings collectibles. The two liter bottles had the same with the addition of “Log on to www.liquidloot.com for Loyalty Auction details and complete Official Rules. Look behind label for details. On the label is also a sillouette of Gollum, Frodo and Sam.

Ringer Spy Ingrid sends along this scan of the latest issue of Empire Magazine which has this feature on ‘The Two Towers’ DVD. [More]

So I paid a visit to the local grocery store this morning, and what was in the check-out aisle? The Two Towers on DVD! Reports are coming in from all over the world that the TTT DVD is being released early. Some have even said the release date was pushed up from the 26th to the 22nd. Whether this is something that is officially happening, or just some over over-zealous retailers, Tolkien fans worldwide are the benefactors!

UPDATE: The East Anglian Daily Times has a report on *why* local stores broke the Aug. 26th embargo. Perhaps an explanation for the world-wide phenomena. [More]