Ringer Simon writes: Not sure if anyone else has already told you guys about these, but there are a couple of competitions to win tickets to the World Premiere of RotK in New Zealand open to Australians. Firstly, the Greater Union website is offering a double pass to the premiere plus flights and accommodation, but you need to become a member of the website. This is free, but you also need to buy a Greater Union movie ticket between November 6 and November 20 before you can enter.
The other, and more interesting one is being run by KFC and has TV ads to go with it. The ad that I’ve seen includes some footage from RotK which I don’t think has been seen before – at least, it’s definitely not in the sneak-peak included on the theatrical DVD of The Two Towers, and it’s not in the Official RotK Trailer either.
There are close-up shots of Gandalf, Pippin and Gollum, and better, there’s a snippet of dialogue between Frodo and Sam – though I keep missing the first part of the ad and thus I can’t quite recall exactly what the dialogue said. Something vague about running out of time or finishing a journey or something – though as I said, I’m not too sure.
All I know is that I’ve never heard that dialogue before, so it makes for a pretty exciting ad.
The rest of the ad is about the competition, which I didn’t catch all the details on – something about being among “the first in the world” to see the final film in the trilogy on December 1. The ad then has a guy watching RotK in a theatre, while eating KFC’s popcorn chicken, doing a really bad Gollum impersonation that equates the last piece of popcorn chicken left to the One Ring (sacrilegious, I know!!). Then he throws it up into the air and the ad ends with him saying ‘My Precious’ about the popcorn chicken – at which point they put up a web address for the competition website on the screen.
I went to the site and it’s a really cheap promotional site for the comp which has some nice visuals but – wait for it – actually spells Aragorn as Aragon in the interactive poll! I was shocked and appalled!
The site has some downloads I haven’t tried out (some RotK desktop backgrounds and screensavers, and the RotK PC game demo) and gives more details on the competition. Suffice it to say, the best part about either promotion was the new RotK footage they used in the KFC TV ad!
Posted in:
Share:
Ringer Spy Jim pointed out this small bunch of Two Towers EE screencaps – there’s some very intriguing shots in here, and a couple that are sure to please the purists! [More] !!!Spoilers!!!
Ringer Mattforce spotted the following post over on the IGN boards following the posting of these screencaps. [More] !!!Spoilers!!!
Posted in:
Share:
November 29 and 30 will see a huge festival setting up at Waitangi Park in Wellington. A hundred knights and barbarians will beat each other up for your entertainment, there’ll be stalls, games … food galore. If you’ll be in Wellington, it’s sure to be worth checking out. [More]
Posted in:
Share:
Royal Selangor Sculptor Greame Anthony in Montreal
Xoanon here, today Kathy and I had the pleasure of meeting Royal Selangor sculptor Graeme Anthony when his world tour passed through Montreal. He was there to ‘sign’ his LOTR themed glasses, vessels, mugs and other items from Royal Selangor’s collection. [More]
Posted in:
Share:
Click for more images
Xoanon here, today Kathy and I had the pleasure of meeting Royal Selangor sculptor Graeme Anthony when his world tour passed through Montreal. He was there to ‘sign’ his LOTR themed glasses, vessels, mugs and other items from Royal Selangor’s collection.
The event took place at the Rob McIntosh china and crystal outlet store in the suburbs of Montreal. This store is the only one in Quebec of its kind, it features all manner of crystal ware and accessories.
We arrived early enough to see Graeme and Barry (Royal Selangor Sales Rep) getting setup for the signing. A large number of pre-sold items were waiting for Graeme to add his special touch. He would personally sign each item in the pewter with a special engraving device, he would also add the date and his name. Graeme was more than happy to see us arrive and prepare our cameras (we also shot a future segment of TORN DIGITAL dedicated to the signing). Once the doors opened a few curious on-lookers arrived and were asking questions about his work. Graeme spent time with each individual person and went into details about the items they were about to purchase. A special touch was added to each piece that was bought on site, Graeme would include the customer’s name in old-English runes, carefully writing them down on paper for the customer to approve.
Graeme sat with us for a while and went into detail about his tour through Canada. This was his first time here and he said he enjoyed it very much. His full acclimation in Canadian society was two days before when he attended his first hockey game. He said he loved it. He showed us a work-in-progress piece, which is the tower of Barad-dur complete with small stairs and intricately detailed doorways and passages. He told us that he asks for his fans to add their input into the piece in each town that he’s visited in Canada. He plans on making this tower of Barad-dur into a centerpiece for a table or living room stand. When completed it would hold a glass vial at the top where wick oil could be held. A wick would then burn and the flame would make the eye of Sauron!
He also showed us another piece; Sauron’s gloved hand with the one ring. This piece was unique as it was reversible. On one side it could be a champagne flute while the other is a wine glass. You could even lay it out horizontally and use it as an art piece.
He explained the process involved in making each piece. Using his limited edition ‘Smaug & Bilbo’ statue as an example, he explained how each item is hand carved by him first using plasticine then a metal version is made. For Smaug’s wings it took 4 weeks to get the bat-like leathery look on them. He would then send it off to the Royal Selangor headquarters in Malaysia for approval.
By this time many fans had lined up and more were curious about the hubbub around the front entrance. Many fans and fan-loved-ones were buying Christmas gifts and having them signed. Graeme was always sure to find out exactly what the fans wanted on their item, since you can’t exactly erase a mistake in pewter!
We’ll have a full episode of TORN Digital available soon. Be sure to take a look at all the images.
Special thanks goes out to the folks at Rob McIntosh who were kind enough to allow us access to film inside the store, to Barry from Royal Selangor and Kathy for taking those great images. Lastly of course Graeme himself for being so accommodating and disarming. Thanks!
Posted in:
Share:
Paul Lieberman writes: Elijah Wood, who is given the job of saving the world (or Middle-earth at least) in the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, began his career modeling little boys’ clothing in a mall. He was just 7 when his mother moved him from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to Los Angeles in 1988, and his screen debut came almost immediately, with a small part in the second episode of “Back to the Future.” Enough decent roles kept coming his way that he did not have time to do a single stage play or complete high school. He figured he could learn more “from life,” anyway, and by working with the likes of Peter Jackson, the rumpled New Zealand director who had never grossed more than $3.1 million with a film in America before he began negotiating a deal to make three, for $300 million, based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s cult classic novels — arguably the greatest gamble in filmmaking history. !!Spoilers!! [More]
Posted in:
Share:
