Neyuki writes: Sunday at seven was the start of the Orpheus ball. The parade didn’t end up getting there until about 8:30 or 9:00, though. When Elijah’s float came in, it was pretty obvious he was having a blast. He was grinning and throwing stuff. When the parade was about halfway over, he came walking down the parade isle and was giving people hugs before going up into the VIP stage area. When the parade was done, I saw a couple friends who said he had been talking to Dominic Monaghan and asking where he was.

When Dominic got there, my friends and I were the first ones he saw, and he gave us one of his smiles that I think anyone would die for. We all snuck up into the VIP area, which wasn’t very hard, and got hugs and pictures. I also got an autograph from Dominic. Elijah was very busy, so we didn’t get to see much of him, but Dominic was being really sweet and talking to everyone. Elijah’s sister Hannah was there too, and she was lovely. While up there, I got the promise of a dance from Dominic. We got found out and kicked off by the security guard, but after a while Dominic came down. We stopped him and and asked him to bring up our medallions for Elijah to sign, and got more pictures. He went up with them. We waited for a while and he finally came back, but said they were still on the table, then went to bug Elijah to sign them for us. A minute later he was back, up on the VIP stage, and dangling the medallions over my head. He also promised then that I could have my slow dance the next day at Orpheus. When they were leaving I got a hug from Elijah and said bye to Dominic.

The next day was the Orpheus ball. My little sister came with me to that, and we were in the first level of VIP, but there were two. Once the parade came by, I yelled at him, and he saw me. He recognized me and grinned, then threw some beads at me, which the person next to me caught. I introduced him to my sister when he came up. Later, when Better Than Ezra was playing, he went up and sang while they played for one song. It was wonderful and I got some pictures of it, cause I knew a short bit beforehand about it. My dad’s cousin runs the ball, so when he got back from stage, now in street clothes, we got wristbands and got to go up to the second VIP level. I got my dance from him. We had to leave pretty soon after that, but he gave us both hugs and kisses. I must say that Dominic Monaghan has to be one of the sweetest people I have ever in my life met.

I’ll try to get you the pictures in a bit. I’m going to pick them up in about twenty minutes from being developed, then I’ll see about scanning some, and try to take some digital pictures of the medallions with autographs. Oh, and from what I saw, Sean Astin was not in fact in Bacchus, and if he was, I somehow completely missed him for the entirety of the ball, which I doubt.

Mercedes writes: I was watching CNN’s Paula Zahn show and they briefly mentioned that on Wednesday 2/25 they will have an interview with Tolkien’s grandson about the films. They didn’t mention his first name, but I’m assuming it would be Simon Tolkien. [cnn.com]

Lord of the Rings beauty Liv Tyler says she didn’t believe in marriage until she met her husband – British rocker Royston Langdon. With Aerosmith frontman Steve Tyler as her dad and former Playboy model Bebe Buell (who counts Mick Jagger and Rod Stewart amongst her exes) her mum, Liv’s genes practically make her rock royalty. [More]

Lord of The Rings actor Sir Ian McKellen has said he is surprised to be still wowing filmgoers after more than three years on screen in the fantasy epic. Sir Ian plays the good wizard Gandalf in The Return of the King, the final part of director Peter Jackson’s trilogy, which is tipped to sweep the board at the Oscars on 29 February. [More]

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) — “Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,” has become the second movie ever to break the $1 billion box-office mark worldwide, distributor New Line Cinema reported Monday. [More]

Xoanon here, I had the immense pleasure of seeing Howard Shore rehearse with 103 musicians and a chorus of 100 singers yesterday at Place des Arts in Montreal. KayJay and I were 2 of about 10 people in a theatre made to fit at least 600. We were treated to the entire show plus a lesson or two from Howard as he instructed the chorus and the orchestra on exactly how he likes his music played. It was a once in a lifetime experience! More about that later however as I have this from Didi: I just thought you might want to post the program schedule for the “The Lord of the Rings Symphony: Six Movements for Orchestra and Choirs” for those who were lucky enough to get tickets. [More]