Ringer Tamara writes:

This is an invitation from co-leaders Tamara and
Mariella of the TORn Boston Line Party. Since the
Oscar Party, we have been making plans to organize a
Ringers Moot over Labor Day weekend, including a group
visit to the Boston Museum of Science to view the LOTR
exhibition and would like to invite our RingerSibs to
join us. Tickets for the exhibition are on sale now
(617-723-2500 or http://www.mos.org/lotr/). We are
suggesting Ringers purchase their timed tickets for
Saturday, September 4th at 2PM- or as close to that
time slot, as possible.

As we become more organized, additional information
will be available on Mariella?s website,
Expectopatronvm.com (The page focusing on the Ringers
event at the MOS is located at
http://www.expectopatronvm.com/mos.html) and forum.

We have already included some preliminary information
on the website, but the major planning has only just
begun. Now, we really want to start brainstorming and
form our volunteer team. We plan to offer a whole
weekend of possibilities from September 3-6, so don’t
panic if the 2 PM time slot is sold out!

A small number of potential side-trips are posted on
the website, but we welcome more suggestions about any
different events Ringers are interested in. Also, the
earlier we know how many people are coming, the sooner
we can contact hotels about getting a discounted group
rate- the same with tickets or tours. Many Boston
Ringers have offered to use their influence via family
or work to get discounted passes to local museums,
theatres or concerts, so we can pass those savings on
to you. Please visit the website and join in the
discussion at the forum and we’ll go about giving you
a great trip to Boston!

Many of you have been asking for more information about the ROTK Extended Edition DVD. Ringer Tolkienesque sent us a link to an interview with Mike Mulvihill of New Line with a bit more explication about the process behind making the various DVDs: [More]
However, a better source of information is still our interview from April 29 with New Line’s Matt Lasorsa: [More]

Ringer Frodo-esque wrote a review of Atlanta’s TORnsib Moot – including a few familar names! [More]

Greetings,

I thought I’d send in a report from the Atlanta TORn Moot this past weekend. It was a pleasure being one of the planners of this wonderful weekend and it was certainly a weekend of special magnificence! Pictures of the event should start filtering in soon, but in the meantime here’s an account of the whirlwind exciting weekend! The excitement (for me) began on Friday evening, the day of my Howard Shore concert tickets (he was conducting three shows that weekend). Haunting, moving, wonderfully emotional, and exhilirating. I could not believe it was Howard Shore standing there right in front of me (I had fantastic 3rd row tickets from the stage), and what a treat to see him conduct! It’s obvious the man loves his music, his entire BODY is into the conduction, he’s got this wonderful smile on his face, and oh, the soloist. She was incredible. He received not one, not two, but three standing ovations at the end–absolutely deserved.

A definite highlight of that weekend was the opportunity to meet Alan Lee in person at the art exhibition center where some of his original work was being displayed. A fantastic TORnSib Fiver (who was a member of the press at the adjoining ‘Mythic Journeys’ Conference where Lee was a speaker) was able to personally ask Lee if he wouldn’t mind making a visit to the art center in order to meet members of The One Ring.net who were in town for a Moot. Alan Lee unbelievably agreed, and drove down with Fiver on his own time just to personally meet members of TORn!! We were humbled at his kindness.

Alan Lee is one of the nicest, most cordial, kind-hearted individuals I’ve ever met. It was such a joy to see how humbled he was when we professed our admiration and love for him and his work. He was so personable, stopping to speak to each of us, looking us in the eye, and signing anything given to him. It was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity for all of us, and we were ones humbled to have had him there with us. After that we all gathered outside under the bright, warm Atlanta sun and took a TORnSib group photo–with Alan Lee smack in the middle. 🙂

Fiver also had another surprise for us, We were also in for a surprise, Fiver also brought with her Dr. Verlyn Flieger, a world-renowned Tolkien expert who was also here for the conference! It was an unbelievable treat.

A total of 42 TORnSibs attended the Dinner Moot later that evening at a local restaurant in Midtown Atlanta. We began the evening by introducing ourselves (what our TORn nicks were, where we were from, and how long we’ve been posting on TORn), and playing a couple of ice breaker games that got everyone off their seats and chattering< away--luckily my partner-in-crime Sib ltlberr was able to round the troops with her commanding voice whenever we needed to organize everyone back again.

Thanks to TORnSib Kally, we were incredibly lucky to have as a guest speaker for our Dinner moot, Ms Karen Wynn Fonstad, author of “Atlas of Middle-Earth”. Ms Fonstad was an incredible speaker, who enthusiastically shared with us the journey she took in planning and writing her legendary book.

As dinner arrived, we broke off into groups and with yours truly playing the role of “Alex Tribeck”, we played a rousing game of Tolkien trivia. I did my best to stump the Sibs, but failed (these folks are brilliant!) The evening ended as many sibs had to leave right before 8pm to attend the last Shore symphony, but not before enjoying dinner, eating a gorgeous Elf leaf shaped cake (thanks to Shuya’s baker friend!), and grabbing some goody bags. 🙂

On Sunday morning, about 25 (very tired) TORnSibs crammed into my apartment to enjoy a bit of breakfast along with a group viewing of ROTK. It was incredible sharing the magic of ROTK alongside other die-hard fans. 🙂 It was a tearful goodbye at the end, everyone having to head home, for Monday (today) was an inevitable workday.

Oh and one more thing! We had ATL TORn Moot t-shirts made, and guess who became honorary recipient of them? HOWARD SHORE and ALAN LEE!! Some sibs caught up with Shore after his 8pm symphony, and he was so pleased to hear that there was a TORn Moot underway at the same time, that he requested to have a picture taken with any members of TORn who were in the area!

On a personal note wanted to send a deep thanks to fellow ATL sibs Ringers reprise, Shuya, and EowynWannabee for helping make this Moot a total success.

Sincerely,

Frodo-esque

Dixie writes: There was a quick Tolkien reference at the French Open (tennis competition) Sunday, during the men’s finals between Gaston Gaudio and Guillermo Coria. In the fifth and deciding set of what was undoutedly the strangest Grand Slam final I’ve ever seen, the commentators declared that the match had seen so much drama and reversals that it had become a triolgy; and they wondered if even Tolkien could have imagined such a fantastic series of events.

Nikki writes: ROTK has been nominated for several Teen Choice Awards. They are:

Best Movie, Drama
Best Actor in a Drama – Elijah Wood for ROTK
Best Actress in a Drama – Liv Tyler
Male Hottie – Orlando Bloom

The show airs August 11, 2004, 8pm/7c on FOX. You can vote here (but you can only vote once): [More]