The computers that brought Gollum, the Balrog and Middle Earth to life are now available to work for hire. The computers used to create special effects for the Lord of the Rings films are becoming an on-demand processing centre. The cluster of 1,008 computers in New Zealand can now be hired on a per hour, per processor basis. [More]
Month: March 2005
From McKellen.com: For my next job I shall realise a long-held ambition – to appear in “Coronation Street”. On 29 March I go to the Granada Studios in Manchester and team up with the regulars for 10 episodes as Mel Hutchwright, a dodgy novelist invited to meet the local reading group. More I shouldn’t reveal, except that the script is hilarious and well up to the Street’s current high standards as UK’s most popular television programme. [More]
Tehanu has another set report from New Zealand! ‘It’s unusual to find a crowd of people at the studio who aren’t doing anything, but today I find such a crowd. They are standing and admiring. The reason for this is that Richard Taylor and his team from Weta are visiting, and there is a kind of show-and-tell in progress in one of the studio sheds. The Weta people – already famous for their work on The Lord of the Rings, and currently busy on King Kong – are also making some of the weapons for The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Today we see some actors try Weta’s weapons, as well as the rigs and costumes for some of the C. S. Lewis’s most magical characters…’ [More]
Adele writes: Billy Boyd and his girlfriend will be on Grampian and Scottish TV on March 17th with a new short film called “Instant Credit.” It’s part of a series called “New Found Land” featuring short films. Here is the synopsis from scottishtv.co.uk: Downtrodden Frankie (Billy Boyd) is given an opportunity that is too good to refuse when a chance encounter gives him 24 hours to get his life back on track and revive his romance. Brilliant comedy from the director of cult television comedy Still Game. [More]
Turgon writes: I’ve just been notified that there is a new review by Tom Shippey of THE SCIENCE OF MIDDLE-EARTH by Henry Gee, aka Olog-Hai, some of whose columns appear regularly in Green Books. Shippey’s review appears in the March 2005 issue of THE NEW YORK REVIEW OF SCIENCE FICTION. It’s a long review, covering Henry Gee’s book favorably and another book, THE REAL MIDDLE-EARTH by Brian Bates, less favorably, and unfortunately it isn’t online, but one small quote shows the tenor of the review: “THE SCIENCE OF MIDDLE-EARTH is the most unexpectedly Tolkienian book about Tolkien that I have ever come across.”
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Rory L. Aronsky from filmthreat.com has given Ringers: Lord of the Fans 3 1/2 stars! Take a look the review: Taking a little off the top from Terry Gilliam in its visual style during the opening minutes, gamely re-enacting the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s in various clips and packing a lot of fandom in 96 minutes, “Ringers: Lord of the Fans” is an epic in its own right, wherein it not only merely observes the fans of the Lord of the Rings books and movies, but also takes to getting involved with them, hearing their thoughts first-hand. This isn’t only about the people who’ve experienced these books and films, such as author Terry Pratchett and David “Bill” Carradine, but also the dedicated scores of people around the world, bigger than Mordor, who have made “Lord of the Rings” a close part of their life. [More] [Ringers Official Site]