For a few years, Emiliana Torrini wasn’t sure she’d ever make music again. Then the phone started ringing. Fisherman’s Woman — Iceland-born songstress Emiliana Torrini’s second album — begins on a positive enough note: “Home alone and happy/ Nothing brings me down,” Torrini coos on the opening track, her warm, dulcet voice draped gently over a comforting bed of folky guitar-picking, piano plinks, and the slightest breaths of percussion and electric guitar hovering in the background. [More]
Month: June 2005
djdeathskiss writes: A friend just found a dvd that I thought everyone might want to know about. It is called ‘Stories of Lost Souls’, and is a collection of six short films, including ‘Sniper 470’ starring Billy Boyd, ‘Bangers’, starring Cate Blanchett, and ‘Standing Room Only’ featuring Andy Serkis and Hugh Jackman. The films also feature Keira Knightley, Paul Bettany, James Gandolfini, and Michael Gambon. It was released this year through Sterling Video, and my friend found it in a bargain bin at WalMart for about $5!
TheOnering.net and Hall of Fire are hosting a live Q&A session with LoTR stunt and body-double Kiran Shah on Saturday June 18 from 5.30 EDT on the TORn IRC server. In Lord Of The Rings, Kiran doubled as – and did stunts for – all four of the main hobbits at one time or another. He worked most closely with Elijah Wood, doubling for Frodo.
If you want to get your question to the front of the queue, submit it to us early! [More]
Quentin wrote in to let us know that Jason Schleifer (a character rigger/animator for LoTR) was being interviewed at CGtalk. He definitely is giving some interesting technical answers to questions about his work. [More]
Spamalot and The Light in the Piazza were the big winners at Sunday’s 59th annual Tony Awards. Any early favorites for next year? The next big thing in theater, the musical version of “The Lord of the Rings,” is scheduled for its world premiere in 2006 in Toronto. Previews won’t begin until Feb. 2 and the show has yet to be cast but producer Kevin Wallace offered a preview Thursday night to tour operators and other invited guests at the Renaissance Center. Emphasizing “LOTR’s” human aspects before he mentioned its special effects, Wallace called the show “as powerful and emotional a story as you’ve ever experienced in the theater.” Some particulars: The show will run 3 1/2 hours, including two intermissions; the music is by Indian composer A.R. Rahman (“Bombay Dreams”) and Finnish folk group Varttina, and there will be Hobbits mingling with playgoers before the show. [More]
In lieu of coaxing Enya to do permanent in-house entertainment duties, Peter Jackson opted for the $99,975 LB-BGJ from Ragtime Automated Music, a cabinet containing a robotically controlled acoustic “band.” A touch-screen interface controls the whole works, sending MIDI signals to the mechanical elements that “play” the full drum kit, piano, accordion, guitar, banjo, electric bass, and 24 organ pipes. But oh, it’s not for him, it’s “for his wife.” Ahhh yes, robotic ragtime — the gift that keeps on giving. [More]