Emmanuel writes: FACTS 2005 will take place this weekend. FACTS is the biggest fantasy, science fiction & anime con in the Benelux (our previous edition attracted some 6000 visitors). It will take place in the ICC (Internationaal Congress Centrum), Citadelpark, Ghent, Belgium on October 15th and 16th 2005 from 10 AM till 5 PM. Moreover, the Belgian LOTR fanclub, Elanor, will be present as well. [More]

A comedy-horror film about genetically engineered sheep running amok, to be shot in Wellington next year, will be the first project financed under a new alliance between a Korean company and a New Zealand film house. WETA is doing the design work for the film. [More]

TheOneRing.net — in conjunction with Houghton Mifflin — is delighted to announce that Alan Lee, the acclaimed LOTR illustrator and Academy Award-winning conceptual designer for the film trilogy, will join us in the Hall of Fire (on the TORn IRC server) on Saturday November 5 at 6pm EST for a live question and answer session.

That means you should mark your diaries or even submit a question now! Alan will be answering questions on his work illustrating Lord of the Rings, his involvement with Peter Jackson and WETA as a conceptual designer for the Lord of the Rings film Trilogy and his new book The Lord of the Rings sketchbook. [More]

TheOneRing.net — in conjunction with Houghton Mifflin — is delighted to announce that Alan Lee, the acclaimed LOTR illustrator and Academy Award-winning conceptual designer for the film trilogy, will join us in the Hall of Fire (on the TORn IRC server) on Saturday November 5 at 6pm EST for a live question and answer session.

That means you should mark your diaries or even submit a question now! Alan will be answering questions on his work illustrating Lord of the Rings, his involvement with Peter Jackson and WETA as a conceptual designer for the Lord of the Rings film Trilogy and his new book The Lord of the Rings sketchbook. [More]

(AP) — Scientists say they have found more bones in an Indonesian cave that offer additional evidence of a second human species — short and hobbit-like — that roamed the Earth the same time as modern man. But the vocal scientific minority that has challenged that conclusion since the discovery of Homo floresiensis was announced last year remains unconvinced. [More]

You can all stop emailing me about this now, thanks.