Wellington film-making couple Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh have donated $500,000 (US$311,000) to the University of California’s research programme on human embryonic stem cells. “We have lost close friends and relatives to cancer and Parkinson’s disease, and the level of personal suffering inflicted on patients and their families by these diseases is horrific,” Jackson said today. “Stem cell therapy has the potential to treat a multitude of diseases and illnesses, which up until now have been labelled ‘incurable’.” [More]
Month: July 2006
attridge writes: I just went to the 100th performance of Howard Shore’s The Lord of the Rings Symphony. It was a feast for the ears, eyes & heart! The soloists were wonderful. The young lady (16 years old) has been the featured soloist at 4 other cities already before San Francisco. The boy soprano soloist was a very talented local SF boy from the Boys Chorus of SF. The addition of the SF Girls Chorus was really exciting, as well. [More]
attridge writes: I just went to the 100th performance of Howard Shore’s The Lord of the Rings Symphony. It was a feast for the ears, eyes & heart! The soloists were wonderful. The young lady (16 years old) has been the featured soloist at 4 other cities already before San Francisco. The boy soprano soloist was a very talented local SF boy from the Boys Chorus of SF. The addition of the SF Girls Chorus was really exciting, as well.
Listening to the music was a joy! At any time of the music you could close your eyes and be brought into Middle Earth. But you didn’t want to close your eyes for a minute! On a humongous screen above the orchestra there was artwork from Alan Lee and John Howe throughout the show.
Many of the audience were obviously new to the Symphony, drawn in by the lure of the ring, oops, Howard Shore’s music. We were swept away by the richness of the music following the story of the ring via the artwork. The first half of the performance was dedicated to The Fellowship of the Ring. Pieces included: I. The Prophecy – concerning Hobbits – The Shadow of the Past – A Short Cut to Mushrooms – The Old Forest – A Knife in the Dark; II. Many Meetings – The Ring Goes South – A Journey in the Dark – The Bridge of Khazad-dum – Lothlorien – Gandalf’s Lament – Farewell to Lorien – The Great River – The Breaking of the Fellowship.
The second half included: Two Towers III. Foundations of Stone – The Taming of Smeagol – The Riders of Rohan – The Black Gate is Closed – Evenstar – The White Rider – Treebeard – The Forbidden Pool; IV. The End of All Things – The Return of the King – The Grey Havens – Into the West.
I would recommend this symphony show to all LOTR enthusiasts! If it weren’t sold out, I’d see it again tomorrow night!!!!
Both the Louise M. Davies Hall and the Koka Booth Amphitheater will swell with the music from Lord of the Rings this weekend. Tonight and tomorrow (14th & 15th of July) the San Francisco Symphony will be performing the LOTR score in San Francisco, CA. While the North Carolina Symphony will be doing the same performance tomorrow in Cary, NC. Follow this link for more dates and cities! [More]
Sideshow Collectibles has just posted the Morgul Lord Legendary Scale bust for pre-sale on their website. The 1/2 scale bust stands approximately 22-inches tall and is cast in polystone and fiberglass, hand finished and painted. If you are a Morgul Lord fan, you may want to check this one out!
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From Garfeimao & the folks at WETA: Weta will be out in force (at San Diego Comic Con) showcasing it’s dynamic Superman Returns collectibles and unveiling the first of our new Hellgate: London statues, based on Flagship Studios’ hotly anticipated new video game. Comic Con will also be your very first chance to view the amazing new Weta Originals. The Weta Originals are like nothing you’ve seen before. Not to be missed! At the stand will be Weta Originals creator and Weta Workshop designer, Greg Broadmore. Greg designed armour, weaponry and creatures for King Kong and The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. He will be at Comic Con every day, as will our impressive Kong and Narnia collectibles, so come and meet him and be the first in the world to see his incredible new pieces of art. [More]