Ashlee & Rachel Scott write: GenCon has come to a close once again, but what a wonderful weekend it was! I don’t think anyone attending had time to sleep! The biggest problem with GenCon is there just aren’t enough hours in the day to do all they have in store for you there! Gaming, RPG, LARP, TCG, tournaments, art shows, celebrity guests, comics, Star Wars, LOTR, musical guests, 24 hours of films from “Aliens” to “Princess Bride” plus an amazing Film Festival where fans showcase their own work in several categories from short films to full length features! Not to mention vendors galore and tons of free goodies!!
Four days, twenty-four hours a day of fun, gaming and films and we still didn’t have time for everything! Talk about exhaustion!! Everyone present had an amazing weekend. The new games that were previewed were incredible and we can’t wait for their release. Darth Vader and his gang were there to take pictures with fans, as well as other well known action heroes. Richard Hatch and Kevin Sorbo were among the guests attending this weekend.
Our “Dork of the Rings” friends had wonderful world premiere on Friday evening to a packed theater. The cast and crew were on hand throughout the weekend to answer questions for Dorker fans. And, at the DOTR booth, fans were lining up to buy their DOTR dvd, just released this weekend at GenCon, but available online at www.dorkoftherings.com for anyone that wasn’t able to attend. We had two of our own fan film showing throughout the weekend also, “LOTR: Return of the King Sneak Preview parody” and our DOTR fan film (www.marsproductions.net). It’s always fun watching films with other fans! We met so many incredible people and were sorry to see the weekend end!
GenCon is just an awesome gathering of a variety of art forms and entertainment that there is something there for everyone! Those of you on the west coast can attend GenCon in Anaheim, California on November 16-19, 2006. If you can’t make it this year to GenCon, mark your calendar for next year – August 16-19, 2007 in Indiana! www.gencon.com Don’t miss out on all the excitement! I’ve sent along some pictures of GenCon for all to enjoy! Thanks!
Ashlee & Rachel Scott
M.A.R.S. Productions
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Liana writes: It was another wonderful weekend with LOTR fans at ELF II. We arrived the night before from London and enjoyed a night on the town in New York City. What a marvelous city! This was my first convention and my two friends and I were anxious for the next day to begin. [More]
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Liana writes: It was another wonderful weekend with LOTR fans at ELF II. We arrived the night before from London and enjoyed a night on the town in New York City. What a marvelous city! This was my first convention and my two friends and I were anxious for the next day to begin.
Friday began with a music video, which was very entertaining. Followed by one of my favorite people, Daniel Reeve, who gave an informational and interesting presentation sharing his work with us all. I tried my luck at the LOTR Trivia Contest and soon learned I was out of my element, but having a great time! Everyone was very friendly. Some skits based on the “Princess bride” movie were done and that was very clever. Time to meet my first LOTR celebrity at the photo op – John Noble. What a charming person he was! He was next on the schedule with his wonderful stories. And, later that evening we were treated to an evening of chat and laughter with John Noble, Daniel Reeve and the other LOTR fans present.
By the time the first day was finished, I had forgotten all about my fear of flying, because I was having so much fun! Loved the autograph sessions.
Saturday began with what has to be my favorite memory of the weekend, simply because of the crowd reaction and the brilliance of the clip itself – Middle Earth Idols. I feared we might be crabby after the previous late night, but once the first chords of this music video began we were all cheering and on our feet! The American girls, teen film makers Ashley and Rachael, that did this were one of the winners of the music video contest over the weekend, well deserved too. What a delight! Soon, I was whisked off to my photo op with Sean Astin. He was also as nice as could be! Daniel Reeve gave another wonderful presentation and unfortunately, the Elijah Wood telecast wasn’t working properly, but Sean Astin delighted us all with his humor and wit. More skits followed, hilarious like the day before. There was an auction, which I tried very hard to win something, but was outbid each time. Drat! Lynnette Porter gave a talk on Tolkien and his Hobbits, which was very interesting.
Saturday evening was full of fun once again with Emerald Rose playing throughout the night, as well as a costume and talent contest. What fun!
Sunday morning was the charity brunch with Billy Boyd. What a wonderful opportunity to be up close and personal with one of my favorite Hobbits, and for a good cause. He joined us at each table and chatted for a while. The Sunday programming began with another music video and Micheel Drout for a lecture on Tolkien’s world. The young filmmakers from the day before introduced a film clip called Dork of the Ring and then came out on stage for a Question and Answer session, which was very interesting. They did fantastic for being so young and facing an audience like that drilling them with questions! We were then shown three of their own fan films, a Dork of the Rings fan film, Return of the King spoof and treated to an encore performance of Middle Earth Idols as the crowd cheered! So much fun!! Coleen Doran followed this with her amazing work! I later bought one of her prints to take back to England with me. More trivia contest and skits followed! Time for our photo ops with Billy Boyd. What a treat! Following that, we were shown another music video and then Billy came on stage to entertain us and even auctioned off some more items for us. Billy was wonderful!! We had another chance at an auction, and another chance for me not to win! But, it was worth a try!
I didn’t know what to expect when I arrived for ELF, but I am so glad I came. It gave me a lifetime of memories and I can’t wait to travel on to California for ORC in 2007. Thanks to all the wonderful fans and guests from all over that shared their time and talent with us! Here are some pictures I took over the weekend.
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Pauline writes: This is from an interview with James Cameron in the September issue of Empire (UK): Added good news for film fans is that a process called dimensionalisation enables classics to be re-released in 3-D, starting with The Nightmare Before Christmas in December. “Peter Jackson is a 3-D freak like me and he’s been experimenting with footage from King Kong. He and I also talked about the feasibility of doing the three LOTR films” revealed Cameron.
It also mentions that this will NOT only be in Imax Cinemas.
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Gordon writes: Just a reminder Te Papa’s “Lord of The Rings exhibition” closes this week! Sunday 20th August!. It is well worth a visit! I went to have a look last week and it was excellent! Now including Return of The King, the exhibition is larger then the last time! with several new unseen items. This is your last chance to go and see this excellent exhibition! [More]
Xoanon here, I was lucky enough to attend the grand opening of the exhibit in April in Wellington, New Zealand. Take a look at my review here! [More]
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Ringer Spy Wyvern sends this along: The 64th World Science Fiction Convention (Worldcon) will be held 23-27 August 2006 (Wednesday through Sunday) at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California. For a complete listing of events check out. [More]
Lord of the Rings-related programming includes:
The Prancing Pony Players are scheduled to perform on Friday, 8/25 at 3:00 pm and Sunday, 8/27 at 11:00 am in the “SpacePort Lounge”. Who are P3? Visit bucklandblues.com to find out!
Also on display at the con in Hall A of the Anaheim Convention Center will be the puppets from the short fanfilm, Fellowship of the Bags. [More]
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