He emerged from the coma and after two months in the hospital, he was permitted to go home to his Manhattan residence. Even then he took many months to recover, unable initially to walk for more than two or three minutes at a time, and slowly taking up work again. But Mr. Shaye says he thinks more clearly now than he did before his illness. “It’s difficult to explain, but I have a clarity of thought and, I believe, of reason, which was one of the gifts” of his illness, he said. And, he added, “I certainly appreciate the normal functioning of life a lot more.” One thing that has not been blunted by illness is Mr. Shaye’s temper, which flared last year when he was asked about a lawsuit filed by Mr. Jackson over profits from “The Lord of the Rings.” [More]

A ton of interesting new films are out on DVD this week. Take an early look on our ‘DVD Tuesday’ feature…every Monday! Some very cool TV on DVD like ‘Family Ties – S1’, ‘Penn & Teller – S4’ & ‘Voyage to the Bottom of Sea – S2’. The big releases of the week are ‘The Prestige’, ‘Flushed Away’ & ‘Babel’. Personally I’m interested in ‘Shut Up & Sing’ & ‘Babel’! Check out the whole list here! [More]

Early word is that the game is actually a potential contender against the juggernaut known as the World of Warcraft. Turbine has incorporated the best elements from their semi-love-or-totally-hate Dungeons and Dragons Online game, while making LOTRO more accessible.Turbine will begin stress testing the game on Feb. 23, which is the best opportunity to try out the game for those remotely curious. A few of the people we spoke with said that the reason the game works is because the Tolkien lore is solid and robust and it is WoW-esk enough to be accessible to the masses, but different enough to be an alternative. [More]

Factory Magazine Talks McKellen The folks at Factory Magazine have sent along two articles for you to take a look at. The second is this great interview with Sir Ian McKellen. [More]

Factory Magazine Talks Csokas The folks at Factory Magazine have sent along two articles for you to take a look at. The first is a small article on Marton Csokas. Take a look! [More]