Lion2b writes: Bernard Hill’s film The Heart of the Earth will be released officially on March 11, 2007. One of the venues will include a showing at the the Miami Film Festival. Further information regarding the film and interviews with Bernard Hill can be found at the official website.

REDWOOD CITY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Electronic Arts (NASDAQ:ERTS – News) announced today that the complete collection of Middle-earth PC Real-Time Strategy (RTS) games will be available with The Lord of the Rings(TM), The Battle for Middle-earth(TM) Anthology(1). For the first time The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth Anthology offers fans the chance to bring together all the epic The Lord of the Rings(TM) battles with The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth(TM), The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II(TM) Collector’s Edition and The Lord of the Rings, The Battle for Middle-earth II, The Rise of the Witch-King(TM) within a single compilation, and all for an MSRP of $39.99. [More]

Lucy writes: Whilst browsing the Bonhams auctioneers online catalogues I noticed an old document for sale marked “Tolkien and Birmingham – Sarehole Mill” looks to be an old indenture for Tolkien’s Mill. It is lot 625 in an auction on 27 March 2007 at Bonhams’ New Bond Street salerooms in London of “The Library of the late Paul Betts and other properties including manuscripts”.

From the website: Sarehole Mill occupies a central place in the story of J.R.R. Tolkien, as John Ezard, then writing for the Oxford Mail, discovered: “Seven years before his death Tolkien told me about Sarehole, his imaginative heartland, a small village near Birmingham which was the starting-point for his fictional Shire in both The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. [bonhams.com]

Lorien “Ramen” Carney, Community Relations Specialist for The Lord of the Rings Online writes: We’ve just added a new article to our Game Systems section that covers everything a budding artisan needs to know to jump into LOTRO’s Crafting System. Ever since we published Lead System Designer Nik Davidson’s Developer Diary on the origins of LOTRO’s Crafting System, the crafters of the community have eagerly awaited more details. In our second Developer Diary we introduced the concept of Professions and Vocations, and covered a little more ground. It’s time to bring our crafters the next installment! Here’s a basic overview of the system, including details on how to get started in your crafting career. [More]

The release of ‘Jess Franco’s Count Dracula’ on DVD marks one of roughly 51 films based on Bram Stoker’s iconic character (and one of nine turns for Christopher Lee to play the part). Franco, director of such camp horror classics like ‘Venus in Furs’ and ‘The Diabolical Dr. Z’ brings his vision of Stoker’s novel to life not without a few flaws, but the overall effort can bring a smile to any classic horror fan. [More]

The girls from M.A.R.S. Productions write: We are pleased to announce the following U.S. appearance by Lord of the Rings Calligrapher, Daniel Reeve (danielreeve.co.nz) will be the keynote speaker at Thinking Creatively 2007, the annual conference of the Art Director’s Club of New Jersey. The conference reinforces the relevance of what creative people do best – imagining possibilities and creating them!

An exhibition of the Art of Daniel Reeve will be on display in the main atrium for the duration of the conference.

Thinking Creatively is on 30 – 31 March, 2007 at Kean University in Union, NJ. Don’t miss this opportunity to experience Daniel’s amazing artwork! [Thinking Creatively 2007] [danielreeve.co.nz] [marsproductions.net]