Claire writes: A new translation of the ‘Mabinogion’ by Sioned Davies, Professor of Welsh at Cardiff University, has just been published. These Welsh tales appear in ‘The Tolkien Fan’s Medieval Reader’ by Turgon, though in an older translation. If you’d like to read a modern one, try this version. There’s a review, by the first national poet of Wales, Gwyneth Lewis, from the Guardian newspaper at books.guardian.co.uk.
You can buy a copy on line at all the usual outlets – one which specializes in Welsh books is Gwales at www.gwales.com. If you want the link to this book on the Gwales site, it’s here.
,img src=”http://img-www.theonering.net/images/frontOB.jpg” ALIGN=LEFT> After starring in two megasized Hollywood trilogies that have taken him from unknown to A-list (“Pirates of the Caribbean” and “Lord of the Rings”) Orlando Bloom is walking away from movies — temporarily. “It’s been an incredible ride,” said the 30-year-old, sprawled across a sofa at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. “And it’s been wonderful but I’m sort of psyched to do something completely different.” Hence, he’s returning to the theater — the London stage, to be exact, to appear in David Storey’s play, “In Celebration.” Sailing straight from London’s Guildhall School of Music and Drama into Hollywood’s spotlight was “huge” and “surreal,” Bloom said, an experience that moved him “to go back to the beginning, as if I’ve just come out of school again.” [More]
In my opinion Halo is to video games what American Idol is to television, and yet both 20th Century Fox and Universal decided a Halo movie (with newbie director Neill Blomkamp directing) just wasn’t going to happen. But that was then, and this is now — with Halo 3 getting set to demolish the gaming world, Peter Jackson told OnFilm magazine that he expects the project to lift itself out of development hell once Fox and Universal catch a glimpse of the Halo hype first hand. As far as Blomkamp goes; Jackson notes: “We wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else. It’s Neill’s call.” But that’s not all the man has on his plate; apart from directing The Lovely Bones, Jackson is producing a remake of 1954’s The Dam Busters; a project he’s kept quiet about for quite some time. [More]
Writer/director Sam Raimi confirmed to SCI FI Wire that he has spoken with New Line Cinema honcho Robert Shaye about helming The Hobbit, a Lord of the Rings prequel film based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s book, but only once and only informally. “I spoke to him once, so it’s a little more overblown, I think,” Raimi said in a news conference in Beverly Hills, Calif., over the weekend while promoting his upcoming Spider-Man 3. “That’s why I don’t want to pretend that it’s bigger than it is. I had one conversation about the possibility of it, and that’s really where it’s at.” As for his interest in the film, Raimi repeated that he would only sign on with the OK of Peter Jackson, the Rings director who has been blacklisted by New Line as a result of a lawsuit over Rings revenues. “I’d have to know that he was OK with it,” Raimi said. “It’s really his picture and Bob Shaye’s picture.” [More]
Today is Ian McKellen’s Birthday! Sir Ian was born on May 25th, 1939 in Lancashire, England. That makes him 68 years old today, happy birthday Ian!
The folks from AskMen.com send this in: I wanted to inform you that Orlando Bloom has been recently featured as the AskMen.com “Man of the Week”. I figured this article may be of interest to your readers! [More]
