From the folks at Weta Limited: Howdy folks! Here’s a run down of what’s been happening at Weta HQ this month – we’ve been busy little Weta’s! [More]

In this issue:

Doctor Who range announced!
ManMelter Pre-Ordering Open!
Weta’s Halo3 work revealed
Weta Comic Convention line up revealed
Eight year old wins Weta art tutorial
Weta Influences Graffiti artist
more..

The owners of a Hobbit-style wood and earth home threatened with demolition for years failed in another bid to save it yesterday. The ecologically friendly, solar-powered Round House at Brithdir Mawr near Newport, Pembrokeshire, has been the subject of legal wrangling since it was built without planning permission 10 years ago for £3,000. Pembrokeshire Council had taken court action to secure its removal but this was halted so that its retention could be re-examined against the framework of a recently adopted low impact development policy. [More]

SINGAPORE (Reuters Life!) – As Gandalf and Magneto, he’s faced off fire-breathing monsters and superheroes, but actor Ian McKellen says he picks his battles when it comes to celebrity causes. The Oscar-nominated thespian stepped into a brewing debate in Singapore about decriminalising homosexual acts just hours after arriving in the city state this week as part of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s touring production of William Shakespeare’s “King Lear” and Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull”. McKellen, 68, was quoted in Singapore’s pro-government media urging the state to repeal its laws that make sexual acts between men a crime. [More]

LORD of the Rings star Billy Boyd will play in the Capital with his band Beecake as part of Saturday’s Cut the Carbon rally. The actor will join celebrities who are backing the event, designed to highlight the effect of climate change on some of the world’s poorest countries. Harry Potter actress Katie Leung will also be at the rally, which will take place in the Meadows. [More]

For Sharon Kretschmar, The Lord of the Rings isn’t just a collection of stories about Hobbits and elves or a few movies with cool special effects. Kretschmar, 60, goes on the Internet nearly every day to talk with other Ringers, as fans call themselves. She’s done that for the last six years. And if you imagine that she’s chained to her home computer, living in a make-believe universe, consider this: Kretschmar has made a whole new circle of friends that she has visited in the United States and abroad, in places as far afield as Ireland and New Zealand. [More]

Today Weta Limited announced they will be creating, in collaboration with BBC Worldwide, a line of Collectible statues based on the popular television series, Doctor Who.

Doctor Who is produced by the BBC and is the longest-running science fiction television series in the world. It follows the adventures of a time-traveller called ‘the Doctor’, who travels time in a phone box, solving problems and righting wrongs. [More]