Is there no end to the carnage wrought by subprime madness? Far from being “contained,” the fallout is now spreading to fictional realms populated by some of the mightiest icons of human civilization. On Wednesday afternoon, the Financial Times published a scoop breaking the news that funding for a slate of upcoming blockbuster movies may be delayed because of Wall Street’s current woes. The studio in question is MGM: The movies on the list include “The Hobbit” and the next installments in both the Terminator and James Bond sagas. It seems that in recent years Hollywood has moved to a relatively new financing model in which it raises funding for a slate of upcoming films by having investment banks tap the pockets of private equity funds, hedge funds and institutional investors. In this case, MGM had contracted with Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank to raise as much as a billion dollars. [More]
Month: August 2007
Mary writes: Ian McKellen will be interviewed on September 17 in New York at the Times Center. The interview will be followed by a wine reception & tickets are only $25. [More]
GilraenBham sends along word about the annual Tolkien Weekend in November, it is registration time! Visit Birmingham for a weekend break exploring the places J.R.R. Tolkien lived and played, studied and worshiped during the formative years of his life. Accommodation, food, transport, talks, entertainment and well-informed guides are included in this unique and informative weekend for fans of Tolkien everywhere. Friday evening 9th November, all Day Saturday 10th November, to mid-afternoon Sunday 11th November 2007. The weekend is based around the Plough and Harrow Hotel in Edgbaston, Birmingham, where Professor Tolkien and his wife Edith stayed prior to Tolkien leaving for France during the First World War. The hotel is offering very attractive rates for this special weekend. For further information download this WORD document.
James writes: The AME (Association of Model Engineers) is organizing its Annual Exhibition, held between 8th and 16th September, 2007 and this year it is showcasing a massive miniature of Helm’s Deep, the main fortress of Rohan.
The exhibition will be held at the Scouts Headquarters in Floriana, Malta and shall display a wide range of models of all types of genres; including Military, Fantasy and Science Fiction.
This year, the Association has been working hard to construct this highly detailed model has been carefully built to closely match the film version.
The diorama is also filled with various models, including Elves, Uruk-Hai and the Men of Rohan, depicting the battle as portrayed in the film. Other models include, siege ladders, catapults and a group of Uruk-hai with a battering ram attacking the gates.
Apart from this diorama, a collection of highly detailed figures of The Lord of the Rings are displayed separately during the exhibition. Last year’s main centre-piece was a diorama of a Rohan keep being attacked by orcs. This year, the AME has taken a step further into realizing this full 3 feet by 2 feet diorama of the Battle of Helm’s Deep.
No photos of the model are available yet, since it is still under construction. For further information on the Exhibition and the Association itself, please click the following to the AME website: www.a-m-e.org
Artiste extraordinaire Colleen Doran sends along word on her latest work ‘The Nightmare Factory’: The model of my main character was actor Jed Brophy, who has appeared in a number of Peter Jackson’s films…Jed is a big comics fan and made an especially good Spiderman model, because he is not only lean and wiry, he knows all the classic comics poses. All I had to do was ask for a character and he could immediately become that character. He could even nail poses based on the iconic images of certain artists. [More]
Vanessa “Saffron” Price, Online Community Representative for The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar, writes: Today we added a two new class overviews about the changes coming in the upcoming content update to our Developer’s Corner! In Book 10: The City of the Kings, LOTRO’s second free content update, the LOTRO game systems team focused on the Captain and Hunter classes. Learn about the changes in two new overviews! [Overview I] [Overview II]