Celebriel sends this in: New Zealand has added a large swathe of high-country farmland made famous in the Lord of the Rings films to its network of conservation parks. Land Information Minister David Parker announced the government had paid $NZ4.7 million ($A4.03 million) for almost 21,000 hectares of the 26,000ha Mesopotamia station. It was established by author and farmer Samuel Butler, who made its stunning landscape famous in his 1872 novel Erewhon – the name of an adjoining station. More recently, the station was the location for the Middle Earth city of Edoras in Peter Jackson’s film portrayal of the Lord of the Rings. Edoras Added to New Zealand Park System
Month: April 2008
The big question on everyone’s mind these days seems to be ‘Is Guillermo del Toro directing “The Hobbit”?’ And with a series of enigmatic answers from people like Sir Ian McKellen, and even GDT himself, its no wonder people are desperate for confirmation. A few blogs and movie sites seemed to have jumped the gun this weekend in announcing that GDT himself has confirmed, well…not so fast. While the Mexican director has been very open to the idea of doing it, neither he, or MGM/Warner Bros./New Line have confirmed his involvement. I am certain we will hear something on the matter soon, don’t loose hope!
From “The Independent”: Mop that perspiring brow, Middle Earthlings. Sir Ian McKellen ends a saga that had become as protracted as the blockbusting Lord Of The Rings film trilogy: will he return as the benevolent wizard Gandalf in the keenly-anticipated adaptation of JRR Tolkien’s The Hobbit? Sir Ian tells Pandora that he has reached advanced discussions, leaving only the paperwork to complete before he can dust off his wizard’s robes: “It is sort of finished business really. I think I will be in the film.” Speaking at a gala dinner for the gay rights charity Stonewall, he added: “The first film will be released in 2011 and the second in 2012. The first is The Hobbit, and the second connects the story to the [sequel] Lord Of The Rings, it brings it all together.” Thanks to David for the link. Read More
Elijah Wood
We are now looking for someone to take centre stage on The Friday Night Project and go head to head with Elijah Wood in a quiz to see who knows the most about Lord of the Rings. The person must be a super fan, and ideally do more than just your average fan. For example, we want a fan who organises conventions in their spare time, or holds LOTR parties, or dresses up as a Hobbit, or has named their children after a Tolkien character!
The fan will be on stage with Elijah and take part in one round of quick fire questions, with the first to three winning. It is a hugely fun show, and this quiz is meant to be some light hearted fun – nothing too serious and nothing scary! If you think that you are this fan, or that you know of someone who is this fan, then please get back in touch to me ASAP. Filming is this Thursday evening in Central London. Thanks to Ian for passing this on from James. james.emtage@princesstv.com.
In the March 2008 edition of Delta Airlines ‘SKY’ Magazine, the ‘Star Books’ area featured an excerpt from ‘The Two Towers.’ The entire edition of the magazine featured a ‘green’ theme and The Two Towers we chosen because of Professor Tolkien’s love for the environment. Ringer Michelf send along some great scans, but you can also visit the official Sky Magazine website to see the article for yourself. [Scans] [Delta Sky Magazine]
Join us today on our IRC server at 12:30 EST to watch the LOTR Trilogy Marathon on TNT! To get in the on the fun, join the chat room through our Java chat applet or, for a better experience, take advantage of an IRC client such as mIRC. We’ll hang around to discuss the film “as it happens” and proceed to cheer and jeer (or discuss and argue, if you like!) the finer points of the film. Good clean fun only, please!