Or a Tale of Two Towers: Art and Archetypes in Middle-Earth

Tolkien’s Middle-Earth is conspicious in that it contains no places of worship. Few fantasy authors resist the urge to have temples and gods (usually malevolent ones with slimy and unappetizing minions, against which the hero uses guile, good sense or solid biceps in contests of thinly-disguised allegory). Tolkien limits himself to places of portent or places of wonder – places where the gods or great personages of the past have touched the earth, but have never consecrated. Continue reading “John Howe’s Journal: FROM BABEL TO BARAD-DÛR”

To my delight, while flipping through channels on the TV tonight, I came across The Fellowship of the Ring playing on TNT. Sure enough, after checking their site, they’re doing another Lord of the Rings Marathon this weekend. The Two Towers will play tomorrow night (Saturday) at 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST). Then, as is their custom, they will play all three movies on Sunday. The Fellowship of the Ring will start at 11:30 a.m. EST on Sunday, culminating with The Return of the King at 7:00 p.m. EST. If you live in the U.S. and have cable or satellite TV, be sure and take this opportunity to revisit Middle-earth. Read More

From Cracked.com: Villains have to go into the office just like everyone else. They may not bitch about the boss (that’s for the henchmen) or look at adorable pictures of kittens just to get through the day (not without making themselves hungry). But one thing they can’t escape is an inbox that seems to fill up as quickly as they hit delete. We asked you to take us inside the inboxes of some of our most beloved fictional villains. Gollum’s Email Cracked

Cate Blanchett will play Maid Marian alongside Russell Crowe’s Robin Hood in the Ridley Scott-directed adventure pic for Universal Pictures. The film, which had been called “Nottingham” but is undergoing a title change, begins production in early April. Imagine Entertainment’s Brian Grazer is producing with Scott and his Scott Free banner. The drama, originally scripted by Ethan Reiff and Cyrus Voris and then rewritten by Brian Helgeland, has evolved into a “Gladiator” version of the Robin Hood legend. Crowe starred in that film and Scott directed it. The film will be shot on a $130 million budget, benefiting from favorable exchange rates and tax credits that come from shooting in London. Scott will be aiming for a PG-13 rating. Robin Hood woos Cate Blanchett

Dimrill Star writes: Just wanted to report that I saw an article In the Melbourne Sun today ,Thursday 26th Feb, stating that Viggo Mortenson will be visiting Melbourne and will be attending the Nova cinema on Thursday 26th March 2009.

Sean Astin (born February 25, 1971) is an American film actor, director, and Academy Award-nominated producer best known for his film roles as Mikey Walsh in The Goonies, the title character of Rudy, and Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. In television, he guest starred as Lynn McGill on the fifth season of 24.