Three senior writers from the New Yorker, who were guests at last weekend’s Auckland Writers & Readers Festival, have been raving about New Zealand in blogs on the magazine’s website. Chief political commentator Hendrik Hertzberg, who posted a blog yesterday from “Middle-earth” (Queenstown), where he is visiting with colleagues Judith Thurman and Rhonda Sherman, said although he was no fan of the Lord of the Rings books, “we find ourselves in a Hobbity paradise”. American writers revel in Lord of the Rings scenery
Month: May 2009
As it steps up publishing efforts, Warner Bros. has revealed its first post-EA Lord of the Rings game, the family-friendly LOTR: Aragorn’s Quest, which will be making an appearance at E3 next month. Revealed as part of a larger email discussing all the ‘first look’ games to be shown at E3, the platforms for the new Lord Of The Rings game were not revealed, but the title is described as “the first Lord of the Rings video game created specifically for kids and their families.” Warner Bros. Takes Over Lord Of The Rings Games With Aragorn’s Quest
Presented by Dog Named Fish, the staging is directed by Joel McCrary. The book is by Kelly Holden-Bashar and McCrary, music is by Allen Simpson and lyrics are by “everybody,” according to the company. Among the 16 original songs that poke the otherworldly characters in the eye are “Happy Birthday, Bilbo,” “It’s a Hobbit Thing,” “The Balrog Blues” and “The Lament of the Ring.” Fellowship! won 2005 Musical of the Year and Best Comedy Ensemble at the LA Weekly Awards. Getting to Be a Hobbit: ‘Fellowship!’, a Musical Parody, Returns in L.A.
By Scott Brown @ Wired: Two years ago, few outside of fanboyland knew who Guillermo del Toro was. Film geeks name-dropped him as one of the “Three Amigos,” a triad of up-and-coming Mexican-born buddies that includes Alfonso Cuarón (Children of Men) and Alejandro Gonzàlez Inàrritu (Babel). But del Toro was probably the nerdiest of the three—the pasty indoor kid behind Hellboy who doodled in his notebook and painted pewter dragons while his pals made “important” films with Clive Owen and Brad Pitt. That changed with Pan’s Labyrinth, his grimly vivid coming-of-age fable set in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War. Nominated for six Oscars and winning three (including Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction), Labyrinth instantly elevated the talented schlock-meister from geek totem to critically beloved prophet. He was handpicked by Peter Jackson to helm the two-part prequel to The Lord of the Rings and took on a slew of projects that will keep him in the spotlight for years. His plate is now piled high with a Frankenstein adaptation, revisionist Dickens, loyalist Vonnegut, and more. Suddenly, we’re looking down the barrel of the Del Toro Decade. Q&A: Hobbit Director Guillermo del Toro on the Future of Film
Paul Vincenti writes: I am a fantasy artist (winner of best in show at the ELF art show a few years back), and recently did an interview with Prime Time Geek www.primetimegeek.com at the FX convention in Orlando, Fl, and gave you guys (TORN) and the folks at “The Hunt for Gollum” a nice plug. They show a nice screen shot of your site,an theirs, etc. Just thought I would pass this along to you….enjoy! TORN RULES!!! Continue reading “TV Watch: Primetime Geek Talks TORN..sorta”
Mexican film-maker Guillermo del Toro is making himself comfortable in Wellington as he hunkers down to direct The Hobbit including replicating his Los Angeles “man cave”. Oscar winner del Toro has two homes in LA a family home and another a few blocks away to house his enormous collection of books, graphic novels and other memorabilia. “The beauty of it is that I wake up, I kiss the wife, I take the kids to school, I go up literally to `my house’ and I spend all morning there. I have lunch with [my family], spend the afternoon in my house and come back at night,” he told The Dominion Post. Hobbit director sets up his man cave