Middle-earth Madness lived up to its name last night as hundreds of fans gathered at the Best Buy in Los Angeles, CA to celebrate the release of The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Trilogy on Blu-Ray. Actors John Noble (Denethor) and Sala Baker (Sauron) signed copies of the Trilogy as fans snatched up the brand new high-def version of the films.
Nicole Roberts walked away with the Grand Prize trip to New Zealand with her inspired and creative ‘Showgirl Balrog’ costume. (pics below) As you will see in our photo gallery, the competition was challenging and we’d like to thank all of the contestants for their talented entries! Nicole’s costume was judged as the best by Academy Award Winner Sir Richard Taylor of Weta Workshop with help from Lead Designer Daniel Falconer. (We recently interviewed Daniel here)
The LA wing of TheOneRing.net staff was out in full force, and for those of us who could not attend, we’d like to thank them for their tireless efforts to make everything go smoothly! These volunteers spent nearly 15 hours yesterday! So a special thanks to Quickbeam, Cathy, Josh, Suvi, Justin, Peter, Alyse, Catherine, Michael, Echo, Alex, David and Cat from Alleycatscratch.com!
We’d like to thank Warner Bros. Home Entertainment, Weta Workshop and Best Buy for making this event possible!
Click the ‘continue reading’ button to view all of the photos from the event as well as some videos. We’ll be updating them as more come in!
Continue reading “Middle-earth Madness – A Night to Remember!”
Tom Heirbaut from Filmfestival Gent writes: Howard Shore will be one of the distinguished guests at the 11th World Sountrack Awards & Concert on October 22nd in Ghent. He will be performing, amongst other film music, a suite from The Lord Of The Rings. Other guests are Hans Zimmer, Elliot Goldenthal and Abel Korzeniowski. See Press Release below. Continue reading “Howard Shore Performs at World Sountrack Awards”
Phil at Bad Astronomy opined (and it is a common opinion) that the supernatural is incoherent:
If you posit some thing that has no perceivable or measurable effect, then it may as well not exist. And as soon as you claim it does have an effect — it can be seen, heard, recorded, felt — then it must be in some way testable, and therefore subject to science.
Joshua was not so sure about this. The supernatural could, perhaps, interact observably with the universe at some times but not at others. Under normal circumstances the normal laws apply, under others, supernatural stuff happens. Chad weighed in on that.. More..
From WENN.com: Liv Tyler wants to re-team with her Lord of the Rings castmates Sir Ian McKellen, Cate Blanchett, and Elijah Wood by joining the cast of the highly-anticipated prequel The Hobbit. The actress played Arwen in the first three films in the fantasy franchise, but she has so far been left out of the line-up for Peter Jackson’s new epic adventure. Tyler admits seeing the rest of the Lord Of The Rings cast get back together has made her long for a cameo role. She tells Britain’s Daily Express, “I’ve seen some of the other actors. I had such an amazing time making those films. I wish that I could be in it.”
Want to win a massive, 15-disc Lord of the Rings box set to rule them all?
Punch in your expectations for Peter Jackson’s cinematic adaptation of The Hobbit in the comments section below for your chance at winning one of three Blu-ray copies of The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Extended Edition + Digital Copy).
Scores of makeshift Orcs and Halflings are expected to line up Monday night in Los Angeles for the Middle-Earth Midnight Madness event marking the $120 box set’s Tuesday release. On hand to sign copies for the first 150 fans in line: Actor John Noble, who creeped out viewers as The Return of the King’s Denethor (and currently stars as Walter Bishop in sci-fi show Fringe). Stuntman Sala Baker, who inhabited various Orcs and even the Dark Lord Sauron in the Rings movie trilogy, will be doing the same. More..
PROLOG
It was widely known when Peter Jackson was shooting the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy a decade ago that there would be more than one version of the films for home theaters. Fan club memberships were sold with a promise of founding members getting their names in credits of the extended editions. Those watching the films in theaters the last two weeks have seen that promise still fulfilled again on screen at the cineplex.
There was even discussion of eventual superior editions in high definition once the debate over HD DVD vs. Blu-ray was settled. The Extended Edition DVDs, with far superior extras, were a big hit on DVD and were released for marathon watching sessions in select cities on “Trilogy Tuesday”. (Check out these links for a window back into time. They provide historical context.)
With the release today of the Extended Editions, the best possible version of the films in the highest possible quality will be in the hands of consumers. Continue reading “Lord of the Rings Extended Editon Blu-ray review”
