The group SF in SF presents a special charity fund-raiser screening tomorrow night (Aug. 25th) of the award-winning feature documentary RINGERS: LORD OF THE FANS. The evening will feature a discussion featuring the film’s director, editor and also legendary fantasy author Peter S. Beagle. Doors and cash bar open at 6:00PM, the event begins at 7:00PM. The screening and discussion will be held in the Variety Preview Room Theater in San Francisco.

Peter S. Beagle is no stranger to The Lord of the Rings. He penned both the screenplay for the Ralph Bakshi animated adaptation and the introduction to the infamous 1970’s Ballantine re-issue of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Mr. Beagle is one of the many outstanding authors featured in RINGERS. A resident of Oakland, Beagle recently accepted the 2011 World Fantasy Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Continue reading “SF in SF to Screen Indie Documentary, Ringers: Lord of the Fans”

Join in the fun with TORn Tuesday! LIVE at 5pm Quickbeam will be announcing some exciting things happening at TheOneRing.net and talk with Tolkien and Dreamworks Animation artists about dragons and fantasy! As always talk with folks in Barliman’s chat room LIVE. Check out the broadcast in our LIVE event section tonight at 5pm PST! [LIVE Event Area] (See All Times)

Last Friday we announced a contest in conjuction with the folks at Weta for three copies of their amazing Collector’s Guide. As I said in the article this book came out during Comic-Con this year and the books first 147 pages cover their work on The Lord of the Rings line of collectibles. The contest ended this past Thursday at midnight PST and after receiving several entries I am proud to announce the winners: Tom F. of Visalia, CA, Alex G. of Australia, and the final winner Mike S. of England. We want to thank everyone for your entries!! If you would like to check out the review you can check it out my thoughts of the Collector’s Edition and buy your own copy from Weta.

From the Hero Complex LA Times blog:

How good is Martin Freeman as Bilbo Baggins? Oscar-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson says there is “simply nobody else” who could star in ”The Hobbit” epic that will be told over two films, the first reaching theaters in December 2012 and the second in December 2013.

“He is fantastic and there is simply nobody else for the job,” Jackson said during a recent break from the production in New Zealand and a whirlwind trip to Southern California. “We couldn’t find anyone who was better than him. He is simply fantastic.”

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From the Dominion Post:

The skeleton that remained of the set has been a very popular tourist attraction. We also know that it has since been rebuilt for The Hobbit – and that this time it won’t be removed once filming is completed. It’s been designed to last 50 years.

But what surprises me is that the public can visit the rebuilt set right now before the cameras roll.

Ian Brodie, author of the detailed and very handy Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook, is the media and communications manager for the Hobbiton movie set.

He told me that multiple tours continue to visit the set each day. “The only thing they [visitors] have to do is sign a non-disclosure agreement.

They can take as many photos as they want, they just can’t post them up online or do those sorts of things. Certainly they are seeing it at its best.”

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