“The Lord of the Rings” is coming to Oakland’s Oracle Arena in concert form Saturday, and as part of the experience, there will be a display of props created during the production of the movie trilogy that are now part of a private collection of Troika Brodsky.

Among the shields, helmets and costumes featured are Gimli’s battle-ax, a complete Ringwraith costume, a pair of hairy hobbit feet and Frodo’s sword, Sting. More..

Today, via their Facebook page Sideshow Collectibles has released a video of an upcoming Ringwraith Statue. In the video, we get a glimpse of the steed portion of the statue in production, and not much else. If this is a mounted piece, it will be a welcome return to the very popular Sideshow/Weta mounted statues from the early 2000s. The concept art shown in the video implies we will see just that. One question is will this end up joining the premium format line or the maquette line. Let’s hope we find out during the Spooktacular Event which starts next Monday, October 24th. [View the Teaser]

Ardnamurchan Viking boat burial discovery ‘a first’. The UK mainland’s first fully intact Viking boat burial site has been uncovered in the west Highlands, archaeologists have said. The site, at Ardnamurchan, is thought to be more than 1,000 years old. Artefacts buried alongside the Viking in his boat suggest he was a high-ranking warrior. Archaeologist Dr Hannah Cobb said the “artefacts and preservation make this one of the most important Norse graves ever excavated in Britain”. Dr Cobb, from the University of Manchester, a co-director of the project, said: “This is a very exciting find.” More..

A Labour-led government would change the law around film workers, even if it meant losing the The Hobbit films overseas, as part of a major policy release around employment relations. The Work and Wages policy, released yesterday, has at its centrepiece the establishment of an independent Workplace Commission to set minimum standards of pay, conditions and union rights across industries such as security workers, supermarket workers or retail workers. More..