Last month we asked you, our audience, to nominate titles for a top-100 list of the best science fiction and fantasy ever written. The response was overwhelming — almost 5,000 of you posted to the NPR site alone, and many thousands more offered suggestions on Facebook. We’ve tabulated those suggestions and, with the help of an expert panel, narrowed the list to a manageable field of a few hundred titles. Scrolling through the list of great science fiction and fantasy reads below will feel like a journey back in time for some of us, a voyage of discovery for others. But novice or veteran, everyone loves a contest. So, let the voting begin! More..
Year: 2011
This month, J.W. reviews the book The Lord of the Rings: Weapons and Warfare by Chris Smith. Have a suggestion for a book you think J.W. should review? Find him on Facebook.
Check out more reviews and videos on the TORN TV Channel.
Fans of The Lord of the Rings films already know that Andy Serkis can act his face off and act without ever showing his face. He first proved it with his landmark performance of Gollum in The Two Towers. Film making and acting without a net, portions of the film hinged on Serkis’ performance of a creature and Weta Digital’s ability to put the emotion on screen digitally. It worked. Beyond all expectations, it soared.
When the screenwriters threw in some character twists of the twisted character for Return of the King (for good or for ill, but don’t blame the actor) Serkis did it again. And of course his return as the same character to The Hobbit is as essential a tie between the films as any character. He went from Middle-earth to Monster Island with King Kong and even got to die a horrible death in his own skin on screen.
Weta went on to create Pandora and its blue skinned inhabitants with James Cameron in Avatar then teamed up again on Tintin with Serkis playing a human in the hilarious Captain Haddock.
But his role as Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, just about to open in theaters everywhere, is his greatest performance yet. He moves from being a central character in a big movie to being the center of the film and stealing the show from the actors who get flesh and blood on screen. Continue reading “Exclusive: Andy Serkis talks ‘Rise of the Planet of the Apes,’ ‘Hobbit’ with TORn”
Today, Turbine has released a new batch of screenshots from The Lord of the Rings Online: Rise of Isengard, the upcoming expansion to the award-winning MMO, which will launch on September 27th. The new screenshots provide the first look at updates and enhancements being made to Monster Play in the new expansion.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS ONLINE™: RISE OF ISENGARD™: Explore Three New Regions! — The time has come for you to turn eastward, toward the vale of Isengard. Where ancient forests once flourished, a corrupted waste of metal and wheels suffers under the thrall of the traitorous wizard Saruman. Here, in the shadows of the tower of Orthanc, gathers an army of Orcs and Uruk-hai, toiling to make ready for war. Forge ahead into these devastated lands and uncover new quests, skills, and traits as you strive to thwart Saruman’s ambition. Continue reading “LOTRO: Rise of Isengard Expansion – Monster Play Screens!”
TORN Guest Blogger Ethan Gilsdorf writes: The extent to which the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons was inspired by Tolkien has been debated, but it’s clear that D&D’s co-founders Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson had read the trilogy. And it’s more than clear that the ongoing success and appeal of Lord of the Rings fueled interest in D&D, as well as vice versa.
This past week (July 27) would have been Gygax’s 73rd birthday. Folks have been working to immortalize his legacy and the impact of D&D by building a memorial statue in Gygax’s hometown of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. The next step is to raise money. This coming week at Gen Con in Indianapolis (the now massive gaming convention that Gygax founded), using the birthday as the impetus, the Gygax Memorial Fund will be at booth #1541 (the Old School Renaissance Group) to accept donations to get this statue built. Continue reading “Gygax Memorial Fund at GenCon”
Lisa sends in this report on her evening at the Hobbit House in Manila: I first heard about the Hobbit House when TORN did an article on it last year. I knew at that point that I would be in Manila the following year, so I made a mental note to visit it while I was here. I have now been in Manila for 4 weeks and my Mum and I managed to pay the promised visit this evening.
We arrived outside the restaurant bar, and immediately were greeted by all things Tolkien. Cardboard cut outs of Andy Serkis’ Gollum and Ian McKellen’s Gandalf along with a cartoon Bilbo, stood guard over a decidedly Hobbitish round door. On the right, a large poster of the Fellowship dominated the Shire looking wall. Continue reading “TORN Spy Visits ‘Hobbit House’ in Manila”