The folks over at nerve.com have posted this great article, where Academy Award winning song writer and Middle-earth actor Bret McKenzie picks his favourite songs-to-seduce-by.  If you ever wondered what an elf would choose for romantic music, now’s your chance to find out.  (Thanks to our friend Ethan Gilsdorf for bringing this to our attention!)

Our friends at herr-der-ringe-film.de have exclusive new images posted on their site!  An anonymous source sent them photos which supposedly show the set for Dale.  The pictures show tall structures and elaborate stonework; you can check out the images here.  A translation of the page follows after the break – read no further if you want to stay spoiler free!

Continue reading “First images of the DALE film set?”

The North Island of New Zealand has been experiencing some wild weather this week, with heavy rainfall, high winds and even some flooding affecting areas such as Northland, Taupo and Taranaki; and some folks have been wondering if The Shire has been affected.  Fear not for Middle-earth – TORn’s good friend Ian Brodie (author of The Lord of the Rings Location Guidebook), tells us, ‘Hobbiton had a windy night last night – but we are all fine. The wild weather has struck north of Auckland for the worst and has caused some flooding. Today The Shire even has sun!!!!’  So all is well in Matamata – and the latest weather updates show that the storms have passed over New Zealand, leaving just showers behind.

Of course the main location shooting has been completed for The Hobbit movies, so unless some really drastic weather hits the Wellington area, the shoot should continue unaffected.  (Remember the close escape at the end of location shooting, about which PJ told us in The Hobbit Production Video #6??)  We hope everyone on the North Island who was affected by these recent storms is safe and dry!

 


Round 1 of Middle-earth Madness is over and the results were surprising! Two of the match-ups were separated by approximately 30 votes: (5) Merry narrowly outlasted (4) Eowyn (results) and (4) Gollum barely beat out previous leader (5) Treebeard (results). The only ‘big’ upset in the last round was (6) Smaug taking down (3) Arwen. All of the match-up results can be seen on our ‘Round 1’ page (click here). In Round 2, the Sweet Sixteen, we have some historical competitions. In the Ralph Bakshi Division, the battle for the Ring takes on new meaning when (1) Bilbo faces (4) Gollum. Then we have the battle of manly actors as (3) Thorin Oakensheild takes on (2) Aragorn. In the Rankin/Bass Division, the only remaining Silmarillion character, (4) Feanor, will have his hands full with the top seed (1) Gandalf. And (2) Galadriel could possible feel the extreme wrath of everyone’s favorite Middle-earth dragon (6) Smaug. In the Tolkien Family Division, poor little ole (4) Pippin faces off against the top seed (1) Legolas, fresh off his too-close-for-comfort battle with Elrond. (3) Faramir may have been tempted by the Ring in TTT, but can he overcome the temptation to beat (2) Frodo? And finally, in the Peter Jackson Division. Non-film character (1) Glorfindel takes on yet another Hobbit (5) Merry! And we know (3) Boromir tried to snag the Ring from Frodo, but can he handle the onslaught of (2) Sam? These Round 2 match-ups are going to be close, so vote now, and vote often! This round ends on March 26th 2012 at Noon ET. Continue after the break for the updated bracket (download) and some additional notes!

Continue reading “Middle-earth Madness 2012 – Round 2!”

Welcome to our collection of TORn’s hottest topics for the past week. If you’ve fallen behind on what’s happening on the Message Boards, here’s a great way to catch the highlights. Or if you’re new to TORn and want to enjoy some great conversations, just follow the links to some of our most popular discussions. Watch this space as every weekend we will spotlight the most popular buzz on TORn’s Message Boards. Everyone is welcome, so come on in and join in the fun!
Continue reading “TORn Message Boards Weekly Roundup – March 19, 2012”