Welcome to our collection of TORn’s hottest topics for the past week. If you’ve fallen behind on what’shappening 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!
They are perhaps a sign that the owners have taken their obsession with the silver screen a bit too far. But these homes from around the world built on movie themes are nonetheless stunning pieces of ‘surreal estate’. They include a tiny cottage based on the JRR Tolkien novel The Hobbit, the prequel to the Lord of the Rings saga and a Flintstones home apparently carved inside a boulder. Simon Dale designed the Middle Earth inspired dwelling, which is actually in Wales, as he sought to create an affordable house that blends into the hillside. As well as its movie appeal, the house, which is made from an oak frame and has a roof comprising mud and turf, has green credentials too. Underground air cools the refrigerator, solar panels power the appliances and a nearby spring provides water for the house. More..
WETA founder Richard Taylor and Daniel Falconer judge the costumed finalists live. The surprised winner gets an all expenses paid trip to the set of the Hobbit in New Zealand!
Thanks to all the people who have written in letting us know about this, check it out. from mocpages.com: Welcome everyone to the MOCpages collaborative build that was displayed at BrickWorld 2011 in Wheeling Illinois. While mine is not the only post focusing on the collaborative what I’m going to try to do is give a little background and insite into what brought each build to the table… so to speak.
The concept was born at BrickWorld 2010. Kelso and I were talking and we thought “hey, wouldn’t it be fun to do a collaborative?” Sure it would. So after a little thought (and some other concepts that will remain nameless as they may be future projects) I said to him “Hey, I got it… let’s do Lord of the Rings.” He says to me “You mean like… a few of us build Minas Tirith or Barad Dur?” “No, no, no…” I replied “Let’s do Middle Earth… ALL of it.” More..
Circa writes: See this piece of contemporary art (Epic Journey, 2010, video installation 11 hours) by Canadian artist Kevin Schmidt which uses the LOTR EE as two boats tied together travel along the Fraser River in British Columbia, Canada. Really cool. More..
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!
the past week. If you’ve fallen behind on what’shappening 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!
Circa writes: See this piece of contemporary art (Epic Journey, 2010, video installation 11 hours) by Canadian artist Kevin Schmidt which uses the LOTR EE as two boats tied together travel along the Fraser River in British Columbia, Canada. Really cool. 
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.