From the 31st October till 2nd November, Malta’s major annual fan event on the world of films, comics and video games will take place; and it has been announced that Sylvester McCoy (Radagast the Brown), will be one of the special guests during the three-day event.
The actor, who portrayed the seventh Doctor in the popular TV Show Doctor Who, will take part in a group of activities which bring together all the fandoms into one, highly-entertaining hub. This will involve Q&A sessions with the actor and autograph signings.
SALT LAKE CITY — At a press conference to announce its inclusion of Simon Pegg as a guest, FantasyCon said it has the largest contingent of Tolkien guests at a fan convention ever, including parts of the staff of TheOneRing.net.
Coming from the Lord of the Rings films:
Sean Astin
Billy Boyd
John Rhys-Davies.
Scheduled for visits from The Hobbit films are:
Adam Brown
John Callen
Peter Hambleton
Jed Brophy
William Kircher
Ken Stott
Graham McTavish
Sylvester McCoy
Other Tolkien-related content:
TheOneRing.net
Doug Adams
Artist Donato Giancola
Artist Justin Gerard
You can read the full article, including the announcement of Simon Pegg, right here.
Among some of the most profound pieces of Tolkien’s writings are those concerning the concepts of death and immortality, and the ultimate fates of Elves and Men. And a little more than a decade ago, as the tale of Aragorn and Arwen unfolded in The Two Towers, it was the evocative voice of Sheila Chandra that spoke to the hope and heartache of their destinies.
A vocalist of Indian descent hailing from the UK, Sheila Chandra performed “The Breath Of Life” (also titled “The Grace Of The Valar“) as Aragorn’s unconscious form floats downriver while Arwen holds him in thought and sends him a blessing from afar – “May the grace of the Valar protect you“.
The song’s lyrics (adapted from Tolkien’s writings) were written by Fran Walsh:
Shadow lies between us, as you came, so you shall leave from us.
Time and storm shall scatter all things. Sorrowing you must go, and yet you are not without hope, For you are not bound to the circles of this world, you are not bound to loss and to silence.
As our exclusive series of interviews with vocalists from The Lord of the Rings continues, join us today as we talk to Sheila Chandra about how the song, its mood, and her delivery of it were all carefully crafted with the aim of conveying the understanding and mature love that is shared between Arwen and Aragorn.
With a poster signed by Richard Armitage, Benedict Cumberbatch, Luke Evans, Martin Freeman and Evangeline Lilly up for grabs as the prize, many of you were eager to show us your The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug DVDs and Blu-rays, in photos submitted for our #wheresbilbo competition. We loved looking at all the entries, and as usual, it was hard to pick a winner! Lots of people sent in images showing their extensive collections of Middle-earth collectibles, whilst many others took snaps showing their adorable pets taking care of their DVDs. A group of staff from TORn all voted, and our final overall winner was @WadeAcuff, with his ‘sketchy’ entry:
The staffers were impressed by the beautiful artwork shown in Wade’s photo – he’s clearly a talented fellow!
Other images we loved included @LapisLizuli’s dragon eating her DVD:
And @TolkienistView’s clever set of ‘polaroids’:
@crazysirius clearly ‘treasures’ her DVD:
@RSinsir’s dogs are doing a great job of guarding her ‘precious’:
@EmmersChau found her DVD taking a bath – complete with bearded rubber duck! Check out the details on those bottles – the body wash is ‘Elf-repelling’!
Finally, @I_Christina_I was lucky enough to be able to take Bilbo back to his own front door:
There were many more great entries, including some of folks in costume. Many thanks to all of you who sent in fab photos and entertained us with your creativity (and with much cuteness from various pets!) We wish we could have had more than one winner! Congratulations to Wade – the signed poster will be on its way to him very soon.
As he told TheOneRing.net in his interview with us back in April, Peter Hambleton has been busy, for the first part of this year, wearing his director’s hat. His next show, at the Circa Theatre in Wellington, is Bill Cain’s fascinating play Equivocation – a piece described on the theatre’s website as an ‘explosively comedic high stakes thriller … for theatre-lovers, fashion fanatics, Game of Thrones and House of Cards fans, legal eagles, politicos – and anyone who has ever had a boss from hell.’
The plot is summarized thus:
‘London 1605. Shakespeare (Shag) is ordered to rewrite the ‘true’ story of Guy Fawkes and the treasonous Gunpowder Plot – as a crowd-pleasing play. While the plotters wait in prison, he must decide if he would rather write a lie and lose his soul, or write the truth and lose his head. He walks this dangerous tightrope with the help of his theatre troupe, his devoted daughter, and by learning the art of equivocation (the use of ambiguous language to conceal the truth).’
This modern play was described by Variety as, ‘One of the most bracingly intelligent, sizzlingly theatrical American plays in a decade’. If you’re lucky enough to be in Wellington between May 24th and June 21st, you can get tickets for this exciting production by visiting Circa Theatre’s website, here – and don’t forget to write and tell us about it!
Our friends at Weta Workshop have a couple of new books for fans to add to their collections. The first book is the next in the Chronicles series, which gives you a great inside look at the task of bringing the many costumes, armour, and weapons that were needed to bring The Hobbit Trilogy to life. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Chronicles – Cloaks and Daggers does just that, but it doesn’t just cover the second film, it also covers the many designs needed in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. If you pre-order the book right now you can get it signed by some of the folks who helped bring these films to the big screen!
The second release Weta has for fans is an amazing looking two book set covering the 20 years they have been helping to bring films to life. This inside look is brimming with never-before-seen content covering films such as; The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Hobbit Trilogy, Avatar, King Kong, District 9, and much more. You can get The Hobbit Art Book for $39 and Weta: The Art of Film Magic – 20 Years of of Weta for $99.