What will you be doing on your 91st birthday? If you are Sir Christopher Lee, you are releasing a heavy metal album based on the life of the French ruler Charlemagne. Recorded with Judas Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner, Charlemagne: The Omens of Deathis the follow-up to Lee’s 2010 release Charlemagne: By the Swordand the Cross. One can only hope to be so active in their Nineties! [Audio CD] [MP3 Download] [Vinyl]
Lee was born in Belgravia, Westminster, England on May 27th 1922 – making him exactly 91 years old today. We all know his work as Saruman in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings films, but did you know Sir Lee holds the world record for most film acting roles ever ! We at TheOneRing.net would like to continue to offer a good pint of well-earned ale as a toast to a true master of his craft! A better portrayal of Saruman there will never be! Cheers!
We’ve got a great reason to build up your Tolkien t-shirt collection! From now through Monday, we are offering 25% OFF our entire catalog with purchase of $30 or more. The sale includes our most popular designs: OBEY (The Eye of Sauron), May the Dwarves be With You, ‘I Like Big Books…,’ Lake Town Archery Club, Peter’s Dragon and more! We have also heard your feedback and adjusted our shipping rates to make purchasing even easier and more affordable. Don’t delay, this 25% Off offer is only good through Monday night at Midnight (Pacific). [Click here] As always, when you support TheOneRing.net all proceeds go to directly running the website. We are a true 100% volunteer not for profit website. Thank you in advance!
In a recent interview with TotalFilm, Evangeline Lilly discusses her role as Tauriel in the upcoming ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.’ As part of the interview, available on store shelves now, TotalFilm reports:
“She’s a very, very young elf,” Lilly told us. “She’s only 600 years old, unlike Legolas who’s like, 1,900 years old and Thranduil who’s about 3,000 years old. She doesn’t have quite the wisdom and pose that those two boys do; she’s a little more… gritty. A little more spontaneous, passionate perhaps.”
Taking her bow in The Desolation Of Smaug, Tauriel is a fighter who makes a mess with finesse. “To play this character I need to have a certain amount of grace,” said Lilly. “But I’m also supposed to be an absolutely ruthless, deadly killer.”
Pick up your copy of TotalFilm today for the complete interview. [TotalFilm]
On May 25th, 1939, in the town of Burnley in northern England, the talented and beloved Sir Ian McKellen was born. Here’s to an amazing life, an amazing career, and to hoping you had a wonderful birthday!! If you haven’t already, send your Birthday wishes directly to Ian on Facebook or Twitter. [Ian McKellen Facebook] [Ian McKellen Twitter] And as a small mathom, here’s a rare pic of Ian as Gandalf without his beard!
Arrived Thursday for the start of Phoenix Comicon, and the first thought is the heat in Phoenix in May, can’t even imagine what it would be like in July and so glad San Diego is next to water. That being said, there were cosplayers galore regardless of the heat.
Tonight will be ‘The Desolation of Smaug: Sneak Peek’ panel from TheOneRing.net in room 122ABC, join us if you are attending comicon. And if you are not going to be able to make the panel, or even make the convention, there is going to be an AZ Ringer Moot on Sunday evening after the end of the convention at the Greenhouse Grill on Adams street right across the street from the convention center and the Hyatt hotel. We will be gathering at 7pm on Sunday night and talking Tolkien and Middle-earth and The Hobbit and whatever else strikes your fancy (for this reporter, that may well be the Los Angeles Kings in the Stanley Cup Playoffs). The restaurant closes at 9pm, but if there are enough Mooters, we can always take the party over to one of the hotel bars. If you wish to attend on Sunday evening, please email me at Garfeimao@TheOneRing.net so I can give the restaurant an approximate attendance by Sunday morning.
Red Carpet’s Premiere Tour group dressed up for their Hobbiton visit
Red Carpet is steadily adding new locations into its tours in the light of the new Hobbit movie, says director Vic James.
“We’re pretty excited because since the Unexpected Journey came out, we’ve been able to add new sites and new people,” James says. “We visit landowners and check out new locations on a regular basis, as information and invitations come to hand.
“The Premiere Tour last November was the first to visit some of the new places and when the time is right for further landowners to allow visits, we will add them in.”
The north island leg of the tour includes, as before, Hobbiton and the central volcanic plateau that served as Mt Doom. A new feature are some rapids where the dwarves’ more hair-raising barrel-riding scenes were filmed.
The ‘top’ of the South Island is a beautiful addition to the tour, James says. Nelson, with its sunny bay ringed by mountains, is reached by a ferry cruise through the beautiful fjords of Marlborough Sounds. There’s a stop along the way at Pelorus Bridge, scene of Bilbo and the dwarves’ barrel-riding adventures.
Red Carpet’s LOTR tours always include visits to extras, artisans, actors and crew members for the films. Halfdan Hansen, son of the real-life Ringmaker for LOTR, has his studio in Nelson and has created a new version of the Ring, invisibly weighted with some denser metal so that it lies strangely heavy on the palm of the hand.
In Nelson there is also the option to take a two-and-a-half hour helicopter flight to Dimrill Dale and South of Rivendell. The flights have been a huge success with tour guests.
Olympus Rocks – a place to hide from the spies of Saruman
To accommodate the extra locations, tours are now 14 days duration. People can also choose to join the North Island 6 day or the South Island 10 day options. “It’s a long way to come to not see it all,” James says.
What will you be doing on your 91st birthday? If you are Sir Christopher Lee, you are releasing a heavy metal album based on the life of the French ruler Charlemagne. Recorded with Judas Priest guitarist Richie Faulkner, Charlemagne: The Omens of Death is the follow-up to Lee’s 2010 release Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross. One can only hope to be so active in their Nineties! [Audio CD] [MP3 Download] [Vinyl]
