Last Friday we announced a contest in conjuction with the folks at Weta for three copies of their amazing Collector’s Guide. As I said in the article this book came out during Comic-Con this year and the books first 147 pages cover their work on The Lord of the Rings line of collectibles. The contest ended this past Thursday at midnight PST and after receiving several entries I am proud to announce the winners: Tom F. of Visalia, CA, Alex G. of Australia, and the final winner Mike S. of England. We want to thank everyone for your entries!! If you would like to check out the review you can check it out my thoughts of the Collector’s Edition and buy your own copy from Weta.

From NPR.ORG More than 5,000 of you nominated. More than 60,000 of you voted. And now the results are in. The winners of NPR’s Top 100 Science-Fiction and Fantasy survey are an intriguing mix of classic and contemporary titles. Over on NPR’s pop culture blog, Monkey See, you can find one fan’s thoughts on how the list shaped up, get our experts’ take, and have the chance to share your own. So, at last, here are your favorite science-fiction and fantasy novels.

#1 The Lord Of The Rings
#46 The Silmarillion

Other fantasy novels of note include: Game of Thrones Boxed Set, A Song Of Ice And Fire Series, The Princess Bride, Wheel of Time and many many more..

The artisans at Weta as most folks know are some of the kings when it comes to the special effects world. We know their work from films such as; District 9, King Kong, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The Lovely Bones, The Adventures of Tintin, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and of course both of The Hobbit films. In other words some of your favorite films and mine have been worked on or touched by some truly skillful folks.

However, these fine artists are also some of the masters behind many of you Ringers favorite collectibles. That’s why I’m writing about this particular item because it shows the amazing work that the creators working at Weta have made over the last ten years. The item I will be writing a bit about is the brand new released at Comic-Con 2011 Weta: The Collectors Guide. This amazing book captures the work Weta has done over the last ten years into one of the best reference books and coffee table books I’ve had the pleasure to own. Just a couple of the reasons I love this book are the amount of pictures taken of the items ranging from The Lord of the Rings to Halo. They’re all beautifully done and show off just how great the work coming from Weta has been over the last ten years. The other being the amount of information in the book not just on the collectibles, but the people behind the scenes the artists themselves will give collectors a real insight into who made these pieces. Finally, a nice addition is quotes and pictures from collectors who own many of these pieces. It’s nice to see people who I call friends pictures or quote from people who say what I’ve felt when looking at these items. Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Weta: The Collector’s Guide”

A copy of The Lord of the Rings, intended for charity purposes and worth approx. $215, was stolen from a bookstore in Truro, UK. The Lord of the Rings was just one of several rare books that were stolen from this store recently. The Oxfam store sells books to raise money for their charitable efforts worldwide. Read the full story at the BBC. [Read more]