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!)
Category: Miscellaneous
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!
For those who have been following this story, here’s a quick update, as per the news on the ‘Save the Hobbit, Southampton’ facebook page.
It looks like the Saul Zaentz Company are seeking an amicable resolution:
“The SZC have stated that they would like to resolve the matter of our possible copyright infringement amicably. … They have asked that we arrange to operate by way of License and that they would grant this License for a nominal fee of $100 per annum.”
Furthermore, The Hobbit pub has continued support of some ‘Middle-earth’ celebrities:
“I [the owner of the pub] have just received a telephone call from Stephen Fry’s business partner. Stephen Fry and Ian McKellen will be visiting the Hobbit Pub sometime after filming is completed and they have even offered to pay for the license fee.”
So it looks like it will be good news all round for The Hobbit pub, as peace and order is restored to the Shire (of Southampton) once more…
Welcome to the first
“Getting to know…” questions that need answering. It’s based on the old Getting to know you threads that I used to post on the message boards here, so those familiar with them will know that the questions can be a little crazy and the answers even crazier.
This month we’re asking questions of our favourite Ent, and Host of TORn Tuesday, Quickbeam.
Once again, thank you for agreeing to take part in all of this Quickbeam.
Me: Remembering, of course, that your beautiful kitty passed on just before you left for “Where the Stars are Strange“. Do you have any cats or other pets?
Quickbeam: Ah yes, that was a blow. I remember very clearly how I wanted to just “close up shop” when my little feline friend died. The thought of pleasurable vacationing in New Zealand seemed out of bounds, but obviously I went. Perhaps that is a normal response for anyone who has taken guardianship of an animal… those are the bonds of love that are peculiarly the strongest. The idea then came to me of how I might be sharing my unique trip to Middle-earth with the spirit of my lost friend. Somehow it was therapeutic and indulgent at the same time.
Earlier tonight Sean Astin (Samwise Gamgee) appeared on Access Hollywood to promote his special dedications for the upcoming L.A. Marathon and show his #run3rd hashtag-inspired running shirt. Check out the clip here. Just a few short weeks ago Sean happily showed Ringer fans at TheOneRing.net a sneak-peak when he joined our live weekly webcast TORn TUESDAYS with Cliff Broadway. Sean treated us to stunningly cool movie props and authentic costumes from the LOTR trilogy and talked enthusiastically about running and training. Check out the TORn TUESDAY archive on our Live Event page where we start talking about marathons about an hour in.
Follow Sean Astin on Twitter.
Visit the official Sean Astin website.
Find out more about Sean Astin’s Run3rd special project.
Back in 2001, I wrote Glossopoeia for Fun and Profit (also reprinted in The People’s Guide to J.R.R. Tolkien), for our Green Books department, in which I discussed three examples of invented languages: Esperanto, Elvish, and Klingon. For those who found that necessarily brief article of interest, University of Indiana linguistics professor Michael Adams has now edited a new book, From Elvish to Klingon: Exploring Invented Languages (Oxford University Press, 2011), comprising eight essays (including his a general introductory essay by Adams) about linguistic invention, though not precisely the “invented languages” suggested by the book’s title, as we will see. Each essay is accompanied by an appendix by Adams that extends or clarifies some aspect of the essay.
Adams’s introductory chapter deals with the spectrum of linguistic invention, and considers the motivations for such inventions. He considers whether invented languages are an attempt to re-create “the language of Adam”, i.e., a perfected language as spoken by Adam before the fall (it appears that Adams takes the Biblical texts quite literally here), and considers slang and poetry as examples of human linguistic creativity; Adams is the author of Slang: The People’s Poetry(Oxford Press, 2009).
Continue reading “Michael Adams — From Elvish to Klingon: Exploring Invented Languages”