Andrew Grams was relaxing over a beer. He was taking a break from an eight-concert tour of Germany, where he was conducting a symphonic version of “Lord of the Rings” music. His phone rang. Suddenly he had a new engagement a mere week away: two concerts with the Charlotte Symphony. When you’re an ambitious 29-year-old conductor, you’re flexible. Tonight and Saturday, Grams fills in for the Charlotte Symphony’s Christof Perick, who bowed out because of an illness in his family. There’s more at stake than concerts. Perick steps down as the orchestra’s music director in 2009, and Grams’ visit adds him to the mix of potential successors. Four candidates will lead concerts next season, and others will follow. [More]
Category: Old Main News
For a fictional world boasting ten kingdoms, endless mountain ranges and an enchanted forest or two, Middle Earth is hot, dark and surprisingly cramped. There’s an ashen-faced Gandalf, a grumpy-looking Saruman and a balding Aragorn busy exchanging flirty glances with a gorgeous Arwen. Four fat hobbits adjust their false bottoms and make puerile jokes. [More]
Dave from gamerzines.com writes: When we did a preview of LOTRO in issue 2 of PCGZine, you were good enough to link to it. Issue 5 of the free PC game mag is out for download now and has our review of the final game. [More]
Game makers Turbine and Midway have brought the Lord of the Rings series of novels to the world of massively-multiplayer online gaming. “Lord of the Rings Online” allows players to create their own characters and take part in adventurous quests throughout Middle-earth. The game also includes social networking and wiki elements. Lord of the Rings (LoTR) fans now have the opportunity to cast themselves as their favorite Hobbit, Elf, Dwarf or Man. Game software makers Turbine and Midway announced Tuesday the release of “The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar (LoTRO).” The game is the first massively-multiplayer online (MMO) game based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s popular trilogy set in the mythical realm Middle-earth. “The release of “The Lord of the Rings Online” marks a momentous occasion for MMO gamers and Tolkien fans around the world,” said Jeff Anderson, president and CEO of Turbine. “Countless adventures await gamers eager to experience Middle-earth in an entirely new way and we’re confident that once they’ve visited this epic world, they’ll never want to leave.” [More]
Guard of the Citadel writes: Here is a message from Blanco (Shadowfax’s owner): Our next appearance will be at the Can-Am Emporium East in Nova Scotia, Canada from May 25-27. Please tell the Ringers to come out and see us. We will have our new training video and lots of souvenir merchandise will be available for purchase, as well as the opportunity to have a professional picture taken next to him! [More]
DANE sends along 3 more images from Peter Jackson’s short ‘Crossing the Line’, which started life out as test footage for a new camera Peter was offered to play with. Take a look at the rest of the images here. [More]
Meanwhile, Ringer Spy Taniwha writes: There is a 30s clip (and the full credits) for ‘Crossing The Line’ at reduser.net, it is a 93MB download for thirty seconds of action, though!