News of a couple of projects from some of the Kiwis involved in LOTR. LOTR co-screenwriter Stephen Sinclair and Stephen Papps are behind a play, Blowing It which is travelling round Europe and Britain at the moment. Here in NZ, John Noble [Denethor] and Jed Brophy [Sharku, Black Rider#2] appear in a locally-made film, “Fracture.”

TBHL Staffer Lewman writes: The shirt you’ve all been waiting for is finally available for order. Come check out the new TBHL SWAG shop where you can put your order in for this season’s most wanted fashion item. These t-shirts are a limited edition run of just 500 so go get one now whilst you still can! [More]

From Empire Online: There’s not much point reading this page – the review is redundant and the release itself is something of a non-event. Make no mistake, autumn’s four-disc edition is the most anticipated DVD this side of Star Wars, and the additional footage arguably 2004’s most exciting hour of celluloid; the two-disc tease, however, is for families, not fans. [More]

Ringer Spy Roheryn went to the Cincinnati Flower Show last year. In the spirit of Sam Gamgee, their theme was “Fellowship of the Shire: A Celebration at Bag End.” Roheryn’s sent a report and some excellent photos of the event. [More]

Alex and many other Ringers have written in to tell us of a random mention of LOTR in “One Life to Live”: My mom watches the soap opera “One Life to Live” on ABC and while I was watching it with her, I saw that one of the young characters (a 16-year-old friend of Starr Manning) has the AIM screen name of “Frodo87”. The character is referred to simply as “Frodo” when Starr isn’t online talking to him.

Laurice writes: Here’s a picture of Sean Astin with a pin from the Philippine Tolkien Society. Our thanks goes out to Sharon Watson and Della Starr, organizers of the Starfest Convention in Colorado, and of course to Mr. Astin himself. [More]