Sharon writes: Today’s LA Times Weekend section contains a glowing review of John Astin’s performance as Edgar Allan…
Continue ReadingSharon writes: Today’s LA Times Weekend section contains a glowing review of John Astin’s performance as Edgar Allan Poe in “Edgar Allan Poe, Once Upon a Midnight.” The show runs through Sunday, October 20 at the Hermosa Beach Playhouse.
“Edgar Allan Poe, Once Upon a Midnight,”
written by Paul Day Clemens and Ron Magid
Starring John Astin
Hermosa Beach Playhouse
710 Pier Ave
Hermosa Beach, CA
310-372-4477
Concept: Get everyone who came the first time to come back. On the marketing front, make sure people realize it’s “the central installment”; never use the word ‘sequel’.
Expectations: Giant. In one of the biggest gambles in movie history, New Line spent about $170 million making all three ‘Rings’ pictures at once. Part I was a smash; the AOL Time Warner unit wants a repeat.
The Buzz: The seasons’ big winner. Industry execs think “Two Towers” could be as huge as last year’s “Fellowship of the Ring.” Helping matters is recent video/DVD release of “Fellowship” that may pique the interest of the nine people who didn’t see the first one. “Towers” has even more fighting, the studio says, including epic battle sequences. And then there’s Gollum, the schizophrenic freak whom Frodo and Sam meet on their journey. “He’s got a good side and a bad side,” says New Line marketing chief Russell Schwarts. “I call this ‘A Beautiful Mind’ in Middle-earth.” (nice quote there Russell, blech -Xo)
Who: Black Label Games (Check out some screen shots from Black Label Games’ LOTR games here), Publishers of the video games based on the books and Surreal Software (The first seven screen shots are from their PS2 game), developers of The Fellowship of the Ring for Playstation 2 and PC. Current confirmed guests are:
Jeff Everett (Fellowship of the Ring Producer at Black Label)
Cliff Broadway (Tolkien Marketing Consultant and TheOneRing.net Staffer)
Andrew Shiozaki (Marketing Product Manager)
Members of the Surreal Development Team
More guests TBD
When: Friday, October 18th 9:00 pm EDT, 6:00 PDT.
Where: The room #Havens on TheOneRing.net’s IRC server irc.theonering.net. Instructions on how to connect can be found here. You can also chat using your browswer with java here.
How the chat works: This will be a moderated chat, so when it begins only the guests and moderators will be able to speak. If you have a question for the guests, PM (Private Message) one of the co-moderators. You send a PM by double clicking on their name or by typing /msg
IMDB: In what is believed to be the largest VHS counterfeiting bust in the United Kingdom in nearly two years, police and the U.K. video piracy watchdog, the Federation Against Copyright Theft, this week smashed a Lord of the Rings piracy factory, the agency reported Wednesday.
Norfolk police and FACT officers Tuesday raided an industrial unit in East Anglia, northeast of London, and found a counterfeiting operation containing more than 200 VCRs and “many thousands” of pirated VHS copies of ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring’ and related artwork. FACT said two men on the premises were arrested and held in custody overnight.
It added that several other arrests are anticipated in forthcoming weeks. FACT said the operation is the subject of what is “likely to be the largest VHS piracy bust by FACT since Feb. 7, 2001, when 1,200 VCRs and more than 70,000 counterfeit VHS tapes were seized.” Known as the Covroc case, that operation is due to go to trial Nov. 18 at Norwich Crown Court.
He is the Keeper of Isengard. The Servant of the Eye. The Black Traitor.
He is Saruman of the Isengard Culture. Correction..he WAS Saruman of the Isengard Culture. Now, in The Two Towers expansion, Saruman has branched out and has spread his evil influence upon the new DUNLAND culture as seen here.
People, all bets are off. And you only thought Isengard would get a leg up…
More to Come
Lao of Gondor
ATTENTION!!! For all LOTR Fans who haven’t yet tried the #1 Trading Card Game of 2002…
International Deck Exchange
DecipherCon Weekend, October 31-November 3
Have you ever been intersted in learning how to play the Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game but were unsure about investing into another TCG? Do you have extra decks of other TCG’s that you can spare? Well then, this is the perfect opportunity to tryout the finest TCG system released in 2002!
Tell all your gaming friends… Decipher is inviting all TCG players to join in the fun of DecipherCon without ever having to leave their favorite gaming clubhouse. Decipher’s International Deck Exchange is coming to a store near you October 31-November 3.
To participate, simply turn in to a participating retail outlet (or official Decipher product champion) a 60-card deck from your current game (any non-Decipher game will do) and we will give you a free starter deck for The Lord of the Rings™ Trading Card Game, either The Fellowship of the Ring™ or Mines of Moria™. Now is the perfect time to pick up this award-winning game, just in time for the release of The Two Towers™ base set, a brand new entry point into this exciting playing community. It’s time to try out The Lord of the Rings Trading Card Game – the top award-winning game of 2002!
* Offer limited to times/dates determined by the participating retail location. While supplies last.
For a list of retail stores that will support the International Deck Exchange in the United States, click here.
