Ian McKellen’s episode of “Saturday Night Live” is scheduled to air again on NBC next Saturday 6/22.
Thanks to RobinK for the link.
Category: Old Special Reports
Hullo, Middle Earthlings!
Three things:
First, Middle Earth (Stern Grove) may be cold this weekend…really cold and foggy; don’t forget to bring warm cloaks and leggings.
Second, as this is a potluck, if folks do not bring good food, hobbits shall go hungry. And hungry hobbits are not a pretty sight. So far, we have a strawberry salad made by an elf; peanut butter cookies donated by a Nazgul; and bread pudding, some sausages (more would be better) and a mushroom/vegetable dish cooked by a hobbit. But, at least 35 people are expected, so this food will be stretched VERY thin. If you can’t cook, or don’t have time, please bring store-bought food or drinks.
And third,hereis the URL to our picnic web site, which has a food sign-up and directions/more information
Parking will be a bear: if you can use public transportaion, it would be best. Of course, public transportation makes lugging things difficult. Carrying things down into the grove itself may prove to be difficult, so perhaps hefty people at the picnic will be willing to volunteer to help the newly arrived with loads?:)
Embarrassing admission: I’m having trouble accessing our web site due to my own proxy server; if you’re having trouble, too, you can also try the URL for Stern Grove and its lovely summer long FREE music festival:
Directions & Map & Parking (or lack thereof)
To recap: we will be in the East Meadow of Stern Grove from 11am to 4pm this Saturday, June 15th; there will be a Lembas cook-off, and the judging will take place at 1pm (all entries should be submitted by 12:30pm), and prizes will be awarded to the best elf-chef; there may be a swordfight demonstration, courtesy of the Cloondara Shire; and costumes are encouraged, but not required.
This will be a day to remember!
Regards,
Yarrow (platypus94121@yahoo.com)
P.S. Someone, please bring a camera! Perhaps we can post pictures on the Web.
The influence of J.R.R. Tolkien on the Record of Lodoss War anime series.
The Record of Lodoss War anime series has entertained audiences in Japan and the United States; fans on both sides of the Pacific are captivated by the epic tale of Lodoss and its richly textured fantasy world.
Created by Ryo Mizuno, the world of Lodoss evolved from the source of Mizuno’s true love: role-playing games. In fact, Mizuno is credited with single-handedly introducing Japan to the role-playing game–originally in the form of tabletop dice-rolling game–which became one of the most popular genres in the video-game industry. Today, Japan still leads the way for video RPGs.
Mizuno’s greatest inspiration came from his college days, in weekly Dungeons & Dragons games he dungeon-mastered back in 1986 in Japan. What began as a storyline for a game played by a group of college kids would a few years later be published by Kodakawa Shoten as a series of fantasy novels. These novels eventually were adapted into a 13-volume direct-to-video series released first in Japan in 1991, then in the States three years later. The videos were a hit in both countries and led to a full-length animated motion picture (Legend of Crystania The Movie); a video series of the same name; a Lodoss TV series, The Chronicles of the Heroic Knight; plus several video games. All this sprung from the Dungeons & Dragons games played by a group of college students?
It may seem unlikely, but when you examine the roots of D&D, you begin to see their deep connection to J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings books. The co-creator of D&D, Gary Gygax, willingly admits that many of his ideas for the game came from J.R.R. Tolkien’s trilogy.
“There is no question we were influenced by Tolkien,” Gygax says. “It became apparent to me that the more of Tolkien’s creatures I put in there, the more people would enjoy playing fantasy.”
The concept of different racial characters working together in a group to fight evil (like the group who comprise the fellowship of the ring to protect young Frodo) was an idea in The Lord of the Rings that Gygax really latched on to and made the basis of every D&D game. This idea in turn led to the Record of Lodoss War’s original character roster reflecting a racial mix similar to that of Frodo’s group of companions. Both groups have a grumpy bearded dwarf, one wizard, a few human fighters and an elf. There are no hobbits in Record of Lodoss War, and no clerics in The Lord of the Rings, but both are found in the character classes used by D&D. Instead of calling them Hobbits they are known as Halflings in Dungeons & Dragons. (Gygax admits that they even used the term “Hobbit” at first but it was later changed because Tolkien had it copyrighted.)
In fact, much of how the Western world views fantasy is directly linked to Tolkien’s books. His descriptions of many monsters from old fairy tales were so accepted most people don’t even realize that he had anything to do with it. Many of the fantasy monsters in D&D as well as Lodoss War came from The Lord of the Rings: Orcs, trolls, goblins and (of course) dragons were all found in the world Tolkien created. The first Record of Lodoss War series even goes so far as to send the group of adventurers (composed of an elf, dwarf, fighter, wizard and cleric) through an abandoned dwarven mine in a quest similar to the story of The Fellowship of the Ring.
So from The Lord of the Rings to Dungeons & Dragons and then to Record of Lodoss War, we can see the influence of one man’s incredible imagination as it’s reinvented in the form of a successful game series and, years later, a captivating anime series. With his own imagination set ablaze by the games of D&D he had been running, Ryo Mizuno wove an epic fantasy tale filled with legends, prophesies, courage and conquest.
It’s not easy being a girl. And not just because of the acne and the algebra. There’s also the task of monitoring the ever-shifting landscape of teen popularity. (Boy bands? So last Wednesday.) The current object of their collective affection? Orlando Bloom. Most people past puberty haven’t heard of him, but Bloom just made Teen People’s list of ’25 Hottest Stars Under 25,’ and next month he’ll be named one of YM’s ’20 Hottest Guys.’ (Hint: he’s the one running from fans in those ubiquitous Gap ads.) The Brit had only a minor role in ‘The Lord of the Rings,’ as the pale elf with the waist-length blond hair. But somehow girls saw through the Bon Jovi phenomenon, spotting the hottie hiding beneath that coif. Since then Bloom, who seems intent on dodging the teen-idol mantle, has starred in ‘Black Hawk Down,’ and he’s currently filming a Western. ‘Orlando’s a very serious actor, says his publicist. That’s right, he’s not just eye candy. He’s classically trained eye candy.
-Katherine Stroup
Good news for New Zealanders: Red Carpet Movie Tours is offering a tour to Hobbiton on Saturday June 15, leaving downtown at 8.30am. “After visiting the farm where the Hobbiton set was located we will have a scrumptious lunch at Oraka Wapiti deer farm. Cost is $150 per adult and $75 for children under 12 years. The cost includes 5 star coach travel, a guide who knows his Tolkien, access to film site and a 3 course lunch.”
Interested people should email Email: info@redcarpet-tours.com
From: Colleen There’s a brief blurb about Elijah Wood and Try Seventeen in the July issue of Premiere magazine, page 36.
There is a picture of EJW in a tux, probably taken at the AFI awards last January.
And for My Next Act…
“This is not a teen movie,” Elijah Wood says of this latest project, Try Seventeen. “People hear ‘coming-of-age’ and ‘Mandy Moore’ [his costar], and it’s like a bell goes off.” Wood plays a 17-year-old freshman who never actually attends a class at his “massive state university”, loosely based on Kansas but filmed in Vancouver. Instead, he rents an off-campus apartment and goof off with other tenants (including A Walk to Remember’s Moore). The romantic comedy, which he likens to the character-centric Ghost World, marks Wood’s second acting excursion since shooting the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which lasted an epic 16 months. The first, Edward Burn’s mafia tale Ash Wednesday, “was just what I needed coming back from New Zealand. The whole story takes place in Hell’s Kitchen over 24 hours. I only worked eight days.”
-Brooke Hauser
Also here’s EOnline’s poll for sexiest bachelors, and Elijah makes the grade! Check it out! [More]