After learning about Viggo’s book signing from TORN, I rushed down to the International Center of Photography tonight after work. In the pouring rain people began to line up. I got there at 5:30 pm and the line had already stretched out the door and around the block! We were a bit miffed that the store would only allow 20 people inside at a time but still everyone waited – no one deserted the line. We chatted as umberalls were opened and shared.
By 6:00 pm Viggo arrived (on time!) and saw everyone waiting in what was now a raging thunderstorm. This man cares for his fans! He insisted ICP bend the rules and let the fans line up inside out of the rain and they relented! Thank you Viggo for getting us in out of the rain! It was crowded and noisy but very well organized considering.
Viggo took his time with everyone who went up to ask for his signature. He signed everything presented and made everyone feel that they were special by looking into their eyes. Before you could say anything he was asking you for your name and saying thank you to you for showing up! A true gentleman! He posed for photos with anyone who asked.
Well by now he is off having dinner with Billy Boyd who is also in town and appearing out at Stony Brook at the SciFi convention being held there. I’m home and very happy to have met a truly creative man. (Thanks to Zorina for this first report about Viggo’s appearance!!)
Super Ringer Spy Trueogre has managed to score some images of the packaging for the various Special Edition Fellowship of the Ring DVD sets that will be released on November 12th.
This image shows the ‘A’ packaging for the 4-disc Special Edition, which is identical to the packaging and artwork of the two-disc set released on August 6, except that the art has a blue hue instead of a rusty yellow hue.
The next packaging, the ‘b’ packaging is a ‘Limited Edition’ case which appears to be like a leather book on the outside, and has the words ‘Extended DVD Version’ on the front. A similar style was adopted for Limited Edition version of the Fellowship of the Ring Soundtrack.
The next packaging, the ‘c’ packaging is the Collector’s DVD Gift Set box, designed by Alan Lee, from an angle that highlights the construction of the box. The gift box includes the ‘b’ packaged 4-DVD set from above, two bookend statuettes by sculptor Sideshow Weta, the National Geographic “Beyond The Movie” DVD, and several collectible Decipher game cards. There is a rumour that a minidisc featuring a ten minute preview of The Two Towers, but that is strictly rumour.
A closer look at the Bookend Statuettes that come with the Collector’s Gift Box, based on the Argonath from Fellowship of the Ring and sculpted by Sideshow Weta.
Finally, we see another shot of the Collector’s DVD Gift Set from the front, clearly showing the spine of the leather-bound Limited Edition case for the four Fellowship of the Ring DVDs. Presumably, the fifth DVD in the set is the National Geographic “Beyond The Movie” documentary.
The nominees for the 2002 Hugo Awards have just been announced, and three Tolkien-related things are in the running, two books in the category for Best Related Book (nonfiction), and one film for Best Dramatic Presentation.
Meditations on Middle-Earth, edited by Karen Haber is a collection, illustrated by John Howe, of essays about Tolkien by seventeen writers, including Orson Scott Card, Ursula K. Le Guin, Raymond E. Feist, Terry Pratchett, Charles de Lint, George R. R. Martin, Karen Haber, Poul Anderson, Michael Swanwick, Esther M. Friesner, Harry Turtledove, Robin Hobb, Diane Duane, Douglas A. Anderson, Lisa Goldstein, Glenn Hurdling (in conversation with Tim and Greg Hildebrandt) and Terri Windling. Excerpts from five of these essays are previewed at Green Books. [More]
Green Books also has an interview with Tom Shippey, for his nominee J.R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century. [More]
The 2002 Hugo Awards will be announced and presented at a ceremony on the evening of Sunday, September 1, 2002 in the San José Civic Auditorium during ConJosé. For a full list of the nominees click here [More]
BEST RELATED BOOK (six nominees total)
Meditations on Middle-Earth by Karen Haber, ed. (St. Martin’s Press/A Byron Preiss Book) J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century by Tom Shippey (HarperCollins (UK) (2000);Houghton Mifflin)
BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION (five nominees total)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (New Line Cinema/The Saul Zaentz Company/WingNut Films) Directed by Peter Jackson; Screenplay by Fran Walsh & Phillipa Boyens & Peter Jackson; Peter Jackson, Barrie M. Osborne and Tim Sanders, Producers; Michael Lynne, Mark Ordesky, Robert Shaye, Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein, Executive Producers.
CONJOSÉ, THE 60TH WORLD SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION PO Box 61363, Sunnyvale CA 94088-1363 USA press@conjose.org; http://www.conjose.org/
The nominees for the 2002 Hugo Awards have just been announced, and three Tolkien-related things are in the running, two books in the category for Best Related Book (nonfiction), and one film for Best Dramatic Presentation. Meditations on Middle-Earth, edited by Karen Haber is a collection, illustrated by John Howe, of essays about Tolkien by seventeen writers, including Orson Scott Card, Ursula K. Le Guin, Raymond E. Feist, Terry Pratchett, Charles de Lint, George R. R. Martin, Karen Haber, Poul Anderson, Michael Swanwick, Esther M. Friesner, Harry Turtledove, Robin Hobb, Diane Duane, Douglas A. Anderson, Lisa Goldstein, Glenn Hurdling (in conversation with Tim and Greg Hildebrandt) and Terri Windling. Excerpts from five of these essays are previewed at Green Books Green Books also has an interview with Tom Shippey, for his nominee J.R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century. More
The 2002 Hugo Awards will be announced and presented at a ceremony on the evening of Sunday, September 1, 2002 in the San José Civic Auditorium during ConJosé. For a full list of the nominees see here
BEST RELATED BOOK (six nominees total) Meditations on Middle-Earth by Karen Haber, ed. (St. Martin’s Press/A Byron Preiss Book) J. R. R. Tolkien: Author of the Century by Tom Shippey (HarperCollins (UK) (2000);Houghton Mifflin)
BEST DRAMATIC PRESENTATION (five nominees total) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (New Line Cinema/The Saul Zaentz Company/WingNut Films) Directed by Peter Jackson; Screenplay by Fran Walsh & Phillipa Boyens & Peter Jackson; Peter Jackson, Barrie M. Osborne and Tim Sanders, Producers; Michael Lynne, Mark Ordesky, Robert Shaye, Bob Weinstein and Harvey Weinstein, Executive Producers.
CONJOSÉ, THE 60TH WORLD SCIENCE FICTION CONVENTION PO Box 61363, Sunnyvale CA 94088-1363 USA [Conjose press@conjose.org
Ringer Spy Albertine sends along this scan from ‘Vanity Fair’ Magazine with a great photo spread and article about Cate BLanchett (Galadriel)
The “Vanity Fair” special Hollywood (April) issue has a double-page spread on Cate Blanchett (Galadriel), the “Elegant Classic”
“For all the visual jiggery-pokery on display in FOTR, the greatest special effect of all turned out to be Cate Blanchett’s face, her features as timeless and mysterious as a sphinx’s (or Garbo’s). That such ethereal beauty could still be the product of nature and not some C.G.I. sweatshop, that a woman playing an elf can steal your breath away as no digital Balrog can, must have come as a relief to Hollywood’scarbon-based talent pool. Yes, actors still have their uses. Blanchett showed off three in the space of a single holiday season, nailing roles as diverse as the aforementioned figment of Oxford imagination; a Scottish spy passing for a French housemaid (Charlotte Gray): and, in a performance in which she usurped Cher’s mantle of white-trash-charisma-queen, an all-American slattern named Petal (The Shipping News). Oh, and there was alos her role as the unhinged housewife with flashing eyes in last October’s underappreciated Bandits. More people should have seen her steal the picture.”
Intrepid Kiwi explorer and LOTR fan KiwiSamFan managed to find the location that was used in filming Weathertop. About 2 years ago Thorongil and I went looking for the same location but we didn’t have her luck! [More though we felt pretty happy that we’d found a whole lot of bizarre limestone formations like it, out there in the middle of nowhere, so we were pretty close. But not as close as KiwiSamFan got!
“I found Weathertop!! How lucky am I!?? I knew the general area that it was in and thought why not have a look, what have I got to lose? So out I went down a gravel road through some spectacular scenery…I knew I was on the right track as there were some amazing rock formations that reminded me of Weathertop…Can you believe that the first farmhouse that I picked to go up to was the right one…??
I found the farmer and said to him this might sound a bit weird but was LOTR filmed out here and he was like yes, um how did you know that? I said that I knew it was in this area and that I figured I would ask around and there I was…He said that if I went up the hill past the woolshed I would be able to see it. He told me to get on the back of his very cool 4-wheel bike and he would take me up…I knew it as soon as I saw it, it is so distinctive, I took a couple of photos but my camera doesn’t have a zoom and it was quite far away, I guess I must have looked a bit sad because he said come on I’ll take you out there…WHOOPEE!!
It took about 35 minutes lots of bumps up hill down dale stuff, it was a real white knuckle ride! I felt like I was clinging on for dear life. I said “are you sure that we won’t tip over?” He just laughed, we went real fast it was so much fun I screamed my head off…I could see that we were getting closer and closer he stopped a few times for me to take photos…then we were there! I could see the overhanging limestone outcrop where Sam, Pippin and Merry had their fire and made their tomatoes and nice crispy bacon just before the Ringwraiths approached and Frodo woke up to put the fire out. I climbed right up there – what an awesome feeling to be standing there, great view too.
The farmer is such a wonderful guy! I never dreamed that he would take me all the way out there…He has been there for only 8 months so he wasn’t there when they filmed, he said that I am the first person to go out there and ask to see the site how amazing is that I felt sure people would be interested in it…He said that he would be happy for me to visit again and to bring a few people out, he said if I wanted to I could camp out there like they did in the film, how cool would that be…All he asks is that next time I come I bring a couple of dozen beers – What a great guy eh! I posted about this on the discussion board got a good response too, I just had to share it with all my TORnsibs and you.”
Anyone wanting to join KiwiSamFan on another expedition, if you can’t find her on the messageboard then email me and I’ll send on your request. It’s REALLY out of the way, you’d need a car.
