‘Now the Three Kindreds of the Eldar were gathered at last in Valinor, and Melkor was chained. This was the Noontide of the Blessed Realm, the fullness of its glory and its bliss, long in tale of years, but in memory too brief.’ (The Silmarillion)
A shadow begins to creep across the Blessed Realm. Fëanor, Spirit of Fire, is born, consuming the strength of his mother and monopolising the love of his father. In the pursuit of all his purposes eager and steadfast. Few ever changed his courses by counsel, none by force. Then the Valar release Melkor from his bonds, thinking him cured of evil. Finally, Fëanor, creates the most wondrous and awesome of all the works of the Elves, the three Silmarils.
Much of the history of Middle Earth is wrapped up in these events, from which many joys and great sorrows will come. Was Manwë naive to believe that Melkor was cured of all evil? What affect did the loss of his mother have on Fëanor? Did Melkor teach Fëanor to make the Silmarils? These questions and more will be discussed this weekend in #thehalloffire as we continue our study of The Silmarillion with R20;The History of the Silmarils; Chapter 6 – Of Fëanor and the Unchaining of Melkor and Chapter 7 – Of the Silmarils and the Unrest of the Noldor.
=== Place:
#thehalloffire on theonering.net IRC server. Need instructions? Go here: http://www.theonering.net/barlimans/instructions.html
=== Topics
Do you have a topic you’d dearly like to talk about in Hall of Fire? Perhaps it’s an old one that we’ve done before or maybe it’s something completely new! Drop us a line at halloffire@theonering.net and tell us your idea. If we choose to use it, you can even have an opportunity to be a Guest Moderator for the day!
=== Chat Times:
Saturday Chat: 5:30pm EST (17:30) [also 11:30pm (23:30) CET and 7:30am Sunday morning AEST]
Sunday Chat: 8:00 pm (20:00) CET [also 2:00pm (14:00) EST and 4:00am Monday morning AEST]
EST = Eastern Time, USA’s East Coast CET = Central European Time, Central Europe AEST = Australian East Coast
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The writer of The Lovely Bones is coming to New Zealand for the Auckland Writers & Readers festival. In a recent intreview she talked about how “totally excited she was that Peter Jackson would be making that book into a film.
This is the end of the interview by Linda Herrick that appeared in The Weekend Herald on Feb. 12:
Sebold – who is working on a new novel but won’t talk about it – says she is thrilled that The Lovely Bones , the movie, is in Peter Jackson’s hands. “I don’t have much to say about the movie because it’s all very new but I’m not that different from anyone else – I really hope it’s good.
“I’m totally excited about Peter Jackson. Compared to so many other people who are big and making movies he actually seems like he really makes movies, if you know what I mean. I can imagine why actors from around the world would want to come to New Zealand to work with him. Hollywood is repulsive and if he can build his own alternate reality, that would be great.”
Alice Sebold appears at the Auckland Writers & Readers Festival on May 20. More information on their website. [More]
‘She spoke no word; but being filled with love. Elwë came to her and took her hand, and straightway a spell was laid on him, so that they stood thus while long years were measured by the wheeling stars above them; and the trees of Nan Elmoth grew tall and dark before they spoke any word.’ (The Silmarillion)
What better way to spend Valentine’s weekend than with this sweet and enduring love story? Tolkien has often been criticised for neglecting the more romantic elements of his history, but in this chapter of the Silmarillion, we see that romance is far from non-existent in Middle Earth. This couple, and their progeny, are deeply entrenched in every great love story of Tolkien s imagination, from Beren and Lúthien to Aragorn and Arwen.
Moving on, we see the elves at last arrive in Valinor, and are taught and blessed by the Valar. We also see how the different groups of elves continue to grow apart, laying the foundations of much future sorrow.
But for now, the lands are filled with love, beauty and the light of the two trees. So, join us this weekend in #thehalloffire as we continue our study of The Silmarillion with The History of the Silmarils; Chapter 4 – Of Thingol and Melian & 5 – Of Eldamar and the Princes of the Eldalië.
=== Place: #thehalloffire on theonering.net IRC server. Need instructions? Go here: http://www.theonering.net/barlimans/instructions.html
=== Chat Times: Saturday Chat: 5:30pm EST (17:30) [also 11:30pm (23:30) CET and 8:30am Sunday morning AEST]
Sunday Chat: 8:00 pm (20:00) CET [also 2:00pm (14:00) EST and 5:00am Monday morning AEST]
EST = Eastern Time, USA’s East Coast CET = Central European Time, Central Europe AEST = Australian East Coast
_______________________________________________ Hof-announce mailing list Hof-announce@theonering.net http://www.theonering.net/mailman/listinfo/hof-announce
Academy Award-winning special effects maestro Richard Taylor will showcase his extraordinary talents and share his experiences from the set of The Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy during a weekend program exclusive to the Powerhouse Museum, 26 – 27 February.
Richard Taylor and partner Tania Rodger head New Zealand’s Weta Workshop, one of the film industry’s biggest special effects companies. In collaboration with director Peter Jackson, Weta Workshop was the creative force behind the hugely successful The Lord of the Rings film trilogy that captivated millions around the world.
Weta created the special make-up effects and prosthetics, miniatures, armour and weaponry, and provided the design, fabrication and on-set operation of the creatures that featured throughout the films as well as the full range of digital services from simple compositing through to animation of fully computer generated creatures. This unprecedented undertaking earned Richard Taylor four Academy Awards, with Weta garnering five BAFTAs and six Academy Awards to date.
Saturday 26 February, 1pm – 3pm
See Weta magic first hand as Richard Taylor transforms The Lord of the Rings actor Jed Brophy into one of the gruesome characters from the film trilogy. Jed will be dressed in the authentic costume, armour and weapons that he wore in the films as the orc Snaga and you can witness the character unfold as Richard applies the final prosthetic touches including his hair, contact lenses and teeth. Q&A session will follow. Cost: $45 adults, $40 students, $75 for both events.
Sunday 27 February, 10am – 12noon
Richard Taylor and Tania Rodger will talk about their special effects journey from the beginnings of Weta to their worldwide success and recognition with The Lord of the Rings films. Hear about the trials and tribulations of making the trilogy, the unique individuals pulled together to complete the mammoth task, the camaraderie of the cast and crew, and life beyond Middle-earth. Q&A session will follow. Cost: $45 adults, $40 students, $75 for both events.
Seats for both events are strictly limited. Book now through Ticketmaster7 on 136 100. Visit www.powerhousemuseum.com/weta for details.
This special weekend program is exclusive to the Powerhouse Museum in conjunction with The Lord of the Rings Motion Picture Trilogy – The Exhibition now showing. This blockbuster exhibition takes visitors behind the scenes of the film trilogy to marvel at the costumes, jewellery, weapons and props created by the Weta team, plus hear exclusive interviews with cast and crew and discover the secrets behind the award-winning special effects.
Tim from Lumière Industries writes: Thought you’d like to know about an event on interest which my website, “The Lumière Reader”, is involved with. Called “Semi-Permanent”, the conference is Australasia’s largest design and creative event, taking place first in Auckland, NZ (March 12), and then the following weekend in Sydney, Australia (March 18/19)
Featuring a number of international speakers from design/creative backgrounds, Weta Digital are the main draw-card as far as digital/animation/motion graphics industries are concerned – although I suspect there may be some diehard LOTR fans out there who would like to know more about Weta’s appearance.
The event is open to anyone, and is very much an energetic event designed more around lively presentations and interaction between guest speakers and attendees, with a youth focus. Anyway, if you want to find out more, visit the Semi-Permanent link on our website’s front page – there’s a brief write-up, some modest coverage on the guest-speakers to come, and enough info there to get a better idea of what I’m talking about. [More]
FEBRUARY 5, 2005 — So there we are mid-festival week in Park City at the exclusive William Morris party and all we can think of is to get out of there, go back to our log cabin and get some sleep. Our schedule was quite intense and we did not expect all the attention that we (Ringers: Lord of the Fans) were receiving. We were exhausted. Cliff and I had to wake up at the crack of dawn to do a live radio interview on x96 – Salt Lake City’s “Local, Independent, Alternative Radio from Hell.” A very progressive and hip station indeed. Carlene couldn’t attend the interview because of our 9:00am Press Screening that same day back in Park City. She had to introduce the film with Tom DeSanto and do an equipment check with Josh Mandel.
We drove 40 minutes to Salt Lake City, making sure to be early, so we could rush back to Park City afterwards to catch the end of our Press Screening for a Q & A at 10:30am…then an interview for Wired.com News at 11:00am…then an interview with Sci-Fi.com at 11:30am…and so on. Like I said – we were jamming!
We step in the sound booth and meet the morning DJ’s – Kerry Jack Jackson, Bill Allred and Gina Barberi. x96 has selected two documentary films to talk too this morning – La Sierra and Ringers: Lord of the Fans. La Sierra’s filmmakers went on first and gave a great interview. It sounded very interesting. Cliff and I both thought to ourselves “Jeez, we’re gonna sound all silly and goofy after an interview like that.” Next thing, we hear Bill Allred proclaim “And next for all you LOTR geeks, we’ll be right back with the filmmakers of Ringers: Lord of the Fans!”
We stepped in front of the microphones and instantly snapped alive. It went amazing. The DJ’s were enjoying our energy, passion and enthusiasm about our project and asked us to stay on a few minutes longer. We were ecstatic! Cliff, being the Tolkien guru that he is, provided a great deal of insight for the listeners. We also talked about being two LOTR fans ourselves: Cliff from his childhood being a huge fan of the book, and myself a fan of Peter Jackson’s trilogy and how it’s now driven me back to read the books. Then out of nowhere Bill Allred starts speaking Elvish live on the radio! We were cheering! The DJ’s were so in sync with our message and film that it almost seemed like they had seen a screener copy of it. They really got it and us because they where Ringers themselves. Then Kerry Jack Jackson cautiously asked “Not to even bring this up, but this film is not like (pause) Trekkies is it?” I replied “ No, Ringers: Lord of the Fans is as smart as it’s audience.” Bill then said “that is a perfect way to wrap this up.” We couldn’t have written a better interview.
