Going to Comic Con? This year Sideshow/Weta Collectibles will be offering attendees an opportunity at an exclusive Lord of the Rings bust: The Hooded Rohirrim Soldier Bust. If you want to get this piece, you must pre-order it before the show. Follow this link for details. [Click Here] [High-Res Image in Scrapbook] For those of you not going to the show, they are offering 10% of the edition size via pre-order on their website this coming Wednesday.

The latest newsletter is ready to go! Do you want to receive our free weekly newsletter? Packed with tons of info to keep you up to date on the latest? Plus filled with exclusives from time to time! Join the crowd of over 18 811 mailing list members! Sign up now! [More]

Massive Software announced today a key advancement of the company’s Academy Award-winning 3D animation system for AI-driven characters and digital stunts with Massive 2.0. Now shipping, the 2.0 release adds such features as Smart Stunts, fully anti-aliased viewing of agents and scenes, facial blend shape support, new motion tree workflow, and a host of updates that streamline and speed the software’s overall operation and UI. [More]

Hey you guys! More than 400 Goonies fans from as far away as England and Australia are descending on Astoria this weekend to celebrate the 20th anniversary of “The Goonies,” the much-loved movie that features locations in Astoria and Cannon Beach. [More]

Howard Shore's LOTR Symphony will be playing three concerts in the Toronto region this weekend. Today (June 4th) he will be with the Kitchener Waterloo Philharmonic at the Raffi Hall in Kitchener and tomorrow (June 5th) he will be giving two performances at the Thomson Hall in Toronto. Take a look at this link for more dates and locations! [More]

The Lord of the Rings Exhibition at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. Opens today! (June 4th). From the website: Developed by the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa in partnership with New Line Cinema, this exhibit will appear at only three U.S. venues. This exhibition was made possible through the support of the New Zealand Government. The Houston Museum of Natural Science would like to thank Time Warner Cable and The Examiner Newspapers, our local sponsors, who made it possible to bring this exhibition to Houston. [More]

Ringer Spy TheKnight writes: The renowned Italian Ischia Film Festival 2005 will be hosting as guest speakers Oscar Award winning LOTR conceptual designers and illustrators Alan Lee and John Howe who will be present for a round table discussion regarding the role of natural settings in film at the Castello Aragonese on Saturday 25 June, at 10:00 a.m. With them will be other pluri-award winning Oscar professionals in the field such as Sir Ken Adams, Vittorio Storaro, Osvaldo Desideri and Andrea Crisanti. The Festival runs from 20 to 25 June in various locations on the Island of Ischia. Howe’s documentary film, ‘There and Back Again’, is also scheduled to be shown during the course of events. [More]

TheOnering.net and Hall of Fire is pleased to announce it will be hosting a special Q&A chat with LoTR stunt and body-double Kiran Shah on Saturday June 18 from 5.30 EDT.

In Lord Of The Rings, Kiran doubled as - and did stunts for - all four of the main hobbits at one time or another. He worked most closely with Elijah Wood, doubling for Frodo. [More]

Fantasy fiction has become a dominant force in modern society.

In a time of 15-second attention spans, the longevity of Lord of the Rings shows little sign of abating. And since bursting onto the silver screen in 1977, Star Wars has grabbed and held the imagination of generations of fans. This weekend in Hall of Fire, we'll be asking you what it is about these two tales that has created such an enduring passion amongst their devotees to the extent that each appears to have become a world-wide phenomenon. [More]

Thanks to Robin for this transcript from 'CBC Metro Morning' featuring an interview with Howard Shore: Some of you are no doubt electrified by that music, if you’re a Lord of the Rings fan. This Sunday, Roy Thomson Hall will be taken over by an exotic instrument section and accompanying singing in (Cinderin) and Black Speech, just two of the languages created by J.R. Tolkien. They’ll be part of the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, a full symphonic orchestra and chorus of more than 200 voices, transporting the audiences into Tolkien’s Middle Earth. The two-hour concert based on the hours and hours of music created for the three Rings films, music that won the composer Howard Shore three Academy Awards. [More]

Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley admit they're getting a little confused while filming the two sequels to 'Pirates of the Caribbean'. The problem is they are making the two together so they film scenes out of sequence: Keira: "We were meant to filming a scene from 'Pirates of the Carribean 3' the other day and we hadn't read the script." [More]

Three new wallpapers have been added to the LOTRO site; these are the first LOTRO wallpapers since the new name was announced. Take a look! [More]

Brunettes have won over blondes in a list of the world's 100 most beautiful women, with Cate Blanchett flying a lone Australian flag in the top 25. The top five in the Harpers & Queen magazine list, compiled by 1000 experts from the worlds of fashion, arts and the media, are brunettes. Hollywood star Angelina Jolie topped the poll, followed by model Christy Turlington, Queen Rania of Jordan, film director Sofia Coppola and domestic goddess Nigella Lawson. [More]

Hugo Weaving has had head-turning roles in everything from Hollywood hits to smell-of-an-oily-rag Aussie films. His most memorable creations include a blind hotographer in Jocelyn Moorhouse's Proof; a drag queen in The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert; the creepy, self-replicating Agent Smith in the Matrix films; and that luminous fella with the pointy ears in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. [More]

Bob writes: I just heard on the radio that Howard Shore is Shelagh Rogers's guest on "Sounds Like Canada" on Thursday, June 2. The programme airs on CBC Radio 1 at 10 a.m. across the country. You can find out more about the specific spot (including how to get a transcript) at the Sounds Like Canada web page. [More]

The Mythopoeic Society has announced the finalists for the 2005 Mythopoeic Awards. The Mythopoeic Society will be announcing the winners at Tolkien 2005 in August of this year, and presenting awards for literature and scholarship. The categories are, "Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, Adult Literature", "Mythopoeic Fantasy Award, Children’s Literature", "Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for Inklings Studies", and "Mythopoeic Scholarship Award for Myth and Fantasy Studies." Long time friend of TORn, Anne C. Petty has been nominated for her Tolkien in the Land of Heroes in the Inkling Studies category, along with many other fine scholars. [More]

The Donmar Warehouse has announced details of its forthcoming season. Many of the productions had previously been reported, although new news includes the premiere of a Mark Ravenhill play starring Ian McKellen. As has been known for some time, Neil LaBute’s This Is How It Goes will be followed by Schiller’s Mary Stuart (in a new version by Peter Oswald) beginning July 14 and featuring Janet McTeer, Harriet Walter, David Burke, James Fleet, Barbara Jefford and Rory Kinnear. Phyllida Lloyd will direct. [More]

Charles Ross's touring stage show, "The One-Man Star Wars Trilogy," is as audacious as the title suggests. Without the use of props — or any other actors — Ross sings John Williams's theme music, mimes the crawling yellow text at the beginning of each episode, replicates the sound effects of whooshing X-Wing Starfighters, and impersonates all the characters, even minor ones such as Admiral Akbar, the tunic-wearing squid-like creature that makes Jabba the Hut look like a pretty boy. Improbable as it may sound, Ross accomplishes the whole thing in 58 minutes. [More]

The combination of a killer shark, a waddling alien and a story of humanity in the midst of the Holocaust has driven film buffs to crown Steven Spielberg as cinema’s greatest director...Two other big names of modern film — Peter Jackson, who directed The Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Quentin Tarantino (Kill Bill, Pulp Fiction) — are in seventh and eighth places. They beat Orson Welles, the director of Citizen Kane, who came ninth, and Woody Allen, who was tenth. [More]

Green Books Staffer Anwyn writes: Summer brings a new installment in our Science of Middle-earth series by Olog-hai [More] as well as a picnic basket of new Moon Letters in our fan writing section [More]. If you're a fan of Q&A, look for two important updates to our last Q&A edition, and you'll also want to check the main Q&A page for a special message to Q&A readers [More]. Happy summer days to all!

Garfeimao writes: The fine folks from the parody musical called "Fellowship" just sent me this press release. They will be performing in San Diego during comic con, and the tickets go on sale on June 1. If you will be in San Diego for comic con, do yourself a favor and go see this performance. You'll laugh so hard, and for so long, you just might bust a gut, so be prepared. Read more to find out the details. [More]

Dominic Monaghan will be on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' late tonight on ABC. This is a repeat performance from the April 29th show. He was there to promote the last few episodes of 'Lost'.

Special effects company Weta Workshop has been granted $300,000 of government money to turn the technology that brought The Lord of the Rings character Gollum to life into a home-grown animation industry. The "motion capture" technology used in the films can deliver high-quality animation for TV at a cheaper price than previously possible. The Foundation for Research, Science and Technology gave Weta the grant through its technology for business scheme. [More]

'The Stash' is back! Mina writes: The June 2005 issue of magazine Premiere (France) that features photos of Viggo Mortensen (AKA 'The Stash') taken by David Cronenberg (one was taken by Emir Kusturica) during the Cannes Film Festival. [More]

The Guild of Canadian Film Composers will present a fascinating discussion on Howard Shore’s Academy Award winning music with three distinguished panelists: Genie award-winning composer and President of the Guild of Canadian Film Composers, Christopher Dedrick; Howard Dyck, CBC host of Choral Concert, Saturday Afternoon at the Opera, and Artistic Director of the Kitchener Waterloo Philharmonic Choir’s presentation of The Lord of the Rings Symphony and Doug Adams, author of The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films. The “trialogue” will take place at 5:30 p.m. prior to the evening performance of The Lord of the Rings Symphony in the South Lobby of Roy Thomson Hall, Sunday, June 5, Toronto. [More]

Vicki Shane writes: Canadian artist Ted Nasmith is at the top of his game with a new book, and several new projects in the offing. And his friends (and fellow artists) will tell you there is no one more deserving. Ted Nasmith is not only an exceptionally talented artist he is also a very nice man. I had the opportunity to catch up with him recently at his studio. [More]

From orsymphony.org: The musical journey to Middle Earth begins. This concert event features more than 200 musicians performing music from The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Illustrations and storyboards projected above the stage guide the audience in this otherworldly quest for one ring to rule them all. Tickets start at $15 [More]

The music in the Lord of the Rings has been voted the greatest movie soundtrack of all time. A poll by Classic FM gave 44,000 listeners the chance to vote for their favourite movie tunes. [More]

World famous - in New Zealand and sometimes out. Grant Smithies casts a critical eye over NZ pop culture's most significant figures. People say the best way to understand any country is to become familiar with its great painters, poets, novelists and composers. Not true. To find out how any nation really ticks, go directly to its popular culture...Whenever the conversation turns to local movies, one film-maker bestrides the local landscape like King Kong, namely Peter Jackson. [More]

If you're a Star Wars fan, pop along to #moviechat on the TORn IRC server and join in our 'Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi' viewing party! We'll be starting in just under an hour and then watching the film together. [Join the chat!] (Once in the main channel, type /join #moviechat )