Poor Boromir! The fallen hero of The Lord of the Rings trilogy deserved better. So, did classically-trained Brit actor Sean Bean decide to get even by “crossing over” to the other side? Since “Rings”, Sean has played a greedy bad guy treasure hunter in the Nic Cage actioner National Treasure and now emerges in the future as a slick, suave scientist running a facility that isn’t what it seems on the surface in the summer sci-fi adventure The Island. [More]

It's encore time for "The Lord of the Rings Symphony" at Heinz Hall. Last summer's presentation -- with composer Howard Shore conducting the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Mendelssohn Choir -- was such a commercial success that an extra performance was added to the schedule. [More]

Meghan, Online Community Manager for The Lord of the Rings Online writes: In this week's update, Lead Production Artist Floon Beetle talks about roleplaying, gameplay, and some of the challenges developers face when trying to accomodate both roleplayers and powergamers. You'll find the dev diary at here!

Heinz Hall in Pittsburgh will be the venu tomorrow (July 22nd) and Saturday (23rd) for the LOTR symphony performed by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Tickets are still available and are going at a great price! Take a look! [More]

Be sure to click here for more concert dates and locations. [More]

wyvernwell writes: The complete Lord of the Rings trilogy will be shown at a charity screening taking place in San Francisco on August 18 from 11AM to midnight. The screening will be held at the Presidio Theater, 2340 Chestnut Street in San Francisco, in the beautiful Marina District of the city. [More]

ShineWonder writes: I just saw on NZ's tv one show "headliners" that 'Star Wars' creator/director George Lucas is over here in NZ on holiday and spending some time with Peter Jackson. Apparently it is all pleasure and no 'business'. They used PJ's jet to travel to Queenstown (today?).

Ringer Celebriel just returned from an LOTR locations tour in New Zealand, this is her Day Nine report: Leaving Wanaka, we followed the road over the Crown Range for a view of Arrowtown and the Remarkables. The view from the Crown Range looking down on Arrowtown and the valley was spectacular, an amazing mixture of fog, light, snow and muted colors early on a New Zealand winter morning. [More]

PlayStation Portable (PSP)

From gamesradar.msn.co.uk Electronic Arts' fantasy series takes a tactical path to handheld. The quest, the trilogy and the marketing hype may finally be over but JRR just keeps on Tolkien with the announcement of PSP title Lord of the Rings Tactics. We've managed to get our hands on the Sony-only handheld game already and found that with its legions of battles it felt much like Square's Final Fantasy Tactics, but with a WiFi multiplayer element. It also offers you the chance to play on the side of good, with the friendly Fellowship, or to edge towards the dark side and take command of Sauron's orc and troll troops. And just to even things up, EA has added a brand new ending to allow the forces of evil to finally triumph over the puny humans. Lord of the Rings Tactics will appear on PSP towards the end of the year. [More] [Get the PSP]

Andy Serkis ("The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, upcoming King Kong) and Stephen Fry have joined the cast of Stormbreaker, says The Hollywood Reporter. Directed by Geoffrey Sax from a screenplay by Anthony Horowitz and based on the first of Horowitz's series of novels about a reluctant teenage spy, the cast also includes Sarah Bolger, Damian Lewis, Ewan McGregor, Bill Nighy, Sophie Okonedo, Missi Pyle, Alicia Silverstone and Ashley Walters. [More]

Ringer Celebriel just returned from an LOTR locations tour in New Zealand, this is her Day Eight report: After a hearty homemade breakfast at Oliver’s we headed out to our major site for the day, Bonspiel Station at Poolburn in the Ida Valley of Central Otago, where a number of Rohan sites for The Two Towers were filmed, passing by the gold mining town of Ophir on our way. Bonspiel Station is owned by Sue Falconer and her family (her husband Keith sadly passed away last year). The site was found by helicopter location scouts. (The term “bonspiel,” by the way, means “good game” or “good play” as used by the Scots, and the term is also for a curling tournament.) [More]

Jennifer writes: I just wanted to say "thank you" for all your hard work & give you an update on VeggieTales Lord of the Beans. More info regarding the adaptation is here. There are also two trailers online here. I must say that as both a VeggieTales & LOTR fan, I am looking forward to the tale of Toto Baggypants, Uncle Billboy and the fellowship of Randalf, Ear-a-Corn, Leg-O-Lamb, and Grumpy. Especially to see the army of Sforks :-) Oh and also the Silly Songs with Elves.

Today is Sarah McLeod (Rosie Cotton)'s Birthday! Sarah was born on July 18th, 1971 in Putaruru, New Zealand. That makes her 34 years old today! Happy Birthday Sarah!!

From waytoblue.com: Green Street is an award-winning and exhilarating story of friendship, loyalty and honour set against the backdrop of football hooliganism. To celebrate the release on September 9th 2005, we are giving away hundreds of tickets to the screening at cinemas across the UK. For your chance to win simply follow this link! Good luck! [More]

Ringer Celebriel just returned from an LOTR locations tour in New Zealand, this is her Day Seven report: Today’s principal location was the Ben-Ohau Station outside Twizel, where the Battle of the Pelennor Fields in The Return of the King was filmed. At the ranch we met owner Simon Cameron, his daughter Sarah, and her friend. [More]

We are about to enter the time of superlatives. Although JK Rowling's publisher is understandably cagey about what we should expect today, when Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is released, we know we are on course once more to experience a record-breaking publishing phenomenon. The book will have an initial print run of more than 10m in the United States - the biggest first printing of any book, ever. [More]

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 18 600 mailing list members! Sign up now! [More]

Without the latest advances in chemistry, the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy would never have been so realistic, says a scientist using his tools in the film trade. Chemist Norman Cates estimates he made thousands of elves' ears, wizards' noses and hobbits' feet for all three Rings movies. It was the job made in heaven for the former Aucklander, who first started doing make-up and making prosthetics when he joined a science fiction club at age 16. "I taught myself from books I got out of the library." [More]

Scots actor Billy Boyd has told how he almost died when a surfing holiday turned into a nightmare. The Glasgow-born Lord Of The Rings star nearly drowned when he was hit by a giant wave during a break in South Africa. The 36-year-old said: "At one point I was trapped on the sea bed, being held down by a wave and I thought: 'Is it going to end like this?'" [More]

From comingsoon.net: First off, the presentation started with a Q&A with Peter Jackson who was filming a DVD bonus feature for some unknown film (it apparently wasn't King Kong). He indicated that he had hours and hours of behind the scenes footage from his older films like Meet the Feebles and Bad Taste. He indicated he wanted to do something with it in the next year, but he had to arrange time to do it. He also stated that he and New Line would like to do a "Super Uber Lord of the Rings" DVD box set. It's not official, but they all want to do it. Jackson wants to do it showing the making of the film from a different perspective. [More]

In November 1998, Amazon.com Video & DVD opened, with an inventory of more than 60,000 VHS cassettes and 2,000 DVDs. A lot has changed in the past seven years. DVD has a store of its own, and hundreds of DVD titles are added to our catalog every single week. Our customers have certainly kept up the pace, writing over 10,000 reviews of our top five DVD titles alone. Their passion for film is especially evident in the science fiction and fantasy genre--almost half of Amazon's 25 all-time top-selling DVDs are out of this world. [More]

Ringer Celebriel just returned from an LOTR locations tour in New Zealand, this is her Day Six report: As we left Christchurch for Potts Station and Edoras, our guide Anwen noted that we’d passed our last stoplight for the rest of the trip – six days. The South Island of New Zealand is rough golden country, much different from the rich green landscapes of the North Island. We drove west across Canterbury Plain, an agricultural area with open fields west of Christchurch. [More]

LOS ANGELES, CA (July 14, 2005) -- The ‘Ring’ has now come full circle for the worldwide following of J.R.R. Tolkien and his “Lord of the Rings” fantasy books. Indie production house Planet BB is proud to announce the sale of its feature-length film, RINGERS: LORD OF THE FANS, to Sony Pictures Home Entertainment. A rousing favorite at film festivals this year, RINGERS was honored the “Outstanding Achievement in Filmmaking: Documentary” award at the 2005 Newport Beach Film Festival. [More]

The Atlanta-area Tolkien Society Smial (Andúnië) will hold its July meeting this coming Sunday, July 17, at 6pm at the Emory University Catholic Center. For directions and info, please see our website [More]

Tickets are still available for the LOTR Symphony tonight (July 15th) in Philadelphia, PA. The Philadelphia Orchestra will be performing at the Mann Center, follow this link for more. [More]

Christopher Lee can be spotted in Tim Burton's latest film 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' which is out today. Follow these links for Canadian and US showtimes. [Showtimes USA] [Showtimes CAN]

This weekend, Hall of Fire resumes discussing the Silmarillion with chapter 10 – Of The Sindar. After the dramatic rebellion of the Noldor, our focus switches to the rise of the mightiest kingdom of the Sindar – that of Thingol and Melian in Doriath. [More]