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November 08, 2001 - November 23, 2001

Friday, November 23, 2001

Black Friday in the US: Shop till you drop - Calisuri @ 13:28 PST
With the Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring products in full release, please consider helping out TheOneRing.net while you make your Holiday purchase. If you purchase items through our store, TheOneRing will get a percentage of the sale and it will help us to continue to pay our bills! ( No one on the staff here gets paid, we are all volunteer. So the money we do get goes directly to site expenses and then the extra goes to charity) If you purchase items through the Lord of the Rings Store at Amazon.com, we will also receive a portion of the sale. [More]

Tuesday, November 20, 2001

Tolkien DVD Review - Xoanon @ 22:10 PST
Review of "JRR Tolkien: The Origin of the Rings An Authorized Tribute" DVD Video
Trinity Home Entertainment, 2001
Directed by Sean Buckley
Produced by Guy Porter
Narrated not credited

I saw this DVD mentioned somewhere on the web a few months ago; it looked intriguing, if only because it seemed to be a minor mystery in who made it and why, and so I ordered it when I purchased my JVC Lord of the Rings DVD player. I had quite forgotten about it when I received an email saying that it had been delayed, but that it would be mailed soon. Two days ago, it came into my mailbox.

It is still somewhat of a mystery to me. The narrator is not credited anywhere on the DVD box or the DVD disc; yet, he sounds exactly like Donald Sutherland. The photography is mediocre; I mean, this is unauthorized: There are no exclusives with anyone from the Tolkien Estate or Tolkien Enterprises. In fact, there isn't anything at all from either Tolkien Estate or Tolkien Enterprises. There are no images from the Tolkien calendars or "authorized" artistic creations, and absolutely nothing, of course, from New Line concerning the new films.

And yet, there is a charm about this DVD tribute. For, as the title suggests, it IS a tribute to JRR Tolkien and his creation of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

You do get a nice biography of Tolkien's childhood and early years. Author Michael Coren, (J. R. R. Tolkien : The Man Who Created the Lord of the Rings, available from Amazon.com), has quite a lot to say throughout this DVD. Now, I had not heard of Coren before today, but after searching Amazon, I find that he has written at least 6 or so biographies of British authors, (CS Lewis, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, HG Wells). He seemed very knowledgeable about Tolkien.

The other frequently questioned face in the DVD is a professor of English Literature at "U of T" (University of Tennessee? Toronto?) named Dr. Ian Lancashire. Lancashire also seemed very informed and learned of Tolkien's works, and as we find out later in the DVD, he wrote to Tolkien as a young undergrad about LOTR, and amazing him, Tolkien wrote him back. We get to see the letter in the DVD. I admit, I shared Lancashire's smile during this portion of the DVD. How cool would it be, in all honestly, to get a letter from JRR Tolkien? Would it not become a hallowed and valuable family heirloom? It would in my house!

We also get to hear a psychotherapist's take on the whole Middle Earth "escapism" theory; I wasn't sure what was meant with these portions of the DVD. Was this to reassure us that we're all "normal", or was it to warn us against ourselves? Hehe

We also get to hear from two comic book writers, (BONE and Children of the Sorcerer, I think they were), and how Tolkien influenced them. A fantasy store owner talks about how fast movie calendars sold out and how LOTR influenced Dungeons and Dragons and similar-type games.

You then get a rundown of how the various costumes were designed and made for THIS DVD. Unfortunately, the designs and costumes are...well...compare them to the New Line film props and costumes, and these looked rather silly. Imagine the new film being compared to Rankin and Bass's The Hobbit cartoon. You get the idea.

However, keep in mind, this is a TRIBUTE to JRR Tolkien. Again, the idea of tribute works very well with what this DVD has to offer. It is a charming DVD of how Tolkien has influenced so many and what influenced HIM to write this masterpiece. For the price of $17 or so, (yes, it's very inexpensive), it really is a nice addition to your Tolkien collection.

"JRR Tolkien: The Origin of the Rings An Authorized Tribute" is available in either VHS or DVD format.

Score Images - Xoanon @ 14:17 PST
Take a look at the beautiful booklett that comes with the score and the CD itself. Wonderfully elegant, this is great work.


Monday, November 19, 2001

Movie Guide Makes NYT's Best-Sellers List - Xoanon @ 16:35 PST
THE LORD OF THE RINGS OFFICIAL MOVIE GUIDE
HITS THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER LIST

November 19, 2001 -- THE LORD OF THE RINGS OFFICIAL MOVIE GUIDE by Brian

Sibley, Houghton Mifflin's fully authorized, behind-the-scenes guide to the filming of the New Line Cinema trilogy, will debut at #13 on the New York

Times paperback nonfiction bestseller list on November 25th. New Line Cinema releases the first film in the trilogy, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," on December 19th.

Houghton Mifflin has published the works of J.R.R. Tolkien in the United States for more than sixty years, since the 1938 publication of THE HOBBIT.

Houghton Mifflin first published THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING in the United States in 1954, THE TWO TOWERS in 1955, and THE RETURN OF THE KING in 1956.

In addition to publishing THE LORD OF THE RINGS OFFICIAL MOVIE GUIDE, Houghton Mifflin is also proud to offer THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING VISUAL COMPANION by Jude Fisher, and movie tie-in editions of Tolkien's classic works, including new hardcover and paperback boxed sets of THE LORD OF THE RINGS.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS OFFICIAL MOVIE GUIDE
by Brian Sibley
$14.95 paperback; also available in hardcover, $24.95
ISBN 0-618-15403-5 pb; 0-618-15402-7 hc

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING VISUAL COMPANION
by Jude Fisher
$19.95 hardcover, ISBN 0-618-15401-9

FOTR Soundtrack Available In Ireland! - Strider @ 12:09 PST
After reading what happened in Winnipeg, I couldn't resist running down to my local music store and checking if the Soundtrack was here. And the answer is yes, with six different covers, the Soundtrack has arrived in Ireland a day earlier than the November 20th release date!

There are six different CD covers for the Soundtrack, one of Aragorn, Arwen, Bilbo, Frodo, Gandalf and Saruman. They are the same ones that can be seen on the officiall soundtrack site, www.LordoftheRings-Soundtrack.com. I checked both HMV and Virgin Megastore in Dublin City and already it seemed the CD's were flying off the shelves. Virgin had a better choice of different CD covers than HMV. It makes you wonder how many will be available tomorrow..

Monday, November 12, 2001

Weekly Ebay Items - Xoanon @ 21:02 PST
Each week, I scour Ebay looking for the hot Tolkien items up for sale. I post the most interesting here for you to bid on. You can click on any item you wish, it does not mean you are bidding for the item. Have fun and keep checking back here every week! See something I've missed on another auction site? Drop me a line!

TheOneRing.net makes no money from these items.

Lord of the Rings.Tolkien.1st edit. 1954-1955

J r R Tolkien Lord of the Rings DUMMY PROOFS

Lord of the Rings. Tolkien. Signed 1st PB ed

Lord of the Rings movie 14 ct gld THE ONE RIN

Lord of the Rings movie 8 ct gld THE ONE RING

LG. Lord of the Rings Chess Set ~Tolkien ent.

Lord Of The Rings Chess Set (Large)

FINE LORD OF THE RINGS ORIGINAL ANIMATION CEL

JVC XV-LTR1 "Lord of the Rings" DVD Player!

RARE TOLKIEN LORD OF THE RINGS TRILOGY UNAB!

Sunday, November 11, 2001

WETA Series III Pics - Xoanon @ 20:24 PST
Take a look at these high rez, Series III pics from SideshowToys and the folks at WETA. Cool stuff indeed! If you want to pick these things up, click here!

They've also posted Series IV up, but no high rez scans just yet. Series IV]


Meditations on Middle-earth - Xoanon @ 17:04 PST
From: Dave

I was in Davis-Kidd yesterday and saw this book - Meditations on Middle-earth. In it several authors including Ursula K Le Guin, Harry Turtledove, Raymond Feist, Terry Pratchett, George R.R. Martin and the late Poul Anderson, discuss when they first read the Hobbit and/or LOTR and what impact it had on them. There is also an interview with Greg and Tim Hildebrandt and about 25 black and white John Howe drawings. [More]

Friday, November 09, 2001

The Big Breakfast Reviews Toy Biz Toys - Xoanon @ 13:46 PST
From: sirch shaley

The Big Breakfast (Channel 4 weekdays UKTV 7-9AM) reviewed the TOY BIZ figures. If memory serves correct they showed Gandalf, Legolas, Frodo and Strider (!?!?).

Given the current frenzied push of the Potter movies, it was great to see an unprompted independant push for LOTR merchandise. Big Breakfast raved about the toys and said they WILL be the 'must have' toys for Christmas despite the deceptively high price tag.

Thursday, November 08, 2001

New Mithrill figures - leo @ 09:38 PST
Mithril Miniatures has released a new line of Lord of the Rings figures in 54mm scale. They look pretty nice! I believe they begin shipping in December. [More]

Thanks to Joeman for that!


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