Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Random News [:starting June 2011, ongoing:]

Although the May issue of this topic did not receive much attention, in keeping with tradition, I am opening a new Random News section for this new month.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Random News [:May 2011:]

A new month has arrived. And although activity is low over here (and I myself came online very rarely in the past month or so), I am making a new random news section where we can post miscellanea. Keep your news coming!

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Random News [:April 2011:]

So here we are (a bit late), to start the new month !

It has been quiet around here the last weeks, and I'm not speaking for me only (as I know) if I say that after the exciting days we had when our old forum was closed down everything has turned back to "normal"...
As for me, I'm busy as usual (but not for much longer now !) and as the Easter-holidays (at least in Austria) approach also spring has started with some nice weather...
I've listened for news of the Tolkien-world, but there has not happened much beside the start of Hobbit-filming (see below).
On Easter-sunday I will go to Munich to watch a Return of the King-live concert performance to the film... - if anyone will be there as well, just contact me and we could arrange a meeting ;-)

As for you other authors and visitors, how are you and what is happening at your place?
Comment on your own Random News right below...

Monday, March 21, 2011

In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit… "The Hobbit" Production starts in New Zealand

This is an article that appeared on several other sites as well, but here for all our visitors:

In a hole in the ground there lived a Hobbit…

Wellington, NZ, March 21, 2011—Production has commenced in Wellington, New Zealand, on “The Hobbit,” filmmaker Peter Jackson’s two film adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s widely read masterpiece.
“The Hobbit” is set in Middle-earth 60 years before Tolkien’s “The Lord of the Rings,” which Jackson and his filmmaking team brought to the big screen in the blockbuster trilogy that culminated with the Oscar-winning “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.”
The two films, with screenplays by Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Guillermo del Toro and Peter Jackson, will be shot consecutively in digital 3D using the latest camera and stereo technology. Filming will take place at Stone Street Studios, Wellington, and on location around New Zealand.
“The Hobbit” follows the journey of title character Bilbo Baggins, who is swept into an epic quest to reclaim the lost Dwarf Kingdom of Erebor, which was long ago conquered by the dragon Smaug. Approached out of the blue by the wizard Gandalf the Grey, Bilbo finds himself joining a company of thirteen dwarves led by the legendary warrior, Thorin Oakensheild. Their journey will take them into the Wild; through treacherous lands swarming with Goblins and Orcs, deadly Wargs and Giant Spiders, Shapeshifters and Sorcerers.
Although their goal lies to the East and the wastelands of the Lonely Mountain first they must escape the goblin tunnels, where Bilbo meets the creature that will change his life forever … Gollum.
Here, alone with Gollum, on the shores of an underground lake, the unassuming Bilbo Baggins not only discovers depths of guile and courage that surprise even him, he also gains possession of Gollum’s “precious” ring that holds unexpected and useful qualities … A simple, gold ring that is tied to the fate of all Middle-earth in ways Bilbo cannot begin to know.
Martin Freeman takes the title role as Bilbo Baggins and Ian McKellen returns in the role of Gandalf the Grey. The Dwarves are played by Richard Armitage (Thorin Oakenshield), Ken Stott (Balin), Graham McTavish (Dwalin), William Kircher (Bifur) James Nesbitt (Bofur), Stephen Hunter (Bombur), Rob Kazinsky (Fili), Aidan Turner (Kili), Peter Hambleton (Gloin), John Callen (Oin), Jed Brophy (Nori), Mark Hadlow (Dori) and Adam Brown (Ori). Reprising their roles from “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy are Cate Blanchett as Galadriel, Andy Serkis as Gollum and Elijah Wood as Frodo. Jeffrey Thomas and Mike Mizrahi also join the cast as Dwarf Kings Thror and Thrain, respectively. Further casting announcements are expected.
“The Hobbit” is produced by Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh, alongside Carolynne Cunningham. Executive producers are Ken Kamins and Zane Weiner, with Philippa Boyens as co-producer. The Oscar-winning, critically acclaimed “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, also from the production team of Jackson and Walsh, grossed nearly $3 billion worldwide at the box office. In 2003, “The Return of the King” swept the Academy Awards, winning all of the 11 categories in which it was nominated, including Best Picture – the first ever Best Picture win for a fantasy film. The trilogy’s production was also unprecedented at the time.
Among the creative behind-the-scenes team returning to Jackson’s crew are director of photography Andrew Lesnie, production designer Dan Hennah, conceptual designers Alan Lee and John Howe, composer Howard Shore and make-up and hair designer Peter King. Costumes are designed by Ann Maskrey and Richard Taylor.
Taylor is also overseeing the design and production of weaponry, armour and prosthetics which are once again being made by the award winning Weta Workshop. Weta Digital take on the visual effects for both films, led by the film’s visual effects supervisor, Joe Letteri. Post production will take place at Park Road Post Production in Wellington.
“The Hobbit” films are co-produced by New Line Cinema and MGM, with New Line managing production. Warner Bros Pictures is handling worldwide theatrical distribution, with select international territories as well as all international television licensing being handled by MGM. The two films are planned for release in late 2012 and 2013, respectively.

ABOUT NEW LINE CINEMA:
New Line Cinema continues to be one of the most successful independent film companies. For more than 40 years, its mission has been to produce innovative, popular, profitable entertainment in the best creative environment. A pioneer in franchise filmmaking, New Line produced the Oscar®-winning “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, which is a landmark in the history of film franchises. New Line Cinema is a division of Warner Bros.

ABOUT PETER JACKSON/WINGNUT FILMS:
Peter Jackson is one of the world’s most successful filmmakers. His monumental achievement co-writing, co-producing and directing The Lord of the Rings trilogy (with fellow Academy Award winners and frequent collaborators Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens) earned a total of 30 Academy Award nominations and 17 Academy Awards. Jackson and Walsh received their first Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay for their acclaimed film Heavenly Creatures. Jackson, through his New Zealand-based Wingnut Films banner, also was responsible for the globally successful 2005 remake of King Kong which earned over $500 million worldwide and 3 Academy Awards. Jackson most recently directed the Academy Award nominated The Lovely Bones; an adaptation of the acclaimed best-selling novel by Alice Sebold, which to date has earned nearly $100 million worldwide; and produced the global sensation, District 9, which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. He is also developing a trilogy of films with Steven Spielberg based on Tintin, the world renowned comic book series by Herge. In 2010 he received a Knighthood for his services to film.

ABOUT METRO-GOLDWYN-MAYER STUDIOS INC.
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. is actively engaged in the worldwide production and distribution of motion pictures, television programming, home video, interactive media, music, and licensed merchandise. The company owns the world’s largest library of modern films, comprising around 4,100 titles. Operating units include Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures Inc., United Artists Films Inc., MGM Television Entertainment Inc., MGM Networks Inc., MGM Distribution Co., MGM International Television Distribution Inc., Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Home Entertainment LLC, MGM ON STAGE, MGM Music, MGM Consumer Products and MGM Interactive. In addition, MGM has ownership interests in domestic and international TV channels reaching over 130 countries. For more information, visit www.mgm.com.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Random News [:March2011:]

TheJRRTolkienWorld is about to start its third month online !

Comment on your latest Random News below !

Sunday, February 13, 2011

A Forum - different ways to communicate

This night (local european time), i received a message from Beth, who wrote to me that she created a Forum via delphiforums (the exact link being: http://forums.delphiforums.com/jrrtolkien/start ) .
She asked me to post this link on the blog - Beth you could have done so as well by the way - but I will certainly offer her the chance to advertise for this way of communication - which is closer to the old one.
As I stated when creating the Blog, this is not the only possible sollution, although in the first few days it has been well accepted !
Certainly a Blog has advantages to a Forum in certain points, but the other way round is true as well !
There also is the possibility to run both ways of talking at the same time, ......
             but what do I say, it is the members who have to decide what is best for them.

So the chance is offered, but nothing decided yet...
telco

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Song of the day.

So, let's continoue posting our favourite songs.
For today, my favourite song is My Village of the Sand by Blackmore's Night. And i dedicate those lyrics to Arien!->

He was different than the others in my Village on the Sand...
He told me of the years he'd spent on the stormy seas
Then he spoke a poet's words of philosophy
And when he had to leave again he asked me for my hand
And I knew I'd never see again my Village on the Sand...





Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Selected Tolkienforum.co.uk Archive

Dear friends,

Seeing how HarperCollins closed down tolkienfourm.co.uk today, I consider it is the right time to make available my work from last week. What I'm talking about is the archive of the forum, which HC did not agree to hand over.

I did not save everything on the forum, but I believe you will find that the most interesting discussions are among the files I deemed worthy of preservation.

I compiled the archive in two formats: Word document & Adobe pdf. I will provide links to download either of these archives. The pdf is larger in size, and my recommendation is that you download the doc archive instead; the pdf nevertheless is sure to work on any kind of computer without fear of changed fonts, non-openable documents, etc. If you use Microsoft Word 2003 or 2007 there should be absolutely no problem with the doc archive.

There are multiple links for each archive, to have an alternative just in case you cannot download from one of them. The second link for each (Transfer.ro) is the most straightforward: there are no waiting times or complicated page navigation issues, but it only works for 10 days, after that the files getting deleted by the hosting server.

DOC ARCHIVE LINKS

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FVI3THNJ - Megaupload link

http://dl.transfer.ro/Selected_Tolkienforum.co.uk_Archive_.DOC-transfer_RO-08feb-d6967d.zip
- Transfer.ro link (this will only work until 18 February)

http://rapidshare.com/files/446826929/Selected_Tolkienforum.co.uk_Archive_.DOC.zip - Rapidshare link


PDF ARCHIVE LINKS

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=9DR7C6BD - Megaupload link

http://dl.transfer.ro/Selected_Tolkienforum.co.uk_Archive_.PDF-transfer_RO-08feb-31c52e.zip - Transfer.ro link
(this will only work until 18 February)

http://rapidshare.com/files/446827658/Selected_Tolkienforum.co.uk_Archive_.PDF.zip - Rapidshare link

Copy any of the links in your browser address bar and click enter. The archives are in a .zip format, which any computer should be able to unpack. After that, you'll have a folder with several subfolders containing the saved information.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Where Our Visitors Come From...


Just to add a little bit of colour to the blog (and test the picture-options), a little chart showing the coutries from which this site has been acessed... (the more green there is, the more often)
Unfortunately beside the US and Australia the others are small European ones, so not that visible,...
We should ask someone from Russia to join ;-)


Friday, February 4, 2011

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Sunday, January 30, 2011

How this Blog Works...

Because Beth raised the question as a comment in one of the posts below, a little explanation on how this Blog is supposed to work:

The most important page is the Home(page), the others i.e. JRRTolkien, Works by JRRT, Blog Authors are static pages.
Posts are published on the Home(page). Everyone who is listed as author should be able to post there. All other users and the authors as well can leave "comments" to posts by simply using the comment-link below each post. then you can also read what others commented on various posts (which also works when using the title as a link).
I suggest that (like it was in the forum), if someone wants to create a new "topic" he/she makes a "post" - others answer and talk about it via "comments".
The "General Discussion and News [:'month':]" post will be added by me (or someone else if I can't) at the start of every month as a new way of "Random News"...

The static pages are supposed to be filled within the coming weeks (see the "Help Me fill the Blog-Pages"-post). Works by JRRT is already done and the Blog-Authos list will be updated when necessary. If there is anyone who has the time to write a little bit for the JRRTolkien-biography-page I would be very happy !
These pages are not supposed to be changed but only updated from time to time - all contributions welcome !

I hope that this will answer the most important questions to all....
For all other matters use the "comments" ;-)
telco