(no subject)

Thanks go out to:

samena - I finally got your Christmas card!

ladysunrope - Two items arrived - and they're both among the ones I kept wanting to get but just never got around to (Footloose and Ladyhawke), so they're perfect choices! *huggles*

And just imagine, I FINALLY got Queen of Evil's parcel with my Christmas pressies yesterday! And they were SO worth the wait! *bounce*



lilithlotr might be interested in this: The Crüxshadow's violinist is leaving the band! *sniff* More info directly from Rogue, in the News section at their website. Too bad, I loved her violin in their songs! But I can understand why she wants to leave, and I hope they'll find someone just as talented to replace her. In better news: There's a preview online for "Dreamcypher", their upcoming new album! *bounce* I would like more faster/harder songs, and again I notice that compared to their live performance, their recordings almost sound sterile, but after a first quick listen to the preview I still think it sounds good, and from my experience with their previous album, their new songs will only continue to grow on me. :) And thanks to Rogue's intro I now finally know how to pronounce their name, LOL!


I'm pretty sure there was someone else I wanted to thank for something or something else I wanted to post, but alas, my brain cell is on strike as usual again...



ETA: *snort* I have no idea why I get an aggressive type as the result...



This is about as far from reality as it can be!

I obviously haven't looked at Sebastian Bach's website in a long while...

And no not the composer, but the former lead singer of Skid Row! :) I just stumbled across his myspace, and apparently he's been touring with Guns N Roses in the US&Canada?! Need to check out the Frameshift 2 CD he mentions, and keep an eye out for his new solo CD which should be released sometime this year!

From his profile: Recurring character 'Gil' on The CW Network's "The Gilmore girls", 4rd season.

Eeeeeeh!! I knew he'd done some Broadway musicals, but not this! Errr, anyone on my flist watch Gilmore Girls? If yes, any idea how much he was in it? I'd SO get that season on DVD if he had a decent amount of screentime...

Don't forget the Hobbit!

I've been remiss in linking the latest Hobbit related articles over on TORn:

http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1167704664

John D. Rateliff Talks 'THE HOBBIT'
Xoanon @ 9:24 pm EST

John D. Rateliff moved to Wisconsin in 1981 in order to work with the Tolkien manuscripts at Marquette University. He has been active in Tolkien scholarship for many years, delivering papers on Tolkien and the Inklings. While at Marquette, he assisted in the collation of their holdings with those Christopher Tolkien was editing for his History of Middle-earth series. A professional editor, he lives in the Seattle area with his wife and three cats (only one of whom is named after a Tolkien character). His upcoming book, History of "The Hobbit," is described by TolkienLibrary.com as "An essential resource book for the forthcoming movie adaptation of The Hobbit."

TheOneRing.net asked John to comment on the recent activity regarding The Hobbit, here is what he had to say: As I see it, there are two paths a film of THE HOBBIT could take, one being to stress its affinities with THE LORD OF THE RINGS and the other to emphasis its independence (it was after all originally written as a stand-alone story).

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http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1167704310

Lynnette Porter Talks 'THE HOBBIT'
Xoanon @ 9:18 pm EST

Lynnette Porter is the author of Unsung Heroes of The Lord of the Rings: From the Page to the Screen and other books about popular culture, including Unlocking the Meaning of Lost: An Unauthorized Guide. She contributed essays to Lembas for the Soul and a chapter in the forthcoming book, How We Became Middle-Earth. She is a frequent speaker about film, television, and popular culture at academic conferences such as the Popular Culture Association, Tolkien 2005, and Hawaiian International Conference on the Arts and Humanities, as well as fan events like ORC and ELF . She has been conducting research at the Tolkien archives at Marquette University and will soon return to New Zealand in preparation for writing two Lord of the Rings-related books.

TheOneRing.net asked Lynnette to comment on the recent activity regarding The Hobbit, here is what she had to say:

How would you feel about another director making The Hobbit?

The importance of the choice of the director making The Hobbit depends on your perception of whether Tolkien’s world can be easily captured on film. Many fans of Tolkien’s book weren’t happy with Peter Jackson’s adaptation of LotR and probably wouldn’t be thrilled with his adaptation of The Hobbit. Some people prefer books to films and won’t be completely satisfied with any cinematic adaptation of a beloved book. Others still believe that a book like LotR never will be successfully transferred to film. Whoever ends up filming The Hobbit will run into this problem of adapting a well-loved book for a very different medium.

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http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1167703707

Amy Sturgis Talks 'THE HOBBIT'
Xoanon @ 9:08 pm EST

Amy H. Sturgis is a scholar of science fiction and fantasy and Assistant Professor of Interdisciplinary Studies at Belmont University. She is the author of multiple books, book chapters, and articles, and a regular guest speaker at universities and conventions across the U.S. and Canada (including the recent ORC and Gathering of the Fellowship events in 2006). Some of her most recent works include contributions to Tolkien on Film: Essays on Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings (2005), Mythlore (2006), and The J.R.R. Tolkien Encyclopedia: Scholarship and Critical Assessment (2006). She is the editor of the first scholarly English edition of Baron de la Motte Fouqué's epic precursor to Tolkien, The Magic Ring (2006), as well as the forthcoming Past Watchful Dragons: Fantasy and Faith in the World of C.S. Lewis (2007). This year Sturgis was awarded the 2006 Imperishable Flame Award for Tolkien/Inklings Scholarship by Heren Istarion, the Northeast Tolkien Society, and was the Scholar Guest of Honor for the Mythopoeic Society's annual Mythcon conference. Visit her official website at www.amyhsturgis.com.

TheOneRing.net asked Amy to comment on the recent activity regarding The Hobbit, here is what she had to say: I find the current situation between New Line Cinema and Peter Jackson to be unfortunate, because 1) this turn of events offers disappointment and even bitterness in place of the love and enthusiasm many Ringers feel for Tolkien's source texts, their adaptations, and the larger Tolkien community, and 2) it also may dissuade future filmmakers with passion, commitment, and vision from pursuing their dreams as Peter Jackson has done, for fear of encountering the same frustrations Jackson has described. In short, it seems bad both for fandom and business for such controversy to repay such success.

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http://www.theonering.net/perl/newsview/8/1168118986

Peter S. Beagle Talks 'THE HOBBIT'
Xoanon @ 4:29 pm EST

Peter S. Beagle is known worldwide for his novels, non-fiction, and screenplays. His most famous work, The Last Unicorn, has sold more than six million copies and routinely polls as one of the Top 10 fantasy novels of all time (Its follow-up, "Two Hearts," just won the 2006 Hugo Award). Peter is deeply involved in Middle-earth, having written the famous introductory page in Ballantine's LOTR paperback editions and the screenplay for Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings. This coming February 6, 2007, Lionsgate Entertainment will release a special 25th Anniversary DVD of The Last Unicorn, with a screenplay by Beagle [FANS: help Peters cause by purchasing your autographed DVD exclusively from Conlan Press!].

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As a fiction writer with some experience with the film world, I'm very clear on at least one aspect of the business: you never know the whole story. That applies to other people, as well as writers -- it's entirely possible that Peter Jackson and Fran Walsh don't really know the deepest motives behind New Line's behavior, and never may. I think it's been so from the days of The Great Train Robbery.

Once, long ago, I said lightly to Ralph Bakshi, "Of course, everybody down there in Hollywood keeps three separate sets of books." To which Bakshi replied, "Hell, yes!" I was joking. He wasn't. I learned all about that when it came time for me to collect the last half of my own miserly $5,000 pay for writing the animated version of Lord of the Rings, only to find that I had to threaten to sue Saul Zaentz in order to get it. (And I am still fighting, all these years later, to try and make him live up to his other promises. Click here if you are curious.)

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