The Tolkien Enthusiast
The Lord of the Rings Movie Project

Related Stuff

Lord of the Rings items that aren't directly movie-related

Personalised Plates

Interest has been sparked in personalised car license plates with a Tolkien related theme. There's quite a list now - see the Plates page.

Signed LotR Auction

Last month there was a mention of a copy of LotR signed by six cast members being auctioned off in Wellington. The only contact info given was a cellphone number. The story behind the auction was revealed on Sunday night (6 August 2000) on New Zealand nation-wide TV:

Three innocent entrepreneurs were let loose on Monday morning from the top of Coronet Peak skifield with just the clothes they were wearing and $5000 each. They were to meet at the top of the Skytower (at the opposite end of the country) on Wednesday night and the person with the most money would win.

One guy ended up with about $3900 after making $30 on the sharemarket, trying to do a hole-in-one challenge, and selling a lot of flowers.

The other guy seemed a little touched in the head and had the ability to spend his money like it was water. His plan was basically to put a sound effects CD together with things like a baby crying, a train going past a level crossing (horn and all), then trying to sell it to music labels. "I'm sorry - we prefer music."

The young lady's big plan was to put together an auction in Wellington with no stuff to start with. SOMEHOW she got hold of a copy of LotR signed by six of the cast members. I have no idea where she got it from because I was watching a different channel at a crucial moment. (AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!) She got $7400 ish.

Oh, yeah. The 2nd guy I mentioned came out at $18,000 after selling two or three thousand CDs to the Warehouse - look for it in their mailer. It's the CD with artificial grass on the front cover.

And that story (from me, no less!) managed to get posted on TheOneRing.net as part of a brand new "Tolkien Silliness" file.

The Lord of the Rings In Single Volume

This should probably also be in a Silly File, but it's not directly about the movies. It never fails to amaze me how egocentric Americans can be, and yet here they are advertising the first time The Lord of the Rings has been published in a single volume. The television advertisment proclaims the following:

The greatest epic adventure of our time, Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. Now available for the first time in one paperback volume. The Lord of the Rings in an edition for the ages.

if you want a copy (QuickTime movie, 1.6MB).

What New Zealanders Live In

Reported to be quite genuine (ie, not a hollow painted box), this medieval keep is actually inhabited in Wellingon, and is quite unrelated to The Lord of the Rings movie project. Is that aluminium joinery? That's not actually what I meant by genuine...

Blizzard Does War of the Ring

Blizzard are reported to be making a new version of their perennial favourite Warcraft II with a Lord of the Rings theme. The picture is supposed to be what the new Human castle will look like.

ICE cuts MERP

The end of an era, but with all those acronyms it sounds a little cryptic. What has happened is that Iron Crown Enterprises, which until recently produced the fantasy role-playing game Middle-earth Role Playing, has run into financial difficulties, which means they are not producing anything to do with Middle-earth any more. Tolkien Enterprises has taken over all their stock, etc. But read their press release to get the low-down on it all. A sample:

... ICE's Middle-earth Role Playing Game has appeared in 13 languages. It is the second best selling role playing game of all time. ICE has sold over two and half million units of MERP and its many fine supplements...

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