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God shmod, I want my monkeyman!

I've always thought Saruman meant monkeyman in Japanese... (Saru=Monkey)
It's subliminal I tell ya!

We get to see some snippets of the final confrontation between Gandalf and Sauroman

It's Saruman.

If you're going to karma-whore for LotR, at least due it the justice of spelling the names right.

Exit stage left...

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Negative: Offtopic Flamebait Troll Redundant Purchase a ticket for one of the Extended Editions screenings and you are qualified to receive a limited edition The Lord of the Rings Trilogy poster!
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Moderate this comment
Negative: Offtopic Flamebait Troll Redundant Purchase a ticket for one of the Extended Editions screenings and you are qualified to receive a limited edition The Lord of the Rings Trilogy poster!
Positive: Insightful Interesting Informative Funny

WOW!

Blue's News has links for the awesome introduction cutscene (DivX from World of Warcraft game. Also, FileShack (registration required; free or subscription required) has it. It is about 46.5 MB; AVI; 2 minutes and 49 seconds long).

Apple has this introduction cutscene in QuickTime format (non-saveable) as well.

The introduction was almost like watching The Lords of the Rings movies. Amazing! I can't wait for the free open beta! :)

On the subject of talking to the marketing department, I wish they'd release "Requiem for a Tower" - it's a piece of music that was originally from Requiem for a Dream, but they totally rescored it for The Two Towers trailer. It's awesome! I've emailed to get it released, and if you're at all interested in getting this cool piece of music to see the light of day, send feedback here:
http://www.lordoftherings.net/feedback.html
and send email here:
info@theantfarm.net
who rescored the music.

it just shits me these damn copyright laws - that art can be created and then hidden from those who love it.

-- james

And has anyone noticed how much Sheik Yassin looks like Saruman [1] [2]? I knew he was evil and wnated to kill Israeli citizens, but I didn't know he wanted to breed men with orcs!

Hows that it is an amazing mistake - Its the best foilm inanimation this season ! LOTR is cool but...

I thought it was out next month...

LOTR Page says the 17th of DECEMBER...

Fear not! "The Grey Havens" and "Into The West" are the titles of the last two tracks on the soundtrack. I don't see how anyone who listens to "Into the West" (as you can do at the official site) can imagine that this is a "happy Hollywood ending."

This movie will be eye candy. Look at the way it's being pitched -- not by the supreme acting ability of it's characters, but by the specs of the render farm used to generate the computer graphics.

It's being pitched in Wired on the basis of the technology.

It's being pitched to the academy on the emotional pull of the story. Just check out the trailer -- sure, there are FX shots, but they are far outnumbered by people looking nervous, distressed, hopeful. Good drama lies not in the depiction of battle itself but in the anxiety in the buildup to battle -- something Lucas and the Wachowskis don't understand. But if half the trailer goes to those kinds of character moments, it's a good omen.

I'm all for keeping expectations reasonable, but everyone on this thread is being such a downer on the movie without having seen it. Wait until all the facts are in, EE if you have to, and you will understand why PJ & co. made their choices. To the purists: the books are still there on your shelf and the fact that movies are out does not change that. I'm sorry you don't have an open mind but don't spoil it for those of us that do. Besids, it will definitely be the best Part III of any series since Police Academy: Back in Training.

LIST OF THEATERS

A complete listing of showings for the marathon can be seen here

The trailer is also available from lordoftherings.net and also from apple.

800 KB/second! Best trailer download yet! Totally sweet.

Strange, the official lord of the rings site has no info on the new trailer. *shrug*

...if this isn't "News for Nerds" or "Stuff that matters" then I don't know what is:

Tarantino's Kill Bill sliced into two movies

BBC News is carrying a story that Kill Bill, Quentin Tarantino's forthcoming martial arts movie Kill Bill is to be divided into two films. The film, starring Uma Thurman as a female assassin, is being released as two separate 90-minute movies after the early version weighed in at three hours. Miramax decided to divide the film over fears it would lose ticket sales because of its original length. Aren't we all annually queuing up to watch The Lord Of The Rings movies, running at 178 and 179 minutes? Wasn't in just a few years ago we had Titanic running at 194 minutes? And weren't all those blockbusters of yesteryear - eg, Ben Hur (212-222 minutes) and The Ten Commandments (220 minutes) - all about 3 hours in length?

So Kill Bill doesn't register on Slashdot's radar? Yeah right. Want to bet that we see a review of the movie on the front page as soon as it's released?

According to the official site, LordoftheRings.Net, the extended edition will have "35 minutes of new and extended scenes."

Source:
http://www.lordoftherings.net/index_400 _hv_presell .html (Click on the "Click Here" link to pop up the SE info.)

Here's the Official Site if you don't believe someone's scanner for this info.

The opening of The LoTR site has been pushed back until May 2004 after being slashdotted. Peter Jackson has stated that the servers and backend services for the third installment of the series will be beyond anything done for the previous two movies. He hopes it will live up to /. expectations.

This sig brought to you by McDonalds, the War on Terror, and Chevrolet

"...his roll as Gollum"

hehe..."Roll."

Besides the typo, I think Andy Serkis did an excellent job. Watching the Oscars get handed out tonight will probably be an unfortunate reminder to Serkis that the Academy just isn't ready for a computer generated actor.

I think Gollum's performance was amazing, and after reading about it on lordoftherings.net and watching the little video about Andy Serkis (and from the bonus footage on FoTR), I think it is simply amazing how everything down to the facial expressions came from a real actor. That's just incredible.

I made mistake in the last paragraph; the 4-DVD special edition of LOTR:FOTR does not include Gollum making-of info, that'll be part of the LOTR:TTT DVD.

A LOTR:TTT feature about Gollum is available right now on the website at http://www.lordoftherings.net/film/exclusives/edit orial/becomegollum.html

I disagree; in an earlier post I assembled a long argument to this end, and was modded down. This time I'm just going to point to references, and let them argue for themselves.

Here's the side-by-side Osocar poster referenced by other posters of Serkis/Gollum, which gives the general flavor of the process for creating Gollum. (however, I think this does a poor job of showing how important Serkis's performance was to creating the character).

http://www.oscarwatch.100megs18.com/FYC/New_Line/T wo_Towers/lotr10.html

Here's an interview from the LOTR website regarding the process of developing and executing the character of Gollum; click the "Gollum Video" link for an excellent overview of how the Serkis->Gollum process was done; lots of side-by-side video demonstrates just how exactly the gollum performance is based on Serkis's performance. The video also includes testimoney from the FX team as to how important Andy's performance was to their work.

http://www.lordoftherings.net/film/exclusives/edit orial/becomegollum.html

Acting is more than speaking, it includes movement and posture as well. The fact that an entire team of people intepreted Serkis' performance and then modified it completely to suit their needs leads me to believe that it would be quite unfair to his competition to nominate him individually as an actor.

Agreed, it does take more than speaking, but then, Serkis' role extended well beyond just providing Gollum's voice. The movement, the posture -- it all belonged to hm.

It's hard to believe unless you check this behind-the-scenes featurette on the Lord of the Ring website, which gives you a pretty damn good look at how involved Serkis was in the process of creating Gollum...

Serkis involvement went WELL beyond the process of contributing a voice. It was closer to the level of puppeteering.

Isn't this a little like Darth Vader going after Satan? Or the reverse???

Actually, it's more like Sauron going after Cthulhu. Which would make for one hell of a monster movie. Hey, I think I have a new project for Peter Jackson after Return Of The King is finished!

Non Sequitur \Non seq"ui*tur\ [L., it does not follow]
n 1: a reply that has no relevance to what preceded it

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Here are some places around the web for more TTT info/media:

http://www.darthscreencapture.com/LOTR/ttt.html: Trailers and previews.

The Lord of the Rings : The Two Towers Official Movie Site: The name says it all.\

TheOneRing.net(TM)| Lord of the Rings Movie News and Rumors: Very useful news site.

TolkienMovies.com - Lord of the Rings Movie News, Rumors, Photos: Alot of available stuff, but nicely colated.

Hope that helps...

No, there are different vocalists featured this time around: Isabel Bayrakdarian, Sheila Chandra, Ben Del Maestro, Elizabeth Fraser, Emiliana Torrini, and Hilary Summers.

Check out the soundtrack.

THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!!!!

With the new Lord of the Rings website requiring Flash 6 I can drool at the battlescenes here at work with a WHOLE LOTTA bandwidth!

Thanks! You are my savior and I hate Flash a little less (just because of my preciousssss, me wantsss it...)

Here's a link to the video preview of the new cut from the DVD, along with an interview from Peter Jackson explaining why this is not a director's cut:

LOTR:SE QT Preview

Note, it's the same 4 minute preview from the original DVD for those of you who own it.

at lordoftherings.net

For us LotR addicts, a frame by frame analysis is available at:

http://www.theonering.net/movie/preview/ttt_093002 _01.html

Additionally there is official frame by frame footage available at Lordoftherings.net

Why is Slashdot posting tripe like Buffy's New Season when it could be posting real news... Such as:

2002-09-02 05:11:18 LotR: The Two Towers hits net months before release (articles,movies) (rejected)
In what has to be one of the startling security breaches in Hollywood to date, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers has hit the net FOUR MONTHS ahead of it's intended release in theaters according to the Drudge Report, though there is still some question of what was actually obtained and how. If this can be confirmed or denied, it's here on Slashdot.

Or...

2002-09-02 05:20:54 RIAA site hit yet again by disgruntled hackers (articles,music) (rejected)
The RIAA has been hit for a third time in a one month's span as file-sharing fans hacked the RIAA hompage and altered it's content over the holiday weekend. Previous attacks include a DoS assault and a similar alteration. The story and alterations can be found at the MP3 Newswire.

Sure, I'm a tiny bit chapped, but the main portion of my fustration has been replaced with the need to prove how big of hacks and chumps these editors are. Even that -1 I'll be getting doesn't make any difference. I'll tell you when my karma dips below Excellent, kay?

I was looking back over Walden's site, after I submitted the story about the movies.

Here is their official press release. For those too lazy (like me) to go, it summarizes the Chronicles and the movie plans. It also has the date of the official announcement: December 6, 2001.

I guess they weren't doing a huge amount to publicize it. I hadn't heard anything about it until today. Ah well. It was probably overlooked due to the release of LotR.

Hmmmm.... How about an actual release date of Christmas 2004 for Narnia? We'll be done with The Trilogy in 2003. We'll need some kind of good fantasy in 2004.

You Godless Linux atheists can cry all you want about "free speech", but at the end of the day, you're all fucked. Pretty soon, Jesus is coming back and he's gonna fuck the shit out of you, sinners, with his laser eyes and stuff. You know this to be the truth. For all your refutation of the Lord's word, you find yourself inventing monsters out of the benign and belief systems from children's fantasies. Your lives are an utter waste, devoted to false prophets - Darwin, Hawking, Dawkins. Science, Satan's church, holds nothing but lies, broken promises and eternal torment for you. The only chance for your souls is to overthrow your secular humanist manipulators and destroy the evil sects that work within your own borders. You laugh it Italy now, but come the resurrection, you will wish that you had followed suit.

Hey! He did just fine on part 1! Now I just need to wait for good versions of parts 2 and 3.

Wait? Was this thread about Star Wars?

Analysis of the frame with the official movie URL: "Bah. Who's got the frame-by-frame analysis?"

The resonance between this story and the current war is so strong that it's almost impossible to watch it for what it is.

I can't wait till he reviews Two Towers. In fact, I can't wait till the US population as a whole gets wind of this being released!

hehe..if you go to the Lord of the Rings website, it says right on the first page: "LOTR wins MTV movie award for best movie"

I had the highest hopes of any movie since Episode I.

so i guess a little book made into a movie last christmas didn't suit your fancy?

-rp

Hey all, it seems there's a mistake in this article! Here it says that it's on FRIDAY!! Hope you guys catch this before you go on Saturday!! :-P

That was close! I already have my tickets for my 5th screening tomorrow (Friday).

I went and saw "The Time Machine" on Friday....the theatre (being UA) sucked...and the movie didn't really help it. I was a little worried about the movie when I first walked in the theater and found it practically empty. I liked the beginning of the movie (there was a beautifal continuous shot down a flight of steps and through some hallways), and even up to the first time travel. However, after Alexander reached the far future...the whole movie went down hill. First of all, the civilization looked EXACTLY like the communities in Riven, and the underground world looked exactly like Isengard in "The Fellowship of the Rings". The time travel was cool, but as Katz mentioned, there wasn't much. I expected a LOT more as far as character development and more of an actual story. So much was left unexplained and the ending didn't really help. So, I rate this movie fairly low. To see my full review, go to Peterswift.org/html

A quote from my review: "If they had added some monkeys and woodchucks in random places in the movie, it would have been far more interesting and entertaining.

Anyway, it's bogus to assume that future civilizations are going to be more ignorant than we are. We can't avoid all possible dangers to the future citizens of the world.

Haven't seen The Mummy recently, have you? If you had, you'd know that back in the 1920's, we came this close to the end of the world, all because some egyptian religio-engineer figured out a more cost-efficient way to dispose of the dangerous by-products of their culture.

If civilization collapses and people are unable to read English or use Geiger counters, I think they have bigger problems than worrying about one dangerous site.

The Rosetta Stone, which holds ancient greek and egyptian writing, translates to "you of the distant future are damn lucky to have found this, otherwise you wouldn't have any idea what the egyptians were going on about with their wall writings..." Progress is about improving on what your forebears have given you. Fortunately, the egyptians didn't give us much, warning-wise (see The Mummy), so we don't have to contribute much to live up to our responsibilities to our progeny. Still, in the words of the immortal Gawain, 'true men can but try.'

People lose their perspective when it comes to nuclear energy. Over 1,000 people a year die because of the relatively mild CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency) standards, yet we're supposed to worry about one reckless miner 10,000 years from now?

In 10,000 years we won't be mining anymore (at least not here on earth). We will, however, be desperate to return to our so-called 'mythical' roots, so of course many of us will be living underground. In fact, in 15,000 years, all of us will be living underground (the ozone layer having faded to a more distant memory than even /.) As you can see, effective warnings are critical since what you're proposing is storing nuclear waste in people's living rooms and pantries.

As to the CAFE standards killing 1000+ a year, well you'd think after 7000 years of civilization, we'd do a better job of warning people about the dangerousness of heavy technical reference tomes falling from 30 story buildings. Look people, stand out of the way when those things start dropping. And as for the folks losing control of their CAFE Standard reference manuals, there oughta be a law: No CAFE Standard reference book reading above the lobby.

An open arsehole society is inevitable. I was a little surprised last week to receive a forwarded e-mail from J. Anus, who lives in a small town 35 miles southwest of Kabul. This weekend, a movie theater and video store opened up again in Kabul (renting In Deep rearends Day), Afghan TV cranked up, and so did the Net. Americans understand all too well that our techno-driven culture produces wonders and dangers, but it's one of the most popular social and political forces in the world. Passion for pop culture relentlessly undermined anal repressive governments like Pole-Land, East Germanus and the former Soviet Onion. The world, it turns out, really is porous now. Technology and information will squeeze through every closed nook and crevice. The Talibanul never made a dent in the attachment this Afghan programmer and his friends had for it. When his message came, the Talibanul had just fled, Northern Allah arse soldiers had taken over his village, and everybody rushed to barbers to cut off their beards and shave their pubic hairs, they went to nearby holes and hiding spots to dig up their Walkmen, VCRs, TVs, CD players, and -- in J. Anus's case -- his ancient Commodore, one of four in the village. Cafes had popped up all over, with impromptu dances and orgies everywhere. J. Anus's e-mail -- routed to Kabul, then Islamabad, then London -- was a reminder that there are civil liberties, and then there are civil liberties. Computers had been banned under penalty of death by the Talibanul (except for the Talibanul themselves), along with music and TV. J. Anus, a computer geek obsessed with Linux, had first e-mailed me years ago while I was writing for Hotwired. He was anal and obsessed with American culture. He loved martial arts movies, anything to do with Star Wars, and crap. He was perhaps the Talibanul's prime kind of target. (Now he's furiously trying to download movies he's missed and is mesmerized by open source and Slashdot.) "I could still see the dust of the fuck-up trucks carrying the Talibanul out of my village," he wrote, "and some friends and I went and dug up the boards of a chicken coop where I had hid the computer. They might have masterbaten or cummed on Anus if they'd found it. It was forbidden, although they used computers all of the time." He claims American commandos are skulking around dressed as Northern Allah arse tribesmen. Junis describes life under the Talibanul as brutal, terrifying and profoundly boring. What the people in his town -- especially the kids -- missed most was music, posters of Indian and American movie stars (he'd kept his own decaying poster of Madonna), and American TV. J. Anus missed the fast-changing Web and sees, he says, that he has fallen "forever behind," and that programming is more complex than ever. But at least "Baywatch," which everyone in his town acutely missed, is back, and there's already a lot of talk about "Survivor." Junis predicts "Temptation Island" will be the number one show in Afghanistan within a month. If the world needed another demonstration of America's most powerful weapon -- not bombs or special forces but pop culture -- it got it again this week. People all over the planet fuss about whether this healthy and democratic or corrupting and dehumanizing, but people's love for American techno-toys, TV shows, music and movies is breathaking. Watching TV pictures of tribesman bonking on horseback, it's easy to forget that technology reached deep into this culture as well. J. Anus says phone service around Kabul remains spotty, but reporters, U.N. workers and foreign soldiers are wiring up. He's already made his way to some sex sites, and wishes he had a printer. There are many computers in Afghanistan, J. Anus said, many in clusters in cities like Kabul and Kandahar (news reports have frequently mentioned that Bin-Laden's orgazam used both e-mail and encrypted files to cum on cate blanchet). Computer geeks are already hooking up with whores all over the cuntry; J. Anus isn't the only Afghan e-mailing these days. He says other coders and gamers hid their PC's as well. Meanwhile, he's especially eager to get his hands on the Apple iPod, and has been drooling over the Anale website site since he got back online. And some things, of course, never change. "I thought they were going to get Microsoft," he wrote. "I guess .net." A decade ago, when East Berlin teenagers stormed the Wall and crossed over into West Berlin, the first thing many of them did was rush to music stores to buy tapes and CD's they'd been secretly, illegally listening to for years. The Talibanul worked to create the antithesis of the American world, one without technology, computing, the Net, music, or any vestige of popular culture (not to mention women's rights, erections, a free piss or any religion except fundamentalist Islam. J. Anus said people in his town risked their lives repeatedly, not to fight the Talibanul, but to try and listen to CD's and watch videos smuggled in from Pakistan, watched in the dark under blankets and in cellars. It seems the out-cum was inevitable.

Hmm....anyone seem to remember a Webring of Webrings?

"One ring to connect to then all, and in the Ethernet bind them..."

*wince* [Ducks myriad of popcorn and Glossettes from the back of the back of the theatre...

Yeesh. Sorry 'bout that...



What the hell, it's only Karma....

I seem to remember a Webring of Webrings?

"One ring to connect to then all, and in the Ethernet bind them..."

*wince* [Ducks myriad of popcorn and Glossettes from the back of the back of the theatre...

Yeesh. Sorry 'bout that...

Soko

----
Capt' Trips

----
Capt' Trips

Yeah, they say so much good about rings, they give them away, and it's all great until you discover there's a catch. :)

-- B.