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LotR RotK Premiere Today In New Zealand
donnz writes "Things are getting a little out of hand in Wellington today. For those of you who have not spent the night sleeping on the sidewalk CityLink have been wiring up webcams all over the place. Keep up with all the news and links on Stuff.co.nz. Just to show we are twice blessed, the sun is shining."
Your ideas are intriguing to me, and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
not fair. why not do a world wide release all at the same time?
I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
The last few months I have been doing some research into the trolling phenomenon on slashdot.org. In order to do this as thoroughly as possible, I have written both normal and troll posts, 1st posts, etc., both logged in and anonymously, and I have found these rather shocking results:
Feel free to use this information to your advantage. I thank you for your time.
Having a live stream get /.ed is never a good thing for servers. I'm a /. subscriber and the server already started it's downward spiral before the story went live.
I'm starting up giFTd tonight :D.
ROFL.
8th post!!!! damn. that was tough!!! i kept rerefreshing and refreshing.
a/s/l here. Sorry, adding domain tags to your s
It's also cool to note that they're using Linux and KDE in some of the rendering. See here for more details and screenies.
As I understand the people of NZ were more than gracious to the film crew. Also who can deny the lush beautiful landscapes that NZ provided. I think it's only fair they get to see the movie a few weeks before we do. On a side note, with the success of a more than excellent translation of LOTR by Jackson, anyone else hoping that one day he may do a King Arthur tale? Perhaps a Once and Future King trilogy?
got to do, got to do with it.
who needs a poot when the butt hoal is pooping?
n/t
Do we really need to see more running and more running and yet more running and then more Hobbit man love?
Peter Jackson betrayed us all by not making LoTR in to a Meet the Hobbits or Dead Alive Frodo hilarious gorefest. Instead he chose to make LoTR in to a faithful adaptation of one of the most boring and cliche books ever written.
To see LoTR's box office success and to hear so many people fawning over it is to witness just how pathetic mainstream taste in movies is.
I just hope someone does a parady of this shitfest soon.
Weather couldn't be nicer for those of us here in Welly. I'm gonna go get me a good seat now, somewhere near the fell beast on top of the Embassy Theatre.
No, this is the premier for the stars... the rest of us New Zealanders will still have to wait a couple more weeks before it is released to the public.
(squeel of geekish delight)
I just hope someone does a parady of this shitfest soon.
It's been done, kind of: Wizards by Ralph Bakshi.
-kgj
-kgj
These don't seem to be /.ed yet, at least, they're working for me (sourced from http://www.wellingtonnz.com/cam/cam/index.html)
Downtown Courtenay Place (http://palantir.citylink.co.nz/courtenay/)
Uptown Courtenay Place (http://webcam.citylink.co.nz/reading/)
The red carpet (live 12noon NZ time) (http://palantir.citylink.co.nz/midland-park/ and http://palantir.citylink.co.nz/traffic/)
Unfortunately no cams yet running from *inside* the cinema
If you live in NZ, you can get some visit live streaming cams from the link above.
These don't seem to be
-
Downtow Courtenay Place
- Uptown Courtenay Palace
- The red carpet (live 12noon NZ time)
Camera 1 and Camera 2
Unfortunately there aren't any cams running from *inside* the cinema as yet.If you live in NZ, you can get some visit live streaming cams from the link above.
STFU! I was ROTFL when I saw the NZ link on /. was totally FUBAR. I couldn't even RTFA!
Don't believe me?
irc://81.223.243.18/DC-Warez
Then type /ctcp xDCC-SK12633M xdcc send #1
and #2 and #3, as well.
Here's hoping he's right. November's been a bit of a let down. Matrix Revolutions blew chunks (but nice CGI), Cat in the Hat is outright stupid and Timeline was underwhelming. Kill Bill Vol 1, however, was very cool and I'm looking forward to Feb. 20 to see Vol 2. (Did anyone else think of Sergio Leone's work while watching Kill Bill?)
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Ehhh pass me some V.B. and get yer arse fucked mate!
Sitting in my living room about 20mins walk from the Embassy where the premiere is taking place. To be honest, I find the excitement the whole city is experiencing a little embarrassing. All four of our free-to-air television stations are doing specials tonight, the Dominion Post newspaper devotes the entire first three pages to it. I mean, really it is just a film premiere.
Nevertheless, some of the buildings around Wellington look fantastic, a few adorned with giant models from Weta. I believe the red carpet is over 400 metres long, spanning the length of Courtenay Place, one of our largest streets.
Should be interesting, but really the hype is almost unbearable.
Just letting Slashdot know not every Wellingtonian is so damn excitable!
Dwarven metal-detector only turns up bottlecaps, shattered armor of comrades.
Isildur, eldest son and heir of Elendil, was dissapointed late afternoon last Monday when his attempt to find the ring which slipped off his finger failed. "I was lookining all through the muck, between the reeds and shrubs, and I even wrestled a Gladden Gator to see if it accidentally swallowed it." The King of both Arnor and Gondor then employed his three sons to aid in the search. After much searching amongst the reeds, Elendur, eldest of Isildur's four sons, shouted in the gloom, "I have located it, father!" Unfortunately, upon putting the ring on, Elendur did not dissappear, leaving the red embarrasement on his face plain to the eye. "Must be some other ring," he grumbled. The many corpses strewn across the Gladden Fields did not help the endeavour either. "All of this cracked and broken armor is really throwing off the metal detector. It's like trying to find a needle in a bloody, corpse-strewn haystack. I can only hope my insurance covers this." When pressed for comment, Lloyd's of London only said that "Insurance for rings of power laden with the capability of invisibility is not available, not even for a king of the Numenoreans, largely because "invisible rings" are a huge source of insurance fraud." Later on in the day, the heir of Elendil was slain by an orc. "I can only hope the One Ring is not found by some scheming, hideous halfling-like creature which eminates bubbling-like noises, or else all is lost," he said in his dying words, before another arrow punctured his larynx.
"*of course, the first time they tried it, the humans broke ranks and just ran away from the orcs. What does that say?"
In the free world the media isn't government run; the government is media run.
Humorous diary of Saruman
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
I'm waiting for the prequels: The Hobbit, episode 2, and episode 3, however the Tolkien family and Peter Jackson decide to write them.
Do note New Zealanders pay a lot for internation bandwidth.
Yes, but then you did just post to /. about the story, so...
Kill Bill Vol 1, however, was very cool and I'm looking forward to Feb. 20 to see Vol 2.
I'm not looking forward to Disney's Kill Bill Vol. 2 by Tarantino, primarily because it's published by The Walt Disney Company, and I don't feel the need to feed the lobbying machine. In case you're wondering, "Mike" in the subject refers to Disney CEO Michael Eisner, who cost the company its credibility.
What are the pros and cons?
Is there anything on Linux that will play these asx streams? Is MPlayer up to the task? I realise the streams are NZ only but that's not a problem for me :-)
Woah - walk to work at 9am along coutenay place, and I'm sure every teen girl is along the red carpet -- heaps of them with sleeping bags ! :P
Can't imagine how busy it will be this afternoon - given the 'parade' is what - atleast 5km long?
"Every shop" along courtenay place was supposed to issue tickertape to throw on all your friends, foes and celebraties --- anyone know where to get it from? The bookstores (Whitcolls) and StarMarts have no idea...
Late Thursday evening, local hobbit Ted Sandyman was only mildly surprised to see the Witch-king of Angmar, Lord of the Nazgul, riding down the road leading up and over The Hill. "Aye, sir, I was a-walkin' down the road to go do some fishin' at the Bywater Pool when up comes this surly fellow all in black," the miller's son commented. "He says to me, he says 'Where can I find Bagginsssss' in a real gruff voice, as if he's the Lord of Angmar, much like. I give him the ol' long look and says straight to his face, 'If it's Baggins you want, then go up-on The Hill. But you look mighty famished, sir, as if you didna' eat for a few centuries.' I then offers him to come over to the mill for some biscuits and the like but 'ee says he hasn't 'et anything for a few centuries 'cuz he's been dead for a few centuries. Than he went a-gallopin' up to the Hill, not even bothering to bid me a good day." Another hobbit, Millo Burrow, also saw the forsaken slave of the second dark lord stroll through the town. "It musta been noon-day when I sees him. He was a-ridin' a black horse, and so at first I thought it was old Mr. Butterbur come from Bree on an errand, but no: I look closer and, bless my hide, it's the Lord of Angmar. I shrug my shoulders and go on my way, seein' as it's no business of mine as to what an eternally damned witch king is doin' in town. Prolly buying some fine Hobbiton cheese, no doubt."
Take some pictures and upload them to your website!
:)
Don't have a website... get one! Plenty of free!
Don't have a camera? Borrow one!
We are waiting
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
My cellphone has just started reporting that I am now located in "MiddlEarth" instead of "Wgtn CBD", you can't do anything here (Wellington obviously) today without some Lord of the Rings theme affecting it.
Everybody decent on the production has been paid for their work. Its only the greedy bastards at newline which expect to keep cashing in again and again on the work of other people. Its fair they make their money back, its fair they make a profit - but its sick amoral greed when that profit ends up being 40000%
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
The hobbits destroy the ring, Sauron is overthrown, the King returns to Gondor.
Of course, you could read the books like I did 20 years ago...
that Peter Jackson supposedly finished the last cuts, this wednesday - would be awfully fast to make a DVD screener.
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
If not, who cares?
...by nz herald reviewer not allowed to spill the beans until after the premiere.
After all the hubbub about the Saruman scenes, I'm surprised there's noone blurping about whether they're in or out.
I was a petition signer, and hope that the scenes made it back into the theatrical release. Of course I'm still undecided if that is a big enough issue to not see the film in the theatre. (Perhaps the number of small children in the lobby will be the stronger deciding factor)
RFC2119
If Jackson says it's the best, I'm willing to take his word for it. (Until I see it for myself, and even then I'll probably agree with him, because I have done so in the past.)
I've been watching the making-of interviews and listening to the commentary tracks on the Extended Two Towers DVD With Extra Ass-Kicking And Shiny Bits. Jackson and Walsh explain their reasoning behind the "controversial" decisions (Elves at Helm's Deep, no Shelob, Faramir's initially a jerk, side trip to Osgiliath, etc). The decisions are actually all chained together. And now that I've heard the screenwriter's/director's side of the story, instead of just /. ravings, I have to admit that they probably made the right decisions.
(Okay, maybe not about the Elves showing up. I'm still on deciding that one. The lack of Shelob (leading to the trip to Osgiliath) makes more sense now.)
There's a great comment by Bernard Hill, who played Theoden. (Background: Many of the desired accents changed during the course of filming, and of course there's script rewrites and background noise and whatnot, so almost every actor had to go into a soundbooth at the end and record some overdubs of his/her previous lines.) Anyhow, Hill was recording the lines where the Elves walk into the fortress and he comes running down the stairs. As a joke on Peter Jackson, instead of "How is this possible?", he recorded:
"Who the fucking hell let you lot in the gate?"
You cannot apply a technological solution to a sociological problem. (Edwards' Law)
A lot of people would kill just to have the books written already...
It's interesting to note (on a site supposedly containing "News for Nerds", anyway) the preparations CityLink have made to avoid running up a massive internet traffic bill with traffic to their webcams: they're using anycast to distribute content from the server nearest the viewer (thus reducing load on NZ's less than amazingly cheap undersea cables).
They've got servers in Wellington and Auckland, plugged into both of the (CityLink-run) peering exchanges there, and they've got a box in the US advertising the same prefix (202.7.4.0/24) - so if you're in NZ, and your ISP isn't crap, you'll get the local servers: everyone else will get the box(es?) in the US.
There are more details here.
Anycast is also used for other stuff: the F (IIRC) DNS root server is anycasted for redundancy, and one of the IPv4 to IPv6 transition mechanisms uses anycast to locate a nearby hop-on point to the IPv6 network.
Pretend that something especially witty is here. Thanks.
This is the first priemire of the Trilogy that hasn't been in the small town of Peterborough, Ontario Canada. http://www.canoe.ca/JamLordOfTheRings/dec9_preview -sun.html
I went to the second one, and am unhappy it isn't here again.
Human genome = 3 billion base pairs = 6 GBit. Windows + Office = 20 Gbit. Which is more impressive?
Geographically close? The distance between Auckland and Sydney is considerably more than say London to Rome, or New York to Miami. And there is nothing between the two countries except water. It'd be a hell of a long swim.
Oh and in response to the earlier " They do have kangaroos in New Zealand, don't they?", no we don't, but Wallabies are a somewhat similar species (albeit smaller) that was introduced here a long time ago.
you probably just need to hear this.
Except that those 3 CDs are released by Fairlight, who distribute games and never movies.
Odd also that most people appear to have a file named "Return of the King - Crack" in the same directory as the three CD images. If I remember correctly, media files don't need cracks. Yet, at least.
For those of you unfamiliar with the scene: This is not a DVD screener, it's some game based on whatever people wanting to make money off the franchise decided. Save your bandwidth.
it's the game.
Next, you might try and get a life - there is more to it than the the silly Lord of the Rings fairy tale.
Oh my gods.
I just turned on TV One - New Zealand's main TV channel, and they have a LOTR backdrop in the news studio.
Paul Holmes, our equivalent of Larry King, is reporting live from the red carpet.
Is it just me, or is New Zealand going a bit over the top here?
I wonder if it's because of our inherent insecurity about being a small and ignorable country. Whenever we get some vaguely worldwide event (America's Cup, Y2K) we go totally over the top. Does anyone not in NZ really care?
gadgetophile.com
The right tool for the right job is my motto -- Why do we geeks spend so much time arguing over which OS (right tool) is best when we should be debating proper strategy (right job)?
My first thought upon seeing "LotR RotK" was that it looked like Klingon, :)
I, personally, think it's great that New Zealand is going bonkers over the Premier. I actually wish that such things as unnecessary as a film could have a huge impact over here. It would be like a holiday, only there's no squabble about the moral stance on wether to celebrate or not (unless you want to argue that it sucks, or if you're too snobby for Hollywood).
I attended the Witching Hour at my Barnes and Noble for Harry Potter. I didn't really buy the book, I just went people-watching. Admittedly, I was a little disappointed. All the fun-and-games were done by one magician, and I think that was completely freelance. Instead they were all big huge lines.
I guess it's just me. Admittedly, not many other people dressed up as pirates to go see Pirates of the Caribbean, but I think it would only be fun.
Good job Kiwis. My grandmother lives there, and I eagerly await visiting. Especially beacause I want some Hokey Pokey or Tip Top ice cream!
Look it's a joke about my sig IN MY SIG! LOL!
of course 'difficulties of translation' are cited, but korea and china both get it first. i just figure it's because piracy isn't widespread in japan and they don't want to lose money over new year's when everyone in japan leaves the city to visit their ancestral homes. and it's easier to sell films in japan when you can say 'number one for X weeks in america'
Just in case they show the footage of this asswipe anywhere else on the planet - we're sorry. No, really, we are.
People in the crowd were cringing watching this idiot...
Jan
Oh, thank god I'm not the only one!
Paella cooked by Sergio Aragones
Groo
Well, apart from the fact that screeners do violate copyright, it also takes away control over a movie from the hands of the industry. Movie studios like to have complete control over the distribution of their movie - hence region coding on DVDs.
The imperial stormtroopers are all NZers (Temuera Morrison) and they had less of an easy time against the Jedi.
Not that I'd lot like to see it. But first I'd like the next volume. And then the end of the series.
I you go to the movie, honestly enjoy it, and walk out having benefitted from the experience, I think that New Line (or any movie company) deserves your $8.
However, if the average person/fan went to the movie after it was hyped up, found it sucked, and wanted not only his money but the 3 hours back... I'd support him.
There's nothing wrong with making a profit on a movie. Not even a gross profit, if the end product is worth the money I paid for it. Releasing a "Terminator 3" or another cash-out is BS, but from all I've heard ROTK should live up to the hype.
If you made a piece of software that 90-95% of users found excellent and found the cost/value ratio just fine, would you like me to call you sick and amoral if you profited hugely from the success of the product? No? Didn't think so.
I you go to the movie, honestly enjoy it, and walk out having benefitted from the experience, I think that New Line (or any movie company) deserves your $8.
More like $14 - and deserve is a different ballgame.
However, if the average person/fan went to the movie after it was hyped up, found it sucked, and wanted not only his money but the 3 hours back... I'd support him.
Not even a gross profit
Evidently we are do not agree.
Ah, but of course it doesn't work that way.
ROTK should live up to the hype
Undoubtedly, which is likely to make people forget the basic problem with the underlying system. Don't beat the slaves oneday and they think its christmas.
If you made a piece of software that 90-95% of users found excellent and found the cost/value ratio just fine, would you like me to call you sick and amoral if you profited hugely from the success of the product? No? Didn't think so.
Nobody likes to hear nasty things. I probably wouldn't like to hear it - even when it was true.
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating
Don't beat the slaves oneday and they think its christmas.
In this case the "slaves" are lining up for the beating though. If you don't want to catch a stinker, don't go to opening night. Check the reviews on the 'net first... listen to what people coming out of the show are saying.
The movie theatres are claiming that text-messaging etc are damaging to them (mainly from people warning others of stinkers) - so why not use it?
Personally, I'd rather warn everyone else who might pay for a shit movie that it was shit than whine over my $8 (around here it is $8-10, and that's Canadian $$$ even)
I think the best weapon we have is informing others. Start your own reviews webpage, post to the ones that exist... when you exit a stinker be sure to complain vocally about how much it such balls so anyone else thinking of going in can hear (anyone who goes in after hearing a movie sucks pretty much deserves what they get).
Personally, I'd rather warn everyone else who might pay for a shit movie that it was shit than whine over my $8 (around here it is $8-10, and that's Canadian $$$ even)
Holy shit! Canadian dollars! That's even worse - then its 21$
If Google really cared they would fix Android Chrome to reflow text, instead of discriminating