UPDATED! -- LEGO Fellowship Revealed!

The people over at Ology have posted a photo of the complete LEGO Lord of the Rings Fellowship. I can tell you, I haven’t been this excited about LEGO since I was a little kid!

It’s clear that the teaser posters LEGO has been putting out don’t do the character pieces justice. The detail on each character piece is amazing! According to Ology, the above photo was nabbed at the recent UK Toy Fair. If the character pieces are this amazing, imagine what each of the LEGO environments will look like!

UPDATE: More information regarding the sets has been coming out of the UK Toy Fair in London. Click on the "More" link below for the updates.

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Evangeline Lilly Talks More About Tauriel

Evangeline Lilly, who is playing the Mirkwood elf named Tauriel (a character created by Peter Jackson) in the upcoming film The Hobbit, recently gave a quick interview with Entertainment Weekly. Most of the interview was about her film Real Steel which has just come out on Blu-ray, but part did focus on her role as Tauriel.

When asked if Tauriel was a warrior elf Lily had this to say, “Yes, she is a warrior. She’s actually the head of the Elven guard. She’s the big shot in the army. So she knows how to wield any weapon, but the primary weapons that she uses are a bow and arrow and two daggers. And she’s lethal and deadly. You definitely wouldn’t want to be caught in a dark alley next to Tauriel.”

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Oscar Noms Full of Kiwi Surprises

Bret McKenzie, a.k.a. Lindir in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, but better known to Rings fans as FIGWIT, has got himself an Oscar nod.

The 35 year old actor/musician/comedian’s song ‘Man or Muppet’ from The Muppets movie is up against only one other song in the category Music (Original Song). The other song is ‘Real in Rio’ from Rio Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown, Lyrics by Siedah Garrett.

McKenzie, in a recent phone interview with MTV, said he was surprised by the nod and celebrating with breakfast. “We’re celebrating with breakfast. I woke up to the phone ringing nonstop, so then I picked up my phone and saw the news. I was very excited. I don’t sound it, but I am very excited. It’s a great day.”

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‘The Hobbit’ Being Shot In 48-Frames-A-Second

Producer/Director Peter Jackson recently revealed that The Hobbit is being shot at twice the standard rate of most Hollywood films.

The standard rate of 24-frames-a-second has been around since the 1920's. Only recently have some directors decided to shoot their films at a faster rate, made possible with the advent of digital cameras. What is the advantage of shooting at a higher rate? With more frames being shot per second, fast action sequences or sudden movements become clearer, reducing the blurriness that is typical when shooting at 24-frames-a-second.

Jackson’s new film West of Memphis, which showed at the Sundance Film Festival, is shot at the faster rate of 48-frames-a-second. He said this about the increased frame rate. “You look at something at 48 frames, and it looks gorgeous. It looks like real life. It’s amazing.”

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Another Casting Call for ‘The Hobbit’

Do you live New Zealand? Are you under 5 feet tall with large biceps? Or are you over 5 feet 5 inches tall, slim and athletic? If you are, then the producers of The Hobbit are looking for you!

This weekend there is a casting call for extras for the upcoming film The Hobbit. The job posting on website trademe.co.nz shows the producers are looking for very specific people.

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Work In Progress - the Elvish Calendar

I just wanted to make a quick post about a project I'm working on. I'm currently working on a page-a-day style elvish calendar. I know there calendars on other sites but most of them follow the Númenorean-style of using elvish names for days of the weeks and months. The calendar I am working on is purely elvish, following their use of a six day week, six seasons, and 5 special days.

I'm basing the calendar on the calculations as laid out by Boris Shapiro (Elenhil Laiquendo) on the Gwaith-i-Pheddain website.To facilitate understanding how the elvish calendar compares to modern day calendars, I have created a spreadsheet with all the dates for the current elvish year and the next. A PDF version of this is available here for those who are curious. The way I have laid it out should make it somewhat easy to understand. As I get closer to having the calendar completed I will have a more detailed post on how the calendar works. In the mean time, please read Mr. Shapiro's explaination provided at the link given earlier.

NOTE: The sample image of the calendar in this post is incorrect, based on my calculations. It should really read "139th loa 14th yén, Valanya, 60th Hrívë." Today's date on the elvish calendar is, "139th loa 14th yén, Aldúya, 64th Hrívë."

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