Canada’s Olympic broadcasters unveiled the first stage in a six-phase advertising series today, promising the largest Olympic campaign ever fielded by a media company. Dubbed BELIEVE, the campaign features heavyweight talent including actor Donald Sutherland and composer Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Silence of the Lambs). Slated as a rallying cry to Canadians ahead of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, it’s designed to make household names of Canada’s elite competitive athletes. The most ambitious aspect of the first phase, which officially launches today, is a pair of 60-second commercials. Howard Shore Launches Olympic Campaign
TheOneRing.net raises its glass to today to join fans the world over in toasting the master of Middle-earth, J.R.R. Tolkien, who was born January 3rd 1892.
If you’d like to join in the worldwide toast, The Tolkien Society has its annual event organized where fans can sign up to toast by hoisting the liquid beverage of your choice to “The Professor”.
Just a reminder note. Los Angeles area Tolkien fans will be gathering at the Cat & Fiddle pub on Sunset starting at 6pm for dinner and the traditional 9pm Toast to the Professor. You can find the Cat & Fiddle at 6530 Sunset Blvd., LA, CA 90028.
From 1up.com If you aren’t too busy with your holiday gifts or recovering from a rowdy night of auld lang syne, Major Nelson brings word that you can now pick up the demo for The Lord of the Rings: Conquest. The game takes a page from the popular Star Wars: Battlefront series, letting you choose your side in massive battles. The game was pushed to 2009, but seeing that we’re now in 2009, the release of January 9 seems that much closer. Check out the heavy 1.25 GB demo and let us know what you think. Lord of the Rings: Conquest Demo on Xbox LIVE
Garfeimao here, finally over my jet lag, mostly unpacked, and sort of caught up at work now. This is going to be a bit of a review of the Cruise portion of the Cruise to Middle earth, with part 2 containing the review of Land excursions and part 3 containing the many thanks I need say.
Welcome to the Celebrity Millennium, our home during the Cruise to Middle-earth as it sailed from Auckland, New Zealand to Sydney, Australia.
Kai writes: I read this update on The Lord of the Rings Online: 1up.com has nominated The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria™ for best MMORPG of 2008! Being nominated is a great way to close out an already amazing year. Winning would be a great way to start the New Year don’t you think? Head over to 1up.com and cast your vote! Be quick though, voting ends at 11:59 PM PST (GMT -8) on January 6th. Poll to Swamp: LOTR Online for Best MMO of 2008
From Slashdot.org: Zonk writes with news of a collaboration between Massively and GamerDNA to analyze the state of MMO player bases for 2008. Sifting through the data brought out several interesting trends. For example, Age of Conan took a substantial hit when Warhammer arrived on the scene, but none of the other major MMOs were significantly affected. Also, it seems Lord of the Rings: Online got a big shot in the arm from its Mines of Moria expansion — even moreso than World of Warcraft from Wrath of the Lich King, relatively speaking. The article also asserts the following about the recently-canceled Tabula Rasa: “… until the cancellation announcement in November, numbers were trending in the right direction, however slightly. Players were growing more interested in the sci fi MMO shooter, and logins were on the rise. If its development had not been so long, so expensive, and so vastly overhyped and mismarketed, this title could have been left alone to find its legs and found some small measure of success in a long tail environment akin to the Sony Station Pass.” A Look At the Growth of MMOs In 2008
From Cinematical: What do you do when your geek base demands a prequel to one of their biggest fantasy trilogies, and that it be done right? You hire Guillermo bleepin’ del Toro to get around to it, as soon as he’s done with eighteen other projects. Two things are sure: he’ll find a place for Doug Jones, which is always welcome, and the thing can’t help but end less times than Return of the King did. Cinematical’s 25 Hottest of 2008
SARA STEWART writes: You have to wonder where Viggo Mortensen finds the time to act. In between gigs like the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy and David Cronenberg’s movies (most recently “Eastern Promises”), the 50-year-old star is also a photographer, poet, musician, painter, publisher, activist and avid traveler. He’s fluent in Spanish, Danish, French and possibly Elvish. When we caught up with him, though, he kindly stuck to English, and to the projects at hand: first, “Good,” opening Wednesday, about a German professor who, through his passivity, unwittingly ends up a high-ranking member of the Nazi party. Early next year comes “The Road,” the adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s novel about a father and son traveling in post-apocalyptic America. Q&A with Viggo Mortensen
Tedster88 let us in on this MSN article about some of the most individual inns on the planet. This one is located in Manila, the Philippines. From MSN: Anyone who says they don’t fancy a jar or two in this one is a complete liar … Hobbit House (1212 MH del Pilar) is staffed entirely by midgets. Just in case your conscience is twanging at that idea, don’t fret – this is not some kind of exploitative venture. Hobbit House was set up by the little people themselves to give them work, and it’s proved incredibly popular. As well as being a (still) somewhat smoky drinking den, regular live music performances see it packed out. World’s strangest bars
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Canada’s Olympic broadcasters unveiled the first stage in a six-phase advertising series today, promising the largest Olympic campaign ever fielded by a media company. Dubbed BELIEVE, the campaign features heavyweight talent including actor Donald Sutherland and composer Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Silence of the Lambs). Slated as a rallying cry to Canadians ahead of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics, it’s designed to make household names of Canada’s elite competitive athletes. The most ambitious aspect of the first phase, which officially launches today, is a pair of 60-second commercials. 
From 
Kai writes: I read this update on The Lord of the Rings Online: 1up.com has nominated The Lord of the Rings Online: Mines of Moria™ for best MMORPG of 2008! Being nominated is a great way to close out an already amazing year. Winning would be a great way to start the New Year don’t you think? Head over to 1up.com and cast your vote! Be quick though, voting ends at 11:59 PM PST (GMT -8) on January 6th. 