Mordor UPDATE! The Orcish Beastiary!
TheLandofShadow.com ~Ring Lord~

Menu and styling updates to Mordor's Orcish Beastiary.

The Minions of Mordor have been calling for updates to the Orcish Beastiary. So here are a few to wet you appetite. We have an updated opening, menu system and most importantly, I have reworked the code to remove the annoying flashes between sections. Enjoy!

For those of you new to The Land of Shadow.com take a moment to explore our Orcish Beastiary. Everything you ever wanted to know about the orcs of Middle-earth.

More updates coming soon!

Lay your staff ~HERE~

Angus McBride (1931–2007)
TheLandofShadow.com ~Ring Lord~

We are sorry to morn the passing of another Tolkien Artist. Mr McBride created a number of pieces of artwork based on Tolkien's Lord of the Rings for Iron Crown Enterprises Middle Earth Role Playing (MERP) game and Middle Earth Collectable Card Game (MECCG). The news of Angus’ sudden death, on 15 May at his home near Waterford in the Republic of Ireland... MORE...

Lay your staff ~HERE~

More Jackson/Newline Hobbit News...
TheLandofShadow.com ~Ring Lord~

New Line's Shaye won't yield to Jackson

New Line founder Bob Shaye shows no signs of yielding in the company's legal squabble with Peter Jackson over profits from "The Lord of the Rings." In a conversation at AmPav on Tuesday with Variety editor-in-chief Peter Bart, Shaye said the company had already paid Jackson and his wife, Fran Walsh, $250 million in profit participation. The clash happened because "one of us has gotten poor counsel," Shaye said, without elaborating. Co-chief Michael Lynne struck a more upbeat note. "We do want to settle our dispute and I think we will." A "Hobbit" pic is still in the plans, both execs were coy about reports that Sam Raimi is being lined up to direct. "There's never been any announcement," Lynne said. "Like a lot of people, he might," Shaye added. MORE...

Lay your staff ~HERE~

LOTR Actors Join to Sue New Line Over Merchandising Money...
TheLandofShadow.com ~Ring Lord~

Variety is reporting that New Line is getting sued again over Lord of the Rings profits, this time by a group of Kiwi actors. The actors feel that some questionable accounting has made it impossible to ever get paid a "5 percent of net revenue" clause outlined in contracts from merchandising based on characters they portrayed. The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court Wednesday... MORE...

Lay your staff ~HERE

The Walls of Helms Deep!!!!
TheLandofShadow.com ~Ring Lord~

Aragorn vs. The Uruk-hai... The Walls of Helm’s Deep Polystone Diorama!!!

You have seen it here first Dark Minions of Mordor! Sideshow Collectibles introduces an all new Lord of the Rings Diorama featuring Aragorn and the Uruk-hai of Isengard!

This is just a preview that has just hit the web and you won't see it anywhere else! So fire up your staff and take a peek at this cool new product before anyone else!

MORE...

Beowulf Video Game Announced! ...
TheLandofShadow.com ~Ring Lord~

UBISOFT, PARAMOUNT PICTURES AND SHANGRI-LA ENTERTAINMENT ANNOUNCE PARTNERSHIP TO CREATE “BEOWULF” VIDEO GAMES

Paris, FRANCE – May 24, 2007 – Ubisoft, one of the world’s leading video game publishers, announced that it will develop and publish the video game based on Paramount Pictures’ and Shangri-La Entertainment’s “Beowulf,” the upcoming feature film from Academy Award®-winning director Robert Zemeckis. Neil Gaiman & Roger Avary adapted the legend for the screen. The film is produced by Steve Starkey, Robert Zemeckis and Jack Rapke. The executive producers are Martin Shafer, Roger Avary and Neil Gaiman.

“Ubisoft is excited to be partnering with Paramount Pictures and Shangri-La, and the creative teams at ImageMovers, to leverage the ’Beowulf’ movie assets and storylines and extend them into the interactive video game universe,” said Yves Guillemot, chief executive officer of Ubisoft. "Ubisoft has quickly become an industry leader in creating high-quality movie-based video games that deliver a compelling experience to both casual and hardcore gamers alike."

Groundbreaking director Robert Zemeckis offers a vision of the “Beowulf” saga that has never been told before. In a time of heroes, the mighty warrior Beowulf slays the demon Grendel and incurs the wrath of its monstrous, yet seductive, mother in a conflict that transforms a king into a legend. “Beowulf” stars Ray Winstone in the title role and Anthony Hopkins as the corrupt King Hrothgar, as well as John Malkovich, Robin Wright Penn, Brendan Gleeson, Crispin Glover, Alison Lohman and Angelina Jolie as Grendel's mother. Paramount Pictures, in association with Shangri-La Entertainment, Presents an ImageMovers Production of a Robert Zemeckis film, “Beowulf.”

For more information visit:

Lay your staff ~HERE~

John Howe Updates His Online Journal
TheLandofShadow.com ~Ring Lord~

ADULTHOOD
Or The Way Where

The other day there was a storm gathering over the lake.

The sky was a curtain of slate, more mineral than meteorological and the lake itself was a luminous turquoise with a periphral glazing of lead-grey. It was stunning. Even the red light at the intersection was a perfect chromatic contrapuntal. (There is a well-situated stoplight where you emerge from a tunnel on a downward slope and are face to face with the lake.)
I briefly considered sitting out the green to see if the orange worked as effectively as the red but reconsidered, as it would likely have meant sitting out a few cycles, since the orange isn't near long enough to judge properly in one pass, not to mention doing a fair degree of explaining to those stuck behind me.
Later on I was able to pull over and watch properly for a while.
MORE...

Lay your staff ~HERE~

News Update From The White Tree Fund ...
TheLandofShadow.com ~Ring Lord~

Let your voice be heard in Silver Leaves! You can share your tale of how Tolkien has inspired you, ask Gandalf to work on complex issues in your life, participate in a *mile-long* Q&A about your love of books and reading, and shine the spotlight on friends who give back to their community.

The White Tree Fund is excited about the upcoming first issue of their journal and we want to spread the word. Thanks so much.

Silver Leaves (Issue I): Call for submissions The White Tree Fund is pleased to introduce Silver Leaves, the journal of TWTF, and we would like you to be involved! Silver Leaves is the official journal of TWTF. The purpose of SL is to educate, raise awareness, support charitable initiatives, and entertain. SL accepts submissions from established scholars, authors, and artists as well as from those new to the publishing world. Submissions may include, but are not limited to, academic essays, creative writing, and artwork; interviews and event reports; artistic spotlights on costuming, weaponry, and handmade items; puzzles; humanitarian, community, and volunteer updates; and book and movie reviews. While the focus of SL is on TWTF*s mandated humanitarian efforts, particularly those from within the Tolkien community, SL is open to scholarly and creative submissions from other fandoms according to the theme of the up-coming issue. The deadline for submissions is Friday, June 15, 2007.

For more information about submitting to the first issue of Silver
Leaves, please visit: http://www.whitetreefund.org/journal.htm.

Lay your staff ~HERE~

John Howe Updates His Online Journal
TheLandofShadow.com ~Ring Lord~

Reading and Writing...
Or the Ins and Outs of Applied Creativity

I Been reading a lot of books lately - who would have thought that making images would involve so many words? This of course has the fringe benefit of allowing me a totally frivolous series of purchases on amazon, ("Yes, it's all for the book I'm writing. Yep, that one too. And that one. Honest.") and my wife has become inured to the cheerful jingling of the doorbell with the postman bent double under great boxes of books. MORE...

Lay your staff ~HERE~

Lord of the Rings Online, Shadows of Angmar!
TheLandofShadow.com ~Ring Lord~

Take a peek at this sweet little widget that has the latest and greatest video clips and screen shots from the Lord of the Rings Online, Shadows of Angmar. From time to time we will post this code to give you the latest news and video about this new Online Gaming experience!

Lay your staff ~HERE~

Enter Mordor... the TLOS.com Flash Menu...
TheLandofShadow.com ~Ring Lord~

For those new to Mordor or for those who may have missed it, we also have a Flash Ring Menu with what used to be the original introduction page to The Land of Shadow.com

This page really sets the mood of Mordor with its cinimatic entrance of the Mordor logo, followed by the glowing ring menu that will guide you to the main pages found here at The Land of Shadow.

Lay your staff ~HERE~

How The Land of Shadow.com Came To Be...
TheLandofShadow.com ~Ring Lord~

A little history about the making of Mordor... the Land of Shadow.com

There are some of you out there who just might remember the very first incarnation of TLOS.com as it was in it's inception almost 10 years ago.

In the winter of 1998 Mordor made it's first premiere on the web. It was just one page with an animated Dark Tower that was based on the painting by John Howe... from there the Darkness grew! MORE...

Lay your staff ~HERE~

John Howe Updates His Online Journal
TheLandofShadow.com ~Ring Lord~

A MAN OF FEW WORDS (FOR NOW)
Or Conscience vs. the Muse, Round One

I was going to write something witty and philosophical or at least try, but my mind has called in with a bit of a temperature and begged off...

The last two weeks have been rather... full - of trips, people, presentations, conferences, interviews, talks and other things - so that as someone who generally can count a week's worth of words on his fingers, I have literally run out. I have also been working on other texts, all for rather more solemn endeavors, and my conscience, being the serious Cerberus it is, makes sure the disapproval is felt, and has had a restraining order issued on the Malicious Muse of Idle Typing and Wayward Newsletters.

Thus, I am condemned to a few months of hard labour until I work my way back ahead of deadlines. (I am, for my sins, rather like Boxer in Animal Farm - no imagination, just work harder...)
MORE...

Lay your staff ~HERE~

New York Times Number 1 Best Seller!
TheLandofShadow.com ~Ring Lord~

The Children of Húrin debuted #1 on the New York Times Best Seller List!!!!

The first complete book by J.R.R. Tolkien in three decades--since the publication of The Silmarillion in 1977--The Children of Húrin reunites fans of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings with Elves and Men, dragons and Dwarves, Eagles and Orcs. Presented for the first time as a complete, standalone story, this stirring narrative will appeal to casual fans and expert readers alike, returning them to the rich landscape and characters unique to Tolkien.

How did a lifetime of stories become The Children of Húrin? Adam Tolkien, grandson of J.R.R. Tolkien, explains that the Húrin legends made up the third "Great Tale" of his grandfather's Middle-earth writing, and he describes how his father, Christopher Tolkien, painstakingly collected the pieces of the legend into a complete story told only in the words of J.R.R. Tolkien. "For anyone who has read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings," he writes, The Children of Húrin "allows them to take a step back into a larger world, an ancient land of heroes and vagabonds, honour and jeopardy, hope and tragedy."

Lay your staff ~HERE~