So much news came out of last week’s ComicCon you’d think it was a vast right-wing conspiracy to overshadow this week’s Democratic Convention. (Much like I’m the victim of a right-wing conspiracy at work, which is making me stay till 10:00 PM tonight and tomorrow. How much you want to bet there are no late hours in September!) Sideshow Toys unveiled much of their long-awaited Return of the King line, LucasFilm revealed the name of the remaining Star Wars movie, and New Line announced details of this Winter’s Return of the King: Extended Edition.Todd and Bill from The Digital Bits discuss the LOTR news:
[…] New Line finally revealed more details about the forthcoming The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King – Special Extended DVD Edition (currently set to street in December – date TBA). The set will feature more than 50 additional minutes of footage, including some 300 additional effect shots. Among the new scenes we were able to preview this weekend were: the final confrontation between Gandalf and Saruman at Isengard; the Mouth of Sauron at the Black Gate; Aragorn revealing the sword Andúril to Sauron’s eye in the Seeing-stone; the confrontation between the Witch King and Gandalf at Minas Tirith; more battle footage on the Pelennor Fields; Frodo and Sam marching with Sauron’s forces disguised as Orcs; Faramir telling Denethor that he would never use the power of the Ring; Aragorn looking down upon a fleet of Corsair ships from a ridgetop; Faramir and Éowyn at the House of Healing; Merry pledging allegiance to King Théoden at Gondor; Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli narrowly escaping an avalanche of skulls deep inside the Dwimorberg, and MUCH more. From what we’ve seen, this final extended cut promises to be every bit as good as the previous two. We also learned that the set will feature more than 20 hours of supplemental content.
That’s not all. In addition to the 4 disc set, there will also be another special collector’s gift set, that will include the 4-disc Extended Edition along with a bonus DVD – Howard Shore: Creating the Lord of the Rings Symphony – A Composer’s Journey Through Middle-earth – and a miniature Sideshow/Weta statue of Minas Tirith, which doubles as a trinket box.
Furthermore, The One Ring.net provides links (including one to ElfLady.com, the only mirrored link that currently works) to a bootleg of the trailer New Line showed to advertise the Extended Edition. The video is crude, the audience is a bit too vociferous (stupid girls), but the film clips are still effective!
That’s not all. In addition to the 4 disc set, there will also be another special collector’s gift set, that will include the 4-disc Extended Edition along with a bonus DVD – Howard Shore: Creating the Lord of the Rings Symphony – A Composer’s Journey Through Middle-earth – and a miniature Sideshow/Weta statue of Minas Tirith, which doubles as a trinket box.
I know it’s pointless, and I know there’ll be no activity over the weekend, but I still can’t stop checking my online bank account page and my online credit card page.
I heard the sad news on the way to work this morning: famed composer Jerry Goldsmith “died in his sleep Wednesday night at his Beverly Hills home after a long battle with cancer.” He was 75. Details or his life and career are touched on in 
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I find it more cost effective to have a coworker read this over the phone to a stenographer in Alaska who will push the “Submit” button for me. According to the New York Times (by way of 
I’m too sleepy for something more substantive. Today’s entry will just be a couple of links: