Xenite Hobbit Movie news archive rebuilt

December 2009 seems to have been a good month for rebuilding broken news archive on Xenite.Org. We do capture a lot of news headlines for science fiction and fantasy fans but the news sections have been added piecemeal through the years with no rhyme or reason. One of my Great Projects for the future is to reorganize everything into one huge beautiful news site.

Don't hold your breath, though, as I am doing this part time and Xenite's volunteer staff is no longer as large as it once was.

Still, I think the current version of the Hobbit movie news section works pretty well. In addition to scanning headlines for "hobbit movie news" it also has dedicated sections for Guillermo del Toro news and J.R.R. Tolkien news.

But that's not the coolest thing about the site. In July I thought I started capturing daily archives for the three news sections. Unfortunately I forgot I had set up some protections for the domain that prevented my auto-scripts from working. I captured many blank pages. :)

Well, I also didn't like the archive structure I created so earlier this month I rebuilt the archives for the three news sections and now they seem to be working properly. You can browse the Guillermo del Toro news archive, the Hobbit Movie News archive, and the J.R.R. Tolkien news archive.

Each archive preserves a daily copy of the news stories that the main site featured. It's not perfect but it should help document what the media has to say about all things Tolkien and Hobbit movies.

Xenite.Org, of course, is home to the Web's oldest continually updated source of news for fans of J.R.R. Tolkien.

SF-Fandom is a moderated, fan-run community devoted to science fiction, fantasy, history, and mythology. SF-Fandom was founded in 2001 and is part of the Xenite.Org network. Free registration is required to post. Please be sure you read our Posting Guidelines.

Xenite Celebrity News archive reorganized

Through the years many people have come to Xenite.Org looking for information about various celebrities. I built a news roundup section in 2007 for a few popular celebrities and have since expanded that section to cover 30 names. The Celebrity News site is fairly popular if not spectacularly so.

About a year ago I realized I should be archiving the stories and around July of this year I managed to eek out a basic archiving function. However, it didn't really work the way I wanted it to and on top of that I managed to break the links. That wasn't too helpful to anyone.

I finally found time this past weekend to rebuild the archive and fix the links. I also consolidated all the celebrity news archives into one directory to make it easier for me to update it in the future.

You can browse daily archives for Alec Baldwin news, Anne Hathaway news, Joshua Jackson news, and Natalie Portman news (there are a total of 30 celebrities in all).

I haven't had time to finish creating a good primary index for the archive but for now you can browse the archive pages from the Celebrity News sitemap page.

SF-Fandom is a moderated, fan-run community devoted to science fiction, fantasy, history, and mythology. SF-Fandom was founded in 2001 and is part of the Xenite.Org network. Free registration is required to post. Please be sure you read our Posting Guidelines.

So what is "Inception" all about?

Have you seen this High-Def trailer for "Inception" starring Leonardo diCaprio?



I can't tell if it's about an alien invasion or something like "The Matrix Redone". I'm leaning a bit toward a Matrix-like false reality where one person wakes up to realize that a computer is controlling his world.

Or maybe the world has become so dismal and dreary that someone has decided to lead humanity into a state of suspended animation while the Earth repairs itself, and the conflict arises from people who fear the machine more than they fear death at the hands of their own toxins.

Hey, Hollywood, I'm available if you like that elevator pitch. "Call me".

Discuss the trailer at SF Fandom.

SF-Fandom is a moderated, fan-run community devoted to science fiction, fantasy, history, and mythology. SF-Fandom was founded in 2001 and is part of the Xenite.Org network. Free registration is required to post. Please be sure you read our Posting Guidelines.

How many more Doctors can we have?

As Brand X has noted, David Tennant has finished his run as the Doctor (he was the 10th Doctor). Matt Smith takes over the character as the 11th Doctor, which means that the character has only 2 regenerations left.

Christopher Eccleston did a great job as the 9th Doctor but he disappointed fans by leaving the show after only 1 year. He just wanted to burnish his resume a little, it seems, but in doing so set the character into its twilight years a little sooner than most fans had expected.

Let's be honest -- John Pertwee (Doctor 3) and Tom Baker (Doctor 4) spoiled us by performing admirably in the role for 5 years and 7 years respectively. Most of the actors who played the Doctor in the 1960s through 1980s lasted no more than 3 years, and not all of them were able to manage that.

We can say there are plenty of reasons for the Doctor's uneven run at life but the point is that even with a generous 12 regenerations the writers have drawn a line they will be hard put to NOT cross when Doctor 13 decides he has burnished his resume enough.

Maybe the show just doesn't need to run any further than that. The Doctor is, apparently, the last Time Lord (although I never quite felt that to be entirely true) so maybe he can solve the problem of running out of regenerations by unilaterally acting on behalf of his species and declaring himself rightfully immortal

I do know that the Time Lords once offered new regenerations to the Master (I think it was the Master), so apparently the means existed to extend a Time Lord's lifespan. Does the Doctor know how to do this for himself and will Russell T. Davies (assuming he is still in charge) decide that the Doctor will choose to do it when the time comes?

If Matt Smith lasts no more than 1-2 seasons, Doctor Who fans will have to ask themselves some hard questions. Is 13 Doctors really enough?

SF-Fandom is a moderated, fan-run community devoted to science fiction, fantasy, history, and mythology. SF-Fandom was founded in 2001 and is part of the Xenite.Org network. Free registration is required to post. Please be sure you read our Posting Guidelines.

Harry Potter spoof trailer - "Dangerous Wands"

The College Humor site posted a spoof trailer called "Dangerous Wands", which follows Hermione Granger in her adult years into London's seedier school district for witches and wizards.

I was so impressed I added a custom VB code to SF-Fandom to allow us to hotlink to the College Humor videos (they apparently allow that). You can see the embedded video in this "Dangerous Wands" trailer thread.

I recently saw an article that quoted J.K. Rowling as saying she had mapped out the lives for the kids of Harry (and Ginny), Ron, and Hermione but that she doesn't plan to write any books about them. That's a shame, as I noted.

Then again, maybe it will spark more fan film fun like the "Dangerous Wands" spoof, which I think is a pretty good film in itself. It would actually be interesting to see the story fleshed out ala "Born of Hope" and "The Hunt For Gollum".

SF-Fandom is a moderated, fan-run community devoted to science fiction, fantasy, history, and mythology. SF-Fandom was founded in 2001 and is part of the Xenite.Org network. Free registration is required to post. Please be sure you read our Posting Guidelines.

Swedish Student SciFi Film - "The World Outside"

This is an interesting 8 minute movie that shows how some people's thirst for knowledge is insatiable. The price of learning what lies beyond the boundaries we know may be very high and totally unexpected. The ending may be a little disturbing for young childen.

Watch "The World Outside" by Dryget.



SF-Fandom is a moderated, fan-run community devoted to science fiction, fantasy, history, and mythology. SF-Fandom was founded in 2001 and is part of the Xenite.Org network. Free registration is required to post. Please be sure you read our Posting Guidelines.

Schlocky horror films to be updated

Fans of "The Creature from the Black Lagoon" and "The Brood" rejoice (or tremble)! The L.A. Times reports that director Carl Rinsch is taking over responsibility for making the remake a made success.

Does anyone care?

I watched the original movie when I was a kid and very bored late at night when there was nothing else on television. I should have gone to sleep instead.

The premise of the original movie is that the so-called "missing link" is an amphibian humanoid whose descendants bypassed hominidism and evolved into modern humans. At least one lineage of the original fully developed critter survives in the Amazon river, apparently emerging from the depths once each generation to breed with human women.

There you have it: science fiction at its finest. I think I'd rather see a remake of "Ernest Goes To Camp".

I never watched "The Brood".

SF-Fandom is a moderated, fan-run community devoted to science fiction, fantasy, history, and mythology. SF-Fandom was founded in 2001 and is part of the Xenite.Org network. Free registration is required to post. Please be sure you read our Posting Guidelines.

More Harry Potter stories on film?

J.K. Rowling has said she is done with Harry Potter. After making her one of the wealthiest and most respected women in history, Harry seems to have nothing more to say about himself.

But what about Harry Potter's world of witchcraft and magical muggery? Would it be possible to craft new tales set in the past? Would Rowling be interested in doing so? Would she be willing to let film-makers take a stab at telling the tale of how Hogwarts was founded?

Imagine a movie in which the four founders struggle to revolutionize their emerging society, only to end up divided and disappointed with their alliance in the end. The final scene of such a film could show Salazar Slytherin leaving an egg in a secret chamber deep beneath the castle to await the arrival of his heir.

When one of our forum regulars suggested that the Potter fad is dying out, the wheels in my head started turning.

I was especially thinking of the recent Tolkien fan movie "Born of Hope", which is a really good movie. But there have been great fan films for Star Wars, Star Trek, and other popular SF & F franchises. So why not something along those lines for the Harry Potter world?

David Heyman need not devote his life to the study and practice of making Harry Potter movies. He could let other creative hands take a shot at it.

What do you say, J.K.? Are you game for one more go? Wouldn't it be cool to write about the goblin wars?

SF-Fandom is a moderated, fan-run community devoted to science fiction, fantasy, history, and mythology. SF-Fandom was founded in 2001 and is part of the Xenite.Org network. Free registration is required to post. Please be sure you read our Posting Guidelines.

Zelda fans get their movie ... sort of

If you have been waiting anxiously for a movie based on video game The Legend of Zelda, wait no more. "The Hero of Time", a Zelda fan movie, has finally been released. You can watch it on DailyMotion. Here is the most recent trailer for the film:



We have a little discussion about the movie at SF Fandom.

There is an official Website and you can watch it here.

SF-Fandom is a moderated, fan-run community devoted to science fiction, fantasy, history, and mythology. SF-Fandom was founded in 2001 and is part of the Xenite.Org network. Free registration is required to post. Please be sure you read our Posting Guidelines.

Finally: the truth about Balrogs wings debates

People keep seeking me out to discuss Balrog wings with me. I've written a couple of essays through the years that I felt, on each occasion, should put the issue to rest -- at least as far as people's perception of my position on the matter is.

Unfortunately, there are some Websites that mislabel me as being a pro-Wings advocate. That's just plain wrong.

I have objected to both the Pro-Wings and Anti-Wings positions for many years. Neither side can put together a solid, reasonable, logical case for its position.

So I've tried once again, on the Tolkien Studies on the Web Blog, to explain where I stand (which is not with either group).

Read "The Truth About Balrogs (Again)".

It's about as short and simple an essay as I can write.


SF-Fandom is a moderated, fan-run community devoted to science fiction, fantasy, history, and mythology. SF-Fandom was founded in 2001 and is part of the Xenite.Org network. Free registration is required to post. Please be sure you read our Posting Guidelines.

Google forces mandatory Personalized Search on all users

I posted the following announcement on the SF Fandom Forums' General Discussion forum. I don't have the time and energy to rewrite it.

Yesterday, Friday, December 5, 2009 Google announced that all users of its service will now be automatically opted in to its Personalized Search feature.

Personalized Search, previously available only to people who were logged in, tracks your queries and clicks on search results. As you click on Web sites repeatedly over time they will move up toward the top of your queries. You will no longer see "natural" search results if you click on the same sites many times.

Although this is often a helpful feature, it does make it difficult for users to find new content they have not previously clicked on.

You can opt out of feature by clicking on "Web History" in the upper right-hand corner of your Google page. You must PAUSE Web History (in the lower left-hand margin) and CLEAR RESULTS to remove your Web history.

Google promises to remove your Web history after 180 days (but that means they will maintain a constantly scrolling 180-day window).

Google is using a "secret cookie" to maintain this functionality for people who are not logged in. It is not tied to the Google.com domain.

If you do not want Google to track your search history, you MUST opt out of the Web History/Personalized Search feature even though you are not logged in.

Search Engine Land has a lengthy article explaining what Google has done and showing you with screen captures how to disable your Web History.

SF-Fandom is a moderated, fan-run community devoted to science fiction, fantasy, history, and mythology. SF-Fandom was founded in 2001 and is part of the Xenite.Org network. Free registration is required to post. Please be sure you read our Posting Guidelines.

Trailer for "Elysium"

"Elysium" is the brain-child of Mark Sniffen, a 4th year film student who is collaborating with his friend Andrew Church (and several other folks) to produce a 30-minute science fiction movie.

The trailer looks pretty darned good.



Mark has a YouTube Channel here.

You can check out the movie's official site here.

I hope I get to see the finished product.

SF-Fandom is a moderated, fan-run community devoted to science fiction, fantasy, history, and mythology. SF-Fandom was founded in 2001 and is part of the Xenite.Org network. Free registration is required to post. Please be sure you read our Posting Guidelines.

Fan video creates LoTR movie pastiche

A pastiche is a story stitched together from pieces of one or more stories. You often find them in fan fiction. I've rarely found anything like a pastiche in fan videos, and this is the first pastiche video I have seen that actually makes any kind of sense.

I'll admit to having dreamed as a young fan of patching together my own "Star Trek" movie from scenes in the original series. But while growing up and attending college I never had the time, skill, or equipment to do it. I was stunned one day to hear a college employee confess she was working on just such a project.

Through the years I came to meet quite a few people who had attempted to create Star Trek pastiche videos. The idea lost its appeal for me, however, after the ST movies started coming out.

This video uses scenes of Elves from Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings" to tell the story of two Elves who fall in love and are torn apart by war. When you watch the video, try not to see Arwen and Legolas -- instead, try to see two unnamed Elf lovers who have their own story.

You can read the story synopsis here on YouTube.



SF-Fandom is a moderated, fan-run community devoted to science fiction, fantasy, history, and mythology. SF-Fandom was founded in 2001 and is part of the Xenite.Org network. Free registration is required to post. Please be sure you read our Posting Guidelines.