Does WETA stand for anything? For example, West Ethiopian Tiki Argonauts?

The PBS station? No idea.

The effects studio is named after the family of insects, which take their name from the Maori name for the largest of them, Wetapunga, which means "the god of ugly things".

Ya know, like girly elves....

(eta: and yes, I am large with the weta-geekery tonight, for some reason I don't know.)

Oh, Kathy! I'm sorry! I will take down my gloaty post if it bugs.

Nah, just promise to give us all the details!

I had my Borders famous author viewing back in 2002 with Alton Brown, and I remember how insanely crowded that one was. I can't imagine what Andy Serkis would have been like.

I'm getting revved up for the Oscars already--I really think that RotK has a possibility of a sweep in the nominations, and might actually win more than six awards. The nomination ballots aren't due for another 10 days, but the snubbing of Anthony Minghella by the Directors Guild leads me to think that the only major competition that RotK has left is Mystic River. We'll find out if it's a sweep on January 27th, when they announce the noms; if RotK gets all of the tech noms (except for makeup and costume, most likely), as well as Best Pic, Director, Adapted Screenplay, and at least Supporting Actor, then I have a good feeling about the final award count.

I'm going all out for my Oscar night party this year--all Buffistas in the Chicago area the night of February 29th are welcome!!

The PBS station? No idea.

That's W.E.T.A. out of New Haven, right? Channel 2 for those reared in Connecticut.

Somebody had to convince me that Weta Workshop/Weta Digital wasn't actually an obscure arm of W.E.T.A. New Haven. It was the sculpture of the giant bug in the lobby of Weta Workshop that finally clued: this is not a Connecticut kind of bug.

That's W.E.T.A. out of New Haven, right?

I was thinking of ch. 26 out of DC, but I had the very same confusion.

Dear heaven, the cloak fabric scarf is $99!

But that's in New Zealand dollars, so it's more like, what, $65? But then postage and handling...

My office roommate was stuck on Pelennor Fields on the LOTR game also. Is this the segment where you have to throw down the siege towers?

The effects studio is named after the family of insects, which take their name from the Maori name for the largest of them, Wetapunga, which means "the god of ugly things".

Okay, so it's just named Weta, then? It's not an acronym?

I started watching my EE FotR DVDs tonight, and it feels like watching S1 BTVS. They're so....*young*, you know? And they have no idea what's going to happen to them.

Also, the big-ass battle against Sauron in the beginning, when he's a giant Transformer/Battlebot? Elrond is in that battle, right? And then the narrator (that's Galadriel, yes?) says that about 300 years passed between the Ring being lost and Frodo leaving on his journey, right? Or was it 3,000? In either case, that makes Elrond pretty fucking old, especially if it's 3,000. He must moisturize really well.

And, if I understood correctly, the Black Riders/Ringwraiths/Nazgul (they're the same thing, right, under different names?) are the original nine men who received rings when the elves and dwarves got theirs? Because that's cool, that the rings and greed for power turned them into big freaky shrouded dudes of death.

Yes, you can mock me for my observations, but remember -- I haven't read the books, so this isn't familiar to me. To me, I'm making totally new connections.

My office roommate was stuck on Pelennor Fields on the LOTR game also. Is this the segment where you have to throw down the siege towers?

No, I have to run back and forth killing Mumakil and the Witch King before they kill Merry and Eowyn.

Okay, so it's just named Weta, then? It's not an acronym?

Yep. Not an acronym, just named after a big friggin' insect.

Also, the big-ass battle against Sauron in the beginning, when he's a giant Transformer/Battlebot? Elrond is in that battle, right?

Yep.

And then the narrator (that's Galadriel, yes?)

Yep, that's Galadriel (who was also around back then*)

Or was it 3,000? In either case, that makes Elrond pretty fucking old, especially if it's 3,000. He must moisturize really well.

Three thousand. Yes, Elrond is quite old.

And, if I understood correctly, the Black Riders/Ringwraiths/Nazgul (they're the same thing, right, under different names?)...

Yes.

...are the original nine men who received rings when the elves and dwarves got theirs? Because that's cool, that the rings and greed for power turned them into big freaky shrouded dudes of death.

Yes, those are the guys. And the one who stabbed Frodo is the bearded one in the center. The Lord of the Nazgul, aka the Witch King of Angmar (that's a whole 'nother story not covered in the LotR stories).

Yes, you can mock me for my observations,

The thought never crossed my mind. It's actually pretty endearing.

(*Galadriel is, by the way, much older than Elrond. Elrond is old, and witnessed the battle which defeated Sauron, but Galadriel was there the day the sun and the moon first rose over Middle Earth. Yes, there was a fairly long period of time when Middle Earth was lit first by magical trees, then by magical jewels after the trees were poisoned and destroyed by Ungoliant, who was the mother of Shelob.

So yeah, the point of this footnote is that Galadriel has seen some shit in her day.)

Galadriel is, in fact, Elrond's mother-in-law and Arwen's grandmother.