I realize that the 17 years were not covered, and certainly understand that, but still think that he should have considered them in casting, given the character in the book.

I do think it is important that Sam is younger than Frodo in the books and quite older in the movies. Even though I hadn't remembered the birth dates before, their relationship just makes so much more sense when Frodo is older and more experienced. I still love the movies, and even EW. For me, this is the kind of nitpicking that I only do with things I really care about.

For me, the class setup means the age difference is more coincidental to their interaction.

Perhaps the reason that the ages are important for me is that the class setup is so unfamiliar to me. My brain understands it, but it doesn't really resonate without the age difference added in.

To my ear, Sam comes from Devon and Frodo comes from Poshshire.

In his latest DVD Bill Bailey does a nice bit of stand-up about the accents in LotR, he talks about a scouse Hobbit!

I was ok with Frodo's lack of aging, because I figured the ring was in his possession, so no matter how long it was between Bilbo leaving and Frodo taking the ring to the elves, Frodo wouldn't age much.

Females alone can harvest and process the super-nourishing wheat of the gods into "way bread" for journeys. They routinely "see farther" than men and summon sacred trees to grow. They bring inspiration and instill hope. They listen to the woes of the world, encourage resistence, and shed tears of pity.

So we can bake, see, farm, play muse, and listen to people kvetch. Joy. I don't want to listen to the woes of the world; I want to either be the one fixing the woes or making them, depending on how much listening to the woes of the world I've been doing of late.

Pfft.

Australian actress Miranda Otto is expecting her first child with actor husband Peter O'Brien. The couple, who married on New Year's Day 2003, are "thrilled", according to a spokesperson. Otto, 37, who starred in as elf Eowyn in the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, recently finished filming Steven Spielberg's War Of The Worlds, in which she plays Tom Cruise's pregnant wife.

I mean, good for Ms. Otto, but where are their fact checkers?

Pfft.

Exactly. She was supposed to dump that loser and come here and marry :me:, now there'll be a child to care for, so much drama.

Oh you mean the elf bit. Never mind.

How difficult would it be to fact check that?

They had to have at least 20 people in their office who KNEW.

From today's USA Today:

Jackson's 'Rings' saga could go on and on

Peter Jackson is deep into mega-monkey shines as production continues on his redo of King Kong at his home base of Wellington, New Zealand.

But once the great ape tale is unveiled Dec. 14, he has some unfinished Lord of the Rings business to tend to — such as an ultimate DVD collection of the extended versions of the Oscar-winning trilogy, not likely to arrive in stores for another two or three years.

"We really don't have a definitive plan," he says during a brief break on the Kong set. Just don't expect Jackson to edit together the three epic-length features into a single, 11-hour-long fantasia.

"I don't want to add more footage," Jackson says. "There's as much in there as we want. Eventually you are just going to go backward and weaken the films." Instead, he would prefer to simply show the unused deleted scenes (and, yes, there are more than a few leftovers) and explain why they were cut.

The Rings master also would like to include feature-length documentaries, put together by longtime associate Costa Botes, on the making of the movies. "There are no commentary or interviews. It's like a reality TV show," Jackson says.

The largest still-untapped source of amusement are the bloopers — or "bleepers," as Jackson calls them. The flubs previously were shown only during private farewell tributes for major cast members as they took their leave of Middle-earth.

The largest still-untapped source of amusement are the bloopers — or "bleepers," as Jackson calls them. The flubs previously were shown only during private farewell tributes for major cast members as they took their leave of Middle-earth.

This is why I'd buy the set. I love bloopers.