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.

I would LOVE to have all the other stuff, but I'm really not likely to actually buy another copy of the movies. I already had to bend over backwards with justification for having both theatrical and EE.

If only they'd just sell the cut scenes/blooper reel/documentaries.

Well, they haven't said exactly what would be sold -- maybe we'll get lucky.

I would totally pay full price for a whole second set of the movies, just to lay hold of the gag reels.

Truly, I am the engine that drives Capitalism.

There is going to be a film festival at Abbey Road and it's going to feature the LotR trilogy.

(It doesn't say if it's the EE or the wide-release versions.)

A "friend" sent these:

[link]

[link]

The phrase "flaccid assholes" will haunt me longer than I want.

Would the words "Work safe" apply to those links?

Yeah, they are.