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Secrets of ‘The King’Can’t break this hobbit: Will Frodo destroy the ring? Will Aragorn wear the crown? An exclusive first look at director Peter Jackson’s exhilarating ‘Lord of the Rings’ finale, ‘The Return of the King’—and at the battles the cast waged on-screen and off By Jeff GilesNEWSWEEK Dec. 1 issue — Peter Jackson’s “The Return of the King” begins with a flashback to what seems like the beginning of time—young Deagol is fishing with his creepy brother Smeagol when suddenly a fish on his line pulls him out of the boat and underwater, where he spots a gold ring...

Andrew Sullivan deserves the thanks for this tipoff: THE BBC'S TRIUMPH: Last Saturday's march in London was in part a triumph for the BBC. This enormously influential network - PBS on steroids - has been churning out relentless anti-war polemics for months now. They make Howell Raines seem positively objective. No doubt they had a receptive audience. But it is still quite an achievement. To give you an idea of how it's done, check out this transcript of a major television show, Panorama. Look at the content of the questions. See how the show, which is ostensibly a "debate", is...

Posted on Sun, Dec. 22, 2002 `The Two Towers' fails to follow best instincts of Tolkien's trilogy By JOHN MARK EBERHART The Kansas City Star When a reader walks into a cinema, he walks hand in hand with risk. Hollywood has a spotty record in adapting books to the big screen. Anyone who saw John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany get minced up into "Simon Birch" knows what I mean. Before this diatribe officially begins, let me be clear: I think Peter Jackson's version of "The Fellowship of the Ring" is excellent -- which makes me wonder how in...

Dear 'Lord!' 'Rings' Towers Over the December Box Office by Brandon Gray December 19, 2002 HOLLYWOOD (Box Office Mojo) - There may only be one ring to rule them all, but there are at least two movies to utterly dominate the holiday box office: the first was last year's The Fellowship of the Ring with its $313,364,114 final haul and now it's The Two Towers if its first day in theaters is any indication. The Two Towers pulled in an estimated $26,000,000 on Wednesday from its saturation release on 6,633 screens at 3,622 theaters. Distributor New Line Cinema may even...

Rod Dreher (always a favorite around here) slips in a bit over at "The Corner about his junket to see The Two Towers - lucky dog: "THE TWO TOWERS" [Rod Dreher] Saw it tonight. I give it a B, but if I hadn't read the book first, I'd probably give it a strong A. It's three hours long, but that time flies by. The film barely stops, which you can understand inasmuch as they've got a hell of a lot of plot to get through. "The Two Towers" was my favorite of the trilogy, in part because I absolutely loved...

Wraiths and raceWhat with the dark skin, broad faces and dreadlocks, it's a wonder Tolkien didn't give his baddies a natural sense of rhythm, says John Yatt, examining Middle Earth's suspect racial undertones Monday December 2, 2002 It was the same with The Phantom Menace - I had no choice. When part of your childhood is playing down the road on a big screen with surround sound and popcorn, there's no escape. But as the wonder of discovering that there was more to New Zealand than sheep wore off, something began to worry me. Maybe it was the way that...

May 24, 2002 10:15 a.m. Weakland’s Exit A liberal bishop and his downfall. Today, Milwaukee Catholics are without an archbishop. Many orthodox Catholics have wondered for weeks why the sex-abuse scandal has hit America's more conservative bishops — Law of Boston and Egan of New York — hardest. Not any longer: Archbishop Rembert Weakland of Milwaukee, the most liberal bishop in America, has been disgraced by the revelation that he paid $450,000 in hush money to buy the silence of an apparent former male lover. The Vatican accepted Weakland's resignation Friday morning. He had offered it in April, upon reaching...

Study backs theory of ‘grassy knoll’ New research puts chance of second JFK gunman at 96% March 26 — The House Assassinations Committee may have been right after all: There was a shot from the grassy knoll. THAT WAS THE KEY finding of the congressional investigation that concluded 22 years ago that President John F. Kennedy’s murder in Dallas in 1963 was “probably ... the result of a conspiracy.” A shot from the grassy knoll meant that two gunmen must have fired at the president within a split-second sequence. Lee Harvey Oswald, accused of firing three shots at Kennedy from ...

October 28, 2000 THE FINAL DAYS In Heavily Democratic West Virginia, Apathy (or Worse) Toward Gore By MELINDA HENNEBERGER CHARLESTON, W.Va., Oct. 27 — With time running out, here is how things stand for Al Gore in heavily Democratic West Virginia: Even among a crowd that had gotten up extra early to stand in line for his rally on the statehouse steps this morning, a surprising number of people said they were either wobbly in their choice or had already decided to vote Republican. A steady trickle of those who came began leaving shortly after Mr. Gore started talking. And ...

CNN's main page - CNN - has an online poll on the Grand Jury story that needs Freeping - badly: Should there be a new probe into the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal? Yes, we still don't have all the answers. 7040 votes/30% No, everyone is sick of it. 16177 votes/70%

The O'Reilly Factor (8 p.m., 11 p.m. ET) Texas Governor and presidential candidate George W. Bush makes his first appearance on The O'Reilly Factor—Super Tuesday, his battle with John McCain, and his push for the presidency will be discussed...

National Review is running a poll on what we might do if McCain gets the nomination. Odd that a third party option is not given - not that I would likely take it, save possibly (if I were in a foul enough mood) for Harry Browne. But if you're looking for a place to vent, wander over to www.nationalreview.com and vote to "Stay home." Scroll down midway and you'll see the poll. I love Jonah, but I'd like to send him and everyone else the message that conservatives aren't real happy with Luke McSkywalker. If McCain were the Republican nominee ...

Former defense chiefs oppose pact THE WASHINGTON TIMES Editor's note: Following is the text of a letter to Sens. Trent Lott, majority leader, and Tom Daschle, Democratic leader, from six former secretaries of defense. Oct. 6, 1999 Dear Sens. Lott and Daschle: As the Senate weighs whether to approve the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), we believe senators will be obliged to focus on one dominant, inescapable result were it to be ratified: over the decades ahead, confidence in the reliability of our nuclear weapons stockpile would inevitably decline, thereby reducing the credibility of America's nuclear deterrent. Unlike previous efforts ...

Republican presidential candidates Steve Forbes and Pat Buchanan made a strong showing today in the Presidential straw poll hosted by the Missouri and Kansas Republican Assemblies in downtown Kansas City today. Not surprisingly, the four candidates which made appearances at the event - Forbes, Buchanan, Gary Bauer and Alan Keyes - garnered most of the votes. Nearly 1,000 Republicans, many from around the country, attended this first straw poll sponsored by Republican assemblies, a conservative caucus of the GOP which touts itself as "the Republican wing of the Republican Party." The event, moderated by local conservative radio host (and FReeper) ...

Having successfully concluded a conflict with Yugoslavia, President Clinton comes to Kansas City today to mark the 100th anniversary of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. His first appearance before a full convention of the VFW - he spoke to a smaller legislative conference of the group in 1995 - has been greeted by some veterans. Clinton, the first chief executive to emerge from the Vietnam War generation, has been criticized by some as a draft dodger who has diminished the the office of commander-in-chief. [...] Although he was of draft age during the Vietnam War, Clinton was never called to ...