Message board member Elven was lucky enough to attend the KEA dinner in Sydney this week and sends in this great report:
“If more of us valued food and cheer above hoarded gold, unless its an Oscar, it would be a much merrier world.”
-Prof Tolkien.
I have just returned home from a wonderful night at the Danks Street Depot Cafe in Sydney after listening to KEA’s special guest speaker ‘Richard Taylor’ talk and inspire an audience. People hung onto to his every word and laughed heartily at his stories – we enjoyed it so much we almost forgot about dessert. The food was glorious – the menu designed by NZ chef Jared Ingersol, and there was plenty of wonderful NZ wines available for the tasting.
Richard spoke for a good hour on his career and the movies WETA had been involved with much passion, and gave reference and credit to those people who had helped him along the way. His presentation was punctuated with some very funny anecdotes about Oscar Couture, Meet The Feebles and Taxi Drivers – but his story held a special message regarding success and talent and doing what you do, no matter what that might be, to the best of your ability – turning your life into an art.
Continue reading “The KEA Dinner with speaker Richard Taylor … a great night!”
Jack M writes: On Sunday 25th of October, Radio NZ broadcast an extended interview with Philippa Boyens; An extended interview with Philippa Boyens, an integral member of the trio of filmmakers who put New Zealand on the map with the Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong. Philippa talks about the trio’s dynamics and looks ahead to the release of Peter’s next film, The Lovely Bones. (duration: 24′41″). The interview is available for streaming on 
For those of you who weren’t able to attend the Sunday Radio City events in NYC, message board member greendragon sends in this wonderful recap of the presentations that rounded out weekend. Having been lucky enought to attend, I would be remiss if I didn’t add to her report that her beautiful singing as part of the first presentation: The Music of The Hobbit, enchanted us all and, as our mistress of ceremonies, she was gracious and entertaining. Thanks, greendragon!
Howard Leslie Shore (born October 18, 1946) is a Canadian composer, orchestrator, conductor and music producer. He was the first band leader on Saturday Night Live. He composed the scores for The Lord of the Rings film trilogy and the scores to most of David Cronenberg’s films. He is also a prolific composer of concert works; his first opera, The Fly, based on the plot (though not his score) of Cronenberg’s 1986 film premiered at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris on 2 July 2008. He is the uncle of composer Ryan Shore. Visit: 
Dinner with Academy award winner Richard Taylor, Weta Workshop – Thursday, 29th October 2009. 
Over the weekend CBS spent some time with Howard Shore and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus practicing their Elvish for this weekend’s FOTR event at Radio City Music Hall. You can read the story