Again, no update today. I'm here to ask your opinions, instead. (I am, however, working on some new content).

I've been toying with a couple of ideas to add to the site, and I need your opinions. Please read through the stuff below and give me your honest opinions.

1.)-Sims 2 LotR Custom Content
I've been learning how to make custom content for The Sims 2. I was thinking that it might be nice to add a section with LotR-related Sims 2 stuff you can download and use in-game. I haven't seen a site with a section like this, and it could prove useful. All the custom content uploaded here would be for the original Sims 2 only, as I have none of the expansion packs. So, would you like to see this? What sort of content would you be looking for (clothes, hair, painting, etc)? Would you be okay with recolors of Maxis objects, or would you want completely new stuff?

2.)-Lord of the Rings Online Trading Card Game
I've been fiddling around with online TCGs and I think it would be nice to start a Lord of the Rings one. I've made a few cards and the like, and I've decided on a name that I might use for it, but I want to see what you think. Would you join the game? Would you be okay with it being a subsite of TLotE hosted elsewhere, or would you want it to be part of the site or a different site completely? Would you advertise the game to your friends who might join? Would you be active in the game? What ideas do you have?

3.)-Cutenews Comments: Disable, Registration, or New Comment Service?
This problem with the Cutenews comments is really starting to bug me. So I've been looking at my options for fixing the problem (other then manually deleting them all the time). From what I can see, I can disable comments completely, have people register if they want to post comments, or disable Cutenews comments and use a different service for the comments (IE, Haloscan). So, what do you think? Would you be willing to register to add comments to the news? Would you be happy without the ability to add comments? Would you be alright with a possible ad-based comment service?

4.)-Fan Section: What To Do With It?
That fan section is looking pretty empty, so I'm debating what the heck to do with it. I think it could be a problem with the form, or a lack of advertising it. So, I was thinking that I could get a new form, or install scripts that would allow people without having to E-mail it to me. I know that one site I like to visit, The Oracle, has a very nifty gallery script that allows people to upload their art, but it has to be approved by Betty Ann, the site owner, and there are buttons to report stolen artwork, as well as comments, rating, etc. I would need to contact Steph, my host, about how much this sort of thing would take up. Alternatively, I could move the fan section to a different host. It would still be part of the site and have the same layout, but it would be on a different server. Would you use this sort of function? Would you mind it having a different URL? Would you advertise the fan section to your friends? Or do you think I should just get rid of it or get a new form for submitting?

That's it. I really do need your opinions, people, so please let me know what you think of the above proposals!

I recieved an E-mail right in my inbox today from Barrie Gordon, the Senior Publicist of Entertainment Weekly. I was invited to share their cover story for Friday's new issue. This was completely unexpected. I have noooo idea why they contacted me, but I'm happy about it, because it provides some very interesting news about the making of The Hobbit!

Here's a link to the original story:
The Story

And here's a picture of the cover, which they wanted me to include:
http://img74.imageshack.us/img74/4481/cvr958promovo6.jpg

The article talks about what I mentioned the last time I talked about The Hobbit, but it also talks about exactly why PJ and New Line are fighting, the discovery of the fossils of a 3-foot-tall, 18,000-year-old human relation unofficially called "hobbit". There's also a few pictures that I've never seen before floating around.

Most certainly worth reading, if you're a Lord of the Rings fan!

So, no actual *updates* today, but I would like to tell you that the spamming is not fixed. Most of it seems to be on the first Hobbit news story. I delete the comments as soon as possible, but I may wind up have to disable comments altogether.

I've uploaded all of the old avatars from the old ImageShack acount, coming up to a total of 25 old-but-new avatars, in their spot between the really old avatars and the new ones. However I accidentally deleted 2 of the new Eowyn icons. I'll upload them again if (and when) I can find them on my computer.

That's it for today. I plan to upload the old banners, wallpapers, and link buttons at a later date, and then to write the past layouts page, seeing as how I have screencaps. I don't feel like updating much today, or else I would have done it all. I spent all day at a marching band competition yesterday, so I'm tired.

NOTICE:
It seems that the news comments are being spammed. You probably already know not to do this, but please, don't click any of the links they provide, just to be on the safe side.

I hereby proclaim to the world that I LOVE IMAGESHACK.

Waaayyy back before D-S.net went down and my computer died, I had an Imageshack account. I forgot about it. I registered for a new one. Then, when I was doing some dusting of my Yahoo! E-mail account, and I found my registration link for the old account.

There is stuff. In that account. From when we first moved to Distilled-Spirits.

I honestly thought I would keel over and DIE.

Expect the re-appearance of some old stuff.

Edit:

Does anybody remember the Halloween layout for 2005? No?

Well, look at it here: http://img460.imageshack.us/my.php?image=layout41image0ns.jpg

...sorry, I'm being a little squealing kid right now as I'm going through all this stuff, lol. I'll try not to bring it up again.

My Internet was out for a week, however it is now working again. Hooray! Now let's see what's happening...

• TheOneRing.net has a presentation about information involving the live-action Hobbit. This is most certainly something you'll want to check out! Go look at it here.

• Queen of Stars is Elenthari's website. It's new and features a lot of her lovely LotR-related artwork. I really like it.

• HaldirofLórien.com has, as usual, updated. I wouldn't have mentioned it (because I've mentioned this site in every Fandom Front post) if it wasn't for the fact that, well, a lot was added. As in screencaptures, audio clips, and graphics.

• Alcarinquë deserves to be spotlighted simply because its a really amazing website. It's got more information about the women of Middle-earth then you could POSSIBLY need. But that's good!

Now, let's see. I've won 2 awards-the Legolas Award (Best Overall) from Iridescent Awards, and I've been made of Site of the Month at Dream Thank you, people :-) It makes me happy. But then again, who doesn't like to win an award? Or good awards, at any rate. No "Most likely to own MySpace" stuff.

Oh, and I've fixed that comments error. Well, sort of. I just wound up having to turn off the error reporting thing because the line I was supposed to replace to actually fix it wasn't...there.... But hey, it still works great!

Toodles for now!

Okay, first of all, everything should now be re-aligned to the left, with the exception of the sidebar. The pages are also now mostly typo-free and have gotten a little sprucing. The awards page is also back and I got rid of the Contact and Update Archive pages (seeing as how the archive was non-existant anyways.) Oh, and HaldierofLorien.com and Pale Spring have affiliated with me!

Anyways, I'm a little behind with the Fandom Front, so let's get cracking...

• The Aragorn Crown Awards have been fixed up a lot. Round 4 is open for entries!

• Lothlórien of the Elves has gone and deleted Cutenews (Oh, the irony!) and is now updating again. They have 40 new avatars. They're also working on the bios and in search of a better host.

• The ever-so-engaging HaldirOfLórien.com is still rolling out the updates. They have a spiffy new layout that is indeed vieweable in IE as well as Firefox. The last one was really nice when viewed in FF, but this one is nice too.

Now, as for LotR stuff, there was a new Haldir Decipher card relased-you can view it here, courtesy of HoL.com. That's a little old news, but here's some other old news that's really exciting! Pale Spring has reported on the possibility of New Line, Peter Jackson, and Fran Walsh continuing to make the Hobbit, even after that sticky suing case...

From Coming Soon.net

Peter Jackson to Return for The Hobbit?
Source: Los Angeles Times, Stuff.co.nz
August 10, 2007

New Line Cinema has given "The Lord of the Rings" fans, who want to see director Peter Jackson return for The Hobbit, some hope. Speaking to the Los Angeles Times, studio founder Bob Shaye commented on the matter:

Eager to move ahead with "The Hobbit," New Line has quietly been trying to mend fences with "Rings" filmmaker Peter Jackson, who has sued the company over his share of profits from the first "Rings" films. When asked if it was true that company insiders had been in talks with Jackson's reps, Shaye replied, "Yes, that's a fair statement. Notwithstanding our personal quarrels, I really respect and admire Peter and would love for him to be creatively involved in some way in 'The Hobbit.'"

According to Stuff.co.nz, Ian McKellen also said there was no doubt that a rumored reprisal of his Gandalf role in a film version of The Hobbit would be discussed with Jackson and [Fran] Walsh.

The site contacted Jackson's spokesman, who added: "Peter and Fran have always wanted to do 'The Hobbit' but whether that happens is yet to be decided."

From Stuff.co.nz:

Saturday, 11 August 2007
Hobbit studio sweet-talks Jackson

Peter Jackson may make The Hobbit after all, despite a financial battle with the studio that commissioned him to film The Lord of the Rings.

Bob Shaye, head of New Line Cinema, has told The Los Angeles Times that the studio - which Jackson has sued for profits from The Lord of the Rings trilogy - has been in talks with Jackson's representatives in a bid to mend fences and get him to direct The Hobbit.

"Notwithstanding our personal quarrels, I really respect and admire Peter and would love for him to be creatively involved in some way in The Hobbit," Mr Shaye said.

He had previously labelled Jackson as "arrogant", while Jackson and partner Fran Walsh took the unusual step of issuing a long statement on the internet last year declaring that because of clashes with New Line they had "no choice but to let the idea of a film of The Hobbit go".

Let's hope this works-a film Hobbit would be awesome beyond words!

I would like you to know that Cutenews is installed, but due to my incompetence, I accidentally deleted the update archive, so the archived updates are lost. Including my Fandom Front posts. *sigh* Oh well, that would have been a pain to re-archive them anyways.

Now that we've got Cutenews, I'll look into possibly adding an RSS feed for my updates, and sprucing up the content! I hope you all enjoy the new layout still and are happy with my decision to implement this script!