Emil Johansson of Gothenburg, Sweden, who is designing a detailed interactive family tree of Tolkien's characters, was recently interviewed by CNN's Geek Out. To read the interview, click here and to see the beta version of the Family Tree click here.

Andy Serkis has revealed that he is shooting his scenes as Gollum for ''The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey' live alongside his cast mates for the first time. You can see what he has to say by clicking here .

Rejoice! Lego has sent us all the official images of all the Lego Lord of the Rings minifigs. That includes the first look of the awesome Gollum, the Ringwraiths, the Uruk-hais, Moria Orcs and the Mordor Orcs. See the figures here .

According to The Telegraph, a previously unknown letter written by J.R.R.Tolkien, after a less than wonderful vacation, has just been sold at auction. Click here for more details.

Click here for a new image of Martin Freeman, as Bilbo, standing with some of the Dwarves.

Filming of the scene where Bilbo and the dwarfs escape from the elves by hiding in barrels has been taking place at the Aratiatia rapids near Taupo in New Zealand.

Spill gates from a dam were used and every time there was a dam release 20 to 25 barrels were released. You can read the full story here

In a recent interview for Entertainment Weekly, Canadian actress Evangeline Lilly discussed her role in the action movie 'Real Steel' and also described what it is like playing a warrior elf in Peter Jackson's ' Hobbit' movies. For the original interview click here.

Click here to watch Peter Jackson explain how to The Hollywood Reporter how much more filming remains to be done on the first Hobbit movie.

Elijah Wood talks about his filming experience on The Hobbit with Collider.com.

Casting calls for extras for The Hobbit are being held in New Zealand. Learn more about it at here.

On Jan 13th Andy Serkis gave an interview and Q&A session to the La Times 'Hero Complex' division. Click here for the video of this rather extensive interview in which Serkis discusses screen capture and its use in his roles in TinTin, Rise of The Planet of the Apes, and The Hobbit movies.

The L. A. Times, in its 'Hero Complex' section, has just posted a new picture of Martin Freeman, looking somewhat the worse for wear, as Bilbo. To see the picture, and read the accompanying article, click here.

Richard Armitage has just been named to MTV's 'Ones to Watch'.
Click on this link to go to MTV's interview of the British actor in which he discusses his career making role, playing Thorin, in Peter Jackson's 'Hobbit' movies.

Actor Andy Serkis has publicly thanked James Franco for championing him as a Best Actor Oscar nominee, branding his support "extraordinarily bold". See the article, from Contactmusic.com, here.

in 1961, C. S. Lewis nominated J. R. R. Tolkien for the Nobel prize in literature, a prize that ended up being awarded to Yugoslavian writer Ivo Andric.
The workings of the Nobel Committee have been kept secret for 50 years but now, according to this article in the Guardian and this article in The Daily Mash, we learn that The Professor was turned down over both his questionable prose, and for his choice of subject material.