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Friday, March 4, 2011

WETA WORKSHOP AND THE CHRISTCHURCH QUAKE

The world certainly carried on while I was away on the stormy sea, with the tragic news of the Canterbury earthquake having immediate impact.  Somehow, it is even worse to hear of it in bits and pieces, as satellite communication waxes and wanes.  Family members are safe, though shocked, and our deep sympathies go to those who are hurt and bereaved.  A deeply moving moment was when 1,800 Australians remembered those lost in a two-minute silence, timed to coincide with the same pause in the life of New Zealanders on shore.  Not a sound was heard throughout the ship.

The folk at special effects house Weta Workshop are doing their part to help.  They have put three extra-special models from the Lord of the Rings series up for auction on eBay, with the proceeds destined to benefit the victims of the Christchurch disaster.   The model of Bag End, signed by Sir Peter Jackson, tops the bidding with a current offer of well over $6,000.

Richard Taylor has signed a model of the pub in the first film of the trilogy, the Prancing Pony.  And every man with the heart of a boy would love to bid for the raygun that was designed by Greg Broadmore.

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