Oh man, what excitement I experienced last Tuesday! I was on vacation in Boston and went to the Museum of Science to see the Weta LotR Exhibit. It was insanely delightful. They had the weapons, many costumes and suits of armor, some so-called "Big-atures," props, and of course, the One Ring. I got to hold Glamdring (v. exciting, as I've been wanting a sword for ages), and I saw the Dead Boromir dolly in its boat. It was creepily realistic. The not-so-mini miniatures ("big-atures") of Orthanc and Barad-Dur were there, the Argonath, and tons more cool stuff. Needless to say, I kept going, "See that circlet? That was on Hugo Weaving's head. He
touched that." and things like that... and wouldn't you?
My favorite thing there was Sauron's armor... it was on a raised display and had one arm lifted in a manner of authority, and it was extremely menacing and intimidating. He had that big ol' mace, and it seriously made cowering in fear seem like the logical thing to do. Very cool.
The only thing I found disappointing was the gift shop; I brought all my money that I had saved up in the hopes of buying something really cool there, but it was pretty much barren. The other lousy thing is that you can't take pictures inside the exhibit... I did however get pictures of me and my sister at the Argonath. (I finally learned which statue is Isildur and which is Anarion, though! Isildur's the clean-shaven one; Anarion's the bearded one. This was a burning question which had been plaguing me for ages. Hooray for the Boston Museum of Science!)
Still, if you can get to Boston before October 24,
GO. You will not regret it; it's the single most awesome thing I have ever witnessed. I feel pretty special, too, because after this they're packing the whole thing up and leaving the States... I think it's going to Sydney next. I'm going to try and go back because Sean Astin will be there on October 15 and 16. Much spiffiness. Check out
www.mos.org for details, and enjoy!