Merrick here...
...with our first contribution from Irish Rican - a new AICN operative I'll introduce more fully in the coming days. Because he's so badass, he decided to give you something to celebrate his new association with AICN. Read carefully...read on.



Hey everyone – Irish Rican here! For two days only THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING will hit Radio City Music Hall for a truly unique experience. Howard Shore’s entire Academy Award winning score will be performed synchronized with the actual film. Conductor Ludwig Wicki will oversee over 300 musicians that include the 21st Century Orchestra, The Collegiate Chorale, and the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. Can any fan of the symphony or geeked-out LOTR fan be more excited? With an entire LORD OF THE RINGS weekend planned around these two performances, the performance of this score looks ready to rock Radio City Music Hall. There’s going to be pre-concert talks and post-concert signing sessions with Howard Shore and Doug Adams, with the weekend marking the official release of Adams’ new book The Music of the LORD OF THE RINGS. There’s also discussions with Tolkien linguist David Salo, who translated all choral lyrics for THE LORD OF THE RINGS scores and illustrator Colleen Doran (Ringers - a documentary about LOTR fans, A Distant Soil, Orbiter) will be on hand talking about her work. Plus more stuff to be announced! What more can you ask for??? How about a contest? What better way to celebrate this amazing event than going to the actual show? We’re giving away TWO (2) tickets for the Friday, October 9th show to one lucky winner! There are also some amazing second and third prizes for some lucky people as well! But I’m going to make you work for the prizes!!! How??? You all remember the battle between Gandolf the Grey and the fiery Balrog in THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING? Gandolf bested the beast with an amalgam of magic and ingenuity. How would you do against Balrog? How you fight the monster? In 1,000 words of less tell me! Get creative! Be clever! Get your nerd-on! Use some correct spelling!

SEND YOUR ENTRIES HERE!!!

The contest is going to run from September 1st through September 25th and will be judged by myself and Peter Tatara from New York Comic Con. All entries must be received by 11:59PM (EST) on the 25th to be considered. What can you win?
First Prize (1 winner) 2 Tickets to LOTR at Radio City –Friday October 9th at 7:30PM 1 Copy of Doug Adams’s THE MUSIC OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS by Alfred Publishing 1 Copy of THE HOBBIT Audio Book by BBC Audiobooks America 1 LORD OF THE RINGS Bookmark from Alfred Publishing
Second Prize (3 winners) 1 Copy of Doug Adams’s THE MUSIC OF THE LORD OF THE RINGS Book by Alfred Publishing 1 Copy of THE HOBBIT Audio Book by BBC Audiobooks America 1 LORD OF THE RINGS Bookmark from Alfred Publishing
Third Prize (10 winners) 1 LORD OF THE RINGS Bookmark from Alfred Publishing
So put your thinking caps on and get writing!!! Looking forward to reading all the entries! You can learn more about the above events at: RadioCItyLOTRConcert.Com, NewYorkComicCon.Com, or RadioCity.Com.

And some fine print: Ain’t It Cool is not paying for airfare or hotels to New York. You are only winning the tickets to the event, etc. If you are the first place winner be prepared to get to New York on your own. And no – you can’t crash at my house! We are also happy to accept entries from all over the world but prizes will only be shipped within North America. The contest sponsors are CAMI Music, New York Comic Con, Alfred Publishing, and BBC America Audio Books – we thank them for contributing all the great prizes for this amazing event.