NEW YORK (CNN) -- "The World Trade Center was built to withstand winds of 250 mph. That's basically a Category 5 hurricane," says the author of "Empire Rising" over the phone from Los Angeles, California. "The Empire State Building was built to withstand winds of 1,250 mph. Do the math." The speaker is Thomas Kelly ("Payback," "The Rackets"), whose epic third novel teems with immigrants, corrupt politicians, and ascendant gangsters all swirling around the rising, stolid colossus of the Empire State Building -- the skyscraper that was the world's tallest for more than 40 years. [More]

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It is time to come together and talk Kong! The chatroom has been a great success, however some people have been popping in at odd hours when there is no one to chat with. To that end I've devised a KONG Chat time, a set time and day of the week for all Kong chatters to meet and have fun! The weekly Kong Chat will be Thursday nights at 8:30PM Eastern Standard Time. World times are below, if you need more help click here. [Kong Java Chat Room] [irc chat settings: SERVER www.theonering.net ROOM: #kongisking.net]

8:30PM (Thursday) EST in New York, Montreal
5:30PM (Thursday) PST in Los Angeles, Seattle
1:30AM (Friday) in Greenwich
2:30AM (Friday) (Central European Time)
9:30AM (Friday) in Hong Kong
12:30PM (Friday) in Sydney
2:30PM (Friday) in Auckland, Wellington

Earlier this morning latinoreview.com posted the above image claiming it was the official King Kong Logo, and it is! Sources within Universal confirm that this is indeed the official logo. It remains to be seen if this logo is simply a teaser logo or something that will make it to posters, toys and more. Stay tuned for a sweet hi-resolution version! [More]

Kong Spy Atomicmutant sends alone this scan from the latest edition of Entertainment Weekly featuring an article on the King Kong video game. [More]

Day 92 brings us up to speed on the glorious life of the lighting continuity crewman, Ants Farrell takes us through his day working on the Massive New York set. Tongue placed firmly in cheek, Ants shows us the mammoth amount of respect and loyalty he gets from his fellow crewmen. All joking aside, this PD gives us some great goodies! Take a look at Adrien Brody on set! Massive amounts of extras running from...Kong (or a very Kong-like noise on the loudspeaker), vintage car stunts! And more! Ants...you are good in my books! [QT6 240x132px 7Mb] [QT4 320x176px 13Mb] [QT6 480x264px 16Mb] [Bit Torrents!]

Email us your questions and PJ may answer them in a future Production Diary!

Like what you see? Discuss it in our Chat Room! [Click Here] Or the Message Boards? [Click Here]

Naomi Watts puts on her best scared face on the set of the new King Kong movie. Universal Studios released the photograph from Peter Jackson's $200 million remake of the 1933 classic yesterday. Watts, an Academy Award nominee, plays love interest Ann Darrow. Adrien Brody, who won a Best Actor Oscar for his work in The Pianist (2002), is Jack Driscoll. Jack Black plays the other lead, showman Carl Denham. Filming of scenes set in New York is taking place on a specially-constructed set in Lower Hutt. [More]

Are you one of the lucky folks heading to the New York Toy Fair next week? If so, drop us a line! We've got some geekage we need you to report on! [Email us]

Celebriel forwards a Wellington Dominion Post article identifying A US computer chip company and a Canadian biotech firm as the first international clients for WETA's New Zealand Computing Centre, formed in partnership with Telcom subsidiary Gen-i in September 2004. The downtown Wellington center is the largest commercially-available supercomputing cluster in the southern hemisphere - offering the power of about 9000 PCs. [More]

Wellington film-maker Fran Walsh now has a Grammy to keep her three Oscar statuettes company. Walsh shared a Grammy with composer Howard Shore and singer Annie Lennox for the song Into the West from Peter Jackson's The Return of the King. The trio scooped the best song written for a motion picture, television or other visual media category at the top American music awards show in Los Angeles last night. [More]

LOS ANGELES (CP) - The late Ray Charles proved to be the sentimental favourite at Sunday's Grammy Awards, overshadowing most of the other big nominees. Toronto-born Howard Shore won another two Grammys for Lord of the Rings. The first was for best score soundtrack album for Return of the King - his third consecutive year picking up that trophy. [More]

The 47th Annual Grammy Awards will be presented tonight on CBS. King Kong composer Howard Shore has been nominated for 'Best Score Soundtrack Album for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media' Award for his work on Return of the King. He is up against: Thomas Newman (ANGELS IN AMERICA), Danny Elfman (BIG FISH), Jon Brion (ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND), John Williams (HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN). [More]

Peter Jackson's New York set is so realistic and detailed, right down to the alligators in the sewers! Ok, so there may not be alligators in the sewers, but just what is down there? What makes that steam come out from underground? Grant Major and his crew go behind the scenes and show us how they manufactured such a tiny detail that adds so much aesthetic quality to the set. And what about the real New York sewers? What are the theories to the real steam coming out from below? Listen to the crews answers, and you be the judge! [QT6 240x132px 6Mb] [QT4 320x176px 12Mb] [QT6 480x264px 15Mb] [Bit Torrents!]

Email us your questions and PJ may answer them in a future Production Diary!

Like what you see? Discuss it in our Chat Room! [Click Here] Or the Message Boards? [Click Here]

The latest newsletter is ready to go! Do you want to receive our free weekly newsletter? Packed with tons of info to keep you up to date on the latest? Plus filled with exclusives from time to time! Join the crowd of over 1566 mailing list members! Sign up now! [More]

Some of Peter Jackson's next film The Lovely Bones will probably be shot in Wellington, Oscar-winning screenwriter Philippa Boyens says. The novel, written by American Alice Sebold, is set in Norristown, a town near Philadelphia. Though decisions still had to be made on where the film would be shot, Boyens said some of the filming would probably be in Wellington. "Peter loves filming here and he has incredible facilities so I assume some of it will be here (but) it is quite an American story," she said. [More]

It's the two towers you notice first, poking shyly out of the trees like turrets on a secret film set. Then, as the back road winds towards distant mountains, you finally see other signs that you have arrived at the estate Gollum built. There's the imposing brick entrance. The gatekeeper's lodge. The earth-moving machines building an ornamental lake worthy of Capability Brown. Through the trees you catch glimpses of the house and wonder if all the rumours can be true. [More]