That’s right folks. If you don’t currently own a Blu-ray player but have an iTunes account, an XBox Live account or have a PS3 but don’t want to buy physical media, you can still own The Lord of the Rings Extended Edition Trilogy in HD.

Starting today, all three films are available via iTunes, XBox Live and on the Playstation Network. These are not the original versions of the films, however, these are the extended editions which contain lots more footage for you to enjoy.

As a huge fan of these films I was pretty impressed with the extended editions. Of course, I don’t mind having the Blu-ray versions because I like the way that 1080p picture looks plus all the extras are pretty cool too. However, if you just want the movies, a download may be the perfect way to go.

As an added bonus, we’ve got a scene from the extended edition of the trilogy never seen in theaters. Check it out after the jump.

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As someone who purchased an Apple TV I find the device somewhat useful. Sure, its sorta a pain to have to sync your movies and TV programs to iTunes but it does make a pretty good streaming video server. Although, it does have its limitations, including the rather small size of the internal storage, and is rather costly for what it really does.

Well, according to a pretty well confirmed rumor over at Engadget those limitations, and the high price, are about to change. Apple is reportedly hard at work on developing and rolling out a brand new version of the Apple TV which will resemble, both is form and in specs, the fourth generation iPhone. It will be an iPhone-like box without a screen which will run the iPhone OS and serve content. It will have very few ports — possibly only HDMI and power — and it will reportedly cost only $99.00.

Video output for the device will be up to 1080p, it will have up to 16GB of internal storage and an Apple A4 processor. I know what you’re thinking. Only 16 GB of internal Flash storage? That’s too small.

Well, fear not, Apple has you covered because the device will reportedly store all media on “the cloud” much like other services from Netflix, Microsoft and Amazon do. The difference here is that with Apple’s offering, you will be able to get “instant on” 1080p content delivered directly to your giant plasma TV.

Does that sound pretty cool or what? Oh, and did I mention the thing will reportedly cost only $99.00? Yeah, they’re gonna sell a few of these. . . quite a few. Can’t wait to see how this device stacks up against Google’s upcoming GoogleTV.

Featuring a terrific ensemble cast led by Lee Tergesen, Melanye Linsky and Gillian Jacobs Helena From the Wedding is a straightforward and simple story well told about a group of friends gathered at a house in the mountains for New Years Eve. Naturally, none of the relationships among these people are exactly what they seem on the surface and as the film progresses you learn more about their darker, hidden sides and their flaws and insecurities.

When you have a great cast and give them interesting things to do you end with a good film that doesn’t rely on any sort of effects, CGI, explosions or any of the crutches many of the big time directors making big budget movies rely on these days. It’s the mark of a skilled filmmmaker who can take a simple film where people interact and talk about things and still manage to make it interesting.

Of course, it helps to have a very gifted actor at the center of the film. Lee Tergesen is one of those actors you’ve undoubtedly seen in something but you may not be able to place him. He inhabits a role so well that you almost don’t recognize him from project to project. That’s one of his major strengths.

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In news that should have happened months ago, it seems that Comedy Central’s nightly, satiric look at current events is finally getting upgraded to HD starting on January 4. Not only will these be the first episodes shot in HD, but they will be the first episodes of the year, and the century.

No word on how this upgrade will effect the format of the show, if at all, but we do know that both shows will continue to keep us laughing into the new year.

Most recently, both shows have been nominated for a WGA TV award, which will put them head-to-head (and we know what happened last time).

With both shows doing well in ratings, getting nominated for awards, and getting the boost to HD, it’s no doubt that variety, or more specifically “comedy”, programming is still at it’s peak.

If you doubt that, you could always see Colbert rap with Alicia Keys in a spoof on “Empire State of MInd.”

Even though the Apple TV was basically ignored at last week’s music event where we did get new iPod Nanos and other cool goodies, it seems that the device’s time has now come. Today over at the Apple Store, the company has made a few changes to its Apple TV lineup to get in step with some as-yet-unknown strategy.

The original 40GB model has been dropped and the 160GB model is now available for $229, down from $329. Now that these changes have been rolled out, what does this mean for a device that some consider a bit expensive and redundant in the age of Netflix streaming, Hulu or torrents? Over at AppleInsider, they’ve speculated that the iTunes LP format and iTunes Extras released last Wednesday are specifically designed to deliver content to Apple TV.

They’ve also noted that the content is scaled for 1280 x 720 resolution, which is the native resolution of the Apple TV. They’re are also html meta tags in the new content — “hdtv-fullscreen” and “hdtv-cursoroff” — which may indicate that these new formats were designed for the device. Whatever happens, its pretty clear that the Apple TV needs a refresh, and not just in capacity.

So, what can we expect from the device in the near future? In my perfect world we would see and Apple TV with Netflix streaming, access to the web for Hulu, a larger HD and a Blu-ray player built in. Will we actually get such a device? I wouldn’t hold your breath.