Here’s a report on the LOTR potluck picnic and Lembas bake-off in San Francisco – photos to follow. We had a great time; with a bit of planning and networking, there’s no reason you can’t do the same in your area. [More]
Day: June 15, 2002
A warm day in a green glade among the redwoods, tables loaded with good food, the fellowship of other Tolkien fans….What could be nicer?
Today was the pot-luck picnic and lembas bake-off in San Francisco’s Stern Grove, and it was a lot of fun – the most LOTR fun we’ve had in ages. It was great to finally put real faces to screen nicknames for the first time, in a friendly atmosphere where it snowed food and rained drink, as they say.
The local members of Cloondara Shire from the Society for Creative Anachronism were a big help (as well as being nice folks), as they had a medieval-looking shade tent and they also were generous in the loaning out of armour and padded weapons. The kids had endless fun issuing heroic challenges and whopping each other with battleaxes, which left the adults free to party as they pleased.
The lembas bake-off was won by a shortbread type of confection, slightly crunchy and not too sweet. Apologies because I forget the name of the winner!
Actually a lot of us didn’t know each other well because this was a LOTR gathering that attracted people from many different websites – TORN, TORC, Imladris and even people who don’t go online at all – and that made it all the more fun, since of course we had more in common than not.
We’re planning to meet for other events in the near future – another LOTR showing in a classic cinema with couches, and a DVD release party were both ideas that were thrown around. The fact is that by now, six months after the release of the first film, we are getting slightly bored and antsy with the lack of real news. Everyone who’s bought toys has played with them, we’ve read all the books we can get our hands on, and now seems a good time to build on the relationships we’ve built up on the various messageboards and chatrooms we inhabit.
TORN didn’t organise this picnic – it was thought up by members of the messageboards on TORN and the White Council, if I remember rightly, and the idea became popular there before TORN got involved by mentioning it on the front page. The Cloondara Shire people were great to have there too as they are Tolkien fans almost by definition and their SCA hobbies give them lots of practice at organising outdoor events.
A number of people have written from all over the place asking why TORN doesn’t organise a LOTR picnic in their area, and my answer is, we didn’t organise this one. It ‘just happened,’ though of course Yarrow and others worked to make it happen. The thing you need to have to make it ‘just happen’ is a network of local LOTR fans built up through chatroom and messageboard connections. A party invite for your local LOTR fans will have more success if you’re somebody who’s participated in discussions and is therefore known to the others – I doubt people will flock to the banner of somebody they’ve never seen before announcing a LOTR picnic on their messageboard. Another great resource is the Society for Creative Anachronism since they have branches or ‘Shires’ all over the world and are quite likely to be interested in helping with and enjoying your LOTR event.
So, get out and play. Don’t sit at home staring at the screen! Make the Net work for you and organise your own LOTR event.
Check out this article at MTV.com about the upcoming FOTR DVD! WOW! [More]
An article on “Tolkien and the OED” has just been posted on the “OED Current Newsletter” site, talking about his work there at the beginning of his career.[More] Thanks to Turgon for the link.
Over the last three years, the Hall of Fire has hosted all sorts of different discussions on the Tolkien spectrum, but it’s not often that we host a discussion which raises a question over the behaviour of protagonists in Tolkien’s literature. However, that’s exactly what we’re doing this weekend as the Hall of Fire staff invite you to join us this weekend as we discuss what should spark a heated debate about The Responsibility Elves had to Middle-earth. [More]
Over the last three years, the Hall of Fire has hosted all sorts of different discussions on the Tolkien spectrum, but it’s not often that we host a discussion which raises a question over the behaviour of protagonists in Tolkien’s literature. However, that’s exactly what we’re doing this weekend as the Hall of Fire staff invite you to join us this weekend as we discuss what should spark a heated debate about:
The Responsibility Elves had to Middle-earth
Getting straight to the point, should the Elves have done more during their tenure on Middle-earth? From the beginnings as the first race to live under the watchful eye of the Valar to their parting post-War of the Ring, the Elves have often given their blood and soul to protect their home from evil, be it Melkor or his commander Sauron. However, occasionally the Elves have shirked responsibility, be it to their allies or to themselves, and it wasn’t long after the fall of Sauron that they departed Middle-earth once and for all, leaving it under the rule of the ‘age of man’.
Could the Elves have done more during the War of the Ring? Was the staying of their hand for so long one of the main reasons why the Necromancer rose once again from Mirkwood to raise his armies in the land of Mordor? Was their pride and hatred of dwarves a reason for the amount of Elven blood shed? Or do you disagree and believe that the Elves served Middle-earth to the very end, beyond the call of duty? If so, did they owe Middle-earth anything more before their departure? Join us this weekend for what should be, despite whichever side you’re on, a great discussion.
Upcoming Discussions
June 22 & 23: TTT Chapter Discussion: The Return of Gandalf
June 29 & 30: Ask the Experts: A Q&A on Tolkien’s Work
Place:
#thehalloffire on theonering.net server; come to theonering.net’s chat room Barliman’s and then type /join #thehalloffire .
Saturday Chat: 5:30 pm ET (17:30) [also 11:30 pm (23:30) CET and 7:30 am Sunday (07:30) AET]
Sunday Chat: 7:00 pm (19:00) CET [also 1:00 pm (13:00) ET and 4:00 am (04:00) Monday morning AET]
ET = Eastern Time, USA’s East Coast
CET = Central European Time, Central Europe
Questions? Topics? Send ‘em here.