As the excitement of the wonderful weekend many of us shared in New York City for the Radio City Fellowship of the Ring concerts winds down, TORn would like to officially thank the generous businesses that donated prizes for various events held throughout the weekend. Follow the links to check out their great merchandise: Royal Selangor – pewter Frodo goblet, pewter Galadriel goblet; Jens Hansen – silver chain from their LOTR collection; Impact Books – “Forging Dragons” book of dragon artwork by John Howe; author Ethan Gilsdorf – copies of his book “Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks”; Fantasy Flight Games – Lord of the Rings – the Confrontation board games; artist Colleen Doran – “Gimli’s Gift” prints; Design Toscano – $25 gift certificate; Alpha Video – Christopher Lee oldies DVDs; Weta Workshop – key chains; Mythology Body – soaps; Vampirathemovie.com – temporary tattoos designed by Daniel Reeve; Shop New Zeeland – manuka honey samples; Connolly’s Pub – pens; Idaho Potato Commission – various ‘tater’ related prizes. Thank you all!

Alf Seegert writes: This week my board game BRIDGE TROLL is being released by Z-Man Games (it was released in Germany last week). I’m a huge Tolkien fan, as is the artist Ryan Laukat, and my hope is that the troll-theme of the game might appeal to other Tolkien-fans as well. (In the game players get to play bridge trolls who eat and extorts travelers who try to cross their bridges). It would be a huge honor if you found this fit to post on theonering.net! More..

Our LOTR Collector’s Edition Giveaway is officially over! As of 10 minutes ago, we’ve sent out the email to our ten lucky winners. We’d like to thank ‘The Lord of the Rings Online’ for sponsoring this special giveaway and all the fans who participated. It goes without saying, if you haven’t tried ‘The Lord of the Rings Online,’ you should! There is even a 10 day free trial period available, which makes giving a chance all the easier. Immerse yourself in Middle-earth today! [LOTRO]

A private investment group is in escrow to purchase The Shire, a hobbit-themed housing development in Bend that came to symbolize the real estate excesses of the early 2000s. Terms of the deal were not available. The original developer envisioned a community of Old English style homes. Its buildings resembled the world of J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings,” complete with thatched roofs and stone accents. Construction began in 2006 but the market crashed before sales could take off. The Shire was to boast 15 luxury “cottages,” 16 townhomes and a common area including an amphitheater for community productions. After the market collapsed, the project failed. Private investors to buy The Shire (in Portland)

TORn’s 10th Anniversary bash keeps getting better and better. Our good friend Magnus from Weta just posted a birthday card to TORn from Weta on in the VIP message thread on our Feedback board:

“Dear Tehanu, Xoanon, Corvar, Calisuri and thousands of other friends, No website has provided such a platform for fandom and creativity across literature and film as TheOneRing.net and for that we salute you! Past, current and future crew at Weta will be forever spiritually connected to TORn and we are absolutely relishing the opportunity to take on future journeys together – there… and back again… naturally.
We have recorded a short tribute at http://www.wetanz.com/torn10bday/  
Where you can also see your card in high resolution glory.”

Check out the high res version of the Weta birthday card (pictured) and the TORn tribute video at the link above. You won’t want to miss it.

Well, its April 3rd and that means it is time to announce the winner of the ‘Reclaiming the Blade’ Giveaway! As you know, TheOneRing.net teamed up with Galatia Films to celebrate the DVD release of ‘Reclaiming the Blade’ by giving away the ‘Late 15th Century Bastard Sword’ from Albion Swords! Entering the contest was easy via email or on our message board. We collected near a thousand entries and the randomly chosen winner is…

Patricia Lozon

Congrats to Patricia! We’d like to thank all of those who entered our giveaway. Your participation ensures we will do these types of giveaways in the future! And don’t forget to support our sponsor Galatia Films by purchasing your copy of ‘Reclaiming the Blade’ asap! [Contest Page] [Pre-Order the DVD]

Frandalf writes: I would like to let everyone that in December the library in Oss (the Netherlands, near Den Bosch) will host a Tolkien-exhibit together with Unquendor. There will be an exposition of rare books, film merchandise, banners made by Unquendor and more. On several occasions there will be activities, such as a lecture, workshops and a reading day. All this will be in Dutch. Read the rest of this entry »

The world is excited.  I feel it in the water.  I smell it in the air.  For much that once was, is rereleased…

As the world of Tolkien fandom eagerly prepares for the coming of The Hobbit movie(s), the BBC is helping us to fill in our time by re-releasing its fabulous radio dramatization of The Lord of the Rings.

Originally broadcast in 1981, this production is almost as classic as the books themselves.  It is THE quintessential radio dramatization.  Brilliantly acted, with atmospheric music and clever sound effects, this series has not dated at all.  Brian Sibley expertly adapted Tolkien’s writing into a script; narration is kept to a minimum and pacing is maintained through active dialogue, but at the same time as much as possible of Tolkien’s original text is included.  Book fans will love hearing cherished, familiar lines, and movie fans will enjoy spotting dialogue which made it into both Peter Jackson’s movies and this dramatization. Read the rest of this entry »

At the recent gaming convention GenCon, Fantasy Flight Games (publisher of the Lord of the Rings and War of the Ring boardgames) released some new details on the forthdoming ‘Middle-earth Quest’ adventure boardgame, as reported on boardgamegeek.com by one G. Purcell (bracketed
remarks are mine):

• It *is* still in development [some feared it had been abandoned]
• The time period is after Bilbo left the Shire, but before the Lord of the Rings book [sic - he presumably means 'before the Shadow of the Past visit by Gandalf']
• You won’t play the LotR heroes, but will encounter them (i.e. Aragorn, off looking for Gollum)
• The box size is … about the size of War of the Ring box [not ultra-huge like their StarCraft and World of Warcraft boardgames]
• It contains some exciting new mechanics that they’re not ready to announce yet
• It’s being designed by [FFG founder and sometimes game designer] Christian Petersen himself
• Current estimate of release is Spring 2009

[Fantasy Flight Games Website]

Apparently, the current economic shadow affecting real estate may feel like the tentacles of Mordor reaching out across the country. A LOTR themed community in Bend, OR is currently feeling it as this article discusses.

The rise and fall of Bend’s real estate economy has resulted in foreclosure proceedings against The Shire, a village-themed concept in southeast Bend patterned after J.R.R. Tolkien’s “Lord of the Rings” series.

For more of the story, read The Bend Bulletin