The Three Cups Hotel may become two flats if developers in the U.K. get their way. Standing in the way is a 10-year-old boy, Jeremy Irons and a nation of Tolkienites waiting to hear the news. Thanks to diedye for finding this and sharing it on our message boards. The hotel in Lyme Regis, Dorset, is derelict but the location where J.R.R. Tolkien spent time and sketched and is also famous for the film “The French Lieutenant’s Woman,” and has hosted the likes of Jane Austen, Alfred Tennyson and Dwight D. Eisenhower. You can read the full story here. Any TORn readers ready to leap into the hotel business? Rally the troops in the U.K!
From Amazon.com Blogs: The Author of the Century, of course, needs no help from anyone (least of all a speck like me). No force on earth could undermine either the juggernaut implacability of his sales, nor the world-historic scale of his influence, nor the truly enormous weight of his achievement. The man puts the ‘epic’ in ‘epic win’. However–or, more accurately, because of that–every few years, certain as tides, someone will write a splenetic screed against the Professor, explaining why he’s the devil/ worst things to happen to fantasy/voice of reaction/zomg most boring writer EVER /etc. The Oedipal Resentment motivating many of these attacks may be trivially obvious, especially in those from within fantastic fiction, but it doesn’t follow that the substance of all the criticism is baseless. There are perfectly reasonable arguments to be had about the impact, nature, scale and success of Tolkien’s work. China Mieville Talks Tolkien
How does one begin when speaking of someone as dynamic as David Carradine? The man stood out as a powerful presence, known as an avid fan of J.R.R. Tolkien among his friends and fellow film artists. I am struck by his passing.
We originally met David among the crowds of Dragon*Con in Atlanta. I believe it was 2001, but the memory is not an exact science these days. The team of us were putting together a list of luminaries and Tolkien supporters that we thought would like to speak on camera for a project we had called RINGERS: Lord of the Fans, and we walked up to David just as any other engaged fan would come to an autograph table — slightly nervous yet pleased to have a handshake with a performer of such stature. Read the rest of this entry »
Philip writes: I just noticed that the Tolkien Estate website has been updated recently, mainly having to do with the publication of The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún. Although they’ve been promising to fully update the website for some time now, they are now saying the full website will launch “later in 2009.” More…
Dr. Amy H. Sturgis writes: I wanted to let you know that my recent public lecture “When Harry Met Faërie: The Tolkien Solution to the Rowling Problem” was recorded and is now available for free download and streaming on the latest episode of StarShipSofa: The Science Fiction Audio Magazine here.
“Star Wars” and “The Lord of the Rings” are two of the most widely appealing film series in history. While they share many common elements, there is little argument that knights and swords sit at the core of each. The Jedi masters and their sabers - the weapon passed from father to son - share many common elements with Aragorn and his ancestral heirloom weapon in J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth.
The sword, in whatever form, remains an important feature in cultures around the globe. It remains a symbol of the warrior in an age when many of us never need to fight anybody. Daniel McNicoll has directed a documentary, “Reclaiming The Blade,” that explores the sword and its standing in contemporary society and uses many examples from popular culture to do it. Read the rest of this entry »
LoriGreenleaf writes: A Tolkien Lecture is being held on Wednesday 13th May at Tremough Campus, Falmouth, Cornwall. Lord of the Rings author JRR Tolkien’s popular literature will be explored at the Tremough Campus, Falmouth,UK as part of a special Tolkien Day on Wednesday May 13th. Read the rest of this entry »