From: PS
Since it seems like Ethan Hawke (Faramir) season at the moment. I thought you’d like to know that Ringers in the UK and Ireland can see him on ITV/UTV tonight at Midnight GMT appearing in the film A Midnight Clear.
Month: January 2000
I got this email from Corun Mcanndra and thought it was well worth passing on to the rest of you Tolkien fans:
“Greetings,
I see that the current polling at the site is on languages and which ones people would be most likely to want to learn more about. The languages Tolkien developed have fascinated me since I first read the books while in Jr. High school in the mid 60s. I spent a great deal of time with my nose stuck in the appendices that dealt with the languages and had always
wanted more comprehensive information, but alas I was not a philologist as was the good Professor.
Well as it happened, while I was on a sojourn in England in 1978, I came across the answer to my dreams. I dicovered a book that had been recently published that dealt rather extensively with many of the languages of Middle Earth. It was found at Flood’s in London, and was out of print for some time. The book was called:
“An Introduction to Elvish, and to Other Tongues and Proper Names and Writing Systems of the Third Age of the Western Lands of Middle-Earth as Set Forth in the Published Writings of Professor John Ronald Reuel Tolkien.”
Edited and compiled by J. Allan, et al.
A few years ago I found it again at a bookstore in Oxford called Thornton’s. For those who don’t know, Thornton’s is the pre-eminent seller of material related to Tolkien and many of the other Inklings who inhabited Oxford.
Now then, on to the best part. The book is in print again and can be acquired through Thornton’s online at the following address:
http://www.demon.co.uk/thorntons/tolkindex.htm
It is a thick book, packed with Elvish to English dictionaries for both the Eldarin and Sindarin styles and also complete writing systems for these as well as the Dwarf runes. There is even a small section on the Black Speech.It’s a marvelous reference and I recommend it highly.
And for those who wish to write letters to their friends in Elvish but don’t have a skill for calligraphy, you can get a truly remarkable and highlyd detailed font set for Tengwar script from:
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/4948/tengwar.htm
You will definitely want to print out the manual to use this effectively as it makes use of just about every keystroke combination on your keyboard. You may also want to check out the Tengwar utilities link at the bottom of that page. Some of these are quite nice for writing in English and converting directly to the Tengwar font.
In closing let me say that I have no connection with Thornton’s of Oxford, J. Allen, or Dan Smith and I gain nothing but the knowledge that I have helped increase an interest into the languages of Middle-earth.
Well, that’s about all. I hope you enjoy these.
Regards,
Sindarin”
Resevoir Dog sends in this bit on the good Ian Holm (Bilbo), looks like he’ll make the perfect Hobbit!
During the audio commentry on the DVD Resurrection director Russell Mulcahy talks about actors eating on camera. He says it is always a difficult decision for actors whether to eat or not and he recalls a film he did with Ian Holm where Ian ate 23 full english breakfasts whilst trying to shoot a scene! He says “Ian’s not a big man, but he was certainly bigger at lunch time”
The Search and Archives sections have been reworked so hopefully they are more usable. Additionally I have hopefully made the main site more usable for people who use text based browsers and the visually impaired.
If you have any questions, comments, or problems with the changes please drop me an email at corvar@theonering.net
The Ian Holm film ‘The Sweet Hereafter’ will be on TMN’s Signature Showcase today. [More]
The lovely Cate Blanchett is making news in the great white north. Click on the link for the rest of the article:
“Next up for Blanchett is the role of Galadriel, the elf queen in the live-action feature Lord of the Rings, based on the fantasy novels of J.R.R. Tolkien. “I start in June. It’s a 14-month shoot. We’re making three movies back-to-back. And I’ll be in all three. What drew her to this project? “I was actually in The Hobbit when I was in high school but I hadn’t read the books and now I’m delving into them.” She says she was also drawn to the project by director Peter Jackson “who has one of the most extraordinary, bizarre, out-there minds.” I stare at her. With her pixie face and tall, slender build, she’d be a remarkable elfin queen, as depicted by Tolkien. Her eyes twinkle quite mischievously.” [More]