Pungolo writes: Hey Xoanon! Today I had a good chat with Mr. Alan Lee, who was presenting his new book here in Milan! We spoke mainly about Kong, but he said some interesting things about LOTR too (even if we are going to publish a report of a conference he gave after our interview, in which he showed a lot of interesting material – we’ll send you the photos for TORN). [More]

Andy “Gollum” Serkis got a little too close to the apes to channel King Kong. King Kong’s return, 72 years after his introduction in the original classic, is the year’s best more-than-mortal comeback since Batman Begins. And the giant ape owes it to his alter ego, Andy Serkis. Serkis can do it all, from balding mystical runt to huge, hairy anthropoid in a blink of the camera’s eye. He was the heart and soul of creepy Gollum, the defrocked hobbit in The Lord of the Rings. Now he’s Hollywood’s go-to guy for iconic gorillas in our midst. [More]


Today is Dominic Monaghan’s birthday! Dominic was born on December 8th, 1976 in Berlin, Germany. That makes him 29 years old today! Happy birthday Dominic!

Have you submitted your question yet? The two guiding lights behind the creation of Ringers: Lord of the Fans will join us for a live Q&A chat in the Hall of Fire on Saturday December 17 at the special time of 5pm EST.

Cliff Broadway (aka TORn staffer Quickbeam) and Carlene Cordova (aka TORn staffer Asfaloth) will be on hand to answer your questions about the experience of making Ringers. Ringers, which was narrated by Dominic Monaghan, traces the history of Tolkien fandom from the 50’s to the present day. It examines the way legendary rock musicians, filmmakers, professors, actors, authors and you all unite under the banner of ‘Ringer’. Interviewees in the film include Peter Jackson as well as Elijah Wood, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellen, Sean Astin and David Carradine. [More]

The challenge of Hall of Fire this weekend is to reveal the Seven Heavenly Virtues as they can be found in Lord of the Rings. Obviously there is much evil in Middle Earth, we ran out of time when we considered the Seven Deadly Sins only two weeks ago. But can we discover virtue? Here are the virtues along with the definitions that we will discuss.

FAITH — Confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea, or thing. Loyalty to a person or thing; allegiance. Sam definitely has little faith in Gollum!

HOPE — The desire and search for a future good. A wish or desire accompanied by confident expectation of its fulfillment. Was there hope of Sauron’s defeat?

CHARITY — Benevolence or generosity toward others or toward humanity. Indulgence or forbearance in judging others. Love directed toward oneself and one’s neighbours. Would you say that Hobbits are charitable?

FORTITUDE — Strength of mind that allows one to endure pain or adversity with courage. Frodo might fit right here, do you think?

JUSTICE — The quality of being fair. The principle of moral rightness; equity. Conformity to moral rightness in action or attitude; righteousness. The upholding of what is just, especially fair treatment and due reward in accordance with honor, standards, or law. What brave warrior comes to mind when we talk about justice?

PRUDENCE — Also discretion, foresight, forethought. To be Wise in handling practical matters; exercising good judgment or common sense. Careful in regard to one’s own interests. Careful about one’s conduct. Gandalf is one who cautions all to have prudence.

TEMPERENCE — Moderation and self-restraint, as in behavior or expression. This is definitely not a trait found in Orcs!

So there they are. Consider them well. They are pillars of good character. Join us this weekend in Hall of Fire as we discuss all that is good in Lord of the Rings. Times are listed below.

Time zone conversions

Not sure what time the chat will be where you are? Check this little conversion table out for some help.

America:
5.30pm EST (New York)
4.30pm CST (Chicago)
3.30pm MST (Salt Lake City)
2.30pm PST (Los Angeles)

Europe:
10.30pm GMT (London)
11.30pm CET (Paris)

Asia-Pacific:
6.30am AWST (Sunday 11th) Perth
8.30am AEST (Sunday 11th) Brisbane
9.30am AEDT (Sunday 11th) Sydney
11.30am NZDT (Sunday 11th) Wellington

Our chats usually last 45 mins to an hour, and are very newbie friendly. Simply drop in and join the conversation!

Where?

Chat happens on #thehalloffire on irc.theonering.net – the TORn IRC server. You can connect instantly via our java chat client that works inside your web browser (find it here! ) or choose to install a dedicated chat program such as mIRC on your computer.

To find out more about using mIRC to connect to TORn IRC server, check out these instructions.

Upcoming topics:

Sat Dec 10 – The Seven Heavenly Virtues in LoTR
Sun Dec 17 – Live Ringers Q&A

NB: Hall of Fire will take a break for Christmas and the New Year and will resume in early January.

Got a topic? Let us know your idea!

If you have a burning desire to discuss something in Hall of Fire, drop us a line with your topic at halloffire@theonering.net. If we like it, we’ll probably give it a run in the coming weeks – you might even get to guest moderate the session!

Join HoF Announce!

Did you know that Hall of Fire has a mailing list? Join today and get topic announcements and news delivered regularly to your inbox!

Hof-announce@theonering.net
http://www.theonering.net/mailman/listinfo/hof-announce