Eowyn Rohan writes in: Greetings Middle-earth denizens! The good folks involved with A Long-Expected Party wish to announce the addition of award-winning Celtic singer Kate Brown to our ever-growing list of guests joining us in Kentucky this coming September. Kate is very well-known in the local area for her beautiful soprano voice and her love of fantasy adventure. Space is rapidly running out, so don’t delay any further in securing your place at the best Party any Hobbit could hope to find. A Long-Expected Party is scheduled for September 25-28, 2008 in Shaker Village, Kentucky.
Month: May 2008
Fans of Peter Jackson will want to check out this article from the ‘Great Directors’ database of the Australian film journal “Senses of Cinema”. It represents a nice retrospective of PJ’s career, including interesting facts about his major projects. Thanks to Matthew for the link. Read More
Just a quick reminder to Ringers in England – this weekend is “Monsters at the Mill” at Tolkien’s beloved Sarehole mill near Birmingham. Read More The Tolkien Society seminar, “Freedom, Fate and Choice in Middle-earth” takes place on June 28 in London – they are calling for papers now.
Collectors can look forward to a pretty realistic looking diorama coming soon from Sideshow Collectibles titled “‘Dark Council’ – Theoden and Grima Wormtongue.” From the looks of the piece, the sculptors have perfectly captured the likeness of Brad Dourif as Grima and Bernard Hill as the possessed Theoden. If Sideshow follows their regular schedule, we can expect this item to pre-order next week around 6pm PT. And if you are a Cate Blanchett fan, check out the Sideshow/Weta Polystone Statue of Galadriel, now listed at 35% OFF. [Dark Council Diorama] [The Lady Galadriel Statue]
This oft-visited farm is the headquarters for the unassuming but quite influential Gammy Boggs. If anyone wants news of the current happenings in Staddle, Gammy’s farm is the place to go. Visit her farm and she’ll waste no time putting your idle hands to work! Exploring Middle-earth: Gammy Boggs’ Farm
Or Where I Learn Something About History. (Maybe.)
I’ve been reading a lot of history books lately, initially for research, but in the end because bibliographies are full of tempting titles and the detours signposted thus are obviously more inviting than the trip at hand. So, am currently lost in history books about history. Besides, like Franklin P. Jones said “Perhaps nobody has changed the course of history as much as the historians.” When you’re using Occam’s Razor for that morning shave, you can only hope it’s still sharp – unless of course Parsimony is your Principle..
And, seeing as one of the culprits in the historical Flat Earth scam (yes, distracted from that once again) was the author of Rip Van Winkle, who had no scruples about practising exactly what he preached: “For what is history, but… huge libel on human nature, to which we industriously add page after page, volume after volume, as if we were holding up a monument to the honor, rather than the infamy of our species.”; I tripped over a quote, lost my bearings and ended up wandering off into history itself. (Irving, when he wasn’t penning epigrams, indulged in a good deal of epitaphs for infamy, by the way.) John Howe’s Journal: SAMIZDAT PALIMPSEST