The Legend of Sigurd and GudrúnThe folks from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt send this bit of coolness to us! They want to whet your appetites for the May 5th release of ‘The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún’, take a look at the foreword written by Christopher Tolkien!

Sigurd and Gudrún on Facebook

Pre-order ‘The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrún’ on Amazon.com

In his essay On Fairy-Stories (1947) my father wrote of books that he read in his childhood, and in the course of this he said:

I had very little desire to look for buried treasure or fight pirates, and Treasure Island left me cool. Red Indians were better: there were bows and arrows (I had and have a wholly unsatisfied desire to shoot well with a bow), and strange languages, and glimpses of an archaic mode of life, and above all, forests in such stories. But the land of Merlin and Arthur were better than these, and best of all the nameless North of Sigurd and the Völsungs, and the prince of all dragons. Such lands were pre-eminently desirable. Continue reading “Christopher Tolkien’s Foreword to ‘Sigurd and Gudrún’!”

LOTR Korean Logo

Turbine, Inc. has announced the launch of its award-winning massively multiplayer online game, The Lord of the Rings Online™, in Russia and Korea. Through partnerships with NHN in Korea and ITT in Russia, Turbine continues to expand The Lord of the Rings Online around the world. Turbine currently operates The Lord of the Rings Online in North America and Europe.

Turbine will celebrate the 2nd anniversary of The Lord of the Rings Online starting this Friday – please stay tuned for additional details!

The folks at Dailymotion send this in: On May 3rd (a week from Sunday), “The Hunt for Gollum” will make its debut on video sharing site Dailymotion. This high-production value, 45-minute film was a labor of love, produced by entirely by fans of the Tolkien trilogy on a volunteer basis over the past 2 years. Inspired by notes in the appendices of the book, the film follows Aragorn as he sets out to find the creature Gollum and discover the truth about the Ring.

The film will be available for streaming free of charge beginning May 3rd, but you can get a sneak peak now by viewing the trailer here. Continue reading “‘The Hunt for Gollum’ Debuts on Dailymotion”

Aria writes: I noticed that you guys haven’t put anything down about the Sean Astin coming to the CalgaryExpo next Saturday and Sunday, so I thought I should inform you. So for any of you Canadian Ringers out there that live in or near Calgary, Alberta (like me!) who want to see Sean Astin and some other really cool guests, I suggest you come, it’ll be great! (P.S. don’t forget to wear a costume to show you’re love for LOTR!). calgaryexpo.com

The Lord of the Rings: The Motion Picture Trilogy (Theatrical Editions) [Blu-ray]Joel writes: Check out these review comments from people on Amazon regarding the blu-ray release of the theatrical editions. There’s a story there how, in this economy, people are angry at New Line for doing the ‘double dipping’ by releasing the theatrical first, and the extended later. It has forced the trilogy down to a 2-star average rating. I’ve not seen something quite like this before – love of the film, but such anger over a release/marketing policy. There’s 34 pages of >90% bitter reviews.

Xoanon here: I’m not too sure how much of ‘New Line Cinema’ exists, so venting to them may not help. LOTR is now a property of Warner Bros., and I assume the release schedule is of their doing. One sure fire way to get their attention is to visit this link and send them a kindly worded email expressing your disappointment. You never know, fans made LOTR a hit, and perhaps we can make a difference here as well.