Author Ethan Gilsdorf travels to Wellington, New Zealand, and visits “Wellywood,” Weta Workshop, the Weta Cave, and tries to stalk Peter Jackson and sneak onto the studios. Gilsdorf is the author of “Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms.”

Click here to view our new and improved YouTube Channel.

Legacy.com has posted feature to celebrate the 119th Birthday of J.R.R. Tolkien. The article highlights the many influences that crafted a very memorable life:

On January 3, 1892, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born. Forty-five years later, he published The Hobbit, the first of his books set in Middle Earth and the precursor to his The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Along the way, as a child and young adult, J.R.R. Tolkien gathered a collection of influences – stories and authors and mythological traditions that helped him envision his richly detailed world of hobbits and elves, orcs and ents. On the author’s birthday, we look at some of his primary influences.

[Read More]

J.R.R. Tolkien“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.”  — J.R.R. Tolkien

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein, S.A., on January 3, 1892.  He would eventually move to England, become an accomplished linguist and scholar, an Oxford professor and a beloved husband and father. While in his twenties, he began developing a series of stories that went on to become the rich, complex history of a place called Middle-earth: a world that millions would eventually visit, both on the written page and on the big screen, and come to love. TheOneRing.net raises a glass to “The Professor!” today, in honor of all the enjoyment and camaradarie his birth would lead to. Thank you, professor Tolkien!

And don’t forget, today is the annual Tolkien Society’s Birthday Toast to Professor Tolkien. For complete details on the toast, jump on over to the Tolkien Society’s website. [Tolkien Toast]

Dear reader –

Welcome to 2011 and TheOneRing.net. We have been around for a while now but this is an exceptionally exciting time heading into a year that will finally see the production of ‘The Hobbit’ start in earnest.

2010 was pretty eventful in dramatic and difficult ways. With lots of J.R.R. Tolkien books on our shelves along with our Middle-earth inspired movies, it will be fun to follow the production again as Peter Jackson, Weta and Warner Bros. move a reportedly wonderful two-part scrip from the page into digital 3D (also available in 2D!) The year ahead will bring us plenty of news, ideas, rumors and fun.

While many media outlets world wide will jump on the Hobbit news-reporting bandwagon, we will stay right here in our well-worn and comfortable seats and enjoy the ride.

We look forward to the experience along with you, dear reader. As always, TORn remains not-for-profit and forged by and for fans of J.R.R. Tolkien so thank you all for your past and future contributions and support. This is going to be fun!