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On this episode of Hobbit in 5, we talk about the Fellowship of the Ring extended edition screening, Sean Bean is okay after being stabbed with a piece of glass, NZ was rocked again by two earthquakes, and show you some Ringer fan creations! For our character study, we’ll look at Radagast the Brown.

Thanks to our executive producers: John A. Smith, Mark Ernst, Scott Bulger, Tony Borgersen, Bryce Nargi, and Vegard Ovland.

Red CrossChristchurch Earthquake Appealhttp://www.hobbitin5.comRebekah has her own Facebook page now! Go check it out and “like” her!Go like theOneRing.net on Facebook as well!Mark Sommer’s ArticleThe Fellows Hip: Rise of the Gamers

Tina Stevenson, Community Manager for Warinthenorth.com dropped me a line to let me know about this cool event the dev team has cooked up for you guys.

Tina writes: “We’re have a big part of our team sit down from 2-6 PDT today to watch the ‘Fellowship of the Ring: extended edition’ all together. Luckily, being a game studio means we all have tvs, computers, and dvd players right at our desk. We’ll be chatting along on Facebook with a heavy bent of just fans being fans together.

The main reason we set this up is because the theatrical re-release didn’t come to our part of town, so not many of us got to go… I know it is that way for International fans, and a lot of other folks as well.”

Be sure to head on over to their Facebook page for the details…happy viewing!

Loughborough University, 16th-20th August 2012 Call for Papers. Postgraduate Symposium: Tolkien Studies

Friday 17th August, Loughborough University, UK. – As part of their larger scale conference, ‘Return of the Ring’’, the Tolkien Society (UK) are offering a dedicated postgraduate symposium bringing together contemporary research in any discipline from the field of Tolkien Studies such as linguistics, literature, film studies, creative responses etc.

This is a unique opportunity for postgraduate and early career stage researchers to come together, share scholarship and be mentored by leading academics in the field in interdisciplinary panels. Continue reading “The Return of the Ring: celebrating Tolkien in 2012”

A Birmingham nature reserve that Lord of the Rings author, JRR Tolkien, visited as a child has undergone a £250,000 revamp. New paths and walkways have been introduced at the reserve, known as Moseley Bog, the Wildlife Trust said.

Tolkien said Moseley Bog had inspired the mystical Old Forest that his Hobbit characters travelled through in the Lord of the Rings. The trust said it wanted to enhance the area with walkways not urbanise it. It is owned by Birmingham City Council and managed by the Friends of Moseley Bog and the Wildlife Trust and was awarded lottery money towards the revamp. More..

Close on the heels of their exclusive that Luke Evans has been cast in the role of Bard the Bowman, Deadline.com has broken another exclusive that Benedict Cumberbatch will be voicing the character of both Smaug the Dragon and the Necromancer in The Hobbit.

Via Deadline.com: After reporting today that Luke Evans will play Bard in the Peter Jackson-directed The Hobbit and wondering who’ll voice the dragon Smaug, Deadline can now tell you that it will be Benedict Cumberbatch. He’ll portray Smaug via motion capture. He is already on the picture, providing the voice of the character Necromancer.

Head over to Deadline.com for the complete article.

What think you of this casting decision involving the main antagonists of The Hobbit being voiced by a single actor? Our boards are afire with both excitement and apprehension. Have your say!