Today is the annual Tolkien Reading Day where fans from around the world celebrate J.R.R. Tolkien and his works by simply reading. Some schools around the globe participate as do bookstores and coffee shops but many more take part in their own way, by themselves or with friends and family. How did you celebrate? There are excellent responses on TORn’s own Facebook page (and we like to be “liked”) or you can share your experience on our message boards by following the “discuss” link below. It is also an excellent time to check our our own Reading Room including this post. If you didn’t have a chance to read Tolkien today, its not too late in many time zones (and we promise not to tell if you do it a day late.)

On this episode of Hobbit in 5, Production finally begins on the Hobbit, TheOneRing.net launches both it’s Hall of Fire Chats and it’s Special Events Calendar, plus the official blog of the Hobbit goes up! We know the name of the show is “Hobbit in 5” but we let the length of this one slide since it’s our tenth! Thanks for watching and supporting us!

Contest email: contest@hobbitin5.com

Event Calendar – http://bit.ly/torn-cal

Chat Details – http://bit.ly/torn-chat-info
Chat App – http://bit.ly/torn-chat

Rebekah has her own Facebook page now! Go check it out and “like” her!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rebekah-Platt/177275525649693

Go like theOneRing.net on Facebook as well!
http://www.facebook.com/TheOneRingnet

Claudia Riiff Finseth contacted us a while ago offering her articles on Tolkien, here is her third and last article ‘Tolkien’s Trees’.

Riiff Finseth is a freelance writer and author. Among her favorite works of literature is Lord of the Rings, which she has read over twenty times, more than any other book. Name the chapter, and Claudia can tell you what happens in it. Claudia was born in 1954 in Longview, Washington, USA. She studied literature and nursing at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, where she lives today with her husband and their family. She can be reached at dragonflypond@gmail.com. More..

 

 

From collider.com: Earlier today I got to speak with Cate Blanchett for director Joe Wright’s new movie Hanna. While I’m embargoed from saying what I thought about the film, I’m sure it will surprise no one that I thought Blanchett was fantastic as a ruthless intelligence operative.

While I’ll have the full interview online the week of April 8th, I had to post what she said about two of her most famous roles. As most of you know, Blanchett played Galadriel in Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies. With production now underway in New Zealand on the two Hobbit films, I asked her what kind of part she has and when does she start filming. Unfortunately, she has yet to see a script, and wasn’t sure when she starts filming. More..

Frandalf writes: In a hole….no, once upon a time in a remote corner of Europe there was a Tolkien Society. Quite an old one too… We are talking about the Tolkien Society Unquendor in the Netherlands. It was founded in 1981, which means that this year we’ll be celebrating our sixth lustrum. Needless to say this must be done in style, as we did with the previous lustra. Yes, it’s partytime again in the Lowlands!

So: from 20 to 22 May 2011 Unquendor invites all its foreign friends to its Lustrumfeest! Continue reading “It’s Lustrumfeest Time!”

MARION VAN DIJK
Scoop.co.nz MARION VAN DIJK

They’re knobbly, distinctive and grown in Richmond, and a company working on The Hobbit reckons they will look the part on the shire in Hobbiton.

Eyebright co-owner Peter Owen said a Miramar-based film company 3 Foot 7, working on the Peter Jackson-directed movie The Hobbit, had approached his Richmond company and asked if they had any pumpkins.

Mr Owen said Eyebright showed them the gourds and Turk’s Turbans they grew and they loved them, ordering 10 of each.  [Read More]