For those of you who aren’t aware, TORn friend and award-winning author and screenwriter, Peter S. Beagle, has been on tour for a few months offering a Q&A and screening of the movie: The Last Unicorn based on his best-selling novel of the same name. I was lucky enough to attend a screening a few months ago and it was well worth it! This month, the tour goes to Bakersfield, CA, Fort Collins, CO and a number of cities in New Mexico. Check below for the full January schedule courtesy of Peter’s publicist, Connor Cochran, and check out the tour’s website for future screenings near you.
The first screening is this Saturday, at noon, at the Southside Works Cinema in Pittsburgh, PA. (Less than 48 hours away!) Any fan who wants to buy a ticket should go to https://southsideworks.ticketsclevelandcinemas.com/, select Saturday from the dropdown date menu, scroll down until you see THE LAST UNICORN showing listed, and then click on the time.
AS FOR THE REST OF JANUARY…
• Friday January 17, 7 PM: the Reading Cinemas Valley Plaza 16 in Bakersfield, CA
• Sunday January 19, 1 PM: the Harkins Flagstaff 11 Luxury, with the signing session afterwards at the local Barnes & Noble store. (This one is also different than usual because all ticket sales have to be directly through us, instead of the theatre. People wanting to buy tickets in advance should call 650-728-8098 or email flagstaff_tickets@conlanpress.com.)
• Wednesday, January 22, 7:30 PM: the Loft Cinema in Tucson, AZ
• Saturday, January 25, 11 AM & 6:30 PM & 9 PM: the Jean Cocteau Theatre in Santa Fe, NM. (And at 5 PM, as a separate ticket, there will be a special live-on-stage “fantasy summit” as Peter and George R.R. Martin interview each other!)
• Sunday, January 26, times to be announced, at the Lyric Cinema Café in Fort Collins, CO. (They may be showing the Bakshi LORD OF THE RINGS as well — still waiting to hear.)
In the gaps we’re still trying to set up shows in Las Vegas, Phoenix, and Las Cruxes/El Paso. Still in January, but after Fort Collins, we are working on possible shows in Denver, Colorado Springs, and Salt Lake City.
Here’s a thought-provoking article from Slate.com. We couldn’t help but notice the correction at the bottom of the story: “The caption for this story originally stated that Arwen and Aragorn are half-elf and half-human. Their lineage is apparently much more complicated than that.” Knowing fellow Tolkien fans, we imagine they received a comment or two (or twenty) to set them straight!
Are hobbits human and just really short? Or are they some entirely other species, like a gold-hoarding dragon? In high-school biology class they teach you to define species in terms of interbreeding. A horse is something that can make nonsterile babies with other horses; it may mate with a donkey, but since their offspring are sterile mules, horses and donkeys count as separate species. By that standard, the most relevant J.R.R. Tolkien passage comes from Appendix A of the Return of the King:
There were three unions of the Eldar and the Edain: Lúthien and Beren; Idril and Tuor; Arwen and Aragorn. By the last the long-sundered branches of the Half-elven were reunited and their line was restored.
It helps to recall here that Eldar is another word for elf and Edain is another word for human. Tolkien is saying here that there were two human-elf pairings in the backstory to the Lord of the Rings. One between Lúthien and Beren and another between Idril and Tuor. Both Arwen and Aragorn are descendants of one of these pairings. So when they get together in the course of the series, they reunite the half-elven lines. [Read More]
Those of you living near Newbury, U.K., should take advantage of this special screening of “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” being presented by the Corn Exchange theater on Tuesday, Januray 14, 2013:
Join actor Adam Brown (who stars as Ori in Peter Jackson’s film trilogy) for a Q & A session before the screening of the The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. Having grown up in Hungerford, Adam was part of the Corn Exchange’s resident theatre company, Plested and Brown, and starred in the Corn Exchange’s annual pantomime for four years. He now returns to answer questions about working on major blockbuster films. Tickets cost just £15 of which £4.25 will be donated to the NSPCC (reg charity no. 216401) – see below for more information – and £4.25 will be donated to the Corn Exchange (Newbury) Trust (reg charity no. 0180567). [Read More]
J.R.R. Tolkien was born on this day, January 3rd, 1892. During his lifetime, he created a world that came to life in our imaginations, and that we’ve come to love and cherish. While many of us can recite some of his prose an poetry by heart, and are familiar with his illustrations that appear in his books, there’s a whole treasure trove of lesser know drawings and paintings by the mulit-talented man. The folks over at brainpickings.org have a nice little tribute on their site celebrating the amazing artwork of The Professor as presented in the beautifully illustrated “J.R.R. Tolkien: Artist and Illustrator” by Wayne G. Hammond and Christian Scull. Have a look and join TheOneRing.net in a resounding: ‘Happy Birthday Professor Tolkien!’
John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892 in Bloemfontein, South Africa. To celebrate the birth and life of this much loved author Tolkien fans from around the world are invited to raise a glass and make a toast. In simple terms, you just gather with some friends at a pub, restaurant, cocktail party or bar and at 9pm local time you stand and raise your glass and say the words ‘To the Professor”. And with that, you will be joining together with fans around the world in remembrance of Tolkien and all that he has brought into your life. And if you are unable to join with friends, no worries, pull out your favorite Tolkien book on January 3 and sit and read it and at 9pm you can still perform the Toast on your own. BTW, you don’t have to be drinking alcohol, you could have a glass of water, soda, tea or hot chocolate, whatever feels right to you. What matters is the Toast and acknowledging your love of Tolkien and his words.
In Los Angeles, Tolkien Forever, the local Smial of the Tolkien Society will host their annual Tolkien Toast at the Cat & Fiddle pub in Hollywood. If you wish to get more info and to attend, you can find details at Tolkien Toast and if you are a So Cal local, feel free to RSVP and join in the fun. Everyone else, leave comments here and let’s see if we can make this the biggest Tolkien Toast of all.
We know that Tolkien fans are a creative bunch – we’ve seen fan made paintings, drawings, sculptures, even cakes! The latest Hobbity handicrafts to come to our attention are the brilliant creations of a lady in Wales. Denise Salway knits characters from the Hobbit films, planning her own designs and sometimes taking over a month for one piece! Readers may have seen her work on twitter, where she is @KnittingWitchUK, and where Stephen Hunter and Graham McTavish have admired her knitted Dwalin and Bombur! Read more about her amazing work – and see some stunning photographs – in this article.