Hello,

The Story Session’s part three is out! And what is this story? It is written by me, Merry, and it is a “little” silly. The characters of the story are actually the regulars of Barliman’s – it is the chat where I started this, without a real reason, and it became a weekly event. More information can be found at the site of the story. [More]

Merry

This weekend in The Hall of Fire we crack open the great story to discuss chapter four of The Fellowship of the Ring, A Shortcut to Mushrooms. Details on when and where, including new times to account for Daylight Savings, here.

This weekend, 3/31 and 4/1, we’ll be tackling chapter four of The Fellowship of the Ring,

A Short Cut to Mushrooms

This is our fourth in the FotR chat series, so come on down and talk Tolkien with the us! We have three sessions to choose from, and we encourage young and old, newbies and regulars to join in on the fun at The Hall of Fire.

Time is tricky this weekend (isn’t it always though?) due to Daylight Savings, so please note that these sessions may reflect changes.

Saturday Chat: 7:00 pm ET (19:00) [also 1:00 am Sunday (01:00) GMT and 10:00
am Sunday (10:00) AET]
Sunday Chat: 8:00 pm (20:00) AET [also 11:00 am (11:00) GMT and 6:00 am
(06:00) ET]
Sunday Chat: 6:00 pm (18:00) GMT [also 1:00 pm (13:00) ET and 3:00 am
(03:00) Monday morning AET]

ET = Eastern Time, for the United States
GMT = Greenwich Mean Time, for Western Europe
AET = Austrailian Eastern Time

Place: #thehalloffire on theonering.net server; come to theonering.net’s chat room Barliman’s and then type /join #thehalloffire .

Further details available at The Hall of Fire homepage. Thanks to Strider and Demosthenes for hammering out the new times!

Demosthenes dreamed up a wonderful topic to discuss and debate in The Hall of Fire for our March 24th and 25th chats:

Sauron, the Movies, and Me

The rumor mill has been grinding out lots of interesting information about the Master of Mordor, the Disciple of Doom, the number one Evil Power of Middle-earth’s Third Age, Sauron (ok I made those up, but ya know…) It’s time to hash over what we’ve heard, things like:

LOTR scriptwriter Philippa Boyens comments to the effect that she has written two scenes in which Sauron appears…

only two?

“As screenwriters, we totally agree Sauron is far more fascinating as a force of evil than as an actual presence.”

… yet we’ve heard about what he looks like… and seen lots of recent Sauron images in the news…

Lots of questions to explore here. What do you think the Dark Lord should look like in the movies? Sauron the armour-wearing axe murderer vs crowned machiavellian type? Will he have a speaking role? What kind of special effects might be employed to bring him to the screen? What are your images and thoughts of this character?

Place: #thehalloffire on theonering.net server; come to theonering.net’s chat room Barliman’s and then type /join #thehalloffire .

Saturday Chat: 7:00 pm ET (19:00) [also midnight Saturday (24:00) GMT and 10:00 am Sunday (10:00) AET]

Sunday Chat: 8:00 pm (20:00) AET [also 10:00 am (10:00) GMT and 5:00 am (05:00) ET]

Sunday Chat: 6:00 pm (18:00) GMT [also 1:00 pm (13:00) ET and 4:00 am (04:00) Monday morning AET]

ET = Eastern Time, the time on the USA’s east coast
GMT = Greenwich Mean Time, the time in Western Europe
AET = Australian Eastern Time, the time on Australia’s east coast

Questions? Topics? Send ‘em here.

Curunir sends us this update:

“How time flies! Less than five months until we Barlimaniacs will be staring awkwardly at one another in the lobby of a Chicago hotel – BUT, that means you’ve still got almost three months to BECOME an awkwardly staring Barlimaniac! How’s that for lucky, eh?

You *do* want to put faces to the Barliman’s nicks, right? I mean REAL faces, not those years-old graduation photos that so many of us have scans of! Nope, I mean real, smiling, happy (possibly somewhat inebriated) faces, warm and filled with the relief of surviving the airport’s rigorous cavity search, and the joy of being in a position to carry out all of those /actions IRL!

So, if you’d like to join the teeming throng of Barlimaniacs making the perilous and fair journey to Chicago in August, check out our information page here, or email curunir@theonering.net with any questions you have! I’ll do my best to answer any put to me, with the exception of a few, that can only be answered in Chicago.

A few examples of the questions which will be answered in August:

Are Gandalf and Gamgee really the same person, as has been so frequently speculated?

Are those real snakes in jincey’s photos, or just very very good tattoos?

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood? (Okay, I really don’t think this one will be answered, but what the heck…)

And, finally…what *does* a biker look like, when toting a feather duster?”

Every two weeks we are discussing a new chapter of The Lord of the Rings in our special discussion room called The Hall of Fire. Now it’s time for us to talk about chapter three of The Fellowship of the Ring, Three is Company.

In chapter three, Frodo, Sam, and Pippin leave Hobbiton and set out for Crickhollow. Little do they realize that danger is right on their heels, indeed, right in their neighborhoods and streets! After saying goodbye to Old Winyards, shouldering their packs, and making off like a puff of breeze on the leaves, the Quest unofficially begins as the trio make their way from the tame lands of the hobbits. Here too we encounter our first Black Rider and party of elves, a small band of High Elves lead by Gildor Inglorion.

Our last two FotR sessions were a huge success and we expect this third to be great too, so don’t miss out on the fun!

*Tookish mumbles softly to himself… The Road goes ever ever on, down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, and I must follow, if I can, Pursuing it with weary feet, until it joins some larger way, where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say.

Place: #thehalloffire on theonering.net server; come to theonering.net’s chat room Barliman’s and then type /join #thehalloffire .

Saturday Chat: 7:00 pm ET (19:00) [also midnight Saturday (24:00) GMT and 10:00 am Sunday (10:00) AET]

Sunday Chat: 8:00 pm (20:00) AET [also 10:00 am (10:00) GMT and 5:00 am (05:00) ET]

Sunday Chat: 6:00 pm (18:00) GMT [also 1:00 pm (13:00) ET and 4:00 am (04:00) Monday morning AET]

ET = Eastern Time, the time on the USA’s east coast
GMT = Greenwich Mean Time, the time in Western Europe
AET = Australian Eastern Time, the time on Australia’s east coast

Questions? Topics? Send ‘em here.