The Higgins Armory in Worcester Massachusetts is hosting a Middle-Earth Day on Saturday, September 29th from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. In addition to stories and games, activities include making a Gondorian shield (or designing one of your own), watching Arwen teach Aragorn the proper way to slay an orc and seeing if you can out run a dwarf! The program is free with museum admission. The Higgins Armory boasts the largest collection of medieval/ancient armor and weaponry in the Western Hemisphere, so be sure to leave time to see the museum. For information on museum hours and admission prices, go here. For more information on Middle-earth Day at the museum, go here.
With the publication of “The Hobbit,” in its 75th Anniversary year and Bilbo’s and Frodo’s birthday party events coming up on September 22, declared “Hobbit Day” by the American Tolkien Society in 1978, filmmaker Peter Jackson posted a video on Facebook today explaining the the film community will also join in the celebration with “Tolkien Week.”
Jackson verbally teased a new trailer for the first of his trio of Hobbit films based on the books by J.R.R. Tolkien. His announced release date for the trailer of the 19th means that it will likely be online before it hits theaters on the 21st, attached to movies rolling out that day. Start saving your bandwidth now. You can see Jackson’s video on his facebook page and on TheOneRing’s. And, if you are near the L.A. area, or can arrange to be, TORn is celebrating its 10th annual Hobbit Baggins Birthday Bash.
New York ComicCon is coming up next month, and TORn will be there! Having had such a great time with folks last year, we’ll be hosting a party again this year – and we hope that you can join us! More details will follow, but meanwhile, put Thursday 11th October, 8pm, in your calendar – and get ready to eat, drink and be the hobbit of your choice in the Big Apple! Hope to see you!
In just about 2 months from now, travelers from around the world will descend upon Wellington to celebrate the release of The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Some will be cast and crew who worked on the film, others will be studio executives involved in the creation of the film, and still others will be an International Press Corp writing stories about the film. And mingling amongst all these creative types will be fans from around New Zealand and the rest of the world, including TheOneRing.net, and you can be amongst all this excitement by joining our tour. You will find further details at TORn’s Hobbit Premiere Tour.
Just today, it was announced that WETA is designing a welcome surprise for display at the Wellington Airport. It is said to be interactive and breathtaking, and this reporter can’t wait to see it for myself when I arrive there. You can read more about it in WETA’s newsletter. Join the discussion on our message boards and let us know who or what you think will be on display at the Wellington Airport here.
Cardiff Metropolitan University is offering another great online course: J.R.R. Tolkien: Myth and Middle-earth in Context. Online registration is available now for the course that begins September 19 and runs for twelve weeks. The course is available to anyone who can access the internet – you don’t need to live in the U.K. However, only a limited number of students may enroll, so all enrollments will be treated on a first-come, first-served basis. While this is an accredited course at Masters level, students can take it for credit or just for pleasure. Students will have access to Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Electronic Library (which includes a wealth of e-books, databases such as JSTOR and Literature Online), as well as relevant journals such as Tolkien Studies and Mythlore in electronic format. According to our friends at Cardiff, this unique course will not be offered again for at least a year or two, so be sure to register soon!
TheOneRing.net would like to invite the Tolkien Art Community to an Unexpected Art Show on Saturday, November 10, 2012. This will be a Tolkien and Fantasy themed art show full of paintings, sketches and 3 dimensional artwork. Some of the work will be auctioned off, some will be available for general sale, and a few items will simply be on display for your enjoyment. The show will be from 10am-10pm, with the auction of some of the prime artwork to be held at 7pm. All ages are welcome to enter the Show, and to attend the event. There will be some food and beverages made available, for a modest price. We will open up ticket sales to the show in October. Tickets will be $5 online in advance, and $12 at the door. The Art Show will be held at Lot613 in the Arts District of Downtown Los Angeles. Lot613 is located at 613 Imperial St., Los Angeles, CA 90021.
If you are interested in participating in the show as an artist exhibitor, please contact our Art Show Director, Alyse at Alyse@TheOneRing.net for the Rules of the show and to ask any questions you have. Once you are ready to sign up for the show, just follow the link for the Registration Form.
Update! Keep reading for more information and the TheOneRing.net Art Show rules…