The Chicago Comic & Entertainment Expo is happening all this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Of course there’s a guest list of comic and fantasy artists and entertainers as long as your arm (names like John Barrowman, Nicholas Brendon, Sean Astin and John Cusack), but TOR.n staffers Corvar and Entmaiden will also be there on Sunday presenting a panel discussion with all the latest inside news about The Hobbit movies. Want to know more? Click below!
Ever ready to support a worthy cause, Sir Ian McKellen isn’t putting his feet up during his time off from Middle-earth. As busy as he surely is on The Hobbit movie set, the actor will be taking time during the weekends in May and June to perform a one man show around New Zealand, to raise money for the Isaac Theatre Royal in Christchurch. Following last year’s terrible earthquakes, the theatre has been closed because of ‘structural issues’. Back in 2010 McKellen appeared in Waiting for Godot at the theatre, and he’s keen to see it restored and reopened. Full details and dates for his touring one man show can be found here and here; in the included video newsreel in the first link, McKellen hints that the one man show may include singing! Perhaps he’s been inspired by Viggo Mortensen’s recent recitals??
Thanks to the various TORn spies who contacted us about Sir Ian’s shows; if you are lucky enough to get to one of these performances, we’d love to hear about it!
Now’s your chance! The latest casting call for extras has gone out for The Hobbit movies; they are looking for people based in the Wellington area, who are tall and of slender build. That can mean only one thing – more elves! Find details here – and be sure to let us know if you’re lucky enough to be cast!
2012 will be a watermark year for the movie business but this week looks a lot like the 1990s and presented some problems for TheOneRing.net’s Film Friday. I didn’t want to watch “Titanic,” or “American Reunion,” which are likely this week’s biggest new releases. In each case, I feel like I have been there before.
I have been much more interested this week in a discussion with some Facebook friends about which films will rule the 2012 box office numbers. “The Hunger Games,” is proving to be a powerful financial force. Some of these friends are fans of “The Hobbit,” but don’t think the film can win the finally tally for the year’s biggest moneymaker. I disagree. (Oh and while we are talking about the film, any media member who writes that it is a prequel is lazy, inaccurate and deserves a gentle kick in the shins. The story stands alone, came first and is so much more than just a lead-up to LOTR.)
While studios care deeply about the financial returns, fans are a lot more interested in art and a thrill at the movies. Still, there is some fun in watching the box office derby and it seems like a dozen websites have sprung up devoted to doing just that.
Interested in learning about Tolkien and fantasy literature in more depth? We have been asked to spread the word about an online course that spans fantasy from its roots to modern works. Here is the info we were asked to share with all the links after the break:
During the summer semester Cardiff Metropolitan University will run an online course titled Fantasy Literature: Tales Before and After Tolkien, designed and taught by Dr Dimitra Fimi.
The course will examine fantasy literature, from its roots in Victorian fairy tales to modern imaginary worlds. Some of the key texts we will explore include J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, C.S. Lewis’s Narnia books, Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea series, Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy and J.K. RowlingHarry Potter series. The course is open to students and adult learners all over the world. It is delivered entirely online via Blackboard, Cardiff Met’s Virtual Learning Environment, so it does not matter where students are physically. The course will begin on Wednesday 9th May, and will run for 12 weeks (10 teaching Units plus 1 reading week and 1 essay-writing week), until the end of July. The course carries 20 credits at Year 3 undergraduate level if students choose to do the assessment. Continue reading “Online course offered in Tolkien, fantasy”
The results are in! After many weeks of intense competition we can finally crown a winner! In the end, Samwise Gamgee, a sturdy and faithful Hobbit from The Shire takes the prize in our first annual Middle-earth March Madness!
Sam defeated his worthy opponent Aragorn with 65% of the votes!
We’d like to thank you all for participating in this year’s event, and look forward to next year’s competition in which we will institute a few of the changes that you have suggested in comments/facebook posts, etc. For a review of each round, click on the following links: Round 1, Round 2, Round 3, Final Four , Championship
