In the US, tournament frenzy hits every March with the onset of the NCAA’s Men’s Basketball March Madness tournament. We thought this year would be a good opportunity for the entire Tolkien community to participate in a special tournament of our own. So without further delay we are announcing the Middle-earth Madness Tournament! The goal is to settle, once and for all, which character is favored most by Tolkien fans worldwide. To start off the process, the staff at TheOneRing.net compiled a list of 46 finalists. We need to weed this list down to 32 total contestants. To do that, we are going to ask you to vote for up to three characters in the poll below. Voting will be open until Feb 29th at Noon ET. We will then compile the results and create our tournament bracket with seeding based on total votes. It should be noted, much like the men’s basketball tournament in, our Middle-earth Madness selection committee does reserve the right to adjust results a bit in the spirit of competition. (and like the men’s basketball committee, some of the decisions are sure to be controversial!!) So without further delay, let the voting begin!
Exciting things are happening for Lord of the Rings fans in Boston! The Coolidge Corner Theatre‘s annual ‘Coolidge Award’ is being given to Viggo Mortensen. This means that Aragorn himself will be in town on Monday 5th March to accept his award! The Coolidge Corner Theatre will be showing several of Mortensen’s movies in the run up to March 5th, as well as hosting an all day LotR trilogy marathon screening on Sunday 4th March. On Monday 5th there will be a lunchtime movie screening with a Q&A with Mortensen, followed later by an ‘Evening with Viggo Mortensen’ event.
TORn will of course be present and will bring you a report of all these exciting happenings. One of the more elusive cast members, any chance to see Aragorn in the flesh, and to hear Viggo Mortensen answer the questions of his fans, is a treat indeed. Full details can be found at Coolidge Corner’s website. The movies and dates are as follows:
Tues 28 Feb, 7pm – A History of Violence Wed 29 Feb, 7pm – A Walk on the Moon Thurs 1 Mar, 7pm – The Road Sun 4 Mar, starting at 11am – LotR trilogy screening
Mon 5 Mar, starting at 12noon – a day of events with Viggo Mortensen
Do you use Facebook? Have you been looking for a really really cool Tolkien themed image to use as your timeline cover photo? Well…we are too! Since TheOneRing.net is in a unique position to reach out to thousands of creative Tolkien fans from all over the world, we thought it might be a novel idea to use that opportunity and create a comprehensive Tolkien themed Facebook cover photo gallery. After we have compiled all of the photos, we’ll publish them as a photo album on our Facebook page, which currently has over 50,000 fans! It is a great opportunity to get your name and talents out in front of the entire community. If you are interested in creating a cover photo, details will be posted below on this article. If there are any businesses out there that want to offer up a prize for the most popular photo, just contact us! UPDATE – Wow, what a great response so far! We’ve already got a gallery going on Facebook using your submissions. [Cover Photo Gallery]
The 4th annual Middle Earth Beer Festival, located in Hurst Green, Lancashire UK looks to be a Hobbit’s dream, with an extensive range of beers and ciders (including Completely Legolas, a traditional English ale, and Ent Draught, a ruby red bitter), local food, and live music.
Professor Tolkien was a frequent visitor to Hurst Green, and the surrounding countryside is thought to be the inspiration for many locations in ‘The Lord of the Rings’, most notably the Shire.
The Middle Earth Beer Festival 2012 runs April 12th – 15th, at Hurst Green Memorial Hall. More information and tickets can be found on the festival website: MiddleearthBeerFestival.co.uk
Attention New York, and surrounding area, Ringers! The very impressive and wildly popular ‘One Man Lord of the Rings’ show is coming to the Midtown Theater in New York City, and we’ve got an exclusive discount available to TheOneRing.net visitors. Regular tickets sell for $79, but we are excited to offer you a chance to pick up tickets for only $30! ‘One Man Lord of the Rings,’ performed by Charlie Ross, will be at the Midtown Theater February 17 (7pm), 18(2pm, 8pm) and 19th (2pm, 8pm). We suggest you place your order asap, as all shows are expected to be very popular. Use coupon code 1RNG at checkout to secure your discount. [Order Tickets] (Want to know more about the show, check out the official website.)
Ever wanted to know, what a Wellington Movie tour is like? Check out this episode on German TV, the story on Lord-of-the-Rings and Hobbit fans starts around 10:50. Treetop Media and their team followed a group of die-hard-fans to several film locations and the WETA Cave. They also filmed the Hobbit casting in Wellington, which caused major traffic jams on the motorways. Produced by www.treetopmedia.co.nz
Exciting things are happening for Lord of the Rings fans in Boston! 
Attention New York, and surrounding area, Ringers! The very impressive and wildly popular ‘One Man Lord of the Rings’ show is coming to the Midtown Theater in New York City, and we’ve got an exclusive discount available to TheOneRing.net visitors. Regular tickets sell for $79, but we are excited to offer you a chance to pick up tickets for only $30! ‘One Man Lord of the Rings,’ performed by Charlie Ross, will be at the Midtown Theater February 17 (7pm), 18(2pm, 8pm) and 19th (2pm, 8pm). We suggest you place your order asap, as all shows are expected to be very popular. Use coupon code 1RNG at checkout to secure your discount. [