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.
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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.
Share your own artistic endeavours from Middle-earth at our ‘Fan Art’ page on the message boards.
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From boingboing.net; Michelle Nijhuis’s five year old daughter insisted that Bilbo Baggins was a girl. After arguing about it for a while, Michelle decided to read her The Hobbit, switching Bilbo’s gender-pronoun throughout. And it worked brilliantly. Bilbo is a great heroine: “tough, resourceful, humble, funny, and uses her wits to make off with a spectacular piece of jewelry. Perhaps most importantly, she never makes an issue of her gender — and neither does anyone else.”
Continue reading “Gender switched Bilbo makes The Hobbit a better read”
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Welcome to your latest dose of the Oakentoons 🙂
Don’t forget to check out the Oakenstills and Oakencrossovers while you’re there and to say hi to Peckish Owl.
As always just click the images to see the full size ones. Also don’t forget to click on the images on Peckish Owls site to enlarge them there (yes I have been asked about this :-\ )
Continue reading “Oakentoon #16 – Blades of Gondolin, Oakentoon #17 – Never trust an elf, Oakentoon #18 – High Hopes”
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To celebrate the conclusion of 2013 Middle-earth’s Year of the Dragon, here are the thirteen most viewed posts of the past year.
As with most of our stories, they are submitted by fans, like you! 2014 promises to be a significant year for Tolkien fandom, please don’t hesitate to send us your news suggestions directly to spymaster@theonering.net!
TOP 13 Posts of 2013:
13. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Sneak Peek – commentary
12. Analysis: just how big is Jackson’s Smaug?
11. All the spoilery details from the 20 minutes of previously unseen footage screened at The Desolation of Smaug Fan Event
10. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Extended Edition Scene Guide
9. Concerning Christopher – An Essay on Tolkien’s Son’s Decision to Not Allow Further Cinematic Licensing of His Work
8. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug runtime is 156 minutes?
7. Viggo ‘Turned Down’ Role as Aragorn? Not so fast…
6. TORn’s official frame-by-frame analysis of trailer two for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug!
5. Finally! See the human face of Beorn!
4. Analysing the role of The Necromancer in The Hobbit
3. ‘Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Extended Edition’ release dates, content, pricing announced
2. Top 20 Quotes From “The Lord of the Rings”
1. Frame by Frame Analysis of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Trailer
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Welcome to our collection of TORn’s hottest topics for the past year. We’ve collected some of 2013’s most popular posts on our 10 Message Boards. You’ll be surprised at what captured the attention and imagination of our 10,500+ members. Come and have a look back at what has kept us busy as we impatiently awaited the release of The Hobbit: The Desolation Of Smaug. We actually did manage to talk about many fascinating things, besides The Hobbit. So just follow the links to some of our most popular discussions for 2013. Continue to watch this space as every weekend we spotlight the most popular buzz on TORn’s Message Boards. Everyone is welcome, so come on in and join the fun!
Continue reading “TORn Message Boards Weekly Roundup – Special New Year’s Edition!!”
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