JRRTolkien-donatoJohn 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.

For those looking for Tolkien Toast events or wishing to host their own, use the comments section on this article to leave notes. 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.

DSCN4799It is now Boxing Day in Australia and they are finally able to see ‘The Desolation of Smaug’ in all its glory. So now that nearly the whole world has fought spiders, ridden down a river in barrels, had a pile of fish dropped on them and played chicken with a Dragon, it’s time to go back and do it again. Most of the world has a Holiday weekend to fill with fun family activities, such as Holiday meals and sweet treats, opening loads of new toys, games, electronic devices and questionable clothing choices from your Second Aunt once removed, how about adding a return trip to Middle-earth. Even for those who have to go back to work for a day or two, there is Saturday, December 28. New movie releases have started to push ‘The Hobbit’ into fewer theaters and fewer screening options, so strike now while you still have a range of options. Let’s call this ‘DOS Line Party: The Sequel’ and go out and have fun once more with your friends, old and new. Wear costumes, bring trivia games with you, go out for Mooty meals together and enjoy the Fellowship of other Ringers.

If you are in Southern California, we even have a Line Party event set up for the Irvine Spectrum. You can find the info at the Facebook Event page. And if you would like to start your own Line Party Sequel page, make a note of it here in the comments section and see if we can’t have a second Global viewing party.

 

Bard posterYou’ve seen many of the major news outlet’s reviews for the film and we’ve posted reviews from most of our staff, but now that ‘The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug’ has been out for over a week it is time for Ringer Reviews. This is the time when you get to have your say; good, bad or otherwise. We are open to all opinions but we will be scanning the reviews for foul language, adult content and rude behavior. Short of that, this is your time to be heard.

Australia, Japan, we know you don’t have the film yet, bookmark this section and come back to it when you have had a chance to watch the film, we’ll keep the light on for you.

ringer-reviews-bkgd-dos-titleTo get started, head over to Ringer Reviews. You will find the review section comes in two parts. One allows you to rank various aspects of the film, cast performance and production values, while the other portion allows you to write a review of up to 5000 characters. Once you hit ‘submit’ the review will be scanned by one of our staff for any of the above mentioned offenses, and once cleared it will appear. Do give us between a few hours to a full day to get to your review and have fun with it. We don’t want to decline a review, a good rule of thumb is “would you let your mother or grandmother read this?”, if so, then you can expect to see it published.

Last August, TORn Staffer Justin posted a list of cast members who tweet.  In the spirit of festive greetings, we thought we’d reshare – and update – that list.

Continue reading “Want to wish Happy Holidays to your favourite cast members? Here’s who’s on Twitter…”

Bag End

Since this is full of conjecture for the next film, consider it wall to wall spoilers!!!

 

Here is a list of all the things we are looking forward to seeing in ‘The Hobbit: There and Back Again’ next December. Since there are so many changes, additions and enhancements in the films, we can only know the broad strokes of what is to come with the details up for grabs. That means this list will mostly be based on events that occur in ‘The Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug’ and the questions and actions they leave open heading into ‘The Hobbit: There and Back Again’

 

And now we begin the Spoiler filled guesswork portion of this article. 

 

1) Legolas catching up to Bolg. Nobody, but nobody gives Leggy a bloody nose and lives.

2) Smaug’s attack on Lake-town will be epic! Bard’s response will be equally epic!

3) What exactly does it take to pry Thranduil out of Mirkwood and enter the fray? Could it be a true desire to assist the Men of Lake-town in their hour of need? Or will it be his desire to recover the missing elven gems? Or will it be a more personal desire to find and bring back Legolas and Tauriel who are missing and presumed to be in the middle of the fight already?

4) How will an injured Kili and the rest of the dwarves get out of the way of an approaching Dragon? And what about Bard’s kids?

5) Who springs Bard out of prison? Will it be Tauriel, Bofur and Fili, or might it be his son, Bain?

6) What becomes of Tauriel? Does she stay with the Dwarves and Bard’s kids or does she try to catch up to Legolas?

7) How does Gandalf get out of his pickle?

8) Radagast went to inform Galadriel of what was happening at Dol Guldur, will she go to War? Who else might come with her? Will Saruman join in or drag his feet?

9) Does Bilbo have the Arkenstone already? If not, how will things play out in Erebor while Smaug is away? And how does the Company find out about Smaug’s fate and how long does that take?

10) Is that big Orc army we see marching through Dol Guldur going to be present when the White Council shows up? Or is the army headed towards Erebor, leaving Dol Guldur rather defenseless when the White Council does show up to spring Gandalf?

11) When will Beorn decide to jump into the fray and how many dead orcs does he leave in his wake?

12) Will we see an auction beginning at Bag End with Lobelia stashing silverware into her bodice?