Leonard as FrodoWelcome to our collection of TORn’s hottest topics for the past week.  If you’ve fallen behind on what’s happening on the Message Boards, here’s a great way to catch up on the highlights.  Or if you’re new to TORn and want to enjoy some great conversations, just follow the links to some of our most popular discussions.  Watch this space as every weekend we will 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 – October 27, 2013”

Hotel view early morning 6Humphrey Carpenter’s excellent biography, Tolkien, was published way back in 1977, and it is still considered the best of its kind. I remember reading it shortly after it came out and learning that in 1911, when Tolkien was a young man of 19, he formed part of a group taking a walking tour in the Swiss Alps. It was his first and only experience of really large mountains, and as he later made clear in several of his letters, the experience inspired the mountain landscapes in his Middle-earth writings.

At the time, I vaguely thought it would be wonderful to take a tour of the places Tolkien and his companions visited, to see exactly what had fired his imagination. Over the years that vague thought occasionally resurfaced, but I never imagined that I would actually be able to do it. Not until December 1, 2012, when TheOneRing.net posted an announcement that there was to be a tour based on that idea: “In the Footsteps of Tolkien.” Continue reading “In Tolkien’s Real Misty Mountains”

Denny's Gold CoinsBack at the start of October, we told you about Denny’s exciting contest to find Middle-earth’s greatest fan.  For US residents, this is a chance to win flights, accommodation and two tickets to see The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug world premiere in Los Angeles at the start of December.

There’s only a week to go to submit your video entry to win this incredible, once in a lifetime prize – the contest closes on October 31st.  And because we love to give stuff away, we here at TheOneRing.net have an additional incentive for you!

As part of their new Hobbit menu, Denny’s have created some ‘dwarvish gold’ coins.  These will not be available in restaurants; they are an exclusive piece of film memorabilia that fans won’t be able to purchase anywhere – and they come affixed to a Denny’s 20% off entire guest check coupon!  The only way to get one of these coins will be through contests and giveaways such as this.  To get your hands on one of these exclusive collectibles, here’s what you have to do:

Create your video and upload it to the Denny’s Fan Quest contest – you can find all the rules and details here.

Denny's gold coins2Once you’ve entered the competition, tweet @theoneringnet with the words ‘I’ve entered Dennysfanquest.com’, using the hashtag #MiddleEarthsDiner

That’s it!  When the competition closes, we’ll pick at random twenty tweets from those sent to us, with the hashtag and the right phrase.  Those twenty folks will each be sent a piece of dwarvish treasure, courtesy of Denny’s!

So what are you waiting for? Get filming, get tweeting and maybe get winning!

[Click here to enter Denny’s Fan Quest.]

Fictional FrontiersLong-time friend of TheOneRing.net, Sohaib Awan, has kicked off a new Fictional Frontiers podcast and invited our own MrCere to talk all things Hobbit. Long a radio program, Fictional Frontiers, with Shotglass Digital, is reaching a new audience with a new format that allows for a longer, more in-depth discussion. Awan has championed “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” and loves both the realms of Tolkien and the work of Peter Jackson. He has used MrCere (Larry D. Curtis) as a frequent guest and in this episode they discuss both the upcoming second installment of the film and the success of the first and Curtis talks big picture about his time in New Zealand. The podcast can be found right here! Awan says MrCere will return in future episodes to talk more Hobbit.

Marcella Clinard braided her long hair into an epic beard that any Gimli cosplayer would be proud of. She also took a pile of pictures and made her beardy adventure into a step-by-step tutorial for others, too.

“I’m a female middle-school English teacher. For Teen Read Week last week, I braided my long hair into an epic Gimli dwarf beard.

I made a tutorial showing how to do it! It would be a great Halloween costume for women with long hair who know how to braid!”

Continue reading “How to braid your long hair into a Gimli beard”