In 2011, fan volunteers MrCere, Quickbeam, Grimlock and Justin embarked on the first ever road trip across America streaming live from a TheOneRing.net themed truck the entire time and meeting fans at every stop. It was amazing to meet fans from all walks of life and was unforgettable to talk about how Tolkien impacts their daily lives. Fans at home came along for the ride day and night with live streaming video, Barliman’s chat room, and TheOneRing.net mobile phone to share stories, recommend local Tolkien landmarks, and win prizes from our sponsors. Over 3,000 fans met us in person and 250,000 fans watched online… which inspires us to do it again. But this year, we don’t have any corporate sponsors and we are leaning heavily on YOU the fans to make this year’s trip happen. As you know, not just gas is expensive these days. We have set up a GoFundMe.com page with levels of sponsorship starting at just $5! If you are willing to donate more, we have set up a series of perks (yea, just like PBS!) for each donation. For example, you can get an exclusive ‘Road to DragonCon’ t-shirt, or if you are insanely generous, you can snag an early ticket to our February 2013 Oscar Party! But wait…there’s more! We are going to be producing a short documentary available for free online after the trip in which we will highlight the supporters of our trip. We hope you will consider supporting us! Follow the link for complete details on the sponsorship levels. [Donate Today!]

Continue reading “Support our Journey on the ‘Road to DragonCon’ 2012!”

Welcome 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 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 in the fun!
Continue reading “TORn Message Boards Weekly Roundup – August 19, 2012”

Welcome 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 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 in the fun! Continue reading “TORn Message Boards Weekly Roundup – August 13, 2012”

If you have a Tolkien/Middle-earth inspired poem you’d like to share, then send it to poetry@theonering.net. One poem per person may be submitted each month. Please make sure to proofread your work before sending it in. TheOneRing.net is not responsible for poems posting with spelling or grammatical errors.

The fantastic Hobbit fan artwork you see pictured at right is the work of Sri Lankan graphic designer and illustrator Rommel Arumugam. Arumugam sketched this piece, which he calls Blademasters, at work one day.

“I actually started on doing just Thorin while I was at work (It was a slow Friday), and when I saw the completed version, I decided to do Bilbo and Gandalf as well,” he told TheOneRing.net.

“It was solely done on Illustrator, using a wacom. I decided to make the swords the theme because of how much history beyond and before the hobbit they carried, all the way from Gondolin, to the battle of the Pelennor Fields.”

[High-res gallery]

This year’s 2012 Dragon*Con Charity Auction will raise money for the Georgia chapter of ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis). Tolkien fan and former Dragon*Con Tolkien Track director Melissa “Fiver” Kern and her husband Chris at projectfiver are collecting decorated Converse Sneakers to sell at the auction.

How can you get involved? If you find an artist to decorate the sneakers, projectfiver will supply the sneakers! All the decorated sneakers will then be put up for sale at  the 2012 Dragon*Con Charity Auction held on Sunday, September 2 2012.

Find out more about this good cause at ProjectFiver and at the Dragon*Con Charity Auction page.