Yes folks, Middle-earth March Madness is back for 2015! If you are new to TheOneRing.net, Middle-earth March Madness is our adaptation on the popular NCAA Basketball tournament that takes place every March/April in the United State. It is our chance to have some fun matching up middle-earth power players against each other. Past winners include Samwise Gamgee, Gandalf, Thranduil.
Based on feedback from our past years, we are switching things up a bit to include the entirety of J.R.R. Tolkien’s works. So in reality, this could be called J.R.R. Tolkien March Madness!
This year, our four divisions will be representative of a book (or series of books):
The Hobbit
The Lord of the Rings
The Silmarillion
Other Works (Lost Tales, Father Christmas, Children of Hurin, etc)
This allows each division to crown a champion for each book, and then they all face off against each other in the final four!
Our staff are sorting out the field of 64 combatants now, and we’ll be posting the first bracket and polls very soon. Stay tuned to the front-page of TORn for the announcement to start voting, and follow along on Twitter and FB with #middleearthmarchmadness @theoneringnet
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Ralph Bakshi will appear in person at a film retrospective of some of his most iconic animated films, presented by the American Cinematheque in conjunction with the USC School of Cinematic Arts. The films will screen at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica on the last weekend of March. You can catch a double feature of “Heavy Traffic” and “American Pop” on Friday, March 27 starting at 7:30pm. There will be a discussion with director Ralph Bakshi between these two films and a clip will be shown from his new film “Last Days of Coney Island”. On the following Saturday, March 28, there will be a double feature of “The Lord of the Rings” and “Wizards”, starting at 7:30pm, again with a discussion with director Ralph Bakshi between the two films.
If you have never seen this 
version of LOTR, or at least never seen it on the big screen, you must try and catch this screening. The rotoscoping is eye-catching, to say the least, and brings a level of veracity to the more serious themes of this story, something that was not common with animation of it’s time. Bakshi Productions will be selling art in the lobby starting at 6:30pm each night, so get there early.
Staffers from TheOneRing.net will running about the theater as well, so do make sure to say hello if you see us. And what can only be called a cosmic coincidence, Tolkien Forever, the Los Angeles based smial of the Tolkien Society will be hosting Tolkien Reading Day earlier in the day on Saturday, March 28 in Downtown Los Angeles. You can find out more details about that on Facebook event page. Why not make it a true Tolkien daily double with some reading, some viewing and some Fellowship.
The Aero theater is located at 1328 Montana Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90403, and you can buy tickets at the box office or in advance on Fandango. All the information you need can be found on the American Cinematheque Bakshi Tribute calendar.
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More than two weeks have passed since our celebrations in Hollywood – how time flies! During those two weeks we’ve still been working hard – updating records, and making sure we know who collected their perks, and to whom we still need to send things!
All remaining perks should ship towards the end of this week; if you haven’t received something by the END OF MARCH, then please let us know!
We’re also busy working on the ‘Red Book’ – the thank you which we will send to Peter Jackson, including the names of all who supported The One Last Party Indiegogo campaign. Those names can now all be seen on our Roll of Honor – click here to see this splendid Fellowship of Fans!
Continue reading “The One Last Party – more pics, Roll of Honor!”
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This weekend (Sat March 7 at 5pm EST) Hall of Fire will be chatting about the Kate Madison-directed Middle-earth fan-film Born of Hope: The Ring of Barahir.
Arise Dúnedain, remember who you are!
Born of Hope: The Ring of Barahir
Born of Hope is based on the appendices of The Lord of the Rings and tells the story of the Dúnedain as it follows the lives of Arathorn II and Gilraen, the parents of Aragorn. Continue reading “Hall of Fire this weekend: discussing the fan-film Born of Hope”
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Just the other day, Texas A&M University acquired the five millionth book for its library collection. The book in question — donated by George R. R. Martin –was a rare, first-edition copy of The Hobbit.
Texas A&M University Libraries today acquired its five millionth volume, a rare first-edition of J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1937 classic The Hobbit—a gift from award-winning sci-fi/fantasy author George R.R. Martin, creator of the best-selling book series “Game of Thrones.” Continue reading “George R.R. Martin donates first edition copy of The Hobbit to Texas A&M”
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J.R.R. Tolkien’s short story Leaf by Niggle is one of my favourite of his works. Written in 1938-39, and first published in the Dublin Review in January 1945, the piece is often considered an allegory of Tolkien’s own creative process (respected Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey argues in his book The Author of the Century that it functions as an autobiographical allegory).
Adam Dens and his friends have adapted this work into a short, 17-minute film. There are some sound issues here and there, but it’s worth a watch in my opinion. Go check it out. Adam writes: Continue reading “Watch this new fan-film based on Leaf by Niggle”
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.
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