Thanks to ringer Krusten for alerting us to the fact that the Snow & Ice Scuplture Festival in Bruges, Belgium, will feature ice sculptures inspired by The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and the Harry Potter books. Imagine a life-size sculpture of Smaug, the Balrog, Gandalf or “he who must not be named!” If you’re lucky enough to be in the vicinity of Bruges between November 23, 2012 and January 6, 2013, be sure to pay the festival a visit. Read more…
Category: LotR Books
As we wrap up our “World Hobbit Day” festivities, we at TORn are pleased to bring you one final piece of our celebratory specials via an exclusive interview with Aivale Cole (nee Mabel Faletolu).
For fans of Howard Shore and the music of The Lord of the Rings films, Aivale (credited as Mabel Faletolu on the soundtrack of The Fellowship of the Ring) perhaps needs no introduction. For the rest, you probably recall that most heartrending of voices that engulfs the broken Fellowship as they emerge from the darkness of Moria and grieve over Gandalf’s fall into Khazad-dûm.
That piece was sung by none other than Aivale, a vocalist hailing from Wellington, New Zealand. Back in 2001, she recorded the solo piece with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra.
Join us in this exclusive interview as we catch up with Aivale who, after more than a decade, takes us back to that “crazy but exciting” time when she worked with Howard Shore and Peter Jackson, and also shares a rather amusing anecdote involving Ian McKellen.
We’ve been doing this little party for 10 years, The Hobbit has been in print for 75 years, Peter Jackon is releasing the first of The Hobbit films this year, and Bilbo and Frodo are co- celebrating their shared birthday, what better reason do you need to party like a Hobbit? This is a potluck, so bring something of your own, and be prepared to share in the feasting brought by others. Check out our Event page on Facebook, click the See More link in the description and you will see a full list of what others have offered to bring, then post a note to the event page, or email me at Garfeimao@TheOneRing.net to RSVP with what you plan to bring. Also in all that info are directions from most points in LA, including a map of the GriffithPark area. We’ve had good luck the past 6 or 7 years getting the same spot, but if our morning scouts discover the posted location is already occupied, we will update the page on Saturday morning with a new location, so you WILL NOT get lost.
Events on our rather casual schedule will include, eating, drinking, having fun, playing games, including our now famous Golfimbul tournament, and a live reading of The Hobbit. There may even be a surprise or two during the day. This is an ‘all ages’ event, there will be fun for everyone, so bring the family down. The sun will be out and warm, so hat, sunglasses and a bit of sunscreen would be most beneficial for your comfort, as well as maybe a blanket to sit on. Any questions, just post a note on our Facebook page or email me. We will also be tweeting from the event, using #Hobbitday and #TORn, so even if you aren’t able to atttend, look for posts and updates throughout the day from TORn staff and attendees alike.
Cardiff Metropolitan University is offering another great online course: J.R.R. Tolkien: Myth and Middle-earth in Context. Online registration is available now for the course that begins September 19 and runs for twelve weeks. The course is available to anyone who can access the internet – you don’t need to live in the U.K. However, only a limited number of students may enroll, so all enrollments will be treated on a first-come, first-served basis. While this is an accredited course at Masters level, students can take it for credit or just for pleasure. Students will have access to Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Electronic Library (which includes a wealth of e-books, databases such as JSTOR and Literature Online), as well as relevant journals such as Tolkien Studies and Mythlore in electronic format. According to our friends at Cardiff, this unique course will not be offered again for at least a year or two, so be sure to register soon!
For more information, follow these links: course description / unit-by-unit video introduction / enrollment / FAQ, or visit Cardiff’s Tolkien and Fantasy Online Courses facebook page.
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!
On Main this week, Duats has given us a heads up to keep our eyes and ears open for something coming on “Hobbit Day” September 22nd. Let the speculative fun begin 😉
The Reading Room is having an interesting discussion about when elves stop aging. Do they age slower than mortals or do they reach a certain point in time and just stop getting any older? So why don’t you pull up a chair and join the discussion here.
Over on hobbit movie board further speculation about the new ending for the first Hobbit film is running hot (Spoilers)
We’ll share more topics next week and hope you can join in on the conversation! Don’t forget, TheOneRing.net’s message boards have around 8,150 registered Tolkien fans, just like yourself. Let your voice be heard!
The Action Elite spent an evening chatting with John-Rhys Davies at Dragon*Con. In this long, four-part interview, he discusses his thoughts about The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, Indiana Jones, Sliders and Shakespeare. Part two, where Rhys-Davies speaks about The Lord of the Rings is below, and you can watch all four parts here.