With Academy Award buzz circulating around Health Ledger’s frightening portrayal of The Joker as well as for the movie itself, The Dark Knight is generating all sorts of Oscar talk. A recent USA Today article reviews those topics and happens to credit another genre film that gives The Dark Knight a reason to hope. A section noted:
But through the years, as studios focused on big-budget films, “the Hollywood establishment began turning its nose up to quality movies that happened to have action,” says Steve Mason, columnist for Hollywood.com. “The sentiment became that if it’s fun or funny or escapist entertainment, it can’t be that good. Recognizing Dark Knight would be a significant step to correct that.”
It’s not impossible. In 2004, the academy finally presented a best-picture Oscar to a fantasy film, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.
“I had a glimmer of hope when Return of the King won; it felt like a victory for our kinds of films,” says Kevin Feige, president of Marvel Studios, which plans its own Oscar campaign for Iron Man and star Robert Downey Jr.
You can read the rest of the story in USA Today.
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The Lord of the Rings has remained popular since the 1960s, and became a hugely successful film trilogy. Tolkien’s themes of fellowship, sacrifice and the importance of the natural world are traceable to his experiences in the First World War, as well as to a love of folklore and of myth. John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in South Africa and educated at King Edward 1V School, Birmingham, and Oxford. His mother, who inspired a love of fairytales and Roman Catholicism, died when he was 12. The Times Names 50 greatest postwar writers: Tolkien Comes in 6th
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Bulgarian readers placed The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K.Rowling at the top three spots in a survey of the fifteen books of all times. A total of 28,000 readers voted for their favorite book in the poll carried out by Helicon bookstores, abandoning renowned literature classics at the bottom of the ranking. Continue reading “Bulgarians Name Lord of the Rings Top Book of All Times”
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Starting November 2, the Field Museum in Chicago is hosting an exhibit that will include some of J.R.R. Tolkien’s maps and writing. Specifically, included will be Thror’s Map from The Hobbit, Topographical View of Minas Tirith from The Return of the King, and Notes on Times and Distances by J.R.R. Tolkien (all of the John P. Raynor, S.J. Library, Marquette University).
From clay tablets to sea charts, from satellite navigation systems to sketches of worlds real and imagined—maps are much more than wayfinding. Travel through landscapes of time and space, science and imagination, in a rare exhibition of more than 100 of the world’s greatest maps. Explore high-tech interactive displays, and see original works by Ptolemy, Leonardo da Vinci, J.R.R. Tolkien, and many others. You’ll learn how early maps were made, see how the technology changed over centuries, and discover the latest advances in digital map-making. [More]
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TORN Staffer Ostadan writes: The Esperanto translation of The Lord of the Rings (translated by William Auld) has been out of print for several years. I was recently pleased to learn that it will be reprinted this year, with some material not translated for the first edition (but, alas, still lacking the Appendices). You can get a taste of the translation at here; the site includes the Riddles in the Dark chapter from The Hobbit (Enigmoj en la Mallumo) which was reprinted in 2005, and two chapters (so far) from Lord of the Rings (La Ombro de la pasinteco, and La Spegulo de Galadriela), with four more to come over the next few weeks; one translated chapter from each of the six books of LotR will appear on the site. Since people have the original English at their fingertips (if not actually memorized), these translated excerpts may prove interesting as a curiosity even to those who cannot easily read Esperanto.
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Anthony and Jessica, Chairs of the North East Tolkien Society write: We would like to organize a trip to Frodo’s Restaurant on Tolkien Reading Day March 25th aka Downfall of Sauron and the onset of the 4th Age. We a planning to make reservations and need to know exactly how many of our readers/members would like to join us. The day will consist of fine hobbit-ish food, attendees reading from various parts of Tolkien’s work and good fellowship all around! We shall be sending out further details in the next week as to the trip i.e. time and travelling arrangements. If you plan on attending please notify Anthony and Jessica at Chairman@herenistarion.org.
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