This month, the Bookshelf comes to you from the site of the Super Bowl, where J.W. (part owner of the Green Bay Packers) tells you all about The Genesis of Oblivion Saga, a series of fantasy books by Maxwell Alexander Drake. (By the way, J.W. apologizes to the good people of Nevada for mispronouncing the state’s name. Hopefully J.W. won’t ever have to talk about a literary executor from Nevada, because then he’ll be in a lot of trouble.)
Category: Merchandise
Nearly everybody knows that the Lord of the Rings line is coming to the world of LEGO and people young and old are pretty excited. It has been fun to learn that everybody likes the designs and is having as much fun as we are with these new characters. Anyway, today we get to feast our eyes on three new images, after the break of course. Continue reading “For your viewing pleasure: Lego Lord of The Rings!”
“A wizard is never late, Frodo Baggins. Nor is he early. He arrives precisely when he means to.”
-Gandalf to Frodo while entering into Hobbiton for Bilbo’s 111th Birthday
During Comic-Con 2011 fans of The Lord of the Rings got a chance to see the second statue from Weta’s character statue line. The character fans can now get their hands on is none other than Gandalf the Grey. This version of Gandalf captures the Wizard while thinking which route is the right route to take during their trip through Moria.
The importance that Gandalf plays to the events that happen in Middle-Earth from the time of The Hobbit through the events of The Lord of the Rings is huge. Without the leadership that Mithrandir Sauron may just come to power and events in Middle-Earth play out much differently. Leadership is what comes through loud and clear when you look at this statue.
Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop’s Gandalf the Grey Statue and Giveaway!”
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! MINOR SPOILERS FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN’T READ THE HOBBIT
Continue reading “TORn Message Boards Weekly Roundup – January 23, 2012”
Wizkids Games (publisher of the Heroclix Lord of the Rings game) announced the Lord of the Rings: Nazgûl semi-cooperative game about a year ago, but gave no release date. They have now announced the release date as May 16, 2012. The idea of casting the players as Nazgûl is a fairly novel one. We will probably learn more about actual game play during the next few months, since Wizkids is pretty good about posting rules on their site. Continue reading “Wizkids announces date for LoTR: Nazgûl board game”
Why did Bloomsbury U.K. eventually decide to offer “Harry Potter” books in disguised covers? Because people were ashamed to be seen reading about witches and wizards on the train. Fantasy had been made into a guilty pleasure, like pornography. It was immature, juvenile, escapist. As for all those Tolkien fans who liked to dress up as elves and orcs, the only explanation, spluttered Edmund Wilson in 1956, was that “Certain people . . . have a lifelong appetite for juvenile trash.” This, Michael Saler remarks, “from a man who liked to be called ‘Bunny.’ ”
In “As If: Modern Enchantment and the Literary Prehistory of Virtual Reality,” a historical and cultural study of fiction fandom, Mr. Saler counterpunches vigorously against the whole edifice of literary snobbery. What he has to say is so self-evidently right that the fact he has to say it makes one wonder how the critical profession has managed, for so long, to cultivate such a large blind spot. His book should be essential reading in every graduate school of the humanities. But it’s much more fun than that recommendation suggests. More..