Pete the maniacal writes: I’m the founder of InRetroSpectPodcast.com a label of experimental video game podcasts exploring subjects and topics in electronic entertainment not covered in the mainstream press. I wanted to get in touch as we’ve just released the first part of a Lord Of The Rings series exploring the games, books, films and geography of the lands that inspired them, through a psycho-geography filter and I thought it may interest your readership.
From the website: Strider begins his longest journey yet, travelling through a book, two games, three films and around the world to examine the different landscapes of Middle-Earth. Part One of Three. Click here to listen.
Donato Giancola’s artwork will be familiar to many readers of TORn. His paintings have been used as the covers for many books, including the Science Fiction Book Club’s combined edition of The Lord of the Rings. Recently, he published a volume which brings together many of his Middle Earth depictions. If you haven’t yet seen Giancola’s gorgeous book Middle Earth: Visions of a Modern Myth, then you’ve missed a treat. Crammed with beautiful prints of his paintings and sketches inspired by Tolkien’s writing, the book includes fascinating comments and up close images of details from Giancola’s amazing pictures. It’s a great opportunity to see Middle Earth afresh; we know so well the images from the movies or from John Howe and Alan Lee (amongst others); but here we find well known characters and places reimagined. Giancola’s focus tends to be on faces, and he brilliantly brings to life the anguish or ecstasy of a moment as seen in a character’s eyes. His drawings of anatomy are like ancient Greek sculptures, with every muscle seen as, for example, Gollum struggles against Sam and Frodo in Emyn Muil. I especially love his ‘The Great Dragon Smaug’ and ‘Eowyn and the Lord of the Nazgul’. Ted Nasmith wrote the foreword for Visions of a Modern Myth; he writes of Giancola, ‘His art is exactingly and lovingly rendered with consummate skill, yet the end result is typically relaxed and very pleasant to the eye – no easy feat!’
Donato is a good friend to TheOneRing.net, and he was recently interviewed by another good friend of ours, George Beahm – writer of books such as The Essential J.R.R. Tolkien Sourcebook (with Colleen Doran) and Kirk’s Works (with George Barr, on the artwork of Tim Kirk). Beahm’s interview appears below. I hope it wets your appetite to see more of the stunning art of Donato Giancola.
Author JW Braun is back with another book review for TORN TV. This month he reviews ‘The Music of The Lord of the Rings Films’ by Doug Adams. Take a look and don’t forget to subscribe to TORN TV for updates when a new video is posted.
WARNER BROS. CONSUMER PRODUCTS EXTENDS LICENSING AGREEMENT WITH GAMES WORKSHOP TO INCLUDE
“THE HOBBIT” AND “THE LORD OF THE RINGS”
BURBANK, Calif., Wednesday, February 9, 2011 – Warner Bros. Consumer Products (WBCP) announced today that it has extended its six-year licensing agreement with Games Workshop, enabling them exclusive, worldwide, all-language rights to produce tabletop games based on “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” properties. More..
