Penkridge Tolkien - Oct 2013 032_smallerFor a time in 1918, a cottage at Gypsy Green on the Teddesley Park Estate was home to J.R.R. Tolkien and his family, when the young officer was posted in Staffordshire. Now, nearly 100 years later, a local library is celebrating the area’s ties to the renowned author.

Hobbit Festival Family Fun Day will be held this Saturday, November 16, 2013 in Penkridge, Staffordshire, UK from 10 A.M. until 4 P.M at Penkridge Library. Admission for the event is free, along with many fun activities. Only face painting will cost a small charge. Continue reading “Celebrate ‘Hobbit Festival Family Fun Day’ in the (Stafford) Shire!”

Dennys DofS menu coverMiddle-earth’s Diner is back!  Denny’s new Hobbit menu is available in their restaurants from today.  Judging by all the preparation and hard work Denny’s have been putting in over the past months, and to which we at TheOneRing.net have been privy, this should be a fun and tempting menu!  In their official press release, Denny’s say:

“The quest for Middle-earth inspired adventure begins today at Denny’s, as America’s Diner celebrates the long-awaited release of The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, a production of New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures (MGM).  A  bold new menu features seven authentic dishes inspired by The Hobbit films, and a bounty of exclusive movie content available only in-restaurant …

“We’re thrilled to bring the taste of Middle-earth back to America’s Diner,” said John Dillon, vice president of marketing for Denny’s. “Last year’s menu attracted both Denny’s guests and fans alike with a combination of movie-inspired elements and traditional holiday flavors. This year we’re elevating the experience with the introduction of adventurous new flavors, exciting exclusive content and once-in-a-lifetime prizes, taking our guests on a truly authentic dining journey.”

Continue reading “Denny’s new Hobbit menu available from today!”

The-InklingsThe CBC radio show Ideas ran this interesting two part series on C.S Lewis and the Inklings.

In the first podcast Frank Faulk explores the early life of C.S. Lewis, and the experiences that would shape him on his journey to becoming one of the 20th century’s greatest thinkers and writers on Christianity.  In part two Faulk looks at C.S. Lewis’s conversion from atheism to Christianity, and his deep friendship with Tolkien, Barfield and Williams.

You can download Part One and Part Two here.

A big thank you to Ringer weaver for sending us the podcast.

 

DoS AnnualWelcome 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 week we will spotlight the most popular buzz on TORn’s Message Boards.  Everyone is welcome, so come on in and join the fun!

Continue reading “TORn Message Boards Weekly Roundup – September 9, 2013”

Everything about TheOneRing.net is big.

Just look at some of these numbers.

33,467. News articles, spy reports and features published on the TORn front page since 2007 alone.

22,300. Spy photos, movie screencaps and fan images in the old TORN scrapbook, and the new one.

616,739. Posts from 9,981 TORnsibs on the “new” TORn gossamer forums since 2007.

700. Megabytes of plain text people have written in our Barliman’s chat since 1999. That’s several million lines of type from thousands of visitors.

These numbers are constantly growing. And it’s all from the passion and enthusiasm of the TORn community.

Your community is an enormous patchwork of brilliant, clever and Tolkien-literate people from all around the world who are passionate about Tolkien and love the Lord of the Rings and the Hobbit movies.

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If you’ve ever sent in an article, submitted a photo or report, posted on our messageboards, visited our chat, or commented on our twitterfacebook or g+, you’re the reason TheOneRing.net is among the largest and most-respected pillars of the Tolkien community on the web.

Keeping all this afloat, though, takes as much money as it does love and passion.

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If you’d like to make a Pledge to help TORn cover bills to help your community continue to grow, we’d be grateful and appreciative.

Just use the links below.

If you can’t, that’s ok! Keep on contributing to your community whichever way you can — through your thoughts, comments and recommending TheOneRing.net to your friends!

Make a Pledge today

General Pledge Pledge anywhere from $5 to $20!

Bronze Pledge Pledge $25. All Bronze Pledges are listed for one year on TheOneRing.net’s ‘The Tale of Honour’ web page.

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Platinum Pledge Pledge $150. All Platinum Pledges are listed for one year on TheOneRing.net’s ‘The Tale of Honour’ web page and receive a TORn supporter t-shirt and a commemorative pin + MORE COOL STUFF!

Mithril Pledge Pledge $400. All Platinum Pledges are listed for one year on TheOneRing.net’s ‘The Tale of Honour’ web page and receive a TORn supporter t-shirt and a commemorative pin + SUPER COOL STUFF!

 

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Tolkien’s love of Anglo-Saxon history is well-known, as are his influences from such Nordic works as Beowulf and the Finnish Kalevala. His passion for these cultures is evident in every race he created for Middle-earth, including the dwarves. Yet as has been highlighted in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, some of the inspiration for the dwarven race may have come from an understated influence: the Celts. Continue reading “Dwarves: A Celtic Connection”

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.