THERE AND BACK: today on our *Live* webcast TORn TUESDAY, our intrepid host Clifford “Quickbeam” Broadway has just returned from New Zealand where many magical things were witnessed ON THE ACTUAL SET OF THE HOBBIT, but secrecy abounds! Be tantalized and teased with a unique 1st person account of travels to the real Middle-earth! We also pay tribute to our fallen friend and Memorial Day remembrance for our brave heroes abroad. Come join the show via Stickam (account “theoneringnet”) using your own Skype login or via our Live Event Page with our unique Barliman’s chat embedded in the show!

Tune into our show at 5:00pm PDT (that’s L.A. time folks — click here to see when it is in your city!), and just click to our Live Event page.

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.

Hot on the heels of Sir Ian McKellen’s fund raising money for Also Known as The Court Theatre Christchurch’s Isaac Theatre Royal now another fundraiser has this time for Christchurch’s The Court Theatre here’s the full press release:

From Hobbits to hip-hop stars, a range of international celebrities have come to aid The Court Theatre’s fundraising drive.

To assist in replacing numerous assets lost when the Christchurch theatre company was forced to leave its Arts Centre venue following the 22 February 2011 earthquake, a range of items have been donated for an online auction on Trademe that will be running from 24 – 30 May.

Beyoncé, Stephen Fry, Orlando Bloom and Court Theatre Fundraising Patron Dame Maggie Smith, as well as locals Hayley Westenra, Sir Peter Jackson and Mark Hadlow, have offered items to the fundraising appeal – from signed posters, prints and scripts to CDs, jewellery and DVDs. Continue reading “Peter Jackson, celebrities raise funds for NZ’s Court Theatre”

 

Here at TheOneRing.net, we are very proud of the community we have helped create, and like any community, we experience losses. One such loss occurred this weekend in Los Angeles, where the Tolkien fan community, and the costuming community as a whole, lost one of its brightest and most creative individuals. Kent Elofson died on May 18 of an apparent suicide in his Pasadena home, leaving behind a huge community of fellow costumers, all mourning his passing.

More behind the break.   Continue reading “LOTR Fandom Loses One of its Own: Kent Elofson”

The folks over at Super Power Beat Down are obviously trying to tick off Tolkien fans. In the recent match-up of ‘Darth Vader vs. Gandalf,’ they’ve managed to make an amazing technical presentation of a battle between these two pop culture icons (well worth the watch!), but failed when it came down to making an educated decision on who could actually win a battle between the two. Ultimately if the competition comes down to a vote of the pop culture masses, we can always count on the slavish drones of Lucasites feverishly voting for anything that has the moniker of ‘Star Wars.’ Yea, I’m all kinds of sour grapes. Enjoy the video for the technical prowess and presentation. And, I may mention, the guy in the Darth Vader outfit is actually good TORn friend David Baxter (aka Treebeard)! He’s really tall, but next time I see him, I’ll try to send a collective slap for the Tolkien community. (P.S. – the views in this story of those of Calisuri, and not TheOneRing.net :P) [Super Power Beat Down] [Direct YouTube Link]

Welcome to this monthsThe Frodo Franchise “Getting to know…” questions that need answering.  It’s based on the old Getting to know you threads that I used to post on the message boards here on TORn, so those familiar with them will know that the questions can be a little crazy and the answers even crazier.

This month we’re asking questions of author of “The Frodo Franchise” and TORn Staffer, Kristin Thompson.

Continue reading “Getting to know Kristin Thompson”

I never considered myself a tattoo guy.

Until now.

It started innocently enough. I wanted to commemorate what I considered no small achievement: reading all 12 volumes of the History of Middle-earth in one year. I made the pledge and started the trek in January of 2011, and managed to turn the last page in mid-December of that year. (I wrote about the experience here and here)

So what could I do to mark this considerable milestone?

I’d had every opportunity in my younger days to become one of the Inked. Lived with several bands, traveled around with all sorts of characters in a circus-like caravan for years before pretending to settle down and got a “real job”.

But never once did I feel the urge to get a tattoo. Big, small, cool or silly, it never crossed my mind as anything I would ever want to do. “How permanent!” “Do I really want everyone to see and judge me?” “Wouldn’t it affect my job or the impression customers and co-workers would get?” All of that crossed my mind, but not in any sort of huge, conflicting way. I just never wanted one.

So why, when searching for an appropriately Big Sign statement to mark the conclusion of my most recent Tolkienian Journey, was that one of the first things that came to mind?

Mayhap, as some have speculated (myself included), it’s a sort of midlife crisis, only instead of a Porsche I got some ink. (By the way – if this truly is the midpoint of my life, 50% gone and 50% still to come, I’ll take it, say thankee-sai.)

Others have said, simply, “I think he’s lost his mind…”

Possibly so.

Continue reading “Under My Skin: Externalizing Tolkien”