Purchase any signed copies of The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit on Ebay recently? We hope not! Looks like the UK police are investigating a 65 year old man who was selling forged signatures of Winston Churchill, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and others. [Read More]
Category: Miscellaneous
During a sketch called “Global Chaos Round Up” on The Daily Show, John Stewart brought up the recent government collapse in Tunisia and how that might sadden those around the world who wanted to visit the same desert where Star Wars was filmed.
He then laments “what am I suppose to do for spring break now? Go to New Zealand for the Lord Of The Rings tour … AGAIN?”. He continues with a bit more on visiting Hobbiton, using the typical tongue-planted-firmly-in-cheek satirical humor The Daily Show is known for.
Thought joking, I’d bet Stewart really has attended a LOTR tour, maybe on the advice of Tolkien geek and Comedy Central buddy Stephen Colbert. Check it out! The Daily Show
Peter Thiel, famous for making billions off Facebook, tells SFGate.com he’s finally found “utopia” – New Zealand.
To summarize the story a bit, Mr. Thiel is a big fan of Tolkien and named his latest firm Valar Ventures:
The name of Thiel’s firm Valar Ventures comes from J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings universe. Thiel is a huge Tolkien fan and the Lord of the Rings movies were filmed in New Zealand. In Tolkien’s legendarium, the Valar are deities who created the world of Middle-Earth (portrayed by New Zealand in the movies) and then descended on it to help nurture its infancy and development.
Hey Peter – do you happen to have a spare million to help TORn with some server costs? 🙂 Pretty please? hah. Enjoy the rest of the article at SFGate.com. [Read More]
Veteran ‘The Lord of the Rings’ actors, Sean Astin (Sam) and Billy Boyd (Pippin), will star in the upcoming film ‘The Witches of Oz.’ The film, to be released in 2011, also stars comedic legend Christopher Lloyd.
The Witches of Oz follows the exploits of the grown Dorothy Gale, now a successful children’s book author, as she moves from Kansas to present day New York City. Dorothy quickly learns that her popular books are based on repressed childhood memories, and that the wonders of Oz are very, very real. When the Wicked Witch of the West shows up in Times Square, Dorothy must find the inner courage to stop her.
The official website for the film has posted a behind the scenes and teaser combo video to whet your whistle. [Check it out]
Just in time for Tolkien’s upcoming birthday on January 3rd, we’ve found the perfect unexpected gift for Tolkien lovers – a complete boxed set of his spellbinding fantasy tales on CD. These full-cast dramatizations of The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and Tales from the Perilous Realm feature specially-composed music and outstanding casts. Also included in this special edition is a hand-drawn Middle Earth map and Brian Sibley’s excellent profile J. R. R. Tolkien: An Audio Portrait. Now you can purchase this 21-disc set directly from AudioGO and save HALF OFF the retail price with code ONERING50. Simply click here, add one or more copies to your shopping cart and enter the code at checkout to get this exclusive collection for just $49.98!
File this under weird science news of the day. As many of you know, the larger than life Eagles in Tolkien’s Middle-earth, tend to be a bit more noble-hearted than the birds mentioned in this real-life story. As we learned in 2003, hobbit sized humanoid fossils were found in the Liang Bua cave on the Indonesian island of Flores. News reaches us recently that these poor Hobbit-like humans may have been hunted by extremely large, stork-like birds. Birds that stood nearly 6 feet tall!! Let’s just say, this reporter is happy those birds are not around today. To read the full story, check out LiveScience.com. [Read More]