Luke Evans as Bard The Bowman and John Bell as his son Bain.
(Luke Evans as Bard The Bowman and John Bell as his son Bain.)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Ever wonder what you gave Luke Evans for his birthday?  Few realized it, but the staff and readers of TheOneRing.net gave him a present back in April of 2011.

Evans celebrated his 32nd year with a party at Gas Works, a bar and grill just walking distance from Stone Street Studios, the movie lot where Peter Jackson makes movies, including the forthcoming “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.”

In the mess tent of that set, on the white refrigerator that holds cream and milk and sundry items, near the always playing iPod, there hung a solicitation for all eyes to see: An open invitation from Luke Evans to celebrate his birthday on a Saturday night.  (Regrettably I didn’t take a photo of the fridge.) The invitation was right there in perhaps the most trafficked spot on the lot, available for all, specified for none.

Are on-set reporters invited to cast and crew events?  Advised by somebody from costume that it was absolutely okay (Jasmine I think, a real favorite), I decided to go only if could find a suitable gift from all of us, readers and staff of TORn.  What would you buy an actor on behalf of the largest online Tolkien community?  What does a guy making a living acting in New Zealand and away from home really want or need anyway? Continue reading “Luke Evans talks Bard the Bowman and Bard the family man in ‘Hobbit: Desolation of Smaug’”

Lake-Town_TORn

Its always nice to hear from Weta Workshop, but its especially nice when they drop something beautiful in our mailbox. This time it is concept art work from “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug Chronicles: Art & Design,” book. Written by Daniel Falconer, this is likely to be an amazing book. TORn got its first look at a similar book by Falconer for the previous movie and it turned out to be as stunning as we imagined it might be. Those who have had occasion to meet the author, who does extensive design work for Weta, know that he is gracious and smart and passionate about the works of J.R.R. Tolkien.

Click for much larger version
Click for larger version
While the masses in the U.S. are out shopping, you can order one of these now and during the pre-order phase, your book gets signed by the concept artists and comes with a “Dragon’s Gold” for Weta discounts and prizes. As you can see above, the image we received is of Lake-Town, from the desks of Alan Lee (who writes the book’s introduction) and John Howe. And please click for the larger version, it is definitely worth

They also included some previously released Elf concept art which you can see below. You can order the book RIGHT HERE. Expect this art to pop up in other places soon and more will be released as Weta and HarperCollins see fit, but for Hobbit fans, this may be among the very best of seasonal gifts.

Elven_TORn

happy hobbit pumpkin If you’d like to make a pie from sugar pumpkins for your Thanksgiving, then you’ve come to the right place! Join Kili and discover how to make your own puree. And if you think pumpkin pie smells delicious, you’re not alone.

Someone else has the same idea and is trying to track down Kili’s pie… but we won’t say who!

We’ve reproduced the recipe below so you can try it yourself if you want. Continue reading “Happy Hobbit: Pumpkin Pie (Thanksgiving Special) – Episode 31”

The Hobbit Book CoverIn our newest TORn Library feature, Brian Tither discusses the effectiveness of portraying Tolkiens’ story-telling via cinematography.

Continue reading “The potential of JRR Tolkien’s story-telling in The Hobbit movies”

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.

?????????????????????????Our one and only grammaboodawg shared her latest Tolkien project with us, which came about after raccoons chewed a hole in her garage roof.  ” I wanted to share my latest project.  I repaired and reshingled my garage roof over the past couple of months.  It’s still a work in progress… to be continued this coming Spring; but I had to show you! My neighbours just don’t understand 😉 ”

Luckily we all do 🙂

Continue reading “Check out grammas Tolkien inspired garage roof”