In 2011, fan volunteers MrCere, Quickbeam, Grimlock and Justin embarked on the first ever road trip across America streaming live from a TheOneRing.net themed truck the entire time and meeting fans at every stop. It was amazing to meet fans from all walks of life and was unforgettable to talk about how Tolkien impacts their daily lives. Fans at home came along for the ride day and night with live streaming video, Barliman’s chat room, and TheOneRing.net mobile phone to share stories, recommend local Tolkien landmarks, and win prizes from our sponsors. Over 3,000 fans met us in person and 250,000 fans watched online… which inspires us to do it again. But this year, we don’t have any corporate sponsors and we are leaning heavily on YOU the fans to make this year’s trip happen. As you know, not just gas is expensive these days. We have set up a GoFundMe.com page with levels of sponsorship starting at just $5! If you are willing to donate more, we have set up a series of perks (yea, just like PBS!) for each donation. For example, you can get an exclusive ‘Road to DragonCon’ t-shirt, or if you are insanely generous, you can snag an early ticket to our February 2013 Oscar Party! But wait…there’s more! We are going to be producing a short documentary available for free online after the trip in which we will highlight the supporters of our trip. We hope you will consider supporting us! Follow the link for complete details on the sponsorship levels. [Donate Today!]
Continue reading “Support our Journey on the ‘Road to DragonCon’ 2012!”
Posted in:
Share:
Welcome 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 weekend we will spotlight the most popular buzz on TORn’s Message Boards. Everyone is welcome, so come on in and join in the fun!
Continue reading “TORn Message Boards Weekly Roundup – August 19, 2012”
Posted in:
Share:
Leicester Mercury from thisisleicestershire.co.uk: the Tolkien Society is currently holding festivities at Loughborough University to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the first publishing of The Hobbit . The one-off, five-day event — The Return of the Ring — features talks, story-telling sessions, and for a massive exhibition of art inspired by JRR Tolkien‘s works.
There will also be a Hobbit-style banquet, a metre-wide sponge cake in the shape of a dragon, lessons in writing names in Elvish, costumed masquerades and recreations of classic Tolkien scenes. “We want people who like the books to come and have a bit of fun,” said Shaun Gunner, trustee of the Tolkien Society and deputy chairman of the event.
Tolkien’s grandson, Michael, will also make a rare appearance. He will read out some stories of his own and take questions from the audience.
[More]
Posted in:
Share:
Malaprop’s Bookstore and cafe in North Carolina will be a
hosting a party of special magnificence on Hobbit Day, September 22nd at 3pm it also happens to be a 75th Anniversary celebration since the publication of The Hobbit, they’ll have prizes and are holding a costume contest.
Hobbit Day was first proclaimed by The American Tolkien Society in 1978 to be on the 22nd September to celebrate both Bilbo and Frodo Baggins birthdays, it also falls on Tolkien Week which is in the same calendar week in September. There is some debate however on the actual date to celebrate Hobbit Day due to discrepancies between the Shire Calendar and the Gregorian Calendar with some celebrating it on September 14.
[Read more]
Posted in:
Share:
At the end of the second week in September a cart came in through Bywater from the direction of Brandywine Bridge in broad daylight. An old man was driving it all alone. He wore a tall pointed blue hat, a long grey cloak, and a silver scarf. He had a long white beard and bushy eyebrows that stuck out beyond the brim of his hat. Small hobbit-children ran after the cart all through Hobbiton and right up the hill. It had a cargo of fireworks, as they rightly guessed. — From A Long-Expected Party, The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
In Peter Jackson’s LOTR film, the first moment of Gandalf arriving in Hobbiton and finding Frodo waiting on the trail were critical because it established two essential characters and the setting of Hobbiton. It also introduced audiences to the scale of Hobbits with human-sized characters including forced perspective of Frodo riding in Gandalf’s cart.
The meeting serves as the entry point for Lord of the Rings LEGO as well with set 9469 introducing important characters in an easy-to-build kit that is also easy to afford at $12.99 retail in the U.S. It will likely find itself as birthday present to and from friends many times over. Because it is recommended for ages eight to 14, I enlisted Logan (8) and Dresden (10), to assist with the build of the kit. Continue reading “Product review: LOTR LEGO ‘Gandalf Arrives’ set”
Posted in:
Share:
The landlady of The Hobbit pub in Portswood is raising money to help pay legal fees as wrangling over the small print of a deal made over copyright with Hollywood’s Saul Zaentz Company (SZC) continues.
Pub landlady Stella Roberts said she could not discuss the negotiations as she had signed a confidentiality agreement but said “We are very frustrated. We’re living in limbo here. We just want the whole thing finished. We just don’t know what to do. We’ve been advised to carry on trading as we were, because we haven’t got a lot of choice.”
A letter from SZC in March had asked the pub to remove all JRR Tolkien branding. The company later agreed to license Tolkien brands in order to resolve the dispute over the pub’s name.
[More]
Posted in:
Share:
