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”
Category: J.R.R. Tolkien
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.
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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.
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”
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.
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During the San Diego Comic-con Andy Serkis spoke extensively about his portrayal of the character Gollum. In doing so, he made some startlingly specific comments about the character’s age.
Here, TORn guest writer Elpidha Lirgalad examines the implications, and reaches some very interesting conclusions about what it could mean for the Hobbit trilogy. These views are her own, and do not necessarily represent those of TheOneRing.net or its staff.
WARNING: Spoilers and speculation!
How old is PJ’s Gollum? And what could that mean?
A guest post by Elpidha Lirgalad
Ever since the release of Peter Jackson’s The Fellowship of the Ring in 2001, some eagle-eyed fans have been asking why it appears that no time passes at all between Bilbo’s 111th birthday party and Frodo’s departure from the Shire. Continue reading “Greenbooks guest post: how old is PJ’s Gollum?”