Mel is gone.
It has been weeks now and this isn’t news. I have felt the loss personally and thought about the loss for so many.
Melissa Theresa Petrey Kern, 42, is gone. In her real traditional obituary, it says she was of Lawrenceville, Georgia. Respectfully, I disagree, or I want to state on the record, that while that may be true, it isn’t the whole truth.
More of the truth would say that Melissa Theresa Petrey Kern, 42, a notable figure in the Tolkien Community, died March 8, 2015, after a long battle with ALS. She lived among us, the fan community, and was our neighbor and shared her life with us and is missed by us, as she is missed in Lawrenceville. You could write about more places she lived and is missed too.
I remember, fortunately a few conversations we shared that didn’t seem especially significant at the time, but feel pretty lucky now. We talked about an artist that visited Georgia. We talked about the Tolkien Community in Atlanta. We even talked about specific people she wanted good things for. We talked about fandom, that included her own early love for the books of J.R.R. Tolkien. We shared some moments and I value them, as part of the beautiful experience of our community and they are just a tiny sample of many such moments she shared with many people.
More memorable than the things she said were the people she influenced. The Georgia costuming community, I think it is fair to say, wouldn’t have been so organized or so unified if not for Mel. The Arms of Middle-earth might not have existed at all without Mel, but I don’t pretend to know the reality of that claim. We can safely and accurately say, she was at the heart of the community.
There is a photo, I am sure dozens of people have it, where a significant number of Tolkien costumers were all gathered together in an impressive array of characters from “The Lord of the Rings.” It was during Dragon Con in Atlanta, before the convention had matured to quite the level it has now. Groups of costumers were less frequent and large numbers of themed costumes were rare. There, in that spot, was organized and gathered an outstanding display of fans, living their passions and forming a genuine fellowship. It was a very fine cosplay effort but it was a transcendent community effort. Continue reading “Tolkien community loses Melissa Petrey Kern”
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Ralph Bakshi will appear in person at a film retrospective of some of his most iconic animated films, presented by the American Cinematheque in conjunction with the USC School of Cinematic Arts. The films will screen at the Aero Theater in Santa Monica on the last weekend of March. You can catch a double feature of “Heavy Traffic” and “American Pop” on Friday, March 27 starting at 7:30pm. There will be a discussion with director Ralph Bakshi between these two films and a clip will be shown from his new film “Last Days of Coney Island”. On the following Saturday, March 28, there will be a double feature of “The Lord of the Rings” and “Wizards”, starting at 7:30pm, again with a discussion with director Ralph Bakshi between the two films.
If you have never seen this 
version of LOTR, or at least never seen it on the big screen, you must try and catch this screening. The rotoscoping is eye-catching, to say the least, and brings a level of veracity to the more serious themes of this story, something that was not common with animation of it’s time. Bakshi Productions will be selling art in the lobby starting at 6:30pm each night, so get there early.
Staffers from TheOneRing.net will running about the theater as well, so do make sure to say hello if you see us. And what can only be called a cosmic coincidence, Tolkien Forever, the Los Angeles based smial of the Tolkien Society will be hosting Tolkien Reading Day earlier in the day on Saturday, March 28 in Downtown Los Angeles. You can find out more details about that on Facebook event page. Why not make it a true Tolkien daily double with some reading, some viewing and some Fellowship.
The Aero theater is located at 1328 Montana Avenue, Santa Monica, CA 90403, and you can buy tickets at the box office or in advance on Fandango. All the information you need can be found on the American Cinematheque Bakshi Tribute calendar.
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J.R.R. Tolkien’s short story Leaf by Niggle is one of my favourite of his works. Written in 1938-39, and first published in the Dublin Review in January 1945, the piece is often considered an allegory of Tolkien’s own creative process (respected Tolkien scholar Tom Shippey argues in his book The Author of the Century that it functions as an autobiographical allegory).
Adam Dens and his friends have adapted this work into a short, 17-minute film. There are some sound issues here and there, but it’s worth a watch in my opinion. Go check it out. Adam writes: Continue reading “Watch this new fan-film based on Leaf by Niggle”
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.
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Less than two weeks after its unveiling, the Middle-earth theme-park mooted for the Spanish province of Rincon de la Victoria is running into copyright concerns. Both Warner Bros. and Tolkien Estate are reported to be casting a close eye over the La Comarca (The Shire) project that was unveiled at the international tourism fair FITUR on February 1.
Rincon de la Victoria officials insist that they have their legal bases covered so that nothing will be considered a copy, and that the park would “not belong to any [single] author”. If that’s the case though, it’s starting to sound mroe like a generic fantasy theme-park and less like a Middle-earth one.
Continue reading “Copyright concerns dog Spanish Middle-earth theme park”
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You might recall those rumours from around 18 months ago that Universal was considering a Middle-earth theme park. Nothing ever came of that, but it appears that an eight-hectare Middle-earth theme park to be called La Comarca (The Shire) will soon be built in Rincon de la Victoria in Spain.
RINCON DE LA VICTORIA is to be the home of a fantasy theme park based on the universe and characters created by JRR Tolkien.
Eight hectares have been allocated for the park, which is to be named La Comarca (The Shire). The project was unveiled today by the town’s mayor Francisco Salado at the international tourism fair FITUR, currently taking place in Madrid. Continue reading “Middle-earth theme park to be built in Spain”
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Ringer kiwifan sent us this report of these beautiful illustrations for a Chinese version of the Lord of the Rings, they’ve been done in a gorgeous “glass painting style”.
Continue reading “Illustrations for a Chinese Lord of the Rings in Stunning “Glass Painting Style””
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