New Hampshire Ringers interested in learning more about the sources of Tolkien’s inspiration should check out the Poetry Society of NH’s celebration of the Kalevala on October 11. There’ll be poetry, music from the Maine Kantele, and Runeberg’s tarts and other Finnish pastries. It’s at 6PM at Artstream, 56 North Main Street, Rochester, NH. The event is free and open to the public. For more information contact poetrysocietyofnh@gmail.com


Today is Ian Holm’s birthday! Sir Ian Holm was born on September 12th, 1931 in Essex, England. That makes him 77 years old today! Happy Birthday Ian!

Doug Adams, author of the upcoming book, “The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films”, has posted an update on the book’s progress: the book cover is still a work in progress, he’s hoping to include some of Shore’s pencil sketches, and numerous examples of notated music passages will be provided from throughout the score. Perhaps the most unexpected news was this:

The book project has now attracted the attention of a number of corporate entities. There is a potential to tie a couple of ideas together and perhaps make a bigger deal out of this release than was originally anticipated. 

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Chen Yibing

While perusing the official website of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, a particular winner just happened to catch our eye:

So to what has become a daily glut of gold medals for host China. The place to start has to be gymnastics, where 23-year-old Chen Yibing, the co-called “Lord of The Rings,” won China’s first gold medal in the Men’s Rings since the legendary Li Ning shared gold with Japan’s Gushiken Koji at Los Angeles 1984. Chen scored 16.600 to win.

Just thought it was wonderful to see Professor Tolkien’s creation mentioned in a way that reminds us all of it’s place within a worldwide community culture.  It continues today due also in no small part to Peter Jackson’s movies and fan websites like TORN that have readers spanning the globe.  Official Website 2008 Beijing Olympic Games

Peter Lyon, the man responsible for translating John Howe’s visions into LOTR’s workable weapons props, says he is looking forward to working on the Hobbit.The comment came in a reply to a recent fan mail, where he said that, all going well, he was looking forward to “completing the circle” to that part of his life. Lyon did not say whether his involvement was confirmed, but his words do sound hopeful!
Thanks to Josh for the news.