The Eighth Roving Ranger
Folks,
a warm welcome to this, the eighth Roving Ranger newsletter!
Events
URGENT: Puppet State Theatre, the Edinburgh-based company well-known for their beautiful rendition of Leaf by Niggle have started an Edinburgh Fringe Festival crowdfunder – and you could get to see it online! Donate now if you can.
The National WWI Museum and Memorial in Kansas City has a Tolkien and WWI webinar tonight. Let’s hope they’ll repeat that offer!
Please always refer to the International Tolkien Fellowship Facebook group for Tolkien-inspired events the world over.
Reviews and Book News
The Irish Independent has a review of John Garth’s latest publication: The Worlds of JRR Tolkien: A scenic guide to the lands that inspired Tolkien [Paywall]
The Tolkien Society has partnered up with Luna Press Publishing to re-issue the third book in the Peter Roe Series, The First and Second Ages.
Other Stuff
Although I am in no position to judge on the quality of the post linked here, I simply needed to add it to this week’s list thanks to this single line:
“The Hobbit” is a story but just because it can be written down doesn’t mean magic rings exist.
Everything Wrong With Modern Theoretical Physics In One Paper’s Practical Summary.
Another interesting piece is that a gentleman called Faith (yes, really!) with a seemingly strong Christian background has NOT SEEN ANYTHING CHRISTIAN in The Lord of the Rings. I wanted to torch my laptop when he wrote: “I have to be honest, I have watched those films over and over through my Christian eyes and I haven’t seen it“, but he goes on to add he actually read the books. Good.
It’s a first for me in over 25+ years of Tolkien fandom & research a Christian has NOT SEEN ANYTHING CHRISTIAN in The Lord of the Rings. There is a first for anything. 2020 much?
Film franchise, merchandise and Amazon series
You might like this little set-up, the comparison of the Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings franchise via IMDB; the top three are less than surprising.
A very good write-up on Variety on the effects of COVID-19 on the film and tv series industry, detailing the situation in New Zealand, and mentioning the upcoming Amazon series, of course.
One of the best titles on any podcast review I have read in a long time: “We Need ‘Hobbit’ Movies That Are the Right Length.” Please also note the podcast episode in question: “GGG#427: Tolkien and Bluth Cartoons.”
In other news
If you feel like owning a New Hobbit Hotel this might be your chance.
This is 2020, and it is the time when you have a new DUNE film coming up (“Dune’ Art Director Says Villeneuve’s Films Will Be Up There with ‘Lord of the Rings’ Series“) comparing it to the successes of the Peter Jackson film trilogy, and at the same time people writing we should get rid of any canon, naming just those two books because to some they seem to have become anathema: “Why we should abolish the ‘Classic Canon’ in Sci-Fi and Fantasy Fiction.” No judgment here, just exciting to see the diversity of scope possible on tremendously successful stories. Also, please note that the Youtube video all news outlets seem to base their Dune quotes on has been removed; the film production company at work, I presume.
The Blog Roll
These are blogs you really should be following if you’re interested in Tolkien …
Some of these, you may find, are not as active as one would hope; but even if they have not posted anything new for a long time they are repositories of great essays and research on all things Tolkienian and always worth your time. The blog roll – and this very newsletter! – has been inspired by Troels Forchammer’s Parma-kenta and his excellent Tolkien Transactions he did for seven years – they are still sorely missed!
Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond, ‘Too Many Books and Never Enough’
Dimitra Fimi, ‘Dr. Dimitra Fimi’
Jason Fisher, ‘Lingwë — Musings of a Fish’
Douglas A. Anderson, ‘Tolkien and Fantasy’
John D. Rateliff — ‘Sacnoth’s Scriptorium’
John Garth, ‘John Garth’
David Bratman, ‘Kalimac’s Journal’
Jenny Dolfen, ‘Jenny’s Sketchbook’
Andrew Higgens, ‘Wotan’s Musings’
Anna Smol, ‘A Single Leaf’
Edmund Weiner, ‘Philoloblog’
Robin Anne Reid, her blog
Annalisa Palmer, her blog
Various, The Mythopoeic Society
Various (Bradford Eden, ed.) Journal of Tolkien Research (JTR)
Various, The Tolkien Society (TS)
Southfarthing Mathom
Various, The Mythopoeic Society, ‘The Horn of Rohan Redux’
Sue Bridgwater, ‘Skorn’
Tom Hilman, ‘Alas, not me’
Michael Martinez, ‘Middle-earth’
Bruce Charlton, ‘Tolkien’s The Notion Club Papers’
Various, ‘Middle-earth News’
Jeffrey R. Hawboldt, ‘Expressions of Substance’
Ryszard Viajante Derdzinski, ‘Tolknięty’
Stephen C. Winter, ‘Wisdom from The Lord of the Rings’
Troels Forchhammer, ‘Parma-kenta‘
Marcel Aubron-Bülles, ‘The Tolkienist‘
Jeremy Edmonds, ‘Tolkien Collector’s Guide‘
Aubrey, ‘Diverse Tolkien‘
Elyanna, ‘itariilles‘
If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work please have a look:
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