The Twenty-Second Roving Ranger
a warm welcome to this, the twenty-second Roving Ranger newsletter.
Events
Birmingham Museums are offering an Online Lecture – The Landscape of Memory: J.R.R Tolkien and Sarehole on Jan 12th, 2021. I somehow feel they have missed out on the Jan 3rd chance but still good!
The German Inklings Society has put out a Call for Papers for their next year’s conference: “Lost or Gained in Translation? Transatlantic Metamorphoses.”
I would highly suggest to you to look up the International Tolkien Fellowship Facebook group for Tolkien-inspired events the world over.
Essays & Scholarship
Tom Hilman on the Ring verse: ‘Der mentsh* trakht un got lakht’: Divine Irony and the Ring Verse.
Franchise, merchandise and Amazon series
I had forgotten all about it but yes, Willie Nelson once did a fake audition tape for the Hobbit film trilogy by Peter Jackson. The things that creep up, again and again …
And yes, this you will get from the official Hobbit film trilogy Twitter account:
The adventure of a lifetime awaits.
Pre-order The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogies in 4K Ultra HD now, available TOMORROW. #MiddleEarth4K [that is, Dec 1st! my emphasis]
(It does link me to the German WB website which does not work.) Try the official WB Shop link; the set at $139,99 seems to be sold out anyway.
Other stuff
Jeremy Edmonds has put up a great list of Tolkien-inspired artists to support: “Holiday shopping ideas – artists.”
And don’t forget: the Beyond Bree Tolkien Calendar of 2021 is out and ready for shipping!
Humphrey Carpenter became known as Tolkien’s first official biographer but he also wrote The Hobbit: A play for children and adults. The auction house Harrington in London has a play pamphlet for auction, supposed to catch £3,000.
Chris Columbus who directed the first two of eight Harry Potter movies opens up on the responsibility of setting the scene for one of the biggest literary and film franchises ever: “I Thought I Was Gonna Get Fired.”
In other news
Two sad losses last week: Tolkien scholar Richard C. West has passed away and both Doug A. Anderson and John D. Rateliff noted this; File770 has more on the man responsible for Orcrist. Also Dave Prowse, known to many as Darth Vader.
If books are your thing then this merger should have you prick up your ears: Penguin Random House to Buy Simon & Schuster.
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‘
Picture credits: Film concept drawing of Mike Ploog for Ralph Bakshi’s Lord of the Rings; background drawing of Bilbo’s house. Do have a look at Bakshi’s FB, IG and/or Twitter where he is sharing loads of this background material.
According to German law I have to infom you all links to enterprises/ artists are [unpaid advertisements.]
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