The thirty-third Roving Ranger
Folks,
a warm welcome to this, the thirty-third Roving Ranger newsletter.
Events
Tolkien Reading Day is coming up on March 25th.
As I will be participating in and/or organising three of these events I would love to note them here:
Tolkien Reading Day, Tolkien Guide Edition – brought to you by TolkienGuide, Trotter_Tolkien and The_Tolkienist.
For all other editions of #TolkienReadingDay I would highly suggest you look up the International Tolkien Fellowship Facebook group.
The Smithsonian Summer Adventures are offering a Master Class: Theater 101 with The Hobbit.
Essays & Scholarship
John D. Rateliff has some interesting thoughts on Oxfordshire’s Lost Dragon.
Reviews and Book News
The Nebula Awards finalists have been announced.
The Mythopoeic Society is asking its membership for nominations on their 2021 Mythopoeic Awards.
Franchise, merchandise and Amazon series
I don’t usually share every Tolkien-inspired item that has its origin in Stephen Colbert – that would be a newsletter in itself – but sometimes there are a couple of minutes I like: In this five minute video Andy Samberg (of Brooklyn 99) shares that his father read The Hobbit to him at the age of five and then Colbert goes wild on what the Amazon series could look like, should look like, and says the one line to rule them all: “I hope they don’t fuck it up. Because you know what we don’t do? Forgive them.”
Sam Heughan of Outlander fame has been named after a Lord of the Rings character, just like his brother Cirdan, as their parents were inspired by a London commune active at the end of the 60s called Gandalf’s Garden – and he is unhappy he is not in the new series.
Other stuff
Mark Hamill who portrayed Luke Skywalker in the original Star Wars trilogy and also in later incarnations has one meme that makes him cringe.
For the Trekkies, Nicholas Meyer seems to be pushing for a new feature film project. If you have not heard the name – he is responsible for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, and worked more recently on Star Trek: Discovery.
In order to raise money for a good cause a curator at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh agreed to hug 350 different trees – and yes, Tolkien does get a mention.
Yes, Marvel has now officially crossed over into Middle-earth territory – thanks to Bucky.
If you are in the Southampton area, the Hobbit pub has been getting a revamp. Let’s hope the plans to finally reopen in June hold true for all of us.
In other news
Star Trek Fans might also note that the Nacelle Company has closed a deal to do an 8-piece-documentary on Star Trek‘s 55th anniversary this year for the History Channel.
The Oscars have announced the 2021 nominees.
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 Hillman, ‘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 credit: Olwë by Karolina ‘Sirielle’ Węgrzyn. This is a very personal drawing for me as my nickname in fandom for many years was Olwe – and this was the first rendition I ever found (Jenny Dolfen did the second one at my suggestion.) Please visit her website.
According to German law I have to infom you all links to enterprises/ artists are [unpaid advertisements.]
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