Celebrating Tolkien

Ahead | Celebrating Tolkien
Elvish Impersonators
By ETHAN GILSDORF

DESPITE the growth in the ranks of J .R .R. Tolkien enthusiasts since the “Lord of the Rings” films put his fantasy world of Middle-earth on screen, Tolkien’s most avid admirers still risk being labeled geeks. But wearing elf ears or not, they are a force to be reckoned with.

“The Lord of the Rings” has sold 200 million copies in 39 languages. The movies based on the novel broke box-office records. And while Tolkien, the Oxford don who created “Rings,” “The Hobbit” and “The Silmarillion,” died in 1973, this year will be another big one for him.

The first “new” work by Tolkien in 30 years arrives in bookstores on April 17. The book, “The Children of Húrin,” is an incomplete manuscript edited by Tolkien’s son Christopher. And the release of a multiplayer Internet game, “The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar,” is set for April 24.

Naturally, the Tolkien faithful organize Tolkien-themed events. Game players, medievalists, linguists and other scholars all have reasons to become lost in the heroic fantasy of “Rings” and can find gatherings to match their sensibilities. More

And, how to eat there...

Chefs Create Middle-Earth Magic
By EMILY DENITTO

WITH its name and its tag line, “Taste the Magic,” I expected Frodo’s to be some kind of theme restaurant geared toward children. Once there, the décor didn’t make things much clearer. Murals of majestic mountains evoke J. R. R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth, as do the slate wall tiles, stonelike table tops and sly ring shapes created by much of the food presentation. More

Bush

Now, when I heard George Bush was reading my emails, I probably had the same reaction you did: George Bush can read?! -- Real Time with Bill Maher

w00t! Fwd: Breaking News Fri., March 23, 2007

HOUSE PASSES BILL CALLING FOR U.S. TROOPS TO BE OUT OF IRAQ BY END OF 2008


http://abcnews.go.com?CMP=EMC-1396
via TREO
Larry

Top's Going Down

The top went down at lunch and it's going down on the way home. Ran into a person I ustta work with at lunch and nattered for a while. So much for a short lunch and leaving work early...
via TREO
Larry

THE HOST

Dear Film Club Members:

I grew up near the banks of the Han River in Seoul. As a student, while daydreaming, I’d imagine what would happen if a fearsome creature made a sudden appearance from the depths of this river, so familiar and comfortable for us Seoulites. The riverbanks would be instantly plunged into chaos. I thought that this scene might one day make the basis for a great film. My film THE HOST begins at the precise moment in which a space familiar and intimate to us is suddenly transformed into the stage of an unthinkable disaster and tragedy.

( Read more... )

bye bye

Breaking News from ABCNEWS.com:

NEW DOCUMENTS SHOW GONZALES APPROVED FIRINGS OF U.S. ATTORNEYS, CONTRADICTING EARLIER CLAIMS HE WAS NOT CLOSELY INVOLVED


http://abcnews.go.com?CMP=EMC-1396