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Hobbits, elves and Middle-earthlings across the globe will mark the 50th anniversary of J.R.R. Tolkien’s death this weekend. The English scholar and author best known for the worlds he created in “The Lord of the Rings” and other books died of pneumonia on Sept. 2, 1973, at age 81. Tolkien had a remarkable career, one which continues to touch lives, not only in his literature, but through the relationships he fostered, including one with his fellow Oxford don C.S. Lewis. Last year, an article in the lifestyle magazine Town & Country said “It is impossible to overstate how much Lewis...

olkien made this narration before The Lord of the Rings had found a publisher. He was rather disillusioned, even despairing about it's prospects, and had lost faith in his ability as a writer. He was visiting the house of a friend, and this friend had bought a fairly newfangled device: a tape recorder. After messing with it a bit, recording The Lord's Prayer (to exorcise any evil spirits in it, for Tolkien was a bit suspicious of new tech), his friend suggested that he record his favourite passage from his new book. Tolkien did so, and on replaying it, the...

Dr. Anthony Fauci crassly mocked “ass-backwards” restaurant patrons who removed their coronavirus masks when seated — and laughed at the absurdity of his own idea for anti-COVID-19 goggles, according to a new book. The inside account is included by former White House spokesman Brian Morgenstern in “Vignettes & Vino” — out Oct. 25 — which calls Fauci “awful” and an “egomaniac.” “[I]n January 2020, [Fauci] said the virus was nothing to worry about for the American people. Then in the months that followed, he said that people should not wear masks and that they were ineffective. By June or July,...

An IKEA employee from Scotland has fulfilled his childhood dream of building a “Hobbit House” in his back garden. Ali Hughson, 47, has been a fan of J.R.R. Tolkien since he was a teenager and loved the idea of having a Hobbit-themed workshop. Ali spent six months and 2,000 pounds (approx. US$2,800) building the 2-meter-tall shed, which even features the iconic round green door made famous in the Peter Jackson films. “When I was around 13 I read ‘The Hobbit’, and then watched ‘The Lord of the Rings’ movies when they got released,” Ali said. “I’ve been a fan of...

Get used to the new normal, folks. – Looking forward to getting rid of your masks and having the kids back in school once you’ve all been vaccinated? Not so fast, sez the little menace to society, Anthony Fauci. Appearing on CNN – because of course he was appearing on CNN – Fauci told Jake Tapper that we’ll all just have to keep wearing those masks and doing that cute social distancing and pretending it all works for long after the vaccines have been made widely available. From a piece at Breitbart: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director...

Last week, amid churning news cycles about impeachment and Iran and global trade deals, an era quietly ended. Christopher Tolkien, the third and youngest son of “Lord of the Rings” author J.R.R. Tolkien, died at the age of 95. The younger Tolkien, who spent the last four decades of his life completing his father’s grand artistic vision, was one of the great unsung literary heroes of the last century. For countless readers whose imaginations were molded in part by the legendarium of Middle Earth, his passing severs the last living link to another existential plane.His obituaries variously describe Tolkien as...

Cersei Lannister needs some anti-dragon air defenses. This past week on Game of Thrones, the self-appointed Queen of Westeros asks her cryptic right-hand man, Qyburn, to reveal his secret dragon-killer because Daenerys Targaryen and her trio of fire-breathers might be knocking on the door of King's Landing any day now. What he comes up with is this double-bowed monstrosity. He even tests it on an ancient dragon skull (which would be like firing an AR-15 through King Tut's sarcophagus, but whatever).

124 years ago today, on January 3, 1892, John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born in Bloemfontein Africa. Forty-five years later, in 1937, his book The Hobbit, was published which he had written for his children. Together with its sequel, The Lord of the Rings, it launched generations of readers on adventures through the invented world of Middle-earth that would impact many of us for the rest of our lives.

Back on Nov. 17, Warner Bros. released the long-awaited, extended edition of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. The film adds just 20 extra minutes, but packs a lot of emotion into those minutes. By now, most of us have seen the Hobbit movies and it can probably be agreed that Peter Jackson created amazing pieces of art. However, most of us wished for more in-depth scenes or more face time for a favorite character. With the extended edition, we get both, plus two full discs of bonus features. A few scenes were extended with just a couple...

Did you know that the Republican Party is only at half strength? “Half strength.” What does that mean? It means that in your voting precinct, where you live, the Republican Party only has, probably, one-half of the local, precinct-level, voting member slots of the Party filled with a warm body. These slots are called “precinct committeeman” in most states. And the reason conservatives have been pretty much impotent when it comes to having a voice “inside” the BEST political tool for defeating the Democrats – the Republican Party – is because not enough conservatives are “in” the Republican Party where...

Did you know that the Republican Party is only at half strength? “Half strength.” What does that mean? It means that in your voting precinct, where you live, the Republican Party only has, probably, one-half of the local, precinct-level, voting member slots of the Party filled with a warm body. These slots are called “precinct committeeman” in most states. And the reason conservatives have been pretty much impotent when it comes to having a voice “inside” the BEST political tool for defeating the Democrats – the Republican Party – is because not enough conservatives are “in” the Republican Party where...

Since the final Hobbit opens up tomorrow, please post your review. Tell us why, not just "it was good" or "it was bad". I will post my review early Saturday morning. Please, if you are not interested in discussing this movie, do not ruin it for any one with "I hate the CGI" or "Peter Jackson is a Marxist" or "Frodo and Samwise were a Hollywood homosexual conspiracy" - and no spoilers. From analyzing the themes the Shore use in the soundtrack, it appears that it will probably closer to the book, with a bit of sorrow at the end.

Billy Boyd's The Last Goodbye - closing song on The Hobbit http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aRGTHLNNEOc

Remember when the The Lord Of The Rings saga ended 11 years ago, with Billy Boyd - Pippin, no less - singing out the closing credits with "Pippin's Song"? Well, coming full circle, The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies is about to witness the very same ending...

Whilst a synopsis is maybe not entirely necessary given that the title of The Hobbit: The Battle of Five Armies pretty much sums up what the films about - a battle involving five different armies. Warner Brothers have released the official synopsis. Okay, so it goes into a bit more detail than "there are five armies and they do battle" so it isn't entirely a lost cause like the 'Snakes on a Plane' synopsis might've been, and I'm pretty much allowing my prejudice against the third Hobbit film's name change shine through. I liked 'There and Back Again' dammit!

Spoilers and details of the third installment of The Hobbit franchise, called The Battle of Five Armies, are making fans excited as the first look draws near

According to Enstars on Saturday, Peter Jackson's third film "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies", has fans petitioning for the plot to take a different route than that of the J.R.R. Tolkien book. The first major change that was announced with the movie title which was originally "The Hobbit: There and Back Again" and now fans are demanding to change the outcome of Thorin Oakenshield's destiny. Jackson's change to the title was motivated by the appropriateness of the film as he kept up with it during its course. The director thought since Bilbo was already "there" at the...

In a recent interview, Richard Armitage revealed that he was quite emotional about the completion of the trilogy. The 42-year-old actor spoke with BANG Showbiz about finally wrapping the trilogy and how now that the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogy was completed, he was very moved. "It will be 15 years of Peter Jackson's work, there'll be six movies to watch, but it could be the final time. There's something moving about that," he said.

According to the Tolkien Society and confirmed by Amazon UK a 60th Anniversary hard copy edition box set of "The Lord of the Rings" to be published in the United Kingdom (probably in the US soon afterward) on June 18th, 2014. It is not cheap. Right now it is listed at £80 ($133). This year, new editions of other Tolkien novels will be released including a new illustrated copy of The Hobbit for children and adults of all ages and new edition of The Simarillion and Unfinished Tales.

Now this is precious. $6.2 billion and counting. That's how much films based on J. R. R. Tolkien's books have made in all at the box office so far. And there's still one part of The Hobbit trilogy to come. The Lord Of The Rings (LOTR) and The Hobbit are also on the list of Top 10 best selling books of all time - LOTR at No. 2 with 150 million copies sold. The Hobbit is No. 6 with 100 million copies sold.