The program provides books to New Zealand children in areas where books can not be taken for granted as part of the normal furniture of life. It aims to break the cycle of booklessness amongst children at low decile schools throughout New Zealand.
Duffy Books in Homes coordinator Jacqui Whyte writes to tell us that the program’s schools — including Runanga, the school that TORn sponsors — recently received their latest orders of books.
As part of the program, Duffy role models also typically visit different schools to foster a love of reading and tell kids that reading is a cool thing to do.
Jacqui writes:
Due to Covid-19, the usual visits by our Role Models to celebrate the books arriving at school assemblies were not able to take place; however, we were able to provide inspirational messages about the importance of literacy via video instead.
These have become a great resource for our teachers as they can share them anytime and with individual students and/or in class groups. We now have a fantastic and varied collection available on our website.
I wanted to share with you the video Runanga School received from Role Model and ultra-marathon swimmer Liana Smith.
Since 1995, the Duffy program has grown to encompass more than 520 schools and 280 early childhood centres In 2018, with the backing of over 200 funding partners, supporters and donors in 2018, it was able to distribute books to more than 100,000 students.
As well as their website, Duffy Books in Homes is very active on both Facebook and Instagram. Go check out all the great literacy work they do!
Amazon’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power is just some 14 weeks away from our screens and official promotional imagery remains slim on the ground — a series of 23 poster images, a teaser trailer and a handful of promo photos.
However, that hasn’t stopped freelance artist Alyssa Hope Wise from crafting this fabulous Galadriel cosplay.
Galadriel Cosplay by Alyssa Hope Wise. Photo by A.J. Reilly.
Alyssa, who has a background in SFX makeup and costume fabrication, first debuted the cosplay in early April at Wondercon 2022 in Anaheim.
She recorded the entire process for the construction of the chest plate, and has turned it into a 10-minute how-to turtorial for would-be fellow cosplayers as well as for curious fans who just want to see exactly how it’s done. Check it out below!
She says the full cosplay took 90 to 100 hours to complete, with a solid third spent on sanding.
“If I could do it again, I would probably have tried to use my electric sander more than I did; I was worried it would be too rough on the armor but after 30+ hours of sanding I no longer cared about that,” she says.
“But overall the process worked out really well for me and I’m sure I’ll try it again for future projects!”
Galadriel Cosplay by Alyssa Hope Wise. Photo by A.J. Reilly.
Since early childhood, artist Jackson Robinson has always wanted to do something artistically inspired by The Lord of the Rings. Recently, he’s finally been able to turn that dream into reality with a wildly successful Kickstarter project launching a deck of The Lord of the Rings-themed playing cards featuring his own hand-drawn art.
Over 6,400 people have backed his The Fellowship of the Ring deck of luxury playing cards in just under a month. It’s now 25 times more successful than its initial goal.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring playing card deck, standard edition (front side and rear side of pack). Source: Kings Wild Project.
“I knew it would succeed just from the love of the IP and my followers, but I had NO idea it was going to be as successful as it has been,” Jackson told TheOneRing.net.
Robinson says that he’s worked as a professional illustrator for more than 20 years on big brand names and franchises ranging from Star Wars and Marvel Comics to Disney and Coca-Cola, but he’s always loved The Lord of the Rings. His favorite artists working in Tolkien’s milieu includes John Howe and Alen Lee, but he also loves the work of Donato Giancola and the woodcuts of Tolkien Society best artwork category award-winner Tomas Hijo.
“Like many others, the richness of the story and characters within Professor Tolkien’s work drew me in. I also always found it fascinating that I could never seem to be at the bottom of the well of creativity in any of his works or worlds,” Jackson says.
He says that the first significant piece of Tolkien artwork he made was a map of Middle-earth.
“I did this over 20 years ago, during my undergraduate years at the University of North Texas. The map still hangs in my office today.”
A virtual tour of Jackson’s home art design studio. We are officially envious of his collection of swords from Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings.
However, his interest in playing cards dates from around 2013. He says he only fell into it by accident while working in the videogame industry in Los Angeles.
“I did my first playing card Kickstarter to earn some extra money. It went viral, and I haven’t looked back. I was able to start designing playing cards full-time,” Jackson says. This was the basis for the company he founded — Kings Wild Project.
He says that ever since he started Kings Wild Project, a Lord of the Rings deck has been on his bucket list, and he immediately began researching the requirements for an official license from Middle-earth Enterprises. One of the prerequisites was that his business needed to have been operating in its industry sector for a minimum of five years.
Jackson says the day after Kings Wild Project reached the five-year-mark, he contacted Middle-earth Enterprise requesting to become a licensee to design The Lord of the Rings-themed playing card decks.
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring playing card deck, legacy box edition. Source: Kings Wild Project.
He typically begins his creative process with a lot of reference gathering, looking for materials and art styles to draw inspiration from.
“Then I start sketching a character or court card. I usually start with the King of Spades. I will work on one court card or back design until I feel I ‘find it’, and continue the same process with the other characters and cards,” Jackson says. “So many things I deliberately DON’T plan… It is as if the story is being retold for the first time as each new character is revealed during the creative process.”
Frodo (left) and Samwise (right) cards from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring playing card deck. Source: Kings Wild Project.
Jackson says he typically doesn’t need to iterate designs very often.
“But I went through a massive restart with [the deck for] The Lord of the Rings. I had almost finished almost half the deck when I wanted to try something different. I ended up going with the new direction but, in the process, created two decks that have the same character lineup but are done in two very different styles.”
His favorite cards from his Fellowship deck are the Glorfindel card for the deck that’s now up on Kickstarter, and the Frodo card from his initial “scrapped” deck. He says he plans to return to that alternative deck at a later date.
Glorfindel (left) and Legolas (right) cards from The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring playing card deck. Source: Kings Wild Project.
Plans don’t stop there. He also has a deck themed on The Two Towers tentatively expected to launch on Kickstarter in late Fall, and one for The Return of the King in early 2023. He hopes to produce a deck themed on The Hobbit in the Spring of 2023. He told TheOneRing.net that he was also recently granted a license to produce two-sided The Lord of the Rings jigsaw puzzles. Look out for a Fellowship of the Ring puzzle in time for the holiday season this year.
Readers can visit Kings Wild Project to find out more about his playing card projects, including his Fellowship of the Ring-themed deck. At the time of publishing, the Kickstarter for The Fellowship of the Ring deck has 50 hours before it closes. You can check it out here.
Maybe it’s the time zones, but I really thought that John Howe’s interview with Empire about The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power was coming out tomorrow. Instead, if you’re keen (and an Apple News subscriber), you can read it right now over on Apple News.
The interview expands on the teaser Empire provided the other day, that “this is not the Middle-earth you remember”. Instead, it’s a story of a different time (the Second Age), when Middle-earth was visually and politically a different place.
An excerpt:
Howe can’t elaborate on what that tale may be, but does hint that it takes place against a backdrop of “Sauron’s rise to power, the forging of the Rings of Power and the epic tale of [human city] Númenor” — all events with important repercussions for Middle-earth.
“I was convinced the Hobbit trilogy would be the last we’d see of Middle-earth on film,” Howe admits, explaining that it took an exciting new approach to Lord Of The Rings lore to unlock a story worth telling.
Empire’s forthcoming “Summer Preview” issue is set to include an interview with John Howe about his role as concept artist for Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power TV series.
They’ve posted an enticing preview snippet of Howe sharing his thoughts about we ought to expect from the series in which he empahsises just how different Second Age Middle-earth is from the Third Age world that many are more familiar with.
“This isn’t the Middle-earth you remember,” he says.
“This is a world that’s very vibrant. The elves are not hidden away in Mirkwood or lingering in Rivendell. They’re busy constructing kingdoms. The dwarven kingdom of Moria is not an abandoned mine and the Grey Havens is not yet an abandoned city. I loved having the opportunity to explore that unseen history.”
He also talks about how this story is also taking to the seas.
“We’re finally sailing on the oceans of Middle-earth,” teases Howe, promising a set of sea-faring elves. “They’re daunting and enterprising and are almost colonising the world. They were a lot of fun to imagine. It’s something neither Lord Of The Rings nor Hobbit movies went anywhere near.”
Several Ph.Ds, published authors, Tolkientubers and TikTokers have shared their first impressions of completed footage from Prime Video’s massive new Lord of the Rings TV series – The Rings of Power. (Check out our report too!)
We’ve gathered all of these reactions in one convenient post on TORn. Enjoy!
Amazon assembled a wide group of Tolkien fans for this adventure, but if anyone on the trip is to be considered a celebrity, it is Dr. Corey Olsen. Known as the Tolkien Professor, he is founder and head of Signum University, an accredited online-only graduate school which counts Stephen Colbert as an avid viewer. Corey held court from the first introductions, entertaining a revolving circle of fellow Ringers and fans of his work throughout the week. I loved seeing how excited folks were finally to meet him! While I’m sure he will share his thoughts over the coming days and weeks across his many broadcasts on twitch, Corey’s small but powerful statement has made waves, as an acknowledgement of the quality of the showrunners in charge:
Last week, I was invited by the @LOTRonPrime folks, along with a bunch of other internet Tolkien folks, to attend an advanced screening of some footage from the #RingsofPower show and to meet the showrunners. I must say: after meeting them, I feel the show is in VERY good hands.
The Tolkien Society, currently headed by Shaun Gunner, is probably the most respected LOTR fan group, since its founding while JRR Tolkien was still alive. They have always championed the literary legacy of Tolkien’s works, and often are a strong and balanced community voice among the hype that Hollywood generates. It’s no small thing to earn a positive review from the Tolkien Society, and in their post about Amazon’s event Shaun praises what he saw & heard:
The show has been created with a level of craftsmanship and attention-to-detail which is unparalleled, and which is a love letter to the Professor… this is a level of commitment and interest that can’t simply be faked. Speaking with the showrunners, I am convinced that they are the right people to adapt Tolkien’s works.
– Tolkien Society chair Shaun Gunner
Nerd of the Rings, one of the biggest YouTube channels who started talking about lore and has grown into wonderful interviews with some of our favorite people, shared a 30-minute travelogue with an essential comment at the end: ”My trajectory on this show has gone from cautious to cautiously optimistic, with excitement creeping in.”
My count may be off but there were around 30 influencers at this Prime Video LOTR event, each with an incredibly personal perspective and deeply engaged audiences.
Tea with Tolkien, whose aesthetic I will always strive to reach but never attain, posts:
As a lifelong Tolkien fan, I’m no stranger to seeing adaptations go off the rails or Tolkien’s creative works being exploited for profit, so I will always retain some level of nervousness toward anything set in or inspired by Middle-earth. But after learning so much more about the show and its creators, I do feel quite a bit more confident going forward. From what I’ve seen, it seems to me that this show is in competent hands.
Tea with Tolkien
Tiktok star KnewBettaDoBetta, who was a breakout lore hero for our marathon 6-hour trailer analysis livestream, shares his excitement:
Kili from Happy Hobbit was there too, known for co-authoring ”Middle-earth From Script to Screen” with Daniel Falconer and Peter Jackson. She has mined the Weta archives, and brings a unique perspective on Amazon’s show which I hope we get more of on TORn Tuesday soon.
Raising a pint to the Professor in none other than the Lamb and Flag pub where the Inklings often gathered for a drink and to share their writing! I’ll post more soon, but suffice it to say I was humbled to have been invited by Amazon on an adventure to Oxford to visit… pic.twitter.com/tq2iNAEIQG
El Anillo Unico, often considered the Spanish equivalent of our little site since the earliest Peter Jackson days, wrote (in translation):
The most important thing we have discovered and believe we can make public, Tolkien Estate is involved in the creative process, and had active participation during the process. This gives us an idea that Amazon has really had people who are experts in the field and have helped to fill in the gaps that exist in what is written about the Second Age. We loved the music, the visual aspect is very good and it gives us an air of something already known. Quite different from the trailer itself that was released months ago
El Anillo Unico
Dr. Maggie Parke, director of the Mythgard Institute:
@LOTROnPrime had me and @tolkienprof to London last week to see bits of the #RingsofPower, Tolkien’s Oxford, & to meet the show runners, who kept up with the best of us. Their passion & knowledge made me feel like they were one of us;they get it. I’m feeling very optimistic! pic.twitter.com/dBWq3x4v9w
The top Brazilian LOTR fan group (who I am so excited to have met, thanks to this opportunity!) wrote, “The wisdom and depth of the entire team in Tolkien’s work is something never seen before.”
Na última semana fomos à uma jornada épica. A Amazon nos levou para Londres e Oxford, onde assistimos cenas de #OsAneisdePoder e tivemos a honra de conversar com os showrunners. Foi surreal e espetacular. É a maior série de todos os tempos.@LOTRonPrime#LOTRROP#RingsOfPower
Still don’t believe the hype? Here are further respected voices from the Tolkien community, for you to peruse:
Alan and Shawn were invited to London by Amazon Prime Video to view a sneak peek of footage from The Rings of Power, and to meet the showrunners! We can say that we have moved from 'cautious optimism' to 'restrained anticipation', and are looking forward to telling you more!
— The Prancing Pony Podcast (@prancingponypod) May 9, 2022
Amigos! Debéis saber que la semana pasada fui invitado por Amazon a Londres, donde pude ver algunas escenas en exclusiva de @LOTRonPrime y pude conocer a los dos showrunners de la serie. No tengo permiso para entrar en detalles sobre lo que vi o escuché, pero debéis saber que…
And finally, to everyone’s – and perhaps no one’s! – surprise, the #1 leaker of things and Bezos’s bane against secrecy, Fellowship of Fans was invited to see and share what real finished footage looks like (instead of grainy cell phone pics).
Amazon invited me to an event in London where I saw footage from the show and got to meet the showrunners. The showrunners were excellent and their passion filled me with confidence and time will tell whether that will be translated onto the screen!…
— Fellowship of Fans (@FellowshipFans) May 9, 2022
Big thanks to Varking on reddit for assembling everyone’s takes and being there in person with his own perspective! And thanks to all of the merry company, with whom we had such a great time, and whose opinions are always worth hearing. Find many of the folks from this post around our Discord, where more conversation is happening. discord.gg/theonering You can also join us tonight, 5pm PT for TORn Tuesday, when we’ll have some of these folks as our special guests. And before that, you may want to check out Corey Olsen and Maggie Parke at Other Minds and Hands, as they discuss last week’s events in their livestream (1pm PT).
The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, a 5-season adaptation of tales from Tolkien’s Second Age, comes to Amazon Prime Video on September 2 this year.
