After lying dormant like Mount Doom for 40 years, the Third Conference On Middle-earth (C.O.M.E.) returns on March 25-26, 2011.

The weekend devoted to J.R.R. Tolkien and his works such as “The Hobbit” and “The Lord of the Rings” includes papers, panels, a party, banquet, and a film screening. C.O.M.E. takes place at the Westford Regency Inn & Conference Center in Westford, Massachusetts (USA), about 40 minutes northwest of Boston.

“It’s too long since I chaired the First and Second Conferences on Middle-earth,” said Peregrin Took II (aka Jan Howard Finder), who helped organize the first two gatherings. The first conference took place in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois at the University of Illinois in 1969; the second, in 1971, was held in Cleveland, Ohio. Continue reading “After 40 years in hibernation, Tolkien Conference Returns”

TheOneRing.net will be at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) in Seattle next month! The awesome folks from WB Games have invited me to hang out at their booth all weekend! Warner Bros. games are making several LOTR themed games including ‘The War in the North’, be sure to check out their website! PAX Prime runs from September 2nd to 5th in downtown Seattle.

If you are attending PAX please drop on by to say ‘Hi!’, if you aren’t attending PAX but are in the area drop me a line, I’d love to hook up with some Ringers while I’m out west!

Bilbo Baggins

Ringer Cherie sent in this beautiful picture of her 17 week old puppy, Bilbo Baggins (a Corgi), and it got us thinking. We’ve never asked the fans worldwide to submit their pictures of pets named after Tolkien related characters. We know there are a lot of you out there with pictures, so let’s share them with all of Tolkien fandom!

Here are two ways to participate:

  1. Forums – Click on the ‘Discuss‘ link associated with this post and you will magically transported to our forum where you can submit a reply with your pet picture(s).
  2. Use Flickr – Post your picture in our ‘Tolkien Pet Gallery‘ on Flickr. We’ve made it a public group, so as long as you have a Flickr account, you should be able to participate.

Feel free to post in one or both places – whatever is easiest for you! We’d love to see your pictures and we will occasionally be featuring your pets right here on TORn’s homepage! Oh, and if there are any Tolkien related businesses out there that want to share some prizes for the folks who participate, drop us an email! [Discuss] [Flickr Gallery]

Update: for those of you new to posting on our message boards, no less uploading pictures, there’s an excellent tutorial at the TORn Image Guide (by board member Magpie) and/or you can email Altaira@theonering.net for help.

It’s here! KING KONG 360 3-D opens TODAY at Universal Studios Hollywood! To launch the highly-anticipated, next-generation attraction featuring the famed 25’ tall gorilla, Hollywood stars, and TORn’s very own Quickbeam, gathered at the premiere to be the first visitors to take the ride. Peter Jackson, appeared 3-D via an enormous HD flat screen monitor to introduce the ground-breaking 3D technology that is employed in the new attraction. Check out TheOneRing.net’s unfettered access to the attraction, the park and the folks on the red carpet!

And if you are in Los Angeles soon, don’t forget to take the Universal Studios backlot tour to see KING KONG 3-D for yourself! [Learn More]

An annual Tolkien-inspired Art Exhibition, held at The Redesdale Hall, Moreton-in-Marsh, Glos will, for the first time, feature an original Tolkien drawing from 1911.

It is the first public showing of the Original drawing of “Lamb’s Farm, Gedling” drawn by JRR Tolkien in 1911, and is significant because it shows an early version of the famous JRRT monogram, and also because it was in this location, inspired by a line from Crist by the Anglo-Saxon poet Cynewulf, that Tolkien later wrote a poem of his own, The Voyage of Earendil the Evening Star. From this small beginning, in the buildings shown in this picture, his epic “Silmarillion” began, that grew and eventually led over time to the creation of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Continue reading “Unseen Original Tolkien Artwork Exhibit”

From ADC Publications: Renowned Tolkien Artist, Ted Nasmith, has just sent us three new images ready for our August 2010 Exhibition and we can now unveil these latest Original artwork’s and make them available to the public prior to our FREE ENTRY “Edge of the Wild” Middle-earth Art Exhibition in August. ( 13-16 Aug at The Redesdale Hall, Moreton-in-Marsh, Glos, UK) Continue reading “Ted Nasmith Art for Sale at ‘Edge of the Wild’”