Updates for Aug. 30, 2002

News kind of slow on the site? Well, no, because our news staff are doing a fantastic job of manning the news side of things while the rest of the TORN Powers that Be are whooping it up at that Mecca for all things fantastic and science fictional known as DragonCon, along with chatroom queen Jincey, Corvar's Other Brain called Andy, Asfaloth who did so much to make the TORN Oscars party a success, and Saulone from our community site There and Back Again.

The convention seems to be dominating two gigantic hotels in central Atlanta - the Hyatt and the Marriot Marquis. These places have a feverishly neo-neo architecture that suits the SF stream perfectly, though it's less suited to fantasy. Tonight it's just a chaos of people checking in and setting up, some of them dressed as storm troopers. We've already met a great Arwen look-alike in full costume, though, and we hope to see more Tolkien-inspired costumes during the course of the convention.

Tomorrow the real work starts and for most of the weekend we'll be meeting and greeting Tolkien fans as well as making our own presentations. There's a gigantic pile of books, toys and TORN cards and bookmarks (designed by the fans!) taking up a lot of space in our hotel rooms - by Monday it'll be gone.

Til then we're just getting over our long flights by hanging out at the bar, admiring the people (at conventions like this you tend to look at people's t-shirts before their faces, to check out if they'll have some slogan that tells you what KIND of a fan they are) and enjoying Calisuri's karaoke.

Look for our next report as the festivities continue tomorrow!

I'm sure everyone's heard by now that America's largest FAN-run sci-fi/fantasy convention, is once again descending upon Atlanta, GA this weekend (Fri Aug 29 - Mon Sept 2)! Here's a brief line-up of the JRR Tolkien: Welcome to Middle-earth fan track to be held in the Greenbriar Room at the Atlanta Hyatt Regency: [More]

For the third year we are pleased to announce we will be having a Glass Hammer presence. This year Steve Babb joins us to talk about how Tolkien has influenced his life as an artist. Steve is the bassist \ vocalist \ keyboardist for Glass Hammer, and writes the majority of the group's lyrics. Steve will present Glass Hammer's latest videos: "The Way To Her Heart" and "Mirkwood". [More]

What did the swords, armour, and other fighting equipment of Middle Earth really look like? The object of this session is to explore this topic by referring to the extensive descriptions that Tolkien gave in his many Middle-earth writings. Those attending will get to see and touch a selection of Middle-earth arms & armour reconstructions hand made by Joe Piela, master metalsmith and historical reenactor. He will bring items such as helms, mail coats, swords, axes, bows, and shields, made at [The Lonely Mountain Forge], for this presentation. (Saturday, 8/31 5:30 pm and Sunday, 9/1 10 am)

The webmasters of [theonering.net] and [thereandbackagain.net] discuss creating and promoting Tolkien websites. They'll touch upon what the online Tolkien community is like, and how being Tolkien webmasters has touched their lives. (Friday, Aug 30, 4 pm) [Schedule]

Ok folks, let's face it ; ) There are a lot of serious gamers out there! There has also been a serious dearth of LOTR inspired games for many years. Now that The Fellowship of the Ring is out, we've been treated to many new games in several genres. In light of all the enthusiasm out there, we've asked several folks in to give us the latest information on their games: what they are, how they are played, what kind of tournament action is available, collector's information, and perhaps even some demonstrations and tips. We hope you'll drop by one of our gaming sessions and see what exciting new games are out there. [More]

Barliman is throwing a party at his famous Prancing Pony in the village of Bree and YOU'RE invited! Food, good cheer, live music, and Middle Earth giveaways are on the menu for the evening of August 30th at Dragon*Con! There will be a costume contest with 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes of Sideshow-WETA Lord of the Rings Polystone Figures! Random drawings will be made throughout the evening for Glasshammer CDs, Decipher LOTR RPG and TCG Starter Sets, a LOTR DVD, and other REALLY nice Middle Earth treasures!

So, take the Great East Road to Bree at DragonCon and join us at The Prancing Pony for Barliman's own EVENING IN BREE! (Psst...if you come in costume, you will get TWO tickets for the random drawings!)

Welcome to Tolkien's Middle-earth! We've got a fantastic schedule of events lined up this year and hope you'll drop by to visit. We are welcoming back the founders of TheOneRing.net and our Elvish lingustics experts, as well as introducing many new sessions, including one about the new ballet based upon the story of Beren and Luthien. We'll be posting more information on the specific sessions as soon as possible. Up-to-date schedule information for this programming track can be found [here].

To borrow a term from TheOneRing.net, this track is forged by fans for fans. We'd not be able to do it without you! If you have suggestions for a panel topic or programming event that you'd like to see at the track, or would like to participate in one of the panels, we want to hear from you. Just e-mail Jincey with your thoughts.