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November 22, 2001 - December 01, 2001

Saturday, December 01, 2001
And The Winner Is.... - Xoanon @ 20:57 PST
FAN CLUB TRIP TO LONDON PREMIERE IS A DREAM COME TRUE FOR BRITISH COLUMBIA WINNER

(NORFOLK, Va. November 27, 2001) Tomi M. Inkinen and his wife Sarah Bradley of Surrey, British Columbia, will soon be on their way to London for the highly-anticipated world premiere of The Fellowship of The Ring on December 10, 2001. Inkinen was randomly selected from more than 20,000 fans who entered Decipher¹s Lord of the Rings Fan Club London Premiere Sweepstakes at LOTRfanclub.com. Sweepstakes entries were collected between October 17 and November 15, 2001.

'I never thought this would happen,² said Inkinen, who first read The Lord of the Rings in 1980. 'I've read the entire trilogy at least 15 times % most recently this fall, in anticipation of the film." Mr. Inkinen is a passionate Tolkien fan and book collector. His book collection includes a hard-to-find first edition copy of The Road Goes Ever On.

Sarah Bradley, Inkinen¹s wife, is also excited about the trip. 'We have talked about going to England forever,' says Bradley. 'For Tomi to get to go to England and to see the world premiere of this film, it¹s the ultimate dream vacation.'

The Lord of the Rings Fan Club launched on October 17, 2001, with an unprecedented charter membership program on LOTRfanclub.com. Charter members receive an annual subscription to the bimonthly movie magazine; a limited-edition, widescreen-format collector's lithograph (featuring scenes from The Fellowship of the Ring); a 10% discount at the Fan Club's online store and catalog; preference (two weeks before general public) in purchasing exclusive, limited-edition collectibles; fan mail service to link fans directly to the stars of the trilogy; plus only charter members will have the honor of seeing their names in the credits of the movie DVDs.

To sign up, fans can visit LOTRfanclub.com, go to the official Lord of the Rings web site at lordoftherings.net and click on Fan Club, or call 1-800-451-6381 (North America only) or 303-856-2201 (from anywhere in the world) between the hours of 9 a.m. and 6 p.m. MST.

Wednesday, November 28, 2001
Chalk Farm Gallery Student Art Contest - Xoanon @ 23:08 PST
Art competition for students ages 6-11 and 12-18

Santa Fe schools are invited to ask their students to submit a piece of artwork depicting their favorite Tolkien character or scene.

Renowned Tolkien artists TED NASMITH and ED BEARD will be showing their work at Chalk Farm Gallery in Santa Fe from December 2nd to January 31st and will be available to judge the competition on Sunday December 2nd, 2001. During the opening, Ted Nasmith will team up with Casper Reiff of “The Tolkien Ensemble” to present a collection of songs inspired by the author. The Gallery shall also present a prize for the BEST TOLKIEN COSTUME. We invite everyone to dress up as their favorite Tolkien character. Hobbits, Wizards, Elves, Lords and Ladies… all are welcome.

Up to six pieces of artwork will be chosen from each school to be entered into the final competition. (3 pieces from each age group). The chosen artists will be exhibited at Chalk Farm Gallery alongside Ted Nasmith and Ed Beard at the opening reception on Sunday 2nd December 3pm – 7pm.

Chalk Farm Gallery, 149 East Alameda, Santa Fe, NM 87501
Phone: 505 983-7125 Fax: 505 983-7128
www.chalkfarmgallery.com

The winners from each age group will receive the following prizes:

First Prize:
The new Hobbit Game
The new Tolkien Calendar
The set of “Lord of the Rings” books
An artist’s collection of pens, markers and pencils.
Two tickets to see the film “The Fellowship of the Ring”

Second Prize:
Set of “Lord of the Rings books”
Two tickets to see the film “The Fellowship of the Ring”

Third Prize:
Set of “Lord of the Rings” books
The Tolkien Calendar

All winners will have their work professionally framed as part of the prize.

All students who submit work that is chosen for exhibit will get a free poster of The Lord of the Rings signed by Ted Nasmith and/or Ed Beard.

The size of the artwork must be no larger than 20” x 24”. The artwork can be drawn or painted in the student’s favorite medium. Sculpture will also be considered!

Submit all entries to the gallery. Please telephone if you require assistance.

All entries must be submitted by December 1st.
“the fantastic world of myths and Legends”

Entry Form

Please fill out this form and attach it to the back of your artwork when you hand it in to your teacher. Thank you!

Name of your School:_____________________________________

Your Name:__________________________________

Your Age:____________________________________

Grade:____

Your Phone Number:___________________________

Your Address:_________________________________

Title of your artwork:____________________________

Medium:______________________________________

If you have any questions about this competition, please call Angela or Suhana at Chalk Farm Gallery. 505 983-7125.

NYC Fan Event, Tonight! - Xoanon @ 12:57 PST
This was sent in by line party member Zorina, who wanted to extend an invitation to all of you to attend. Apparently the event is free, but you'll need to get there early to get a seat! First come, first served.

On Wednesday, November 28, 2001 at 8:00pm

The National Arts Club presents: A Celebration of J.R.R. Tolkien's: The Lord of the Rings

With

Dr. Edward James, Professor of Medieval History at the University of Reading (England) who will discuss Tolkien and the Middle Ages

Dr. Patrice Hannon, Writer and Member of the NAC Literary Committee who will discuss The Lord of the Rings as Elegy

Dr. Michael Stanton, Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Vermont reading from his new book Hobbits, Elves and Wizards

The National Arts Club
15 Gramercy Park South
New York City, NY
Seating is limited

Charity Screening of LOTR in Australia - Xoanon @ 08:37 PST
From: Wil

There are seats available to purchase for the Australian premiere of LOTR. They are for charity and a great cause - The Addiction Treatment Service in Surry Hills in Sydney there they treat drug addiction. Tickets are $200 each. I do not speak for the charity that is organising it, I have just purchased tickets and know there are some more available that should be sold.

In case you have not heard about the Australian premiere its on 21st of December 5 days before it opens here on the 26th. It will be at Fox Studios and apparently 5 of the cast will be there. Only 2 have been named being Elijah Wood and Hugo Weaving - I would say its the same people going to the New Zealand premiere as it is not far to travel to Sydney from there. To get tickets the number for the Addiction Treatment Service is (02) 9699 3311.

Tuesday, November 27, 2001
Swedish LOTR Contest - Xoanon @ 18:24 PST
From: Tangelian Proudfoot

Just wanted to tell you, the Swedish radio station MixMegapol has a riddle-competition running. The first prize is no less than a full-paid journey (from Stockholm) and tickets for two to London and the FOTR-premiere on Dec 10! The competition is open until Dec 7, and they have new riddles every day, so you have several chances to enter! (Only for Swedish citizens, and all pages are in Swedish).

Monday, November 26, 2001
Ice Sculpture Exhibit In Toronto - Xoanon @ 22:11 PST
From: Denial_Girl

I was watching TVO last night, not really listening to this bit when they announce special events, but to my surprise the announcer suddenly stood in front of an LOTR poster and said that the annual Christmas Designs in Ice ice sculpture exhibit at Nathan Phillips Square in Toronto will have a Lord of the Rings theme this year! I did a little research, and found all the information about it here

Here's a little excerpt:

"Thursday, December 27 and Friday, December 28, 2001

A thrilling 19-year Toronto tradition, Designs in Ice presented by Scotiabank celebrates the art of ice carving and features some of the most skilled carvers in Ontario! Competitors are given two days to transform huge blocks of ice into inspired winter works of art, as crowds of spectators watch in amazement.

An icy theme The magical world created by J.R.R. Tolkien in his epic trilogy The Lord Of The Rings shapes the theme for this year's ice sculptures. His timeless story of adventure, unforgettable heroes, acts of courage and an enchanted world inhabited by hobbits, elves, dwarves, wizards, trolls and orcs has ignited imaginations and made dreamers of millions around the world. And now the legend is finally being brought to life on the motion picture screen by Alliance Atlantis and New Line Cinema."

Fan Event In NYC - Xoanon @ 21:42 PST
zorina writes:

On Wednesday, November 28, 2001 at 8:00pm The National Arts Club presents: A Celebration of J.R.R. Tolkien's: The Lord of the Rings

With

Dr. Edward James, Professor of Medieval History at the University of Reading (England) who will discuss Tolkien and the Middle Ages

Dr. Patrice Hannon, Writer and Member of the NAC Literary Committee who will discuss The Lord of the Rings as Elegy

Dr. Michael Stanton, Professor Emeritus of English at the University of Vermont reading from his new book Hobbits, Elves and Wizards

The National Arts Club

15 Gramercy Park South
New York City, NY
National Arts Club... 212 - 475 - 3424

A Star Shines Upon the Hour of Our Meeting - Xoanon @ 13:19 PST
Spy report on the National Air and Space Museum's Monthly Star Lecture: 11-24

Inspired by the blurb on TOR.N's front page, I fire up the "Ford of Bruinen" (classic 1976 truck), leaving behind the mirky woods of southcentral Pennsylvania and the Hobbitish horse-drawn ploughs of Amish Country. No fierce blizzards of Caradhras to turn me back, only the tangled urban web of Silver Spring, Maryland, which sends me backtracking on the beltway, past the gleaming white towers of...Minas Tirith?, no just the Morman Tabernacle (graffitti once adorned an overpass framing the approach to it: "surrender Dorothy"). I descend into the dark tunnels of the Metro Rail (is that Moria spelled sideways?) into Washington D.C. There is little sign of the "Dark Lord's attack" of Sept.11, only a giant crane rearing on the horizon, (somewhere near the Pentagon?) and swift and efficient bag checks at all the museum entrances. (...but the Lady of Lothlorien herself gave me this pepper mace...)

I meet strange beasts; (titanothere, moasaur, chalicothere), succumb to the sea-longing (the "Ancient Seas" exhibit in Natural History is awesome), visit the glittering caves (Natural History's Gem and Mineral Hall) for which only Gimli would have adequate words. Hear a dozen different languages and accents. I touch the moon (the moon rock is still on display in Air and Space) and a piece of Middle Earth (BIG green rock from New Zealand).

About five-thirty the guards have herded nearly all the tourists out the doors. The rest of us ( a couple of dozen folks ranging from teachers to physicists to a lady who asks if stars are suns too) have found our way to the information booth in Air and Space, waiting to be ushered to the Albert Einstein Planetarium. We lurk under the wings of the Wright Brothers Flyer and Amelia Earhart's bright red Lockheed Vega. "Is this where the lecture meets?" I ask a likely looking Hobbit. She replies yes, and I learn it is her brother who's doing the lecture.

He is Sean O'Brian, staff astronomer for the Air and Space Museum. He's tall, scholarly and bespectacled, rather like a wizard in training. His parents are there with his sister, and they tell me he built his own telescope when he was a teen.

He opens with a letter from JRR Tolkien to Christopher, talking about the origins of Middle Earth, how it grew from the languages: how Tolkien wanted to create a world where a standard greeting would be "elen sila lumen omentielvo", a language that would be pleasing to his own aesthetic.

Sean goes on with readings from the Hobbit, LOTR and the Silmarillion, to illustrate how Tolkien's knowledge and love of astronomy and the night sky roots Middle Earth in reality. Tolkien has taken the time to be familiar with the natural world; he knew a lot about a great many different things, trees or stars or horses, and all of it enriches Middle Earth. (He also rewrote great chunks of the story because he'd got the moon phases or other astronomical data out of whack.)

We start with the scene in the hobbit where the sinking sun, followed by a sliver of moon, illuminates the secret door under the Lonely Mountain. (A lesser author would have put the moon in the wrong place or the wrong phase). We find familiar stars in the Middle Earth sky: Menelvagor (or Menelmacar) is Orion; Remirath, the netted stars, the Pleiades or seven sisters; the sickle rising above Bree Hill is the dipper (or the plough, or Charles' Wagon in Europe, Fisher (as in a largeish tree-climbing, porcupine-eating mustelid) in native north America); Borgil, the red star could be Mars, or Aldebaran (up from Orion's belt); the icy blue of Helluin is Sirius, the dog star.

This may be the first time Elvish has been spoken in the National Air and Space Museum...

The third brightest object in the sky is Venus...the Evenstar. (Venus, Goddess of Luuuuuv...Is this appropriate or what, for Aragorn's Significant Other?) In Tolkien's mythos, the good guys come from the west, the bad guys come from the east, so it HAD to be an evenstar. (In the fall, planet Venus is actually a morning star.)

We are in a planetarium, so we can see how the sky would have looked to the Valar, before Varda drew the dews from Telperion and filled the heavens with stars. We can see how the sky looked to the Firstborn awakening. Or how the sky looks in the Shire (no light pollution). Or to Strider the Wanderer, when he traveled far south "where even the stars are strange".

We are treated to an impromptu meteor shower: "Chewie, lock in the hyperdrive!"

We see how the changing sky helps track time through the books. Or how the unchanging sky illuminates the timelessness of places like Lothlorien; Sean reads favorite bits from the books. "The Moon's the same in the Shire and in Wilderland, or it ought to be. But either it's out of its running, or I'm all wrong in my reckoning." (Sam) "Nay, time does not tarry ever. But change and growth is not in all things and places alike." (Legolas)

Those of us in the northeast of the U.S. forget how far south we actually are until a program like this one points out the latitudes and shape of the night sky in the lands of Middle Earth (like England, it's waaaay farther north). From Hobbiton to Rivendell, the stars remain constant, because the travelers are on the same latitude. From there "the ring goes south" and minas Tirith would have the same stars as Florence Italy. We wonder whether Strider ever saw the southern cross. We see it, and all the rest, in a few minutes; and we don't have to walk the whole way.

Near the end of LOTR, Sam and Frodo are wondering about what kind of tale they are in; and Sam realizes they are in the same tale begun with the light of Earendil's star, which they still carry in the phial of Galadriel. The stars themselves are an integral part of the structure, the myth, the history, the landscape of Middle Earth.

"Applicability not allegory", Sean O'Brain tells us. Tolkien hated allegory. He built his world as complex and rich and real as the night sky.

Saturday, November 24, 2001
De Morgen Tolkien Week Contest - Strider @ 12:59 PST
From SamFan:

I just bought the Belgian newspaper "De Morgen" and can give you a lot more details on the big Belgian Tolkien contest etc. It's not just a one day contest, it's a whole Tolkien week in "De Morgen"! Every day (starting with today (Saturday) and ending next Friday) there will be a whole page-long article about the Lord Of The Rings and Tolkien! Part One today is all about what the magic is behind Tolkien's work. Part Two on Monday is Tolkien's biography. And then there's the contest! Every day you'll have to answer three multiple choice questions about LOTR (example from today: "What weapon does Legolas use?") and call a telephone number where you pass your answers. The person who gets the most questions right at the end of the week will win a two week holiday to New Zealand for two persons (worth 133.000 Belgian francs or $2955.5)!!! You get to choose yourself which places you want to visit, so you can visit all the locations for the LOTR movie! Other prizes are LOTR hats, T-shirts, posters, keyrings, books and soundtracks! If there's more than one person with the highest score an innocent hand will pick the winner. So all Belgian Tolkien fans, be sure to buy De Morgen every day next week !

Friday, November 23, 2001
Irish Premiere! - Tehanu @ 16:22 PST
Hi Guys,
Just thought you'd like to know. The Irish Gala Premiere is being held in the Savoy Cinema, Dublin on the 18th of December. Tickets are in aid of the Arthritis foundation and are available in two varieties.

The full ticket is £125 and includes drinks and a meal afterwards in Jury's Hotel.

The Cinema Only tickets are £35.

They claim that they are guaranteed some Star Appearances and that there will be some goodies on the night. They had originally said that it would be on the 10th so you can imagine my excitement! However, it turns out that there was some mix-up so it has had to be moved back to the 18th.

Thanks to Alatar for that!


Thursday, November 22, 2001
LOTR Contest In Montreal - Xoanon @ 22:33 PST
From: Kris

This morning when I woke I heard on the radio an ad for an LOTR contest the Gazette is having here in Montreal. It said you can enter and win a pair of tickets to the to see the movie and a chance to win an expensive gold ring (not a one ring replica but a ring).

Here is a scan of the ad in the Gazette, the rules stipulate that you can print this out and send it in to:

LOTR/The Gazette P.O. Box 11059, Succ. Centre-Ville, Montreal, QC H3C 4Z6

So print this thing out and send it in! (quebec residents only)

Big Tolkien Contest in Belgium - Xoanon @ 22:03 PST
From: Sara DT

Tonight I heard on the Belgian radio Studio Brussel an advertisement from the national Belgian newspaper "De Morgen". They are holding a big Tolkien contest in Saturday's edition of the newspaper. You've got to answer some questions (I don't exactly know what sort of questions) and then you have the chance to win a two week holiday to New Zealand!!

The Hobbit stage play with Brian Sibley - Xoanon @ 10:16 PST
Ellie writes: I went and saw Brian Sibley's theatre group the Lansbury Players' version of the Hobbit last Saturday at the tiny little Emery Theatre in London. He signed his book for me and I got these marvellous photos, thought you might like a copy. He was exceedingly generous with his time and the play was a lovely performance.


Booking your LOTR ticket: Bargains and deals - Tehanu @ 05:44 PST
LOTR fans in Pennsylvania might want to check out Peregrin T's lineparty. If 200 people get together there, it'll cost just $4.50! [More]
Also a message from Steve: "Radio Times Magazine in the UK is running a competion in next week's issue to win the use of a cinema for a night for a private screening of FOTR and as many friends as can fit in." Or, says Muttley, you can book a normal ticket at WarnerBrothersUK Meanwhile still in the UK the Odeon chain offers, "if you pre-book, you get entered in a competition to win tickets to the premiere in London," according to Anthony.


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