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June 09, 2004 - October 07, 2004

Thursday, October 07, 2004
More Sean Astin Book Tour Dates - Xoanon @ 13:32 PST
The folks from St. Martin's Press send along more information on Sean Astin's book tour. The November dates are still tentative, depending on Sean's filming schedule, but all of the events for next week are accurate and confirmed.

10/13/2004 New York City (Union Square Barnes and Noble, 7:00pm)
10/14/2004 Huntington, Long Island (Book Revue, 8:00pm)

NOTE: Some final information on the Sean Astin book signing at Book Revue in Huntington, Long Island! Due to time constraints and his desire to get to see as many of his fans as possible, Sean Astin will not be speaking prior to his signing (which starts at 8:00 PM). The staff also asks you not bring any memorabilia for him to sign, as this will slow down the line considerably. We are expecting a huge crowd, so get there early!

10/16/2004 Boston (Boston Museum of Science, 10:00am)
10/17/2004 Chicago (Borders Books and Music, 2:00pm)

11/18/2004 Los Angeles (Location TBD)
11/19/2004 San Francisco (A Clean Well Lighted Place for Books, 7:00pm)
11/21/2004 Washington, DC (Olsson's Books, 4:00pm)
11/22/2004 Philadelphia (Friends Select School -sponsored by Joseph Fox Books, 7:00pm)
11/23/2004 Minneapolis (Barnes and Noble - Mall of America store, time tba)
11/29/2004 London, England (Forbidden Planet Megastore, 1:00pm)

Tuesday, October 05, 2004
Giving Something Back in Fellowship - Xoanon @ 13:55 PST
Altaira, a TORN-sib from the TORN discussion boards writes: Andy Tookey, of GiveLife.org, sent his thanks recently for the donation of over $900.00 US to the New Zealand based organ donor program, Peter Jackson's favorite charity.

The donation was the result of a fundraising effort that began on the TORN discussion boards with the goal of planting eleven trees in honor of the nine members of the Fellowship of the Ring, PJ and J.R.R Tolkien, and in homage to the eleven Oscar wins of The Return of the King. The trees were successfully planted in Wellington, NZ on September 2. The fundraising effort was so successful, over $900.00 US extra was raised which was donated to GiveLife.org on September 22.

His letter is below:

"Sorry for the delay in replying, I had been away at a conference then on holiday, then sick, then computer broke!

I am very grateful for the donations and indeed for all the moral support as well that has been extended by everyone at the Onering.net.

The donations have enabled me to make great progress in not only organ donor awareness but in getting much needed changes to the system. If you visit the 'latest news' page of our website you will see the amount of progress we have made, this we couldn't have done without the financial generosity of in particular the fans at Onering.net who have been by far the most supportive and generous. It is humbling that so many of your fans have never been to this country but are prepared to help so much in our quest to save lives.

There are many charities/causes that people can forever donate to and still not see the benefits. In our case the benefits of the donations have been so overwhelming, productive and successful that I may even be able to wind down this cause next year if things continue on this path with 'mission accomplished'.

There will still always be work to be done to keep the momentum and awareness going but I hope to be able to do that with the minimal amount of funding in the future.

I contacted Peter (Jackson) & Fran yesterday and hope he will be able to do a worldwide press release on the subject soon, including a public thank you to Onering.net and it's supporters as he is well aware of what you have done to support this issue.

Please pass on my grateful thanks to everyone at Onering.net as they really are 'lifesavers'

Kind Regards
Andy Tookey
GiveLife NZ"

Friday, September 17, 2004
Tolkien Convention in Argentina - Tehanu @ 19:31 PST
Aiya, Tolkiendili!

The A.T.A (Asociación Tolkien Argentina) is proud to announce its 5th Annual Tolkien Convention; this time dubbed "Tolkien Latino 2004 – West of the Moon, East of the Sun" and the first one to be hosting members of all Latin American Tolkien Societies and to welcome members of all international Tolkiendili communities. [More]

This year will also be special because the Convention will be taking place in the prestigious Centro Cultural General San Martin, in downtown Buenos Aires.
The dates are October 9th and 10th (11 a.m. to 9 p.m.) and all the usual activities will be presented to the A.T.A. associates and the general public, including varied workshops (weaponry, mail shirts, brewery, cooking, costume and clothing, fencing, etc.) lectures, open discussions on the books and the movies, art gallery, rest area with Middle earth specialities, live music shows, staging of plays, card and board and role playing games and a market fair. On a specially high note, argentine fantasy author Liliana Bodoc will be presenting the first book of her new saga in a special conference.

This time around, a special commission has been formed in order to attend to the inquiries and needs of all potential foreign visitors and help them organize a possible trip to the country taking care of travel and accomodation issues and reassuring the warmest welcome and assistance throughout the entire time of their stay, so they might be able to visit other parts of Argentina before or after the Convention. Also, artists from abroad who would like to exhibit their works are most welcome to do so.

It will be a very special occasion to bond and intertwine with Tolkiendili from different cultures.

For further information and any inquiries, please write to Silvana (Loth'riel Eótheod) to the following address:
tolkien2004@tolkien.org.ar

Thank you for sharing the Tolkien passion!

Asociación Tolkien Argentina
Comisión de Recursos Institucionales.
Buenos Aires, September 2004

Thursday, September 02, 2004
TORN Trees Planted in NZ - Xoanon @ 09:18 PST
Altaira writes: At this very moment, eleven trees are being planted oh behalf of TORN in Wellington, NZ: nine for the Fellowship, one for PJ and one for Tolkien (not to mention the 11 Oscars connection)!

The grass-roots fundraiser was started on the discussion boards and thanks to ads on the Home Page, raised enough for the trees AND over $800 US for PJ's favorite charity - an organ donation program in NZ.

Please join our celebration on Main as we celebrate the tree-planting, and honor The Professor, who passed away 31 year ago on the very anniversary of the tree planting (it's the 2nd in NZ, btw. ;-))

Thursday, July 29, 2004
Top 50 people in Tolkien history list compiled in honor of 50th anniversary - Gamgee @ 20:14 PST
These entries may not be in the exact order you feel they ought to be in, so PLEASE do not email me telling me what a horrid person I am. :)
TOP 50 PEOPLE IN TOLKIEN HISTORY

Important People

1) Peter Jackson/Fran Walsh - Their fabulous job with the recent films brought millions of people to the books.
2) C.S. Lewis - Tolkien likely wouldn't have published without his friendship and constant encouragement
3) Mabel Tolkien - His mother. The source of his inspiration to become learned in the ways of language without which, he might not have ever started writing.
4) Rob Gilson - School friend and member of TCBS (Tea Club and Barrovian Society): quote: I am a wild and whole-hearted admirer, and my chief consolation is, that if I am scuppered tonight there will still be left a great member of the TCBS to voice what I dreamed and what we all agreed upon. For the death of one of its members cannot, I am determined, dissolve the TCBS. Six months later he was dead.
5) G.B. Smith - School friend & member of TCBS
6) Christopher Wiseman - School friends & member of TCBS
7) Edith Bratt - His wife, his Luthien. She wrote down and saved many of his earlier notes and inspired many of his stories and greatest characters.
8) Rayner Unwin - His publisher's son, who gave wholehearted approval of unpublished The Hobbit to his father. Tolkien relied on his comments and editing for many, many years.
9) Stanley Unwin - His publisher. He tried The Hobbi out on his 10-year old son Rayner, who wrote an approving report, and it was published as The Hobbit in 1937.
10) Christopher Tolkien - His son who drew all the maps for LOTR and who published The Silmariilion, Unfinished Tales and The History of Middle Earth series posthumously.
11) W.H. Auden - He stood up for LotR at a time when no other critics would.
12) Peter S. Beagle - Author of The Last Unicorn, and several other fine novels. Penned a beautiful foreword to LotR
13) Alan Lee - Tolkien artist and illustrator and creative consultant on LOTR Movies
14) John Howe - Tolkien artist and illustrator and creative consultant on LOTR Movies.
15) Gary Gygax - Popularized Elves, Wizards, Dwarves, and Halflings among generations of boys with disposable income.
16) Tom Shippey - Author of "J.R.R. Tolkien, Author of the Century"
17) Ralph Bakshi - Was the first to attempt to bring LotR to the silver screen.
18) The cast and crew of PJ's LotR films.
19) Susan Dagnall - An employee of the publishing firm of George Allen and Unwin. In 1936 an incomplete typescript of The Hobbit came into ger hands. She asked Tolkien to finish it, and presented the complete story to Stanley Unwin.
20) Saul Zaentz - Owner of Tolkien Enterprises and the prime mover behind the commercialization of LotR.
21) Readers & Fans - Millions and millions of people, young and old, who have embraced LOTR and made it part of their lives.
22) Arthur Rankin/Jules Bass - Brought "The Hobbit" and "The Return of the King" to viewers via made for tv animated films..
23) E.V. Gordon - Collaborated with Tolkien on an edition of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, a mediæval English text. Gordon was also Tolkien's colleague at Leeds and a good friend until his (early and sudden) death.
24) Michael Drout - One of the leading forces in "legitimizing" Tolkien scholarship.
25) Father Francis Morgan - Who raised him, and who seems to have exerted a fairly profound influence on his personality.
26) Pauline Baynes - The illustrator of the original Hobbit. She seems to be the only person Tolkien trusted to illustrate his tales faithfully.
27) The Inklings - Provided friendship, encouragement and, yes, Fellowship that kept Tolkien going with his stories.
28) The governing body of Merton College - Gave Tolkien a home after his wife died.
29) The anonymous student... - ...who left the blank examination page on which Tolkien wrote the first line of The Hobbit.
30) Owen Barfield - the author of his biography as well as Flieger point out was a huge influence on how Tolkien conceptualized the power of language.
31) David Salo - Expert in, and proponent of, Tokien's languages
32) His children: John, Michael, Priscilla and Christopher! - After all, Tolkien started telling stories to his children, and we might never have had The Hobbit or LotR if Tolkien hadn't had children.
33) Robert Plant - Plant referenced Tolkien in his lyrics several times - bringing new readers into the fold whilst also simultaneously "rocking out" (in the parlance of our times). A most difficult balancing act.
34) Brothers Hildebrandt - Tolkien artists and illustrators
35) Ted Nasmith - Tolkien artist and illustrator
36) New Line Cinema - For being the only ones to believe in Peter's vision.
37) Howard Shore - Brought Lord of the Rings to life with his beautiful score.
38) Voice Talent of both Bakshi's and Rankin Bass' productions, these include Peter Woodthorpe, Brother Theodore, John Huston, Otto Preminger, Orson Bean, John Hurt, Christopher Guard and scores of others.
39) E. Lonnrot - Compiled Finnish legends and stories into the anthology that became known as the "Kalevala"--known to be a major influence on Tolkien.
40) Karen Fonstad - Author of 'The Atlas of Middle Earth' who helped us understand what Helm's Deep looked like and where Valinor really was.
41) Humphrey Carpenter - Tolkien biographer and editor of 'The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien.'
42) Priscilla Tolkien - His daughter, Priscilla was directly responsible for Eowyn, since she wanted a female hero in the tale. Thank heavens Tolkien had a daughter!
43) Douglas Anderson - Well known Tolkien scholar and author of 'The Annotated Hobbit'
44) Wayne Hammond - Author of 'J.R.R. Tolkien, Artista and Illustrator,' for bringing Tolkien's own interpretations to his beloved public.
45) Marquette University - Home of the Tolkien archives; thousands of lovingly cared for original documents by and about Tolkien.
46) Jane Chance - Often published Tolkien scholar, author of 'The Lord of the Rings: The Mythology of Power'
47) TORN's founders! - Xoanon (Michael Regina), Tehanu (Erica Challis), Corvar (William Thomas), Calisuri (Chris Pirrotta)
48) Letter writers - Everyone who wrote Tolkien a letter which he so graciously answered and gave us the answers to so many wonderful questions!
49) BBC - Made a wonderful recording of LotR and The Hobbit
50) JK Rowling - I know, some may balk this. But I personally feel she is majorly responsible for making fantasy "cool" again, and bringing literally millions of children to the world of fantasy.

Friday, July 09, 2004
TORN Sibs Philanthropic Adventure! - Xoanon @ 15:33 PST
WhiteAslan writes: TORn Discussion board members took it upon themselves to personally thank PJ & company for giving us the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. After much debate, it was decided that the best way to honor them (and Professor Tolkien) would be to have trees planted in New Zealand.

We got in contact with the Wellington City Council and were able to get into their Commemorative Tree Programme. We decided to have 11 trees planted; nine for the Fellowship of the cast & crew, one for PJ, and one for Tolkien as well as honoring the 11 Oscar sweep of the Return of the King.

We were able to raise the $1650NZD (approximately $1500USD) for the trees and much more. The trees will be planted in September and we will be receiving information about the species, photos, GPS location and a certificate at that time.

We have an additional $600USD, which we have decided to donate to the organ donor awareness program in New Zealand, Peter Jackson’s favorite charity. We will continue to accept donations for the organ donor awareness program till September 22 to any who wish to donate as well. Donations can be made through PayPal (TORNado_chair@excite.com) or email me at WhiteAslan@mindless.com and I’ll send a snail mail address.

Wednesday, June 09, 2004
LOTR Graduation in Taiwan - Tehanu @ 16:38 PST
Leading Taiwanese LOTR fan Lucifer Chu (who created the new international Chinese translation) writes: "I’m helping my alma mater high school in Taiwan to organize their graduation ceremony, which uses the Lord of the Rings as its main theme!

These high school students are amazing! Over 200 volunteers try to create the whole set. They use papier maché to create statues of the troll, orcs and even a full size Fell Beast….:> Almost all of the set and props were made by recycled materials, so they don’t need to spend too much budget.

I believe it must be the first LOTR themed graduation ceremony (as far as I know). They created a “Behind the Scene“ web site for Ringers from all over the world. [More]


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