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August 04, 2005 - August 17, 2005

8-17-05 Latest News

Hall Of Fire This Weekend - Of The Sun And The Moon
Demosthenes @ 4:29 am EST

Hall of Fire discussions resumes this Sunday August 21 with The Silmarillion, with Chapter 11: Of the Sun and the Moon and the Hiding of the Valinor. Following the events of the kinslaying, The Silmarillion leaves the divided and scattered elvish communities, and returns to the plight of the Valar in the aftermath of the loss of the trees of light.

We ponder Tolkien’s myth-like explanation of the Middle-earth cosmos. Does it fit with your conception of Middle-earth, or does it seem contrived? How is it similar to human myths handed down from time immemorial? And how is it different? What is the reasoning and significance of the choices of Tilion and Arien as the bearers of light?

Does the arrival of the sun signify the rise of Man and the demise of elves? Moreover, what is the significance of new light coming from the dead trees? While the sun and moon have an inferior influence, compared to the trees, their impact on Middle-earth appears to have more of a physical effect. Do you agree?

And what’s going on with the shift in the sun and moon’s rise from the west, to the east, by the end of the chapter?

We also see the recurrence of Tolkien’s theme of good coming from evil. How can the Valar consider the marring of Feanor as equal or more tragic than the death of the trees? What have they lost, with Feanor’s departure?

We’ll also compare the digging in of Morgoth with the hiding of Valinor. Were they necessary, and what did they signify in the wider conflict between Morgoth and the Valar? How are they similar (and different) to each other?

And was it impractical for the Valar to leave a route back to Valinor for the elves?

Join us this Sunday August 21 (2.00pm EDT) in #thehalloffire on the TORn IRC server as we discuss The Silmarillion, Chapter 11: Of the Sun and the Moon and the Hiding of the Valinor.


Time and date:
Sunday August 21

America:
2.00pm EDT
1.00pm CDT
12.00pm MDT
11.00am PDT

Europe:
7:00pm UK
8:00pm Central Europe

Asia-Pacific
4.00am (Monday) Brisbane
4.00am (Monday) Sydney
6.00am (Monday) Wellington

Chats usually last 45 mins to an hour, and are very newbie friendly. Simply drop in and join the conversation!


Where?

Chat happens on #thehalloffire on irc.theonering.net - the TORn IRC server. You can connect instantly via our java chat client that works inside your web browser (find it here! ) or choose to install a dedicated chat program such as mIRC on your computer.

To find out more about using mIRC to connect to TORn IRC server, check out these instructions.


Upcoming topics:

Sun August 21 - Silmarillion Ch 11
Sat August 27 - Elrond, Cirdan and Isildur at the Ring of Doom
Sun September 4 - Elrond, Cirdan and Isildur at the Ring of Doom
Sat September 10 - Silmarillion Ch 12
Sun September 18 - Silmarillion Ch 12

Got a topic? Let us know your idea!

If you have a burning desire to discuss something in Hall of Fire, drop us a line with your topic at halloffire@theonering.net. If we like it, we'll probably give it a run in the coming weeks - you might even get to guest moderate the session!

Join HoF Announce!

Did you know that Hall of Fire has a mailing list? Join today and get topic announcements and news delivered regularly to your inbox!

Hof-announce@theonering.net
http://www.theonering.net/mailman/listinfo/hof-announce

8-14-05 Latest News

Oxbridge Day 1 Report
Xoanon @ 7:27 pm EST

Oxbridge Day 1 Report


Pippin Skywalker writes:

Hello my dear hobbits, elf-friends, and all free peoples if Middle Earth! I am pleased to announce that I have managed to step out of the comfort and delight of my little hobbit hole to depart on another extraordinary adventure. Here I will tell you of my adventures and experiences in Oxford in this special year of 2005, which, quite coincidentally, is both the 75th anniversary of C.S. Lewis and the 50th anniversary of the publication of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. I have had the good fortune and delight of attending the triennial Oxbridge, an event held over a period of two weeks by the C.S. Lewis foundation. As may be denoted from the title, the event takes place in both Oxford and Cambridge. Although ostensibly and mainly devoted to C.S. Lewis and his works, the conference also has several seminars and papers on J.R.R. Tolkien and the Inklings. The conference is also marked by its diversity, featuring seminars and workshops on such topics as religion, literature, pop culture, music, art, science, and philosophy. I believe this is an event both Lewis and the very dear and amiable Mr. Tolkien would have enjoyed because of its vast array of topics and its thought provoking conversation.

The name of this particular Oxbridge is Making All Things New: The Good, the True, and the Beautiful in the Twenty-First Century. The seminar I took was The Inklings: Lewis, Tolkien, Williams, Barfield and Friends taught by Colin Duriez who is the insightful author of the Inklings Handbook launched in 2001. I actually remember meeting him at that time at Oxonmoot where he was speaking about his new book at the Eagle and Child. It has been a delightful and enlightening experience listening to his extensive and amusing anecdotes about the Inklings, and especially of the great friendship between J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. The first session for today, July 25, 2005 was at St. Columba's Hall on a lovely and hobbit sized cobbled street called Alfred Street. Our class consisted of about twenty people all filled with curiosity and interesting stories of their own about their experiences and knowledge on Tolkien and Lewis. Most enjoyable was the wonderful stories of Duriez himself, who had carefully researched many fascinating details about the lives of Tolkien and Lewis as well as their friendship. He went into some detail of how the Inklings began, their squabbles and merriments, and the individual natures, humors, and quirks of each member. Lewis was distinctively mentioned as being a man of a jovial nature, being very loud and opinionated-a reality very different from the more stayed portrayal of the author in the biographical film Shadowlands. In a surprising comment on Tolkien, Dureiz mentioned how the seemingly quiet, pipe-smoking don would often get very loud himself. In fact volume was a notable and common trait of the Inklings gatherings, and not without surprise considering the opinionated and intellectual natures of all the members. As it usually transpires in such a diverse and colorful group as the Inklings the conversations were as varied as the personalities of the group. Tolkien was known to talk excessively about hobbits, to such an extent that certain members such as Owen Barfield grew tired of these continuous speeches as well as of the common and frequent readings from Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. Other topics the Inklings discussed were the translation of books into films (an interesting as well as ironic conversation considering that both Lewis and Tolkien's books have been made into films) as well as whether dogs have souls. The Inklings would hop around from place to place to have their meetings which were usually held on Tuesday and Thursday at one of three places: the Eagle and Child pub, Lewis' rooms at Magdalen, and Tolkien's rooms at Exeter. At these gatherings, the members would read from their own stories. Tolkien read most of Lord of the Rings to the group. The Inklings would also read eccentric and overly emphatice Victorian stories as a game to see who read the longest without laughing. These meetings were times of laughter as much as they were debate and deep thought. The whole point of the group was to have a sort of informal gathering of like minded dons and their friends to talk, consider, and laugh about issues and ideas that mattered most to them. Amongst all this great whirlwind of joy and thought was the deep and lasting friendship of Lewis and Tolkien. Lewis did not become a Christian until halfway through his life, but was greatly influenced by his talk with Tolkien and Hugo Dyson on Addison's Walk, where the three men discussed Christianity and myth and their relationship to eachother. This conversation changed Lewis' life and beliefs which ultimately contributed to the inception of his many great and diverse works. Tolkien continued to play a major part in Lewis' life, and even assumed a fatherly protectiveness for his friend. For instance, Tolkien strongly disapproved of Lewis' friendship with fellow Inkling Charles Williams, whose interest in the occult probably aroused concern in John Ronald for the impressionable (in Tolkien's view) Mr. Lewis. Not only did Tolkien and Lewis have differences in choice of friends but also in Christian belief. Tolkien was a Roman Catholic from childhood, while Lewis was a Protestant. There were commonly many witty exchanges about their differences in this respect. In a letter to Charles Williams in 1936, C.S. Lewis refers to Tolkien in the following manner:

"..I have put on Tolkien [in the Inklings] (The Professor of Anglo Saxon and a papist).."

What is amusing here is that Lewis makes a point of not only mentioning Tolkien's profession and position, but also markedly points to his difference in religious practice. Tolkien himself was not without his own merry retorts to Lewis' Protestantism, saying of Lewis that he had an "Ulsterian motive." This pointed but light hearted jest was aimed to reference the Protestant history of Ulster in Ireland, where Lewis was from. But for all their differences, Tolkien and Lewis had a lot in common. Their experiences in the first World War changed the style and thought of their writing. Both despised the rise of the machine, and treated on this subject in their fiction-Tolkien did so in Lord of the Rings, and C.S. Lewis in his science fiction novel That Hideous Strength. Both Tolkien and Lewis were very much influenced by G.K. Chesterton. These two men also shared the belief that science fiction and fantasy worlds gave readers glimpses into the spiritual world. Tolkien and Lewis both believed that evil was temporary.

As writers, these two literary greats would criticize and praise eachothers works, at times inspiring eachother, at other times disagreeing with the literary choices of the other. Lewis, with great effervescence, praised Lord of the Rings. Tolkien, on his part, was not always as positive on Lewis' works, disliking the style and odd literary and creative comibinations in the Chronicles of Narnia. This does not mean the two writers didn't have many literary collaborations. Tolkien and Lewis cast a coin up as to which of them would write a time travel story and which would write a space story. This (according to Duriez) is perhaps the reason LOTR came into being. LOTR is, in a way, a kind of time travel story. Lewis ended up creating a set of famous science fiction novels, taking up the job creating the space story. There are many deep experiences that Tolkien and Lewis shared-both had suffered loss at a young age. Tolkien lost his mother and father in childhood, and Lewis also lost his mother at young age. Both men experienced the horrors and sadness of the first World War, and both lost friends. Tolkien and Lewis were both men of depth who conveyed their sadness, experiences, hopes, and dreams in the beautiful tapestries of their works.

Author's Note: The next report will contain more notes and thoughts on the Colin Duriez Inklings course. Special thanks to the C.S. Lewis Foundation, Colin Duriez, Dana, and to all the elves and hobbits who helped with transportation to Oxford. :)

8-12-05 Latest News

Hall Of Fire This Weekend – The Sun And The Moon
Demosthenes @ 8:08 pm EST

After a short hiatus, Hall of Fire discussions resumes with The Silmarillion, with Chapter 11: Of the Sun and the Moon and the Hiding of the Valinor. Following the events of the kinslaying, The Silmarillion leaves the divided and scattered elvish communities, and returns to the plight of the Valar in the aftermath of the loss of the trees of light.

We ponder Tolkien’s myth-like explanation of the Middle-earth cosmos. Does it fit with your conception of Middle-earth, or does it seem contrived? Is it similar/ different to the myths of man? What is the reasoning and significance of the choices of Tilion and Arien as light carriers? Why does the arrival of the sun signify the rise of Man and the demise of elves? And what’s going on with the shift in the sun and moon’s rise from the west, to the east, by the end of the chapter?

We see the recurrence of Tolkien’s theme of good coming from evil. How can the Valar consider the marring of Feanor as equal or more tragic than the death of the trees? What have they lost, with Feanor’s departure?

What is the significance of new light coming from the dead trees? While the sun and moon have an inferior influence, compared to the trees, their impact on Middle-earth appears to have more of a physical effect. Do you agree?

We’ll also compare the digging in of Morgoth with the hiding of Valinor. Were they necessary, and what did they signify in the wider conflict between Morgoth and the Valar? How are they similar/different? And was it impractical for the Valar to leave a route back to Valinor for the elves?

Join us this Saturday August 13 (5.30pm EDT) in #thehalloffire on the TORn IRC server as we discuss The Silmarillion, Chapter 11: Of the Sun and the Moon and the Hiding of the Valinor.

Time and date:
Saturday August 13

America:
5.30pm EDT
4.30pm CDT
3.30pm MDT
2.30pm PDT

Europe:
10.30pm UK
11.30pm Central Europe

Asia-Pacific:
7.30am (Sunday) Brisbane
7.30am (Sunday) Sydney
9.30am (Sunday) Wellington

Chats usually last 45 mins to an hour, and are very newbie friendly. Simply drop in and join the conversation!


Where?

Chat happens on #thehalloffire on irc.theonering.net - the TORn IRC server. You can connect instantly via our java chat client that works inside your web browser (find it here! ) or choose to install a dedicated chat program such as mIRC on your computer.

To find out more about using mIRC to connect to TORn IRC server, check out these instructions.


Upcoming topics:

Sat August 13 - Silmarillion Ch 11
Sun August 21 - Silmarillion Ch 11
Sat August 27 - Elrond, Cirdan and Isildur at the Ring of Doom
Sun September 4 - Elrond, Cirdan and Isildur at the Ring of Doom
Sat September 10 - Silmarillion Ch 12
Sun September 18 - Silmarillion Ch 12

Got a topic? Let us know your idea!

If you have a burning desire to discuss something in Hall of Fire, drop us a line with your topic at halloffire@theonering.net. If we like it, we'll probably give it a run in the coming weeks - you might even get to guest moderate the session!

Join HoF Announce!

Did you know that Hall of Fire has a mailing list? Join today and get topic announcements and news delivered regularly to your inbox!

Hof-announce@theonering.net
http://www.theonering.net/mailman/listinfo/hof-announce

8-11-05 Latest News

Hobbits For Hobe
Xoanon @ 2:08 pm EST

September 17, 2005 @ 6:30PM

Gloria Writes: Join “Into The West”, Lord of the Rings Fellowship of Utah, for their second annual charity gala event with dinner, entertainment, silent auction, prizes and a night of fellowship and merry making!! This year’s recipient is Camp Hobe,R17; a summer camp for children who have cancer. The event will be held Saturday, September 17th starting at 6:30 pm in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Tickets for this ‘not to be missed event’ are $30.00. Checks/money orders should be made out to “INTO THE WEST” and sent to:

"INTO THE WEST"
C/O Scott Bishop, Treasurer
P.O. Box 708171
Sandy, Utah 84070-8171

Please include your email address or mailing address so your tickets can be sent to you. Address and directions to the event will be sent prior to the event. With your check and email address, please indicate your dinner choice for each person attending. If you have questions, or would like to donate items for the silent auction, you can reach us through our website at www.intothewest.org

Meal choices are: (choose one)
Red Meat off the Bone Beef Brisket
Coney Roasted Herb Chicken
Sam’s Garden Patch – Vegan/Vegetarian Casserole

NET PROCEEDS TO BENEFIT CAMP HOBER17;

A co-ed residential summer camp for cancer patients & their siblings
Campers are 4 to 19 years old

Three sessions available: Kids camp (6-12 yrs), Teen camp (12-19 yrs), and Day Camp (4-7 yrs)

Program is held at the Elks Camp Wapiti site in Tooele, Utah
Serve Utah & the Intermountain area (Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada)
All staff members are volunteers
Governed by a Board of Directors
Funded entirely through private and corporate donations
Accredited by the American Camping Association

Camp Hobe's onsite infirmary is staffed by oncology-trained pediatric nurses & a pediatric physician. They provide medications and routine care during the camp session.

Camp Hobe offers campers the opportunity to rediscover self-confidence and build meaningful friendships with peers. They do this through play, creative arts, challenge by choice, inclusive programming, and structured sharing of loss and grief.

Visit the website at camphobe.org.

8-07-05 Latest News

'Tolkien 2005' News
Xoanon @ 9:39 pm EST

Ian Collier from The Tolkien Society writes: I thought you'd like the latest news on Tolkien 2005, so here it is. I'm really looking forward to all the great papers and panels, especially Verlyn Flieger reading from her new book, and getting my hands on the new one from Alan Lee. Day tickets are available for those people who haven't signed up already but are tempted to come along by this.

Tolkien 2005: The Ring Goes Ever On, 11th - 15th August

Five years in the planning and it’s here at last. This week sees the start of a 5 day conference to mark the 50th anniversary of the complete publication of JRR Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. To celebrate this the Tolkien Society and Partner Organisations are holding a conference at Aston University, Birmingham, England.


Guests include renowned academics, artists and authors:

Rhona Beare, Julian Bradfield, Patrick Curry, Colin Duriez, Anke Katrin Eissmann, Verlyn Flieger, Christopher Garbowski, John Garth, John Howe, Tim Kirk, Alan Lee, Ted Nasmith, Michael Scott Rohan, Tom Shippey, Brian Sibley, Viv Wilkes.
(All guests are attending subject to work commitments.)

Day tickets available for Friday, Saturday and Sunday at £30.

The event features:

A civic reception hosted by the Lord Mayor and Birmingham City Council to welcome the conference, the Tolkien Society and participating societies to Birmingham and to celebrate Birmingham’s links with J.R.R. Tolkien.

World Exclusive: Verlyn Flieger will read from her new critical edition of Tolkien’s "Smith of Wootton Major" due to be published by Harper Collins in September 2005

Author & artist autograph sessions - including Alan Lee signing his brand new "The Lord of the Rings Sketchbook" at the second of three exclusive pre-publication signings this summer.

Over 165 programme items: papers; panel discussions; seminars and workshops spread across 5 streams.

"Farmer Giles of Ham" staged by Birmingham’s own Shire Productions
2 hours of Brian Sibley’s 13 hour radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings

Coach tours of Tolkien’s Birmingham and Oxford

Art Show with displays form Alan Lee, Ted Nasmith, Anke Eissman, Tim Kirk and a host of others.

Dealers Room

Details can be found at tolkiensociety.org

Partner Societies: The Tolkien Society; The Mythopoeic Society (USA); Elanor (Belgium); Deutsche Tolkien Gesellschaft (Germany); Arthedain (Norway); Sociedad Tolkiendili de México (Mexico); Sociedade de Tolkien Brasileira (Brazil); Società Tolkieniana Svizzera & Eldalië (Switzerland); Sociedad Tolkien Española (Spain); The Polish Tolkien Society; Forodrim (Stockholm, Sweden); The Greek Tolkien Society; Skies of Rohan (Idaho & Montana, USA); Proudneck (Italy); Keskmaa Ordu (Estonia); Unquendor (Netherlands); Tol Harndor (Australia); Magyar Tolkien Társaság (Hungary); Conselho Branco Sociedade Tolkien (Brazil); The Cambridge Tolkien Society (UK); The Charles Williams Society; Heren Istarion (New York, USA); Taruithorn: the Oxford Tolkien Society (UK); ,sterreichischen Tolkien Gesellschaft (Austria); The Geroge MacDonald Society; Beyond Bree (MENSA, USA); Società Tolkieniana Italiana (Italy); Walking Tree Publishers.

8-05-05 Latest News

Hopkins' '1nite' Nabs NZ Screen Directors Guild Award
Xoanon @ 11:48 am EST

From our good friend Bruce Hopkins: “1nite” wins at the NZ Screen Directors Guild Film and Television Awards 2005

One of NZ’s most highly regarded films is now available for you to own. Go to Bruce Hopkins and Amarbir Singhs web site indipact.com or realgroovy.co.nz, check it out and buy your own copy of the DVD, with interviews by Bruce Hopkins, director Amarbir Singh and award winning DOP/Editor Cristobal Araus Lobos,…you know you want to!!!

An award winning digital feature, 1nite is the debut film from director Amarbir Singh and features a cast comprising some of New Zealand’s finest actors including the bloke on a horse called Charlie, who helped save Middle Earth from the evil one, Bruce Hopkins ( aka Gamling ).

In July 2005 1nite was selected as one of two finalists (along with the superb documentary from Florian Habicht, “ Kaikohe Demolition”) for the best digital feature at the NZ Film Awards. DOP/Editor Cristobal Araus Lobos won the award for best technical contribution to a digital feature at the same presentation, so, for a debut feature film shot solely with a miniDV camera ( no other equipment!!! ) and a budget of $400, 1nite is proof that it’s talent that maketh the movie!

1nite had its world premier in 2004 at the Auckland International Film Festival, receiving rave reviews which resulted in the two screenings being sold out, and Q & A sessions that the director of the film festival described as the best attended and most engaging of the festival.

Peter Calder in the New Zealand Herald newspaper said: “Stylistically, it recalls early Jim Jarmusch or Paul Auster's Smoke. But the Bombay-born Singh, who arrived here only seven years ago, has an immigrant's watchful alertness to the particularities of his new home, he and (the cameraman) Cristobal Araus Lobos, a Chilean émigré, put a distinctively local stamp on the genre, …an accomplished and entertaining film.”

In the film festival programme, director Bill Gosden, said: “The semi-improvised nature of the project favours conflict over resolution and gives the talented cast ample opportunity for charged performances.”

Gosden went on to say that Lobos’ camera work “dogs the characters, staying in close, in agile verite style”.

The cast includes Bruce Hopkins ( Lord of the Rings, Jubilee, Savage Honeymoon, Macbeth ), Rajiv Varma ( Price of Milk, Toy Love and the sell out stage show “From India With Love “, Jon Brazier ( Scarfies ), Karlos Drinkwater ( best actor at the drifting clouds film festival ”When The Jars Are Done”, stage production “Whale Rider” ), Anna Hewlett ( Macbeth ), Lauren Jackson ( Alex, Perfect Creatures).

Amarbir says he chose the digital medium as a vehicle to best tell the story.

“The digital style in this film brings out a voyeuristic realism to the characters, often digital as compared with film is seen as a compromise but this was the opposite – I wanted to use digital because the feel needed to have that rawness that comes from the street.”

Amarbir wanted to create a pared back sense of realism and so worked closely with the actors to semi improvise the whole script.

He wanted to involve the viewer in the actors’ emotions and in order to do this used no props or any formal script.

Using a hand-held digital camera and improvised dialogue, the film captures the exciting dynamic of the street with the 24-hour timeline creating an urgency as the plot evolves.

Shot in and around Auckland’s Karangahape Road, the storyline centres around a young immigrant Sikh taxi driver (Rajiv Varma) who struggles to sustain his optimistic view of the opportunities New Zealand provides. Two old friends (Bruce Hopkins and Nial Greenstock) get drunk together and uncover bitter feelings and rivalries. A good samaritan (Karlos Drinkwater) recovering from a recent breakup helps out a crippled ex-cop (Jon Brazier). A prostitute’s (Anna Hewlitt) bad night is made that much more difficult by her obsessively watchful boyfriend (David Van Horn).

To any film maker looking for inspiration 1nite is a fine example of what can be achieved without access to major resources. Using only a Canon XL1 digital camera (no lighting or sound gear), a crew of 2 and coming in on a budget of $400.00, 1nite utilizes the talent of the actors and the crew to create an engaging piece of work.

8-04-05 Latest News

George Lucas keynote at SIGGRAPH 2005
Xoanon @ 1:52 pm EST

From CinemaTech: I arrived at the LA Convention Center this afternoon just in time to find a seat in the back of the hall for George Lucas' opening keynote at SIGGRAPH 2005. (No special seating for media or bloggers - boo hoo.) Lucas is introduced as "the father of digital cinema" and then a short film on his career lauds him as "a tireless champion of digital projection... (Lucas) talks a bit about Peter Jackson's visual effects shop, Weta Digital, which he visited recently. "Weta is like ILM was 20 years ago." He invited Jackson to come see ILM now, and see if that's really the direction he wants Weta to go. Referring to ILM, he says: "A big corporation has its downside. Companies are kind of like sharks. If they don't swim, they die. You either have to grow and get bigger and bigger, or you begin to collapse. I think ILM, we've all agreed, has reached a level that we want to stick with. We don't want to get any bigger. We're the oldest, we're the largest, we're the most advanced. And that's a fun position to be in." He says if a studio or someone else wanted to build a bigger shop, ILM wouldn't necessarily try to compete. [More]


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