The Eighty-first Roving Ranger
Life and Works
Feb 27, 1917. J.R.R. Tolkien faces his third Medical Board, and again his leave is extended.
Feb 28, 2022. Priscilla Tolkien (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), Tolkien's daughter, dies.
Mar 1, 1968. In a letter to Miss E. Byrne (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) Tolkien writes:
My most treasured volume was John’s Flowers of the Field, an account of the flora of the British Isles.
Mar 3, 1983. The Monsters and the Critics, and Other Essays (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is published [UK].
Mar 4, 1937. The 'second' version of Iúmonna Gold Galdre Bewunden (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)" is published with the Oxford Magazine.
Mar 7. J.R.R. Tolkien wanted this night to have a full moon (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)...
Mar 8, 1939. Tolkien gives the lecture On Fairy-Stories (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
Events & Shows
This weekend Lure of Middle-earth (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) is happening at Castle Stahleck.
The National Children's Theatre (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in South Africa is doing a Hobbit camp in March.
Scholarship and Fandom
It is Verlyn Flieger (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)'s birthday! [Get any of her amazing books (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)!]
Great Literary Friendships (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) by Janet Philipps includes the 'heroes of Middle-earth, Frodo and Sam' and many more such friendships from 400 years of outstanding literature. (All sales support the Bodleian Libraries in Oxford).
A most entertaining and delightful treatise on the Latin-based fun Tolkien had with Farmer Giles of Ham (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
John Garth's summer schools in Oxford (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) are booked out - on Tolkien's mythology and JRRT & CSL.
John Rateliff has some thoughts on Roald Dahl, Tolkien (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), and 'rewrites', and David Bratman (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), too.
Tom Hillman's 'Pity, Power, and Tolkien's Ring" now has a publication date (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). And while you are on his website do check out this interesting train of thought (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
The German Tolkien Society has put a CfP for this year's Seminar: With other eyes: The Visualisation of Tolkien’s Work (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
The Spanish Tolkien Society (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) now has more than 1,000 members, the third literary society to achieve this after the Tolkien Society and the German Tolkien Society.
Franchise and Merchandise
The #1 piece of news right now on the franchise: New ‘Lord of the Rings’ Movies in the Works at Warners, New Line (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [Hollywoord Reporter] [Press release (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) with WB Discovery]
The TCU (Tolkien Cinematic Universe) seems to be happening. [MAB; my comment]
Vin Diesel does not mind having the Fast & Furious franchise called the "Lord of the Rings of action movies." [AV Club (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]
What Middle-earth character has the most LEGO minifigs (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)? [Brick Fanatics]
Interested in a fancy feast at the trademarked Hobbit Houses (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) in Richmond, recently announced (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)?
Originally announced in 2021 (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), Magic: The Gathering will bring LotR into its Universes Beyond (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) fold on June 23rd.
Embracer Group announced five video game titles in production for the next 24 months in their Q3 report presentation (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) 2022/2023 in the Entertainment & Services section:
Gollum (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) - Daedalic
Return to Moria (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) - Free Range Games
Unannounced game from Weta Workshop (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) (published by Take-Two's Private Division label)
Mystery title
Director James Cameron compared himself to Tolkien:
"I was trying to do a simulation of, OK, I’m Peter Jackson making Lord of the Rings except Lord of the Rings doesn’t exist yet, so I need to go be Tolkien and create Lord of the Rings, and then I can go be Peter Jackson." [Time (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)]
Inter alia & Back in the day
On Feb 29, 2004, The Return of the King (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) wins 11 Oscars out of 11 nominations.
The AI end of humanity seems to be near, at least, in writing: Science Fiction Magazines Battle a Flood of Chatbot-Generated Stories (Öffnet in neuem Fenster). [New York Times]
The political right in Europe seems to happily embrace Middle-earth as a background to its doings as shown by Polish prime minister Morawiecki and his Italian counterpart Meloni taking photos in front of a Middle-earth map, claiming: "Together, we'll defeat Mordor (Öffnet in neuem Fenster)." [At Paradox Café (Öffnet in neuem Fenster), Warsaw]
The UK Prevent (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) scheme has come under fire recently after publishing a long list of works possibly endangering democracy: Can you really be radicalised by Great British Railway Journeys? (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [Spectator; paywall]
I kid you not, though it seems that all satire is dead, but the list of suspect books also includes 1984 by George Orwell.
You like string quartets, France, and Tolkien? Have no fear - meet Arod (Öffnet in neuem Fenster).
According to German law I have to infom you all links to enterprises, artists, products etc. are [unpaid advertisements.] Some purchase links may earn me a small commission from Blackwell's, the bookshop of my personal trust.
If you are interested in my other Tolkien-related work please have a look:
The Tolkienist Blog (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Facebook (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Twitter (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Instagram (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) : Tolkien-Discord (Öffnet in neuem Fenster) [de/en]
