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 (Opens in a new window), Tolkien's daughter, dies.
Mar 1, 1968. In a letter to Miss E. Byrne (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window) is published [UK].
Mar 4, 1937. The 'second' version of Iúmonna Gold Galdre Bewunden (Opens in a new window)" is published with the Oxford Magazine.
Mar 7. J.R.R. Tolkien wanted this night to have a full moon (Opens in a new window)...
Mar 8, 1939. Tolkien gives the lecture On Fairy-Stories (Opens in a new window).
Events & Shows
This weekend Lure of Middle-earth (Opens in a new window) is happening at Castle Stahleck.
The National Children's Theatre (Opens in a new window) in South Africa is doing a Hobbit camp in March.
Scholarship and Fandom
It is Verlyn Flieger (Opens in a new window)'s birthday! [Get any of her amazing books (Opens in a new window)!]
Great Literary Friendships (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window).
John Garth's summer schools in Oxford (Opens in a new window) are booked out - on Tolkien's mythology and JRRT & CSL.
John Rateliff has some thoughts on Roald Dahl, Tolkien (Opens in a new window), and 'rewrites', and David Bratman (Opens in a new window), too.
Tom Hillman's 'Pity, Power, and Tolkien's Ring" now has a publication date (Opens in a new window). And while you are on his website do check out this interesting train of thought (Opens in a new window).
The German Tolkien Society has put a CfP for this year's Seminar: With other eyes: The Visualisation of Tolkien’s Work (Opens in a new window).
The Spanish Tolkien Society (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window). [Hollywoord Reporter] [Press release (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window)]
What Middle-earth character has the most LEGO minifigs (Opens in a new window)? [Brick Fanatics]
Interested in a fancy feast at the trademarked Hobbit Houses (Opens in a new window) in Richmond, recently announced (Opens in a new window)?
Originally announced in 2021 (Opens in a new window), Magic: The Gathering will bring LotR into its Universes Beyond (Opens in a new window) fold on June 23rd.
Embracer Group announced five video game titles in production for the next 24 months in their Q3 report presentation (Opens in a new window) 2022/2023 in the Entertainment & Services section:
Gollum (Opens in a new window) - Daedalic
Return to Moria (Opens in a new window) - Free Range Games
Unannounced game from Weta Workshop (Opens in a new window) (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 (Opens in a new window)]
Inter alia & Back in the day
On Feb 29, 2004, The Return of the King (Opens in a new window) 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 (Opens in a new window). [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 (Opens in a new window)." [At Paradox Café (Opens in a new window), Warsaw]
The UK Prevent (Opens in a new window) 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? (Opens in a new window) [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 (Opens in a new window).
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:
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