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