The Hall of Fire

The most recent movie I saw was the one-day-only theatrical release of Mary and the Witch's Flower , which is the debut film from Studio Ponoc, an anime studio set up by some of the younger generation from Studio Ghibli after the latter (temporarily, as it turned out) shut down their production divi...

I can't find it now, argh, but the other day I read an article on one of the geek news sites quoting one source as saying that the TV rights do not include all of the LotR characters and situations, and so it would not be possible simply to remake the entire tale. I haven't heard the same thing any...

Thanks for looking into the matter, Voronwë. I hope that the Estate will issue a clarifying statement just to be sure, but it's good to have more of a basis for my hunch that this is a misreporting issue.

Ah, thanks for the reminder, Voronwë. I don't know if you're legally allowed to share quotes from the contract but I'd love to hear whatever it is you can confirm from it!

I'm a lurker here 99% of the time but I saw my name mentioned so I couldn't resist popping in. :D Having discussed this news on a couple different forums and hearing a variety of perspectives, I still think that the most likely scenario is that Variety and Deadline are confusing the Estate and Middl...

I had an enjoyable time. It was my first time going to a Tolkien convention (or any sort of offline Tolkien fan event) so I don't really have a frame of reference though. It was pretty small, about 70 people, but they had some interesting speakers. I really enjoyed Kristine Larsen's and Jared Lobdel...

I enjoyed both of Jones' previous films but had a hard time getting into this one. To be fair, I've never played Warcraft or WoW . My understanding is that it's a fairly straightforward adaptation of the first game. I definitely respect his ambition though and enjoyed it more than I have many a cook...

I rewatched the first Harry Potter movie with my mother. The last time we saw it (five years ago, just before the final movie came out) I recall enjoying it more than I expected to. This time around though it felt stiffer and more awkwardly paced than I remembered. Not sure many of the moments would...

I'm really tempted to make the drive up to Philadelphia to see TTT on 7/23 but I just spent a bunch of money going to the NY Tolkien Conference last weekend so I don't know if I can justify it.

I was raised in a Friends meeting: unprogrammed and universalist/Hicksite, part of Baltimore Yearly Meeting and therefore associated with both FGC and FUM. I stopped attending in my teen years after I left the faith, but part of the reason for my disillusionment was the loosey-goosey attitude most p...

The sovereign citizen movement as a whole is considered a domestic terrorist threat by the FBI. It has historically been associated with white supremacist violence (including Terry Nichols), but has somehow spread to include a fair number of African-Americans in the past 10-15 years. https://archive...

I'm skeptical of the idea that third parties will enjoy greater viability growing forward. The FPTP electoral system breeds two party systems. From a historical perspective we're already overdue for a party realignment, which I think the current struggles of the GOP as an institution will contribute...

I think the Tolkien "brand" is strong enough that publications of more academic interest like this are guaranteed to sell enough to make it economical. Trying to create a widespread hit doesn't seem to have really been a consideration since The Silmarillion. It's questionable to what exten...

Congrats to NJ! :D We're very close to the point where even the strongest opponents of SSM will have to concede that a Constitutional amendment outlawing SSM nationwide is not going to happen. IMO, we're well past that point. The momentum -- and public opinion -- has shifted. A constitutional amendm...

I am 99% certain that Smaug will die in the second film. We know that PJ likes to have a big climax and at least a little bit of wrap-up rather than a sheer cliffhanger. A number of people have asked me what I think will be left for the third film if Smaug dies in the second, but it's worth noting t...

I do agree that the next two installments will be more along the lines of the LOTR trilogy and love that idea. I have to disagree here. IMO, one of the biggest flaws in the conception of The Hobbit trilogy is that PJ wanted to make The Lord of the Rings Prequel Trilogy more than he wanted to adapt ...

I enjoyed the new trailer well enough. I'm glad that it had more Bilbo moments than the first one, those were very nice. And Cumberbatch's voice does not disappoint in the least. His Smaug is now the part of DOS I'm looking forward to the most, no doubt. :D Other than that, there are plenty of flaws...

It took me some time to adjust to the difference in image quality in Blu-ray, but now that I have, it can be hard to go back. :P Which is not to say that I find DVDs unwatchable, but it is very nice to get to see films in high definition. It's not quite as big a leap as VHS to DVD was, but it's stil...

First and foremost, my thoughts are with Mr Connolly and his family and I wish him all the best. As for Dain, I would expect to see a little bit of him in DOS as set-up. PJ was fond of introducing side-characters in LOTR before they met up with members of the Fellowship. This was most noticeable in ...

Thank you very much, guys! Sorry it took me a couple days to start posting. I was helping my brother move house over the weekend and then had to catch up on some RL stuff after that.