Lord of the Rings fan Emil Johansson has created a sprawling infographic illustrating how the One Ring was controlled during the 4,860-year span of J. R. R. Tolkien‘s epic series.

Embedded below (click to enlarge), the chart includes a map and timeline of ring-related events mentioned in The Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. What do you think?

Here’s more about the infographic: “This is a timeline of the events related to the One Ring created by Sauron in Second Age 1600. The years of the War of the Ring are described in more detail.”

Read more

“Dillicious” blogger Heath Dill wants to share his recipes for second breakfast with his project, Medium Rare and Back Again: A Tolkien Cookbook. The recipes will be derived from several of J.R.R. Tolkien works, from The Hobbit to The Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Dill has raised more than $14,000 on Kickstarter to give him time to research, cook, photograph, and write 30 recipes for this book. He hopes to make the online version free and to have a print edition available as well. We’ve embedded a video about the project above–what do you think?

Here’s more about the project: “These recipes will cover different parts of Tolkien’s world – light and delicate Elvish recipes like lembas bread, stout roasted Dwarven fare, hearty Hobbit pies and stews, as well as a few oddball recipes like Balrog Wings. Those that I’ve already blogged about – I’ll be doing refined versions of those, as I’ve learned how to make them even better since then!”

Read more

As Peter Jackson‘s adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien‘s The Hobbit heads to theaters (and courtrooms), Air New Zealand has unveiled an airplane with an enormous Hobbit-inspired mural.

You can see the plane in action in the video embedded above. Here’s more from AgencySpy:

I’m not sure if you’re aware, but when you account for tourism dollars, the LOTR trilogy basically single-handedly boosted New Zealand’s entire economy. It is because nerds will do anything to live out their silly fantasies, and, yes, maybe New Zealand is kind of a pretty looking place. In any case, New Zealanders (or “Kiwis” as your annoying coworker calls them) see the new trilogy as another influx of tourism dollars for their scenic island nation. Therefore, Air New Zeland is has painted one of its jumbo jets with all the characters your weird friend will soon fall in love with and blow their life-savings trying to get a seat on. This painstakingly painted cash-cows follows a spot from Air New Zealand where flyers are briefed by hobbits under a similarly whimsically flute-heavy soundtrack.

Read more

The J.R.R. Tolkien estate and HarperCollins have filed an $80 million lawsuit against the makers of the upcoming adaptation of The Hobbit, alleging that the filmmakers had breached merchandising contracts for the film.

Despite the suit, Oscar-winning director Peter Jackson and his crew are putting the finishing touches on the first installment of The Hobbit film trilogy.

United States fans have to wait until December 14th for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey to hit theaters. The world premiere will take place within the next 24 hours in New Zealand (November 28th).

Read more

With The Hobbit hitting theaters soon, the Santa Clarita Library system in California will use the popular movie as a chance to encourage people to return to the library.

The Friends of Santa Clarita Public Library have sponsored book discussions, lectures and games for readers of all ages to celebrate the J. R. R. Tolkien adaptation. In addition, one branch painted an excellent hobbit door on the library entrance (photo embedded above).

Here’s more about the events: “To celebrate we are offering a variety of Hobbit related programs and activities. At all programs there will be a chance to win tickets to a free private library screening of the new movie The Hobbit on December 15th at 10 am at the Valencia Edwards Stadium 12 Theater. To win tickets you must be present at a program, have a current library card and be at least 13 years of age.”

What’s your favorite parody? On the Morning Media Menu today, we interviewed Henry Beard, a co-founder of National Lampoon and one of the writers behind the classic parody of J. R. R. Tolkien‘s work, Bored of the Rings.

This pioneer of the parody genre told us how he co-wrote this slender comedy book in three weeks back in 1969 with National Lampoon co-founder Douglas Kenney. The book was recently re-released with a digital edition, something the writers never dreamed of when they started the project.

Press play below to listen. We’ve also collected some helpful writing tips from Beard underneath the audio player…

Read more

An unabridged audiobook version of J.R.R. Tolkien‘s Lord of the Rings trilogy will be distributed by Audible, a set that clocks a staggering 54 hours and nine minutes of listening time.

The series is published by Recorded Books and read by Rob Inglis, the actor who also narrated audiobooks for Ursula K. Le Guin‘s The Earthsea Cycle. Inglis also narrated the unabridged audiobook for Tolkien’s The Hobbit, an 11-hour listening experience.

Here’s more from the release: “Each of these audiobooks is also Whispersync for Voice-ready, which means that if you buy or already own the Kindle version of The Hobbit, The Fellowship of the Ring, The Two Towers or The Return of the King, you can now effortlessly switch back and forth between reading and listening to the series that has captivated millions of readers and moviegoers—without losing your place.”

Read more

HarperCollins’ UK division will publish J.R.R. Tolkien‘s previously unpublished epic poem, “The Fall of Arthur.” In this work, Tolkien imagines how the legendary King Arthur spent the last days of his life.

Tolkien’s son, Christopher Tolkien, edited the poem and wrote three essays about the literary world of King Arthur for this book. According to Examiner.com, this title will be published in May 2013.

The Guardian has more: “Running to more than 200 pages, Tolkien’s story was inspired by Geoffrey of Monmouth and Thomas Malory‘s tales of King Arthur, and is told in narrative verse. Set in the last days of Arthur’s reign, the poem sees Tolkien tackling the old king’s battle to save his country from Mordred the usurper, opening as Arthur and Gawain go to war.”

Read more

The new trailer for The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey has been released.

If you visit the movie website, you can actually create your own version of the trailer to share with other fantasy fans on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr or Google+. Using some extra footage, you can create a trailer ending that features Gollum, Gandalf, Bilbo or Sting or dwarves.

In July, director Peter Jackson revealed today that his adaptation of J. R. R. Tolkien‘s single book will be a trilogy. Do you think there is enough material to sustain three films?

Over at Slacktory, artist Oliver Miller has created 8-bit covers for famous books, turning classic novels into pixel-paintings that look like video games from the 1980s.

We’ve embedded Miller’s cover for J.R.R. Tolkien‘s The Two Towers above, what do you think about his computerized take on the fantasy novel? The image above built upon Wizard by Radpants at Make Pixel Art and Towers by Mildtoast at Make Pixel Art. If you like his 8-bit art, Miller also illustrated the first lines of some famous short stories.

Here’s more from the artist: “I selected the novels above, not as a list of the Greatest Novels of All Time, or as a list of My Favorite Novels of All Time, but because they were (mostly) books that I love whose covers I knew how to illustrate. Full confession: I have not read An American Tragedy, and I think that Theodore Dreiser is a boring writer. I just liked the title. And I started reading Moby-Dick (“Call me Ishmael”) and Gravity’s Rainbow (“A screaming comes across the sky”) but I did not finish reading them. Someday I will finish reading them. I read all the others.” (Via Rachel Fershleiser)

Read more