Posts Tagged ‘Tolkien’
History of French Fries: Are They Really French?
Reading Time: 3 minutesHISTORY OF FRENCH FRIES: NATIONAL FRENCH FRY DAY uly 13th is National French Fry Day. While no one knows who began this celebration, placing it on July 13 is significant in that the important French holiday is the next day, July 14, Bastille Day. Did they originate in France, why are they called that,…
Read MoreHistory of Peter Pan: the Story Behind the Disney Classic
Reading Time: 6 minutesHISTORY OF PETER PAN Podcast version All of this has happened before, And it will all happen again. o begins my favorite Walt Disney animated movie, Peter Pan, which debuted on February 5, 1953. The original movie poster said: “It will live in your heart forever” …and indeed it has. Why was…
Read MoreHistory of Middle-earth, Part 2: Tolkien’s English Inspiration
Reading Time: 5 minutesHISTORY OF MIDDLE-EARTH, PART 2: TOLKIEN’S ENGLISH INSPIRATION .R.R. Tolkien had a 35-year career at the University of Oxford, spending the last part of his time at Merton College, across the street from Magdalen College, where his friend C.S. Lewis taught. His younger brother, Hilary Tolkien, had a farm in Evesham, England, in the Cotswolds,…
Read MoreHistory of Middle-earth: Tolkien’s Swiss Inspiration
Reading Time: 5 minutesHISTORY OF MIDDLE EARTH: TOLKIEN’S SWISS INSPIRATION n the summer of 1911, J.R.R. Tolkien hiked the peaks and valleys of the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland when he was 19 years old. These Alps and their valleys had a profound impact on Tolkien’s imagination, as he wrote when he was 74 to his son Michael in…
Read MoreHistory of J.R.R. Tolkien: A Century-long Love Affair
Reading Time: 12 minutesHISTORY OF J.R.R. TOLKIEN: A CENTURY-LONG LOVE AFFAIR Podcast version January 3 is the birthday of J.R.R. Tolkien. He was born in 1892, the same year as my grandfather. f I were stranded on a desert island and could have only two works with me, it would be The Bible and Tolkien’s The Lord…
Read MoreMovie Review: The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Reading Time: 5 minutesMOVIE REVIEW: THE HOBBIT: THE DESOLATION OF SMAUG Peter Jackson’s second helping — The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug — written and directed by Peter Jackson with flavoring from J.R.R. Tolkien‘s classic novel is more confident than the first helping of An Unexpected Journey. It is the #1 movie of the opening weekend, scoring 74% at…
Read MoreMovie Review: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
Reading Time: 11 minutesMOVIE REVIEW: THE HOBBIT: AN UNEXPECTED JOURNEY Even if I had been told The Hobbit was the worst movie ever made, I still would have gone to see it. It wasn’t. But even after seeing it twice, my feelings remain mixed. In talking to friends who have been to it, reactions to the movie seem…
Read MoreBook Review: The Children of Hurin
Reading Time: 2 minutesBook Review: The Children of Hurin by J.R.R. Tolkien Perhaps the saddest book I’ve ever read, the first “new” J.R.R. Tolkien book in 30 years, is “…long and sad in the telling, as are all tales of Middle Earth.” While it is beautiful in its composition and profound in its scope, it contains at all…
Read MoreMovie Review: Lord Of The Rings – The Fellowship Of The Ring
Reading Time: 13 minutesMovie Review: Lord Of The Rings – The Fellowship Of The Ring [My long-lost review from December 19, 2001, of the movie and an essay on the appeal of J.R.R. Tolkien and his magical world.] “Exciting, dramatic, passionate, beautiful, chilling, palpable evil, breathtaking vistas…” These are all words I’ve used to describe this movie to…
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