December 2nd 2002

Don't forget tomorrow night December 3rd at 730 pm at Barnes and Noble Astor Place is the reading/discussion of the Seamus Heaney translation of Beowulf

To honor our beloved Professor Tolkien's Eleventy First Birthday, The Tolkien Society UK has begun their "toast the Professor" page, for more info click here

In the months of December/January Heren Istarion will be hosting several contests in honor of The Two Towers release, The Coming of Age of The Tolkien Society UK (33) and Professor Tolkien's Eleventy First Birthday. We are proud to bring you the first in that series, Our own Writing Contest win copies of the Book Reviews: November 6th Lord of the Rings Day Movie-tie book releases!

Tolkien Scholar Michael Drout has discovered, and with permission from the Tolkien Estate is publishing Lost Tolkien Books:

"In October Drout was chosen by the Tolkien Estate to edit Tolkien's translations of Beowulf and his many commentaries on the poem. "People have been waiting for years to see Tolkien's translation. I think they'll find it was worth the wait," says Drout,noting that in his opinion Tolkien's translation is superior to that of Seamus Heaney, whose translation of Beowulf made the New York Time's Bestseller list."
Read More

Professor Drout also heads up a Tolkien Studies group with Douglas Anderson and Verlyn Flieger

Professor Mike Foster of the Far Westfarthing Illinois group has sent along the latest from his smial check out our North American Smials page

As you may or may not know Heren Istarion is heavily involved in creating the Tolkien Programming for The Gathering of the Fellowship 2003 On November 26, 2002 The Gathering of the Fellowship Announced ProLiteracy Worldwide as their Benefit Charity... The Gathering of the Fellowship is immensely proud to announce that we have come into a partnership with ProLiteracy Worldwide... read more

---Anthony and Jessica

December 11th 2002

Ok we are back briefly in between the flood of end of semester work/finals.

As you know Heren istarion is a smial of the Tolkien Society UK. A smial being a separate independant organization run by members of the Tolkien Society (such as the Staff here)affiliate with TS. Due to the diligence and hard work of said staff bringing the work of Professor Tolkien to the City of New York and building our organization on the basis of promoting, educating and furthering the works of Professor Tolkien, Tolkien Society UK at Oxonmoot 2002 voted us as Smial of The Year. With great pleasure we would like to thank Tolkien Society for this award.

We would also like to thank German SAT1 TV and its reporter Stephan Mueller for a great experience on Tuesday December 3rd. They came to our home and interviewed Jessica and myself(Anthony) to get our thoughts on the upcoming The Two Towers film release and on the works of Tolkien. We will be bringing to Herenistarion.org soon the transcript ofthe interview and some footage as well.

Also on December 3rd we had a wondrous opportunity to see an advanced screening of The Two Towers, look for our reviews of the film December 18th, but if you are too hasty for a review read the Hobbit Diary by Hannah who had a great chance to see it at the premiere.

Also on December 18th in the Upstate New York area, join our Technical Advisor Jan and his lovely family at Loews Cineplex Town Square 9 for a night of the Two Towers and some great opportunities to get you hands on some great The Two Towers giveaways and opportunities to go home with the November 6th The Two Towers Movie tie books reviewed/featured below. We will have more details tomorrow.

As You hopefully know of the Gathering of the Fellowship by now, here are some recent developments the we on the Gathering has made for the event.

*--We are very excited to announce that Steve Babb and Fred Schendel and their band Glass Hammer...

*--The Gathering of the Fellowship is pleased to announce that Joe Piela of The Lonely Mountain Forge will be appearing at our event. He will be making a presentation on the Arms and Armor of Middle-earth. Click here for more details...

In the months of December/January Heren Istarion will be hosting several contests in honor of The Two Towers release, The Coming of Age of The Tolkien Society UK (33) and Professor Tolkien's Eleventy First Birthday. We are proud to bring you the first in that series, Our own Writing Contest win copies of the Book Reviews: November 6th Lord of the Rings Day Movie-tie book releases!

---Anthony and Jessica

December 13th 2002

Heren Istarion's The Two Towers Movie Release Events!!

Dennis Reulbach, our new staff webmaster, will be attending the New York City Line Party for the opening of The Two Towers on Tuesday, December 17th. Note that this is a private advanced showing of the movie, which is otherwise scheduled to open on Wednesday Dec. 18. The private showing will begin 9PM on December 17th, at the Loews 42nd Street E-walk theater near Times Square. There is a limit of 200 seats for this private showing, and you must be signed up for the line party at The One Ring.net which begins officially at 5:30pm,to get tickets. The event is limitted to 200 attendees, and it is "officially" fully booked. However, there is a likelihood of cancellations or people who don't pick up their tickets at the arranged time, so it is possible to get on the waiting list - first come / first served. Visit the link below to get added to the waiting list, and if you act quickly you may get bumped up to the list of 200 attendees.

Dennis is working closely with the administrator of this line party, and is organizing a trivia contest plus with have some great prizes such as the November 6th The Two towers books, The Art of the The Fellowship of the Ring, T-Shirts, Hats, and other great giveaways, PLUS opportunities for membership and information on becoming a part of the ever growing fellowship that is Heren Istarion!

So that is not all, in Upstate New York our Technical Advisor Jan and his lovely family has arranged with Loews Cineplex Town Square 9 to be at the theatre on Wednesday December 18th for the release of the TTT film operating a Heren Istarion table. Which means that he will also have some great giveaways from New Line Cinema and Houghton Mifflin. Applications for Heren Istarion membership will be available at both events. But, Jan will award those who sign up as a bonus with a special Lord of the Rings goody.

Now on the Saturday December 21st wil be the more intimate affair for local Heren Istarion members and friends. Depending upon the looming NYC transit strike the locale will be decided upon after we see what Monday morning brings us when the strike is to be in effect. Regardless of a strike we will be having a Heren Istarion Gathering for the film but specific details of locale and date will be announced here or in our email update list.

Our next edition of Parma Nölé, will be our December winter special jamm packed with TTT stuff as well all the great submissions we have recieved. If you have anything you wish to submit send it now since it goes to press shortly. Send your submissions to Anthony ay HERENISTARION@YAHOO.com

---Anthony and Jessica

December 17th 2002

December 14th 2002

A new feature to our Become a Member section is PayPal. Now you can instantly become a part of the Heren Istarion community. Read each membership package section carefully for there are some new notations to follow.

---Anthony and Jessica

December 18th 2002

Well everyone has undoubtedly seen The Two Towers film (We hope) and we have received a great number of comments from our two events of last evening and today. If you have not seen it then do not read on Here are Jess and Anthony's prelimanary reviews

Also Salon.com and The NY Times have some great reviews!

Our events in Times Square and Vestal,NY went off smashingly! Dennis held a great Tolkien Trivia contest, and shall have pics and a report soon for us all on how that went! Jan up in Vestal, NY also shall be there throughout the week dishing out his best in Tolkien knowledge as well as giving away some great TTT material.

---Anthony and Jessica

December 19th 2002

With great honor and pleasure, Heren Istarion would like to share with you a portion of the Q&A session we had with Professor Mike Drout. He is the editor of Beowulf and the Critics a two volume set of Tolkien's translations, commentaries, and essays concerning the Beowulf poem. Read more in Parma Nole

---Anthony and Jessica

December 22nd 2002

If its one name from our childhood that comes to mind outside of our beloved Professor Tolkien is author Brian Sibley. It was not only Tolkien's books but also the BBC radio drama of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings that helped shape our own vision of these great epics. Recently we had a Q&A session with Mr. Sibley of whom we thank.Read More...

---Anthony and Jessica

December 24th 2002

Heren Istarion would like to take the time to wish you all a Happy, Healthy and Safe Holiday Season. We look forward to the future of enjoying all the wonderful days ahead with you all! If you are curious as to how one of our TTT line party events went read more...

---Anthony and Jessica and the Staff of Heren Istarion

December 28th 2002

Our friend and fellow Heren Istarion Staff has posted his infinite wit and wisdom concerning The Two Towers film, Tolkien and his works and the issues that lay at their center. Read more...

This past holiday one of the lovely gifts I recieved from Jessica (Co-chair of Heren Istarion) was a set of coins from the Shire! Well from the Shire Post Office, I got a Dram of Rohan, a coin of Durins Folk and other pieces all found here... As stated in a letter written by the founder of the Shire Post Tom Maringer aka Whil Whitfoot, they are to provide a sense of realism to our beloved characters and stories. I was in awe after holding these coins, the quality and care that went into there making is unmatched. Below are examples of the 1403 Shire Penny and the presses they are made on.

---Anthony and Jessica

December 31st 2002

On January 3rd, Professor JRR Tolkien will have reached his Eleventy First Birthday. Heren Istarion and its friends will be celebrating this event on several fronts. Our friend and fellow Heren Istarion Staffer will be running an event at Loews Cineplex in Vestal, NY. Before their 8:30 pm showing Jan will be toasting the Professor as follows:

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention for a moment. The "Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" is about to start. My name is Jan Galkowski, and I'm a member of the Tolkien Society, UK, and of its New York Smial, Heren Istarion. Loew's Cineplex is proud to bring you "The Two Towers" on this special day. For, were Professor J R R Tolkien alive, today would have been his eleventy-first birthday. Those who recall Tolkien's book, "Lord of the Rings", or Peter Jackson's first film, "Fellowship of the Ring", may remember that it was Bilbo Baggins eleventy-first birthday bash in The Shire which revealed the One Ring again to the elders of Middle-earth and set Frodo's quest in motion. Eleventy-first birthdays are thus of special significance. On this occasion, the Tolkien Society would like to toast J R R Tolkien, as is our custom on his birthday every year, in thanks for his magnificent imagination, his beloved books, and for providing the inspiration for these wonderful films. So, if any of you who have sodas and drinks would care to join me in raising them, on behalf of his fans everywhere, I give you, on this 3rd of January 2003, "The Professor".

Here in New York City Heren Istarion will be hosting its own celebration. A gathering of Staff, members, and friends of Heren Istarion is planned, please email Anthony, HERENISTARION@yahoo.com for details.

As previously reported Professor Michael Drout of Wheaton College is publishing a two volume set entitled Beowulf and the Critics. We have seen a news story posted on many sites concerning the publication of these texts. This report states that the translations will be published Summer 2003. Professor Drout informed us that a miracle or divine intervention would NOT have them ready before 2004. If you are interested in purchasing the 1st volume of this set then you can so here.

---Anthony and Jessica