The Fireside

  Next up in this series of blog posts, we take a look at Eragon. Eragon  is next in this series, because the Narnia series began in 2005 with The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe . So Eragon  was to be the next fantasy series to start and be released.  However, unlike Narnia , only 1 film got made.  The film did not do well from the get-go. Not to look for good where there isn't any; but the film was not COMPLETELY terrible. It had some decent elements in it here and there....but definitely not enough to save it.  The main issue is the source material. While it's commendable that the author was able to write and publish the first of four (it was meant to be a trilogy, though Book 3 got large enough to the point that 'Book 3 Part 1' and 'Book 3 Part 2' would be needed to avoid a final book 'squish') books at the age of 16; the plot is essentially a hodge-podge of Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings . There are lots of websites and articles that point ou...

  First of all, I wish to state that this blog post (well, all, really) are my own personal opinion. I am not 'attacking' anybody's personal collections, just stating my disinterest in some of these following items. There are some Tolkien items that I wish could be wiped from existence, or rather; never see or hear about again. They are as follows, as well was my reasoning. It's not unjustified dislike.  Ralph Bakshi's Lord of the Rings (Part 1 ONLY, that is) film This film has many fans. Most of them, saw it close to its initial release, and was their first taste of Tolkien. That's all well and good, as we see things differently as children than we do as adults. (That's why I cannot watch the original Ninja Turtles cartoon NOW, and why I laughed the whole way through this movie; as I saw it when I was 17.) That being said: this is not a good movie. Take off the nostalgia goggles, it sucks. Here are a few reasons why, taken from this article: http://flyin...

  The product image for the collector's edition of The Nature of Middle-earth has been revealed. The ISBN is 9780008440572 , and you can pre-order it any time before publication date through the usual avenues for these releases. Some retailers may not have it up yet; so as long as you check one month until publication date, latest, you'll be fine. Here's the official description: This elegant slipcased edition presents for collectors the first ever publication of J.R.R. Tolkien’s final writings on Middle-earth, covering a wide range of subjects. Stamped in gold foil, and printed on heavyweight acid-free paper, it includes a ribbon marker and is housed in a custom-built matching slipcase. It is well known that J.R.R. Tolkien published The Hobbit in 1937 and The Lord of the Rings in 1954–5. What may be less known is that he continued to write about Middle-earth in the decades that followed, right up until the years before his death in 1973. For him, Middle-earth wa...

  In a not-so surprising yet surprising move, House Edition boxed sets of the Harry Potter series are on the way. The reason why it's surprising: - the publisher constantly stated that these House Editions (as in, the format style itself) would be limited....yet, here comes a boxed set. So if one went out of print - here it is again! - there weren't any 'partial' boxed sets, as can happen with Harry Potter (ie, the illustrated editions) - it's not being released the same day as the Deathly Hallows House Editions. If you look at the product photos for the Slytherin hardback one, you'll notice that Philosopher's Stone has SILVER lettering on the dustjacket as opposed to GREEN lettering. Is it a glitch of the rendering? Or, are the first printing(s) of that title feature green lettering? Also, in the renders of the paperback sets, the colours match the hardbacks. As these came out, the opposite colour was used for paperback and hardback. For instance, with Ph...

  One of my prized Tolkien items - due (in part) to the uniqueness of it - is The Lord of the Rings illustrated edition from 2014. It may not be the most 'practical' edition for reading , though it still remains quite nice.  This one is unique, in that there is no matching Tolkien editions published around then that have a similar design style, size dimensions, as well as the transparent slipcase, and the publisher-supplied shipping box (though, the boxes have appeared for the limited editions of The Children of Hurin, The Legend of Sigurd and Gudrun , and starting with the illustrated collector's edition of Unfinished Tales , all future collector's editions from that title forward will have a provided box.) The initial single-volume illustrated edition was a larger book than the other standard Tolkien hardbacks at the time. As nice as the new illustrated editions of 2020 and 2021 are for The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion and Unfinished Tales are (wh...

  Ask and you shall receive.... There is never any harm with asking for something to exist, by way of public request. There are a few music releases that I would love to see make it vinyl, and buy them in a heartbeat. One of those, is 2005's greatest hits compilation of The Tragically Hip. It was released as a 2-CD set and digitally. However, it has yet to make it to vinyl. This noteworthy, as their entire discography made it vinyl. There's even a boxed set of everything . The albums are also available separately, thankfully.  Here is the tracklisting for the CD version: Disc: 1 1. No Threat 2. Grace, Too 3. My Music At Work 4. 38 Years Old 5. Gift Shop 6. Ahead By A Century 7. Vaccination Scar 8. Three Pistols 9. So Hard Done By 10. Fiddler's Green Disc: 2 1. Fully Completely 2. Twist My Arm 3. Courage (For Hugh MacLennan) 4....