Fantasy

In Defense of Peter Jackson, Tolkien Fans, and Nerds Everywhere

Peter Jackson has taken a lot of flack for the alleged butchering of The Hobbit, variously described as…
Review: “The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies”

The final installment of Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy hits many of the high, operatic moments of The Lord of the…
What Tolkien Taught Me About Writing

Once upon a time, I thought that productivity was all that mattered when it came to…
Re-Considering Rankin/Bass

It’s hard now to remember a day when Peter Jackson’s films (whatever one may think of…
Teaching Tolkien: Biographical, Textual, and Historical Approaches

Though I have not yet had the chance to teach an entire course on Tolkien, his…
In Praise of Christopher Tolkien

Today I finally got around to finishing up a post I started two years ago. For…
Reading “The Simarillion” Part One

C.S. Lewis once remarked of The Lord of the Rings that: “Here are beauties which pierce like swords…
Who Owns Tolkien?

In case you missed it, Peter Jackson recently announced that, unless the Tolkien Estate grants permission…
Tolkien and the Political Pleasures of Sadness

One of the things that always stands out to me upon reading Tolkien’s work, whether that…
Why Blog About Tolkien?

When I first decided to devote the entire month of December (and, obviously, the latter part…