Goldenstar posted this on July 26th, 2011.
Categorized as books, General, Page Turners Club, reading.
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Full link: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/cstmfeed/~3/LhVzUctY9K4/
Merric and I invite you to check out our newest podcast endeavor, Page Turners Club. It’s not about gaming or even LOTR based but it is about books!
While Merric still hasn’t finished The Lord of the Rings, both of us are very active in reading in general and we wanted to share this passion with a larger audience.
Read the rest of this entry »Brian posted this on January 3rd, 2011.
Categorized as books, lotro, News.
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Full link: http://bluekae.com/2011/01/03/to-the-professor/
Goldenstar posted this on December 7th, 2010.
Categorized as books, movies, music, Outside LOTRO.
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Full link: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/cstmfeed/~3/VfXDm8tv-kE/
This is another regional “Outside LOTRO” but I felt it would be interesting to anyone in this area.
Doug Adams, author of the book The Music of the Lord of the Rings Films will be in Chicago December 15th for a book signing at the Borders Books in Lincoln Park, Illinois.
Read the rest of this entry »Merric posted this on August 13th, 2010.
Categorized as book, books, Outside LOTRO.
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Full link: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/cstmfeed/~3/gwEa9Fssawo/
As many of you know, we here at CSTM like to poke fun at my (Merric’s) lack of reading; including the fact that I have not read all of the Lord of the Rings trilogy (I just finished the Fellowship of the Ring). However, upon the recommendation of Dr. Corey Olsen (The Tolkien Professor) I picked up a book several months back that has offered quite a bit of insight to the books as I read. This book is The Lord of the Rings: A Reader’s Companion by Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond. So why do I like it?
Well, it explains a lot of back-story that I don’t know about. It cites Appendices, Letters, and other works that Tolkien did in his life; as well as other articles that other Tolkien scholars have written. Although it does not have the personalization that speaking to an actual scholar can provide, it’s almost like having a pocket Punggo or Dr. Olsen with you! And that’s pretty good!
Read the rest of this entry »DocHoliday posted this on February 26th, 2010.
Categorized as books, crafting, End Game, epic line, Equipment, gear, legendary items, lotro, Minstral, Minstrel, Mirkwood, pvp, radiance, Raid, Raids and End-game, Skirmishes, volume 3, Warden.
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Full link: http://docholidayj.wordpress.com/2010/02/26/plans-for-patch-day/
As you may or may not have seen, Monday March 1st is patch day for LOTRO as Turbine releases Volume 3 Book 1. The full official patch notes are up, but I will admit I didn’t see too much different between this version and what was posted to Bullroarer. I’m pretty excited about this patch not only for the content but it actually hits at a good time for me personally such that I’ll have big chunks of un-interrupted time available! So I figured I’d try to plan out a bit what I’ll be up to. I’m sure there will be many other thoughts and/or plans – what’s everyone else excited about doing first?
First up will be a check on my Minstrel for all the crafting changes. He’s my Cook/Jeweler so there are lots of changes I’ll need to absorb and ingredient lists to make (although I may try to do some of that ahead of time). Then I’ll probably have to put up sticky notes to remind myself to re-distribute points to my legendary items 
It is then off to Angmar to finish up Volume 1 Book 15, chapter 12 and get my new horse!
DocHoliday posted this on February 20th, 2010.
Categorized as books, lore, lotro, podcast.
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Full link: http://docholidayj.wordpress.com/2010/02/20/tolkien-professor-update/
I’ve mentioned his site before but I wanted to post a quick update as he’s roughly half-way through this semester’s course on Tolkien literature. As a re-cap, Dr. Corey Olsen has been releasing many of his Tolkien lectures via mp3 and iTunes for a while now and this semester decided to record and post his entire class focused on Tolkien’s works!
I’ve been listening to most of it, although I have put off some of the lessons which cover material I have not read. “Leaf by Niggle” and “Smith of Wootton Major” are the pieces I haven’t touched yet, and I’ve attempted the Silmarillion a couple of times but haven’t gotten that far in it. The class is just about done the Silmarillion and will then be progressing through the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings Trilogy. With 3 classes a week they cover a TON of material but it is really interesting to listen to the discussions from another perspective. Each class is about 50ish minutes so nothing terribly long at all. I find the discussion about the Silmarillion quite helpful as I’ve always struggled with that one and having someone talk me through it makes a huge difference. I’m going to make another attempt and will probably re-listen to those classes as I go. I’m very excited to dive into the upcoming material as not only have I just finished re-reading those books but that material is very fresh in my mind from LOTRO.
Read the rest of this entry »DocHoliday posted this on January 29th, 2010.
Categorized as books, epic line, lotro, volume 3.
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Full link: http://docholidayj.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/my-volume-3-omission/
I knew I forgot something 
But as stated on Orion’s blog and teased at in his interview with LOTRO Cast Episode 20 it appears that the Volume 1 revamp has been completed and should also be available for Volume 3 release. Now granted, there’s no confirmation of when it will be released, but Volume 3 seems to make sense.
So, now that I remember that piece of good news I’m much more positive on the next update. Being able to finish Volume 1 off on all my toons will be a HUGE relief and something that has really bothered me but is SUCH a pain to get done.
Read the rest of this entry »Goldenstar posted this on January 21st, 2010.
Categorized as app, books, Hobbit, iPhone, Outside LOTRO, tolkien.
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Full link: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/cstmfeed/~3/V_xoy4UyjMA/
Just released to the iTunes App store today is the new app called “The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien” by vPoint. The app is quite simply the entire novel of “The Hobbit” to be read anytime you wish on your iPhone or iPod Touch. It is listed for $0.99 so I purchased it to try it. Sure I already own a copy of the book but a digital version for 99 cents is a deal if you ask me.
The book is broken up into chapters and has a bookmarking option to keep your place. There is also the option of changing the font and the size of the text to your own preferences. It’s really a basic ebook reader program with a single book. While I would love to be able to import this to my amazon kindle library, I realize that probably won’t happen here so I’ll just keep wishing for my electronics to play together nicely.
DocHoliday posted this on January 18th, 2010.
Categorized as books, captain, End Game, Equipment, legacy, legendary items, lotro, Minstral, Minstrel, podcast, radiance, Raid, Raids and End-game, reputation, Warden.
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Full link: http://docholidayj.wordpress.com/2010/01/18/patch-thoughts-and-other-ramblings/
I’ll have a few updates today, but the main LOTRO news is the first Siege of Mirkwood patch which rolls live tomorrow. In addition I wanted to mention a new release of a handy in-game tool and an update on my progress so far.
First off, the patch. Check out the release notes, as there really aren’t that many but some very significant ones:
sallenia posted this on January 13th, 2010.
Categorized as books, General, lord of the rings online, lord of the rings online reporter, lotro, lotro reporter.
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Full link: http://lotroreporter.wordpress.com/2010/01/13/the-lord-of-the-rings-fiction-online/
From the first day I started playing Lord of the Rings Online, I was impressed with the way Turbine has represented this wonderfully creative world that Tolkien created. You can’t help but enjoy the beautiful graphics and scenery, but it goes so much deeper then just the visual aspects of the game. A few months ago my husband (aka Chris/Almazar) and I started to re-read the Lord of the Rings series, starting with the Hobbit and going all the way through the Return of the King.
To my surprise as I read it wasn’t always the images from the movies that I saw in my head, but also the images from LOTRO! Finding Bilbo’s trolls in the Trollshaws, on the way from the Lone Lands to Rivendell and taking a screen shot of our fellowship in front of them was what popped into my head while I read about Bilbo’s terrifying predicament of listening to those nasty trolls discuss how best to eat him and his dwarf friends. I frequently picture the LOTRO map as the fellowship makes it’s way across middle earth. Reading about their long trek into Rivendell as an endless journey through the wilderness, with little or no sign of a path, before finally coming down a great hill and suddenly Rivendell is revealed before them, in all it’s glory! How perfectly Turbine captured that experience, I truly felt the same way the Fellowship did as I searched for Rivendell for the first time in game!
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