A Tolkienist’s Perspective Celebrates 2 Years!

Two Years On . . . 

On a particularly inspiring summer’s day in 2013, I decided I wanted to share with the world my passion for Tolkien.

I always wanted to discuss with other like-minded individuals the extraordinary qualities of his work and the beauties of the film adaptations.

Seeing how severely limited I was at finding people in my area who share the same interests, I timidly considered the online community.

After much brooding and thought, at 17:45pm on 8 July, I created a WordPress account, wrote my first post and A Tolkienist’s Perspective was born.

Of this Blog

It’s been a fun two years in which I’ve enjoyed sharing experiences, ideas and opinions with you all.

It’s tough too, trying to respect deadlines and keep up to promises; but nevertheless, its exciting and instills a scenes of discipline.

But this blog would be nothing without the fervent and unending contributions from you the readers and followers who ‘like’, ‘share’ and post.

It’s always satisfying to see that the hours you spend scrambling your brains to convert thoughts and emotions into writing, are received with like-minded enthusiasm and opinions from others.

I honestly can’t thank you enough; even if you have never commented and are just reading this post. Thank you!

Of Data and Numerals

As is customary with these things, I must dedicate a brief section to lay out some boring statistics.

• Views: 502,000+
• Currently Followers: 951
• Posts published (including this one): 216
• Equivalent pages written: 467
• Equivalent words written: 177,900+

Of Thanks and Gratitude

I can’t do an ‘Anniversary Blog’ post without mentioning a few awesome blogs (alphabetically) whose owners have undoubtedly much more quality to offer in their posts.

Naturally, by naming a few of these blogs I run the risk of not mentioning other equally-important sites. Whether your blog is here or not, it’s nonetheless a privilege to be following you.

• A Pilgrim in Narnia
• As a Little Child
• Fangirls on the Road
• Hamlette’s soliloquy
• Leyarts
• Lit Chic
• Gabriel to Earth
• Part Time Monster
• Ramblings of an autistic wordsmith
• Sir Snaps: Dog About Town
• Tolkien Read Through
• Untamed Shrews
• Write of Passage

In the meantime, I’ve decided to do one of those contests or giveaway thingys in connection with this 2-year anniversary. It’s nothing special, but more on that in an upcoming post.

Of Promises for the Future

This blog was set up right in the middle of the release of The Hobbit trilogy. One of its aims was to record these events as we experience the lead-up to the films themselves.

It has now been almost 7 months since the last Middle-earth film left cinemas, and this blog is nowhere near its expiry date.

Thus, I present to you just a few topics and ideas I shall be writing in the coming months and, hopefully, years.

• That ‘Massive’ The Lord of the Rings Trilogy review

  When I started writing this review (back in November 2013), I never considered it would grow to such length; hence the decision to split each film into three distinct parts. As many of you may be aware, Part 1 for The Fellowship of the Ring has been released and although I promised I’d continue posting the rest, that never happened. I felt ashamed to admit that I’ve found time to write all these other posts in between, but never got back to continue writing Part 2. I state here that I’ll do by best to continue releasing the rest of the reviews in the coming months.

• The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies Extended Edition (review)

  What did I say about December being the last time we saw a Middle-earth film? Indeed, the extended edition is on its way (so far 3 Nov. for the US and 13 Nov. for the UK). Expect, as with the previous two films, a slightly in-depth review of the extended edition. Let’s see if Peter Jackson manages to make the right calls this time!

• Concluding ‘The Fall of Arthur’ Project

  I am set on completing this work by the end of this year. Updates will be posted once I manage to wrap my head around further tongue-twisting verses and rhythmic half lines.

• ‘Beowulf: A Translation and Commentary’ review

  Can you believe it? I’ve had this book for over a year now and have started reading it twice already. The first time I arrived half-way through and stopped (for reasons beyond my comprehension). Recently, I decided to re-read it from the start and, for yet another incomprehensible reason, I’ve stopped again. I’ll make sure to read it all and post an ‘Approaching Tolkien’ post related to it.

• ‘The Story of Kullervo’

  By now you’ve surely heard about the new book by Tolkien to be released this coming August. Suffice to say, a post on that will follow. After I read the ‘Beowulf’ book and this one that is.

• Articles on Middle-earth

  It’s been a while now since I wrote something about a particular aspect from Middle-earth; and I’ve missed it. It usually involves some analysis, a fair share of speculation, and quite a number of unanswered questions. But I love the researching aspect of it. Tolkien being the exquisitely complex author that he is, allows us to cross-reference dates, names and events with different books and sources to reach certain conclusions on mysterious subjects. So more of that to follow …

Of Closures

So that’s what I planned for my 2-year anniversary celebration: yet another lengthy post.

Thanks once again to all of you reading and participating in this blog, and remember to check again for the upcoming contest/giveaway to be announced in a few days. 😀